Secrets and Lore: Gayther and Marelyn's Story

"All right," Sylira said from her command of the dragon-sized bed. "What are we authorized to tell them and what aren't we?"

"I don't know what you're authorized to say," Naoryn said testily, "but Mykha doesn't want much getting out."

The irritated, searching glance he threw his way made Gayther feel rather awful. "Don't go on saying you 'can't tell me' things," he protested. "That's the cruelest punishment you could give me!"

"I expect it's me he's worried about," Marelyn commented with a smile, having commandeered the human-sized chair in much the same way Sylira had commandeered the bed, and with as much attitude as if it were just as "large" a "victory". "But he doesn't have anything to worry about. I don't tell secrets when I learn them."

"I'm worried that I'll go home and Mykha will be mad," Naoryn said, but cut the last word off so sharply and looked so embarrassed that Gayther felt bad for him. He'd never had a mate, but he expected he'd be concerned about what she thought, too, if he had one. Sylira, of course, smirked at him, but Marelyn looked surprisingly attentive. "Sylira, start talking," Naoryn grumbled. "I'll fill in holes if I can."

"Where do you want me to start?" Sylira asked, expression still smug.

"Why did you come to this place to create garyki?" Gayther repeated his earlier question.

"Garyki have freedoms we don't," Sylira said simply, as if that explained everything.

"Like...?" Marelyn prompted.

Sylira looked a little put out, she didn't like the idea of telling a mere human and two goprin what a dragon's limitations were. "Like shifting, raising their children how they want, interacting with who they want without risk."

"Like shifting," Marelyn repeated, eyes on Sylira. Gayther was passingly amazed that the dragon hadn't figured it out yet, but if she wanted to keep playing, he wasn't going to ruin it for her. He was more concerned about other things.

"And the creation of garyki will somehow help this situation?" he asked.

Sylira sighed, her heavy tail rustling back and forth over the bedspread, before answering. She sounded resigned, as if she were admitting defeat or making some great confession. "The Society has but one real goal: that the lives of our children be better than our own. We know we're too few and too weak to change Kilandaia, so leaving a path of greater freedom to our children is the most we can do at present."

For a moment, Gayther stared at her in surprise. That was the last thing he had expected to come out of the haughty dragon's mouth-- it was something he might have said, in fact. Hearing that it was just care for the children-- for the garyki themselves-- rattled his assumptions about her, and perhaps even all the dragons in general. "Why didn't you just say so to begin with?" he asked. "That's a perfectly noble cause-- and any of us would probably have been willing to help you. Someone who could actually understand what you wanted of us," he couldn't help adding pointedly, "rather than just someone to be used obliviously."

"I told you what the Society's goal is," Sylira pointed out, eyes narrowed haughtily again. "What Catrice's goal is, I don't know. We each had our reasons for leaving our homes and renouncing the Council's power to rule us. I know my reasons. I know why we banded together and formed the Society. I even know the reasons of many of our other members, but Catrice remains a mystery. She may have some other goal, and it was she who arranged for Liatha to be brought into the Society."

Gayther sighed and nodded, accepting the logic in that even if he didn't like it, and Naoryn muttered, "Might as well try to question a brick wall."

"Mmm, I do love a good mystery," Marelyn purred. "Perhaps I shall have to look into it. I expect Gayther will want to know, anyway."

Rather than scoffing, like Gayther had expected, Sylira actually brightened with sudden recognition. Marelyn smiled more broadly as the dragon said, with what might actually have been respect, "I knew I recognized you. I could be very grateful if any information you manage to dig up came straight to me."

"It needs to go through Mykha, as well, Sylira," Naoryn interjected, voice hard.

Sylira shifted reluctantly, tail flipping against the pillows and back fins pushing her bulk back and forth before she agreed. "Very well, but none of it comes within reach of anyone else in the Society, agreed?"

"Agreed," Marelyn promised. "I wouldn't trust anyone else in that little group with a secret, anyway. Secrets are too easy to wriggle out of them."

"Be careful who you question if you do any questioning," warned Sylira. "You don't want Catrice breathing down your neck, especially when we go back to Kilandaia and you no longer have any magic at your disposal."

"I have spent the majority of my life without magic," Marelyn assured her. "I am not about to rely on it now. I will be discrete, and Catrice will not even notice me. I am, after all, quite good at hiding even from the cleverest of the Society." She inclined her head in Sylira's direction at the compliment.

"It amazes me how you can go from insulting someone to complimenting them," Gayther marveled, "all in the span of an hour."

"And I will probably be back to insulting her in another hour, the next time she forgets that she is not all-powerful," Marelyn smiled. "I do hope she doesn't take it too personally."

This time Sylira scoffed, sounding like a braying bark. "Don't misunderstand me, Marelyn," she said, once again donning her superior air, "I didn't mean to say you couldn't survive without magic. I just meant on Kilandaia you'll be vulnerable to a magical attach. I don't know exactly how dangerous Catrice really is, but I wouldn't put it past, if she thought she could take you out without you being missed, should she discover what you're up to."

"Trust me, Sylira," Marelyn purred, not taking offense. "I can look after myself, and I will have fun doing it."

"I wish you wouldn't say things like that, Marelyn," Gayther groaned, and she just laughed at him.