Light Dragons 03 - Sparks Fly

me. “Constantine! We are trying to have a conversation here. Could you play with your sex sheep somewhere else, please?”
    “I’m not playing with it, and it’s not mine,” he said, shooting little looks at the First Dragon. “I’m just trying to shut the damned thing up, but it won’t die.”
    The First Dragon raised one eyebrow.
    Constantine blushed even harder and began swearing softly to himself while alternately throttling the doll and beating it with the exercise ball.
    A quick worried glance at the First Dragon sent my spirits plummeting, not that they were in any way buoyed by what he had said. “I’m sorry if I’ve failed you. I’m really not trying to, but I’ve had a horrible time trying to figure out just what it is you want me to do.”
    At a choked noise from Constantine, I recalled to whom I was talking, and made an apologetic gesture. “That is to say, it’s difficult with my memory loss to understand what it is you want me to do. I’m happy to do it. I just needed a little guidance on what it is, exactly.” Mentally, I groaned. I sounded as lame as I felt.
    His gaze roved over my face for a few seconds, his expression, as ever, unreadable. “If you fail me entirely, daughter, there will be the gravest of repercussions, ones that I will not be able to correct. For your own sake, and for that of all dragons, you must right the wrong done. The sacrifice of the innocent shall not be wasted.”
    At his words, desperation swelled within me, desperation and fear, topped off with more worry than any one person should have. I wanted to tell him that I was trying, but that Baltic was being his usual dragon self and not giving me any help. I wanted to point out that I was starting at a disadvantage by not realizing what his relationship to Baltic was in the first place, and that if someone, anyone , had just taken pity on me and reminded me of things I had known in the past, I might have succeeded by now. Instead, I said the last thing in the world I expected to say to the ancestor of all dragons.
    “Did you love Baltic’s mother?”
    His eyes widened slightly. The air around us stilled, as if all life had ceased but for the three of us.
    “It’s just ... I’ve always wondered. You seem to care about him a lot, and I thought maybe that was because his mother was very dear to you ... .” My voice, fortunately, trailed off to nothing. The basket handle bit painfully into my hand as I waited for him to either smite me dead on the spot for being so bold, or to answer my question. I fervently hoped he’d do the latter.
    “Hope for the future lies within you,” he said after half a minute of extremely painful silence. “For the sake of it, you must succeed.”
    A chill swept over me as he turned away, but before he could disappear, he turned back to look at me, his eyes, so fathomless, not even remotely human. “If I did not, you would not be here.”
    I blinked a couple of times in confusion, not sure what that meant.
    “Why did you ask him about Lady Maerwyn?” Constantine clutched a now-deflated-although still vibrating-sheep in one hand, and the giant exercise ball in the other. “And what did he mean by his answer?”
    “Lady Maerwyn?”
    Constantine gestured with the ball. “Baltic’s mother.”
    “Ah. I’m not entirely sure what he meant,” I said slowly, suddenly feeling the urge to cry. What a tragedy for the father of all dragons to lose his beloved mate. “And far be it from any dragon to just come out and answer a question when it’s put to him.” I shook the shadows from my head and glanced at Constantine, who still held the giant ball. “How on earth are you supposed to get two people on that at the same time?”
    For a second or two he looked at me as if I were mad, then glanced down to the sex toy. “Why would you try to get two people on it?”
    “Well, it has two ... er ... phalluses on it. That means it’s for a couple, doesn’t it?”
    He coughed and shoved the deflated sheep into his basket, replacing the exercise ball on the shelf. “Not in this case.”
    “Really? But then what is the second ... ” My eyes widened as I understood. “Oh. That has to be really ... never mind.”
    “Not quite your style, eh?” He didn’t make another risqué comment, which took me by surprise. Instead, he said in a voice filled with wonder, “The First Dragon visited you. I do not believe he has ever done such a thing without first being summoned.”
    “And