“I see.” He kept working. “What is it?”
Difficult to ask, apparently. I sighed. “Look, I know you and Jimny are together, and I’m happy for you. By the Nine, all of us deserve some happiness. But I’m worried about what Fin might be picking up from it all.”
Now Fenwick stopped. He put his notes and pen down, turned to stand directly facing me, and crossed his arms. “What do you mean, picking up?”
This time I swallowed. “He’s ten. He’s asking questions. And I’m doing my best to answer them fairly and honestly, but also with his age in mind. I know he needs an education in …” How to put this?
“Sexuality and maturation of humans?” Fenwick asked.
“Yes.” A nice way to put it I wish I’d thought of.
“You’ve already had that talk with him,” Fenwick surprised me by saying.
“Yeah.” I frowned. “How do you know?”
Fenwick tutted. “You are aware he works down here?”
“Of course.” Well, this wasn’t going where I wanted it to go.
“You are aware that we have both male and female dragons based here?”
“Yes, what’s that got to do with it?”
He stood there, eyes hard, and waited for me to figure it out.
“What?” I asked.
“How’s Dora been these last couple of months?”
I shook my head, not needing a distraction. “I didn’t come in to talk about Dora.”
“Well, I think we should. Not least of all because I suspect that you’re going to find this conversation easier. So, how’s Dora been these last couple of months?”
I ground my teeth. “Antsy, mostly, but the last couple of weeks, she’s been calmer.”
“Exactly. Please tell me you know why?”
I blinked, realised, and looked away. My cheeks burned. “She’s in season.”
“Yes, she is. And what’s more, she’s been covered.”
“What?” I demanded. “You haven’t mentioned this to me. Stable Masters are supposed to get permission from the dragon’s rider for a covering.”
“Supposed to, yes, but if I come down here and dragons are already at it of their own free will, I’m not getting between mating great dragons. I’m not suicidal. Especially not when I’m stood right next to an impressionable young stable hand who has questions.”
“Urgh.” I put my elbows on his workbench and hid my face in my hands. “I didn’t know. Sorry.”
“Sullivan, from what I know from my brothers, parenting is just about the hardest job in all creation. There is no way to get itallright, but you’re doing all right. Fin’s a great kid.”
“Yeah,” I stood. “He is. But I worry.”
“That’s normal.”
“Yeah, but life here isn’t.” I straightened and rested my hip against the workbench. “In normal life, most of the lives he could have in front of him, his life would be full of a mix of male and female. Here, there aren’t any girls or women. I’m concerned that he’s not getting a broad enough range of education. If I could balance examples of same-sex relationshipsagainst mixed-sex relationships, I’d be less bothered. But I can’t do that here.”
“Hmm.” Fenwick grunted. “Come with me.”
I followed the stable master to his office, sat when he told me to sit, and was surprised when he produced a glass that he filled with amber liquid from a flask. I was even more surprised when he pushed that towards me and took a drink directly from the flask.
