Page 23 of The Dragon and the Exiled
He cut the train of thought off before he did something embarrassing.He wasn't twenty anymore, he could act like it.Where had that thought even come from?That wasn't their relationship, and he had no business even thinking about such a drastic change.He wasn't going to be another Pitambar.
Past the world's most impressive closet was a smaller cave that had been turned into a dressing chamber, complete with not one but several mirrors, a vanity, a large chest holding all manner of bottles and jars and boxes, and a large settee over which many articles of clothing had been thrown, as if considered and discarded.
He hadn't realized Euclid put so much effort into his strange, mismatched attire.Not ignorance of which clothes went together, simply strange preference.Proving yet again he still had so much about Euclid to learn.
Through a different passage off the dressing room was a room filled with jewelry of all shapes and styles, from simple rope and hand carved wood, all the way up to precious jewels he'd never seen outside of a book."You have more wealth than kings."
"Yes, well, I've had a long time to acquire it," Euclid said quietly."Anyway, I trade it as often as I keep it.You'd be surprised how often a piece I trade away eventually finds its way back to me."
Through a larger passage out of the dressing room they finally came to actual living quarters.It was, as everything had been so far, another beautiful space.There were sofas, settees, piles of pillows, tapestries, rugs, blankets, and so much more.Heavy curtains were hung on the walls to help with the perpetual chill and add color.A large stove was in the middle of the room, funneling away smoke via a pipe, keeping the room toasty from the center out.There was a table and chairs to one side, currently scattered with books, papers, drawing implements, and other miscellany, a workstation that was probably rarely clean but organized in a way only Euclid understood.
In pride of place of the entire room was a large tapestry that displayed a man on a throne with a large, gold dragon wrapped around him, head resting on the man's lap.The man smiled softly,fondly, as if the dragon was the most important person in the world to him.There were words stitched along the top, but not in a language he knew."What does it say there, along the top?"
"King Bran and Topaz," Euclid replied, eyes on the tapestry."It is one of the oldest and most beloved legends of my kin, of a man who wanted to die but was saved by a dragon and eventually became king of a lost and forgotten land.Sometimes people hate dragons and only want to kill us.Sometimes, perhaps most often, we are a delightful hunting challenge and a lot of useful parts they can't wait to use up.Sometimes we are treated more like gods and blamed for things we have no control over.
"Sometimes, though…sometimes we areseen, and that is more precious than any treasure."He sighed softly, then turned away and went to fuss at a different table, where food and wine were spread out, fruits and cheese and cured meats, pitchers that must have been filled from the barrels in the storeroom.
"How long have you been here in this forest?"
"A few hundred years now.Before that I traveled, and before that I lived with various family in a place very far from here that I could not reach again easily, not even with magic and paths unseen."
Dipak smiled wryly, glancing back at the tapestry briefly before looking around the rest of the room again, taking in the little details this time, like the many, many pillows, each more colorful and ornate than the last.The piles of books everywhere, the twenty or so shelves against one wall not enough to contain them, another area had various chests of all shapes and sizes stacked haphazardly.
It was the room of an active, industrious mind, of a person who seldom held still in body or mind, probably not even in sleep, until he was too exhausted even to dream.Dipak was not surprised at all, though he ached to help Euclid get some real rest.
Returning to his side, Euclid offered a steaming cup."Tea, unless you'd like wine or something else."
"Tea is fine.I've had enough wine to last me the rest of the year.Thank you.It smells nice."
Euclid preened slightly."Spiced tea, my own blend."He swept an arm to a sofa that was set close to the stove, where Dipak hadn't even noticed he'd boiled water for the tea."Sit, please."
He hadn't seen Euclid's bedroom, but Dipak would have been astonished if he had.This was probably already far more than he ever showed people.Euclid spent countless hours serving the people of the forest and had created at least one beautiful gathering point for them—a place safe enough for people to sleep in the open overnight.He probably valued his private time and personal space even beyond what people did already.
The sofa was plush, soft, finer than the costly furniture he'd commissioned from the finest maker in the city.Euclid gave him one of the many blankets lying about, a crochet piece in a diamond-like pattern made from five different colors.
He sipped the tea, draped the blanket across his lap, and enjoyed the simple, eternal comfort of good company in front of a warm fire.City life rarely left room for such things, and he had always missed it, though there'd been other things to enjoy."Thank you for showing me your home."
"You haven't seen all of it, but I'm glad you like it so far.This is the heart of it, though, the room that means the most to me."
"It's lovely.I can tell you've spent a great deal of time gathering all your possessions.Especially all those books.I'd wager some of them aren't even in print anymore and haven't been for a long time.Libraries across the world would weep."
Euclid laughed."Perhaps, but if they want them, they will have to trade."
Dipak smirked and drank his tea, which tasted even better than it smelled, redolent with cinnamon, clove, anise, and lemon, with a hint of honey to round it out.He liked his with cream when he could get it, but this was how they'd drunk it growing up.
"So tell me more of how you walk paths no one can see," he said into the silence.
"Every up has a down, every forward has a backward, west has an east, light has a dark.Likewise, what is visible has an invisible.Every road has a shortcut.If you know where to look, you can take the shortcuts that are in the invisible, the paths that exist in the dark that is opposite the light.It cannot be done without a cost, but when you are ageless, like dragons and fae and other immortal races, the cost is nothing."
"So the cost is…time."
"Essentially."
"So Ican'tdo it."
Euclid gave him that look of knowing and mischief that Dipak liked far, far too much."I would not offer to teach you something you cannot do."
"There is nothing at all I could trade to equal such a skill."
