by Viola Grace
He leaned back. “Go on.”
“The shifters gathered together and discussed a way to leave the humans behind. The fastest dragons went exploring and came back with tales of a vast expanse of land with natives in some areas and wide-open spaces in others. They struck a deal to keep to their cities and only use enough land for their crops and beasts, and in turn, they promised to defend the locals when the Europeans descended en masse. When the settlers arrived as foretold, the shifters kept up their end of the bargain and drove the human settlers back to the sea.”
“Excellent.”
“Well, I did go to school in the city.” She chuckled. “I learned the same things as all the shifters in my class.”
He nodded and looked at the books he had selected. “Well, in that case, we will begin the details of the dragon coalition. Did you know that you are named after three of the founding dragons?”
That was a surprise. She had always believed that she was simply named after a random selection of names. The Lem was a reference to her not having a proper family name, but the other two were surprising.
“I did not know that.”
“Adolla was one of the explorers who found this continent. Years later, Venatrin was a dragon that bodily hauled the settler ships back to the ocean. She could summon the winds, and the Europeans were returned to their lands in a matter of days.”
He paused for effect. “Adolla was a crystal dragon. She could hide while in flight and was able to cruise over human settlements with no one the wiser.”
“I had no idea. I didn’t even know the names of the dragons.”
“Well, that is part of your education now. You have a starting point.” He pulled a book out and handed it to her. “This is a genealogy of the dragons going back as far as we have records.”
She nodded and opened the book. “This goes back three thousand years.”
“You only need to read it; I will test you for general understanding, and then, we will move on to etiquette. The history book you were reading can remain with you until you finish it.”
Trin smiled. “Thank you. Right. I will get going on this. Can I wander around?”
“If that helps you read, it is fine. Do what you need to do.” He smiled. “I will be puttering around and filing the monthly council reports.”
“This may be rude, but does your father mind that you are an archivist?”
Brommin chuckled. “He finds it very useful when I can find precedents in a matter of minutes for nearly every occurrence. That is how he found one that allowed you to work around your personal style. It was a previous situation where a dragon had travelled here from another city and found a mate. Her style didn’t match, and so, in order to keep her comfortable, a precedent was set.”
She smiled. “So, the senator was warned about my wardrobe choices?”
“We do have communicators after all.” He smiled. “It is the contribution that humans made to our society. There is a book on that as well.”
She sighed and found her starting point in dragon history. It was time to study.
After two cups of tea and pacing for two hours, she finished the history, and her brain felt fuzzy. Dragons had been the heroes and villains of their own story for thousands of years and had recorded it all.
The dragons who had earlier risen against humanity had written down their motivations, and with only a few exceptions, they wanted to better the lot of the people in the area under the boot of the nobility. Dragons didn’t hate all humans, just some select ones.
When she had gotten to her namesake, she had been surprised. Adolla had five children and a husband when she chose to make the exploration flight because only those with her speed and particular skills were suited to it. She forbade her children from following her, and that irritated them, but her husband stood by her on the day she took flight. He watched for her every day until she returned, and when she informed the council of the heading for the flight, he had the children start packing immediately.
Symran, the jet dragon, was a good and caring husband. When they made it to the new continent, he built their home, and eventually, they had three more children.
During the passage, Symran had carried an entire village on his back. Adolla had carried their children, and she had chosen the site of her home and the city they were currently living in. It was high, on stone, defensible and there were enough forests around to keep the other shifters happy.
Explaining to the locals that their people wore two forms had been tricky, but once the language barrier was worked through, the village explained their own history, which included strangers coming and turning their people into beasts.
That gave the dragons pause. They explained that it was the tradition for shifters to come to those of their blood and help to bring the beast out, to protect the change between human and animal.
A few examples later and a close bond had been made that now included an exchange of shifters and locals to increase understanding.
The rest of the history was dotted with human incursion into the new and safe land and minor territory skirmishes between dragons and shifter groups, which brought on the necessity for the councils. With the right to not only police their own kind, but also call on the dragons or others for help, the council system made things stable.
She closed the book and looked around. She had no idea where she had wandered to.
“Uh, Brommin?”
There was no reply for a moment, and then, she heard a voice from a distance. “Yes?”
“I have gotten lost near the collection of...” She looked around. “The erotic works of the lion shifters.”
“I am on my way.” There was laughter in his voice, and it took him five minutes to find her.
She sighed and walked toward him when she saw him. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you. Most start wandering toward my voice, and they get tangled in the stacks.” He smiled. “Have you finished?”
“I have. Ready for my test.”
“Sosa has joined us and has brought a tray of snacks. Why don’t I quiz you during our break, and then, you can begin the etiquette rules and regulations? Now that you know where we have come from, the way we keep ourselves restrained will make more sense.”
“I hope so. The more I see, the more the rules confuse me, but reading about the mixing of councils, it now makes sense.”
He nodded and walked with her through the endless twists and turns of the archive.
As they neared Sosa, she asked, “Why is there a large collection of lion shifter erotica?”
He chuckled. “Their males are a little repressed by being around such competent and aggressive women. They break out and write stories about damsels in distress.”
Sosa blushed slightly as she heard about their subject matter.
Trin grinned. “Is there a collection of dragon erotica?”
Brommin laughed. “There is, but I am not going to tell you where it is. You are too far beyond most of the males in your available age range. We don’t want to make them cry.”
Trin shrugged. “Their advancement is not my problem. I will never hold back to improving my mind or experience to make someone else feel like more of a man.”
Sosa’s expression was appalled, but Brommin was looking thoughtful. “That is a good thing to know.”
Trin shrugged and set her book down on the table. “I don’t have any family to embarrass, so I take care of myself first.”
Sosa and Brommin glanced at each other as if contemplating life without family. Both of them suddenly looked very sad.
Trin got some fresh tea and took a seat next to the tray of sandwiches and snacks. “I am sorry that I am speaking my mind. I have been locked in dragon history for a few hours. Our ancestors thought about their environment and where they were going but not much else.”
Brommin got a cup of tea for himself and another for Sosa. They sat together, and he began the q
uiz, “Well, in that case, how many dragon children were flown over the ocean?”
Trin nibbled at her sandwich and smiled. “Twenty-three, but four older children flew themselves.”
The testing was underway.
Chapter Eight
Senator Lefarge spoke to the medical examiner via projection.
“So, Dr. Emmer, what did you find?”
The doctor cleared his throat. “She was frozen for further study and in case of identification. I examined the deceased with modern scanners, and I have come to the conclusion that she was not struck by any vehicle available at the time.”
Lefarge was paying attention. “What killed her?”
Emmer pulled up a display on the screen, and the woman’s face was eerily like Trin’s. The claw marks broke the resemblance. The woman had been clawed across her throat, down her body, and across her belly. The dragon that had attacked her had not taken any chances. It was amazing that her baby had survived.
“Do you have any samples?”
“They are being extracted and sent to my lab. I should have more information for you in the next forty-eight hours.”
“Thank you, Doctor. I look forward to any information you can provide in this matter.”
The doctor took his leave, and the display cut off.
“Shit!” Lefarge shouted, and the walls hummed with the energy of his shout. He turned back to the report he had gotten from the alchemist and tried to make sense of it.
Eleven dragons were visible in Trin’s bloodstream. The strongest contribution to her was a recent one. A black dragon had fathered her. There were only four black dragons, and all of them were mated and had been before Trin was even conceived. Where the hell had the dragon met her mother, and who had killed her?
He rubbed the bridge of his nose. This mystery was giving him a headache. Working on a short list of men suitable for Trin to meet was far less frustrating but a lot trickier. He had put Brommin on twice and taken him off once. There was no doubt that Trin was going to become one of the great dragons in history, but that was a lot of stress to put on his son.
He had other children, but Brommin reminded him most of himself when he was younger. If not for his wife, Orisa, he would never have gotten elected senator. Lefarge wasn’t sure that Brommin would be able to burn to his brightest potential with Trin radiating power nearby.
Finding five men that she wouldn’t send running on first introduction was harder than it seemed. Torm had been on the list, but now, he was off. Torm was seeking counselling and working in the sequestered part of the city until his rut wore off.
Life had gotten incrementally more complicated since Trin had appeared, but Lefarge had a sense of anticipation. There was something coming, and even his own dragon could feel the hum in the air. A catalyst had dropped in on them, and it was up to them to watch the whirlwind form.
* * * *
Trin was pacing back and forth. “The uniformity of dragoness clothing was designed to keep courting dragon males from being misdirected into an infertile relationship. Once a dragon met their true mate, they could never reproduce with someone else. As such, if a male met a good match with another shifter species, his line would never bear a dragon. Oh, and if a dragoness met and fell in love with a male who had already met their true mate, she would never have a child. That could drive a dragoness mad.”
“More than I was asking for, but I will take it.” Brommin smiled.
She chuckled and stretched. “Anything else?”
“Well, Sosa will test you later on the physiology of male and female dragons.”
Sosa blushed. “I will try.”
Trin grinned. “It is fine. I know the basics and have read the more involved details. A few hours in the erotica section and I should be able to fill in all the blanks.”
“Trin! You can’t!” Sosa was scandalized.
She turned to her companion. “If there is knowledge here that is open to all citizens, I am allowed to take part in it. I would rather get the average of how a mating between dragons should go by reading several different authors than taking the sterilized version out of a textbook and figuring out what the hell is going on.”
Sosa blinked. “Right.”
Trin chuckled. “Sorry, but I have had people telling me that I wasn’t supposed to study my entire life. Every bit of knowledge I have, I fought for. It is a bit of a hot button with me.”
Sosa nodded slowly.
Brommin chuckled. “I will ask the senator to give you access to the archive. You can come down here, day or night.”
“After I have authorization.”
He smiled. “Of course. Thank you for understanding.”
“Chapter nine, paragraph three was all about obeying the chain of command because the heads of the dragon council tend to have precognition.” She smiled brightly.
“So, eidetic memory will be added to the list of your accomplishments.”
Trin smiled, showing teeth. “It is going to become a very long list.”
Brommin gave her a look of acknowledgement, and the slight bow of his head was a nod of respect. “You will be able to take the written exam tomorrow afternoon, and then, we can make plans to have your first controlled shift.”
Trin rubbed her hands together. “I can’t wait, nor can she. She has been circling around behind my eyes all day.”
Sosa perked up, and Brommin asked her. “Your beast speaks to you?”
“When she is very excited. Normally, it is just mumbling, but she was very chatty when I first woke up.”
Brommin was pressing her. “What did she say?”
Trin chuckled. “She was looking for you. She refers to you as the pretty one, and all dragons are hers.”
He coloured slightly. “She said that?”
“Even when you jabbed her in the hip. She could have bit you in two, but she didn’t.” She looked at him with a challenge she didn’t quite understand in her eyes. Her dragon was controlling her attitude, and she had no choice in staring down the male dragon.
Sosa cleared her throat, and Trin winced as her body whipped around and she snarled, “What?”
“I believe that you have had enough exposure today. Please, take any books you want to read overnight, and I will take you back to your quarters.” Sosa got to her feet and stood in front of her, calm but determined.
It was her friend’s stoic expression that let Trin get her dragon under control. “Yes. Good idea.”
She turned and went to the stack of books that she had eyeballed earlier. Trin knew that three was a likely amount to finish, so she pulled them into her arms.
Brommin glanced at the titles and nodded. “Got them. Bring them back tomorrow.”
“I will, and I don’t blame you if you bring the guards in. She is getting a little predatory.” Trin was apologetic.
“You are coping with the activation very well. Do not worry about her impulses. As you meet more dragons, her attentions will veer to a more suitable suitor.”
One of the books she had was on dragon courtship. “Thanks for understanding. Sosa, shall we be on our way?”
Sosa smiled in relief. “Yes, miss. Shall I carry your books?”
“No. I have them. Archivist Brommin, thank you for the lessons today. I have learned a lot.” She bobbed a curtsey and inclined her head. Once that was done, she straightened to her normal upright posture, and she walked out of the lovely book-filled space with Sosa.
A bit of silence and some time without her dragon’s favourite dragon nearby would do her good.
Before Sosa left for the evening, Trin asked a quick question. “Sosa, why are the mating regulations for dragons more strict than for other shifters?”
Sosa cocked her head. “You are just confirming what you have read?”
“I am. Why are dragons different?”
Sosa pulled her hand off the door handle. “If we want a child or any children, we need our drag
ons to form a match. In the lower and middle classes of dragons, this is easy. They meet and mingle, but in the higher and ruling classes, families try and manipulate the dragons into matches that are close. This leads to unions that have few, if any, children.”
“So, the mention of flights?”
“Ah, that is a last-ditch effort to gain the cooperation of the dragons in the mating process. It plays to their deeper instincts and kicks them into a more amenable frame of mind.”
“Adrenaline and the feeling of being hunted make the female choose from the males around her.” Trin wanted to make sure she understood.
“Correct. It is our lot.”
Trin looked at Sosa, and she saw the stress in her face. “How much longer do you have?”
“Two years. My dragon has chosen her match, but he isn’t one that is in our social circle. My family doesn’t let me see him.”
“How did you two meet?”
“He was in an upper class when I was taking my summer course four years ago. We met and had tea in the common area, but we were not allowed to meet at any of the social gatherings. He was kept to his folk, and I was kept with mine.”
Trin knew when someone needed a hug, and she got up from her desk and crossed the room. Sosa clung to her desperately, and shivers ran through her body. Silent sobs of grief that she wasn’t allowed to express shook out on Trin’s shoulder.
“Can you tell me his name?”
Sosa cleared her throat. “You have met him.”
Trin groaned. “It was Torm.”
“Yes.”
“Hell. Well, that makes more sense.”
Sosa leaned back. “What makes sense?”
“He wants you, but I am the mature dragon next to you, so his dragon is diverting its attentions. The answer is that I will just avoid being around him.”
She nodded and swallowed. “His rut has been obvious, but I haven’t been able to get near him to calm him down. Five minutes isn’t enough.”
“I will ask—”
“Not Sormin! He would flip.”