Page 40 of Draekora

“What did you ask her?” Aven asked in Meyarin. “And what did she say?”

“I enquired about her wellbeing,” Roka answered. “She claims she is fine.”

Aven let out a disbelieving huff of amusement. “She fell from the palace balcony at the sight of me; you saw it, don’t deny it. Even now, look at her—she seems terrified of me.”

Turning into a long, narrow hallway at the top of the staircase, Alex felt Roka’s eyes on her as if checking to see if Aven’s claim was true. She forced herself to appear as relaxed as possible, not wanting to fuel any further suspicions.

“I saw it, yes, but as Aes Daega explained, she’d just awoken to unfamiliar surroundings and was overwhelmed by whatever events had led her to us,” Roka said. “And wouldn’t you be nervous, too, brother, if you suddenly found yourself in the presence of two Meyarin princes after having been away from your people for your entire life? Let’s allow her to settle in and get used to us before we jump to conclusions about her being afraid on a personal level.”

“As always, Ro, you are the voice of reason,” Aven said.

Alex would have expected such a statement from Aven to be filled with scornful mocking, but there was none to be found. His words sounded shockingly sincere.

She knew then that it was going to be difficult to come to terms with the fact that this Aven truly wasn’t her Aven. He wasn’t evil—not yet.

“Why not call forth theValispath?” Aven said to Roka. “Her room is quite a distance from here, and you know how Mother is if we’re late to dinner. Especially when the council is in attendance.”

“Until we teach her how to access the Eternal Path, she will need to know how to reach her room by foot. We don’t want her feeling trapped while she is our guest.”

Even the Roka of the past was thoughtful, Alex realised, feeling a surge of gratitude towards her future friend. At least some things hadn’t changed.

She made sure to pay attention to the corridors and staircases they passed through, since even in her time much of the Meyarin palace remained a mystery thanks to theValispath. It really was the best method for moving around the palace, especially considering it was such a vertical building. The spiral towers went up and up and up—this she knew from the view on the outside, and of course from falling off the balcony—and her legs were beginning to cramp from all the stairs they ascended. She made certain not to give any indication that she was labouring like a mortal, though. Neither Roka nor Aven looked the least bit strained from the effort as they finally moved off the stairs and strode along a lush hallway that Alex recognised led to her allocated bedroom. She spared a thought to wonder about the chances of being given the same quarters both in the futureandthe past just as Roka opened the door and gestured for her to precede them both inside.

The room looked no different from earlier that day—and thousands of years in the future. There was even the colourfulmyraesflaming in the hearth, sending a wave of nostalgia over Alex. Before she could wonder who lit it, she turned her head to see Kyia sitting on her bed.

“Your mother told me you were on your way,” Kyia said to Aven and Roka in the Meyarin tongue. “She mentioned our flying acquaintance had returned to us.” She arched her golden eyebrows. “It’s weird, right? That she needs to be taught something that should be as natural as breathing?”

“She was raised by humans, Kyia,” Roka said, his curt tone surprising Alex. “It makes sense that she only knows how to live and act like them. And look at her—she can’t be much younger than we are.”

It was only with his words that Alex realised he was right about how similar they all now looked, at least age-wise. In all her shock of falling back through time, she hadn’t been able to look too closely at the young Meyarins. But the truth was, the three of themdidlook different, at least slightly. Instead of seeming in their late twenties as they were in her future, they now all looked to be around Alex’s age, perhaps a year or two older at most. The difference wasn’t obvious, but it was there, if only because there was a certain youthfulness about them. It was odd to think that in the next few thousand years they would only physically age about a decade.

“Yeah, I get it,” Kyia said. “But it’s still weird.”

“What I want to know,” Aven said, “is how are we supposed to teach her anything if she can’t understand us?”

“I can speak the common tongue well enough to hold a conversation,” Roka said. “I guess that means I’ll be in charge of her language lessons. But I’d like to point out that I’ve repeatedly told you both to consider studying with me, especially given our trade agreement with the humans.”

“It’s not as if Father is letting us take part in any of the trade negotiations,” Aven said, sounding disappointed. “If he has his way, we’re never going to meet any mortals, let alone have cause to speak with them.”

Alex felt her body turn to stone, understanding from Aven’s words that he hadn’t evenmeta human yet, nor had he witnessed the delegation of them that, according to D.C., led to him demanding the king end the Meyarin-Human alliance—the results of which then spiralled further downward into the mess of the future.

As utterly bizarre as it was for Alex to realise, none of that had actually happened. Not yet, at least.

“It matters not,” Roka said, waving a dismissive hand. “This is the perfect opportunity for you both to learn, so I suggest you take advantage of it. And besides, I can’t be around translating for you every minute of her training. It’s a simple language—it took me less than a week to learn enough to be proficient.”

“Why not just focus on teaching her our language—herlanguage?” Aven asked. “Surely that makes more sense?”

“We’ll do that at the same time,” Roka said. “Regardless of whom she was raised amongst, she has Meyarin blood, so she will learn as fast as us. She’ll be conversing naturally in our tongue by this time next week.”

Alex had to force herself not to react outwardly to that, lest they realise that she could already understand them. She didn’t want to show all her cards just yet, not when she might be able to learn something without them realising. But it was hard for her to keep her face blank at the idea of becoming fluent in a foreign language in just a week. It had taken her at least a month just to get a handle on Pig Latin when she was twelve years old and staying at a dig site with other kids travelling with their working parents. All the same, she was fascinated by the idea of accelerated learning, if her blood truly was capable of affording such a feat.

“How about we discuss our teaching strategy further at a time when we’re not late for dinner?” Kyia put in. “That was the other reason your mother sent me here—she thought Aeylia might like some clean clothes. Perhaps something more appropriate to dine in.”

Alex almost wilted with relief at the idea of finally getting out of her wintry attire. She honestly had no idea how she hadn’t expired of heat exhaustion yet. But as strange as it was, even though the outfit had kept her warm in the snow and she wasn’t overly comfortable in the currently summer-like conditions, she also wasn’t terriblyuncomfortable. It was almost like whatever insulation had helped her to remain alive on her icyvarrungardexperience was also keeping her internal temperature relatively stable despite the change in weather and seasons.

“Why don’t you introduce me to her officially and then we can all start getting ready,” Kyia suggested.

Both Roka and Aven’s expressions flashed with guilt as they realised they hadn’t even introducedthemselvesto her yet.

---