"You're kidding."

"Of course I'm not kidding."

"But... but... me??"

"Why not?"

Rowan stared at Tavarez in shock. The rat-shifter had found him, the squirrel siblings, Natan, and the other Aerd-brats at dinner that evening-- as it turned out, he'd only been lost an hour or two, compared to all day, which was what it had felt like-- looking quite pleased with himself. After sharing stories about the dungeon he'd found Rowan's flit egg in-- and the man "Tenken" who'd showed him around it, most of which had them all laughing too hard to ear-- had sprung in the little group of Aerd-brats that he thought Rowan would make an excellent candidate at a clutch off-world.

"Don't tell me you've never thought about bonding a dragon," Tavarez continued.

Rowan fluffed up his feathers indignantly. Who hadn't? "'Course I have! But I'd never do it here," he added. "Th'Aerd-lady, she can see everything through those big Geperna dragons, see. I'd never bond one o'them."

"Well, there you have it; you wouldn't be."

"What kind of clutch is this?" Jeriacor, Altrina's brother, asked warily. "Where're you taking him?"

"It's called the bipedra," Tavarez replied calmly. "And it's at Cy Dragonstake."

"Oooo, I've heard of Cy!"

"Hush, 'Trina," Jeri scolded, interrupting his sister's amazed exclamation. "And I've heard of the bipedra. That thing's dangerous, isn't it?"

"My sister'll never let me go," Rowan predicted glumly-- and it would be such an adventure to go off-world and stand at an off-world clutch! Even if he'd never heard of it before, himself. "And Kin'll certainly say no. You gotta get permission from folks before you go draggin' me off places, since I came here."

"As I recall," Tavarez smirked, "Kin's response was, and I quote, 'I hope he gets eaten'. She couldn't pawn you off on me fast enough." While Natan snickered and Rowan gaped, the rat-man added, "I don't think she quite understood that you'll be coming back after you bond... but she did say I could take you."

"As long as he doesn't get eaten," Altrina said with wide eyes. "Would the dragons really eat him?"

"Bipedras are evil, 'Trina," Jeriacor answered with authority. "They're all part hydra-- biped hydra, bipedra, see? At the very least he'll end up mauled."

Rowan sneered at the other boy's obviously hopeful expression. Sometimes he didn't like Jeri much at all, and only put up with him because he was Altrina's brother. "And my sister?" he asked Tavarez.

"Well... we can make it quick," Tavarez suggested, casting a glance at the rather formidable Sheil, eating at a nearby table. No one liked crossing her: she was downright scary, when she was in a temper. Apparently Tavarez was well aware of that fact. "Be back in a couple of days, before she knows what happened...."

"Could just tell 'er I'm stayin' with Natan for a couple nights," Rowan grinned, glancing at his friend who, at the thought of lying, was looking a little uncomfortable.

Jeriacor scowled from across the table. "That's not right. And it's not fair, either! How come he gets to go, and not the rest of us?"

"Patience, Jeri," Tavarez chuckled. "I can't imagine you'd want a biped hyra, after all."

"Well, no...."

"Don't worry, my fine young friend." Tavarez reached over to ruffle his little, squirrelly ears, earning a further scowl. "Your time will come."

"I hope a bipedra eats him," Rowan could hear Jeriacor mutter under his breath, but he chose to ignore it.

The next morning, very early, was when Tavarez insisted on meeting Rowan. Rowan was not a morning person, and came yawning to meet him and the dragon who was to take them back-- an off-worlder, bright red with gritty-gray wings and the opaline eyes of one of those weird Old World dragons. It obviously wasn't Tavarez' dragon, since he wasn't bonded; the rider was a strange mix of species: deer, goat, maybe even dragon. Rowan couldn't help but stare from the doorway to the dragonrider suite he had been told to meet his ticket off-world at, bag of belongings hanging off his shoulder.

Once he got over the surprise of seeing so the features of so many creatures crammed into one person-- wasn't he only half Ave, himself, so who was he to judge?-- he quickly realized they were talking about him. He wasn't that sleepy: those repeated glances at the doorway and hushed voices could only mean that.

And, because he always liked to know what was being said about him, Rowan tweaked the tail of a little breeze and directed it towards the pair, bringing their quiet voices back to him.

"Uh, Tavarez, that's just a kid," the mismatched dragonrider was saying. "Look at him! He'll get munched!"

"Everything'll be fine. He's got a good, strong mind; he's quick on his feet and those wings of his; and he's got a promising bloodline." That made Rowan's ears twitch with curiosity, tiredness forgotten. What did that mean?

"Bloodlines? What? -- Nevermind. You're just crazy, you know that?"

"Not as crazy as you, trying to take up with a drunk brownrider."

"Shut up. It was fun while it lasted, and worth it for the expression on his face when he realized what happened."

"I still say you're crazy." 

"Drop it. We're talking about the kid, not me. If he ends up hydra food, it's your fault."

The conversation, apparently, was over, Tavarez coming over to greet him, so Rowan hurriedly dropped his breeze and dispersed the magic-mist that would only prove he'd been "dropping eves", as it were.

"Ready?"

"Sure... sure."

Despite being a little concerned about ending up "hydra food", Rowan was more curious about that thing with "promising bloodlines", and so he let the rat-shifter lead him to the dragon and its strange rider and help him get buckled into the riding straps. "As soon as you get in, Presian," Tavarez instructed the rider with a grin, "take him to Tenken."

The dragonrider-- Presian-- blinked at him, then slowly smirked. "That'll just make his day, won't it?"

"Wait, aren't you coming, too?" Rowan interrupted.

"I'm getting picked up by a friend of mine in a couple hours," Tavarez explained, jumping down to the ground, then grinned up. "You'll be fine! I'll stop by for the hatching to watch and then take you home."

"But--"

"All right, Tartuanath, let's get out of this place. It's freezing," Presian cut him off. Rowan glared back at Tavarez, even as the dragon under him rumbled an indecipherable answer and got to his feet. Great: he was going off to become hydra food, with no one he knew with him, and he wasn't even going to get to find out about his "bloodline"! It simply wasn't fair.

The dragon took off, then, and Rowan couldn't see Tavarez anymore to glare at him. The only good thing about all this was that, hopefully soon, he'd at least have flitter to keep him company.

Chapter Four

Back