Chapter 4.6- The Seadragon's Roar

“You couldn’t give a guy a warning?” I asked, turning to Igneel instead of my mother. He whimpered while Meleys growled in his direction.

“That’s enough of that. He’s in trouble as well as you are” Mother said, looking the Queen that she never got to be. At least she did for a second before she sighed and slid from Meleys’ saddle unto the uneven roofing of High Tide before walking over to me.

“You couldn’t stay inside any longer could you, my boy?” She asked as she pulled my body into mine. I relaxed in the hug, momentarily forgetting my worries.

“I wanted to fly” I said, hoping it was an urge she could relate with. It had to be.

“I know, my boy. You need to fly for your own good. The only issue right now is Vhagar. She is way too unpredictable for me to countenance you being allowed to fly anywhere even close to he usual haunts, and even then its only a matter of time until she adapts to the change and finds you where you end up on this island. That is why your father and I have come to a decision. My Uncle Boremund wrote to request to take you on as a squire for his son, Borros who was knighted two years ago. We will write back to him with our assent. In a few weeks, you will leave for the Stormlands where you will be free to fly with Igneel and where time apart will allow this animosity between the two of you and Vhagar to cool down.” She said, and I could see how much it hurt her to say those words.

“What?”

“I know your ears work, Laenor. You heard me.”

“I don’t want to go to the Stormlands” I said, and wasn’t that the truth. I had a thousand things I was working on here. Access to the best shipwrights, thinkers, and minds in the world meant things go from being ideas to perfect prototypes in a matter of weeks rather than the months or years it ought to have taken.

“Yet, you have no choice. Just look at yourself, my son. You need this. Besides, it’s a squireship. You will be free to return once you earn yourself a knighthood. Think of this as extra motivation for you to make me proud as I know you will” She said, and then uncaring of the fact that I was covered from the head to toe in soot, she swooped me into her arms.

A/N: And so we get one of the first major canon divergences. His performance at the Great Council intrigues his Granduncle, Boremund and now h gets the opportunity to squire with Borros in the stormlands.