There was a word for what Sabrilla was feeling. It wasn't vexation. That was a little too harsh. Dismay was too negative. Perturbed gave the sense of being creeped out. Which she was a little, but only because she had failed to calculate just how wrong things could go.
The towering creature of fur, heads and sparkles standing before her reared back on her hind legs and threw her heads back for a crowing screech that likely woke everything in a fifty mile radius.
"My name is Psychotrance Auradance and I am here to par-tay!"
Consternation. That was the word she was looking for.
Sabrilla turned to the woman in red standing beside her. The woman wore a stoney expression, through which the hint of a frown creased the bottom left corner of her mouth. She stood with her arms crossed and her entire posture radiating a sense of displeasure.
Rumour has it that Mystic could smile. Not that Sabrilla had ever seen it.
"I don't understand how this happened," Sabrilla said. The words were followed by a grimace as the towering hydragon before them began to bop and juke to a tune only she could hear.
"You sent a hatchling to the Labs with no oversight. I'm not sure what you expected," Mystic replied.
"She did have oversight though. I sent someone to watch her."
"Yes. A Barokian scientist, from what I recall. One with no dragon rider training and little more than a guidebook on dragon rearing. One who’s only qualification for getting the job was he happened to be in the room when you decided to ship off your new, infant dragon to another realm to speed through the aging process."
The disdain in Mystic's voice made any pride Sabrilla might have had left shrivel up and die.
"It's not like I have a lot of options," Sabrilla protested.
"You had plenty that involved not attempting to speed her to adulthood," Mystic countered.
Sabrilla let out an explosive sigh and crossed her arms in mimickry of Mystic's pose.
"Well it's too late to change now. So what do I do with her?"
Mystic turned to face her with an unchanged expression. Her shoulders lifted up toward her ears, then fell back into a relaxed position.
And that was all. The Red Mage did not speak. She did not offer advice or solutions. She just shrugged.
Sabrilla knew she would never have the close, mentor relationship she wanted with Mystic, but that dismissal stung bad.
Mystic turned away. Uncrossing her arms, she called up her golden staff from thin air, then began to march off toward where her bond waited at the far end of the flight deck on the ground level of Serwyn Warren.
"Wait, that's it?" Sabrilla called after her. "You're not even going to help?"
"She likes to party, not rampage. She's harmless," Mystic called back without turning around. "I suggest you find her a den with good soundproofing."
And then that was really it. The Red Mage was leaving. Sabrilla watched her mount up on her silver bond and sail up into the sky. She continued to leave even as Sabrilla continued fervently believing she would turn around any second now. She even had the gall to blink out of sight while Sabrilla stewed on the ground, stubbornly demanding that reality rearrange itself to her will.
“Paaaaaar-tay,” the oversized discoball behind her crowed with delight.
::You know, you did this to yourself,:: Kanishkath’s voice dripped with smug satisfaction while her bond radiated displeasure to anyone with even a hint of telepathic sensitivity.
“Oh shut up,” Sabrilla snapped. Then she took a break, held it a beat, and let it out. “I need a coffee, I need a comms device, and I need the head of the scientist who said he could handle this assignment. What was his name again?”
::Erben,:: Kan supplied helpfully.
The golden dragonness stretched out across the warm rock she’d found to accommodate her afternoon nap as her bond stalked toward the nearest elevator to take her into Sewyn Warren’s interior.
Psychotrance continued to dance to her own beat with a complete absence of an audience save Kanishkath and some very confused birds.
Comments