Jahrra climbed atop Phrym once they came to the main thoroughfare of the city. She turned around and faced her friends, all three of them remaining uncharacteristically quiet as they mounted their own horses.
“Meet me at home in an hour or so?” she asked quietly as several other people seemed to take a more obvious and disturbed notice of her.
“Are you sure you’ll be alright riding home by yourself?” Dathian asked, moving his own horse closer.
Jahrra took a shuddering breath and nodded. She hoped so. If she hadn’t noticed the odd behavior of Lidien’s citizens before Senton had pointed it out to her, then they couldn’t be all that dangerous, right?
She made it to the stable below the hill without much fuss but before she stepped back out onto the street, she heard two girls whispering.
“I heard she was just a Nesnan and that it’s really not her fault,” the first one said.
Jahrra froze and pressed herself against the stable door, just out of sight of the street. Phrym whickered softly in confusion from his stall but Jahrra just held her hand up to silence him.
“You really think she believes she’s human?” the other girl scoffed. “I can’t believe we fell for it for so long. I mean, it’s ridiculous really. Who listens to prophecies anymore anyways?”
“I heard it was that Tanaan dragon, you know which one I mean. The scowling, so-called leader of that Coalition of theirs. Supposedly he’d been looking for a human child for years and years. I think he just got tired of looking and grabbed the most human-like Nesnan infant he could find and has been passing her off for the real thing ever since.”
Jahrra felt her skin prickle. No. It couldn’t be true. Shiroxx was spreading lies, she had to be. Jaax would never lie to her like that. It was simply too cruel and too terrible to imagine.
“Where did you hear that Dorrah?” a young man insisted.
“My cousin,” Dorrah sniffed. “He works in one of the houses owned by a Coalition member. He said that the master of the house is a member high up in the group and knows everything that goes on among its members.”
She lowered her voice and Jahrra had to strain her ears to hear.
“He said that that dragon Raejaaxorix is far too protective of his ward. As if he is trying to keep people away so they won’t realize she isn’t human. The man also told my cousin that the dragon has all kinds of nasty secrets, ones that he would be willing to do anything to keep secret, even kill.”
The small group went suddenly quiet and Jahrra felt a flash of fear and anger. How dare they, how dare the Coalition member say such things? Or was this high ranking member really Shiroxx and her cronies? It was no wonder she’d received such wary looks and disdain that afternoon if these were the rumors being spread around.
“Well, I don’t know about all of you but I’ll be steering clear of Jahrra from now on. I don’t want my reputation tarnished because of her and I definitely don’t want that dragon coming after me if I look at her the wrong way or something.”
There was a nervous giggle from the other girl and a laugh from the man and soon Jahrra heard their voices fading away. She relaxed, not realizing she’d been so tense that she had been gripping the wood of the stable door so hard that she had to spend a few minutes picking out splinters.
At last, Jahrra was walking briskly down the narrow road that ran along the base of the hill. She was eager to reach home, for she had much to tell Jaax and a few things to ask him. Did he really have secrets so dark and damaging that he would be willing to kill to keep them safe? No. Jahrra shook her head, hoping to dislodge that terrible thought before it grew into anything worse. Jaax would not kill someone simply because they learned something damaging about him. She didn’t doubt he had his own list of things he wanted no one else to know, but could any of them really be dangerous?
Jahrra practically ran up the hill after finding the trailhead. Several minutes later she pushed through the small door into the house, breathing heavily and startling Neira into dropping a basket of rolls she’d been carrying to the kitchen.
“What on Ethoes are you so blustered about?” she demanded, placing her hands on her hips as Jahrra finished up with replacing the rolls in the basket.
“Bad day,” she managed between gasps, “rumors, about the emergency Coalition meeting.”
Neira went suddenly still, her mouth forming a thin line and her brown eyes going wide.
“Master Jaax is in his study,” was all she said as she swept past Jahrra to continue on with her dinner preparations.
Jahrra just sat on the ground for a few moments, her hands placed on her thighs as she knelt and caught her breath. Finally she stood up slowly, her muscles complaining after the hard run she’d given them, and headed towards Jaax’s quarters on the west side of the house. She stepped into the great hall and stood next to the towering entryway framing his office.
The Tanaan dragon sat behind his great desk, staring at several scrolls rolled out in front of him. Before she called for his attention, Jahrra simply watched him. It was a rare moment indeed to find Jaax with his guard down. He looked weary, the same weariness that had plagued him for the past several weeks. All the tension of keeping a straight face and an alert, unhindered demeanor was gone. This was the Jaax the gossipmongers had hinted at; the dragon who hid behind his façade of strength and resolve. This was the dragon with secrets.
Just then Jahrra realized something. She had intended to burst in, regaling to her guardian what she had heard and demanding that he ensure her that he wasn’t the creature the city dwellers claimed him to be. That was what she had planned to do and that is what the old Jahrra would have done. And you would have stormed away in anger to fester in your room when he didn’t provide you with what you wanted, she thought ruefully.
No, she would not demand answers, for she had realized that everyone had secrets and everyone had a right to keep those secrets or tell them to others. She couldn’t demand this from Jaax just as he could not demand her secrets from her. And she was definitely guilty of harboring a secret. Or twenty. She would be a hypocrite to be angry and resentful if she herself wasn’t willing to share her own past and present infractions while demanding to know those of her guardian.
Jahrra cleared her throat and Jaax darted his head up. For just a few moments before pulling his mask of indifference back on, Jahrra saw his thoughts. Frustration, concern, sorrow. But just as quickly it was all wiped clean, his look now hard and controlled. For a moment Jahrra felt a flash of anger and disappointment. Why does Jaax feel he needs to hide things from me? She shook that thought away immediately, remembering her recent decision about secrets and the need to keep a few, and stepped into the room.
Jaax looked at her, long and hard, then drew a breath and said, “What have you been hearing?”
She shouldn’t have been surprised he knew but she flinched anyway. Swallowing hard, she opened her mouth and answered him, “Apparently I’m not the human child Ethoes sent and you are simply a liar looking for fame and glory.”
Jaax nodded once and looked down at his desk. He didn’t say anything for a moment. When he looked back up he didn’t appear troubled, as Jahrra had expected, but calculating.
“To be honest, I’m surprised this didn’t happen sooner.”
Jahrra drew her eyebrows in. She opened her mouth to speak but Jaax held up a scaly hand. “There will be questions and doubts, there always are in cases such as these.”