You have an attachment to him, Raffagaun’s voice sounded into her thoughts. I have never experienced the emotion you feel toward Anders.
At first Maija thought he was referring to Merglan, but when she realized she was visualizing herself in the safety of Anders’ company, she said, We have a name for that emotion. It’s called ‘love.’
Do you have this feeling with many of your kind?
No, Maija said, glad for his company. This conversation was beginning to steer her away from feeling so alone. We feel love for our families and those we choose as partners, she explained.
Are the humans you were hugging after the battle partners too? Does that mean you love them as well? Raffa asked.
Yes and no. There are different kinds of love. The love I have for my sister, my family, is different from the love I have for Anders, she began.
I see the difference, Raffa said.
Really? she asked.
I felt it when you thought of them. The love for family is like the connection I share with my fellow dragons in Nagano. A respect and trust that goes without saying. The love for Anders is what I would feel for Zahara when she comes of age.
Maija straightened in the saddle and asked, You, are attracted to Zahara?
She is young still and will not be fully developed for some time, but she is female and I am male.
Is that all it takes for you to be attracted to one another?
It is more complex than that, but it is one of the requirements. I have come to know her over the past weeks, and I believe she would be a strong mate.
Do dragons mate for life? Maija asked, thinking about why she’d never thought about the dragon’s ways before.
Dragons in Nagano can choose a mate they will share for a lifetime, though some choose to have many. For the best succession of offspring, it is beneficial to mate with many. However, I do not know how bonded dragons act in this matter. It could be different because of the connection we share.
You are free to choose whoever you want for a mate, Maija said.
My mate will need to be agreeable with you. It is one of the aspects about Zahara that I am attracted to.
I guess I never thought about how you would have to react to my mate, I mean Anders.
Anders is a strong and intelligent human. I believe you have chosen wisely to put your trust in him.
Maija grinned, then the thought of what they were doing overwhelmed her again. All of the butterflies she had felt in her stomach turned again to knots of fear that she might encounter Merglan on her way to Southland.
She could sense Raffa’s concern over her growing fear and heard him ask, I have never been to this part of the world. How far is it to the coast where we will search for your elf sister?
Maija appreciated his attempt to distract her from concerns about crossing paths with Merglan and Killdoor without backup. She answered, I’ve sailed from Southland to Westland several times, but I’ve never traveled into the Bareback Plains before. I don’t even know how big the Plains are, let alone how long it takes to cross by flight.
If it’s anything like the route from the Ridgeback Mountains to the land in the north, it will take less than a day.
I’m pretty confident it will take longer than that, Maija said. I have heard that the Bareback Plains are the largest open lands in Westland. If it’s anything like our venture from Nagano to the Everlight Kingdom, it could take days.
I hope I am right.
Would you like to make a bet?
What does that mean? Raffa asked.
We put something of weight behind our guesses and whoever is right wins. In most cases that something is money, but in our case, we can wager something else.
I do like to test my strengths in assumption.
How does this sound? If I win, you have to tell Zahara about your attraction to her.
That would be impulsive and not necessary until she comes of age, Raffa said.
That’s the point, I think you should show your level of attraction to her now and let her have a say in deciding if she’s a good fit for you, too. Men don’t make all of the decisions in a relationship.
In the relationships I’ve been witness to, yes, males do.
Not in bonded dragons. You’re going to be held to a higher standard now, Maija said unsure if he would agree. He was a fully wild dragon until recently.
Fine, Raffa said after some consideration. And if I win this bet, you will keep my secret from Anders.
Maija groaned. She didn’t like the idea of keeping secrets from Anders, especially after she had been so hard on him for keeping his worries of becoming like Merglan from her. Well, I guess that’s fair. Okay. You got it, Maija said. If we reach the coastline before sundown, you win and if we reach it after, I win.
Deal, Raffa said and Maija could sense him increase his speed as they flew south across the plains.
The hours passed and everything below them began to blur into one blanket of brown grass. Breaking the pattern, Maija’s eyes were drawn to the off-colored mounds grouped along the river’s edge. Looking more closely, she saw that they were distant homes tightly grouped in a long and narrow cluster that spread north and south, never wider than Brookside or Grandwood. As they flew closer, Maija espied a river splitting the tightly spaced houses. The clay roofs of the adobe-style homes crowded the river’s banks and stretched a greater distance than any of the major cities Maija had visited in Kartania. Streets of dirt checkered the low-lying city with countless paths cutting routes between homes in no particular order, an attribute to the lack of planning from the nomads’ first settlement.
This must be Aquina and the Bareback River, Maija said to Raffa.
There are many animals in this place, he responded, and she could sense his hunger.
