Page 30 of To Fight and To Fold

But she heard Starspark’s low, mournful grumble from somewhere deep within herself.

Am I Starspark?

“…know,” Thea cooed, her voice so soft. “…miss her too.”

In the half-sleep, half-waking world she found herself in, she felt her brows rise. Thea missed who?

Her voice was clearer when she said, “You’re safe now. No big bad crown to extort you. No using your breath on innocent villages. You can rest, Starspark.”

He answered with a dismissive huff, and Thea sighed. “You liked me enough to let me ride you. Can you like me enough to quit giving your handlers a hard time?”

Starspark did not answer, and in her dream, Aaryn smiled, finding pride in her chest at her dragon’s stubbornness.

“I know, they're no Aaryn," she said softly. "But you need to spread your wings, you know. At least let us dust you off,” she said, and held up a brush similar to the ones Aaryn used at the castle.

Her heart ached at the sight of it, at the way Thea held it out before Starspark.

He loosed another dejected huff, and Thea sighed, her lips turned down in a frown. She was worried, far more expressive than Aaryn had ever seen her, her expression usually cool and controlled.

Thea slowly lifted the brush, but just before the bristles made contact with Starspark’s scales, she felt the welling of something feral, and he lifted his head to roar⁠—

Aaryn awoke in a cold sweat. The neck of her nightgown was damp, and she wrinkled her nose as she pushed the blankets down her body.

Her pulse was loud in her own ears as she sat up, staring into a distance she no longer saw. This… vision lived in her mind with the familiar haze of a dream, but it did not dissolve upon closer inspection like normal dreams often did. This one remained, a memory.

Was it real? Was Starspark sad and angry? Apparently giving his handlers a hard time?

I’m his handler.

She gritted her teeth.

But he was safe.

With Thea.

Where were they?

Further concentration and inspection of the dream-vision proved unfruitful. There were no landmarks, nothing besides the deep sky overhead and the grasses beyond. And Thea.

Aaryn had not traveled much, of course, and probably wouldn’t recognize a landmark even if she did see one. She certainly didn't recognize the glowing flowers. She'd never even seen such things before—surely that had been a trick of the mind, the reflection of the glow of the moon, in this odd vision.

Where could he be? Where could Thea have taken him?

The scar on her palm and wrist burned, and she hissed, lifting it up. Nothing about the mark looked different, but it ached.

What did it mean?

Rest did not find her for the remainder of the moon’s rise. She was consumed with thoughts of Starspark and Thea, and questions she knew not how to find the answer to, or who to ask.

Her night of restlessness followed her into the waking hours. She could sit and linger and wait no longer within the walls of her room.

So she didn't.

Her steps carried her to the orchard, empty at this time of morning. There was a bite in the air from the lingering summer night, but the sun was still bright enough to warm her skin even so early. She tilted her head up to feel the light against her cheeks.

When the Great Dragon could not provide her clarity of mind, he at least provided clarity of sky.

Trees stretched out in every direction, a maze of Granny Smith and Red Delicious and Honey Crisp. Her jaw twanged as she imagined biting into their fruits.