Chapter 15
When they returned to the castle, Evandalyn greeted them in the throne room. It was never used as a throne room but as a gathering place. "I'm so glad you are all back."
"I'm glad to be back," Lauren said. "We have a lot of things to talk about."
"Yes, dear, during our class today. Evandalyn said. "I see new faces. Females I presume." She looked the newcomers over. "Yes. Okay. Off to class with you then."
Everyone went and changed into their school uniforms and met back up in History and Culture class. "I see none of you got lost or died on your outing." Prof. Garvin noted. "Tell me what you learned about unicorns while you were out there. A 500-word essay, my lady."
"That's fine but I was presented with questions I would like to ask you about as well." Lauren paused and waited for permission to continue.
"You may present your questions."
"Thank you. Was there a time when unicorns only had one mate?"
"No. Unicorns have always had more than one mate. If the society is male-dominated, he had several wives. If it is female-dominated, she has several husbands. The other unicorns are joined freely to each other. You, my dear, are considered part of the herd as well. " Garvin made a funny face. "Ah, I see Leventavia brought this up to you."
"Well, yeah. She tried to get me to take a mate. I told her I wasn't ready."
"I understand. You have time to truly join the herd. With the addition to her herd, she will be busy for a while. It is important that you take a mate from the herd though. By doing so, you gain more power and you sure up the barrier permanently."
"What about the pegasuses that are missing? How can we free them? And what about the dark creatures that may not want to be on the witch's side? I don't really care about the power. I just want to be able to help and free everyone. I want this realm to be happy. If you are happy at home, you won't need to go anywhere else."
"That's an optimistic view. I hope you can fulfill your dreams. I'm searching for the pegasuses now that we know they exist. We can come up with a plan as soon as we find them."
"I know of a group of harpies that don't want to be a part of the witch's side," Tayla said. "I can get them to come here."
"Ogres don't like witch. She makes pain. Ogres hide under mountain." Mo added.
"The Dragons don't side with witches. We will empower the keepers only." Gerald said. "I will get my people ready for the ceremony." With that, he flew off.
"Oh, dear. You now have a ceremony with a dragon to contend with." Prof. Garvin said with a laugh.
"What does that mean?" Lauren asked.
"I will let Evandalyn explain it to you. She never got to have a ceremony with a dragon."
The class was dismissed and they moved to the next class.
"Will one of you tell me what this ceremony is all about?" Lauren asked Edmond and Demeatral.
"I only know of the power joining ceremony, but Gerald can't mean that. That would tie him to you for life and Dragons are immortal. It would give you healing powers, and regenerative powers. You would be unbeatable. " Edmond said.
"He is claiming you, Lauren. He is saying that you are his one true mate. The ceremony is a joining like you did with the unicorns, but he also wants you to be with him in the future." Demeatral added.
Lauren looked at both of them and ran to Evandalyn's room.
"I don't know what to do. This is too much too quickly. He is claiming me. I've never been claimed before."
Lauren laid her head in Evandalyn's lap and Evandalyn rubbed her temples. "It's not a bad thing, Lauren. Gerald is the king of the Dragons. What he says goes. If he wants his dragons to join with you, you should let them. If you want to go further than that, it's up to you. He can claim you but it's your choice to go any further than a friendship or guard-and-keeper relationship. That dragon has not been interested in anyone for, well, in all his life. Dragons mate for life and that dragon has had a long life. He chose you."
Lauren could feel the importance of that thought. A dragon that had never chosen anyone before, chose her. Could she turn down what he was offering?
"Am I interrupting your thoughts?" Lauren must have fallen asleep because her grandmother was with her and Evandalyn on Evandalyn's bed. "You know I am watching your life. You can't deny his gift. He loves you and you have feelings for him. He won't rush you or push you. You can do the joining and set things up the same way you did with the unicorns."
"Okay. That's what I will do. As long as he will understand that I need time."
"He will. He's been around for a long time. He will understand."
"Now, Evandalyn, you need to explain to Lauren about the witch and the war." Grandma Beatrice said sternly.
"I planned on it. It's just, well, she is so new to this, and I wanted to introduce her to everything slowly." Evandalyn said. Grandma cocked her head, raised her eyebrows and put her hands on her hips. "Really, the triple threat." Grandma tapped her foot. " Fine. The witch is a girl that was forced on me by the council. They were trying to get me someone so I could get well. The barrier around the city was weakening and I was sending spikes of lightning from the sky, burning things."
"Wow. That sounds dangerous." Lauren said.
"It was. Anyway, we started the initial testing and training. Janette, that was her name, was not liked by Garvin. He almost left me. She broke the terminal that contained Ezra. Valentine burned up and went back into her egg state. And Cosh refused to work with her. I had a lot of my lesser council members training her. During the test, she destroyed the divides and opened all the locks. It was total chaos. I sent her out of the castle after erasing her memory. Or at least I thought I erased her memory. She has been trying to gain supporters since. If she had the keys, she would open everything up and we would be back to how things were before the divide was put in place."
"Okay, so, she is the bad guy, and the war is about keeping the realms divided. I got it. One thing at a time, please. First, there's a dragon joining."
"So, you are not upset with me? I kept things from you." Evandalyn asked.
"No. I'm not mad or upset. I appreciate that you were considerate of the fact that I am new to this, but from now on tell me everything." Lauren gave Evandalyn a hug.
"Deal." Evandalyn agreed. "Yes. Joining the dragons is smart. Gathering all the creatures that don't want what she wants is smart. And freeing the pegasuses is smart. I am still here. I will get you ready to take my place so I can go get my cure. Then, I can come back and work with you until you find your confidence."
Lauren smiled. "I have another gift for you, my legacy." Grandma said. "This is my waist chain." A chain materialized around Lauren's waist. "It will make your powers of flight, invisibility, and teleportation easier to master. You probably won't need it once you join with the dragon but since we don't know exactly what you will receive from him, I want you to have it."
"Thanks, Grandma. I didn't know I had the potential to fly." Lauren gave her a hug and power transferred into Lauren.
"My dear, you have the potential to do almost anything." Grandma disappeared and Lauren woke up.
"Let's get you to Valentine's class. She can't stand weakness and being late is a weakness."
Edmond and Demeatral were waiting for Lauren outside the spire. "Sorry to run off like that," Lauren said.
"It's okay as long as you are in the spires and running toward Evandalyn." Edmond replied with a smile.
"Yeah, I mean a dragon threw himself at you. You needed emotional support." Demeatral giggled.
"Let's get to class." Lauren joined the laughter.