Page 33 of The Dragon's Perfect Omega
16
Lowen
Only half an hourbefore we were scheduled to set up on stage, my mother found me and dragged me away from my friends as if I was still a preschooler. I raised an eyebrow at her when we were among ourselves, because this was not typical behavior for her.
"I heard you haven't been to the rune burning," she admonished me with a stern look on her face. "You know you have to do that before your show or you'll forget!"
Right, that. The rune burning was a ritual act tied to the solstice celebrations. You took a small plate of wood and picked an ancient rune to write on it. Hope or health or love or whatever you wished for in the coming year. The rune was burned in the sacred fire tended to by the priests, and your pleas would reach the Goddess when the smoke rose to the sky.
At least, that was what people believed. I wasn't so convinced, and I had too many other thoughts in my mind to think about burning wood plates. Besides, the priests looked at me funny every time they crossed my path today. Naturally, I felt no desire to seek them out on my own. "I'm sure your wish will be good enough for the both of us," I told my mother. "It's almost time for us to go on." I glanced back in the direction of my friends. We had to play a good show today. Especially if Zim was here, and something told me that he was. Nervous excitement thrummed through my veins at the thought that I might see him again today.
"That's not acceptable," my mother said. "Don't turn your back on your faith just because I told you the truth about your heritage."
I shook my head at my mother. "That's not what this is about," I told her, but I could see she wasn't going to believe me. "There's no time now."
"There's always time for the Gods." Wearing an expression of determination, my mother pulled a thin wooden plate and a calligraphy pen out of her pockets. "I took these with me when I heard about you so you don't have to stand in line. You remember your runes?" she asked as she offered the items to me.
Of course I did. No normal dragon in this day and age bothered to learn all the ancient runes, but my mother had made me sit at home and study them while my friends were out playing burning ball.You should always know the language of your Gods.
I hadn't thought much about those words when I was younger, but now the memory got me wondering. Why did she need me to know the language of the Gods? Was she trying to prepare me in case I ended up back at the shrine? No matter now, I took the plate from her, running the tip of my finger over the rough wood. What to write? What did I want for the coming year?
There was really only one thing.
I scribbled the rune down on the plate and handed it back to my mother. She scrutinized it with her face drawn into a frown. "Independence?" she asked.
I gave her a shrug. Was it really so bad that I wanted to live my life by my own rules?
My mother eyed me for a long moment and then her shoulders dropped on a sigh. "I'm not going to argue with you now, but I still think you should reconsider your priorities."
"Maybe at another time." It was all I could promise her. At this moment, I wasn't inclined to reevaluate anything. I wasn't going to let the history of my birth dictate my future.
"All right then. I'll let you get back to your friends." My mother huffed as she went away, but I knew that in a few minutes, she'd be watching the show all the same. Her unconditional support was whyshewas my mother, rather than the high priestess, a woman who'd never taken part in my life.
But I had more pressing matters to worry about now. Like that fact thatmy friendsand I were about to go on stage... and that Zim might be here, watching. The thought made my pulse speed up. It had been two long weeks since I'd last seen my mate, but tonight might be the night I finally got to hold him in my arms.
If his upbringing would allow it.
Idly, I looked in the direction my mother had gone, thinking about how I wasn't the only one who could use a little independence. I could wait for however long it might take Zim to break through the barriers in his head—provided he would try at all. Provided he was willing to veer off this plan he had for his life.
I could only hope.
17
Zim
Ihad to admit, celebrating the solstice on the Island of Dragons was something else. From what I'd gathered, it was their most important holiday of the year, worshiping the Goddess of the Sun that had given birth to all dragonkind—and they sure made it count. Tents and booths were set up across a large area in front of the foot of the volcano—a sacred place, or so I'd been told. The sound of drums seemed to make the air vibrate and all the food booths soaked it with the smell of roasted meat, mixed with that of smoke and ash. Fires burned everywhere. Small ones around the tents, a giant one in the middle of it all, and when I looked up, I saw dragons in the sky, hurling their flames toward the sun, as if trying to encourage it to stay up a little longer.
I stared at the winged creatures in awe. I knew that was probably rude, but I couldn't help myself. Before coming to this island, I'd never seen a dragon in their shifted form in real life. I'd seen a couple since the day before, but this sight wasn't one you got used to easily. Dragons were huge, and scaley, andwonderful. Every time I watched one take to the sky, I was filled with both admiration and jealousy. For the first time in my life, I wanted to fly too.
"Look where you're going," Timtom admonished me when I nearly stumbled into him, staring after dragons as we walked.
"Sorry," I mumbled, focusing my attention back on the path in front of me. Our sorry excuse for a tour guide was leading us toward the middle of the festival grounds where the giant bonfire was burning. Sweat built up on my forehead as we got closer. It was a hot day, and only getting hotter as we neared the fire.
"Are they trying to roast us?" someone muttered beside me and I could only agree with them. When I looked around myself, none of the dragons seemed to be feeling the heat, though. I even spotted one wearing a scarf for no apparent reason.
Much to my relief, our guide ended up leading usaroundthe fire to the other side. I could see where the sound of drums was coming from now. A stage had been set up this side of the fire, close to the volcano. A couple of dragons were banging out traditional tunes on big bamboo drums as we watched, but our guide told us our favorite band would be making an appearance soon enough and to take front row seats. I couldn't actually see any seats, but a small crowd had gathered in front of the stage, and our guide dragged us through them until we were standing at the head of it.
This was it. In a short while, I would see Lowen again. Trying to shake off this nervous energy, I chewed my lower lip, then stopped myself. If we were going to kiss again, I didn't want my lips to be chaffed.
