After the two dragons had flown off, the five members of the Dragonspring family and one shrouded Dragon priest walked back to the house. "I don't think you should come on this trip, Vari," Katja told her transformed son. He was essentially an adult, though a young and small one – but in his human form he looked so much like a vulnerable child that she could not bear the thought of putting him in danger. Besides, look what had happened to Rahverid.
Of all her children, only Andi seemed grown-up and formidable enough to be fit for battle. She quailed at the thought of putting him in peril as well, but steeled herself. It was time to let her eldest seize his own destiny. "I'm all right with staying behind, Mama," Vari assured her. "I can help Mina look after the younger kids." Though he was less than a year older than Sigi and younger than Mina, Edla, and Meri, he was older than any of them in his mental development.
When they had reached the house and gone inside, Wyll asked "Are we going to take the draugr to Bonestrewn Crest immediately?" Afternoon was wearing on, and suppertime wasn't that far off. Whoever fast-travelled to deliver Uthzoorlaas and his troops to the ambush site would be exhausted and starving by the time they got back.
Katja considered. "I think we'd better wait and go tomorrow morning after breakfast," she said. "I want to come along on this trip, Mom," Andi said. "I should have it on my map so I can get there on my own or with reinforcements, if I need to." "That's a good idea," his mother replied. "Probably Wyll and Anders should come along too. That way we'll all have it. Then maybe you can head right for Markarth from there, Andi, and bunk with the Lassitus family while you're gathering up your reinforcements."
Mina wasn't exactly thrilled to learn that it had been decided she would be in charge of the farm and four youngsters while her parents, the Steadfast parents, Dovi and Andi all went off to ambush the evil Dragon priest. But she accepted the situation without complaint. They were knuckling down to their responsibilities, as she should do with hers. And at least hers weren't likely to get her killed or horribly maimed.
Vari was eager to acquire all the skills of a human being, including enchanting and alchemy. Before suppertime he and Katja looked over the alchemy book Andi had brought back from Skuldafn, studying the formula for the dragon-to-human transformation. Like the one both Katja and Andi had taken to enable them to become dragons, this one had a long list of exotic ingredients.
Katja had travelled widely around Tamriel in the years since her first ingredient-hunting expedition on Odahviing's back, and she thought she knew where to find most of these. But that would have to wait until after they had stopped Kahluthkrii. It might well take weeks to gather all of the plant and animal reagents in quantities enough to provide the potion to Vari's 17 remaining dragon siblings – and Paarthurnax as well. She suspected he might need a double-size dose of the stuff.
She guided her son through the preparation of some simple health potions, then gave him the formula for a poison that would drain your enemy's magicka for a period of three minutes after being struck by a weapon it had been applied to. Vari picked it up well, and made several bottles of the stuff.
This was fun for both of them, but Vari happily set the alchemy aside as suppertime approached. Wyll was cooking tonight, and he had a joyful kitchen helper in his second-youngest son. The sheer delight the boy took in working with his newly-acquired hands was a kick to watch, and the rest of the family shared his pleasure. They were already getting used to him being a human boy, instead of an enormous scaly creature too big to fit inside the house.
After supper with the family Andi walked down to the Suite for the second time on this seemingly endless day. What a lot had happened! He wondered about Odahviing and his seeming belief that Mom would just fall into his arms if only he could become human. They had spent nearly three months living together as a mated dragon pair back when Andi was little, and had seen each other a few times a year since then – yet he knew her so little?
He had never seen married people so deeply in love, and so committed to each other, as his parents were. Even the brotherly bond his papas shared was far stronger than any normal friendship. Well, he hoped for Vari's sake that Odahviing would put that notion out of his mind. Either Wyll or Anders could break that guy in two, no matter how tall he was – and might not hesitate to do so, if he kept pressing his suit. Yet the man was his brother's biological father, and it would make Vari very sad if violence erupted between him and his other fathers.
As he reached the Suite and stepped up on the porch, Andi's concerns about Odahviing and his disruption of their family were swept away by anticipation of seeing the girl he loved. He spotted her almost as soon as he walked in, leaning against the bar and talking with her foster father Ellis. He was manning the bar and both Rezira and Sintra were on duty as wait staff while Larissa and others worked in the kitchen.
At the moment business at the Suite was on the quiet side, with relatively few travelers staying here and the local dinner crowd already gone for the evening. There would be more coming in later, mostly for drinks and snacks, enjoying the convivial atmosphere with dancing, singing, and music. The Suite's original inside bathing pool, where Andi's own parents had first met, was still a popular place for young singles to strike up acquaintances.
"Mind if I steal Zira from you for an hour or so?" Andi asked Ellis. Though the Elf's appearance had not noticeably changed during Andi's lifetime, he had been friends with Wyll and Anders, and later Katja, since long before the boy had been born. He grinned sardonically and said "That'll be all right. But don't go too far. I'll need her when the late rush gets started."
"Thanks, Ellis," Rezira said as Andi took her by the hand and led her out the back doors to the Suite's rear deck. Though she'd been living with the Venturas as part of their family for nearly a year, and had come to regard Sintra as a younger sister, she was old enough that she was never going to start thinking of Ellis and Larissa as "Father" and "Mother."
She was still far short of the age of majority, which among her people was 25; but in her own mind she was an adult. She still thought about her parents sometimes, trapped now forever in their Dwemer paradise. She missed her younger brother, and wondered how Mother had weathered the storms that were sure to have descended on her after she had nearly lost the entire Great Army under her command – and failed to prevent the loss of all of Mrzhandtham's slaves.
Andi led her to a bench that lay against one of the deck rails, off in a dark corner behind the guardhouse. "Twice in one, day Andi!" Rezira said mischievously. "To what do I owe this great honor?" He drew her to him in a passionate embrace, locking his lips on hers as she melted into him. After around a minute he broke away, panting slightly. "Divines, woman! Don't you think I would be with you every minute of the day if I didn't have so much else going on?"
She smiled at him to let him know she'd been teasing. It was not just him; both of them had many things to occupy their time. Even when she'd been working with his papa Anders and the old Falmer, Gylabris, on technological projects, he'd often as not been out of town working on what his family called "The Falmer Initiative." Well, maybe separation helped to keep her interest strong. From what Andi said, Anders had often been away throughout the time he'd been married to Andi's mother – and those two seemed to still have the spark even after so many years together.
Andi had his hands on her shoulders now, and a serious expression on his handsome face. She loved those brown eyes of his, so warm and loving as he gazed into hers. "We came up with a war plan today," he told her. "A way we think we can trap old Kahluthkrii and stop him once and for all. If it works, we'll kill off all of the undead dragons he's raised and stop him from ever raising another one. Then life can get back to normal." Her deep blue eyes registered surprise and a little fear. "Where are you going to fight him?" she asked, hoping it was not anywhere around here.
He grinned at her, sensing her concern. "Way over on the other side of the mountains, at a dragon altar called Bonestrewn Crest," he assured her. "My parents and I are going there tomorrow with Uthzoorlaas and his draugr army, and they're going to get into hiding around the place. Then I'm going to Markarth and see if I can get some Dwemer mechs to join our forces. We should be able to get Kziintke at least, and maybe his 'girlfriend' can help too. We're getting Dovi and his parents to join us, and since we can temporarily stop the undead with the Silence spell you taught me, it should just be a matter of hacking up the dragon zombies once they hit the ground."
"So you're not fighting him right away?" Rezira asked, still looking worried. "Not for another four days or so, not until we've assembled all our team," he said. "And how are you going to bring dragons down without having them land on your head?" she asked. Her worry seemed to be growing deeper as her imagination painted all the things that could go wrong with their plan.
Andi seized her in his arms and kissed her some more, murmuring "Don't worry, Zira love. Everything's going to be all right." She clung to him, tears escaping from her closed eyes and moistening her cheeks. "I can't bear to lose you," she murmured back. "Promise me you will think this all through in the time you have left and be very, very careful that you're safe."
They heard the bard starting his first song of the evening, the tinkling notes of the lute wafting out through the open rear doors. The night was warm, and the doors had been left open to catch the breeze off the river. "Come on," Andi said, grabbing Rezira by the hand and leading her back inside. "Let's dance!"
The Suite had a continual parade of bards and musicians coming through, some who played limited engagements during a brief stopover and others who became regular Suite employees and performed nightly for months. The current bard, a young Bosmer graduate of the College in Solitude, was skilled with lute and flute, and favored lively tunes over soulful ballads.
"Play it, Gylffen!" Andi called cheerfully as he led his lady onto the dance floor. Gylffen grinned back and laid into the tune with a will, a fast and cheerful song of his own composition:
Dance, as the evening's falling,
Dance, for the spirit's calling,
Dance, send your feet a flying,
Dance, leave the ladies sighing,
Dance, round the circle spinning,
Dance, life is just beginning…
The song went on for many verses, with an instrumental break, and ended at last with "Dance, though the dawn is breaking, Dance, though your feet are aching…" Andi and Rezira had been joined on the dance floor by another young couple, and two unattached women who were not exactly dancing with each other but just leaping and pirouetting for joy, letting the music lift their souls. As the song ended they all stood panting for breath, eyes sparkling and cheeks glowing.
When Andi got back home, somewhat later than intended, he found his parents and Uthzoorlaas arraying the silent army of draugr in the area behind the house. "It's about time you got back," his mother said. "We thought it would be a good idea to get everyone in position and ready to leave first thing in the morning. They can spend the night out here standing in the yard as easily as down in that room in the basement, and this way we're not escorting draugr up the front stairs in daylight."
"Ooh, I hadn't thought of that," Andi admitted. "Good idea. I assume we're leaving early, then?" "Right," she replied. "I'll be giving you a pre-dawn wakeup call, we'll all grab some breakfast, and I hope be out of here before it gets light enough to see. I shudder to think what the reaction would be if anyone glances over and notices we have an army of walking corpses in our back yard."