“You’re back again, Master Flay!” the shopkeeper said as we walked in. Her round rosy cheeks shone as she smiled. “I’ll go get my Jenny. You do know how she loves to find you the choicest cuts of meat.”
The woman disappeared into the back of the shop behind a curtain that had been hung over the doorway. “Jenny, huh?” I said with a grin, looking around the packed shop. It looked like one of those old-fashioned county stores you see in Westerns, right before some bastard comes in and shoots up all the meticulously labelled glass jars full of wonders. I peered at what appeared to be a container full of lollies. It was filled with small tubes that had been made from multicoloured canes of sugar, all swirled together and then cut into pieces. “What does she get from you in return for her… meat?”
“Fuck off,” he said, snatching the list from my hand and moving through the aisles. He might paint and draw mysterious scenes of fantastic landscapes I could only dream of visiting, but he could shop like a boss. He quickly filled the big wicker basket hanging over his arm with cans and paper bags of supplies.
“And Flay?”
He glanced up from a display of hand-rolled cigarettes with a sigh. “They saw my name written down on the list and assumed that’s the way it’s pronounced and Jez thought it too funny—”
“Because it is,” I said.
“—to correct, so Master Flay I am.”
“Master Flay, back so soon! I put aside some lovely tau fillet and some creamy relex cheese like the Gerediforth one you liked so much. I’m happy to cut a sample if you’d like a taste?”
Would he like a taste? Of Jenny or the cheese, I’m sure he’d be up for either. Jenny, an innocuous name that conjured up apple-cheeked maidens, plain, but with a girlish charm. This Jenny should’ve been renamed Marilyn or Ava or Zelda. She was petite but had curves in all the right places, made all the more obvious by the loose necked peasant top she wore that threatened to slip off one creamy shoulder and reveal a whole lot more of the merchandise if she just moved slightly. This was nipped in at the waist by a small corset/cincher type thing and then a knee-length flowing skirt made up the rest of her outfit. But while her body was all woman, her face was something else again. Bright blue eyes sparkled as she noted my inspection, her dark brown hair rioted over her shoulders in a series of shining waves, her full lips curved into a smile as Flea drew near. Jenny was beautiful.
“Nah, that’s OK, Jen,” he said, placing the basket on the bench. “As long as it melts it’ll do. No one’s complained about the grilled cheese yet.” Well, Jez had, but as she hadn’t offered to cook anything else, cheese sangers it was, two nights out of four. “Just give us a quarter weight and some of the fillet as well.”
She did just that, casting an eye out the window as she worked. “Goodness, that beast of yours fairly glistens in the sunlight, doesn’t he? What a magnificent creature! It must be a fair privilege to be bonded to such an animal.”
“Yeah, it is,” I said, frowning. She hadn’t really acknowledged me since she’d come to serve us, so I couldn’t understand why she’d switched to talking to me all of a sudden. Then I saw her pause. I looked at her and then Flea, snorting when I realised what had happened. She thought she was flirting with a dragon rider.
Just like I was. I hadn’t made a decision about either guy; I was still really getting to know both of them and I’d been clear that I was playing the field. I looked over at Flea who met the serving girl’s gaze and smiled politely before pointing out the things he needed from behind the counter. This girl was gorgeous and obviously into him. Had he been sampling some of her wares on the side?
“And who are you then?” I turned around to see the shopkeeper had returned from the back, perhaps to ostensibly act as chaperone to her daughter. The look she gave me was a lot less friendly than the one she’d given ‘Master Flay’.
“I’m Tess, I’m Miazydar’s rider,” I said.
My suspicions were confirmed as I saw a myriad of micro-expressions flicker over the woman’s face. Her eyes belatedly took in my flying suit and helmet, more nails in the coffin of her ambitions. “Are you then? You with the ADC? Or up at the University like those other…people.”
“University,” I said. “We’re here for another month or two and then, if I pass all my exams and test, we go home.”
I was being a bit mean, baldly stating Flea’s use-by date, but my words didn’t affect the woman the way I hoped. She cocked her head and looked me over more closely, taking in my smooth tipped ears. “You’re that one, the one they say is going to have her dragon taken from her. They’re
going to… what was it they said? Redeploy, that’s right, they’re going to redeploy that dragon of yours.”
Everyone’s eyes went outside where Miazydar lazed on the sunny town square. My teeth clenched hard and I forced my gaze down to the multitude of cheap crap they’d arranged in neat lines in the glass case before me. “Do you think you could be a possible candidate, Master Flay?” the mother said, the hope naked in her voice.
“Ah, no, I’m human so there’s no way…”
“Oh come now! You look as normal as the rest of us!” the woman said. “Surely you’ve as much a right to try as…”
Her voice died away as the front door closed behind me. I’d walked out as fast as I could without making an outright retreat. I stood there for a moment, breathing in deeply.
Are you well, my heart? M said.
Everyone wants you, Miazydar, I replied. Of course they do. I would too if I was them, but sometimes it’s hard to be on the receiving end of all that envy and dislike, y’know?
Don’t let the avaricious twitterings of minor beings take the wind from your sails. You are not a peon, a paper pusher, you are a dragon.
Yeah, I said, kicking the dirt with the boots Keel had given me, right now I just feel like the proverbial red-headed step-child.
A wolf does not concern herself with the opinions of the sheep.
Maybe she should. Having some compassion for your prey never hurt anyone. I looked over to where Jenny and Flea chatted. I’m just being hypocritical. I want to be the girl with the most cake.
I don’t understand; it appears to me you’re experiencing natural territoriality about your prospective mates. Female dragons are quite intolerant of sexual competitors. It’s one of the few things that will result in aggression between queens of breeding age.