Embers (Scales 'N' Spells 4)

And it wasn’t that he minded, per se, having someone nearby. But it was odd. He was used to being alone. This room should be quiet except for the noises he himself made. Not that Nikki was loud—far from it—but…anyway, it felt odd to have someone in here aside from himself for hours at a stretch.

Alright, time to get to the bottom of this. Gunter didn’t want Nikki to feel compelled to stay here, for whatever reason. The mage had been trapped in their life long enough.

Gunter wasn’t precisely sure how to go about getting the info—it seemed like a situation demanding delicacy. And he had none. But he could at least try, and call in reinforcements if he bungled it, right? Right.

Nikki held a pad of legal paper, sketching something out with concentration, the pencil blurring across the page. The sketch seemed a good conversational opener, so Gunter tilted his head to get a look. He was surprised by the quality of the sketch. It was a picture of a dragon in flight, a person strapped to their back. In fact, it seemed strongly reminiscent of Ravi and Sora.

“You’re a good artist. Ravi and Sora?”

“From their wedding day,” Nikki confirmed. They glanced up with a shy smile, and for a split second, Gunter found them adorable. “It was such a beautiful moment, when they lifted into the sky together.”

“It was,” Gunter said. It had been a beautiful ceremony in many ways. And Ravi and Sora were radiant throughout it, making even Gunter tear up a little to see his friend so obviously happy. Gunter was pleased for Ravi. Maybe a little envious he’d found his mate before Gunter had, but with the influx of mages coming into the clan, Gunter had faith his mate was coming. Soon. God, please let it be soon.

“Is that something you wish for? To be mated to a dragon?”

“Of course. I think all mages wish for that, on one level or another.” Nikki’s pencil stopped, but they still looked at the drawing. “I used to dream of it, when I was with the Jaeggi. That a dragon would find me and fall madly in love on the spot, and swoop in to save me. It wasn’t until I grew older that I realized I’d have to save myself.”

For some reason, Gunter felt guilty. “You were under too many wards. No dragon could catch your scent.”

“Yeah. I realized that, eventually. At least, I knew no dragon could detect me, not because of…scent. Really, you can smell mages?”

“You’re like the ozone smell before a strong lightning storm. That’s what magic smells like to us.”

Nikki blinked, those purple eyes expressive with interest. “Yeah? That’s interesting. I guess I never really thought of how dragons perceived mages.”

“Bundles of intellect, power, and mischief is my general take on all of you,” Gunter drawled. To his delight, Nikki snickered. He did prefer being around people who could take some teasing and had a sense of humor. Even if Gunter generally sucked at cracking jokes.

Pointing a finger at themself, Nikki protested, “But I’m not like that, right? I’m sitting here calmly.”

“You, I think, are the calm before a storm. You have no formal training and still made a magical explosion, so I trust you the least.”

Nikki appeared delighted by this evaluation. “I do like explosions. That one was my first, but it had so much power and spark. I want to make more.”

“Oh god,” Gunter said, sighing. “Not another one.”

“Another one? Wait, there’s someone else here who likes explosions?”

“Too many, in my opinion. Cassie and Cameron both aren’t to be trusted, although they’ll claim the explosions are for research purposes. Ravi just likes to see things go boom, so he’s—wait, I shouldn’t be telling you any of this. I don’t need you to know who your accomplices are.”

“Aww.” Nikki openly pouted.

Gunter shook his head. How did he almost slip so badly? “Anyway, my point is, you’re just like the rest of them. But not. You haven’t made any noise about leaving the clan, so do you intend to stay?”

Nikki’s answer was firm and without any hesitation. “I do.”

Gunter had expected as much. “Then you should start working on all the things you’ll need to properly come into the clan: visa, driver’s license, magic lessons, all of that.”

Nikki nodded, but hesitation was clear in their expression and body language. “I don’t know…how to do any of that, though.”

Oh. Maybe it wasn’t lack of desire but lack of direction that kept Nikki here with Gunter? Now, why hadn’t he thought of that sooner? With Nikki growing up in an environment where everything was provided for them—but without any of the freedoms to grow into a proper adult—of course they wouldn’t have all the right tools or knowledge to know what to do next.

Well, he was happy to give Nikki the direction the mage needed so he stopped lurking in Gunter’s library.