Jahrra tiptoed through the main room of the Ruin fifteen minutes later, trying hard to put these thoughts behind her. Hopefully someday I’ll have all these questions answered, but not now, she told herself, her mind limp with exhaustion. Luckily, she was too tired to let these feelings keep her awake. As soon as her head hit her pillow, Jahrra was fast asleep, her troubles, for now, long forgotten.
-Chapter Sixteen-
Eydeth’s Confession
The next morning, Jahrra rose late to find Jaax and Hroombra reclining before the large fireplace. She shuffled into the common room, rubbing her eyes and yawning. Both dragons looked up at her with shrouded eyes. Jahrra lowered her head. The entirety of the day before hit her like a blast of icy wind, shocking her into full consciousness. She stood rigid, forgetting her grogginess, and shot a quick look at Jaax. He had the same granite hardness to his gaze as always and Jahrra wondered if he was feeling guilty for what he’d said to the dragon Shiroxx the night before. Jahrra turned her eyes to the ground and set her face in determined irritation, shutting her mind off to the scolding she was about to receive from both her mentor and Jaax.
“Risky”, “Foolish”, and “Disrespectful” were among the long list of words that fell through the thick veil of thought that surrounded her, but that was about all Jahrra heard from them. She was too busy focusing on what she’d heard the night before. After a few minutes, however, her bubble of contemplation was suddenly burst with the sound of Hroombra’s stern voice.
“Jahrra, you will have to learn to mind what Jaax tells you. He’ll be staying with us for a few months, and I insist that you treat him with respect.”
“What?!” Jahrra shot her head up in surprise, her eyes wide with horror.
Jaax merely gazed down at her from where he sat as if her loathsome reaction had puzzled him.
Jahrra caught herself just in time, and instead of making a complaint, she inquired through gritted teeth, “Why will he be staying so long? Doesn’t he have more important things to do?”
Jahrra tried not to sound bitter or frantic, but she was afraid her sarcasm rang clear. Hroombra gave her a disturbed look and she quickly dropped her head again.
“He has important matters here as well, Young Jahrra,” the old dragon answered quietly. He took a tired breath, releasing it slowly. “Go now, we’ll not hold you any longer. You know that you have done something wrong, and I don’t expect you to do anything like it again.”
Hroombra sounded a little angry, a little weary, and Jahrra nodded solemnly before she disappeared through the door, not looking at Jaax as she left. She went straight to Phrym’s stable and saddled him for a ride to somewhere far away from the Ruin and far away from the grumpy dragons.
An hour later she was sitting tensely upon Phrym, watching waves crash upon the ocean shore just west of Lake Ossar as her mind wandered back to the scene she had witnessed the night before. She knew she should forget all about it, but something about what the female dragon said had been bothering her all morning. Shiroxx had mentioned something about Jaax’s wounded past. What could she have meant? Jahrra wondered. What could have possibly happened to him to make her sound so concerned?
Jahrra almost felt remorseful that she knew nothing about the other dragon. After her parents had died, she stopped listening to the stories Hroombra told of him, and Hroombra in turn stopped telling them. Every time he visited, Jahrra avoided him every chance she got. She never once tried to get to know him better, never asked him about his life. He knew about hers, but all he had to do was ask Hroombra. There was no way Jahrra would tell him anything.
Suddenly, she wanted to know all about Jaax; what he’d been like as a dragonling, what his life was like outside of Oescienne. Dragons were hated creatures in most parts of Ethoes, so there was a good chance this had something to do with Jaax’s attitude. “Maybe that’s what’s wrong with him,” she said cynically to Phrym, “maybe something awful happened to him long ago, and that’s why he’s so unpleasant.” Jahrra shivered and added in a whisper, “Perhaps he had a family once, like me.”
Jahrra sighed, wishing the salty breeze would take her worries with it. She knew that the coming weeks with Jaax would be nearly unbearable, but she told herself she would just have to grin and bear it.
Just as predicted, the following days found Jahrra far removed from her comfort zone. She began to dread leaving her room in the morning, often contemplating sneaking out her garden window more often than not. Normally, Hroombra would gently remind her to pick up her things or finish her homework or to come home early from a ride with Phrym. With Jaax it was a constant, patronizing nagging on top of Hroombra’s reminders, grating away at her patience. Just ignore him, just ignore him. It’s just like Eydeth and Ellysian; I can’t lose my temper, Jahrra would tell herself every time she heard his voice barking out another command or insensitive remark.
Gieaun and Scede tried their best to distract her from Jaax’s presence, but they weren’t always successful. To Jahrra’s utter annoyance, they often found Jaax interesting company and were swept away on one of his daily surveys of the countryside. Nothing was worse, in Jahrra’s opinion, than to have her friends come over for a day at Lake Ossar and then forget all about her when Jaax offered them a ride on his back.
Jahrra was often asked politely by the dragon to join the group, but she told herself that he had other sinister plans in mind and she refused to subject herself to them. So on the days that Gieaun and Scede were off flying the countryside with Jaax, Jahrra would take Phrym down to the lakes or to the beach to let off steam. The smooth rhythm of the ocean always helped cool her nerves when she was so rudely left by her friends.
When the ocean didn’t soothe her, Jahrra would find solace in the Black Swamp. Once at the Belloughs, Denaeh would always make her feel better by telling her a story or teaching her about a new plant she’d acquired. Jahrra had never before complained to Denaeh about Jaax, but then again the Tanaan dragon had never been a big enough part of her life to mention. When he visited, it was only for a few hours, or even a day, but absolutely not more than a week. Now that Jaax was staying for several months, and now that Gieaun and Scede had been completely beguiled by him, Jahrra needed Denaeh’s companionship more than ever.
It was a few weeks after Jaax’s arrival that Jahrra paid Denaeh a visit. The moment she stepped down from Phrym into the late fall gloom of the swamp, Jahrra immediately jumped into the story of why she was there. Denaeh listened patiently, her eyes narrowed in thought. A dark cloud fell over the Mystic’s face as she registered what she was hearing. So it all makes sense now, but how on Ethoes could I not have realized . . . ? But her time for reflection would have to wait. Jahrra still had much more to tell, and Denaeh wanted to hear all of it. From what Jahrra had said so far, and by drawing her own conclusions, Denaeh could clearly see that the root of the problem was a clash of personalities. The dragon Jaax had a very dominant, determined disposition, one that often came to battle against Jahrra’s own stubborn independence.
As Jahrra rattled off her many grievances about the dragon, Denaeh would offer a sprinkling of advice here and there. The only problem was that Jahrra didn’t seem to take any of this advice to heart. She would look at her friend, aghast, after Denaeh suggested she swallow her pride and compromise with her reptilian visitor. The Mystic only smiled kindly then, knowing that the girl would have to learn for herself. I have a feeling you’ll be stuck with that dragon longer than you expect, she thought with a wry grin.