Duty Chapter 2
#2 of Duty
Duty
Chapter 2
By: David C. Henry ("Ahndeleck")
"Mother! You'll love this!"
Cellista ran through the den's entrance and through the first tunnel into the living area. Her younger brother lay dozing in the corner, which served her just fine. She hoped to find her mother in somewhere in the den, then take her outside to keep her brother asleep. After a quick search of the rest of the den she found she wasn't in.
Next she tried outside in her father's walnut grove. Where she found her. She had been digging weeds it seemed, small piles of uprooted plants lay all over the grove. She brought her head up with a silent quizzical look on her face. Cellista bounded up to her.
"Oh Mother, it's amazing, you won't believe this. I still can hardly believe it. He came to the class and talked with me, and asked me to apprentice under him. Out of the whole covenant he picked me, can you believe it?"
Her mother shook her head, looking more lost with each word. "Who picked you? I thought you had already picked an apprenticeship haven't you?"
"Azerzan Mother! He came to see me after Kathagra let us all go. He asked me to take an apprenticeship under him to be the head of the covenant. Can you believe it? Cellista, head of the covenant. I told him I would think about it, but by the gods I already know I'm going to accept."
"Cellista, that's wonderful. He really asked you? You're going to be the head?"
Cellista let her excitement turn a simple nod into a fast vibration. She couldn't help herself and grinned from cheek fin to cheek fin. The grin turned infectious and her mother broke into the same grin.
"Cellista! I'm so proud! Oh he covenant couldn't pick a brighter dragoness. Vardelan is going to be so proud of you too. Gods, I can't wait for him to come back, he is going to burst with pride."
"You should have seen Kathagra, she nearly fell all over Azerzan about it. She kept going on about such an honor this, and honor that. She just wouldn't stop."
"So will I. My daughter, the head of the covenant. How did the whole set of heads pick you I wonder?"
"I don't know. I would have thought they would have picked Ronbag or some other top student. Somehow though, they picked me."
"When you finish your apprenticeship with him, your father is going to be working for you. Now isn't that going to be a surprise?"
"I hadn't even thought of it. Oh I am going to love this."
****
Cellista dreaded a long wait for her father. She didn't know where the covenant's hunters were patrolling now, but if it was on their eastern boarder he might not even come back that day. She'd already told her two best friends and her future partner, but if her father wasn't back for the second meal, then she'd find her friends to celebrate. The gods seemed to be reading her mind, and she heard her father greet her brother at the den's entrance.
Cellista strode out of her small cavern with as much poise as she could muster. Her father looked dubious, and her little brother called her an ugly magpie.
"How was your hunt father?" Cellista sat in the center of the den and made a show of inspecting the room.
"Quiet actually. No Boneweavers, or anything else out there, which is odd this time of year. What though is going on? You never greet me like this. Where's the 'Hi father?' or no greeting at all because you're with your friends?"
"Oh, I thought I'm make sure that the covenant's hunters are doing their job. It's an important responsibility, and I need to know how they're doing."
Her father looked questioningly at her little brother. He made a face.
"I bet you couldn't go on a patrol." Her little brother sneered, "You've got to play with rocks all day."
"Garling, she'd do just fine out there. Cellista, what's going on?"
"Well, I thought that tomorrow you could take your patrol and check out the south border." She raised a claw and inspected her talons, "I think there might be some mischief down there and-"
"Cellista, you know that I go where the council tells me to go, not your whims."
Cellista threw a bemused expression to him, "I know. Which is why you'll have to go this time."
Her father blinked and shook his head. Cellista couldn't help herself and started laughing. Her father and brother exchanged glances a second time and waited for Cellista to finish.
"You look so ridiculous! Alright, I'm done."
"So you'll tell me what's going on then?"
"I saw Azerzan today."
"You did? Isn't he usually minding after the covenant during the day? Was there a ceremony of some sort?"
"No, he came to see me."
"What? Azerzan came to see you? What for?"
"He asked me to take an apprenticeship with him." Cellista couldn't help but grin.
"What? He wants you for his apprentice?" A look of astonished wonder floated over his face as he sat down. "I've heard him mention he was looking for one finally, but I never expected him to pick anyone I knew. By the gods Cellista I'm so proud of you. My daughter, the head of the covenant. Gods."
"I know. I can't believe it either."
"You know how much work that would be right? Oh but they couldn't have picked anyone better. You're perfect for the covenant. We'll hardly ever see you after you begin, but they need you. Azerzan will need you.
"Harana, did you hear?" Her father shouted toward the back of the den, "Our little dragoness just became the head of the whole covenant."
"Oh father, not yet I hope."
"What are you going to do now? Are you going to tell anyone?"
"I'm going to tell Arsela, Karu, and Motungo, but-"
It came out naturally, but realization of what she just said to her father came as a thunderbolt from the sky. She watched the fins on the side of his head grow a dark shade of purple and his joyous expression twist into disgust. She hated that look, and loathed his distrust of Motungo.
"Don't tell him Cellista. I've told you he's nothing but a blight on the covenant. The last thing you want as the head of the covenant is to shame us all with his presence."
"Father, I-"
"I don't care what you think or what you feel for that betraying snake. His actions for the covenant has been nothing but foul from the day he was hatched. His father should have stepped on-"
"Father!"
She'd heard him say it before when she wasn't around. This was the first time hat he began saying it in her presence. He knew she loved Motungo, but everything she tried couldn't win Motungo back into his good graces. Her father looked down on her with disapproval, it disgusted her. She felt her heart racing against her chest.
"You're wrong, you're wrong, gods I know you're so wrong."
Cellista stormed past her father and back to her room in the den. As she past him, his face seemed a blend of injury and smoldering anger. She just wished that he would get over the past and look at Motungo with an open mind again. It wasn't a difficult request, but it seemed beyond him. She collapsed in her room, the day had been far more draining than she had thought it would be.