fandomania | The Adventure continues...

Please click and view our eggs and hatchlings. I do the same for you. Thanks.

Our eggs:

Our hatchlings:

Several days later, as I was going to the dining room for breakfast, I heard a commotion taking place at the compound gates. When I looked out the window to see what was happening, I saw Tru, Su Wei, her maids, Captain Quinton, half a dozen guards and twice as many servants. The maids and the servants were placing furniture and trunks onto carts. Captain Quinton and his guards were trying to put Su Wei into a carriage, but she was resisting them. From the distance that I was at, I could hear voices, but could not distinguish what words were being said. I decided that it would be wiser to remain where I was and not exacerbate the situation.

Su Wei was keeping everyone well away from her. From the look on her face, I could tell that she was upset, crying and angry. Her usually neat appearance and impeccable coiffure were gone. Locks of her hair had escaped her normal bun and were hanging down around her face and neck. As she moved, occasional glimpses of her naked shoulders or her bare legs were shown.

After keeping the guards at bay for many minutes, Tru finally shouted something at her, which got her attention. She then threw herself at him, using only her hands and feet as weapons. Tru dodged and deflected everything she tried on him. He must have said something insulting to her, because she reached inside her robes and pulled out a large knife. She then lunged at him with it. As I held my breath and prayed that he would not be hurt, Tru easily twisted the knife from her and tossed it away, out of her reach.
When she ran to fetch the knife, she left herself open and the Captain and his guards pounced on her all at once. With seven men holding her down, she was unable to move. Tru went to one of the trunks on the cart and emptied it. Carefully not giving her an opportunity to free herself, the men picked her up and placed her inside the empty trunk, then Tru quickly closed the lid and locked her inside.

Su Wei’s maids picked up the discarded clothing and placed them neatly into the cart. When the loading was finished, the cart driver slowly drove the cart through the gates, followed by the maids on foot and Captain Quinton and his guards on horseback. After the group left the compound and the gates were closed, Tru turned and headed into the main house. When he entered I could see through his façade that he was upset. He turned to me and asked, “I suppose you saw and heard everything?”

“Saw, yes. Heard, no.” I replied.

As he turned to me, I could see a long, red scar on his left cheek. It had not been there last night. Since it was not bleeding, it didn’t just happen.

“Oh, no!” I cried out. “What happened to you?”

Tru put his hand to his cheek as if to check what I was referring to. “This? It is just a cut. Your Fiorenzia helped heal it, so it should be gone in a couple of weeks.”

“But … but ...” I sputtered. “How did it happen?”

Tru paused for a moment. Finally, he answered my question. “Last night, while I was sound asleep, Su Wei snuck into my rooms with the intent to either kill me or castrate me. I am not sure which. She just said that if she couldn’t have me, then no one would have me. She managed to cut my face because I wasn’t fully awake at that moment.

“She was a mistake from the first time I laid eyes on her. And I kept compounding that mistake over and over again.” He sighed. “I should have dealt with her before I left for the Archipelagos. But I didn’t. And I did nothing when I returned. But I have taken care of her now and, hopefully, for good.”

“What have you done with her?” I asked anxiously.

“Nothing untoward, my dear.” He laughed at the look of horror on my face. “I own a nice house on the other side of Daihor. I have sent her there to live. The neighborhood is safe and the neighbors are friendly, for the most part. I will give her a monthly allowance and make sure that all her bills and expenses are paid for, until she finds someone else to do so for her.

“I wish I could have sent her back to Shiangkau, where people would understand her, but she would be an outcast there. I couldn’t send her back to misery.”

“No. I guess not,” was all that I could say.

Later, Tru called me into his office. “I have been thinking about the housing situation here. With Stevar not coming back and with all of the new babies soon to arrive, adjustments need to be made.

“Normally, this would be something Suthi would have taken care of, but with her being confined to her bed until the baby is born, I would rather not burden her with this at this time.”

“Oh please don’t ask me to do this? I am not good with family dynamics or politics. I know that I will muddle everything up and cause the biggest family fight ever. Besides, even though Aunt Suthi is unavailable right now, I am pretty sure that she would be upset if anyone were to usurp her job.

“Personally, I think that this task can wait until afterwards. You should let your family make their own decisions as to what their needs are and then let them come to you with what they may or may not need. I am sure that they appreciate your thoughtfulness in trying to anticipate their every need, but, in my humble opinion, this is something that they need to learn and do on their own. I see your job as being one of support and helpfulness after they have worked their own problems out.

“I heard Brian saying the other day that living on his own in Bellermine was quite an eye opener for him and his wife. They had to learn on their own to make decisions on all the minutia of life; things that they had not had to do while living here. Brian seems to be more confident and sure of himself than he did before being sent to Bellermine.

“Eoin seems to be benefitting from his independence. He once was the irresponsible ne’er-do-well, but you had to have noticed that when you needed him, he came through for you. I have even heard you tell him to his face how proud you are of him.

“And since I am probably now in your black books, I am going to say this: Ferrell has been following your orders all his life. I am sure that he must be doing a good job at it. The two of you would be having a whole lot of arguments and unhappiness if he weren’t. I think that you should ask Ferrell to take control over an aspect of your business and allow him to run it unsupervised so that he can learn to make his own decisions. He should not be your factotum all his life. He needs to learn by doing things on his own.

“I am not saying that you need to give up everything that you are doing. I am just saying that you need to allow your family to learn to be more independent. As much as I hate to say this, but you are not going to live forever. You need to make sure that your family will continue on just as successfully after you are gone as they are doing now.”

I closed my eyes and braced myself for the tirade that I expected to happen. It didn’t happen and when I took a chance and looked at Tru, I found him looking at me with admiration.

“My dear girl. You are the most enigmatic woman that I have ever met. In one breath, you put yourself down saying that you are not capable of doing something and, in the next, you prove beyond a shadow of a doubt how wrong you are in that assessment. Thank you for your insights! I need some time to think on how to follow your suggestions and find my own way of implementing them. You have given me a lot to work on.

Tru sighed. “I suppose I have been suppressing your independence also. I suppose I have been isolating you in a way. Would you be happier to move into Stevar’s house, with your children? This way, you could be more independent and would live more closely amongst people closer to your own age.”

I felt frightened by Tru’s words. “Please? Don’t send me away? I don’t think I am ready yet for independent living.” I was afraid to go on and show him the real mess that I was behind my false front. I was afraid of losing that look of admiration that he had for me right now.

“Whatever you wish, my dear. If you are happy with the way things are, then that is fine with me also. You and your brood certainly are making my life more interesting. But I want what is best for you. If you ever start feeling that I am smothering you or keeping you from living your life as you wish it to be, please tell me?”

“I will. Right now, I am very happy with our living arrangement.”

There was a lull in our conversation. After a few minutes, I decided to bring up a subject that I had been thinking about for a while.

“May I make a suggestion?”

“Sure. What is on your mind?”

“With Suthi being bedridden for several more weeks, all of our medical needs have fallen to Fiorenzia. I know that she is happy to be of help. But I worry about how long she is willing to stay. Yes, she and Orlando are very happy with the quarters that you have provided for them. But they are independent beings. I keep wondering how long they are willing to continue staying here.

“I think that there are enough people living here that perhaps an infirmary or a clinic might be something we may need to think about adding to our facilities here. Perhaps we may need to hire a doctor and/or a nurse to help with our medical needs.”

“That is an excellent suggestion, my dear. I will look into the feasibility of this right away. Thank you once more!”

Later that day, I went to visit Orlando in his quarters. Tru had refurbished an old barn for them that was on the edge of the farmlands in the southern part of the estate. To the west were the fields and crops of the farms. To the east, there were open meadows and then rolling hills, teaming with wildlife. This gave plenty of room for Orlando and Fiorenzia to stretch their dragon wings and fulfill their dragon urges without alarming any humans. I had heard from Tru that his farm manager was very grateful for the dragons’ presence. They apparently kept the pests’ and predators’ numbers down enough so that the farm benefited from that.

On the outside, the barn looked just like a barn, made from unpainted wood that was bleaching from constant exposure to the sun. When Orlando welcomed me in, the inside looked quite difference. The interior looked just like a cavern. Once my eyes adjusted to the low light, I could see more features. The walls looked like hewn rock, with ledges for sleeping nests for each of the dragons. Off to one side were regular door that led to other rooms. The one door that was opened showed a room full of books. Orlando’s library I presumed. As I walked in further, the cavern looked so real that I asked Orlando, “Is this man-made or dragon magic?”

“Dragon magic. Fiorenzia and I decided that if we were going to stay and be of service to you, we were going to have to find a place that we considered habitable. Piatrus and his men made sure that the structure was sound. Fiorenzia and I made it like home. Come, let me show you something.”

From the look on his face, Orlando was about to show me something he was very proud of. He walked me to another closed door and led me into a room that was almost oppressively hot. In the center of the room, I saw warming sands, and in the center of the sands, I saw three eggs. Two white ones and one orange one.

“Orlando! Congratulations! I didn’t know! You didn’t tell me! When were they laid?”

“I bet you thought that this old dragon was long past his prime. Well, so did I, but place a nubile female in front of me … Well you get my drift.”

I was so excited for my friends. I gave him a hug and a kiss. “When did this happen? Why didn’t you tell me sooner?”

“Because they were laid on the afternoon before Donal died. We were planning on announcing it the next day, but it did not seem appropriate to do so then.”

It took me a moment to recover from the brief emotional surge that I felt when Orlando unintentionally reminded me of that day. I hid everything behind my wall so that Orlando would not realize anything.

I forced myself to smile at him. “So where is Fiorenzia? I would like to give her my congratulations also.”

“She is out hunting at the moment. Is there anything wrong? Should I call her back?”

“No. If there had been, I would have called her myself. No. This is just a social visit. I have been neglecting you and wanted to see you again. I wanted to make sure that you were being treated well and were fine.” What I really wanted to ask, but was afraid to, was how long he was willing to stay.

Orlando looked at me with concern. “The answer is: as long as you need me to stay. I have pretty much abandoned my old cave and I have made this place my home now. You will have to ask Fiorenzia for her plans. I have no idea what they are. She seems willing to stay right now, but she has not abandoned her old cave, like I did.”

“But … How did you …”

“Know what you were thinking? Little one! Haven’t you realized that we are attuned to each other? I have always had the ability to read your emotions, although I try not to do so, so that you can have some privacy. But right now, you are projecting them as loudly as a howling wolf. I think this is because you are in mourning. From all that I have read about humanity, this is to be expected. Right now, you are in pain as if you had been wounded. But gradually, over time, this wound will heal, and the pain will go away. You will always have the scar to remind you of that wound, but after a while, it will cease to hurt.

“Do not fear this process. It is natural. And never think that because you cease to hurt that that will mean you love Donal less. You will always love him. But you need time to heal and take care of yourself and your children. You need to be a living memorial to his memory. A reminder to the world that he existed and still does in your heart.”