‘Today, then!’ Kalo trumpeted it loudly to all, dragons and Elderlings alike. I leave now. You had best follow soon, for otherwise I doubt you will recall the way.

I know the way, she responded angrily.

Go, then. Kalo dismissed IceFyre. You should probably fly swiftly, for soon we both will overtake you.

IceFyre roared a wordless insult at Kalo, then banked his wings and swept away. She watched him go, saw him diminish in the distance. He was a dragon from another time, she decided. It was good that her first generation of young would inherit his memories. It would be even better if they were wise enough to adapt to a world in which there were less than twenty mature dragons. She wondered how many eggs she would lay, how many would hatch, how many would survive their time in the sea as serpents, and if those serpents would have to be guided home to the cocooning grounds, as Maulkin’s tangle had. Then she snorted the thought away. In one way, at least, IceFyre was right. She had acquired many human ways of thinking. Why worry about a tangle that was not even hatched yet, let alone serpents that must grow for years before returning to the Rain Wild River?

She looked down on Kelsingra. ‘Today!’ She trumpeted the announcement loudly. And then she waited. IceFyre might be correct that she did not have all her memories, but she had some. Some traditions must be observed. What was the delay?

In the city below her, a slender form emerged onto the tower parapet. He was robed in silver and deepest blue, and Selden lifted his voice to the sky, in praise of the day. The ancient words shivered in her blood, standing up her crest and the ruff on her neck.

‘Today, today, the Queen goes forth today! Her belly is rich with eggs, she carries inside her the generation to come. Today, today, the Queen leaves us today! Sing, sing, all, sing her praise, and wish her good fortune on her flight!’

He paused. She listened. Voices were lifted – humans, and then dragons joining in and drowning them out. ‘Today! Today! Tomorrow begins today!’

She and Kalo basked in the roar of sound. She lifted her wings wide to them, wove her head on her long neck to accept her adulation. The cacophony died away. It was over. Now she would fly.

But suddenly Selden’s voice rose again, in praise of her alone. She set her eyes on him, listening in pleasure. ‘The Queen rises, the blue Empress, Tintaglia, she of the wide wings touched with Silver, she who led the serpents to Cassarick, she who fed the first of the new generation! Eldest of our queens and wisest, bravest, always cleverest! Wide-winged Tintaglia goes to the nesting ground!’

As she watched, other Elderlings emerged onto the tower top. Reyn. Malta. She held aloft the child Tintaglia had saved, and they joined their voices to Selden’s. ‘Today! Today! Today!’ Malta lifted Ephron high on each word, and the baby’s newly found laughter rose to Tintaglia.

‘Today!’ she trumpeted out a blast in response, and felt the good wishes of her Elderlings rise to her as she opened her wings and leapt into flight.