Chapter 5: Seed of Rebellion

Aeris sat quietly in the corner of the banquet hall watching everyone dance and mingle. She wanted to be happy, but the different smells made her nauseous, the sounds made her head hurt, and the lights made her stare at the floor and shield her eyes. Even the new vest Master Aaron had specially made, a deep blue with a short skirt, felt too tight and constricting.

The worst part of it was that she was, once again, the center of attention. Even with Lilith joining them, the nobles were more interested in Aeris. Every time she was introduced to someone, she sensed them judging her. Their tones, no matter how gentle, always sounded disappointed or angry, and their friendly smiles resembled disgusted sneers. No one brought up the incident with the Everfields in front of her, but she heard their whispers when they moved away.

Still, Aeris was determined not to let her melancholy show. No matter what, that unpleasant night would not be repeated. She put on the same fake smile as the nobles and laughed on cue at their bad jokes.

While Master Aaron seemed to be enjoying himself, Lilith did not. The woman seemed stiff and Aeris heard her sigh repeatedly.

I just have to make it through tonight, she told herself. No matter what, remember your training. Be polite and don’t do anything embarrassing.

It came as a relief when Master Aaron asked her, “Are you enjoying yourself, my little celestial?”

Eager to have something to focus on besides the growing tension, Aeris was quick to respond, “Yes, Master, I am having a wonderful time.” She smiled broadly to prove her point. The fake smiles were beginning to make her cheeks hurt, but she would endure.

“Aaron, she’s obviously bored here,” Lilith said. “She’s the only dragon in the room and has done nothing but repeat, ‘Pleased to meet you’ and ‘thank you’ this whole night.” She gingerly touched his arm. “Why don’t you have her go out in the garden with the other dragons? Let her mingle with her own kind for once, and we can enjoy ourselves without distractions.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Master Aaron said. “Aeris has had never met with another dragon. Now is as good a time as any to get some practice.”

Aeris looked at the floor. It was a relief her master was unaware of her adventure to the commercial district, she also felt guilty knowing she deceived him.

“Well, that settles it then,” Lilith said, pushing Aeris towards the door. “You’ll go outside and mingle with the other dragons there. Aaron and I will come find you when it’s time to leave.”

She wanted to but then her last attempt at communicating with a dragon entered her mind. Unlike the Ravager she had met, these dragons hadn’t promised to be kind. What if one of them took offense to her and attacked her?

But it was clear there would be no discussing it, so without another word, Aeris bowed and headed for the garden. Her stomach knotted tighter and tighter with each step.

The garden was not as large as the banquet hall, but it was just as beautiful. The area was a maze of large green archways and hedges of various shapes and sizes. Some of the hedges even had flowers blooming on them further accenting the design. A large fountain sat in the middle of the gardens. Its center was a creature Aeris had never seen before. The top half of the sculpture resembled a human but the bottom half looked like a fishes fin. She made a mental note to ask Maggie about it when she got back. Surrounding the strange centerpiece were several smaller sculptures resembling different types of fish; each one sprayed a thin stream of water over the large half-human sculpture in the middle.

Four dragons sat near one of the stone benches by the fountain. Aeris recognized their species immediately. One of the dragons was a Silver Horntail, a bright grey dragon with several horn-like protrusions on the end of its tail. There were two sea-green dragons known as Aquarian Short-Snouts. Just as their name suggested, their snouts were shorter than those of the other dragons, and they had fins on the sides of their heads, tails, and the backs of their legs. The last dragon was a species Aeris knew all too well: a Green Crested Genial. Thankfully, this dragon was smaller than the last one she encountered. None of the dragons wore any clothing except the Genial who had a black, studded collar around her neck.

As Aeris approached the group, one of the Short-Snouts took notice of her and signaled the others. “Well, well, well. What have we here?” the dragon said in a deep, raspy voice. He was easily the largest of the bunch, rivaling the ravager who saved Aeris before. His scales were a darker shade of green than the other one. Aeris remembered reading that the males had darker scales than the females. “You new here?”

Aeris looked around the group in silence, her tail wrapping around her legs.

The other Short-Snout spoke up. She was the second largest. “Oy. My brother asked you a question.”

The first Short-Snout stepped between them. “Now, now she’ll answer when she’s ready.” The dragon gave Aeris a warm smile. “This is your first banquet I take it?”

“N-No. Actually, I attend banquets all the time,” Aeris said quickly, turning her gaze to the ground.

“If you do this sort of thing all the time, how come I don’t recognize you?” asked the Horntail.

“Leave her alone, Reks,” the Genial said angrily. She was the smallest of the group, nearly as small as Aeris. “Can’t you see she’s nervous?” The Genial turned to Aeris and said in a much gentler tone.

“I’m sorry about him, he’s always like that with newcomers. My name is Glee and this—” she hooked the thumb claw of her wing around the horn of the Horntail, pulling his head down. The drake began to protest, but Glee growled at him and he quickly fell silent. “—is Reks. Now those two over there—” Glee pointed her tail to the two Short-Snouts “—is Caleo and his sister, Rowen. Now you, my dear, are…?”

“I’m Aeris,” Aeris replied softly.

Reks snatched his head away from Glee. “So that’s why I’ve never seen you around. Because you’re perfect little Aeris; the humans’ favorite.”

“Shut up Reks,” Rowen said, her pectoral fins flaring.

“Make me.”

“I thought you’d never ask.” Rowen crouched low to the ground and an evil grin spread on her muzzle.

Glee quickly stepped between the two dragons.“Both of you stop it. You’re acting like clan-borns. Now I’m not going to be the one who has to explain to the humans how this place got destroyed, so sit your asses down and act like you were taught manners.” Despite her size, both Reks and Rowen dropped their heads and did as they were told.

Caleo appeared by Aeris’s side. “I’m sure you figured it out by now, but our masters talk about you a lot. Reks is a little jealous of you. He’d kill to get the humans to treat him the way they treat you.”

Reks snorted but a warning glare from Glee kept him from doing anything else.

Aeris tilted her head in confusion. “What does that mean?”

“It means the reason we haven’t seen you before is because you’re allowed inside the parties, while we ‘common’ dragons have to sit out here,” Caleo said.

Aeris looked at the group in shock. “You mean, all this time—”

“Yep. We get to watch from the sidelines—”

“—then hear about how beautiful and magnificent you are all the way home,” Rowen finished, “But don’t worry, Reks is the only one who’s jealous. Honestly, I find these human gatherings boring, so I don’t really care.”

“Really?” Caleo asked with a wide grin. “ ‘Cause I remember a certain dragon doing nothing but complaining at how a certain someone gets special treatment for doing nothing.”

Rowen shot a scathing glare at the drake but said nothing.

“I don’t see what all the fuss is about,” Caleo said, nuzzling Aeris’s cheek. “Being out here is so much better.”

Aeris quickly moved away from the dragon. She knew it was rude, but she didn’t like him touching her. It reminded her of the way Aaron touched her when he wanted to be alone with her.

“I’m sorry that happened,” Aeris said to Reks, hoping to change the subject. The Silvertail huffed and turned away from her. “If I had known there were other dragons at these gatherings—”

“You would’ve done what?” Reks snarled. “Save your pity. You were either too fucking stupid to know any better or too full of yourself to believe any other dragon exists.”

“Reks!” Glee scolded. “She is simply trying to apologize; you don’t need to speak to her that way.”

“And it’s not her fault your master’s an ass,” Rowen added.

Reks grumbled as he walked away, disappearing behind one of the shrubs.

Glee sighed and turned back to Aeris. “Just ignore him. The rest of us are not angry with you at all.” Jabbing her tail at Rowen, she added, “And you need to be careful about what you say around here. If the wrong human hears you, you’ll get into a lot of trouble.”

“Yeah, yeah. I know.”

Caleo brushed Aeris’s skirt with his paw. “What’s with the human get up?”

She quickly backed away from him, bumping into Glee in the process. Aeris yelped and moved away from the genial, nearly tripping over herself. The other dragons tilted their heads.

“Out of all of us here, Glee is the one that’s less likely to bite,” Rowen said. Another devious grin appeared on her face. “Or are you that worried about getting your pretty clothes dirty?”

“No! It’s not that,” Aeris said quickly, dropping her head in shame. “It’s just…” she fell silent upon realizing she almost told them about her run-in with a Genial before. Those same feelings of fear were creeping up on her.

“Just what?” Glee asked.

Before Aeris could answer, a human called Glee’s name. Glee turned back to the banquet hall and grumbled under her breath.

“Looks like we’ll have to continue this another time; my master’s calling me. The rest of you play nice and try to remember that you’re civilized.” The Genial quickly walked back to the banquet hall.

Aeris tried to follow but Rowen and Caleo cut her off.

The moment Glee vanished from view, Rowen turned to her. “Well? You gonna spit it out? What’s your problem with Glee?”

Aeris backed into the edge of the fountain. “I don’t! I don’t have a problem with her!”

“You know, this reminds me of something I heard earlier today,” Caleo said. “Something about a Genial getting into a fight with a dragon in the commercial district. If I remember right, the dragon had blue scales.”

Aeris felt lightheaded.

“Really?” Reks asked. Aeris’ heart sank at the Silvertail coming into view. “Well, it couldn’t have been Miss Perfect. As if she would get into a fight with a pillow let alone another dragon.”

“Well, I said ‘fight’ but it was more of one dragon getting tossed around,” Caleo said, an evil grin spreading across his muzzle.

“Oh yeah!” Rowen cried. “You told me about that! Didn’t that dragon piss themselves?”

Aeris couldn’t think, couldn’t move. Her heart pounded in her ears, threatening to drown out the sounds of their taunting. But she could hear them clearly as if the world had gone quiet.

It felt like she was back there again except the crowd was made up of dragons wearing large grins. Each one stared at her laying in a puddle of blood and piss, their eyes brimming with excitement.

“I would’ve paid to see that!” Rowen said. “Finally get the chance to see Little Miss Perfect put in her place.”

“Oh, please. As if she would even think about approaching a clan-born,” Reks said. “She thinks she’s better than everyone.”

“That’s not true!” Aeris cried. She had meant to sound convincing but instead, her voice came as a frightened squeak.

Reks began laughing so hard, he fell on his side. Rowen and Caleo had joined them, rolling on the grass and screaming with hysterics.

“ ‘That’s not true!’ ” Rowen said in a mockingly high, squeaky voice. “That was priceless!”

Caleo was the first to stop laughing. He threw a nasty look at the others before walking over to Aeris and throwing one of his wings around her.

“Leave her alone. It’s obvious she’s too naïve to know any better.”

“Oh shut up,” Rowen shot back. “You’re just being nice ‘cause you think it’ll make her lift her tail for you.”

“She’s not gonna,” Reks chimed in, still wearing his devilish grin. “She doesn’t even act like a real dragon.” The Silvertail began slowly circling the two of them. “Look at her; she even tries to dress like a human. She’s stupid and pathetic. Honestly, Caleo, you can’t be that desperate.”

Rowen swiped at Aeris, tearing her vest. Aeris tried to back away, but Caleo blocked her path. “Yeah, look at this ugly thing. How did you even get it on?”

“She has a human servant put it on for her,” Caleo answered.

Aeris pulled away from him, causing another tear in her clothes. “Maggie is not my servant.”

“So there is a servant!”

Aeris snapped her muzzle closed. Her body shook as she looked for an exit. They had her blocked from all sides with the fountain at her back. She could try flying, but there was no room to spread her wings.

The others moved closer.

“You know what? I can believe it was her in the commercial district,” Rowen said. “She would definitely be dumb enough to approach a clan-born and think he’ll do whatever she says. Even we don’t have servants dressing us. I bet she has a little bell she rings whenever she wants something.”

Aeris opened her mouth to protest, but Reks cut her off. “Makes sense. She thinks the whole world bows down to her. Everyone telling her how wonderful she is, how lovely she is.”

Rowen took another swipe at the vest, forcing Aeris onto her hind legs to back away. Reks immediately tackled her, sending her backward into the fountain. She floundered about as water filled her mouth and nose until she got control of her senses and stood up in the ankle-high water.

The dragons burst into laughter again. Caleo tilted his head.

“Hey, what’s that on her neck? Is that a bandage?”

“Ooohh, did the Genial leave a mark?” Rowen asked gleefully.

Reks climbed into the fountain and lowered his body to the ground as he continued to circle Aeris. He looked like a large silver snake slithering around her, waiting for its moment to strike. “Let’s find out.”

The sound of Aeris’ heart beating furiously drowned out the other sounds. Her breathing came in short, panicked bursts. Her tail curled so tightly around her, she couldn’t move without tripping over it as flashes of that day appeared before her. Humans surrounded her, laughing as the Genial stood snarling and growling. They cheered when he threw her into the wall. She frantically scanned the crowd, hoping someone; anyone would stop the dragon from tearing her apart. The Genial opened his mouth revealing several rows of pointed, razor-sharp fangs. Aeris cried out as she felt a familiar pain in her neck when the dragon clamped his jaws around her throat.

“NO!”

Aeris snapped out of her illusion. She stood in the middle of the garden, breathing heavily as if she had run several laps around her master’s estate. Reks lay limp as a doll on the ground beneath her. Caleo and Rowen were standing several feet away, their eyes wide and filled to the brim with shock and fear. She looked down at the Horntail beneath her and noticed she had a claw pressed against his throat, her muscles tensed and ready to slice his jugular at a moment’s notice.

Reks said nothing and did not attempt to throw Aeris off. He just lay there, eyes closed tight, quivering beneath her like a scared child.

Without saying a word, Aeris ran back to the banquet hall as fast as her legs could carry her. She racked her mind desperately to recall what happened. All she could remember was standing in the fountain while Reks, Caleo, and Rowen teased her. She remembered the humiliation, the fear, and the pain, but not what came after. Her memory just jumped to standing on the grass and holding Reks down.

She was so distracted, the moment she entered the hall, she ran into her master and nearly knocked him down.

Aeris flattened herself on the floor. “Master, I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean it! Please don’t be angry!”

Master Aaron lifted Aeris’s head. “Slow down, Aeris. What’s going on? I thought I heard something outside and—What happened? Why are you wet?”

Aeris cast her gaze to the floor. “Can, can we go, please? I don’t feel very well.”

“Okay, sure we can leave.”

Before leaving, they tracked down Lilith. Lilith wasn’t happy about leaving, but Master Aaron wouldn’t hear any of it. She pouted but relented and followed him as he guided Aeris through the banquet hall to the outside.

Aeris kept her head and her eyes down. She wanted to avoid all contact with anyone as if just by looking in her eyes they would know. They would suspect something was wrong and they would ask questions or they would simply know.

****

Aeris raced straight to her room the moment they returned home. She clawed at her sides until the dress tore and she then shook her body, flinging it into the corner. Turning away from the ruined garment, she curled up on her mattress and buried her head under her wing. The jeers and taunts of the other dragons rang loudly in her ears as she lay alone in the dark.

The door opened, but she didn’t look back to see who it was. “Well, that was certainly not the end to the evening I had in mind,” Lilith said.

Aeris sat up and turned to the woman. She immediately regretted the decision upon seeing Lilith’s cold stare. It was surprising to see Master Aaron standing next to her.

“Aeris, what happened?” Master Aaron asked.

“I…I wasn’t feeling well.”

“Should I call the doctor?”

Aeris shook her head.

Master Aaron picked up the torn remains of the dress on the floor. Her heartbeat doubled.

“Why did you tear your dress? It was very expensive and I went through so much trouble to find a tailor willing to work on it. And you still haven’t explained why it was soaking wet before.”

“She was probably playing in the fountain with the other dragons,” Lilith said. “I expected her to show more restraint than that. We’re lucky no one saw them.”

Aeris stared at the floor. “I’m sorry. I tried to take it off and couldn’t.”

“Then you should’ve asked Margret.”

“I didn’t want to bother her.”

“Aeris,” Master Aaron said firmly. “It’s her job to look after you.”

“I’m sorry, Master.”

There was a lengthy silence, but she didn’t dare lift her head. The mattress sank a little and she felt her master’s touch on the top of her head.

“Just be more careful. I know you’re terrible with clothing, but I want you to look nice.”

“Aaron, must you treat her like a child?” Lilith asked.

“Aeris is very precious to me.”

“But if you don’t let her grow, she’ll always be dependent on you.”

“Lilith, I’ve known Aeris since she was hatched. I will provide whatever she needs to ensure she’s taken care of.”

There was no response, so Aeris assumed the matter was settled. She refused to look up to check. The idea of looking at her master’s disappointed expression was unbearable.

Master Aaron forced Aeris’s head upward. She looked everywhere except at him. “Did you have fun with the other dragons?”

Aeris nodded, still avoiding eye contact.

“That’s good. You may be seeing more of them in the coming weeks.” He released her and rose from the bed.

“What? I’m going to see them again?” Aeris asked, tail curling around her.

“Well, yes. But that’s a discussion for another time. Good night, my little celestial.”

“Good night, Master.”

Master Aaron left the room, but Lilith remained. She continued her icy stare, her lips pressed into a thin line.

“He may have fallen for your innocent act, but I’m not so naïve. Did it bother you that much that someone else may be spending time with him?”

“What? No, no. I never—”

“I’m going to be frank with you: I don’t like you,” Lilith said. “I find dragons to be repulsive creatures. If it were up to me, you would already be on your way to the dragon district.” She took a deep breath and relaxed, but her cold gaze remained. “But you were here first and Aaron dotes highly on you, so, like it or not, I must tolerate your presence.”

Aeris curled into a ball and said nothing.

“So I’m going to make this quite clear to you, dragon. Aaron has enough on his plate without you adding to the burden. Cease your selfishness and cease making trouble for him.”

Lilith spun on her heel and stormed out of the room. It wasn’t until Aeris was alone that she realized she had been holding her breath. She let out a slow exhale, her body flattening out on the mattress.

She hated to say it, but Lilith was right. In the last few days, she had been nothing but a burden on her master. That needed to change. She decided to ask Maggie in the morning to start teaching her how to speak to dragons.

That night, her dreams were plagued with nightmares. Now she not only dreamed of being attacked by the genial, but Reks, Rowen, and Caleo were there, laughing and cheering him on.