Chiara da Luna, My Lady's Dragon
My Lady's Dragon
Chiara da Luna
Chapter 2
Rose cursed the habits of a lifetime when her eyes opened before first light, or tried to. Her lids seemed gummed together by some dampness around them. When her father was alive, she'd always risen with the servants so as to have a long period of time to practice her music. She doubted that anyone had any expectations of her today, and she glanced across the room at her sister's sleeping form. She frowned at the gasping breaths Lil struggled to take. Clearly Lil was much worse than she pretended. Equally clearly she didn't want assistance. Rose wondered what the surgeon thought she could do for her sister.
She couldn't fall back asleep; so she dressed quietly in the dark. She found her music and sketch book and set out for the club room, where she'd seen a piano on her way to dinner.
But as early as it was, aviators rose even earlier, and they gathered around, interested, when she sat at the piano. She tried to oblige their requests, mostly songs that they could sing, but she could not call the efforts practicing as such. After a handful of songs, she made her excuses and went to the dragon courtyard.
She was secretly relieved to see it empty but for Florenzia, hanging her head over the edge of her pavilion. She wasn't used to multiple dragons, and even during her mother's visits with Florenzia, it had taken her a little while each time to accustom herself to just the one dragon that towered over her.
She walked quietly so as not to disturb Florenzia if she were sleeping, but the dragon opened one eye as she approached. "Are you well this morning, Rose? And your pretty dress?"
Rose ran forward to place her hand on the soft nose. "Very well, both my dress and me. You see how early I am awake. The dress had very little damage, and it looks as good as new after hanging in the steam room.
Florenzia sniffed and turned her head away. "You're wearing black again, as though you wanted to be on Temeraire's crew, though I like that brooch. Very dainty and delicate."
"I'm sure I never would want to be on his or any other dragon's crew," Rose said, in a soothing voice. I dress in black because I am in mourning for my mother. The brooch is for mourning too." She took it off and held it closer. "You see, there is a weeping willow tree over three roses, one for each of her children."
"And I am the weeping willow tree! Oh, dear Rose, how sympathetic you are! It is indeed a beautiful piece of jewelry. How I wish I had something to show my grief. I have jewelry, of course, that my captain gave me."
"Perhaps we could pick out something that does not sparkle very much. Mourning is a sober time."
"It all sparkles. I like it so."
"I am sure dragons may wear whatever they like."
Florenzia's eyes strayed back to the brooch.
Rose considered. "I have some black netting. Perhaps I could sew on some jet and pearl beads and make a sort of hat for you. Then you would have someplace to fasten jewelry such as a brooch."
Florenzia flicked her tail like a whip several times. "That would be very pretty. I should like it above all things."
Rose opened her sketch book and quickly drew some dragon-drapery. Florenzia shook her head over the first few and finally picked a very ornate turban style.
"That will take more netting than I have. Perhaps a shop in Dover will have some." She fell silent as she made more sketches.
"What are those?" asked Florenzia, cocking her head to see them better. "You've made them smaller."
"They're for me. Clearly I must have dragon-riding clothes. I do not ever want to find myself upside-side down with my hem around my neck again." She blushed at the memory. "I do hope Temeraire and his crew were not close enough to see me."
Florenzia laid her head on the pavilion floor. "Shall you ever ride again?"
Rose leaned against her. "I do hope so. I always have, although I never had any expectation of being your I could stay here awhile, to care for you and my sister. I thought to hire a maid for us, so as not to burden on the covert servants, maybe someone who could also attend you, though I don't know about the harness. Perhaps there is a blacksmith near by?"
Florenzia opened an eye. "Why should I want a maid when I have a crew?"
"Where is your crew?" asked Rose.
Florenzia put her head down on her front legs and tried to hide her face. "Some dead, some injured."
"Let me revise my question: Who are your crew? I will undertake to find those who survived. I am certain that they would be happy to do whatever their dragon wished."
The dragon raised her head, her shame set aside for the moment. "That is a very good way to look at it. Pray find my runner first. He will be very useful."
Young Mr. Parker was easy to find. Rose followed the bubble of shouts and screams. With her best Countess voice, she demanded, "Mr. Parker! Report to your dragon immediately."
The crowd of boys fell away, leaving Parker by himself. He rubbed his nose with one hand and slicked his hair back with the other. "You the captain, then?"
"I am not. I am merely assisting my mother's dragon in finding her crew. You may come explain to Florenzia why you have abandoned her."
"She said, 'Go away,' dint she? Said she was hurt and wanted to be alone. You gonna argue with a 12-ton dragon?"
"You can scarcely have thought she meant it forever. Report to her now to see if she has any tasks for you before she meets with the entire crew. But before you go, tell me where to find the harness master and the other ground crew."
"I'll take you there," Parker offered, trying to open his eyes wide enough for a cherubic look and succeeding only in getting dirt in them.
She didn't like to go into the forge, as hot as it was; so she called the harness master's name. When he turned, she covered her mouth as an exclamation escaped. The man had his left arm in a sling. Despite the warmth, she tripped forward, extending her hand. "Mr. Bard, I am Captain Blakeney's daughter. I hope your arm is healing well. Florenzia would like to meet with her crew at 3, to discuss interim duties while she and you heal. Do you have an assistant?"
He wiped his hands on his apron and took her hand between thumb and a finger, as though it were a china cup he feared breaking. "Aye, prolly find him at the Duck and Drake. Be ye the new captain?"
"Oh, no, I'm just assisting Florenzia and my sister while they're injured." She jumped at an especially loud clang on the anvil and almost tripped over a pile of heavy rope. Looking at it more particularly, she saw that it looked like a very large net, with the ropes in a grid-like pattern.
"Parker, throw that belly-rigging in the fire," said Bard. "Iskierka's runner left it there when I told him it's too frayed to mend. It'll never hold a ground crew in flight."
"Should you mind greatly cutting out a square, perhaps close to my height, and stretching it across a wooden frame of similar size?" asked Rose. "I believe Florenzia would have use for such."
Bard gaped in astonishment but agreed that he could do such a thing.
"I'll take you to the Duck and Drake," said Parker. "That's what runners are for."
Rose hesitated. "Very well. Then you report to Florenzia."
"Aye, Captain."
"Lady Rose."
"What?"
"That is how you address me. Lady Rose. Every time. Now take me to the Duck and Drake."
She stared at it in horror. Not only was it not the kind of place that she would enter, but she didn't want to know anyone that would patronize such a decaying, rank establishment. She removed her card, "Lady Rose Danforth at home," from her reticule.
Parker snatched it. "I'll take that in for you."
She held his shoulder. "If it's not a fit place for me, it's not a fit place for you."
"Why not? I been here dozens a' times." He wiggled away and darted through the door that hung on one hinge, the paint peeling away in large curls, formerly blue. "Hey, Chazzy. C'mere," he called before he disappeared inside.
Rose held her handkerchief under her nose to combat the even more rancid odors that spilled out of the building. A few minutes later a man stumbled out into the street. Possibly Parker pushed him or supported him; Parker definitely held him up as he swayed in front of Rose.
She refused to take a step back. She brought her best aristocratic basilisk stare to bear on him and said in her most frigid tones, "Mr. Charles, you will present yourself to Florenzia at 3 pm in a clean, sober state and explain to her your neglect of her and your other duties. You will then hold yourself ready to carry out any orders she and Mr. Bard have. You will present yourself to both of them at the start of each day clean, sober, and ready to work." She swept away, clutching her skirts close to keep them out of the dirty street."
"You want me to find the rest of the crew?" asked Parker as he ran to catch her up.
She didn't look back at the sound of someone falling heavily. "I want the lieutenants."
"Greevey, the first, he's dead, shot trying to help the Captain and then got bashed around till he broke. Hoo, riding that dragon was like being in a storm. Once we was on this transport-"
"Is there a second lieutenant?"
"Yeah, Martin, banged up almost as much as Greevey, but he ain't dead yet. Head bellman, he's dead. Line snapped in two. Musta been weak. Head rifleman broke his ankle or sumpin. Got a cane now."
"Suppose you direct me to Lt. Martin and then take the message to any mobile crew. And then-"
"I know, present meself to Florenzia."
"One more thing."
"Before or after?"
"After you first present yourself to her, but before the afternoon's meeting. Do you know where the fowls and peacocks are kept?"
"Hoo, yeah. That Sally, she's a terror, if you get near her chickens. And them peacocks is Lord Admiral Roland's special pets. No one's to touch them."
"I don't want you to touch them. But chickens and peacocks drop feathers, which I would appreciate your asking permission to pick up and bring to me. I should prefer feathers that have not been trampled in dung, and, I repeat, you are not to distress the birds or their handlers in any way. Do you understand?"
"Hoo, yeah. Bring ye some feathers. Martin's over that way, in the barracks." He waved a hand vaguely and sped away, leaving Rose to bite her lip in fear that he'd attended to exactly as much as he wished. She stared after him a few minutes, wondering if she should follow him on his appointed rounds.
Reflecting that it was sometimes better not to know details of how an order was carried out, she steeled herself to approach Lt. Martin by herself. She hesitated to enter the men's barracks, but she found someone willing to take him a message. When he joined her in the officers' club, she had to work not to stare. Martin wore a bandage around his head and around his arm, bound tightly to his chest.
"Lt. Martin, I am sorry to see you injured. Will you be able to join the crew to meet with Florenzia this afternoon at 3?"
He regarded her insolently. "And who might you be?"
Not used to being addressed in that tone, she lifted her chin as she rose to her feet. "I beg leave to present myself. I am Lady Rose Danforth, Captain Blakeney's daughter, here to assist my sister and Florenzia, who bids me to assemble her crew."
Martin's expression did not change. "I do not see how I can possibly attend, in my current weakened state."
"After three months?" asked Rose with equal amounts of skepticism and sympathy.
"Head wounds are no trifling matter," he replied in a stiff voice. "And were it be aggravated by riding a twisty Xenica, I could not answer for the consequences. I do not know when I shall be able to resume my duties."
"Martin, you're just in time. Join us for cards?" called another officer from across the room.
With a thoughtful glance to his would-be card partner, Rose said. "I would not impede your recovery for the world. I shall inform Florenzia that you are quite unavailable for some time to come—do I have that correctly, sir?"
"Rather," said Martin. "Let someone else get their brain box shook to bits."
She drew on her gloves. "Our—Florenzia's, Captain Blakeney's, and my—best wishes for your recovery, sir."
She flung herself across the compound in a red haze and almost ran into another officer, this one several inches shorter than she.
The young woman in Aerial Corps uniform leapt backwards rather than be plowed down.
"I do beg your pardon!" exclaimed Rose. "I was not attending at all."
"Not at all, Lady Rose," she said. "I was hoping to run into you, but not so exactly. I don't know if you remember me—Lavinia Dane."
Rose had cocked her head, puzzled at being so addressed by a stranger, but she then smiled and put out her hand to shake the other's warmly. "Lavvy! Of course, I remember you, though I might be hard put to recognize you. How could I forget my best opponent in our dragon-tree games? I cried for a month after you went into the service. Tell me, do you still intend to name your dragon Biggatorious?"
Lavinia laughed. "No, though I hear that my young brothers and sisters still call those oaks Biggatorious and Florenzia. I did want to ask—if I should get my step someday-I should like very much to name my dragon Rosabelle, after your mother, if you would not take offense. She made it possible for me to enter the service and always took an interest, sent me a guinea on Christmas and my birthday, and even 5 pounds in her will—I don't feel I could ever be grateful enough…" her voice trailed off in embarrassment.
Rose, who had written the letters and included the guineas for all the young aviators from Wexley from the time her mother deemed her writing suitable, replied instantly, "My mother would be honored, and so would her children." And the rest of her family would never know, she added to herself. "But what if your dragon is male?"
"Rosario, I think," said Lavinia. "I am so glad you do not mind. I thought of Wexley or Blakeney—but perhaps the rest of the family would not care for that, and I rather like Rosario better anyway."
"I believe you have made the correct choices, and I hope you will get to carry through with one of them."
"I have just made lieutenant, passed my exams this week," Lavinia said, not without a great deal of pride.
Suitably impressed, Rose congratulated her. Indeed, it was no small feat for a tenant's daughter, with only such schooling as the village dame school and the notoriously casual Air Corps could provide.
"And I should like to ask, that is, to be considered, if Florenzia should need another lieutenant…" Lavinia swallowed and began again. "There's no place for me now on Orchestia; she has a great many lieutenants already. Captain Graves gave me leave to try to find another place, and I hope that I could be of service to Florenzia, if she should have a vacancy."
"I am not her captain, but I will certainly give your request to Florenzia. She is injured, you may know, but she certainly has a place for at least one lieutenant, possibly more. But you might prefer to serve on a dragon on full duty."
Lavinia grinned in undisguised glee. "Thank you, Lady Rose! I am truly grateful! I should be happy for a place anywhere, but especially Florenzia. Do you remember how she gave us rides around Wexley when we were small?"
"I do, and I remember that only you and Severin—do you recall the vicar's son?—had the courage to ride with me. I was ever so glad! My nurse always said she'd drop me in the duck pond if ever I acted afraid—'You're a captain's daughter, aren't you?' she'd say. But every time Mother came to visit with Florenzia, I was terrified all over again. I am indeed glad to see you again doing so well, and I will bring your plight to Florenzia's attention."
Meeting her old friend smoothed some of the sting of the encounter with Lt. Martin, and Rose was able to meet the rest of the crew with firm cheerfulness. At three, the remainder of the crew duly assembled on Florenzia's pavilion. Florenzia regarded them sadly. They did seem to Rose to be a motley, damaged lot. A glance stolen at her sister's face confirmed her in that opinion. Lil stood a little ways back from Florenzia's head, as not quite the captain, her arms folded across her chest. Rose stood behind Lil, almost back to the wall. Florenzia bowed her head low for a few minutes, then raised it high and drew her forelegs in, sphinx-like. "My dear crew, I am desolate at your obvious suffering, and I humbly beg your pardon for my neglect of you in the oblivion of my grief. I can only promise in the future to attend to your well-being as you deserve, as my captain would have wanted."
As she warmed to her theme, she twitched and fluttered her wings like a lady's fan and shifting from one leg to the other as she twirled her forelegs at the wrists. Rose covered her mouth to suppress a giggle and leaned forward to whisper to her sister. "She's Sally Jersey to the life!"
"Who's that?" whispered Lil back, out of the corner of her mouth.
"Oh—someone I knew in London," Rose replied, sorry not to share the joke. She reflected that the restless, chattering Queen of Society had never been described so carelessly. Rose hoped Lady Jersey would never hear of it.
"You may have heard that my captain—my captain's daughter and I were instrumental in capturing a prize earlier this week. I intend to share it among you, as though you had been with me, as you would have been but for the sad events of the last battle."
Her audience visibly cheered.
"Although Providence has seen fit to deprive me of not only one captain"—she sniffed in critique of Providence—"I would ask that you resume your duties as far as you are able. Those of you who are school age must resume your studies." A collective groan choked off as soon as the dragon leaned over to glare at them close range. "Somehow, too, we must arrange for you to be trained in the Chinese way, seeing that I cannot join in the morning drills with our guests from China," she said with deep dissatisfaction.
"We'll ask if they can go up with the other British dragons," said Lil. "Each could take at least one of your crew and get some training that way."
"That is an excellent idea," said Florenzia. "I shall write Lung Hong Lan directly. And in the evenings, when I take my 10 minute flight, you all shall come with me and tell me what you learned that day."
Now the older crew looked just as apprehensive as the young ones, an expression that did not abate with Florenzia's continued praise. She dismissed them with exhortations to be good students, to do their captain proud. But they left purposefully, leaving Rose to feel sad and invisible, much as she had after her uncle and aunt descended on Wexley after her father's death. Of course, everything was happening as it should: Florenzia regaining her interest in life and putting her crew back to work, her sister involved, as she was at the moment, talking to some of the senior crew: the juniors had run off the minute Florenzia dismissed them.
Rose sidled along the wall, the better to leave unobtrusively, though she had no clear idea where she would go, just away—away from people who had a function and were performing it. She put her chin up, determined to rejoice that Florenzia and Lilias were recovering and she could look forward to returning—no, that was too much. She could not look forward to returning to Wexley under her aunt and uncle's regime, even to rejoin her little brother Basil. She drew a shuddering breath and hurried into the dragon courtyard.
"Rose, where are you going?" called Florenzia. "Lil wishes to speak with you."
Rose dragged her steps back to the pavilion.
Lil coughed into her handkerchief for a minute. "Just got the mail before the muster." She coughed again. "Heard from Ma's solicitor." Apparently coughs were to serve as periods. "We need to go see him."
"Whatever for? He wrote to tell me what her will said," said Rose. "And most solicitors call on their clients."
"Most clients don't live in a dragon covert. We can go by post to London tomorrow, on Friday, and see him the next day. He spoke of final settlements. Maybe he's finally got the figures on her last prize money. He wanted to see you, too. Ma left instructions for the division to be explained to you, preferably in person. And her jewelers sent me a letter some weeks ago, too, saying that she'd had something there to be picked up, but of course no one would let me go by myself."
"If you are going to the jewelers, do keep an eye out for something I would like," said Florenzia. "A nice mourning pin, like the one Rose wears, that would be favorite."
"What would you pin it to?" demanded Lil. "Yes, we will get a bauble for you, greedy monster. Cranston & Riddle are close to the London covert and always have something for dragons," she explained to Rose.
"I wish to suitably display my mourning status," said Florenzia with dignity. "Rose can pick out something suitable."
Lil snorted. "I'll leave the task to her then."
It was impossible not to be cheered at the thought of London, though Rose suspected that the aviators did not patronize the parts of town that she knew. But there were Florenzia's decorations to be purchased, and she did long to ask questions about the odd division of her mother's property.
"I must write a letter to the Chinese delegation," fussed Florenzia. "But I do not know how I shall manage. My lieutenants used to write for me when my captain could not, and now I have no lieutenants."
"Martin will be back when he's recovered," said Lil. "And you don't need to write a letter. We'll just go over and ask them."
"I do not want Martin back," said Florenzia with a low growl in her throat. "I never wanted him, but I gave in to my captain's wishes. I knew when he was openly rude to Temeraire that he was not the kind of person I wanted on my crew, and you see I was correct. He was rude to my captain's daughter: I will not have it. But I will have a letter written. Civilized beings express themselves in writing. Temeraire says so."
"That dratted book!" said Lil, with an extra cough for scorn.
"Why don't you tell me what you would like your letter to say? I will write it down like I used to do for my father," offered Rose.
Florenzia perked up. "That would be very nice. And afterwards could you make a fair copy of it in copperplate? There is to be a section for letters in Writings of the Dragons, and Temeraire says business letters are just as appropriate as personal letters."
Lil said, "Ma always said you were more the earl than he was."
Rose pushed back a stray lock of hair and frowned. "When he became ill, naturally I helped him as much as I could."
"You ran the whole estate, Ma said," Lil averred. "I would have thought our uncle would have been lost without you."
"Our uncle," Rose snapped, almost spitting the words, "prefers to do things his way." She tried to recover herself. "I am sure that everyone will get used him in time, and certainly one person's methods may be as good as another's."
"Maybe, but I doubt it," said Lil, not very clearly.
"I am sure that you were a lovely earl," Florenzia said. "I feel fortunate that you can assist me, though I have not so much property or people to manage as an earl. You will find some paper and ink in the desk here. My captain often sat there to write letters, much nicer than being shut up in her bedroom to do so." When Rose was ready, Florenzia cleared her throat and dictated, "'Honored guest, Happy was the day that Heaven's generosity brought you to Britain's shores to instruct us in your venerable arts of war, that we may defeat once and for all our common enemy, who does threaten the entire world. I sit desolate that my own injuries have prevented me from presenting my respects to your honorable self and receiving the blessings of your most excellent instruction. In expectation of my return to health and my duties, I beg that my crew be allowed to attend on the backs of other dragons and participate in your wise lessons, that they, my valued attendants, may progress in knowledge and skill even as I progress in health, and that they may then bring me this knowledge, more precious than rubies.' Did you get that, Rose? You dropped your pen."
"I am not quite used to this pen," said Rose, leaning over to retrieve it. She tried to catch her sister's eye, but Lil was leaning against the wall and grinning at the ceiling, some thirty feet up. "If you would start again after 'venerable.'"
Florenzia repeated her words exactly and finished with "I bow ten thousand times to you and have the honor to remain, etc." Rose reflected that someone would need to translate anyway, and surely that person would not bother with all the verbal flourishes.
Florenzia squinted at her page. "That is very handsome writing, much better than my lieutenants. I do not know what I shall do for lieutenants. I must have at least two. There are many duties to be managed." Her mass of curly tendrils drooped.
Rose remembered her old playmate's request and told it to Florenzia, who fluttered both her wings in anticipation.
"That is an excellent idea," said Florenzia, tips of both wings quivering. "I should be happy to have someone my captain sponsored as my lieutenant. In fact, dearest Rose, if you were to make a list of all the Corps members from Wexley, I am sure it is no more than my duty to look after them. Temeraire says it is just laziness for dragons to care only for their captains. I should take them all for my crew."
"Handsomely over the bricks, Flossie!" cautioned Lil. "You want to see what they're like—including Lavvy Dane-before you commit to them. Picking crew ain't to be done in pig's whisper."
"I shall certainly give the matter my careful consideration," replied Florenzia with great dignity. "Now, Rose, we will write to Orchestia, to see if she can spare Lavinia to me." She whispered confidentially, "You can write on human-sized paper. Orchestia cannot read a word. Her captain will read it to her."
"She's just out on patrol," said Lil. "You can talk to her tonight."
Florenzia raised a wing and shook fanned herself rapidly. "I am a civilized being," she declared. She closed her eyes again and went sphinx-like. After a few minutes, she opened her eyes and recited, "My dearest Orchestia, Fair was the day and bright was the sky when first we met. I rejoice in your continued health. You have no doubt heard of my losses, which have left me desolate, despondent, and sadly lacking in crew. Having understood that your midwingman, Lavinia Dane, has lately made lieutenant but has no such vacancy to fill in your crew, I should take it as an honor and a favor if you were to consider permit her to join my crew as second lieutenant. I trust that you would tell me truly if such an arrangement were not pleasing to you or if you did not judge her as suitable for the position..."
Rose copied as fast as she could, each sentence more florid than the last. When Florenzia was done, she had Rose read the letter back to her. She added a few more adjectives and compliments before she allowed the letter to be folded to send. "You will make a fair copy?" she asked.
Rose promised and made notes on another piece of paper so that she could reconstruct the letter for the fair copy. As she prepared the letters for delivery, Emily hailed her from the courtyard. Rose blushed, but thankfully, Emily seemed totally unconscious of their misunderstanding of the previous night.
"Hallo," Emily called as she lept onto the pavilion. "Is everyone well after last night's adventure? No wings strained, Florenzia? What do you think? Taking a prize right in front of our covert! Lady Rose, I've just been talking to the washerwoman, right snippy she is that I've ruined yet another pair of trousers—too split to mend, she says, as though she paid for them herself. Anyway, I thought you might like to have them as a pattern, if you still hold to your intent to make your own dragon-riding costume."
"Whyever would you do that?" asked Lil, astonished.
"Yes, why?" asked Florenzia.
"I thank you, Emily," said Rose, rising and taking the ragged trousers from her with some embarrassment. "I am happy to have them as a model. I have started making sketches, but I admit that I do not understand precisely how to make the bifurcation." She faced the others with high color in her cheeks. "I am never getting on dragon back again with the possibility of finding my shift around my neck before the end of the ride. I have never been so ashamed in my life. That others—men-might have seen me!"
"Well, they didn't," said Emily. "No one could make out anything, as far away and as fast as Florenzia was moving."
"And you could just buy a pair of trousers," Lil pointed out.
"You relieve my mind, Lt. Roland, but I am still not going to take the chance," said Rose. "And as I am not an aviator, it is neither appropriate or legal for me to wear trousers. I plan to make a bifurcated garment with full legs to resemble a skirt when I am standing on the ground and to preserve my modesty in the air.
Florenzia nudged Rose's shoulder as gently as she could, which still sent Rose stumbling against the desk. "I am very sorry. Of course, I did not think of such matters at all. I am honored that you will go up with me again—you are making preparations to do so."
Rose's response was lost in the shriek from the peacock pen, much louder than the bird's usual complaint.
"Maybe one of the ferals is eating it," said Lil cheerily.
"I don't want to have to tell Mother," objected Emily.
Rose's brows drew together as a suspicion crossed her mind, but she stayed silent out of possible guilt.
19
