Page 157 of Dragon Avenger (Age of Fire 2)

Jessup dropped his mug, sending mead across the assembly. “A . . . a dragon. A citizen?”

“And why not?” Rainfall said, wiping away the stray mead on his hand with a small cloth he kept in his pocket. “There are precedents, albeit ancient ones. She can understand our laws and take the oath.”

Jessup chuckled. “The teeth will drop out of his skull.”

“But we must hurry. I can administer the citizenship oath, and you shall witness it, Jessup, and then we will have a bill of sale, and it will be done. What say you?”

“I fear.”

“What do you fear?” Wistala asked.

“The course of these events. I don’t want to be the one whose witness frustrated the thane.”

“He’ll count me as an enemy if he does anything to you and yours,” Wistala said coldly.

Rainfall turned. “I must ask you, Wistala, for something of an imposition.”

“Nothing would be too great to my savior and host,” Wistala said.

“I’ll adopt you as my daughter. That confers on you full citizenship after you reside in Hypatia for six years. A simple oath gives you citizenship for now.”

Wistala had been practicing the words daily.

“I’d hoped to hear the words in the Hypatian Hall at Quarryness, but Jessup’s Inn won’t be hurt for having one more story to tell about its sign.”

Jessup looked out the windows, as if fearing hostile eyes in the night.

Rainfall pointed to the floor before him. “It’s customary to touch the hem of the officiant’s robe of state before taking the oath, but I’m afraid this mead-spattered bit of blanket will have to do; it’s the words that matter in the end.”

Wistala laid her sii on his blanket.

“The oath-taker usually kneels before the officiant. But having four legs—”

Wistala folded her sii under her. In consequence her saa and tailvent were raised, but as they were facing in the direction of Galahall, it seemed befitting.

“Do you understand the difference between a truth and a lie, and the seriousness of an oath, Nuum Wistala?”

“I do,” Wistala said.

“Then take the oath.”

“I, Wistala, promise to take up the responsibilities of a Hypatian Citizen. I will obey the Hypatian laws, keep the Hypatian peace, and maintain the Hypatian lands and seas against all enemies. May my strength and honor sustain this oath and Hypatia’s glory from now until the end of days.”

“Rise, Citizen, and never kneel again,” Rainfall said.

“Walls fresh up and already hallowed,” Jessup said. “That reminds me: I should have Mod Feeney in to bless the post and lintels.”

“Jessup, I must beg for a delay in the rites. Wistala and I must go into Quarryness. Wake up Forstrel and tell him to put my saddle on Stog. Oh, and could I trouble you for a pennysworth for Tala?”

“Of course, sir, but she needs no pennies here. As long as I’ve got a bit of bone in back, her meals shall be free under this roof.”

“Not for food, Jessup. She must purchase Mossbell, and while I’d accept her loosest dragonscale, a land sale’s not legal unless it’s in Hypatian coin. And it’s just bad form for me to lend it to her.”

Stog could keep a punishing pace when he put his will into his hooves. Wistala loped along the road northward in the evening dark as best as she could, and finally begged him for a ride behind Rainfall’s special strapped saddle.

“Fine,” Stog said. “But sheathe your claws.”

Wistala climbed up, and Stog broke into his buck-trot again.

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