Three of them grabbed the rough canvas sack and lifted Hualiama off the bed.
Flicker? Her voice sounded in his mind. Where’s my brave protector?
Laughing in the corner, he said.
You! I’m going to … I’ll peel you like a fruit!
Chuckling wickedly, the monks trotted up the corridor with their captive, who sounded rather underwhelmed by the experience. Flicker flitted sentinel-like behind them.
“Where’s Master Ja’alkon?”
“Snoring,” said Ja’al, with a wicked chortle. “Terraba-juice in your drink will do that.”
“Good. Hurry. Where are the others?”
“Already outside.”
With the excitement of a troop of dragonet hatchlings attending their first communal singing, the apprentices filed out of the main temple building into the cool pre-dawn gloom. They jogged along a path Flicker had noticed previously, which led to an outcropping above the crater lake which the dragonets favoured for teaching fledglings how to fly. Flicker narrowed his eyelids to an anxious crack, unsure how Lia would respond to this after her experience of being thrown off a Dragonship. They handled the sack with due care on the climb, however, soon appearing on the ledge two hundred feet above the water.
As her tousled head emerged from the canvas, Lia spluttered, “I’m not sure I appreciate–”
“The new apprentice will remain silent,” said Ja’al. His sapphire-blue eyes sparked noticeably. Flicker chirped animatedly to himself. A Human who had magic? Fascinating. “In a moment, you will demonstrate the high jump for us. Usually the apprentice is stripped for their maiden flight, but given your special situation, we have prepared a modest outfit for the occasion. Put this on.”
Lia took the garment in hand. It took her a few moments to figure out their plan. She scowled, “It’s a monkey suit.”
Ja’al said, “Oh, is it?”
One of the others, a thickset young man called Ya’orra, chuckled, “As you are such a fine dancer, Lia, we felt you might brighten our morning with a monkey dance, first.”
A treacherous snort of fire escaped Flicker’s muzzle.
Lia glared at him. “In my future kingdom, dragonet, you will be summarily demoted from royal companion to royal door-stopper. Do we understand each other?”
“Oh, not at all,” said Ja’al. The monk bowed to Flicker. “We do not insult the noble beasts of the air, Hualiama. Flicker, you have my permission to dream up a suitable punishment.”
The dragonet stretched lazily. “I like this Human tradition called hazing.”
* * * *
Dancing in a monkey suit was not so bad, until Hualiama discovered the itchy-powder the crafty apprentices had placed inside. This made her scratching rather too authentic. Lia begged to be allowed to jump, but her classmates forced her to keep capering and aping monkey noises for a further twenty minutes before allowing her the ‘privilege’ of jumping.
Great Islands, the water looked as though it was a mile away. Cold sweat beaded Lia’s neck. She had to do this, but her feet seemed to have put down roots.
“Need a friendly push?” Ja’al asked.
Lia knew that her stricken look gave far too much away.
“Look, Lia, we’re out to have fun. Still, given your story, there’s not one of us who’d force you to jump.”
“This is the tradition, isn’t it?” she asked, trying to decide if the wobbling of her heart was due to the height, or to his gentle understanding. He saw her. All the jewels of royal Fra’anior could not buy such a precious commodity.
“Aye.”
She cleared her throat hurriedly. “Any other advice?”
“Keep your body straight and don’t hit the water side-on, or you’ll be wearing the bruises for the next month.”
The Human mind was capable of peculiar forms of lunacy, Lia decided, and one of those was leaping off a rock into space. Nothing to it, except the sensation of her stomach flying up into her throat, chills running up and down her spine, the wind roaring endlessly in her ears as she fell–take a breath, idiot! Smack! She fell deep into a world of blue, her soles stinging, heart pounding, bubbles effervescing all around her body as she kicked for the faraway, silvery-gleaming surface.
She whooped as she broke into the air.
“Clear the way!” hollered Ja’al, making shooing motions with his hands.
Hualiama struggled through the water, weighed down by the monkey suit.
Shouting, “This one for the Dragon!” the monks came pouring off the rock high above her, a shower of young monks in blue robes fluttering through the air.
To Lia’s shock, Ja’al caught himself just above the surface. Levitation? Grinning at her disbelief, he shucked his robe to reveal a set of abdominals which could