Softness beneath my wakening fingers. A rug?
A hint of warmth.
Bleating.
I’m lying down. Somewhere dry. Somewhere hard. Rock? My mouth is parched and I can’t open my eyes.
Something wet touches my palm and I gasp, struggling to push it away. The air smells of incense.
‘She is waking.’ The voice is Praseep’s. He sounds relieved. ‘Hold still, Sunaya, it is only your clever gotal.’
I try to ask what’s going on, but all I manage is something not dissimilar to a gotal bleat itself.
A hand comes under my head. ‘Here,’ Praseep says, and I feel something cool come to my lips. I drink greedily.
‘What happened? Where are we?’ I ask as soon as I can.
‘We are fine, back under the mountain,’ he says.
‘What about Vilpur?’
‘He is dead.’
I don’t want to feel happy about that, but I do anyway. I wonder how it happened? The last I remember was falling into a soft web of Protection … I lift my hand to feel my eyes. They’re crusted shut. No wonder I can’t open them.
Praseep says, ‘You cut your temple. It is Healed and we’re cleaning the blood away now.’
There’s only one question I want to ask. ‘Who?’
‘Me,’ says Aji, from close by. I feel the warm softness of cloth over my eyes.
I shake my head, earning a grumble from Aji to stay still. ‘No, I mean, who saved us out on the mountain?’
The cloth stops moving over my gritty eyes. Then it starts again.
‘What makes you think anyone saved us?’ Praseep asks.
‘I felt them.’
‘Did you recognise their feel?’
‘If I had, I wouldn’t be asking.’
‘Good. I mean. Oh.’
‘Oh?’
Aji gives one last wipe of the cloth. I squint my eyes open, struggling into a sitting position to try and figure out what, by the Dragon itself, is happening. It’s dim in here. I’m on a bench, Praseep’s coat beneath me. He’s standing nearby, holding himself awkwardly, his hand against a stomach that seems distended. Hovering behind him is Danam, looking like he’s trying to see what’s going on without being too obvious. Next to me on one side is Aji, and on the other is ZuZu, her flanks sleeker now. She must have birthed. She butts my hand again and licks it.
What is she doing here? How did she even get here?
Heat balls hover around us. They hum with the feel of Aji, but weakly. She must be tired. I’m still cold to the core of each of my aching bones. If I had any strength remaining, I’d make a heat ball and hug it. As if ZuZu knows what I’m thinking, she leaps up and settles on my lap. I put my arms around her. Her warmth seeps through my coat as her breath whiffs against my neck.
‘How did ZuZu get here?’
Aji grins. ‘She just arrived. I think she knew something was wrong. That is one special gotal.’
I hug her closer, feeling the loose belly folds. Softly, I ask, ‘Was there … did she …’
Praseep comes forward. The lump on his side moves.
And then it bleats, and a tiny golden gotal-head appears from under Praseep’s overshirt. ZuZu jumps up in response, her hard little hooves digging into my thighs as she nuzzles her kid. I don’t care, I’m so glad to see her little one is okay. My eyes meet Praseep’s and I break into a smile. He grins back, though it wobbles.
And that makes me realise who is missing.
‘Where is the Princess?’
Praseep’s face freezes, and Aji looks away.
I stare at both of them. ‘Is she okay?’
‘She is fine,’ Praseep says.
I am relieved. Confused. ‘Then what’s going on?’
I look between the two of them, not missing the grimace on Aji’s face. There’s something they’re not telling me.
Praseep sits next to me. ‘I think highly of you, Sunaya.’
‘We both do,’ Aji interjects.
I frown. ‘And I you.’
Praseep takes my hand. ‘Good. I am glad. We do not want to lie to you, so understand that we cannot answer your question.’
‘Which one?’ I have so many.
‘Any questions, really.’
‘One is easy to answer,’ comes the clear voice of Princess Rishala from a side corridor. She nods her head at my confusion. She looks completely fine. ‘I am here, and now it is time to head back.’
Aji bows. ‘You go ahead, Your Highnesses, I will walk with Sunaya and Danam.’
‘Shouldn’t we stick together? I’m fine to go now.’ I stand up, to prove it, and though I wobble at first, my head clears. I nod at Aji.
She looks everywhere but at me. ‘We should go later.’
I blink. Well, if this isn’t about me, then it has to be about the Princess. Without thought I reach out to her with my mind, to make sure she’s as well as they say she is.
I stumble back onto the bench.
‘It was you!’ I’d known the feel of our mystery saviour was familiar. And now I know why. It was Princess Rishala. She’s a Protector, too. She must’ve used up all her power, because I can’t feel any in her now.
But she will be Queen. How could she be a Protector?
The three of them are staring at me.
‘I don’t understand,’ I say.
‘Um.’ Praseep is aghast, and swivels to look at his sister.
More silence. Then Princess Rishala shrugs. ‘It is okay. It was silly of me to try and keep hiding it. I should have known it would be obvious to her now.’ She comes forward and sits on a bench opposite me. ‘Sunaya, I’m sorry we tried to deceive you. It was I who destroyed Vilpur. Had I not been unconscious, I would have dealt with him earlier.’
‘But you are to be Queen!’
‘Having the power does not stop that.’
‘But …’ I shake my head to clear it. I’m not making much sense even to myself. ‘But, you were so strong. Why are you even looking for a Protector? You could be your own Cloud Dragon!’
She raises her hands to her neck, unclipping her ruby necklace. ‘It is not traditional. I would seem too powerful. I have learnt to suppress it since it first began to surface, and this necklace helps.’ The necklace comes free and instantly I can feel her power.
‘Whoa,’ I say.
She nods. ‘It was a good plan. Praseep would become my Cloud Dragon, and we could keep hiding it together. The Queen does not even know. But now …’ She shrugs, her hands taking in where we are and how much their plan has gone off course.
I stare at her, my mind whirling. ‘So you’re super powerful?’
She nods.
‘More powerful than me or Praseep?’
She nods again.
I hold my shivering hands to my middle. ‘So, if you’re done hiding this from me, how about heating this place up a little?’
Aji gasps and Princess Rishala’s eyes widen.
Praseep’s lips twitch. ‘She has got a point, Your Highness. Even if she does not state it very elegantly.’
The Princess tries to glare at Praseep, but her mouth is curving up too. Suddenly, a heat ball appears, and then another, and then another, all raging like infernos compared to the little things Aji managed to create. I sigh in relief as the first ball floats over to radiate me.
‘Thanks.’
‘You are welcome.’
I look at her, at the way her face lights up from using her gift, and it changes who she is for me. She doesn’t need a Protector. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t need a friend.
‘You should stop hiding,’ I say.
Praseep opens his mouth, probably to object, but the Princess raises her hand. ‘I can’t. I need to be who my people expect me to be.’
‘Says who?’
Her face falls. ‘Vilpur, actually.’ She looks up at her brother, her eyes wide. ‘It was Vilpur who told me I had to hide. All along, it was him, and I trusted him. I believed him.’
‘We all did,’ says Aji.
I smile at the Princess. ‘I’ve never felt freer than since I came up here and found out I wasn’t a freak. I say, be who you are, Your Highness, and be proud of it. Work to make things the way you want them to be.’
‘What I want is my brother by my side, as my Cloud Dragon. But that can’t be. I might be able to open my true self up to everyone, but I can’t change the results of the Tests.’
I look down. It’s not my fault I’m here, but I still feel responsible. If only Praseep had passed that last level …
Then I gasp. ‘You don’t need to change anything.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘Praseep has passed the Cloud Dragon Tests. Every single one. He did so today.’
Princess Rishala’s eyes dim as she shakes her head. ‘No, the Seers said I would find my Cloud Dragon near the Dirt, and there I found you.’
I bite my lip. ‘You failed at Resilience last time, didn’t you Praseep?’
He grimaces. ‘I could not take it. I hated hearing all those things.’
‘Which were?’
‘That I am not the best, I am not the strongest. I am not what I was raised to be.’
I frown. ‘But that’s not what that level attacked you with today.’
Aji looks up, eyes alight. ‘Resilience Tests a person’s greatest weaknesses. If it didn’t say the same things to you, it means you are no longer susceptible to the same taunts.’
‘It barely said anything to him,’ I say.
Aji smiles. ‘No weaknesses. So what has changed?’
Praseep smiles and shrugs, he looks embarrassed. ‘I guess I met a Dirt-Girl who taught me there are more important things than being the best.’
I leap up. ‘So maybe that’s it! You walked to the edge of Dirt, and found me. And by finding me, you learned how to be the Protector you need to be. The Seers never said the person you found would be the Princess’ Cloud Dragon. Just that going there was necessary to find the one!’
Praseep stares at me, mouth open. ‘I am her Cloud Dragon?’
I grin. ‘You’ve passed the Cloud Dragon Tests.’
Aji takes the opal pendant from the bowl where it has been waiting since Danam first began the Tests, and loops it over Praseep’s head. The tiny sapphires sparkle.
Princess Rishala runs to him, throwing her arms around him. ‘Oh Praseep, I’m so glad!’
I grin. The two of them look beyond happy. ‘And I can go home,’ I murmur. The words feel weird in my mouth. Surely, after wanting to leave for so long, I couldn’t now be regretting my ability to do so?
Praseep disentangles himself from his sister. ‘You want to leave?’
‘This isn’t my home.’
As if in agreement, ZuZu bleats next to me. I smile at her and then make myself smile at the others, too. ‘And those aren’t your gotals. I need to take them back to my family.’
Princess Rishala stands tall. ‘Those gotals are ours now, you broke the agreement and stepped onto our land.’
I bristle. ‘An agreement made because your people thought our people had stolen something that in actual fact had been pinched by some birds.’
She looks away. ‘Oh, right, I forgot that.’
Praseep looks startled. ‘Speaking of stones, I need to give you this.’ He’s holding out the Stone. To me.
I ward him off. ‘Oh, no you don’t.’
‘What? Why not? You’ve more than earned it.’
I shake my head. ‘I only just got out of one destiny, I don’t want that prophecy grabbing me.’
The Princess laughs. ‘You do not need to worry about that. You should have seen Praseep when he picked it up. It was the exact image of the final prophecy panel.’
My mouth drops open. ‘But didn’t the prophecy involve a king?’
Praseep blushes. ‘Just a crown. I guess we interpreted it incorrectly …’
‘Of course, and the man with the broken crown …’
Princess Rishala nods. ‘Vilpur, I guess, trying to take over.’
‘So I’ve been in the prophecy all along?’
She and Praseep nod. Aji is smiling. Only Danam is downcast. I wobble my way over to him.
‘Hey,’ I murmur.
His cheeks redden. ‘Hey Sunaya. Guess everyone was special here but me. And I was the last to figure it out.’
I shake my head. ‘That’s not true.’
‘It is okay, I’m fine with it now.’
‘No, you are special. More than special. Danam, I came all the way here because of you.’
He looks up, smiles a little. ‘Me, or the gotals?’
I grin. ‘Okay, a little because of the gotals.’
He takes my hand and squeezes it.
His face twists. ‘I suppose I’ll have to.’
‘Nonsense,’ says Princess Rishala. Danam looks up, face flaming even redder. She smiles shyly, her cheeks tinging pink. ‘That is, if you would like to stay … you are more than welcome.’
Danam looks from me to her and back again. ‘Can I, do you think?’ he asks.
I stare at him. Father would expect Danam to come back.
Father would expect me to bring Danam back.
But Danam isn’t a gotal.
My heart feels like I’m riding on a dragon, but I make myself smile. ‘You choose what you want to do.’
He grins. ‘Then I choose to stay!’
Aji claps him on the back, and Praseep smiles and nods. Princess Rishala dips her head, but I get the feeling she’s the happiest of the lot of them.
Praseep looks at me. ‘Will you stay, too?’
I shake my head. ‘I need to take Father’s gotals back.’
He fiddles with his necklaces, removing his old turquoise one and holding it out towards me. He smiles lopsidedly at me. ‘We do not have a second Cloud Dragon pendant ready, but I think you more than deserve this in the meantime. It will help you on your journey home.’
‘Me? An Ice Dragon?’
‘You’re a Cloud Dragon. You passed the Tests too.’
Then Aji takes my hand. ‘Of course, you’ll come back to receive your Cloud pendant, won’t you?’
I look at Praseep, staring at me so intently, and I grin. ‘Absolutely. I wouldn’t miss it for the world. And maybe I’ll get my Greatest Aunt Mera to come with me, and we’ll bring a train of yakans laden with vegetables to trade.’
Praseep grins back. ‘Does that mean barley?’
‘Among other things. I mean, if you like barley, just wait till you meet carrots …’
‘Carrots?’
‘I warn you, they’re bright orange. And purple. And sometimes yellow.’
‘I have found there is nothing wrong with a bit of colour,’ he says. ‘Would you mind if I came with you, to apologise for taking your father’s gotals?’
I smile at him. ‘I’d like that, Your Highness. I’d like that a lot.’
The End