Macha's Journey

While he worried about her bounty, she was busy creating portfolios for the new recruits that joined the guild this past month. Her small hand came up and stifled a yawn. Last night, they went to bed late because they visited Aži at the Swat family"s house. They lost track of time talking with Tai Shan and Xuanwu, so they could not start training until one in the morning.

Not bothering to look up, Macha spoke loud enough for him to hear. "What"s wrong?" she asked distantly.

He had remained silent for a few minutes, so she used her peripheral vision to see what he was doing. When she looked, she noticed that his full attention was directed to her.

Looking at him distracted her and the white label moved a millimeter from its intended place. She clicked her tongue, annoyed that she glued it on crooked.

Since she seemed to be at a good stopping point, he asked, "Can you come here for a bit? I want to talk with you about something."

He did not realize she had been paying attention to him. It looked as if she was focusing on her work.

When she came up, he took her small hand in his and pulled her down onto his lap.

He tucked a stray hair behind her ear. As he did this, he revealed, "The other day I found a letter. It was from an investigator I hired before I left for Kochi."

Her arms wrapped around his neck. "Mmmhmm. What did you find out?"

As he thought about how to bring up the subject, his mouth twitched. His beauty mark peeked out from between his long bangs. All this thinking left him moody, so he decided to just say what was on his mind.

"There"s a bounty out for you in Phocée. It"s not worth much, only a hundred and sixty gold."

The bounty was something she forgot to tell Tyr. Too many things happened around that time so it completely slipped her mind. Now she did not want to confess that she had failed to mention this important discovery to him.

Her reaction was delayed, but she raised her eyebrows and voice. "Oh, really? Why would they want me?"

Her lack of surprise left him with a nagging suspicion that seemed to sink its claws into him.

He narrowed his eyes as he peered directly into her intelligent brown irises, "My brother-in-law and Taylen want to get a hold of you."

Macha nodded her head with the new information.

Giving a heavy sigh, she replied, "That"s too bad. I really didn"t dislike Taylen. Your brother-in-law is understandable."

If someone killed Tyr, she would not be able to let it go, so his brother-in-law"s hatred towards her was reasonable. She still felt sorry about killing Tyr"s sister, Skadi, but would not take back her actions if she needed to relive that moment again.

Tyr did not bother to ask her why she was unphased by the news of a bounty on her. He a.s.sumed Freyr had mentioned it to Macha while he had been deployed in Kochi.

Instead, he declared, "We are going to increase the amount of training you do. If you get caught again, I want you to be able to fight them off."

***

At the Swat residence, Aži rested his onyx head against his egg; a movement from inside startled him. The egg knocked against him, causing him to become alarmed and anxious. The baby was. .h.i.tting against the inner sh.e.l.l. His head shot up and he stared at the exact spot where the movement occurred.

Jóhanna leaned against her dresser, busy practicing her letters. She promised her father that she would write the alphabet five times. Currently, she was on her third set. Her friend"s abrupt movement startled her.

"Are you okay?" she asked her him, putting her crayon down.

The movement happened again and Aži brought his ear to the egg. He wanted to know if it made any odd noises because he was unsure if this was normal.

His sudden interest caused Jóhanna to push her papers to the side and crawl next to the nest that was made of colorful stuffed animals.

"Can I listen too?"

He made no reply, so she leaned her head carefully against the multicolored egg.

A few days after the egg had been laid, the sh.e.l.l hardened and created a perfect oval. Her dark brown hair draped across the smooth surface. A small tremor of movement came from within, causing the egg to wiggle.

Her grey eyes widened and a huge smile spread across her face.

The egg continued to wiggle, its colorful metallic swirls shone with the daylight that came in through her bedroom windows. The warmth that radiated from the sh.e.l.l increased and the swirls of color began to glow.

The young girl wanted to run and get her grandfather but did not want to risk missing the baby hatching. She moved her head back and forth, switching her gaze from the egg to the door four times before deciding that she could not risk missing this event. Her attention remained captivated by the egg; the miracle of life was happening right before her. In all her life, she could not remember a moment as interesting as this.

A long time pa.s.sed, but a small crack formed on the exterior of the egg. It was a fine line at first but grew larger and deeper with every attack that the baby wyvern made.

Tack-tack, Tick-tack

The sound of the little beak hitting against the sh.e.l.l echoed in the silence of the room. A fragment of the egg fell to the floor and a small red beak peeped out of the hole. The baby"s nostrils flared as the wyvern took its first breath, drawing in the outside air.

"You can do it," Jóhanna whispered, cheering on the little wyvern as it continued to battle the hard exterior of its sh.e.l.l.

She noticed that Aži did not help the baby, so she did not want to either. Her father told her the best things in life are the things you work for. Although she refused to help, she grew frustrated at how hard the egg was.

"Push! Push! Push!" she cheered the baby on in a soft voice.

After a few more minutes, the egg tipped to the side. Sh.e.l.l fragments fell off in a large area and the inner membrane clung to the baby"s body. The little wyvern mewed a bit while fighting to escape.

The egg rolled around with the baby"s struggles until a small head popped out of the sh.e.l.l, allowing the newly hatched wyvern to wiggle out.

Jóhanna gasped, "Awww, he"s so cute!" she squealed. "Happy birthday!"

Aži nudged the rest of the sh.e.l.l away and began licking the baby clean. A shimmering liquid covered the little wyvern that he concluded needed to be removed.

As the wyvern"s body was being cleaned, it opened its eyes. When its vision focused, it saw Jóhanna"s face smiling down at it. Then it looked at Aži and blinked its eyes a few times before going to sleep.

She was so happy to witness the miracle of birth. Her small hands came together, and she whispered, "Your baby is so cute. I"m gonna draw a picture!"

She grabbed the papers that she was supposed to use to practice her letters and began drawing a picture of the new baby and Aži.

****

When Tai Shan came home, he found his daughter asleep with two wyverns cuddling her on either side. He hit his head against the doorframe because his father frustrated him beyond what should be humanly possible. Before leaving, he specifically asked his father to send a messenger if the egg began hatching, but he received no word.

He looked at his shiny brown boots as he gripped the doorframe. "Why does he have to be so d.a.m.n irresponsible?" he thought.

He walked down the hall and knocked on his father"s door. No one answered, but a servant ran up to him.

"Lord Swat, the elder Lord Swat left this afternoon to go to the hot springs."

Tai Shan heard this and his face became red. His father lacked even a modic.u.m of responsibility and it frustrated him to no end. Xuanwu was supposed to watch Jóhanna and make sure she did not have any problems with writing her letters. He even promised to send word about the egg hatching.

He gave a sigh and ordered the servant, "Go send word to my sister that the egg hatched."

While he waited for Macha to come, he went to inspect his daughter"s room. He gathered the colorful papers that were strewn across the floor. His daughter seemed to have forgotten about her letters entirely and ended up drawing pages and pages of wyverns.

Tai Shan unb.u.t.toned his beige jacket and sat down on the floor.

He stopped to admire a page that had two wyverns flying in a sea of blue squiggles. They were holding hands with what looked like a potato with four sticks coming out of it. He folded that one up and put it in his breast pocket.

As he inspected Jóhanna"s other pictures, he wished he could afford a wyvern for her. She was crazy about them and would probably become one if she could.