Wasting Time
Chapter Ten: Evening Adventure
The rest of the day was taken up with lunch with the other candidates, where Riya chatted amiably with just about everyone except Andy, since Mister Military didn't want to talk with him, then lectures on the history of Sanctuary, the city the bonding was in, and finally the promised tour with the Air kits. As expected, Evola stole the show for the most part, but Riya didn't mind and Evoli seemed like he was used to it. Besides, as they delivered him back to the front lawn of the bonding complex for dinner, Evoli said he'd meet him the next morning right after breakfast, without telling his sister, so he could make up for it then.
He was almost done with his dinner, and wondering what the after-dinner lectures would be about, when something tugged on his jeans cuff. He nearly jumped right out of his chair, but he caught sight of laughing silver eyes peering up at him from under the table and relaxed, torn between laughter and annoyance for the shock Evola had just given him.
::What are you doing down there?:: he asked silently, going back to his meal-- they had much better food here than back on the base in Rome; none of it was frozen or instant-- and avoiding staring at the little dragon hiding under the table.
::Looking for you, what else would I be doing?:: she answered coyly, leaning against his legs and putting her chin on his knee, possibly out of affection but possibly just to avoid hitting other people under the table. It must have taken some cleverness and careful creeping to get under there without being seen or felt by the other candidates, in the first place. ::Meet me after Healer Tarin finishes with you?:: She blinked her bright eyes at him, looking as cute as she could possibly manage. He was hard pressed not to laugh.
::Yeah, all right. Where are we going?::
::That's a surprise,:: she said primly. ::I'll be waiting for you at the gate to the complex, okay?::
Further amused, Riya answered simply, ::Okay.::
Looking supremely pleased with herself, Evola extracted herself from around his legs and chair and slipped out from under the table. She glanced around, as if making sure no one noticed her, then quite suddenly vanished. Riya blinked hard, and looked again, sure that she'd just moved quickly and he'd missed her. But no, she wasn't anywhere in sight-- and as he thought about it, what his mind called "suddenly" wasn't really all that sudden. It had looked like she had melted out of sight, not like she'd just simply disappeared.
::I'm still here,:: came her voice cheerfully, sounding a little echoey as mind-speech always did when coming from a distance of more than a few feet. ::All Air dragons can go invisible.:: She sounded even more pleased with herself, as if had discovered that ability for all her breed. ::Healer Tarin will probably tell you all about it. I'll see you after!::
And then she was silent, and Riya guessed she had gone.
Evola had been right about the subject of that night's lecture. A Light dragon with the name of Tarin and the title of Healer spent an hour and a half after dinner talking about the different breeds of dragons, their specific traits and abilities, and general temperaments. Riya personally thought he'd gotten lucky finding a pair of Air dragons who wanted to share their time with him; he wasn't sure he could take the endless chattering of a Water, the near-xenophobia of the Earths, the passions of the Fires, or even the ultra-goodness of the Lights. All the same, Riya found it highly educational, though he got the impression that a few of the other candidates were bored. Maybe they knew it all, already.
When the healer-dragon released them, Riya made his way out onto the bonding complex's lawn and across it, to the gate. He could see a small golden form waiting there, and she could apparently see him, too, because she got up and waved her wings enthusiastically at him. He picked his pace up to a trot and met her at the gate, which was open to the forest beyond, and Evola grinned up at him. "Good, you came."
"What, think I'd forget?" Riya retorted cheerfully.
"No, but I thought you'd dawdle. C'mon, follow me. I wanna show you something."
As Riya fell into step obediently beside the young Air, he looked around. "Where's Evoli?"
"He's not coming," Evola answered. "He gets you tomorrow morning, so I get you tonight."
"You found out about that, huh?" Riya wasn't sure whether to feel chagrined or not.
"I always find out," Evola said with her typical superiority. "But it's okay."
"Okay, then." For a few moments they walked in silence-- well, Riya walked, Evola trotted, but her strides were so small that Riya could keep up easily without having to go very fast-- climbing the mountain-side through a peaceful, if dark, forest, before Riya thought to ask, "We are allowed to be going this way, right?"
"Oh, of course," Evola answered quickly. "We're still really inside the city, just not the part with buildings."
"Then what's out here?" Riya asked curiously, looking up through the canopy of branches at the stars-- they were so bright and clear, not at all like the faint pinpoints of light they were on Earth-- and nearly falling as he tripped over a tree root.
Evola laughed, though whether at his question or his clumsiness was difficult to say. "You'll see," was all she said.
And see he did. The trees fell away as they reached the top of that particular ridge, and before them rose a building of what looked, in the darkness, to be pitch black stone. It was surrounded by a low wall of the same stone-- low for dragons, it was at least three times as tall as Riya himself-- topped with grilling of polished steel twisted in to shapes like flowering vines, all but glowing in the moonlight, and within the wall rose a powerful tower, with two smaller, squatter towers behind it. Though he couldn't see it, from their positioning he guessed there was a lower building in between. Moonlight shadowed arches built into the towers that were likely windows, but which couldn't be made out in the darkness. It was so large that Riya couldn't see from one end of the wall to the other without turning his head.
"Wow," he breathed. This was nothing like the industrial buildings of Earth or the metallic creations on Mars. It reminded him of the ancient, derelict buildings that had once been churches and temples, now ruined with disuse and forgotten amidst the onward march or progress. He had seen a few when he'd actually gotten out of the base in Rome to wander the city.
"It's the Earth cathedral," Evola said softly, sounding pleased that Riya was impressed. It wasn't her usual self-confidence, either, but a genuine pleasure that he liked her surprise. "Want to go inside?" she suggested.
"Yeah," Riya said, still staring up at the nearest and grandest tower. Evola led him around to the front, where a gate of the same highly-reflective steel swung open at her touch. They crossed a wide pavilion paved neatly but nearly overrun with plants, which made sense, if this was the Earth cathedral, to a pair of massive wooden doors at the base of the largest tower. They were carved beautifully with dragons and wildlife, set in with cool stone that Riya suspected was jade but couldn't tell in the darkness. He helped Evola push one open, just enough for them to slip through.
The inside of the cathedral was even more impressive than its outside. Lit by gentle, golden lights along the floor and ceiling, every surface shone with a emeralds, jade, malachite, and other stones of green that Riya had never seen before, in a swirling mosaic that covered the floors and walls, producing images of forests and meadows, with rich red-brown stones forming the dragons and animals that traversed them. The stone itself, which Riya could now see was a very dark brown and not black at all, was so highly finished that it cast reflections of the lights and shadows of the two intruders to the circular chamber's majesty.
"This way, we can go farther in," Evola said, her voice a little hushed, as if she, too, felt very small in such a grand place. She led Riya across the room, the floor patterned like a massive green and gold flower, and into a corridor with delicate arches of a jet black metal rising from wall to ceiling every few yards, carved like flower vines reaching for the sky. Bowls of greenery also lined the walls, taking the place of mosaics but still serving as rich decoration. Riya walked carefully along the polished floor, following where Evola led.
The corridor opened after what seemed an eternity, into a room large enough to fit fifty, even a hundred full-grown dragons in their natural forms. The walls were once again patterned with nature scenes, but this time in colored glass, and the floor was plain, as if to make a background for the reflections of the windows when the sun was shining through them. A much larger, much more detailed work of the same rose at the opposite end of the room, of a single Earth dragon rearing on his hind legs, surrounded by cords of vine sprouting flowers. With the sun rising behind it, the glasswork would likely be incredible. Below it, on a raised dais, was a planter full of blooming flowers in what sunlight would obviously reveal as a riot of color set in a background of various greens.
"Do you like it?" Evola asked quietly. Her voice echoed in the emptiness and she sidled up against Riya's leg, her tail waving gently behind them both.
"It's beautiful," Riya said simply and truthfully. "I've never seen anything like it."
"There are five of them... five cathedrals," Evola explained. "One for each breed and dragon lord." Riya remembered hearing about that from the history lectures of the early afternoon, so he nodded. "Evoli's gonna take you to see the Air one tomorrow...." Then, perhaps to make sure he didn't think she was intentionally spoiling it for her brother, she quickly added, "They look a lot different during the day, and the Air one looks a lot different from this one, too."
Smiling, Riya patted the side of her neck, the easiest place to reach as she stretched her neck up as close to his level as she could manage, being so small herself. "I'm sure I'll love it... thank you."
Evola smiled, too, and for the moment they fell silent together amid the majesty of the empty cathedral.