He went back inside. He didn't see an immediate way to get past two guards. He wondered what he was supposed to do now.
He paced for a long time, the sun and shadows moved across the room until he figured it was almost midday. He'd made up his mind to just tell the guards at the door that he wanted to see Lou and ask if there was a way he could get permission to do so when the door opened.
A woman who appeared to be in her thirties came in and closed the door. he stooped in his tracks
She was beautiful, he was beginning to think that beauty was a running pattern with the dragon's human forms. She looked him over.
"It's wrong." She stated bluntly.
He blinked at her and she approached him. He barely had time to flinch as she reached for the tie at his waist and yanked at it.
"Hey, hey!" He protested, but before he could blink she'd pulled the tie from the loop put it back through, and made a knot.
He looked at it and tried to understand what was different about it now versus how he'd tied it before.
"You've been summoned, follow me please."
With that statement, she turned on her heels and walked away. He hurried to follow her.
She led him through the maze that was the nest. He'd given up on remembering routes yesterday after everything that had happened any plan of escape had come to seem impossible to him. Besides, if they truly did not mean to kill them then he would not need an escape route.
His worries were not totally relieved but he didn't really have much choice at the moment than to hope for the best. As for preparing for the worst, his one goal today was to try to pinpoint where Lou's room was. If there was a reason they needed to leave quickly it wouldn't matter if he couldn't even get to his companion.
The female led him to an apartment that he thought was on the other side of the huge building based on how far they had come. The walls of the hall were made of jade and the door to the apartment was made of sandy colored wood.
She opened the door without knocking and he began to wonder if that was normal here, to just enter a room unannounced. The room he was ushered into was definitely an outer sitting room. There were three doors leading to other rooms. In the large chamber he was in now there were many surfaces for seating and lounging. There was even a huge layer of blankets and pillows in one corner of the floor. He wondered what that was for.
The woman motioned for him to sit and he did so. He sat awkwardly and waited. The female had wordlessly retreated to stand against a wall in between two of the doors.
He felt incredibly awkward she didn't say anything but he could feel her gaze on him. The door to her right suddenly opened and the Elder walked through. The young woman was dressed in blue today but the outfit style was the same. He was beginning to understand that loose and comfortable was the trend among dragon's clothes. It was so unlike the layers and tight-fitting pieces that he was used to. He liked it though, it was still elegant in its own way but he could not deny that he preferred the feel of the clothes he had on to the ones he'd worn his whole life.
She smiled at him kindly and quickly made her way to sit across from him. Once she sat she crossed her legs and he noticed something that was shocking for him, she was barefoot. He couldn't stop staring because he'd never seen a woman walk around barefoot before. Okay, maybe he'd seen it in passing while at war or out on a mission, but only among commoners. If a lady of high standing had appeared before him in the Empire like this she would have been considered undressed.
Due to this, he was staring dumbly at her feet, he only shook himself awake after she cleared her throat. She was looking at him in unrestrained amusement.
"Do you find something humorous?" He couldn't help but ask. He was aware that a little bit of bite had made its way into his tone but he couldn't help it, he was being laughed at.
She didn't seem to take offense. "Yes, I think you're very amusing."
He hadn't expected her to admit it and he couldn't think of anything to say.
"You may be wondering why I have called you here."
He nodded.
"I know yesterday was a bit hectic and that we didn't get to go into much detail on what you would need to do to fulfill the tasks required of you."
"Yes, I was wondering about that when I woke up. First, could you tell me how my companion is doing?" He interjected afraid if he didn't ask now he'd have a hard time asking once she started talking.
"Ah, Lou, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"I assure you he's fine. I will have someone take you to him after our talk. I felt it necessary to go over some things with you first."
He nodded again.
"I think you are intelligent enough to have gathered that getting back to your original place will not be an easy or quick task."
"I gathered that, yes."
"You will need to complete the trials we set before you. This can take up to six months to complete depending on you. Of course, completion is not guaranteed. You may fail immediately and that will be the end of it." She motioned to the woman standing against the wall. "Eva, please bring us something to eat and drink, we will be here for a while and I don't believe he has been fed today," She looked at him, "Have you?"
He shook his head no and the female nodded and left the room.
"Now then, I think I should start by giving you some basic information that you will need to know. The first is about myself, you might be wondering how I seem to know certain things about you."
She paused and seemed to gather her thoughts.
"I'm not sure if I'll explain it well since I've never had to explain it to anyone before. This is something you will probably run into a lot so please be patient with our citizens. The things I'm about to tell you are just facts that every dragon grows up knowing, it's never had to be explained to anyone before."
She cleared her throat. "I believe it is similar to the dragons in your realm, but we all have our own special abilities here. No two dragons have exactly the same gift. Even ones that are similar are not exactly the same. Mine has to do with being able to look into the eyes of another being and see their own abilities both expressed and latent. That is how I knew that you had the ability to "dominate" as we call it. However, that is not your only ability is it?"
He shifted uncomfortably, there were things he didn't speak of to anyone. The "dominate" as she'd called it was an open secret to certain circles in the Lya Empire but there were other things he'd either never told anyone or he had been forbidden to speak of by the Emperor.
"Confirm or deny it does not matter, the fact is I have seen them. I know what it is you can do. I also know how you've used these gifts before. Which leads me to another piece of my particular gift which is to see glimpses of one's past relating to the usage of their abilities. That's how I've seen a few glimpses into your past. It was quite by accident that I looked so deeply it is not something I'd usually do without permission, but I'm glad it happened. I think it happened because your human mind has no defense against such, well, attacks for lack of a better word. It was how I knew to set up a situation that would force you to express this known ability to my subordinates. They are a stubborn bunch and might have tried to circumvent my will if I had not shown them something shocking."
"I'm not a dragon so why do I have an ability, or do humans have them and we just don't know." He decided to let the incident go even though it had caused him and Lou a great deal of distress. It was over now. It seemed pointless to get upset over something that, according to her, had been her way of trying to keep them alive, even if the plan had involved near death itself.
She hummed. "Well, you're right about that, these abilities are not normal to you I think. I can't say for certain because we've been separated from humanity for so long. Your companion is without any abilities though and I don't remember it being recorded in any ancient writings that humans had any abilities. I think you must be an anomaly."
The food was delivered and drinks were poured. He was handed a plate of strange-looking foods that although unfamiliar, smelled delicious. He began to eat voraciously, he couldn't remember when he'd last eaten.
Their conversation halted while he scarfed down food. She watched him all the while, calmly eating small bites of her own food and drinking a hot beverage that had been poured.
She continued after he began to slow down some. "Let us move on to the basics, again if you have any questions please don't be afraid to stop me and ask them. As I said earlier I've never had to explain these things before." She dabbed at her mouth.
"Let's start with a suspicion I have but we need to confirm it. How old do you think I am?"
He wondered why she was asking that of all things and hesitated to guess, he knew that women usually hated to have their age commented on.
"Fourt-no sixteen?" He ventured very cautiously.
He would never forget her expression. The dignified and cunning Elder he'd seen to this point almost spit out her drink when she couldn't hold in her laughter. She laughed until she cried.
"Oh my, this is so strange. I've never considered but I suppose that is how you must see it...how a human sees it." She said amid fits of giggling. She finally got control of herself and fanned her heated face. "Goodness, it's been a long time since I laughed like that, I couldn't breathe for a minute there."
She looked at him still grinning then in her normal tone said. "I am one thousand one hundred and thirty-five years old. I am the oldest dragon alive today, I am the mother of the royal line of dragons and the Elder of this Nest."