Page 110 of Mikoto and the Reaver Village
“You have a partner?”
Sinder blinked, then grinned sheepishly. “Whoops.”
Lilya gave his elbow a squeeze. “I’ll pretend I didn’t hearthat part.”
Lilya hung back while Yulin mediated the introductions,and not only between Glint and Sinder. An Amaranthine female named Priska was there,and—somewhat to her surprise—so was Tenma. Even keeping the usual formalitiesto a bare minimum, Lilya knew it’d take forever for all the necessaryconnections to be made.
Yulin was going on about the Eldermost Islands when Tenma edgedover to the couch where Lilya waited and sat next to her.
“May I skip to petting Rifflet?” he murmured.
She hardly blamed him. “Be my guest.”
Tenma made little coaxing sounds, and Rifflet unscrolledfrom Lilya in order to twine through his fingers again. They paid moreattention to the wind dragon than the longwinded greetings, but Lilya picked upa few words here and there.
Beaconwasn’t a big surprise. People were alwaystalking about her as if she wasn’t there. Butspomenkacaught her attention,since it was Slavic. She knew the word because of Mum, but what didforget-me-nots have to do with anything? And Zisa seemed especially pleasedabout something called ascattering.
“But where is Linlu?” demanded Priska. “Is he stillmissing?”
Glint gruffly said, “We are looking into the matter. We takecare of our own.”
Timur’s posture shifted. “Linlu Dimityblest is missing?”
“For quite some time.” Yulin smiled thinly. “His absence,while troubling, is unlikely to have any connection toothermatters athand.”
“Have you involved the trackers?” Timur persisted.
“Sure they did,” said Sinder. “My boss is on the job.”
Timur frowned. “Who’s your boss?”
Sinder looked incredibly uncomfortable, then gestured forsecrecy. “The less said about that, the better.”
Her brother’s expression cleared, and he nodded once.
Yulin clapped his hands and suggested, “Shall we move on?Lilya has been very patient.”
She and Tenma hurried into the circle of Amaranthine, and Riffletwas passed around. He preened under their compliments, clearly happy to be thecenter of everyone’s attention.
Sinder began, “Although I was under the impression that winddragons were extinct, there’s little doubt he’s a fine specimen. I assume wehave preservationists to thank?”
“You are welcome,” said Priska blandly.
“Do you have breeding pairs?” he asked curiously.
She only stared at him, stone-faced and silent.
“Surely you’re better equipped for this,” Sinder complained.“All I know are the old stories.”
Priska remained implacable.
With a whistling sigh, Sinder continued. “Wind dragons were… pets, I suppose. Gathered and kept by dragons. They’re not true dragons, bywhich I mean they’re not dragon Kith. They fly in the same manner as Ephemera,skimming effortlessly along air currents, but they’re sentient.”
“Theydohave voices?” interjected Glint.
“Yes. I’ve heard Rifflet.” Sinder tapped his forehead. “It’sbaby talk, but he’s just a little guy. For now. I’ve seen paintings of dragonclansmen riding through the clouds astride wind dragons. They were treasured bythe ancients as mounts.”
“And you brought them here?” Glint looked to Yulin forconfirmation.
