Chapter Twenty-seven: Aviana
Ezran had come across a unicorn, who had offered his assistance to the boy. All week, Scintillam had been proving the legends about unicorns being good luck, they were very true. So far, there was no danger and they had always found food, water and shelter when they needed to. Scintillam had agreed to help Ezran for two reasons; first, one of the dark mages that Ezran had described bore a resemblance to another dark mage who had hunted and slain one of his last remaining brethren years ago. The second was that on the first day, Ezran and Bait had stopped for lunch; apple butter on bead. He didn't know if all unicorns liked apple butter, but Scintillam liked it quite a lot. Ezran trusted the unicorn's luck to get him to where he needed to be.
There was snow on the ground now, a fresh warmth spell being the only thing that kept the three from freezing. Callum recognized the immense tree trunks that he knew marked Aviana. Some of the trees had strange stone-like protrusions that formed stairs with rails built into them, wrapping around the trunks and going up to the tree-tops. Looking up so far she nearly fell backwards, Mira could just make out strange, thick lines connecting the trees, and the stairs led to what looked like floors built around the trees. Callum and Rayla led her up one of the massive trunks, Callum telling Mira that he had been here many times before and they needed to see someone. It seemed that the trees weren't as high up as they looked, because it didn't take very long to reach the tops of the stairs. Mira looked around in wonder.
"Mira," Callum said, smiling widely. "Welcome to Aviana."
There were floors built around the tops of the trees, which were now so close, a child lifted up by an adult could just touch the lowest branches, which would be covered in leaves in spring or summer. Callum would have tried it with Mira if he didn't know he'd probably be kicked in the face. Each floor was connected to others by large, sturdy bridges with rails, made from logs, woven sticks and vines. Each tree was hallowed out in arching doors leading to homes, shops and the like built right into the trunks, and there were dozens upon dozens of these structures at the very least; a whole forests worth of high tree dwellings. Skywing elves of every color the sky can be, some with wings, were going back and forth on the bridges, coming and going, talking and bartering around them. Sunlight filtered through the bare branches, casting broad shadows here and there.
"This is amazing." Rayla said, looking around happily. She had already been to Aviana a couple of times before, but it never ceased to amaze her. This place also held a faint feeling of nostalgia for her, given how many houses and places were build into trees there, as well.
"Come on, there's someone we need to see." Callum said, beckoning the girls down one bridge.
Aaravos didn't need the Nexus' per say, just the ability to harness the strongest sources of primal magic, which just happened to be where the strongest sources were at the most opportune times. That or take even longer tracking down primal stones than he'd done the first time. It had taken centuries then, but now with more humans and less stones, it would have taken even longer, and by that time the Dragon Prince would be fully grown and able to complete his arrogant father's work. The last two primal sources, star and sky, would need to be a waiting game, but still able to be completed within the year. He said as much to Viren and Claudia.
"The sky primal will be the most difficult to achieve and will need to wait for spring unless we can find a primal stone." he said.
"Does the Sky Nexus change like the Ocean Nexus does?" Claudia asked.
"The Storm Spire is the Sky Nexus." He said and held an expression similar to the one he had when recounting his imprisonment to Viren before the Battle of the Storm Spire. "It's clearly protected by Zubeia and her Dragonguard. In any case, the best time to harness the power is during a thunderstorm, not a snowstorm. We'll have to wait for spring regardless of anything. The star magic will only need to wait for a new moon, when the starlight reigns the night sky." Aaravos turned to Viren. "What is tonight's moon phase?"
"Waning." Viren reported as dutifully as he once had to King Harrow. "It will probably be a week more before the new moon."
"Then we also have a debt line for that egg." Aaravos said. Before either human could ask, Aaravos explained. "Every kind of dragon egg will only hatch under specific conditions. Sky dragon eggs only hatch in storms, ocean dragons hatch underwater, earth dragons underground, and so on. Star dragon eggs can only hatch on a clear night under a new moon. Assuming the weather is favorable, that egg will hatch."
"So, it'll be harder to retrieve a baby dragon than an egg." Claudia said. Aaravos nodded. "But what exactly is that debt line?"
Aaravos didn't speak for a while. "I believe it is time to allow the two of you to accompany me on my little talks with our dear friend, Callum."
Despite the coolness outside, the inside of the house was warm. Mira was looking out a window, where outside in a neighboring tree, a mated pair of Xadian songbirds were building a nest. Though the eggs weren't typically laid until spring, the nests were built in the fall to allow bonding between the parents over the winter; Xadian songbirds did mate for life, after all. This was all told to her by Kit, a ten-year-old Skywing elf boy, as they munched on the cloud cakes his mother had made. Mira had never tasted anything so delicious, even the frosting was light and airy.
In another room, Callum and Rayla were sharing tea with Kit's parents. Wendell bore a certain resemblance to his father, Ibis, save for the stormy gray eyes and the bi-colored black and blue hair, which was so perfectly divided that there was no telling if his hair was black with blue streaks or blue with black streaks. His wife, Kara's hair was the white of a dove, her complexion was an eggshell-color and her eyes were yellow. Kit shared his mother's skin tone, getting this hair and eye color from Wendell. They had come to Wendell because he was a healer.
"And that's why we came to you." Callum concluded, topping off his account of the last few days.
"Well, you did the right thing taking her to that meadow." Wendell said, "It looks like it helped calm her down. And she's responding to the new name alright?"
"Yep." Callum said, and his face fell. "It's been a week since then, but she still fights me when I try to pick her up or talk to her. She always defers to Rayla."
"And she still won't speak?" Wendell asked. Callum and Rayla shook their heads in a negative gesture. "You need to give it time. Don't try to force anything. If you try to force it, you might scare her into a relapse. But you are right; letting Mira feel safe will eventually help her heal. Just continue to protect her, let her know that you only want to keep her safe, and hope that she eventually accepts you as her guardians for the time being. Unfortunately, she's her own person and sounds pretty stubborn despite her young age; if she decides you're still not to trusted, there's only so much you can do."
Callum sighed and looked at the kids in the other room, still preoccupied with the birds. Rayla, Wendell and Kara looked at him sadly. Kara spoke up. "How about you three stay here for the night? You all look like you can use it."
"That would be great." Rayla said. "A warm place to stay for once."
When Kara picked up Mira to take her to the washroom for a bath and Kit wandered off to some other place in the house, Callum took a moment to watch those songbirds. They nuzzled as they completed the nest. The smaller one, the female, was white with light blue streaks through her feathers and… Huh. He could have sworn her mate looked like Pip. As if in acknowledgement of this, the bird in question looked at Callum and sang him a cord that spoke of recognition and greeting.
The rest of the day was spent in comfort. After her bath, Kara and Rayla had taken Mira to a tailor for something sturdier than the leaves which, though durable, were beginning to wither and become brittle in the cold weather. She accepted without a fuss and was allowed to pick the color for herself at Kara's suggestion. She chose a green of a deeper shade then her old cloths had been. Rayla had also purchased a surprise for Callum, a sturdy brown leather capelet with white feathers covering the shoulders. It fit very nicely and, in her opinion, somehow made him more look more dignified. Mira fell sleep soon after dinner and the others decided to call it and early night – before darkness even began falling – as well. It was bliss to Callum to be able to sleep through the night without waking up every few hours to cast the warmth spell so they wouldn't freeze to death.
Ezran shivered as the sun began going down. The land had been unchanging for a while now. Suddenly, Scintillam reared onto his hind legs and flailed his hooves. Ezran wasn't sure if he was feeling his own terror or the unicorn's as he was thrown off. He hit the ground in a daze, hearing the sound of retreating hoof beats. Ezran sat up and rubbed his head hearing three sets of footsteps slowly approaching.
A red light shone before him, accompanied by a growl. It was Bait, trying to scare off whatever threat had cost them Scintillam. He could only regret the loss of the steed for a moment, though, as he beheld the figures. A Sunfire elf and two Moonshadow elves. Unusual grouping. The Moonshadow elves staggered backwards at the sudden burst of light. The Sunfire elf squinted his eyes and looked away for a moment, not quite as effected as his companions. He walked up and kicked the glow toad away, making Bait collide with a bare tree trunk and falling to the ground with a petulant whine.
"Bait!" Ezran shouted before turning back to his assailants and getting to his feet.
"King Ezran of a pile of smoldering rubble." the Sunfire elf greeted smugly. "You've certainly grown since I last saw you."
Ezran was about to ask how he knew him, but the mention of Katolis brought back the memory of that night. And the sniveling, pitiful Sunfire elf who Janai had to be restrained from killing. His aunt had introduced the man as Amer, Janai's brother and the cause of everything that happened. It made Ezran sick to think about.
"Prince Amer." Ezran greeted coldly, barely managing to swallow his anger and keep more-or-less civil. "Who are your friends?"
"Sirus and Kiara of the Moonshadow elves." The male Moonshadow elf said, he and the other having recovered from the light. "We're to understand you're the human's brother. The one who has corrupted Rayla and turned her against her own kind."
Ezran rolled his eyes; Rayla had told him about the band of her former friends and what they thought of her. From this, he knew it was pointless to try and defend.
"Have your sights on another elf, human?" Amer taunted. "Gotta carry of the family tradition, right?"
"Sorry to disappoint." Ezran replied with a shrug. For some reason, his mind went to Ellis, though he knew quite well what they were talking about.
"Enough talk!" Sirus barked. "Tell us where Rayla and your brother are. Then, we'll kill you in front of them before we kill them." Kiara looked at her friend as if he'd just grown a second head but said nothing. Amer didn't seem to object at all.
"Callum and Rayla are…" Ezran paused. The word was hard for him to get out, but now wasn't the time to get lost in his thoughts. "dead." The three elves looked stunned. He continued, somehow plucking up his courage. "One of the Dragonguard saw one of Aaravos's dark mages with Rayla's swords. If they got hold of her swords, they wouldn't have let them live, so too bad, your plans for revenge are ruined."
"I see." Amer said, calming down, and Ezran didn't like the look he was giving him. "Well, it's a shame we didn't get to see it happen. It would have been so satisfying. Still, I guess you'll be a good consolation prize. And we'll be saving another elf from your family's depravities."
Though his peripheral vision, Ezran could see Bait charging – or what passed for charging with him – toward them. Kiara walked the maybe three feet toward Bait and harmlessly picked him up. He was still red and squirmed helplessly, though Ezran did notice that Kiara didn't seem as vengeful as her companions. Ezran didn't struggle as her companions apprehended him – he neither had nor knew how to use weapons. He was counting on having found his aunt and her crew by now. Maybe not thinking things through was a part of this whole puberty thing. That would certainly explain why teenagers were famed for stupid stunts.
"We'll wait until tomorrow." Amer said. "It won't be as satisfying if we do it in the dark. I think we all agree that after all this trouble, we'll want to savor the sight." Sirus nodded in agreement, and Kiara was silent, considering something, as she also bound up Bait and tied his ropes to Ezran's back. He was grumbling away, signaling to Ezran that he was at least okay.
It was still dark when Ezran awoke, feeling something fiddling with his binding. His arms sprang free and Bait climbed up his back and onto his shoulder. It was Kiara, who put a finger to her mouth in a silent plea for him to keep quiet and gestured for him to follow. He took a moment to look back to where Amer and Sirus slept, about two feet apart, but each curled in an effort to retain heat. He looked back at Kiara and followed. Once they were a decent distance away, they began talking as they went.
"What's going on?" he asked.
"Rayla's…gone." Kiara's voice was cracking, and Ezran could tell she'd been crying. "And…that's what we came out here for. Ten of us left home to take Rayla and her human down, only Sirus and I remain, and now someone else did it entirely."
"Well, that's a good thing, right?" Ezran asked. "So you didn't have to do it yourself? You're Kiara, right? Rayla told us about you, how you two used to be best friends."
"Yeah." She said, wistfully. "We went to school together, Sirus and us. It's been so long since we've been out here, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be welcomed back home. And then to all of a sudden have our goal ripped away from us, replaced by someone who didn't even do anything…I'm done. There's no reason left to stay, this isn't what we came out here for. The truth is, I…should have left a long time ago."
"I'm Ezran, and this is Bait." He said, gaining her attention.
"Ezran?" she asked. "We know your name back in the Silvergrove. You and your father were supposed to be assassinated."
"So I've heard." He said. "But Rayla was too good for that. She almost lost her hand for me."
"Sounds like her." she said, smiling to herself. "She was always the more rambunctious of the two of us when we were kids and would take anyone one in a fight, but she would" she stopped, remembering Latus. Her voice grew tight. "n-never kill a fly."
"Something wrong?" Ezran asked. Kiara told Ezran about Latus, and how Rayla had killed him when he sent an arrow through Callum's arm. Ezran's face had paled, so Kiara had to assure him that arrow wounds were quick to heal if properly treated, and all assassins had basic medical training.
"So what happened between –" He was interrupted when his aunt and her soldiers seemed to charge out of the dark night. It was then that they realized that they had gotten far away, enough that Amer and Sirus were out of sight. They surrounded them, Amaya looking suspiciously at the stranger, saving her real livid look for her nephew.
"What the – Kiara?" Lain asked, immediately recognizing this daughter's childhood friend. She didn't see him, of course, just a horse without a rider. She didn't question this, though, remembering Runaan's account of his imprisonment and rescue, which had included Lain and his wife.
Ezran tried and failed to give Amaya a feeble smile and wave. She was unamused.
Author's Notes: Scintillam is Latin for 'spark'. The encounter wasn't random, either, that's all I'll say. As for Aviana, I based it off of Fortree City from Pokemon. A city in the trees has always been a cool idea to me, and if you check out Dragon Prince's Twitter or Tumbler, it turns out they're Pokemon fans themselves; they even have a trainer AU. And a capelet is what is sounds like, it's a short cape that goes over the shoulders but not passed the elbows. I saw a fanart piece of older Callum wearing one and like it. Review.