It was surprisingly easy to stay angry for a whole month and a half. That was how long it took before Ohkah could return home to Ardeshiri: two weeks of negociation, two of travel, one of organization when he stopped by a warehouse on his way back, and then one more of travel. Still, though, he managed to stay angry at the dragoness that whole time. He was, uncharacteristically since he usually prized himself on his cool nature, quite pleased with himself for the feat.

More appropriately, actually, it was surprisingly easy to keep his anger in the back of his mind and revive it whenever he thought about it. He wasn't perpetually angry; no one could manage that. Not and function as a successful businessman, at the same time. But now that he was home again, and ready to face her, Ohkah had taken the carefully banked and tended embers of righteous, embarrassed anger and turned them into a roaring blaze again.

Only to have it gutter and flicker lower as he stalked through the rooms of his spacious desert home without any sign of her. He'd walked through the front doors, leaving his small retinue of guards and servants to handle luggage and the animals, fully expecting Ardeshiri to be there, waiting for him. Probably smug, after all she'd put him through. Actually, since he'd never seen her smug before, she would more likely either be contrite or pathetically eager to see him, like she usually would be whenever he came home. He didn't want to think about that, though, because imagining her quiet attempts at catching his attention, how she'd say she missed him and was glad to see him, would threaten to kill his anger.

And she deserved to have him angry with her! He'd been sitting at negotiations with the second in command of the shipping company he'd gone to deal with, when quite suddenly he'd been flooded with emotions he hadn't felt in years, and never in such a-- unique-- manner. He'd had to make a rather abrupt exit, and it had taken a whole day of talks-- the next day, as he wasn't in much condition to be polite company for the rest of the afternoon-- to make up for the insult.

Ardeshiri had always been such a good bond. Quiet, reticent, polite. She'd never had a flight-- or a run, in her case-- not the sexual, mating kind, anyway-- she'd never even hinted at an interest in such things, so after thirteen years of being bonded, he'd assumed she wasn't interested. Even if she had been, he'd assumed that if she'd wanted to do anything like that, she'd at least warn him, first! But no, she had to find herself a mate at one of the worst possible times she possibly could, and she didn't even let him know! That had to be on purpose. Didn't it?

Ohkah knew that the house was empty even before he'd finished prowling it. Normally, Ardeshiri would know when he was on his way home, and she'd be waiting for him. Even if she was upset with him, which happened occasionally when he'd been gone longer than usual or had left early on the last visit, she would still be there, somewhere, waiting for him to come find her and apologize and try to make amends. This time, though, there was such an odd, lonely, empty feeling to the building that he somehow knew she wasn't there.

Rather than worry-- she was obviously alive and well, after all, or he'd know-- or feel chagrined that it was probably something he'd done to drive her away-- which was probably true-- Ohkah put both of those thoughts to the back of his mind. He'd waited a month and a half to be angry with her, and goddess-take-it, he was going to be angry with her! Her disappearance was just one more thing to be angry about.

Once he found her, that is.

The housekeeper apparently knew exactly where she was, for he was ready enough with the information when he asked the man. It was accompanied by a somewhat frosty stare, presumably disapproving, which only served to make Ohkah more irritated. Instead, he stalked off to let the rest of his staff know that he was leaving again, this time for the Atuan capitol city, Driolo. Immediately.

The trip took all day, and actually the sense of Ardeshiri's presence wasn't even in the city. Rather, someone had built a sprawling complex of very large buildings outside the city, along the river: hatching complexes. Some off-world dragon had decided to hold not just a flight, but a goddess-forsaken dragon-orgy-- and his gentle, innocent, quiet Ardeshiri had taken part in it. Not only had she taken part in it, but she was now pregnant and had chosen to stay at the half-completed complex rather than at home.

Leaving the car outside the mess of buildings-- he hadn't wanted to take the time for a horse or wait around to ring up a dragon-- Ohkah strode up to the complex, and among the towering walls, trying to find where in the whole of the place Ardeshiri might be. It took him several minutes of wandering, and being generally frustrated and irritable, before someone even turned up to look at him in surprise and ask who he was. It was a bronzy sort of dragon, with fur and strange fins.

And he talked. Out loud. "Well, hello, there! Who's this?"

"I'm looking for my dragon."

"Well, there's rather a lot of dragons here just now," the furry fellow said, far too cheerfully. "We'll need a bit more information than that."

Ohkah grit his teeth. "Her name's Ardeshiri."

"Oh, well, that's better! Come along, sir Ohkah Daid, I know just where she is. And I must say, it's about time. Most of the bonded mothers have seen their partners long since."

For a moment Ohkah was confused; he hadn't told the dragon his name. Had Arderhisi been talking about him? Or was it registered somewhere who was bonded to whom?

"Well?" the dragon prompted. "Are you coming?"

Ohkah grunted and belatedly followed after him. The dragon fellow-- who introduced himself as Aedelian-- seemed to just chatter on and on about nothing at all. The trip through the compound took far longer than Ohkah thought it should have, and he had the vague impression that he was being led in circles, but he couldn't quite pinpoint anything familiar. It was the oddest sensation he'd ever experienced.

Finally the endless, trudging walk came to an end with an exclamation from Aedelian, "Aha, here we are! The mothers' complex." Ohkah could have sworn he'd seen that building at least three times, but he didn't comment; they were finally at some sort of destination, and he thought he could tell Ardeshiri was inside. He hadn't had much practice in locating the dragoness through their bond alone, so he couldn't be sure, but somehow it felt more "full".

"Thank you for your help," he grumbled. Whatever "help" it had been.

"You're very welcome," the dragon beamed, apparently oblivious to his temporary charge's annoyance. Without looking back, Ohkah strode into the building.

Right in the lobby, or dragon-sized sitting room, or whatever it was, stood Ardeshiri, looking nervous but oddly resolute. Her sister, the red dragon Siebel, stood behind her, smaller but looking so positively vindictive that she seemed to loom. At the sight of him, Ardeshiri seemed to shrink in on herself just a little, but Siebel butted her hip with a little rumble, and she lifted her head again, as if taking strength from what was obviously support.

Now he knew why the "tour" had taken so long: somehow or another, the dragon had alerted Ardeshiri that he'd been coming. Either that or she was just more adept at picking out where he was than he was, with her. The former seemed to at least to explain his own somewhat bizarre experience. It certainly explained just why there were two dragons arrayed against him, instead of the one he'd expected. Three; he could feel Aedelian's eyes on him from the doorway.

"Ardeshiri," he began stiffly.

Before he could launch into the rehersed tirade, Ardeshiri-- quite uncharacteristically!-- interrupted him. "Don't even start," she said firmly. He blinked at her in surprise. "I know exactly what you've been dwelling on ever since the frenzy and Chario; I'm not as in the dark about you as you obviously are about me. So don't even start, because I know exactly what you're going to say."

Her words stung, but her emotions stung even more. Ardeshiri was hurt, and for once, she wasn't hiding it from him; they were bound mentally, but they didn't really share their thoughts. Just now, though, Ardeshiri seemed to want to. Scrambling to gather his wits again, Ohkah managed to blurt out, "Then-- why?"

"Because I wanted to. Why can't I have a life of my own? It's not like you participate in anything I do, now, why should you participate in my first mating? --Yes, I thought about using it to spite you," she continued when he would have interrupted, running over his faint protest. The bitterness and hurt stopped him even more than her words. "Wouldn't you? I love you, you're my bond, and you keep finding excuses not to spent time with me. You leave early, you come home late, you hardly even talk to me when you are home. Siebel keeps telling me you care about money more than me-- well, I'm starting to think she's right."

Ohkah was speechless. He hadn't expected to be confronted, when he'd expected to be the one confronting. He certainly hadn't expected her to stand up to him; she never did. It made him feel guilty, even more than he usually did when it came to Ardeshiri. He hadn't wanted a dragon, much less a dragon who had no interest in economics and business; he had only ended up standing as a candidate as a fluke, because his best friend at the time had dragged him. Even so, he had one, and no matter what he felt on the subject, she could and would die without him. He didn't think his actual presence and affection were necessary, biologically and mentally, but if she continued to hurt like this because of him, that simply couldn't be healthy, could it?

The room was silent for a very long time before Ohkah pulled his thoughts together. Ardeshiri was looking at the floor, Aedelian at the ceiling, and Siebel right at him, actually glaring. He sighed a little and closed the distance between him and his dragon, putting a hand on her muzzle. She crooned wordlessly and butted his chest, so he wrapped his arms around her neck in a loose hug. Siebel snorted lightly, but looked pleased; he just shot her a glare, which she ignored, then went back to ignoring her, stroking Ardeshiri's furry neck.

"I'm sorry," he said after a long time. "I know it's not an excuse, but we just have such different interests... I travel and play the game of trade, but you get bored with it, and I need a purpose in my travels, instead of the random wanderings you like. I don't mean to hurt you, you're too kind a person-- dragon-- for anyone to want to hurt you... it just happens."

"Then we're stuck," Ardeshiri muttered into his chest with a shuddering sigh.

"Not exactly."

Ohkah twisted his head around to frown at Aedelian, who had come the rest of the way inside. He'd forgotten the other dragon was there. "What?"

"I said, not exactly."

Ardeshiri freed her face from her bond's chest and rested her chin on his shoulder, instead. "What do you mean?"

"Well, there are going to be a whole mess of younglings ready and willing to bond with charming ladies like yourself in a few months, right here."

"You mean--"

"Of course! There's no law that says you can't have two bonds, you know."

"Or even sever your bond with me, if you need to," Ohkah said softly.

::I think... that might not be necessary,:: she told him silently, shyly. ::I do like you.... I just get so lonely when you're not there... would you mind if I took a second bond?::

::Of course not, if it could help you, make you happy::

:: ... it might.::

"Well, then, it's settled!" Aedelian said cheerfully from behind them, making Ohkah jump.

"Aedelian, that was private!" Ardeshiri protested. "He's a mind-reader, Ohkah. He was listening in."

"Mind-snoop, is more like it," Siebel commented.

"I deny nothing," Aedelian chirped. "I'll go sign up you, Arde', dear."

And leaving Ardeshiri blushing beneath her fur, Siebel cackling amusement, and Ohkah a little bemused, the bronze dragon traipsed away.

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