Saruth did to sheep.
Sheep are delicious, Bhrava Saruth announced into his mind, drawing out the last word with his enthusiasm. His head lolled back in delight as Mom stroked his fur.
"About that proposal, Ridge," his mother said. "You should do it sooner rather than later. You don't want to risk losing Sardelle with your reckless career and your cavalier bachelor ways. Does she mind the women who fling themselves at you when you ride past in the city?"
"Nobody's flinging themselves at me these days," Ridge said. "I'm a general now, stately and unapproachable."
"There are duck droppings on your boots, General."
Ridge sighed and shook the cracker tin. "Do you want to help me feed them?"
Bhrava Saruth chittered a protest when Mom straightened, leaving his belly bereft of pats. You can throw the crackers out the window, and she can stay and attend to my needs.
She's not going to become one of your followers.
That is unfortunate. She has most excellent hands.
"Do you have plans yet?" his mother asked tenaciously. "Dinner reservations someplace nice?"
"No, not yet." More ducks had gathered in the pond outside of the window and also on the path, so Ridge crumbled crackers to toss into the water. "General Ort suggested a dinner date, but I thought that sounded overly sedate."
He didn't mention that Lieutenant Ahn had also suggested something sedate. Didn't his comrades know that Ridge couldn't do sedate? He wanted Sardelle to remember his proposal and to be knocked over by the delightfulness of it. He wasn't convinced that flying upside down through Crazy Canyon and then landing atop one of the slender rock arches spanning the waterway wouldn't be a good way to propose. He could pack a picnic and a blanket, securing them so they wouldn't fall out when his flier was upside down, and they could dine at the peak of the arch. Then he could surprise her with the promise necklace, and they could make love high above the canyon, with the stars and moon shining down upon them. So long as they didn't forget where they were while in the throes of passion, and roll over and fall off the arch, it would be perfect. And memorable.
Perhaps you should have a dragon ally nearby, Bhrava Saruth said, interrupting his daydream. Thus to swoop in and keep you from falling to your deaths if your mating is too vigorous.
I'll keep your offer in mind, thank you. Ridge shuddered at the idea of Bhrava Saruth or Phelistoth watching from an adjacent arch as he and Sardelle... consummated the proposal. Did one consummate a proposal? Or just a marriage? He wasn't sure.
"Vilhem is a smart man," his mother said, and it took Ridge a moment to remember what she was responding to. "A woman doesn't want to fear for her life during a marriage proposal. You weren't thinking of flying her somewhere... untoward, were you?"
"Ah." Ridge thought of his arch, an arch that he could not now imagine without envisioning a dragon looking on from somewhere nearby. "It crossed my mind to take her someplace adventurous."
"Well, uncross it. Goodness. Dinner, Ridge. In a nice restaurant. And don't choose cheap jewelry." She frowned at him, as if he intended to buy some flimsy bauble from the man who sold dragon luck figurines near the army fort. "This is important."
"I wasn't planning to, Mom. I already ordered a necklace. With sapphires, to match her eyes.” He didn’t mention that General Ort had given him that idea; he would hate to feel unoriginal.
“Hm.”
“You don’t approve?”
“Sapphires will be lovely, but see if you can sneak some diamonds in there too. Girls love diamonds.”
Ridge imagined ending up with some giant, gaudy pendant if he added everyone’s favorite gem to the mix. That could end up being expensive too. He was already dipping into his combat pay to make sure he got something of high quality.
“I’ll think about it,” he said neutrally.
“And a gold chain. You’re far too old and established in your career to get away with braiding grass or giving a woman a leather thong. Do you want me to sketch some ideas for you?”
He glanced at the dubious bracelets encircling her wrists. “Thanks for the offer, Mom, but I’ve already got a professional jeweler working on it.”
That earned him another, “Hm.”
Ridge was half-tempted to shoo her away so the advice-giving would end, but she had come all this way. He supposed he ought to invite her to dinner--he had noticed some sausage links in the kitchen that Sardelle must have purchased.
Actually, the sausage was a gift, Bhrava Saruth said as he lay contentedly, Mom rubbing his belly. From my new worshipper.
The woman or the children?
The woman. She is excellent with sausages.
I bet, Ridge responded, having second thoughts about offering those sausages to guests.
"I could make the reservations for you," Mom offered. "Soon. You are thinking about soon, aren't you?"
Ridge sighed. "Yes, Mom. Soon. Did Dad take you to a fancy restaurant?"
"No, and I've long lamented that. I'm so glad you're a better man than he is, Ridge."
Bhrava Saruth protested when she left him to come over and clasp Ridge's hands.
"Dad didn't propose nicely to you?" Ridge frowned, feeling affronted on her behalf.
"I actually proposed to him. In the kitchen."
"That doesn't sound romantic."
"No, but I didn't want him to get away on another of his trips before... oh, let's not worry about it. It was a long time ago. I'm far more interested in what you plan with Sardelle."
Ridge had never asked his mother about her proposal, or marriage, or much of anything about how she and Dad had met. Oh, he remembered her sharing a few stories when he'd been a boy, but what boy cared about the romance between his parents? He had never even been comfortable thinking of his parents having romance.
"I hope Dad at least accepted in a timely manner." Ridge scooted to the side. "Here, why don't you sit down, Mom? Do you want a blueberry tart? My new aide foisted these off on me, yesterday." He reached for a bakery box on the shelf next to the cracker tin, only to find it empty despite the promising grease spots on the bottom. "Er, never mind. I guess someone ate them." He shot the ferret a dirty look.
Bhrava Saruth hopped onto the table and jumped into Mom's lap as soon as she sat down. He cooed at Ridge, pointedly not looking at the box.
Why can't you be like Phelistoth and just like cheese? Ridge wondered, certain the dragon was still poking around in his thoughts.
You wish me to be like a self-important silver dragon with no sense of humor whatsoever? That sounds dreadful. Bhrava Saruth stretched out across Mom's lap, his furry tail twitching in contentment as she stroked his back. She may yet wish to worship me.
Yes... as soon as she decides you exist.
I could prove my existence to her most easily.
Please don't.
"It took some convincing," Mom said. "He had plans to explore the world and didn't want to be tied down."
"How did you convince him?" Ridge leaned against the wall and tossed a few crackers out to the ducks.
"Honestly, I didn't. You did."
Ridge almost dropped the cracker tin. "Pardon?"
"I suppose we should have told you long ago, but you never seemed that interested in hearing about our relationship, and he's gone so often that it never really came up. You were at the wedding, dear. In a manner of speaking."
"I... Isn't your anniversary ten... no, eleven months before my birthday?"
"We adjusted the date, dear. Back then, the world was less forgiving of such things."
Ducks squawked, requesting more crackers, but Ridge barely noticed as he digested this information. He supposed it didn't matter that his parents had never told him they had tinkered with their anniversary date, but it seemed strange to imagine them doing so. He was relieved they hadn't changed his birthdate and that he wasn't older than he thought--that would have been alarming. He did find it distressing that his parents might not have married for love.
"D
oes this mean that you and Dad wouldn't have gotten married?" he asked slowly. "If not for me?"
His mother spread her arms. "Who knows, dear? I was rather enamored with him. I'm not certain he felt as strongly about me, or that he's ever felt that strongly about anyone. He's easily distractible, you may have noticed."
"Everyone's noticed, Mom."
"But he was handsome and not unkind. Also, despite his distractible nature, he was quite amorous and energetic in the bedroom, so--"
"Mom." Ridge resisted the urge to stick his fingers in his ears. Barely.
She shrugged at him. "I was young, and all of my female friends were quite jealous that I'd caught his eye. I felt honored to have been picked."
"To have been picked? Mom, you're not a pumpkin in some farmer's garden."
"Thank you for that, dear."
Human mating rituals sound complicated, Bhrava Saruth announced into Ridge's head. He was sitting up on the table now, probably upset that Mom had stopped petting him. Not upset... just forlorn.
"Did you at least... I mean, do you wish things had gone differently?" Ridge wondered how close he had come to not even existing. Handsomeness and energy didn't seem like enough reasons to spend a life together.
"I prefer not to dwell on the past."
He slumped. That sounded like a yes.
"What's important is that you and Sardelle seem to truly love each other. Don't take that for granted and assume she'll wait forever."
"I'm not. I won't."
With dragons, mating is much simpler, Bhrava Saruth told him. A female goes into her breeding cycle, seeks out a male, informs him that she's chosen him, and then rutting commences.
Romantic, Ridge thought. What happens after the rutting? Do you raise the babies together?
Hatchlings.
Pardon?
Dragons have eggs, and they hatch. Hence, hatchlings. The female is in charge of raising them. If the male comes near them, she'll typically drive him away. She might even bite him. Or bite something off him.
Even more romantic.
"I'm glad to hear it." Mom squeezed his hands before letting them go. "I've enjoyed watching you two together. You have something most people can only dream about."
Ridge realized that she must count herself among most people. He supposed he had always known his father hadn't been the ideal husband, if only because he had been gone so much, and Ridge had been disappointed in him more than once, but he'd always thought the relationship worked for his mother, that she had different expectations or maybe that he was less distant with her. It saddened him to learn that might not be the case.
"Are you hungry, Mom? Why don't we make some dinner?" He wrapped his arm around her and guided her to the duck blind exit. "I think we've got some nice--"
Bhrava Saruth hopped onto Ridge's shoulder. I would be willing to share my sausage with your mother.
Ridge nearly choked.
His mother looked curiously at him.
"Ham," he managed to say. "I think there's some ham left in the icebox."
Scene #4: A Fowl Proposal
General Ridgewalker Zirkander did not usually pilot his flier over the capital and land in the street in front of his house, but this was a special occasion. He made sure his picnic basket was still secure, then hopped out of the craft, pleased that a couple hours of daylight remained. Once on the ground, he touched his breast pocket--again. The bulge nestled inside reassured him. He had left work early to visit Azerta's Fine Jewelry and pick up the custom-made promise necklace for Sardelle.
A tiny diamond and sapphire sword meant to represent her soulblade, Jaxi, dangled from the gold chain. The jeweler had suggested all manner of decorative pendants from flowers to newly trendy dragons to ancient runes that translated to "love" or "forever," but since Jaxi was closer to Sardelle than any sister ever could be, Ridge had thought the sword appropriate. Besides, it wasn't as if he could have a relationship--a marriage--with Sardelle without including Jaxi.
Ridge wiped his damp palms on his uniform trousers as he approached the walkway. He had