Part 29: The Dragon Staff
Thursday morning, Blake got out of bed, miserable and exhausted. She had still failed to deliver her apology to Simon, but to make matters worse, she'd had a vision of him that morning that had kept her abed quite late… and made her panic repeatedly despite being trapped in the vision.
He and Pip had been 'playing' with the other drakes. Hundreds of feet up in the air. Sweeping and diving and whirling and stopping and stooping. She'd seen hawks stoop on their pray before, tucking their wings in and plummeting at intense rates of speed, until they were right on top of their prey—grabbing, and then spreading their wings to take flight again.
It had always been breathtaking, but nothing like seeing man and dragon doing it. Especially a man and a dragon that she was doing her damnedest not to love…
She went down and ate at the cafeteria, not even sitting with Shirra as usual. She just sat down and ate, feeling withdrawn, worried, and stressed.
"Everything okay?" She whirled to find Coros towering over her in her sitting position at the table.
Remembering that she was supposed to be pretending she wasn't sure what was going on with Senistraz, she said simply, "Yes. I think so." She gave him an assessing look, and his eyebrow rose.
"Glad to hear it. I'll talk to you later." It sounded casual, but they both knew it was a threat.
Blake returned to her room. She paced. She read. She thought about going to Dwarf Town. Truth was, though, she was just anxious and stressed and didn't know what to do with herself.
She finally decided she would go look in on Pip and headed for the door. She flung it open to nearly get decked in the face.
"Simon!" she said to the surprised face of the man who had literally been reaching up to knock as she opened the door.
"I got this for you. I don't expect anything in return. I just want you to have it." He said it quickly, thrusting the staff into her hands, wrapped in a soft cloth with a bit of twine around it as a 'ribbon'. "Open it," he urged.
She untied the twine and began to unwrap the cloth from it. She couldn't wait to see it, based on the discussion she'd overheard.
The cloth fell away to reveal a polished cherrywood staff, topped by a wrought metal dragon. Her tail wrapped around the staff, curling down nearly to where Blake's hand would rest when fighting with it. The dragon's neck was arched, the spikes rising up from the top of the staff, her head tucked against her chest.
The spines that rose from her head were twisted and curled elegantly. They were multicolored glass that twined around each other, delicate and fragile. The dragon was silver, covered entirely in tiny flecks of glass that represented scales. The glass scales caught the light, as well as the swirling glass spines, and threw glittering rainbows around the room.
The dragon sparkled in the light from the mage lamps. She wasn't the gnarled, tired creature lying in the dark cavern, but a fully healed and recovered dragon, her flaws now the most beautiful of her features.
She wasn't gray, she was silver, but her strange, clear, prismatic scales gave her the appearance of being a constantly shifting, glowing rainbow.
Blake stared at it, her mouth hanging open in awe. Then she realized that her name was inscribed on the staff, as if being embraced by the dragon.
Her heart caught and she looked up at Simon—only to find that he was gone. He hadn't stayed to watch her open it. She went to the bed, her legs shaking, and sank down on it. Reaching up, she touched the dragon, and it was almost as if she could see the tenderness in its eyes.
"It's you," she thought to Senistraz, and felt the tears start.
"It is Senistraz as she will be, when she has recovered. Simon has always seen Senistraz this way."
"Is it accurate? Is that what you really look like when you're not stuck in a cave?"
"Senistraz is uncertain. Simon may have represented Senistraz, rather than reproducing her."
Blake suddenly smiled. "Senistraz, that's brilliant! He made this to reflect the beauty of who you really are in your heart, rather than your body. He wanted the world to see you the way we do!"
"Blake's idea is reasonable and makes excellent sense," Senistraz congratulated her.
Blake cried again, surprised at herself. She was usually so level headed and… well… reasonable. She tended to be rather practical and pragmatic. Being reduced to a tearful—albeit happily tearful—puddle was entire new to her.
She carried the staff with her as she went to find Simon. She managed to reach the roof in time to see him pulling on his armor and mounting Pip.
"Simon!" He was too far away to hear her. So, mentally, she called to Pip, "Don't take him away from me, Pip. So help me, I'll tweak your spines if you do!"
Pip turned to look at her, and she felt a wave of amusement come from him. "We do not have long. It is Pip and Simon's time for patrol."
"Simon," she began as she approached them. "I don't know how to say this. I… I just wanted to thank you. It's the most beautiful staff I've ever seen. It really captures the essence of who Senistraz really is. I will treasure it forever, and so will she. I'm so glad that others will get to see the beauty in her, even if not as directly as you or I do."
"Glad to know that I didn't upset you." He smiled. "I gotta go. We're late for patrol."
"Simon!" she cried at he and Pip turned away. As their head swung her way, she said, "I'm sorry."
He smiled, a quiet, simple smile, and the pair launched into the air.
"No unnecessary risks today, please," she said tartly to Pip over the growing distance between them. She felt surprise and then amusement, but he said nothing.
She sighed and went inside. Suddenly she realized that she had no friends. No one to show the staff to. No one to share the exciting news with. Then she smiled. Shirra would at least be able to understand and appreciate the staff, if not the larger knowledge of why Simon gave it to her.
She went off in search of the Guardian, and found she was on watch in the West wing. When she got there, she showed the other woman the beautiful staff. "Wow, Blake. That's incredible. And it's enchanted, as well, you can feel it humming from the enchantment. Where'd you get that? It's worth a fortune!"
"Simon had it made for me," she replied, biting off the explanation about Senistraz.
The Guardian stared at her. "Really? Simon the Rider? Oh Maker preserve me, he is so delicious! What I wouldn't give to have him give me something like this!"
Surprised, Blake stared at her. "Really?"
"Oh yeah," Shirra laughed. "We all have the hots for Simon. Who doesn't? Big, blond, sweet… I mean, really."
"I didn't know you liked Simon."
Shirra looked over at the other Guardian, who was grinning, too. "I don't think there's a woman in the fortress except maybe the married ones—and they probably just won't admit it—who doesn't adore Simon. But he's always perfectly, completely polite. I think Corinne tried to poison Pip just so Simon would notice something else for a change."
Blake bit her lip. It wasn't common knowledge why she'd tried to poison Pip, though that she had done it, was.
What Blake found hard to understand and wrap her mind around was the fact that these women were agoggle over Simon. Somehow, the knowledge felt strange, unsettling, even alien. She didn't think it strange someone should find him attractive—she certainly found him so herself.
It was almost as if she suddenly realized that he had options. He had options and if it weren't for the bond between them, he could take them. She was acting like a child, refusing to even consider him, thus keeping him trapped with someone who didn't want him but yet unable to find someone else, either.
In some deep part of her mind, that was when she realized she needed to give him a real, fair chance. She knew he wanted to woo her, and as she walked back to her quarters, she unconsciously made the decision to even go so far as to try to enjoy it.
