[Trade] Duty and Honor

“Are you three enjoying your stay?” The royal guard, Selena, was back at their room in the guest house, her tone soft despite her many quills and spikes.

“Very!” Hummingbird was in the middle of having her feathers preened by a pair of monkeys. A larger group was giving Fainel a well-deserved massage, and Macaw was taking a nap—imagine that!—on a nearby tower of pillows.

“I am happy to hear that. And I’m very sorry to interrupt, but I have an important message for you, Fainel.”

“For me?” Fainel lifted her head, ushering the monkeys away.

“Yes. An order from Queen Rhys herself!” She gestured to the hallway with one of her gargantuan feet. “Let’s speak outside.”

Fainel felt her feathers bristle, and did her best to keep them under control. It had been several hours since Selena had ushered them into the guest house. The food was delicious, and the primates’ dexterous hands worked wonders on her tired muscles, yet the whole ordeal had been strange. Selena insisted they not leave until summoned by her, or another member of the guard. Fainel still didn’t know why she’d secreted them away from the ballroom to begin with after they’d dragged in just about every foreigner to Atlantis. She’d been so kind around her charges, but Fainel still had her reservations.

Maybe now she would get some answers. She only hoped it wouldn’t put Hummingbird or Macaw in danger.

She shook off the monkeys and went outside with Selena.

“I didn’t want the little ones to overhear,” Selena said, her voice low.

This did not reassure Fainel very much.

“The truth is, there’s been an attack on the capital. In the very ballroom I found the three of you in.”

“What?”

She nodded gravely. “We have orders from the Queen to bolster our numbers. We need more farmers, more soldiers. And you, Fainel, have the privileged of being one of the first to be inducted.”

“Me?” She was learning so much all at once! “I don’t have any experience with plants, but I suppose…”

And Selena laughed—a rough snort of a noise. “You, a farmer? No, no, we have oviraptors for that. Macaw and Hummingbird will be excellent at it, I’m sure. Queen Rhys will make you into a knight!”

“A knight! You don’t mean… I’ll have to fight anyone?”

“We need dinosaurs like you.” Selena’s eyes had suddenly hardened. “You went out of your way to help us Atlantians, even before you learned our intentions. Come, we need to have you measured for your armor. I’ll let the little ones know we’ll be away for a while.”

Fainel, too stunned to ask any more questions, followed after her with numb feet.

#

When they made it to the fitting room, Fainel had learned a lot about Atlantis’s circumstances. She knew about the imminent threat of the whole dome flooding, the reason Queen Rhys was so determined to carve a place for her people on the surface. She didn’t know if she agreed with it, but…

“Here, Fainel.” Selena came to a stop outside of a tall doorway, blocked by a curtain of beads, like raindrops perpetually falling. There was a tan utahraptor waiting there, a small bell around her neck, and she gave the two of them a small smile as they approached. “Wait here to be called in. You can make it back to the guest house from here, can’t you?”

“I… I think so.”

With that, Selena left the pair of soon-to-be knights alone. Fainel still wasn’t sure what to do with herself.

“Fainel, right?” The utahraptor was looking up at her expectantly.

“Oh. Yes.”

“Orchid.” She sat down against the wall, and Fainel did the same. “It shouldn’t be that much longer before it’s our turn.”

Fainel nodded vaguely. “Can I ask you something?” She didn’t wait for an answer; her nerves were eating her from the inside. “How do you feel about all of this? Being made a knight for Atlantis, I mean.”

Orchid, while not full of pent-up energy like Macaw, certainly looked more eager than Fainel felt. “It’s exciting, isn’t it? But I’m mostly worried about the Atlantians. I hear the attack was terrible. I’m glad we can help them.”

Help. Fainel didn’t have a problem helping out the Atlantians when it meant gathering fresh fruit for Macaw and his friends, or finding ways to entertain the euoplos. But becoming a knight was a different matter entirely. She would have to fight for the Atlantian Empire, against the surface world she and her family called home.

Before she could ponder further, or ask Orchid if she was really so comfortable being made into a beast of war, an oviraptor poked his head out from the curtain of beads, informing them that it was their turn to have their measurements taken.

#

“These are unprecedented times, when we Atlantians have been faced with grave challenges, both here in our domain, and on the surface. And in these times, we have found new allies in the most unexpected of places.” Queen Rhys looked down at the neat line of dinosaurs assembled in front of her, her eyes glowing with pride. “Today, we honor these extraordinary dinosaurs with the greatest gift we Atlantians can offer: honorary knighthood.”

She began to descend the stairs, taking them three at a time thanks to her towering stature. An aide trailed behind her on each side, their backs laden with armor for the new knights, easily carried on account of the other species being so much smaller than them. “Never before have surface-dwellers been knighted by the royal line. But for you, who have defended our mission as wholeheartedly as any iguanodon, euoplocephalus, or oviraptor, you deserve nothing less.”

Fainel felt a swell of pride in her chest at the Queen’s praise, but she still couldn’t shake off her uneasiness. Was this really what she wanted? She was being conscripted into a war against her own people. Her family.

Queen Rhys began going down the line, saying brief words to each dinosaur as she passed, and her aides had the armor taken off of their backs and secured onto her new knights. On the grand assembly line, Fainel was right next to Orchid, so Fainel would be knighted right before her.

“Nervous?” Orchid whispered.

“Something like that.”

Orchid gave her a reassuring smile, which Fainel did her best to return. “We’re doing this for all of Atlantis. We’ll be helping everyone.”

Behind them, she could hear Hummingbird cheering. In her mind’s eye, she could picture Macaw clambering onto her back, trying to celebrate her in a way she could notice without being able to speak… Their family, too, was on the line. They had been born just as the oviraptors broke into the surface world. There were plenty of dinosaurs on the surface that hated the oviraptors from the moment they appeared. She’d seen them herself, chasing down even little hatchlings like Macaw if they thought they could gain something from it. If they lost Atlantis, would they have anywhere to go? Would the dinosaurs of the mainland truly accept them?

Maybe… maybe this was all for the best.

Queen Rhys approached, and Fainel held her head high.

For Hummingbird and Macaw, she thought to herself.

She hoped it would all be worth it.