35
TEMPERAMENTS
“My, my,” said Mistress Seeno as she tilted her head back to get a better look at the dragon standing beside Squire Bardon. “You cut a dashing figure.”
Regidor swept off his hat, passing it over his leg as he made a deep bow. The gallant gesture would have impressed royalty.
Bardon raised his eyebrows.
The meech dragon, now standing straight and tall before the humble basket of the minneken, ignored him.
“I’m honored you think so, Mistress Seeno.” Regidor rested his hat against his chest as he spoke to the fur-covered person sitting in her chair on her basket. “It has actually taken quite a bit of effort to acquire a wardrobe that has style, yet minimizes my tail and wings.”
“And this was necessary because…?” prompted Jue Seeno.
“Because I wish to mingle unobtrusively with the citizenry of the high races.”
“Your height and coloring would still distinguish you.”
“Ah yes, but you’d be surprised how much a busy person hurrying down the street, absorbed in his own affairs, will overlook.”
“Height and an unusual complexion—”
Regidor nodded. “But not wings and a tail.”
Ahnek danced from one foot to the other.
Bardon put a hand on the boy’s shoulder to help him contain his excitement. “What is it?”
“We want to see his wings.”
Regidor grinned, stepped back a few feet into an open space, and tossed the sides of his cape back over his shoulders. In a great whoosh, large leathery wings expanded behind him, fanning the air and ruffling the hair of his audience.
Ahnek clapped his hands and stomped his feet, then grabbed Sittiponder. “They’re green and glistening like I told you his tail is. He’s got dark ridges running through them just like Frost, only a different color, of course. Sitti! They must be fifteen feet across and taller than he is at the highest point. They’s stupendous.”
Regidor brought the wings forward until they touched in front of him so that he stood within a circle of his own making. Then he flashed them back, and Ahnek plopped down with a thud, stunned.
For a moment, the lad just took in the wondrous sight. Then, he reached up and grabbed Sittiponder’s hand, jerking him down to sit.
“The underside of his wings is now like oil in a puddle, dark with swirly colors in it.”
The others in the camp came to watch as well. Regidor repeated the action. This time his wings gleamed red. Once more he encircled himself, and after a longer pause, he slowly unveiled not only himself but also a beautiful female meech dragon.
She stood in front of him and a little to the side, so they faced the small crowd as a pair. Their smiles reflected amusement at the astonishment they had created. Her blue gray dress contrasted with Regidor’s black garb and blended in with his now moonlight-gray wing.
“She’s not really there,” Ahnek whispered to Sittiponder before he even described the vision. “You can see through her like she was made up of smoke or something.”
“No,” corrected Bardon. “She is there.”
He bowed his head to the female meech. “Welcome, Gilda. I see you still travel with Regidor.”
She glanced over her shoulder toward her companion’s face, then back at the squire. “He kindly includes me in his daily life. It’s much more exciting than sitting on a shelf, I assure you.”
A breeze flitted between those watching and the two meech dragons. The zephyr swirled dust into the air and bent the grass. Gilda’s dress swayed as the air stirred. It looked for a moment as if the edges would blow away, like tendrils of smoke. But the scattering substance pulled back together.
Regidor moved his wings around them once more. When he snapped them open, Gilda was gone. He stretched the now-shimmering green appendages out to their complete wingspan, and then with a loud ruffle, they folded and disappeared behind him. He reached to his shoulders and adjusted his cape.
The riders reluctantly turned away. Holt went with them.
Bardon tried to interpret the young marione’s reaction. Of those assembled, only Holt seemed disgusted by what they had seen.
What was that? Jealousy? I better find out what is sticking in that young man’s craw.
Before he could make any more speculations, he saw N’Rae leave Granny Kye’s side and run to Regidor.
“Can I talk to Gilda? Will she come back? She’s lovely, isn’t she? Is she your wife?”
Regidor gazed down at the excited girl. “No, she is not my wife. Yes, she is lovely. Yes, she will come back. And yes, you may talk to her, but not now. Gilda does not feel comfortable when exposed to the elements.”
He put a hand on N’Rae’s elbow and steered her back toward the minneken’s basket. “I believe my conversation with Mistress Seeno was interrupted.”
He glanced over at the two boys. Their heads nearly touched, and Ahnek talked in rushed undertones, his hands waving in small, jerky movements.
Jue Seeno waited for them, standing and tapping her foot, fists on her hips. Bardon had not moved, and so he heard her sputtering even before Regidor and N’Rae arrived.
“Quite a display,” she said. “So much for mingling unobtrusively with the higher races.”
“This is hardly a town square.” Regidor seated N’Rae on a pile of parcels unloaded from the dragons. “Now, why have you turned all prickly on me, Mistress Seeno?”
“Don’t worry,” said N’Rae. “It’s her natural reaction to life. She bristles whenever you don’t do something exactly as she thought you would.” N’Rae shrugged. “She’ll be over it in a trice, and quite often it will be ten or fifteen minutes before she gets all riled up about something again.”
The minneken’s body stiffened. Her whiskers quivered above a pinched mouth. “You, young lady, are taking on airs, talking like you know more than you do. Kindly remember your place.”
N’Rae raised her fingertips to her lips, and her face went from its natural alabaster tone to ruby in a matter of seconds. “I’m sorry, Mistress Seeno. I didn’t think.”
“Nonsense,” fumed the little woman. “Of course you were thinking. No one ceases thinking. The problem is you thought only in one narrow line. Your focus was on this Regidor person with his charming smile and dashing ways. You spoke in a context of two, you and him. But you don’t live in a context of two. Your life is intertwined with many more than just two.”
Jue Seeno stood even straighter and glared with piercing black eyes. “And I, young lady, am your protector. It is my duty to bristle.”
“Here, now.” Granny Kye’s deep, gentle voice intervened. “Are we having a fuss? Let’s have tea instead. It’s still some time until our evening meal, and everyone is a bit excited.”
She shooed the boys off to help with chores. “I’ll call you as soon as the tea is ready and there is a daggart to be eaten,” she promised, then turned to the handsome new addition to their party. “Bromptotterpindosset wishes to speak to you when you have a moment.”
“You might as well go with him, Squire Bardon,” Mistress Seeno piped up. “The three of us can make the tea without your assistance.”
Bardon and Regidor inclined their heads and moved off to join the tumanhofer.
When they were a few steps away, Regidor commented quietly, “The question is, Can the three of them make peace without your assistance?”
Bardon chortled. “I believe they can. Granny Kye has a calming influence on Jue Seeno.” He paused. “You may think that the little minneken is harsh, but she has a huge responsibility. Granny Kye does little to stem her granddaughter’s impulsiveness, so the role of protector falls squarely on the minneken’s shoulders.”
“So this marione Holt is one of N’Rae’s admirers?”
“I’m not sure, Regidor. Would you mind looking at him and seeing what measure he exhibits?”
Regidor searched for Holt and caught sight of the marione bending over the fire with one of the female riders at his side. He studied the young man. “The colors flowing around his person are mostly in harmony. That would verify he is comfortable with his present circumstances. Underneath, he has rifts of displeasure, contrasting tones in one color indicating tension. A lack of uniformity would indicate he is unsettled in his desire and motivation. The serenity of Wulder’s influence is definitely missing. His measure is variable, at best.”
“So is he a good addition to the questing party or not?”
Regidor shrugged. “I would say that is as undecided as the young man’s aspirations.”
“I have a coin given to me by Paladin. It is supposed to help me discern whether a person is in direct conflict with the purpose of our quest.”
“Interesting.” Regidor returned his attention to Bardon. “Somewhat like the metal disk that has already confirmed Kale has found her lost mother and will tell her if she has found her lost father?”
“Yes.”
“Useful.”
“Not in Holt’s case. I’ve tried it several times and gotten different degrees of heat each time.”
“Then I say we keep an eye on him.”