by Ben Marble
The trunk popped, and she rushed forward to help when it became apparent that Alexander could not manage the bags and his stick at the same time. Soon everything was stowed in the back of the car. Ember noted that the bags seemed rather light, but how does one plan for something like this? There had been some cases where they had to get larger vehicles to get the possessions of new students, and sometimes arrange to transport large items like pianos to make sure the student received all their possessions. This boy seemed not to have much of anything.
Ember realized as she started towards the house that Alexander had reseated himself in the back of the vehicle. Confused she stepped back over and tapped on his window. The boy slowly rolled it down and stared at her through those glasses.
“Aren’t you going to say goodbye to your parents?” Ember was curious how someone could just walk away. Even a new hatchling gave its parents the proper respect due to them. Alexander didn’t respond for a moment and then handed her a note. He then rolled up his window and closed his eyes behind his glasses.
She sat down and motioned for the driver to start again. The vehicle moved forward, and Ember opened the note and read it thoughtfully. The formality of it made her teeth clench and she noted how the paper had not been signed and had been printed, making it feel impersonal.
Dear Sir or Madam,
We have taken the proper steps as far as notifying the foster care agency and Alexander’s case worker as to the present situation. They will be sending the necessary paperwork to the office address that was given should we
need to contact your people for anything. Please inform Alexander that as he is no longer our ward, he is not welcome to contact us or return to our property once the paperwork has been finalized. Of course, you have our permission to take over his custody until such a time as everything is resolved with the state.
Good luck.
“I couldn’t remember what my letters look like. What does the note say?” Alexander’s voice has a note of expected disappointment in it.
Dragons, as a rule, did not lie because when you told a lie it had a tendency to create misconceptions and disrupt order. However, Ember found herself wondering what to tell this boy. “They wanted us to know they are taking care of giving us custody and wish us good luck with your training.” That was the truth; he could take it as he wanted. She didn’t need mention the fact there was to be no contact because that wouldn't be unusual. Someday she might give him the note, but for now. This was enough. “You couldn’t read it?”
“I don’t remember how to read letters, that won’t be a problem will it?”
There was a hint of a lie in Alexander’s words, but Ember let it pass. “No, it won’t be. You will have plenty of time to learn everything you need to know.”
There was silence in the back seat and Alexander settled back and started looking out the window again. Ember watched him and wondered how he would respond to his world changing. No use worrying though, he wasn't the first reluctant student and he would not be the last.
She leaned over and whispered an address in the driver's ear, and he took off. Ember did her best to pretend she didn't notice the tear that rolled down on Alexander's cheek behind her.
Malled
Xander fingered the silver dragon Tattoo on his cheek as he often did when he went out into public. All dragon's apprentices received a tattoo to set them apart and warn people they were dealing with a magic user. This was on top of the fact that the apprentices were also required to wear a black armband with a silver dragon on their left arm when they were not in their robes. Dragons took no chances and wanted no misunderstandings.
It did mean that you had your own section of the food court in the mall. Xander and his fellow apprentices sat to one side of the large dining area, and people kept a great deal of space and empty tables between themselves and the group. Since Xander had never really like being around people anyway, this suited him just fine.
"They should be thanking us, talking to us." Chandler sighed and ran his fingers through his short black hair. "The dragons are training us so we can maintain all the peace and prosperity we enjoy, and they just treat us like lepers."
"Yes, and I will line up and thank our benifactors with them." Xander shook his head at Chandler. "We are their slave masters as surely as the dragons. No one is going to thank us."
"The Dragons are not slave masters, they are saviors!"
"They are not our slave masters, but they dictate our laws, punishments, and control everything from the economy to the peace between different countries. Do you prefer dictators then?"
"They also ended war, hunger, disease, and have let us keep all our modern conveniences, excluding constant air travel which is a large inconvenience to them." Chandler leaned forward wrinkling a perfectly ironed t-shirt.
"A gilded cage is still a cage my friend."
A cup slammed down onto the table and Sierra narrowed blue eyes at both. "Do you two ever get tired of arguing over this? Can't we have a day of peace out of the cave?"
Adjusting his dark glasses Xander just shrugged. No use in letting the glasses slip, if people saw his eyes they would really give them some space. It was not very often you ran into someone with reptilian green eyes complete with a vertical slit in place of a normal pupil. His fellow apprentices were used to it. Normal people, well normal people did not tolerate the strange more than they had to.
"He started it." Chandler stood. "Anyway, we need to meet up with Michael and Brianne. They should be here any time now."
Before they could act on those words a shadow fell across Xander and he turned to see a group of high school students standing by them. Somehow seven football player types had walked up while his attention had been on Chandler without being noticed. From the looks on his fellow apprentice's faces, they were as surprised as he was. He realized that there was no use in avoiding a confrontation, the boys were already surrounding the three of them.
"So, who lost a bet?" Xander looked from boy to boy trying to figure out who the leader of the group was going to be.
"No one lost any bet. We just don't like freaks walking around like they own the place." The gorilla that spoke towered over Xander, which was an easy feat since he was generally about a head shorter than other sixteen-year-olds.
"So, you just stupidly walked up to three people, who are sitting peacefully, and decide to what? Threaten us? What was the big plan here?" Xander reached forward and straightened the letterman jacket on the gorilla type figure. "Tell me you thought this through before coming here and trying to run us off."
The Gorilla leaned down until his face was inches from Xander's, "You guys are not allowed to attack people with magic. I know, I have a cousin who was taken by a dragon like you. So, you see, I can run you off and you can't do anything about it."
A small hand on Xander's shoulder let him know Sierra was right behind him. "Don't do anything stupid Xander, we don't need the trouble when we get home." She said quietly. Sierra then turned to face the gorilla, "We will go don't worry about us alright?" Long pause, "Xander?"
"Let me make one thing clear that your cousin didn't explain," Xander reached and pulled Sierra's hand off his shoulder. "We can use magic in self-defense so, by all means, feel free to try and move me out of here." He heard Sierra growl from behind him and suppressed a smile, maybe he could drag the teacher's pet into trouble with him.
The Gorilla stared at Xander for a moment then grabbed him by the front of his shirt. Jerked off balance Xander could only watch as the bigger kid's large fist smashed into his face, breaking his sunglasses and snapping his head back. Feeling his shirt released Xander fell to the floor and scrambled to stand back up. Anger and pain filled his head and he scrambled for a way to pay the bully back without getting into too much trouble
Before he could do anything, the food court was suddenly filled with screaming and people running. Wiping blood from his now dripping nose Xander's jaw dropped as he saw the bully rolling fra
ntically on the ground trying to put out the fire on his jacket. Xander pinched his nose to try and slow the blood. "I didn't do that..."
"No, I did." Michael sauntered up next to him and gave a wicked grin. "How long do you think before he realized that his jacket isn't really on fire?" Brianne stood behind Michael with a disapproving look on her face.
"You realize we are going to have hell to pay for this," Sierra said as she stepped forward and waved her hand causing the illusionary flames to disappear. "I expect Xander to cause enough trouble for all of us without you helping him out."
The bully stood up and took one look at the group of apprentices and started running. He managed to knock over a few tables that had survived the original rush of people as he fled the area. The group of apprentices just watched him go as he stumbled several times after he cleared the dining area and vaulted through the doors leading outside.
"Well, I can't help it. I had to have some fun today." Michael did not notice the look of irritation this drew from Brianne. "Plus, if you let Xander do all the fighting you might lose your edge Sierra, and then where would you be?"
"Safe, bored, and shopping by now." Sierra started to walk towards the doors prompting Brianne and Chandler to follow her. "Now, we have to go back and explain what happened before Ember comes to get us."
"Thank you," Xander raised his hand to pat Michael on the shoulder but thought better of it after he saw the blood on his hand. "I probably would have taken a few more hits before I was able to stop that idiot."
"Well, maybe you shouldn't taunt Football players when you're the size of the average princess." Michael started following the rest of the apprentices.
"I am not calling you my knight in shining armor."
"You don't have to and we both know it. My lady..." Michael added with a wolfish grin.
Xander sighed and followed bracing for the lecture that was sure to come.
✽ ✽ ✽
About an hour later Xander found himself alone with Ember in her office. In her human form Ember still looked like the little Irish girl who had pulled him out of class several years ago to make him one of her wizards. Right now, despite being the only one in the cave who was shorter than Xander himself, she managed to make her presence known.
"You get a chance to walk away, twice. Once when the boys first surrounded you, it would have taken you but a moment to turn and leave. And again, when Sierra tried to pull you away from the fight. Now you are surprised you are here nursing a broken nose?"
"My nose isn't broken, it's just bleeding."
"You are just lucky I don't break it for you! Healing a broken nose is quite a painful process that might do you some good for remembrance sake. Something to think on next time someone tries to get you to fight them."
"They picked the fight with us, we were just sitting waiting for Mike and Brianne to come back."
Ember stomped around her desk to stand next to Xander where he was sitting still holding his nose. Honestly, it might have been broken, he just didn't want to get subjected to more dragon healing. Ever since his eyes, he had never been able to bring himself to get healed without worrying about the consequences.
"You know better than to fight with your lessers. You could have walked away, and instead you decided to get yourself a beating. As for Michael, he's going to be in for his own trouble when I have a chance to talk to him. Do you know how much trouble it is to reassure the public they are safe when a teenager is lit on fire in the middle of a public area?"
"I would hate to threaten the world domination scam you have going on." Xander leaned back and closed his eyes. "That would just ruin my day."
Silence filled the room as Ember regarded him. She stood there with her arms crossed. He could tell that Ember was not angry at his words. If anything he almost thought she was sad. If dragons were able to be sad.
"I sincerely hope that you never realize how necessary it is for us dragons to keep peace in the world. I hope that this attitude that I have waited for you to see as childish and naive doesn't dig you a hole we can't get you out of."
"You are going to tell me that all the dragon's intentions are altruistic? That all the control is for us "humans" own good?" Xander watched her. Like Chandler, he had argued with Ember over these things before. Unlike Chandler who was hopelessly naive on the subject, Ember did not seem intent on countering him with rote propaganda.
"No, I won't tell you our intentions are perfect, but I will tell you they are for your own good and the good of everybody. I have told you this before and as always I have no way to prove it to you beyond that which you have chosen to see. Do you want freedom? We allow countries to govern themselves if they don’t take advantage of those they control and follow a few guidelines. Do you want peace? The world has peace. Prosperity, done! But you still question as to why we would do these things."
"That's because you have never answered why the dragons would do all these things. You like to say that you have given us this and that. At the end of the day, what do you get out of it? I see no advantage to dragons spending their time policing humans. Maybe you can tell me why? That is the one thing you never answer, why? What is the gain for the effort? What is the price of peace, prosperity, and freedom?"
Ember sat on the desk in front of Xander and closed her eyes. She sat there and Xander started to feel uncomfortable. A person when they sit still twitches, they move, they tremble. A dragon sitting still looks like a statue, you can't even see their chests moving as they breath, or see the small trembling of a lip, or the flinching of an eyelid. Just still. After a few minutes of this Ember opened her eyes and regarded Xander carefully.
"We get order. Believe it or not, chaos invites many things that you humans don't want to face. The world in order though? It's a beautiful thing. Peace, safety, and protection from things that are better long forgotten. Now, Xander..." Ember leaned in close enough that Xander could smell the cinnamon on her breath. "Go have Brianne fix your nose, I know a broken nose when I see one. I know I am also the last person you want to heal you. Go sit and meditate and try to let go of your anger. Events from years ago only have as much control as you give them. Tomorrow you will be given some more duties to help work off your energy." Ember stood straight and walked back to her desk and sat down. "Oh, and until further notice, you don't leave the cave without me. If I can't trust you not to lose your temper or cause problems when you're out in public, then you will be stuck with me babysitting you."
The punishment was not unexpected, but it was a lot lighter then Xander expected. What he had not expected was more of an answer then he had gotten before. Normally Ember blew him off or just repeated her mantra of what dragon's had given the world. Even being told that order was part of what the dragon's wanted, it gave him more than what four years of training had when it came to answers. He stood up and started to walk to the door, however, he stopped and turned to Ember, and looked at her as she calmly watched his departure.
"You say you want order, which seems noble enough. Next time you will have to tell me what part of "order" was being practiced when my parents died."
Ember sat watching him, unmoving. She did not flinch at his words and watched him as if waiting for more. Xander was not about to give her the satisfaction. He turned and walked out the door.
A hard head
Brianne tried not to let her irritation show as she healed Xander. He did not react at all as she slowly mended the bone, cartilage, and the flesh in his nose. Most people would be crying or flinching at the pain she would be causing in the process, but Xander just watched her calmly with those strange eyes of his.
He never showed discomfort when he was being treated and Brianne imagined after the healing that had restored his vision any other pain was minor. Her study of what had been done along with what little Ember had said indicated that instead of healing Xander, Ember had replaced his eyes with dragons instead of restoring them. This means that his eyes were destroyed along with whatever systems
were connected to them and then rebuilt. As she understood it, there had been talk on whether they should try and fix his eyes, re-blind him, or even if Xander himself should be killed because of the mistake. Eventually, the dragons had decided to leave things alone rather than risking more damage, but Xander was under a close watch. All through no fault of his own.
No wonder he did not trust the dragons. He lost his family, his sight, and then when his vision was restored against his will he had been almost killed for it. The only thing that did not make sense is why they still seemed intent on training him. Out of Ember's five, he was the volatile one, the one who had to be watched, the one who caused all the friction and fighting in the group. Without Xander, everything would be more peaceful and easier.
Not that she would want him to leave. Xander had a level of innate talent that only Sierra could match. It is what kept him at the head of the apprentices. Michael was too laid back to study hard enough to keep up and Chandler was solid but slow. Her own talents tended more towards healing, which meant she spent long hours away from the others in hospitals and trauma centers. Brianna did not mind this at all, as she found the human body fascinating and healing was very rewarding for her. Being able to fix bruises and cuts was nice. Being able to regrow missing limbs, fix vision, hearing, and cure cancer, that was the highest form of magic.
The door to her small chambers opened and Michael stepped in and stopped short against her glare. Brianne was still mad after he had found their date so boring... Well, they had never really called it a date but since they had chosen to go off together and catch a movie. She wasn't sure how he could consider it anything else. Either way, the fact he had blown the whole thing off right before picking a fight just made it that much more irritating.