Light Dragons 03 - Sparks Fly

turning from me. “I gave you a task, and you have not completed it.”
    I closed my eyes for a moment, agony twisting sharply inside me. “I tried to redeem his honor. I tried to get him to apologize for his part in the death of Alexei and Maerwyn. But he doesn’t-didn’t-seem to understand how important that was.”
    “I asked for you to ensure he paid for the deaths of the innocent,” the First Dragon said.
    “That’s Alexei, isn’t it? And by extension, Maerwyn. I tried, but-”
    “They are part of it, but they are not the only ones who have suffered because of my son.” His gaze went beyond me, to scan the face of everyone there. “Baltic is flesh of my flesh. He was intended to make the weyr stronger in times when it was weak.”
    I closed my eyes again, insight smacking me upside the head. “But instead, the results of his actions tore it apart.”
    “The endless war?” Aisling asked.
    I nodded, wiping my face with my sleeve. “When Baltic refused to take Chuan Ren as his mate, the red dragons started the endless war.”
    “Thousands of my children died. Hundreds of thousands of mortals did so, as well,” the First Dragon said.
    “I don’t quite understand how,” Aisling said, looking warily at the First Dragon.
    My stomach twisted with grief and rage and regret. “The red dragons killed Maerwyn, Baltic’s mother, which triggered the separation between silver and black dragons.”
    “So Chuan Ren really did start the war,” Aisling said softly with a little whistle of amazement. “I knew it. I just knew she had to be behind it.”
    “The black dragons were all but destroyed.”
    “As were the silver dragons,” Constantine said, only faintly visible. “We suffered gravely because of Baltic’s actions.”
    My gaze returned to the First Dragon. “You hold Baltic responsible for the deaths of all of those dragons? Everyone who has died since the onset of Endless War?”
    “The deaths of the innocent weigh heavily on his soul,” he said, a typical dragon non-answer. “You were to redeem that sin.”
    “The flesh of your flesh,” I said softly, fighting the pain so I could think. I knew that everything I was and would be depended on getting this right. “He was supposed to bring strength to the weyr-” I stopped, once again insight striking me with an almost palpable blow. “You want him back in the weyr. You want our sept to join the weyr. But why? Baltic doesn’t care anything about the weyr.”
    “Man, what is it with you humans?” Jim asked, shaking its head. “You guys fall off the obvious wagon when you’re young or something?”
    “Jim, hush,” Aisling said quickly, turning to apologize.
    I looked at Jim. It winked at me. Obvious? What was I missing that was so obvious?
    “You had wanted Baltic to take Chuan Ren as his mate.” The words came out slowly, as my brain once again frantically squirreled around trying to piece things together. “But Baltic didn’t care about that, didn’t care that his actions would enrage the red dragons. He didn’t care to the extent that he was booted out of this sept, until Alexei accepted him back as heir when Constantine’s treachery was exposed.”
    “Constantine’s treachery?” Gabriel frowned. “What treachery is this?”
    “Nothing! There was no treachery,” Constantine said quickly, then glanced at the First Dragon and immediately disappeared. “I’m ... er ... low on power. I’ll claim you as my mate later, Ysolde, when everyone is gone.”
    I waved a dismissive hand, not willing to be distracted. “It’s old history, Gabriel. I’ll tell you later.” I met the First Dragon’s gaze again. “You wanted Baltic to bring strength to the weyr. He was your only living child, and you wanted him to bring stability to a weyr that was imploding upon itself.”
    “My children have always been fractious,” he said with the barest hint of a smile. “The dragon fire that burns within us manifests itself in many ways.”
    “But Baltic didn’t do that. He didn’t care about bringing the weyr together. He cared about the black dragons, instead. He-”
    “He cared about you,” the First Dragon interrupted.
    At that moment the penny dropped. Memory after memory tumbled in my mind-Baltic telling me five hundred years ago that the weyr could go about its business so long as it left him alone; Baltic not three weeks ago telling me the same thing. “You want him to care about dragonkin.”
    “Oooh,” Aisling said