Episode 122: Cloud Nine (Aadya)

Apa soared through the sky with grace and disrespect for Greg. Her body twisted through clouds and grazed Dragonsback before swooping into the steep edges of the narrow top of the rift.

Greg used it as an excuse to hold her close. The configuration, Greg behind her, kept her belly out of the way.

The twins moved, excited to be airborne with her.

“How often do you do this?” Greg asked.

She leaned against him, and turned her head so she could see him.“Most days, unless I can’t for some reason.”

She didn’t want to talk about herself, or Drey. Drey had lasted a blink of her life, ages ago. “Tell me something about you. I don’t know what to ask, outside of what you like to eat.”

And other favorites; but she wanted to discover many of those on her own. Now, she was curious what she wanted to say about himself.  

“Buffalo wings, barbecued anything. I used to be a good dad. I hope to be again.”

She pressed her lips against his, even though it tugged at her belly in an uncomfortable way. She was too pregnant to date, and he had too much dragon not to. Of all the things he could have said, he had chosen partially the one she knew, but also a hint at what he wanted. His sons back, most of all, but maybe to have more.

“I’m sure you will be,” she promised. She should be working on their recovery, not flying a dragon. She kept kissing him to prolong the moment, to think of what else to say than the promise to marry her, for the babies, and the fact that it was almost certain he would be there when they were born.

“What else do you like?” she prodded. “Movies, games, the outdoors?”

She tried to list a variety of things. He chose to answer with his mouth against hers. “I’ve spent the last year trying to remember how to be alive,” he said.

She got it, too. She felt like she had spent her entire life trying to be alive, trying to be someone she was expected to be. Nearly seventeen years ago, on a ship newly married to Drey, she had been told who she was (an undine) and what she was supposed to do (take over the Dells with Drey). Then she had learned what Drey was to do, and life just got complicated. Drey loved Nell, Drey had kids with Rylena, she was some crown heir to the sea kingdom named Elaira.

“That sound pathetic, but it was actually a challenge.”

She believed him, she wished he understood just how well she knew the same feelings. But, that would mean talking about other things.

“Before that,” he continued, “golf, pool, shuffleboard. Poker. I love poker.”

“It’s not pathetic,” Aadya replied. “Not even a little.” She shifted her body, because that was still a topic not worth delving into for her. “We have most of those games here. You won’t even need a swimsuit for pool, with water magic.” She joked, knowing he meant the game with balls that came in solid or stripe.

He laughed.“I should do pool in my birthday suit.”

She laughed too. “You could always grow a tail, but it might make you wobbly when you try and take a shot.”

“Taking shots makes me wobbly when I try and take a shot.”

She laughed more. She loved drinking. She wondered what he enjoyed most. She asked him.

“I’m not picky. Do you drink at all?”

“Yes. Not often while pregnant, and in small quantities generally. But I do.”

“What do you like?”

“Cranberry infused vodka or whiskey,” she replied.

“Not a bad choice. What else? Something you like to eat?”

“Am I pregnant or not, in terms of answering the question?”

He laughed and leaned his head against hers. “You didn’t eat much at breakfast, so I wasn’t sure.”

“Crepes,” she replied. “While pregnant I especially love crepes. We even hired a chef from Paris, just to make crepes.”

“Don’t you mean detextured waffles?” he joked, and she laughed to. “How did that go today? Did you fix the problem?”

“Yes,” she began. She loved the way his mind was able to mix talking about themselves with life and work, that he cared. Beng queen of the Dells was her life. “He just needed a special medication,” she summarized. She wanted to tell him everything, but she knew Konrad’s inability to die was a secret that needed to be kept, for the time being at least.

“Are you enjoying this?” she asked.

“If I woke up at home tomorrow, I’d never believe my memories.”

“A nightmare then?” she teased.

He kissed her, “The worst.”

She turned to she was facing him, then they kissed for a while, their lips mingling with each other and their bodies warming. After some time, which only mattered to her because she had an afternoon ahead of her, they parted lips but hung close to one another.

“On your tour, what was your favorite thing you saw?”

“The art. There’s a fountain…”

“The ugly one or the main one?”

He laughed and his hands played with hers, weaving his fingers between hers. “It is… I guess what I’m wondering is, why anyone made it a thing.”

“Nell made it as a joke. He’s done some of the questionable art too. Part of me loves it too much to remove.”

“It’s one of those things that grows on you, isn’t it.”

It was, everything about Nell was one of those things that grew on you. She loved his quirks and his mind and the way he looked at the world.

“It is. A boy I cared for, adopted sort of, did many of the carvings.”

“The nice ones,” he stated. She nodded. “And the molding?” he asked. “That looks like it was done by a consistent hand.”

She loved Stetson’s work within the palace.

“His, yes. He also manages the vaults,” she added.

Greg’s eyes perked up. “Future friend of mine, then. Right after I take care of Zero.”

Aadya smiled and ran her hand up his thighs. He smiled too, and she felt sparks where their bodies met. He leaned closer, then, and pressed his lips to her upper chest. They trailed along her collarbone, up toward her ear this time. “Thank you,” he said between kisses. “For the clothes and the dragon loan.”

“Hopefully he likes you,” she mused.

It had come as a shock to find out he had a dragon in the barn. After all they had just met a day prior. It had come as a bigger shock that the dragon was already full-sized. He, Alum, had been there for weeks.

She had known the dragons possessed some ability to fortune tell. She had also known Apa had taken to a small dragon awhile ago, but nothing had come of it. There were a handful of small dragons that Nell kept, that spent some time with the full sized dragons.

Alum, for better or worse, was in the barn and had chosen, or been chosen by, Apa for a mate.

It felt childish to be dating again, to be starting over and to be with a human of all options. She felt ridiculous.

But Apa had gone many years alone, providing offspring to the line as required.

It was in some ways how Aadya felt, and it came back to why things with Meldrick wouldn’t work despite decades.

She loved him, yes, but things had come up over time. Comments, like I thought you liked something. And perhaps she had.

With him, she wasn’t free to explore herself.

She refused on the dragons. “They can talk,” she told him. “By images.”

She had ensured Alum knew not to tell Greg yet, that Greg would choose whatever he chose independent of the dragon factor.

She probably shouldn’t have created the bond, either, when it came down to it. Bonds were near impossible to break. She didn’t want to break it. She was afraid that Greg would feel like another obligation, with time, because of the dragons and the magic of the bond.

“How does that work?” he asked.

Aadya cleared her mind, then thought of her own reflection, before pregnancy. She tried to make it as detailed as possible. She sent the image to Apa, who relayed it to Greg.

He looked at her, and she felt like she was as good as naked already.

Her mind flooded with images of them the night before, their bodies tangled in each other.

She may have the fear, but she also was immersed in the desire. She studied the movements he chose to share, to remember that he liked them, then she set herself to recreate what she could.

“Is it safe?” he asked.

“Jump,” she stated.

She wanted him to see Apa would never let him come to harm. Unless it was minor egg protecting related harm, done by herself.

He laughed at the idea, “Sorry, no.”

“If you don’t, I will,” she goaded. “It may not be good for the babies…”

Except for the fact that the babies loved free falling.

Greg’s hand rested on her thighs. “Or we could both stay up here. Safe. No risk to any babies.”

She grinned. “Help me stand?”

He shook his head, but stood anyway. “You promise you won’t jump?”

He reached for her hand, and once she was standing she answered. “I intend to jump.”

She couldn’t keep the grin off her face, nor the glow out of her skin. He had so much to learn. Teaching him would be fun, and less intimidating than dragons and forever.

He looked at her, the two of them standing as Apa glided through the air.

“What about the babies?” he asked, worried.

She looked at him, and she saw what Apa saw. They could have a good life.

“They have wings. They were made for this,” she promised.

Greg studied her, his brows forming a ridge then lightening as he puzzled out a response, “I’m not volunteering, but if I jumped would you stay?”

She let her fingers drag down his cheek. “I promise you won’t be harmed.” Her hand fell away. “Yes, I will stay.”

She watched him contemplate the option, Apa holding steady despite her desire to toss them off together.

“Are you going?” she asked after the long silence, seconds before Apa cast them off.

“If I’m going to jump, I should warn Jay first. Tomorrow, I can jump.”

He began to sit back down.

So, as the evil creature Aadya wanted to be in that moment, she jumped.

She created a current and caught herself in it just below Apa’s wings. Apa let herself drift and Aadya raised herself to just above level.

Apa’s body swayed beneath her and she landed in Greg’s arms.

“You…”

“Jumped?” Her arms wrapped around him and her lips pressed against his.

He returned the kiss and held her close. “Scared the shit out of me.”

Aadya leaned her head against Greg’s shoulder and enjoyed being close to him while she said, “Apa would never let you die from a fall. She likes you.”

Likes, as in has mated with your dragon and intends for us to spend eternity together.

It wasn’t a big deal.

Just like their matching outfits weren’t a big deal. Blue and silver, to match their dragons. She hoped he wouldn’t notice.

“Can we…” Greg asked, his hand sliding between her legs. “How slowly can we fall?”

She moved against him, aware that he was still a stranger. She gave her response two meanings, then. “As slowly as you’d like.”

He took a long, slow, breath and held her tighter against his body. Then he slid sideways, off of Apa. Apa tilted to make it easier.

Aadya used the air to ensure they stayed high in the sky, above the clouds. It was just them, and the expanse of space in a hidden moment.

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