47. Blaze

Alfie was talking to his brother and ‘cleaning out his room' which I suspected was a euphemism for throwing away all the things he'd always hated and trying to give Morgan some of the things he liked, to make up for the fact that everything belonging to Morgan had been incinerated.

Everything had been burned: all of Morgan's clothes, since they were tailored to him and the Somervilles didn't believe in wearing second-hand clothes, his schoolbooks, the pictures he'd hung on his walls, photographs, everything that had been his. Alfie had come to the little hut in tears when he'd found that out and hadn't been able to save any of it.

I could already see that Alfie was different. It had been a slow change, over the months, but he'd grown more confident. He'd learned to trust himself.

He still babbled, which I found adorable, but he knew what he wanted and he went after it.

I touched the claiming bite on my neck and smiled to myself as I walked down to the kitchen. I was after a snack. Besides, with Alfie busy, I wanted to talk to Mrs. Wilson about something.

She was bustling around her kitchen and, when she saw me, she sat me down at the table with a cool glass of lemonade and a little cherry tart. I'd never had one before and Mrs. Wilson sniffed and said, "Neither have the Somervilles. Lord Somerville never liked them."

It was delicious and I ate it all up, looking up at Mrs. Wilson admiringly. She patted my cheek and asked, "Would you like another?"

I hesitated. "I do want one but I want to leave room for lunch, too."

She chuckled. "I'll save you one for later."

"Are you serving them for lunch? Will Alfie get one?"

I could see that it hadn't occurred to her. She pursed her lips, thinking.

"I didn't make enough today, chuck. These are for the sprites who are working on the borders. They need sustenance. But I can make some more for Alfie tomorrow."

I gave her a cheeky smile and asked, "Should I come down tomorrow morning to test them?"

She laughed and chucked me under the chin. I was getting used to her doing that, and I liked it. I wanted her to do it again. I liked all my new family being in contact with me, sometimes. I'd never had casual touches before.

When she had gone back to her cooking, and I'd spent a few moments building up my courage, I asked her what I'd really gone down to the kitchen to ask.

"You know all the Somervilles, don't you?"

Okay, so maybe that wasn't exactly what I'd gone to ask but I was building up to it.

"Yes, sprites always know who we work for."

"Do you have a connection with the whole clan or just the elder?"

"Sprites have different magic from dragons. We can sense where people are, if we want to. It's what makes us so good at our jobs. Like me, for instance. I knew where Alfie went into the woods every day, which is how I was able to transport those trays of food straight there after I realised he was the one who'd needed extra food."

She didn't say whether she'd known he'd been taking the food for me, or whether she'd assumed Alfie had just been extra hungry.

"So you know where every member of the clan is right now?"

"Some I can pinpoint with more accuracy than others. And I don't feel it all the time. I have to focus if I want to find them."

"Can you find your clan even if they're far away?"

"Within reason."

I was starting to squirm in my seat with excitement. "Do you think you could find Glenwise or Rhod?"

My rising excitement suddenly plummeted when Mrs. Wilson casually said, "They left."

"Oh. I see. But they're clan, though."

"They left."

"Are they too far away for you to find?"

"That would depend how far away they were."

"So you can't sense them because they left the clan?"

"They left."

I narrowed my eyes at her. She was bustling around, but she wasn't looking at me. I watched and began to get the impression that she was doing busywork that would keep her over the other side of the kitchen.

"Mrs. Wilson, can you sense them?"

When she opened her mouth, I added, "And don't say ‘they left' because that doesn't answer my question."

It was the most demanding I'd ever been, and a part of me was quaking at the sheer nerve of me to say that to her.

However, she put down her things and turned to me. She was watching me carefully.

"Why do you want to know?"

"Because Alfie's worried about them. Rhod and Glenwise are out there all alone without the protection of our territory. He wants to make sure they're safe and they know they can come home."

She studied me for a long time, thinking, and then finally she said, "I can only sense clan if they want to be found."

"They're still your clan, though, aren't they?"

"Yes. I got to know Rhod quite well, since he was always the one that arranged deliveries and finances and things. And Glenwise was the medic."

"Did he heal you?"

"Yes. He did. He always healed the sprites, when we couldn't heal ourselves. He's a good doctor. If they want to be found, I can find them."

I was back to almost bouncing in my chair. "Alfie's going to be so pleased when he hears this!"

"Perhaps you should wait until I've found them before you tell him. We don't want him disappointed if I can't trace them and he's got his hopes up."

"Okay, you're right. I wonder where they are? They must be somewhere quite safe or they'd have been found by dragon-hunters by now. When you find them, how are we going to get a message to them?"

Mrs. Wilson looked amused. "If I find them, I can go and get them."

"Thank you, Mrs. Wilson! I didn't realised you could leave the territory. Can you ever leave the Somervilles? If you want to?"

She went back to her cooking, and this time it was a much more relaxed pace, far more natural.

"We can leave. We're not indentured servants, you know."

"Have some of the other sprites left? Since you've been here?"

"Yes," she said. "Things weren't the same under the last Lord Somerville."

"Like not being allowed to put protections around the territory, you mean?"

"Yes, things like that. This is our home. We're part of the clan. It's only right that we help to protect it."

"Alfie thinks so," I reminded her.

"Yes, and he might yet be a great can elder."

I prickled at the implication that he wasn't already a great elder and my next question came out a bit tart.

"Why didn't you leave?"

She glanced at me again and chuckled. "He'll be great yet, don't you worry. And we won't leave him. We didn't before and we won't now. I stayed because this is my home. My family is here."

"Are the dragons your family, too?"

"Not by blood, but we're clan."

"What's the difference?"

Maybe I was curious because I was the only fire spirit in a castle filled with dragons and sprites. I wasn't really family to any of them. I was there because Alfie wanted me there, that was all.

I'd noticed Kingsley, too, standing out among the dragons. They tensed up when he was there, instinctively afraid of the power he had as an ex-ridire. He moved like a fighter, which looked very dragon-like to me, but actually none of the Somervilles moved like fighters. Except Glimmer, of course, who moved with such deadly stealth that I half wanted to flicker into my flame form every time he walked into a room.

It was amusing, actually, because I knew he'd never hurt me. It was just instinct to protect myself from such a powerful predator. I wasn't quite used to being protected by other people yet.

Although, I admit I was looking forward to getting used to it. It sounded like bliss, to feel safe and protected all the time.

And if I could become a real part of the clan, one of them, then that might happen sooner.

Mrs. Wilson stopped what she was doing and came to sit opposite me at the table. She looked very serious.

"Clan is the family you choose for yourself, Blaze. They're the people you choose to live with, the people you work to help and protect, and the people you trust to look after you in return."

"Oh. I don't think I do anything to help."

That suddenly seemed very selfish. I'd sat there, eating delicious cherry tart while Mrs. Wilson had been working. And I was letting Glimmer and Kingsley and the sprites lay all of the protections along the boundary without helping them, not that I thought I could do much to help anyway.

I frowned. "I'm not sure what I can do. I don't think I have any skills that they want."

To my surprise, Mrs. Wilson threw back her head and laughed.

"You're doing alright so far, chuck."

"Am I? I don't remember doing anything."

"You've been beside your mate, soothing him and easing his burden. It's a lot for him to take in, especially with his dragon so new inside him and him being so young. And you've already got me to agree to get Glenwise and Rhod back, which nobody thought to do before. I can't guarantee they'll come, but I can give them the choice."

I realised then that Mrs. Wilson could definitely sense the missing dragons and she hadn't said anything because she'd seen it as their choice to leave. I was glad I'd asked.

"And you're learning, chuck. Learning how the castle runs, who does what. You don't need a job, you need to do what makes you happy. Like cooking is what makes me happy. And in the meantime you can eat heartily and look sweet. That's as good a job as any."

She sent me out a few minutes later with another chuck under my chin and I felt all confused and strangely precious.

I was heading towards the parlour where I thought people might be gathered when I heard Alfie call me.

"Blaze! There you are. I followed our bond down the corridor but you'd moved and I had to double back. Are you busy?"

He had rushed right up to me and had taken hold of both my hands as he talked.

"No, I'm not busy."

"Do you want to choose a bedroom?"

"Oh. What? Are we not sharing a room any longer?"

"Silly! It's for both of us. Come on, I want you to pick a bedroom you like and we'll move into it today. I don't want us to stay in my room. It makes me feel all young again, being there. It still had my school desk in it. We'll get our own room, one that's yours and mine equally."

Even though he started dragging me off to choose a room, I quickly moved in front of Alfie.

It felt nice, to hold his hand and lead him round as I looked into every available room and considered it. I'd spent the past few days standing behind Alfie, glad of his protection and his arms possessively around me, but this was nice, too.

Alfie talked as we went, telling me about each room.

"This one hasn't been used since I can remember but it's got a big bathroom. There's a bath as well as a shower… If this room isn't big enough, we can knock through into the next room. It's only used for storage… If you want a study or a room of your own, too, you can have one, you know… This room has a great view of the woods, look…"

Alfie led me over to the window he was pointing at and I admired the view. I'd stayed on the ground floor because I'd learned that I didn't like heights. From here, I could see the woods and I got a little glow of happiness inside at the memories of being there with Alfie. I wanted to stay on this side of the building, where we'd have that view every day.

"Let me move these boxes," said Alfie. "I think there's a fireplace behind here."

There was, indeed, a fireplace. And it was gorgeous, with marble slabs and ornate decorations. It looked very grand, and I could just imagine burning in there, enjoying the warm flames around me, or sitting on our chair in front of it on Alfie's lap and watching the flames.

"It's a bit dirty." Alfie sounded disappointed, like he wanted me to see it at its best.

I turned straight into his arms and breathed out a sigh of contentment when he folded them around me and held me close.

"It's perfect, my darling. Can we have this room?"

"Of course we can. You can have anything you want, Blaze."

I smiled. "I think I have everything I want."