Dragon Mirror- Ties Between the Veil
Seventeen: A Hint, The Solution, And The Seed

Raina sat fiddling with her Aya’Duel as Jrash quickly packed his items, and ate a bowl of the oat gruel that had been cooked. She didn’t look at him. She could feel the tension rolling off of him in waves.

Rolling the small seed in her hand, she looked at the lock. A filigree leaf shape with multiple tiny holes… She placed the seed on top of the lock. But she just stared. Her anxiety made her stomach cramp, and she finally looked up at Jrash. She set aside her Aya’Duel, but picked up and held onto the acorn seed.

“Wasn’t there a letter of introduction I needed?”

Jrash paused, then slowly nodded. He opened a side pocket and pulled out a flat packet and handed it to her. “I had forgotten.” He stood abruptly and shouldered his pack.

“Her name is Gamea, and she’s related distantly to the current King. Grandmother has told me she prefers it that way. The distance, I mean.” He trailed off, staring off in the direction of Auscilla.

Raina stood and grabbed his sleeve tentatively.

“You’ll see her soon.” She offered consolingly. Jrash looked back at her and raised his hand hesitantly. The hope in his eyes was painful. She flinched, expecting him to touch her face. He dropped his hand and nodded curtly.

“Tralna will protect you, and I must tell Palliza of the Blight.”

He moved away and she sighed.

He thinks he is in love with you. He will move on when he bonds with his Aya’Daroul.

She nearly jumped out of her skin and looked over to see Tralna looking at her from across the road. The Aya’Chyn was standing with the herd of Okapi, likely attempting to sooth Aylla as everyone prepared to leave. Supi was closer, and she could see him craning his fool neck to eye the herd. Luckily Aylla was out of his view or they’d be listening to him warble challenges.

He will reach Auscilla and be reunited with his Will, then alert my bondmate to this very serious matter. Raina nodded her head as Tralna dipped hers. The Will is capable of many things, from the creation of the inanimate, to the control of Life itself.

She blinked, and looked down at the acorn seed in her fingers. She looked back at Tralna and sent her thoughts toward the draconic creature.

Did you just give me a hint? Isn’t that cheating?

All she received in response was the sensation of amusement. She grinned and went back to the Aya’Duel.

Laying the seed on top of the lock, she held out her arm for Iyzdra to land on it. Her Aya’Chyn was mildly curious, but so far felt no real need to be involved.

Raina focused on the imagery of growth, of the tiny sprout bursting forth and its roots entering the holes of the lock. Iyzdra’s interest was piqued. This process was much slower than the pulling of water or the forcing of flame or vacuum.

A small tiny tendril broke out of the seed, and a rootlet emerged widening a crack in the acorn shell. Raina felt a strain that she hadn’t felt before, and tried to direct the minuscule rootlets that formed. She felt a drop of sweat roll down her nose, and in a moment of inspiration, she directed that droplet to the roots.

The tiny sprout seemed to pulse and two delicate leaves spread daintily as the rootlets reached inside the lock and sprung the catch.

“Fuck yea!”

Several of the guardsmen paused to look at her after her outburst. Her face flushed and she ducked her head to pretend she didn’t exist. Iyzdra touched her nose to the plant, then looked up. Open? I want to see!

She laughed, gently stroking Iyzdra’s translucent wings. Gently, she lifted up on the sprout, and it pulled the whole compartment door up. She hesitated, feeling as if disposing of the tiny sprout was unfair. Looking around, she left her stuff laying by her pack, and gingerly placed the compartment door on her hand, the sprout a brilliant green with blue veins in the heart shaped leaves.

Raina noted that there seemed to be dirt or coal in the cavity, and wondered if she could bring herself to rip away the small plant, just so she could recover the door of her Aya’Duel.

Scowling, she tried to Will the plant roots to release the door, but it only grew longer. Sighing, she stood immobile for a few moments.

“Whatever. Let’s go.” She turned and trudged off into the woods with Iyzdra clinging to her arm. Gently holding the sprout she’d brought to life.

Where are we going?

“I don’t know, but I need to find a clearing to plant this- so it can grow in the sunlight.” She walked quickly, ignoring the niggling thought that it might be dangerous to walk into the Wilds by herself.

Honestly she was agitated by being forced to travel with strangers and with creatures that were barely not strangers themselves. Jrash had been annoying with his puppy dog eyes. But he had been human-ish.

The noise from the men readying to move on faded, the last noise she heard was a loud shriek from Aylla challenging Supi. Then she was immersed in soft woodland noises.

There was a moment where she hesitated, wondering if she could just disappear into the Wilds. But as she strode forward, cradling the small sprout, she startled a small feathered animal that looked suspiciously like a microraptor. It skreed and ran off.

“If there are literal dinosaurs out here, then let's make this quick.”

After five more minutes, she found a clearing where a large tree had fallen. Iyzdra drifted, ghost like, over the massive trunk.

What if it does not like the sun?

She smiled, and reassured her bondmate. I’ve got a feeling that this lil’ one craves full sun.

She knelt next to the fallen trunk and dug into the dirt with her hands. There was a moment where she stopped, staring at her dirty fingers in consternation, realizing she could have tried willing the dirt out of the hole.

A lopsided smile crossed her face. It felt more natural to get dirty. She lifted the emblem, again eyeing the filigree heart shaped leaf. It looked very similar to the sprout’s blue veined leaves.

As she covered the roots with soil, Iyzdra landed and looked about them.

What if something tries to hurt it?

Raina scowled. She stood up, holding out her arm to Iyzdra. “Fuck that.”

She tried focusing her Will. Iyzdra spread her wings, casting rainbows down onto the sprout. Raina focused on the things needed to make something grow. She thought about the sunlight and the water in the air and ground, and imagined a funnel leading to the sprout and its roots.

There was a pause, and she expanded her Will through Iyzdra to encourage growth.

There was an electric hum that was building inside her until she saw the sprout begin to expand. She kept funneling light and water towards it, and urged its roots to spread far so it didn’t sap the immediate area of nutrients.

She had kept her eyes open to watch, but let her eyes drift shut. She could feel… she could feel a song. Raina could still see and now feel the burgeoning tree as it reached upward. Pulsing green and blue lines traced its outline under her closed eyelids. The swell in power and song was heady.

The song built to a glorious crescendo, vibrating her whole body. She felt the earth under her feet move and her eyes popped open in alarm.

A single, yet massive, root had lifted out of the ground to circle where she stood. She stared upward, then around her. Heart shaped leaves with brilliant blue veins delicately danced in the breeze off of vines hanging from multiple trunks. It looked like several trees had sprouted in one place, covering the clearing like a banyan tree. Slowly, small pink and yellow five petaled flowers bloomed over the heart shaped leaves. They looked like brilliant stars.

“Holy shit.”

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