Page 69 of Realms of Swords and Storms
And in doing so, he had given me something precious as well—hope. Hope that the Talfen might yet reclaim their heritage, might yet fly free above an Empire that had sought to chainthem. Hope that the future might hold more than endless servitude for my kind.
It was a fragile hope, easily crushed by imperial might. But as I watched Tarshi and Livia together, their movements in sync, their bond visible even to human eyes, I allowed myself to nurture that hope. To imagine a world where Talfen soared freely once more, where the skies belonged to us again, where chains and collars were nothing but a distant memory.
For tonight, at least, one more Talfen flew free. It was enough.
For now.
18
Iwas changed. I felt as though I had died and been reborn. Fundamentally altered down to my bones. As we stood in the moonlit olive grove, the aftershocks of transformation still rippling through my body, I flexed my hands—just ordinary human hands now, not the massive talons they had been minutes before. Yet they didn't feel ordinary. Nothing did.
The night air against my skin seemed more vivid, carrying scents I'd never noticed before—the sweet decay of fallen olives, the mineral tang of distant water, the distinct musk of Sirrax beside me. My hearing had sharpened too, picking up the soft rustling of small creatures in the underbrush, the whisper of Livia's breath, the distant cry of a night bird that somehow I knew was a hunting owl.
“How do you feel?" Livia asked, her voice gentle as she helped me slip my tunic back on.
"Alive," I answered, the word inadequate but the closest I could find. "More alive than I've ever been."
She smiled, her face luminous in the moonlight. The way she looked at me now—with wonder and pride and something deeper—made my chest tighten with emotion.
"The first shift changes," Sirrax said, watching me with knowing golden eyes. "Not just body. Mind too. Spirit."
He was right. The fear and self-loathing that had haunted me for weeks were gone, replaced by a strange sense of completeness. The dragon form wasn't something separate from me, something to be feared or suppressed. It was me—another aspect of myself I'd never known existed.
"That feeling," I said slowly, trying to articulate the change, "that overwhelming compulsion that used to come over me, that felt like I was losing control... it's gone."
Sirrax nodded. "Fear caused fight. Made change violent. Now accept, now balance."
I stretched, feeling the new strength flowing through my muscles. Not the desperate, brutal power of transformation that had frightened me before, but something steadier, deeper—a primal vitality that connected me to something ancient and profound.
"I feel less human," I admitted, glancing at Livia, worried how she might take this confession. "But not in a bad way. More like... I've expanded beyond what I thought I was."
"Because true self more than human," Sirrax said simply. "Human part, yes. But Talfen part too. Both real. Both you."
Livia took my hand, her fingers interlacing with mine. "Does it frighten you?" she asked, her eyes searching my face.
I considered the question carefully. "No," I said finally, somewhat surprised at my own answer. "It should, shouldn't it? I just turned into a massive dragon, flew through the night sky, hunted and killed with my bare—well, not hands exactly. But no, I'm not frightened. I feel... powerful. Centred. Like I've found a part of myself I didn't know was missing."
The smile that spread across her face was radiant. "Good," she said firmly. "Because that's exactly what happened. You're whole now, Tarshi. Accepting both sides of your nature."
"The Empire spent centuries making Talfen fear themselves," Sirrax added, his broken speech somehow more poignant for its simplicity. "Fear leads to control. Accept self, find freedom."
Freedom. Yes, that was part of what I felt—a liberation from the chains of fear and ignorance that had bound me. The memory of flight was still vivid in my mind—the rush of wind across my scales, the power of my wings cutting through the air, the world spread out beneath me in silver and shadow. Nothing in my human experience had prepared me for that sensation of absolute freedom.
"What now?" I asked, looking between them. "Where do we go from here?"
Sirrax's golden eyes gleamed in the moonlight, something ancient and primal in his gaze. "Now claim mate," he said, his voice deepening. "Strengthen bond."
I blinked, not entirely sure I understood his meaning. "Claim...?"
"He means me," Livia clarified, a flush rising to her cheeks despite her matter-of-fact tone.
Heat rushed through me at her words, a different kind of primal urge rising to replace the hunger for flight. I looked at Sirrax, suddenly aware of the complex dynamics between us. "But you and Livia are already..."
"Bonded, yes," he nodded. "She my mate. You her mate. Makes us..." He paused, searching for the right word in his limited human vocabulary. "Connected. Not rivals. Shared strength."
"So what does this... claiming entail?" I asked, my voice rougher than I intended.
Sirrax smiled, the expression transforming his austere features into something almost mischievous. "Chase," he said simply. "Hunt. Catch."
