Chapter 4

Harriett came storming into the main hall “will you get that pest out of my kitchen” Collin laughed “which pest?” getting up and following her “that dragon Mal, he is telling me how to cook now” Collin walked into the kitchen to see Mal sitting on the table telling Harriett’s helper that she had to mush the applesauce better for his Tee. Mal smiled at Collin “baby try eat food now, Kat says so” dipping his small talon in the applesauce Mal took a taste and made a face “sour, not good” Collin laughed and grabbed Mal before Harriett got to him “it isn’t done yet, why don’t you let Harriett do her job, come tell me about starting your school lessons.”

Mal’s eye’s lit up, with a smile as he proceeded to tell Collin all about he and Tabby’s lessons and how Crispin joined them every day, how they even had their own school room with desks and a globe.

Lexi walked into Kat’s dining room and stood watching for a minute before she started laughing, Tee was sitting on her mama’s lap, her tiny paws on the edge of the table, tied around her neck was a huge napkin, every time Kat put the spoon in her mouth, Mal would reach over with a corner of the napkin and dab at Tee’s little mouth. Kat rolled her eye’s at Lexi saying hi, Lexi grinned, Mal smiled at Lexi “see Tee” little Tee waved her tiny paw opened and closed a couple times at Lexi with a purr. Lexi waved back at Tee then went over and whispered in Mal’s ear, with an ohhhhhhh he let go of the napkin and sat down watching Tee happily, “I don’t know what you said to him but I’m forever grateful” Kat whispered to Lexi, with a grin Lexi told Kat that she had simply said to Mal that babies get terrible tummy aches if they are fussed over while eating, Kat groaned saying why hadn’t she thought of that. Lexi found Collin in his study talking to Mar, “I’ll come back later” she said starting to shut the door, “no need, come in Lexi” Collin said with a smile, nodding Lexi went in and sat down “the property that is on the very south east end of Montcliff according to the maps I found in the library border yours, is the small mountain, forest area on your land or Montcliff land, I really couldn’t tell” with a hmmmmmm Collin got up and pulled out a rolled map and laid it out on the desk, “can you show me which area you’re specifically interested in.”

Lexi leaned over the desk and pointed to a spot “I believe this is it, I was there yesterday, maybe this will help” Collin and Mar blinked as another map appeared in three dimensions over the other map, Lexi pointed to one specific spo.

“I want to build something her.”

Collin looked the map over carefully, “the area you’re indicating looks to be on Montcliff land, it’s a very nice section of land.”

Mar pleased that Lexi hadn’t scooted away from him as he moved closer to take a better look asked if she was going to build a ship? Lexi chuckled and shook her head “father showed me his sister Miranda’s and Grandmother’s old lair, I want to make something like that and perhaps next to it a hunting lodge type house.” Collin nodded then asked her why she just didn’t use the old lair, then asked why she felt the need for a lair. Lexi sighed “father said the other night that winter will be here soon and that’s when the worst of the thunder storms are, that’s why he showed me the old lair, the mountain absorbs most of the sounds from storms so they are muffled, I want to stay on Montcliff land but I also want to feel that I’ve managed to get away. Also I don’t mean to sound horrid but Mother and Riley are learning to speak silently and their killing me, because I’m around more then Con they are using me as target practice, I’ve tried to explain to them that it gives me terrible headaches so they think their whispering now but most of the time they forget.”

Mar sat down tapping a talon on a fang “there really has to be a way for you to mute sounds when you want to” Lexi smiled “it would be nice if I could do that, so far I’ve read every book I have and there is not a thing along those lines” Mar nodded “I’ll go through my books and see what I can find, I can also talk to Natalie, maybe there is something in the Book of Cairin.”

Kat came in a short time later with TeeLinn and Mal, Mar grinned at Mal who was staring at the three dimensional map in fascination, their heads together Mar started showing Mal where everyone one lived. TeeLinn with a sleepy full tummy purr held out her little arms to her papa, Collin smiled softly and snuggled her in his arms as he watched Mar and Mal “enjoy your lunch? princess” Collin said with a soft purr, Tee nuzzled her papa’s cheek then wiggled until she was comfortably snuggled and went to sleep. With a smile Lexi waved goodbye and headed home.

Allora was having a problem understanding why Lexi needed to build herself a lair, “I just need a place of my own where I can get away, that’s all, there are no problems other then the noise from the storms Mother, it will be on Montcliff land, I really won’t be that far away.” Allora sighed thinking to herself it was just hard to let go, in the last two months since Finbar had been banished and Tommy seemed to have done everything but move in, popping in at least once a week it had suddenly dawned on her that her little girl wasn’t so little anymore, she also knew that since the hatchlings had started their schooling Lexi was feeling lonely and bored. “What type of design did you have in mind for the lodge?” Allora asked, Lexi smiled “let me show you” she said and got her sketch book. When Connor arrived home from Zinmer he found the two sitting with sketches strewn all about, each drawing things they wanted to see in the lair and lodge, he sat down and started making suggestions.

“I would be more then happy to provide you with a list of people who can fill the positions of butler, maid and cook, Miss Lexi” Lexi in surprise looked over at Riley “I don’t need a butler or anyone but thank you anyway Riley” Riley raised an eyebrow “I beg to differ with you Miss, a young lady living on her own without even a maid in attendance is quite unthinkable” Allora laughed “he needs to find some family work, right? Riley” Riley smiled “I do have a few family members in mind, one must of course strive to assist one’s family.”

Lexi sighed, if she said no she would feel like a mean person, if she said yes then she would have people underfoot all the time, taking the middle road she told Riley she would consider his suggestion. After her mother had gone upstairs to nap, Lexi gathered up her sketches and put them away, pulling on a sweater she went out and took a long walk thinking about what she wanted to do.

“Hello, Lexi” Zachary said walking up to her, Lexi smiled “hello, what brings you to Montcliff?” Zachary walking next to her replied “I wanted to thank you for asking Zara to include Alana in the daily lessons, she is enjoying them a great deal” Lexi smiled “I’m pleased to hear that she’s having a good time, I’m sure if I had not mentioned it Zara would have thought of inviting Alana to join the other children” the two walked down the hill talking about the school and how much all the children enjoyed it, Lexi laughed “until they realize that it’s actually work and when the weather turns nice and the idea of playing is more appealing” Zachary chuckled “some day they will look back in amazement that an Ancient One stood in front of them and taught them their alphabet” Lexi laughed again “I doubt it, Marti’en is so much a part of their lives, they look at her as a great grandmother, not as an Ancient One, unless of course they are naughty then they see her in all her glory.”

Tommy nudged Con “who is that person Lexi is talking too?” Con glanced up from a chart “oh that’s Zachary Weston, he shows up once in awhile and they walk together around Montcliff, what do you think about taking this route instead of sailing around the cape?” Tommy looked at the chart, glancing repeatedly out the window while he gave Con his opinion. Lexi waved goodbye to Zachary and went inside to wash up for supper, walking into the library she smiled saying hi to Tommy, she was surprise to get a half hearted hi but figured he was busy with Con, all through dinner as they discussed the idea of Lexi having her own place and a heated debate between Con and Tommy about the best route to the islands, she noticed that Tommy seemed to be ignoring her and she couldn’t understand why, wondering if she had done something to make him angry with her. As she usually did after dinner Lexi went out into the garden and sat down letting the silence of the evening sink into her mind, she watched Tommy come out into the garden and glance in her direction then sit down on the steps, she could see the steam from his cup of coffee curling up into the air. Getting up Lexi walked over and sat down next to him “have I done something to make you upset?” Tommy looked at her in surprise “no” he said then glanced down at his cup of coffee, Lexi waited for him to say something other then the simple no she had gotten, when she saw that he wasn’t going to say anything more she wasn’t quite sure what to say, this wasn’t the laughing, joking Tommy that she was used too.

“Is there something wrong? want to talk about it?” she could see him debating what he wanted to say and gave him a worried look, “I can’t compete with a man like Zachary Weston, Lexi, so I guess I won’t be making such a pest of myself anymore” Tommy said his voice filled with regret.

“Compete? why would you say that? Tommy, you’re a dragon, you want to be a wizard also?” she asked in confusion, Tommy shook his head making a noise of disgust at himself, why had he said anything, he should of just left, which he had planned on doing but instead he found himself out here sitting on the steps.

“Weston is a handsome man, from the look of him he has plenty of money, I bet he is well educated also, that’s the kind of man a woman like you should be with, not a sailor part time Captain with no last name, not much of an education and not a hoard to his name” Tommy heard the words come out of his mouth and could have joyfully ripped out his tongue.

Lexi leaned over and put her hand on his arm “do you think Zachary is a boyfriend or something? he isn’t, we just talk every once in a while, do you think he’s handsome? I think you’re much better looking then he is and what does having a hoard or book learning got to do with anything? Tommy you’ve got life learning that’s far more important any day of the week.”

Tommy could only stare at Lexi, she thought he was better looking then Weston? him plain, windblown, weather beaten Tommy with rough callused hands and clothes that were more patched then not, he felt the grin start to spread across his face and couldn’t seem to stop it, Lexi seeing the grin started to grin herself “why are we grinning?” she asked, Tommy grinning widely said “because you think I’m more handsome then Weston, which has totally boggled my mind” they both started laughing, with an ohhh Lexi suddenly stopped laughing when Tommy leaned over and quickly brushed his lips over hers then straightened up a blush on his cheeks to match her own. Tommy stood up “I better say goodnight before I make more of a fool out of myself then I all ready have tonight” Lexi stood up too “then it must be my turn” she said leaning up and touching her lips to his, with a sigh of pleasure Tommy pressed his mouth against hers, his arms gently sliding around her waist. Riley coughed loudly “excuse me, I didn’t realize you were occupied Miss Lexi” turning he walked away as the two jumped apart blushing furiously, Lexi gave a nervous laugh “I think he wears cotton on the bottom of his shoes so no one can hear him coming” Tommy chuckled “put a bell around his neck” still blushing they both said goodnight, Lexi went upstairs to bed, Tommy took a long flight in the cool night skies. While she was undressing Lexi kept feeling her cheeks heat up, she giggled and did a little dance around her room, imagine Tommy liking her in that way and he was worried about Zachary, my goodness how silly she thought, Tommy might not be strikingly handsome, he might not have an aura of sensuality like her father that made women stop and stare but he had something very special, at least to her and that was the laughter in his gray eye’s that came from the heart, when he smiled or laughed it made everyone’s heart feel lighter, he was kind and had always treated Tabby and Mal with a laughing gentleness, a person felt like they could trust Tommy with their very life and know they were in safe hands, as far as Lexi was concerned all of that was much more important then good looks.