While the guards were panicking, Peter kept his eyes on the emerald dragon. Even from this distance, he could tell she was bigger than Jarnvaror. Mostly because she was longer. Her horns were more slender and set a bit farther back on her skull. And she did not look happy.
Jarnvaror didn’t reply to anything she asked. He’d caught on that his two legged companions were in trouble, and he was trying to keep the large group of other humans happy. He didn’t know how to do that with the emerald dragon so close at hand. A nesting mother was a dangerous thing to deal with, even for most other dragons.
In response to Jarnvaror’s silence, the emerald dragon glided down, hissing the sort of dragon curses that Peter didn’t know how to put into words. Many of the soldiers panicked and began calling for the mages. Jarnvaror curled himself around the Wisp Seekers and even some of their guards, so that he would be between them and the dragon mother.
She landed with a rush of wind that stirred the dust of the road into a small cloud. Her eyes were the same golden color as Jarnvaror’s. Her scales were thicker. Peter thought she could easily be over a century old. Fighting her was far, far outside the realm of what Jarnvaror could do right now.
The guards continued to babel in low terrified voices, scrambling to the sides and lowering their spears, trying to find some place they could strike. The emerald dragon paid them no mind. Her eyes flickered between them. She snorted something derisive about the two legs. Dismissing them, she turned back to Jarnvaror and commanded him to explain his presence before she tore off his head.
Jarnvaror hissed back that he was traveling with some of the humans who were stopped here. This took the dragon mother aback. Her head swung from side to side, as if she couldn’t believe another dragon would travel with creatures so small. She said as much a moment later, growling at Jarnvaror and demanding the truth from him.
“He’s not lying!” Peter called up to her.
She hissed in surprise, turning to look at him and stepping back. “Don’t talk to it!” demanded one of the guards, who all jumped back in response.
“Do you want them fighting and burning this whole forest down?” Peter snapped back. When they didn’t reply, he looked back at the emerald dragon. “Sorry. We were only planning to pass through. We didn’t know your nest was so close. Or that we’d have to stay so long,” he added, raising his bound hands a bit.
The she dragon sniffed the air, stepping closer to him. She made a mewing sound deep in her throat, expressing her surprise that one of the little humans could talk like a dragon. Then she looked back at Jarnvaror and hissed that she didn’t mind the humans - she doubted they’d be able to reach her nest - but an unfamiliar dragon couldn’t be overlooked. Jarnvaror replied that he’d be happy to leave when his friends did. The emerald dragon spat at him to be silent.
“He’s not interested in your nest or your territory,” Peter said. “The metal dragons don’t like these mountains, do they Jarn?”
Jarnvaror replied that the mountains were too humid, too short, and too infested with the crystal dragons to be worth bothering about. He added that the ruby dragons down south had been much more hospitable. The emerald dragon hissed her displeasure at him.
“Was that really necessary, Jarn?” Peter asked. Jarnvaror hissed out a yes. But the emerald had turned back to Peter, her eyes shining with curiosity. Peter grinned at her. “Why don’t we start with names? I’m Peter, and this is Jarnvaror.”
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There was a moment of silence. Then the emerald dragon let out a long low rumble. Peter smiled. “Glad to meet you, Veithi. Would it help if we explained why we’re stuck here for a bit?” he asked.
The green dragon settled on the ground, close enough to listen in comfort without looming over Peter. Peter looked at Jarnvaror. “Make sure none of the locals give her any trouble while I tell her why we’re here, okay?” he asked. Jarnvaror agreed and swung his gaze to the Ryukyuujin commander, who had indeed been whispering something to his soldiers nearby. With Jarn’s eyes on him, he shut up.
Peter spent the next hour and a half talking to the emerald dragon. He’d only intended to explain their immediate circumstances at first, but the she dragon was curious. She asked a few questions, which eventually prompted Peter going all the way back to describe their whole journey for her, beginning with finding Anna in the Iron Valley. She even asked to see the Wisps. Anna was happy to show them.
The Ryukyuujin soldiers listened with some interest as well. Peter didn’t remember how much they’d told Captain Yamada. Even if it had been everything, he doubted the captain would have bothered to make their story public knowledge. He guessed the soldiers wouldn’t know much more than that the Grealish had a small group riding around the continent on a dragon to deal with Wisps. He doubted any knew much about Halcyon or the discoveries the three had made in their travels. They had about the same reaction as the dragon to Anna bringing him out.
When he finally got around to explaining their intentions about stopping Daniel and the other Wisp Stealers, he saw many of the soldiers exchanging glances. They muttered to themselves, which Peter noted, but he focused more on the emerald dragon. She didn’t seem all that interested in the politics between the nations. The Wisps were what fascinated her. She called them the wretched lights, which Peter thought was an accurate description of them in the wild. She looked very closely at Halcyon, and agreed he was very different from the ones she’d seen before.
She wasn’t happy to learn that they were being used. When she finally made the connection that Peter and Jarnvaror were there to try and stop people from using them, she snorted hot breath at them in a gesture of approval that frightened most of the men gathered around.
“I didn’t expect you to be so interested in the Wisps,” Peter said.
The dragon replied that she didn’t like predators who toyed with their food. Things should be quick and clean. To take a creature that was dying like the wretched lights and toy with them shamed the humans who did it. Peter decided not to point out that the Wisps weren’t exactly dying, just because they were confused, angry, and frightened most of the time. She was on their side, now, and willing to over look Jarnvaror’s presence. Maybe.
“We think some of those Wisp Stealers are hiding in the forest around the base of the mountain,” Peter said. “We wouldn’t be disturbing you if we looked for them, would we?” Peter asked.
The emerald dragon cooed, saying she might be taking a look for them herself, after she went back to check on her eggs. But, having established that the foreign dragon wasn’t a threat, she would be going back now.
“Thanks for listening, Veithi,” Peter said. The emerald dragon acknowledged his thanks with another puff of breath before leaping back into the sky. As she disappeared, the atmosphere of the camp lightened.
“I can’t believe he just talked her into leaving,” said lieutenant Ban.
“He’s always been good with dragons,” Andrew said. “Better than with people.”
“That is hardly surprising,” came a familiar voice. Peter turned to see the King of Ryukyuu, garbed in traveling clothes, stepping out of the crowd of soldiers, with captain Yamada and several other elite soldiers at his back. The king smiled at Peter. “It is normal for beast tongues to get along with their respective animals.”
The soldiers all hastily bowed to the king. “Your excellency,” said the commander. “We hadn’t realized you’d returned.”
“No. I see there’s been much excitement around here,” the King replied. He looked at the Wisp Seekers, and his smile turned into a thoughtful frown. “It sounds as though they’ve come on a peaceful mission. Tensions are quite high. But after this display, I do believe they’ve earned the right for us to hear them out. Politely. Remove those bonds, and lead them to my pavilion.”
