Palon, a Windward novella

By S. Kaeth

It's not easy growing up part of a famous family. Twelve-year old Palon's magic isn't strong compared to the rest of her family's, she has no special talents, and she's constantly falling short of the mark. Desperate to stand out, she leaves home and bonds a dragon, Windward.

 

But life among dragons and other dragonbonded is not easy. Palon's refusal to admit to mistakes makes it hard for her to fit in. She's so worried about proving herself, she pushes people away. When Palon sees an intruder in the nest, no one believes her. Despite her insistence, they explain away her concerns, and soon
everyone's too distracted with a spreading illness to listen. Frustrated, Palon defies her mentor's instructions and convinces Windward to help her investigate.

 

In order to heal the nest, Palon will have to trust that her newfound family will accept her despite her imperfections. And it begins with immersing herself in the wisdom of the dragon she bonded.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Hakea Media
• Release date: Dec 12, 2022
• ISBN: 9781955220040

Book preview

To you. Thank you for taking a chance on my stories.

Author’s Note

Thank you for downloading this novella! This is intended to be an introduction to my writing style as well as to the world and characters of Windward (associated with the Children of the Nexus series). It’s set approximately ten years before Windward begins.

Please feel free to share this novella with others. If you enjoy it, please consider signing up for my mailing list at skaeth.com to get more exclusive stories and content, as well as to be the first to know about new releases.

Copyright © 2022 S. Kaeth

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except as permitted by U.S. copyright law.

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-955220-04-0

First Edition

Author’s website: www.skaeth.com

Content Warning:

Includes descriptions of fantasy violence, illness, and teenage angst.

CHAPTER ONE

TODAY, THE DRAGON was coming back. He’d promised.

Today, Palon would leave her family forever. She’d be free.

If only she could shove away the sadness that clung to her excitement. Part of her wished she could say goodbye, but then her siblings would try to keep her here.

The sun filtered in through tiny gaps in the grass mats that made up the rounded shape of her family’s hut, so much smaller now than it once had been. Like a shrinking cage. She would not stay to be caught in it.

Since her parents and oldest siblings were dead, Taunos and Kaemada had been the ones who set up their house at the end of last Feast. They’d built it smaller, just large enough to hold the six of them, including her younger brother Biran and little Morae and Sibei—the twins, having not quite three summers, didn’t take up much room yet.

The hut closed around her like a snare, just as the expectations of the community did. Would Palon reach the heights of her hero brother? Would she be doubly gifted as her sister Kaemada or her unusual friends? Would she leave behind lasting honor for her people like her mother had? No, that’s only little Palon, running after her siblings. She’s just a weak psion. Always failing to show the extraordinary abilities expected of her.

Only, that wouldn’t be true for much longer. It was so close she could taste it, remembering the dragon’s musky scent. Windward would come, and Palon would fly.

Palon clenched her fists, pressed them against her stomach, and breathed slowly, struggling to calm the shaking of her hands. Here were her traitorous nerves, threatening to give her away even before the sunlight had chased off the last of the dew.

Inhale, exhale. Who would notice? Taunos was off training, like always, and Kaemada was too busy getting the twins ready so she could begin her own day. She’d have no time to see Palon’s anticipation, her secret hope. Even now, Palon’s older sister scooped the fussing twins up in either arm.

Kaemada paused with the rain shield tucked back over her shoulder. Don’t forget to eat breakfast.

Palon rolled her eyes. Like Kaemada could talk. She forgot to eat half the time unless reminded. I’ll be fine.

And remember, Taunos found that tserwora den east of the waterfall with the cave underneath. Make sure Biran stays away. I’ll be back at midday.

"Biran knows," Palon said with a groan. Taunos had told them all this last night. She’d been there. She wasn’t stupid.

I know. I just… Kaemada bit back whatever she had been about to say and forced a smile instead. Nanovah. We’ll be all right.

Palon took pity on her, especially when the twins began to shriek in protest at the delay. We will. I’ll remind Biran—and I’ll wake. Him. Up. She punctuated her words with shoves of her foot on her brother’s back.

Groaning, Biran rolled over, right into the hut wall. With nowhere else to go, he sat up, throwing off his blanket with a shout.

Kaemada grimaced as the wall shuddered, but then Morae clutched a lock of Sibei’s hair in her fist, and Sibei’s wails filled the house. Please stay out of trouble, you two. Be safe, Palon.

Have good training, Palon said, waving.

But she was already gone, the rainshield dropping back into place, casting shifting shadows across the interior. The bickering of the twins faded steadily into the background.

Palon stared at the rainshield. That was the last time she’d see her sisters. And Taunos was gone, of course. No one to say good-bye to now, if she’d wanted to change her mind. Except Biran.

That was more than she’d gotten a chance of with the rest of her family. The Dark attack that had killed so many of their community had come unexpected, leaving behind only devastation and broken families.

But if her siblings knew, they’d make her stay. They clung to each other instead of accepting the inevitability of separation.

Come on, Palon said to her brother. You’re supposed to stay away from the tserwora den.

Yes, because my highest priority today was dying, Biran scoffed, rubbing his eyes.

I know, but she wouldn’t let it go.

Neither would Taunos. It’s only because… you know. Biran looked away, shoulders slumping.

Palon frowned. It’d been an entire cycle of the seasons already, and he still tiptoed awkwardly around the subject. You can say it. It won’t hurt anything. Our parents are dead. Our older brother and sister and their families were slaughtered too. There.

Biran wrinkled his nose at her. Isn’t it at the very least too early to think about that?

No, Palon said. It wasn’t too late for them to die, or too early. Might as well accept it.’

After all, sooner or later, everyone died. It was an accepted risk—except as far as Taunos and Kaemada were concerned.

Her brother tilted his head and folded his arms, his brown eyes flickering over her face. You’re going to see the dragon again.

Palon froze. How was it that obvious? She swore she hadn’t even been trembling with excitement. She’d been holding on to her arms specifically to stop that! Everyone had seen the dragon, but she was the only one it had talked to. It was a nice feeling, standing apart from what everyone else saw when they looked at her.

Biran smiled. You’re happy.

Tentatively, she allowed herself a small smile in return. I am.

Good. Me too, then.

You might be the only one. Palon rubbed her forehead. Over the last few days, she’d considered a dozen times, a hundred ways she could tell Taunos and Kaemada she was leaving. She’d chosen cowardice instead each time, which only meant she wasn’t truly worthy of the dragon in the first place.

The dragon was going to leave her behind, because she wasn’t good enough. She was trapped in the face of her mother and the shadow of her family and no one would see her. She clenched her fists.

Not until she made them, anyway. So she’d have to make them.

Have fun, Biran said.

Palon met his eyes. This was the last time she’d see him, too. She forced a smile, pushed away the temptation to dawdle. You too, she said. Don’t die!

As Biran scoffed, Palon turned and swept the rainshield to the side. The fabric snapped with the brisk movement, flinging dew drops and earning her a frown from one of the women walking past. In a Rinaryn kaetal, every adult was in some sense every child’s parent, so even though her parents were dead, there were no end of well-meaning advice and eyes hemming her in from all sides.

Ducking her head and trying to look properly abashed, she took off running to the east. The sun was only a little way above the horizon, and she imagined for a moment that she could snatch it and eat it. What would it taste like, if the sun were a berry?

Palon left the trees behind and broke out into the prairie, crashing through spring grasses already towering above her head. Blissfully absent were the sounds of anyone to scold her. ‘Palon, you could startle an alanshorn and cause a stampede. Even one alanshor is far larger than you. A herd of them would trample you.’ Or maybe it would be ‘Running like that with no way to see where you’re going is foolish. You could fall into a stream or down a bank or into a hole. Take more care.’

She would rather see where she was going, but she was planning to fix all that, after all.

Leaping into the air, Palon strained to see over the heads of the grasses. Where was that lone tree? She’d been coming out here the last few moons, ever since her best friend died in a raid and there was nothing left for her here. The tree was where the dragon had found her. That was where he would find her again.

The pale, crooked branches of the saabiwood tree stretched out above the grasses, and when Palon finally caught sight of them, she corrected her course, veering left. Kaemada had told her once there used to be a stream running past, long ago, and the tree was a remnant of that time, but the water’s route had shifted and left it behind. How had that felt, to be left behind so easily? Or had the tree relished the chance to be free of the confinement of others?

She climbed up the trunk and swung onto one of the lower branches. Her older brother—the person she’d most hoped to avoid—stood on the branch, leaning against the trunk with a casual air, one ankle hooked around the other. With seven more summers than she had, he was taller than most adults and just as bossy.

Palon froze. The leaves had hidden him, for his brown skin stood out against the pale bark just as much as hers did.

What are you doing here? she asked.

I was going to ask you that, he said.

The dragon. She swallowed. Her hands closed into fists. Why wouldn’t her voice work, now when she needed it? She’d told her siblings she’d been talking to a dragon, of course. But she hadn’t told them she’d be leaving today.

Are you going with him? he asked.

She scowled. You can’t stop me.

Palon, you’ll have twelve summers after the coming Feast. You’re almost ready for your yah, but you’re not ready yet.

I’m plenty ready, but I don’t want to go on my yah, she said. Why should she spend the ritual moon living self-sufficient from the land before tying herself to the kaetal? She wanted to stand alone, independent, her whole life, not just for one moon. A taste of that independence, if that were all, would be cruel. I want to go with the dragon.

Are you sure?

Yes.

Why?

She blinked. Just that? No arguments, no forbidding her? Don’t you care?

Of course I care! Her brother shoved a hand through his brown hair and glanced up through the bright canopy of spring leaves, his throat bobbing. I want you safe, most of all. I don’t want to lose anyone else, but…

The dragon can protect me better than you can.

He winced, more pain flashing across his face than he ever showed while sparring—or fighting. Yes.

Palon watched him, searching his features for the trap. Everyone was always trying to force her into being something she wasn’t. But all she found was her brother’s honest face, the love and worry in his eyes.

Her brow furrowed, and she bit her lip. I’m sorry.

He swept her into a fierce embrace, crushing her against his chest. I’ll miss you, Palon, but I want you safe. And happy. Can you do that with the dragon?

She nodded into his shirt. I think so.

He dropped a kiss on the top of her head and released her. Then that’s good enough for me.

She tried for a smile. I thought you’d stop me.

Taunos laughed. Oh, don’t worry. As far as Talaera and Teros and the others will know, I tried to stop you, but what could I do against a dragon?

Palon snorted. You’re the hero of Torkae.

"Yes, but you’re going to be dragonbonded."

She forced the smile wide and looked away, scanning the blue expanse of sky for the silvery purple dragon wings she longed to see. She would be dragonbonded, living among dragons, flying on dragonback, learning everything the dragons knew, even seeing other worlds—if he accepted her. If