Page 8 of The Witch & the Dragon

A sharp, painful heat shocked her brain.

The little coffin is next to the big coffin. It was so small. It didn’t seem fair that everything he should’ve been was now consigned to that little wooden box, lost forever to everyone, denied the chance to ever be…

“My brother,” she managed. “And my grandfather.”

Those piercing amber eyes chilled. “How long ago? And how? If you don’t mind me asking. But… I understand if it’s not something you wish to share.”

It wasn’t. She barely thought about it these days, though sometimes that thinking was… aggressive in the way she avoided it. Maybe a little too aggressive. It seemed some kind of family pact, never to mention what had happened. Maybe partly out of protecting her and partly because they didn’t really know how to address the whole situation.

“My… grandfather was a fisherman. He had a boat on the marina, very proud of it. He’d take family members fishing with him all the time. Even I had been on that boat with my little child-sized fishing rod, trying to catch something when we anchored in the water. He didn’t like conversation much; it was why he kept escaping out to the big blue, he said.” She swallowed, unsure if she could continue. No tremors. No sudden urge to burst into tears, no increased heart rate that preluded a panic attack. Just… normal feelings.

“My little brother at the time… two years younger. He went on a trip with Grandpa as he had done before. But…neither of them came back alive. My parents didn’t hear anything about them, aside from there being a report on the news about a capsized boat bobbing in the water. They think maybe strong winds might have caused it – but their bodies washed up on shore a couple of days later. That’s what they said, anyway. So, my brother and my grandpa had the service together, and I remember the little coffin next to the big coffin. And it didn’t seem fair.”

She stopped there, unwilling to continue, but he nodded, grim, eyes heavy with knowledge. “It’s not easy to deal with, is it?”

“No.”

Peacefully, they ate their food, and Chloe slowly let the door close on her feelings about those deaths. There was nothing she could have done; she was just a little girl. Even when she used to imagine winding back the clock and dreaming about getting a premonition that this would happen so she could triumphantly warn them not to go… the magic never worked the way she wished it did.

So, those types of thoughts would always stay in her dreams and never manifest beyond them.

“I do apologize,” Tiran said then, “for bringing down the mood. I just… I just wanted to talk. And I suspected, maybe… you knew.”

“My magic helped with it,” she said, “for once. But yes. I’m not completely unfamiliar with the feeling. It’s just different and faded, and I don’t think my family was anywhere near as divided as yours over it.”

“Heh.” He finished off his drink and leaned back more comfortably in his chair. “Thank you again, by the way. For what you did. And for listening again. And for sharing. I owe you a lot, it seems.”

“You owe me nothing at all,” which was the right thing to say, but secretly, she was pleased to hear those words from him. “But you can always buy me a milkshake or something in the future if you want.”

“Actually, I have another thought, which may or may not interest you. I don’t know exactly how adventurous or risk-averse you are…”

Now, her interest was piqued. “You have a proposal for me?”

And does that proposal mean spending more time alone with you? Because there are no complaints if that’s the case.

“Something like that, yes,” he said with a smile. “My uncle was mentioning what happened in one of his classes the other day. He said that it was one of the lessons about respecting the fae that live in the wildlands, and one of them was Jenny Greenteeth. And he said that the creature had paid special attention to you out of all the others who were there. Interesting, isn’t it?”

Wow. Chloe had almost forgotten about that incident. “Yeah? What about it?”

“I don’t know if you know this, but if that old hag is recommending that you visit, it means she will have told the dryad to expect a human of your type of magic. Some of the creatures are in close contact in the swamp to be sure they don’t infringe on one another’s territories, harm chosen humans, and that they take an interest in people from time to time. Right now, you have an open invitation to visit the dryad. They usually deal in forest-based magic… but they can offer some powerful enchantments if you are in their favor.”

Chloe processed the information, wondering why Tiran was now informing her of all this. Even though it sounded interesting, the swamp was not a place for someone to travel off the beaten path.

“Okay, that sounds pretty cool, but uh… why are you telling me? No offense or anything.”

“None taken. I’m mentioning it because if you ever actually want to visit the dryad, it’s something that can be arranged officially. The professors will allow some students to do so, especially if they have an inkling that the student may get a boon from the entity in question. If the dryad likes you, you might be given a rare enchantment. It’s only the true fae that can enchant things these days, and they’re not exactly generous with their magic in these ways.”

“Oh! That’s... interesting.” Chloe considered. “I didn’t realize that was even a thing.”

“It happened to a third-year. One of the mountain spirits took an interest in him, and they arranged a trip with a few of the professors for security. The spirit gave him the ability to shapeshift into an eagle. He does it to show off to people at times.”

She grinned at the image. She’d probably do the same if some random mountain spirit blessed her with such an ability.

“I think my uncle was planning to talk to you at some point about it, but it looks like you haven’t yet taken that meeting. I mean, he was pretty busy, so…”

Though the chatting started heavy, it gradually shifted to less heavy topics. Tiran genuinely seemed like he wanted to stay in her company, and she couldn’t quite wrap her head around it. Though some of the conversation attempts were a little awkward, they were all coming from a place of interest, of wanting to find reasons to talk to her. It reminded her, in a way, of how she’d tried to probe for topics when dealing with someone she’d crushed on back in her teen years, how they were all awkwardly trying to figure out how to act, how to speak, what was cool or not.

Sometimes, those types of conversations ended up being awkward, but with good intentions toward one another. And she got that kind of vibe from Tiran.

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