Seeing is Believing (13 page)

Landing carefully—it was always a little tricky in the small form—Joachim shook the hair out of his eyes and settled his wings comfortably against his back.

Glancing around quickly, feeling furtive and a little annoyed that he felt the need to skulk about his own dwelling, Joachim started walking to the entrance to the den he and his mother had built when they'd moved here.

"Good morning, Joachim," Iselli's ever-cheerful voice greeted from behind him. Joachim sighed. He'd been so close, too.

"Good morning, Iselli," Joachim greeted flatly, turning to face the current bane of his existence.

Iselli was smiling—smirking, Joachim corrected himself—and generally just being the epitome of the strongest, most handsome and popular dragon in the clan. Iselli could have his pick of paramours, Joachim knew. He also knew Iselli
had
had quite the pick; he'd never had a lover who'd lasted more than three weeks, much to the amusement and entertainment of the entire clan.

Joachim didn't play that way, so he was doing his best to ignore Iselli, even if it didn't seem to be working. It actually seemed to make Iselli more persistent, but Joachim wasn't about to give in now.

"Are you having a good morning, Joachim?" Iselli asked, leering a little. Joachim rolled his eyes. Subtle, Iselli was not.

"It's been fine," Joachim answered, keeping his words short and clipped. Iselli didn't falter, sauntering across the bit of ground between them. His iridescent blue-green wings shimmered in the sunlight, and Joachim forced himself to stare at Iselli's forehead and not his hips. His own wings itched to shift restlessly, but Joachim ruthlessly ignored the urge.

"Come with me to the springs?" Iselli asked, cutting straight to the chase today. Joachim sighed, rubbing his fingers against his cheek.

"No, Iselli," Joachim said, his usual answer.

Iselli pouted, as he usually did, tilting his head sideways and giving Joachim a speculative look. Then he deviated from the normal script.

"Afraid?" Iselli asked, more than a small amount of mockery in his voice. Joachim narrowly resisted the urge to rise to that challenge and smack the brat. His wings probably gave him away anyway, tensing behind him. Iselli smirked, giving him a challenging look that probably would have had a younger, more reckless dragon pouncing him out of sheer aggravation. Joachim just scowled, more annoyed than usual.

"Have a nice day, Iselli," Joachim said stiffly, a little soothed when Iselli's challenging and mocking smirk slid into a look of surprise. Joachim turned away, slipping between the branches of the trees that guarded the entrance to his den, safe in the knowledge that not even Iselli was rude enough to follow him here.

*~*~*

"It didn't work," Iselli complained, growling under his breath as he sat down heavily next to Telhin. Telhin just laughed loudly, earning them twin reproving stares from the elderly dragons bathing on the other side of the lower spring.

"Shut up," Iselli sulked, staring at the water below their perch morosely. "Why is this so hard?"

"Because Joachim has more than rocks for brains?" Telhin suggested with a grin. "Because you don't know how to deal with someone who isn't throwing themselves at your feet?"

"But why isn't he?" Iselli asked, knowing he was being petulant but not caring. "He gave off all of the right signals at first. Still does, sometimes."

Telhin laughed loudly again, earning another dark look from the bathing dragons.

"Well, perhaps he wants to be wooed," Telhin suggested. "Like, what's-her-name, Marnin did."

"Maranil," Iselli corrected absently, frowning thoughtfully. "I don't know. I don't think Joachim would be too impressed with sickly flowers."

"So give him something he likes," Telhin suggested with a shrug. "My sister says she's always seeing him around the orange grove."

"Wooing him with fruit?" Iselli frowned at Telhin suspiciously. "I don't think that will work."

"Better than trying to
challenge
him into a tryst," Telhin said, starting to laugh again. Iselli glared, shoving an elbow into Telhin's ribs.

"Shut up. It could have worked," Iselli grumbled, shifting the plans in his head. He'd try the fruit gift, if only because he was running out of ideas. Iselli tried not to fidget, staring down at the springs. He really wanted Joachim to smile at him, like he hadn't smiled since his mother had caught the wasting sickness last summer.

Telhin started snickering at him again, and Iselli sighed loudly, reaching out and pushing Telhin off the ledge and into the deep pool of water below them. Telhin came up squawking and Iselli smirked, settling back to plan the wooing of Joachim.

*~*~*

Joachim hesitated at the opening to his den, momentarily debating how much he really needed to eat before sense caught up to him. Really, cowering in his cave like a little girl, what was wrong with him? Stepping outside quickly, Joachim frowned when his eyes immediately landed on Iselli.

He utterly refused to wonder how long Iselli had been sitting there—long enough to have gotten comfortable where he sat, and that was more than long enough.

"Hello, Joachim," Iselli greeted cheerfully, smiling brightly as he stood up. Definitely waiting for Joachim, then, and not randomly loitering outside near Joachim's den for no reason.

"Iselli," Joachim greeted wearily. Perhaps he should give in, just to scare Iselli away. But no, Joachim had more than enough reminders of how alone he was now that his mother was gone. He didn't need more, and Iselli playing with him for a few weeks definitely would hit all the wrong spots when he moved on.

"These are for you," Iselli announced, thrusting a small sack into his hands. Joachim blinked, startled by the sudden move, and he barely kept from dropping the sack. The top of it gaped open, displaying brightly colored oranges.

Joachim stared at the fruit for a moment, confused. Iselli had given him a gift. Of oranges.

"A token of my affection," Iselli spoke up when Joachim looked up at him.

Joachim sighed, refusing to think too far into this. Iselli was just trying something new since his other attempts at getting Joachim's attention had failed.

"Iselli," Joachim started, frowning softly. Iselli's smile faltered, a flicker of… something akin to sadness flashing through his bright eyes. Joachim's chest tightened and he had to remember to breathe for a moment. "I … can't eat these all by myself."

Iselli blinked, taken aback for a moment before breaking into a bright smile that had Joachim cringing on the inside because it was
too
happy, and one of the reasons that any dragon in the clan succumbed easily to Iselli's attention.

"Do you like oranges?" Joachim asked, resigned to being stupid this afternoon. even if it would only encourage Iselli later.

"Yes," Iselli said slowly, still smiling happily. "Do you want to …" Iselli stopped, looking heartbreakingly nervous for a moment. He glanced down at the bag of oranges curiously, but didn't finish his question.

"Do I want to what?" Joachim asked, a little mystified that Iselli had stopped. Iselli was bold enough to suggest they go to the springs every time they met—obviously meaning the topmost private springs, not the public bathing springs—so Joachim wasn't sure he wanted to know what it was that Iselli couldn't bring himself to suggest now.

"The cliffs have a great view," Iselli said, his wings shifting restlessly. "We could eat oranges there?"

"I've never been to the cliffs," Joachim admitted, busying himself with tying the bag of oranges shut and not thinking about the fact he was accepting a proposal from Iselli.

"Then we definitely need to change that," Iselli decided, grinning and taking a small step closer. Joachim smiled at Iselli, just a little, and it was a little too easy to. Joachim really shouldn't be encouraging Iselli—or worse, his own hopes. But maybe spending a bit of time with Iselli would reinforce what a bad idea this was and make Iselli's dazzling smiles less potent.

*~*~*

Iselli grinned, tucking his wings close as he settled back on the small ledge, high on the ragged, rocky cliff-side. Joachim settled next to him, his hair windblown and actual color in his cheeks from the flight here.

Joachim had to be one of the most handsome dragons to join the clan, Iselli decided, staring a little while Joachim was safely distracted by arranging his wings so that he didn't crush them or touch Iselli at all with them.

Joachim had rather strangely colored wings. They were a dark, rich brown that didn't shimmer but sort of gleamed in the sunlight. His hair was darker, an almost black-brown; thick, wavy locks that Iselli kind of wanted to sink his fingers into. Joachim's face was all strong lines and his eyes were a pale blue—odd that the coloring didn't match his wings, but Iselli liked that too.

"Here," Joachim held out an orange, glancing up as Iselli's eyes dropped to the fruit instead of continuing the creepy staring he'd been doing—love struck gazing, Telhin would call it, and then laugh at him again.

"Thanks." Iselli took the fruit carefully, making sure to brush his fingers against Joachim's suggestively. Joachim just sighed at him, and Iselli tried not to let it get to him. Joachim was simply more stubborn than the other dragons he'd bedded. Iselli just had to figure out what would convince Joachim he was worth his time.

"So how come you've never been up here?" Iselli asked, glancing out over the lush valley below them. Joachim shrugged, beginning to peel his own orange. Iselli rolled his between his hands, memorizing the weight of it. He didn't really like oranges, but he wasn't about to say that when Joachim so obviously liked them.

"I … never had the chance," Joachim said, shrugging and not looking up.

"Oh," Iselli said quietly, because Joachim hadn't really had much time to himself, with caring for his mother.

"Do you miss her?" Iselli asked, the words out of his mouth before he thought about them. Horrified at himself, Iselli dropped his orange into his lap and clapped his hands over his mouth.

Joachim laughed softly, smiling a sad little smile at him. "It's okay."

"Sorry," Iselli apologized anyway, blushing faintly. Letting his hands fall to this lap, he picked up the orange and cradled it in his palms.

"I do miss her," Joachim said quietly, pulling his orange in half. He fell quiet again, and Iselli thought desperately, searching for a topic to redeem himself and make Joachim revise his obviously poor opinion of him.

"Are you in the tournament next week?" Joachim asked after a moment, shifting his wings restlessly as he pulled the rest of his orange into sections.

"Yes," Iselli confirmed, grinning. He loved the tournaments. "It's going to be great. Kelsin's really improved. I haven't had a bout with him since he took off on that half-year trip to the coasts. I'll still win, of course, but I can't wait to see what he's got."

Joachim laughed shaking his head. "Awfully confident, aren't you?"

Iselli grinned, watching Joachim pop a section of orange into his mouth.

"For good reason," Iselli replied. "I kick ass at tournaments."

Joachim laughed at him again, and Iselli didn't quite suppress the urge to fidget happily. He'd made Joachim laugh, twice!

"Here, tell you what," Iselli spoke up before he had a chance to think his words through. "How about a bet?"

"A bet?" Joachim asked, clearly amused. A small smile hovered about his lips as he tried to stare flatly at Iselli. Iselli was
not
reading the signs wrong—Joachim was just being stubborn.

"A bet," Iselli repeated. "I bet that I will win this tournament."

"And if you win?" Joachim asked, eating another section of his orange nonchalantly.

"You come with me to the springs," Iselli said, not letting his wings so much as twitch as Iselli frowned at him.

"And if I win?" Joachim asked, carefully not quite meeting his eyes. Iselli smiled sadly, curling his hands around his unpeeled orange.

"I'll stop pestering you," Iselli said, swallowing hard past the lump in his throat. He didn't want to stop pestering Joachim, so he'd have to be extra sure to win this tournament.

"Not to the springs," Joachim said after a moment. "That's where—" He bit his lip, flushing faintly and turning to stare out over the valley beneath them.

"Okay," Iselli agreed without questioning. He could find out Joachim's aversion to the springs later, after he'd won the tournament and Joachim's fickle affection.

*~*~*

Iselli won the tournament, of course. Kelsin proved to be every bit of the challenge Iselli had assessed him to be, but not any more than that. He'd been good-natured about his loss, before he'd disappeared off to the springs to get cleaned up. Iselli would've gone with him, but he needed to find Joachim first.

Only, he couldn't. Nearly every dragon in the clan came to the monthly tournaments, but Joachim was nowhere in sight. A few quick inquiries—and Iselli had had to knock Telhin into a tree when he'd laughed—revealed that Joachim hadn't slunk off early, but that he hadn't shown up at all.

Iselli scowled petulantly, shaking off a few stalwart admirers as he made his own way to the springs. It didn't make sense—didn't Joachim want to know how the bet ended? Unless he'd already known and didn't want to actually give into Iselli's pursuit. Only, why take the bet in the first place if that was true?