Of Cinder and Bone

by Kyoko M

  “They will in time,” he said gently. “Especially after we get the ball rolling on the next level of the project and we expand the species that are born through our method. It’s probably harder for them to see it when it’s just one dragon than if we had multiple species.”

  Kamala nodded. “Even so, I admit I’m already getting tired of explaining my choices to them. I’ve been following orders my whole life. They expect me to fall in line, and now that I won’t, it’s driving them crazy.”

  Jack studied her for a long moment. “So… did you actually want to become a doctor or did you let them guide you into that path?”

  “I wish I had an easy answer for that. I don’t know. I enjoy the work. I’m good at it. I want to help people. I always have and I always will. But I don’t know if that had always been my dream. It’s been so long since I had the time to think about myself. Sometimes I think that my life isn’t about what I want; rather what needs to be done for the greater good. Perhaps, that more than anything else, is what pushed me to fight so hard for Pete.”

  “Are you happy?”

  She blinked at him, surprised. His tone was careful, as if he were guarding himself from the answer. “You can be honest with me. I don’t want you to feel like you can’t be, even after what happened in the cave.”

  She shook her head. “You are a brilliant man, but you can be so silly sometimes.”

  “Huh?”

  “Of course I’m happy, Jack. I love what I do—what we do. Even if the way that I got here isn’t what I pictured, our work makes me feel fulfilled. It gives me a purpose I wouldn’t have found otherwise.”

  Something tight in Jack’s chest eased. “Glad to hear it. Let’s get the last of this all squared away so we can go home.”

  “Did they fix the door to your apartment?”

  “Yeah, thank God. It’ll take a while to get everything cleaned up, but at least it’s safe again, aside from the press who are still stalking me day and night.”

  “We have better security at my place. Do you want to stay over again?”

  Jack cleared his throat, his cheeks tinting slightly pink as he stared at his laptop. “In, uh, light of certain recent events, that’s probably not the best idea.”

  She gave a start. “Oh. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

  “It’s fine. I’ll make it work.”

  They finished, stored all the pertinent information, and gathered their things. Jack held the door for Kamala and checked his watch after they entered the hallway. “We’d better be up early so we can get the paper and the presentation ready. Good luck with your parents tonight.”

  “You too.” She winced and nibbled her bottom lip. “I… didn’t want to pry, but I sensed something was amiss when I saw them this morning.”

  “Believe me, that’s an understatement.” He caught the worried look on her face and smiled. “Hey, you’ll get wrinkles if you keep up that frown. Don’t worry. I’ll be alright.”

  She hugged him. “Call me if you need me.”

  “Will do.”

  She tilted her head up to give him the usual cheek kiss, but didn’t realize he had started to stoop down to allow her to do so, and their lips grazed each other. She jumped in surprise and he jerked upright.

  “Ah, s-sorry, I didn’t mean to—”

  “No, it’s fine, it was my fault.” Kamala tucked a stray lock of hair behind her ear and waved as she beat a hasty retreat. “Bye.”

  “Bye.”

  She got about three steps before she realized her cheeks burned with a blush and her heart bounced off her ribs like she’d just injected herself with an Epi-pen.

  That was new.

  ~*~

  If there was one thing that could soften the blow of dealing with her parents, it was good food, so Kamala made sure she picked a place where they’d be able to eat freely despite their religious restraints. Life Alive was a bright, colorful, unique little spot off of Mass Avenue, tailored specifically to vegetarian and vegan diets. It was bustling with activity, but they snagged a table with relative ease and sat down to eat in a cozy corner. She’d been here several times with Faye—Jack, the meat-enthusiast, hadn’t been interested—and the restaurant had often put her at ease during her most stressful weeks of the project.

  “How much progress did you make with the dragon today?” Sahana asked, blowing softly to cool the quinoa on her fork.

  “A lot, actually,” Kamala answered, sipping her coconut smoothie. “We were finally able to fully document all of the changes she’s experienced since the birth. She’s fascinating. It’s nothing like reading textbooks or studying fossils. Tomorrow we hope to start a video series focused on her behavior.”

  “Behavior? What kind of behavior does she exhibit exactly?”

  “That’s the interesting part. Reptiles are notorious for not having moods which are usually attribute to mammals, but she has completely changed what we understand about the way dragons interact with their environments. She still shows reticence around anyone other than Jack and me, but after we got her settled into an enclosure, she seemed to calm down and be more open to the physical exam. We collected her saliva, fecal matter, scales, and blood and put it in the queue for analysis. We greased a few palms to get the data back by the end of the week, so I’m excited to see what we’ll find.”

  “And what of the future? Where will you move from here?”

  “We’ll be presenting the finished project to the panel in less than a month, so Jack and I will be preparing everything for the paper from now until then. After it’s done, we will start planning a replication process using the different species of intact dragon DNA that’s been collected from various sources. If things go well, then we’ll modify the process to crossover into different parts of the animal kingdom. We’ll collaborate with other interested parties and see where it takes us in the process of repairing damaged ecologies.”

  “That’s lovely, my dear,” Sahana said. “It’ll be quite exciting to see what kind of avenues open up in the future.”

  “Speaking of which,” Daeshim said. “Have you and your… associate given any further thought to my inquiry?”

  “Which was?”

  “The application of this technology on a larger, more lucrative scale. Essentially, what you’re doing is a form of cloning and genetic manipulation. With some careful work, you could uncover some surprising information in those fields. It could open doors for your career.”

  Kamala’s eyes narrowed slightly. “Forgive me, father, but I think we’ve opened enough doors already. Like Jack said, it’s above my pay grade to ask if this technology should be applied to the human race.”

  “So now you need permission to learn? To grow? To explore something unknown?”

  “No. I have no interest in that question. People are capable of making their own decisions. Animals are not. It is my belief that we were put here to help each other, to have a beneficial relationship with one another, whereas cloning and genetic manipulation borders on the unethical misuse of science.”

  Daeshim folded his hands on the small table. “How so?”

  “It’s knocking on a door I believe should stay closed. If we do unlock the miracle of cloning, how long until what was done to Pete is done to someone else? The interested parties aren’t always benevolent. People are mostly good at their cores, but I believe that an agenda would corrupt it to the point where we’d be getting designer babies and clones of Marilyn Munroe rather than using it for life-saving purposes.”

  He shook his head. “That is too broad an assumption. There would be measures in place to prevent such a thing.”

  “Measures can be broken. Rules can be broken. We’re looking for harmony, not tinkering with something that could be a potential disaster.”

  “You may not realize it, but that may be in your future as well. How much information did the yakuza secure while you were looki
ng for the dragon?”

  Kamala gritted her teeth. “Not enough to make a difference.”

  “My dear, you are treading dangerously. I hope you see that now.”

  “Daeshim,” Sahana said, her voice sharp. “We are not here to make accusations. We are here to support her. She’s been through enough without us adding to it.”

  He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. “That was not my intention. She owes us an explanation, does she not?”

  “Does she question why you became a physician? Does she argue with you about the methods that you teach at Columbia? What right have we to tell her what to do now that’s she’s an adult?”

  “And what if I think she’s wrong? Am I supposed to hold my tongue?”

  “No, but I will not have you insult her intelligence by assuming she doesn’t know what she’s gotten herself into. Now apologize.”

  Daeshim grimaced. Sahana glared. He exhaled through his nose, quelling his temper. “Kamala, I am sorry if I have come across as patronizing. However, I am concerned that you haven’t considered all the angles about this project. Look at what happened in just a week. What will happen in a month? Six months? A year? What if the world is not ready for what you’re trying to accomplish?”

  “Then we’ll find a way around it,” she answered with quiet resolution. “The focus of this project is education. We have a lot to learn from dragons. They can teach us patience, tolerance, understanding, responsibility. After all, that’s what Pete has taught me so far.”

  “And what of your associate?” Daeshim pointed to her bandaged hand. “Is that what he’s taught you?”

  Kamala sighed. “I knew it. I knew this was where this conversation was headed.”

  “Answer the question.”

  “No,” she said sharply. “This was not Jack’s fault. He spent nearly every second in Tokyo trying to protect me. I saved his life, as a matter of fact. You haven’t even had a full conversation with the man and yet you feel qualified to judge him. Tell me how that is right or fair.”

  “Kamala, you cannot be this naïve. He’s using you.”

  She stood from the table and shoved her chair back. “That’s it.”

  “Kamala!” She ignored the call, stalked away to the exit, and left the restaurant. Sahana shot her husband a death glare and followed her.

  “Kamala, please,” she called after her daughter. “Don’t leave like this.”

  “Why shouldn’t I?” she snarled, reaching into her purse for the car keys. “He hasn’t heard a single word I’ve said.”

  “Then come back and explain it to him.”

  “What difference would it make, mother? He hears only what he wants to hear. He believes only what he wants to believe.”

  “Then prove him wrong.” Kamala stopped on the sidewalk. Sahana continued. “My flower, there are things about your father that you don’t understand because you were raised in this country. Where we came from was different than this place. Do you want to know why he is so hard on you?”

  “Not particularly,” she grumbled, but she turned around to face her mother anyway.

  “The first time his mother found out we were courting, she slapped your father in the face.”

  Kamala’s eyes widened. “Dadi did that?”

  “Yes. Do you know why?”

  Sahana shook her head. “My skin may be as brown as theirs, but my faith is not the same. She thought I was Muslim, and when she found out I was Hindu, she shamed him and told him to find another woman of their same faith. He refused. For the first few years of our relationship, we had almost nothing. He was cut off from his family, from the people who raised him, because he decided to marry outside of what they approved of. Those were hard years, but eventually, they came around when you were born. Your father is afraid of the same thing happening to you.”

  “Mother, Jack and I are not dating.”

  Sahana chuckled and touched her daughter’s cheek. “I know. And I also know you, my flower. There is not another man on this planet that you look at the way I saw you look at him when you were in that lab and you thought the dragons were dead. Perhaps it is not love, but there is no doubt in my mind that you feel an attachment to him that is stronger than you realize. Your father picked up on it as well. He just doesn’t want you to suffer, to struggle, to be unhappy as we were for a long time. Everything he’s done has been towards the goal of keeping you away from that kind of persecution. This is a wonderful country, but it isn’t perfect. Who you spend your time with has an impact on your reputation, whether you realize it or not.”

  “And what about you? What do you think?”

  “I think you’ll do what’s best for you in time. I have always trusted you because you know who you are and you won’t allow anyone to stifle it. Not even your parents.”

  Kamala sighed and let her mother draw her into a hug. “I can’t believe you married such a stubborn jackass.”

  Sahana laughed. “If my suspicions are correct, you will know why soon enough.”

  She pulled away, scandalized. “Mother!”

  Sahana laughed harder. “Oh, my sweet. What a future you have ahead of you.”

  ~*~

  Hey.

  What’s up?

  This is gonna sound odd, but…remind me not to punch my Dad in the face.

  Jack, don’t punch your Dad in the face.

  Thanks, Faye.

  You’re welcome, Stilts. Good luck.

  Jack pocketed his cell phone, took a deep breath, and opened the front door to his apartment. Richard Jackson stood there with a pack of Budweisers in one hand and a plastic bag with the orange logo of Home Depot across the front.

  “Hey.”

  “Hey,” Jack replied, standing aside as his father entered. He shut the door and locked it. He didn’t live in the nicest apartment complex, but they had one hell of a repair guy. He’d done a fine job with the new door.

  “Dinner’s on its way,” he continued. “Should be here soon.”

  “Good.” Richard set the bag on the kitchen counter and started withdrawing items. Jack returned to his bedroom and wheeled the vacuum cleaner back into the closet. It was mostly full of fluff from his shredded mattress and box spring. He’d have to work on getting a new one within the next few days. A task in and of itself with him on a budget. He was too tall for a twin bed and anything bigger than that cost an arm and a leg. Then again, he had a ton of interviews and lectures lined up that would start a new cash flow, so maybe it wasn’t so bad.

  “Any trouble getting here?” Jack asked, searching through his junk drawer for a pencil.

  “Not too bad,” Richard replied. “I see the press finally let up some.”

  “Yeah. I may or may not have threatened them with a baseball bat.”

  The older man snorted. “Baseball bat? You should consider getting a Benelli.”

  Jack chuckled. “Overkill much?”

  “Hey, it’ll help them get the point.”

  Jack went over to the door with the pencil and the chain fastener to mark it. “Actually, I was going to ask what you thought about home protection. Which handguns do you still have at the house?”

  “One Smith and Wesson, a Sig Sauer, and a Ruger. Nothing fancy. I sold some of the antiques so we could get the new truck last month. What are you looking for?”

  “Home security. I don’t want anything to carry around with me because that’s just asking for trouble.”

  “Mm. Pistol or semiautomatic?”

  “Semiautomatic.”

  “How do you feel about a Glock 17?”

  “Not sure. I almost feel like that’s too much power, but then again it’s easy to use.”

  Richard handed him the drill and the screws. “That’s my suggestion. Head to a target range, rent one, and practice with it. Get used to the weight and the reloading process until you feel comfortable, then make the p
urchase. After all, your record’s clean as a whistle. You shouldn’t have any trouble getting one.”

  “Dunno. If they find out about my anger issues, maybe I will.”