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The T.V. hummed as electricity surged in it and powered it on. She had never appreciated that sound when the most pressing matter on her plate was passing the business courses she felt obligated to take. Today though she felt painfully aware of the low buzz all of them gave off. “Hold on, hold on. Our correspondent in Bandar Abbas is coming to you live just north of the Straight of Hormuz.” That was then and this is now.
She knew Grandmother was out there. Alice knew that like she knew her twin reflections. She didn’t need to hear the report. “Peter there is chaos out there. The Dwight D. Eisenhower and it’s battle group have all been engulfed by some incendiary explosion.”
Alice felt her claws gouge the hardwood floor as she listened to the broadcast. “They’ll probably say some nonsense that there was a failure below deck.” She murmured to her servants as she watched.
Sure enough the newscaster in an all-too-calm shocked voice continued. “We’re not sure what happened Peter, but the leading theory is there had been an accident and- Peter there has been another series of explosions from the straight. Yes, another battlegroup gone.”
“What do you mean Craig? Was there another accident?”
“We’re reporting as we’re seeing it Peter, and everyone here is thrown into a frenzy. It is cha-” The chorus of roars peaked the phone’s speakers. Silence shortly followed for a time. Finally Craig spoke. “Peter, the coalition forces. I… Peter there are dragons attacking operation Desert Shield.”
Alice heaved herself off the futon she laid out to act as a chair for herself. She didn’t need to hear the rest. She didn’t want to. Grandmother was out there fighting along side the elders for her people’s rights. Fighting through hellfire radiation, bullets, missiles and gods know what else. She begged Grandmother not to go to stay and teach her the old ways. Her wings settled against her back as memory overtook her.
“Alice, my descendant. This is what the old ways demand. We are to protect our hatchlings as we can.” Grandmother’s talon touched her chest. Grandmother was radiant; her golden scales and ruby feathers shined with an opalescent glory in the dawn’s gray light. “I have taught you magics, I have taught you how to change shape to blend in with the courts of man. I have taught you the laws of Father Sun and Mother Earth, and I have seen you act wisely with our family’s hoard. I have nothing left to teach.” Grandmother leaned in, and preened at Alice’s crest. “The rest, the traditions are here.” The great wyrm pressed a claw to Alice’s chest. “And I know you will do me proud should I die in battle.” Those words echoed in Alice’s head as she moved towards her bedroom.
She forced herself smaller more vulnerable, naked without her scales and feathers. It didn’t help that she was without clothes when she changed towards the shape she was born with. Still she walked across the scarred hardwood of the high rise condo she owned. It would take time for it to get renovated for her dragon shape so it was just better to be human when she wasn’t in the living room. She did count herself lucky that she felt at home in either shape though as the human one would still come in handy. She threw the door to her room open and moved past the large mattress out of place in the elegant carpeted room. She ignored the wide open sapphire curtains that let the sunlight stream in as she browsed her walk in closet. Her servants soon followed in after. Alice didn’t need to see the shadows they cut in those sharp suits and pencil skirts only accented with powerful heels so she would hear them come in. “Send the letters loves, you should have the fax machine numbers.” Her servants bowed and hurried off. “Father Sun help me if those overgrown snakes in Japan try to oppose this.”
Soon enough she was dressed and the T.V. continued on as the world watched in shocked awe. One of the servants had left for the day to manage Alice’s presence at the office. They both knew she wasn’t going to make it in as Grandmother waged war. As far as the civilized gray world of man was concerned dragonkind returning was a dangerous inconvenience at worst. They clearly didn’t have the numbers to threaten any of the global superpowers. Also all they had was fiery breath. They couldn’t reason like humankind could, could they? What was unfolding on the international scale was being called the Wyrm War. With it every notion that the dragons weren’t a problem was smashed as an army of dragons fought against Operation Desert Shield’s coalition.
This shift in perception was only bolstered by a press release from China revealing that there were dragons among them now too. What was more chilling, they were talking about what the future for China should look like. Alice bit back worry. Those were the rogue elements she feared the most. The elder dragons of Japan and China were the only ones who could challenge her new council’s authority should they see fit to. The first fax that came in wasn’t from one of her cohort, but the elder who represented the Chinese dragons.
‘Most Esteemed Golden Wing,
As we have stated to Gold Span, your ancestor, we wish you the best in your endeavors. Our claws are full with problems at home and we must seek to find a new way forward under the heavens. The voices of humankind speak with such passion of philosophy that we must meditate deeply on this before we make any decision. I am certain given your role as a banker you can appreciate the need for wisdom in any decision.
Elder Fang Shilong’
Alice let a breath go that she didn’t realize she was holding in. “Well that’s one less problem.” She sighed. The next few faxes were petty squabbles among the new council. Some posed challenges to why should Alice lead them. Are we certain going public a good idea, and what if the actual elders live through the Wyrm War. Nonsense the lot of it. After everyone’s opinions came in, save for the Japanese dragons she started to compose her response.
‘My fellows in dragonkind,
We have discussed this time and time again over coffee, over dinners, over myriad delights of our kind and claw in claw with the ones who came before us.
The old ways demand that the elders must wage war. Even if they are victorious in the Gulf they are warriors and shall be forever branded as such by the world. It is not a question of if they are victorious but rather when they are killed. It is then up to us the first newborn generation in centuries to negotiate with Humankind.
I for one do not wish to see our kind cower in the shadows fearful of death because the circumstances of our birth. We are still sentient and deserving of the rights humankind reserves for itself.’
Alice paused at this, thinking of how humans have treated their fellows and sighed. Still she wrote on.
‘As for why I am to be entrusted as the elder to present our case to the United Nations and to lead our council into the future, we have voted on this time and time again. No one other dragon has the means to make our voice heard like I do. Like Grandmother Gold Span before me, I will speak not only for the greatest of us but for all of us.
To that end, we must cease these squabbles and start drafting plans to help other lost eggs find safety and home.
However, a vote be called again, I am more than willing to present myself, even as our ancestors die in battle.
Elder Golden Wing’
With a signature befitting a dragon or a banker she sent the message along. There was one final vote called for the council of elders. Again Alice or rather Golden Wing was elected as the First Speaker. Alice sighed and pulled out another pen to write.
‘My emerald Vahakn
I’m still astounded you took the name of a dragon slayer as your own. I can only imagine the stir that caused with the old guard. ‘
Her hand wavered for a moment before she shook it off and continued.
‘I wish you were here. I wish I could just lean on you for this. I know you support me, I know you and Carol do. I’m grateful. But this is so much. I wish Grandmother wasn’t so secretive about the old ways. Every time I tried to press about what we should carry forward she’d go off about being in touch with the world, with nature!
What nature Vahakn? All I’ve known is New York City until the last 6 years, and then it was just hunting. I’ve never dug out a cave let alone hibernated in one.`
Alice set the pen down and screamed. The servants came down the hall, and Alice only yelled. “I need space” before they could arrive. The clicking stopped coming closer and departed.
‘I don’t know what Gold Span wanted to pass on. Every time I brought it up pointedly she would say in that infuriating way that I would know it innately. Now she’s just off your doorstep with all the others who came before us fighting for our right to even exist. She’s going to die out there. All of them are going to die out there!
I had hope that the other elders who abstained from joining that hoard would have insights of their own into our kind but even they admit that the western dragon ways are not clear to them.
So now what? What do I have but stories when I want a mother who can hold me in her wings. My Emerald, what should I do?
Soon enough the fax was loaded and sent. 40 minutes later, Vahakn responded.
‘My gilded ruby,
I picked the name Vahakn mostly as a way to try and force the elder to correct me. To get me to show some restraint and respect to our kind. When I told him my name, he only nodded with a wry smile. “That is a fitting name for a dragon like you Vahakn. You’ll make a wise leader.”
Never have I wanted to punch someone so wise in the face before. And I am saddened to say that I will never have the chance to do that with how things are here.
I wish I was there too my ruby. The gulf is covered in smoke, fire, and death. It is truly a disheartening view. I’d rather much let our wings get tangled again.
But going back to our elders. I was able to just get something out of that old river scaled wingback before he left. I asked him plainly why he wouldn’t teach us of how things were. Why did he only tell us the stories of our people, how we came from the sun and earth’s union, why we thank our prey before eating it. He locked eyes with me before speaking in an all too low voice. “Vahakn, this age has no space for us who shaped the mountains before. This is your age. And I want you to have a chance in it.”
I should have punched him then. I should have struck my elder for being such an evasive prick. And yet, I can’t help but think he’s right. We have to shape the future and what dragonkind is. They taught us the stories and the most important parts that needed to go forward, but we have to choose what it means to be dragons now.
I should send this before something bad happens to the telephone lines. I will see you in New York before you go to the U.N. and we shall enjoy each other’s company.
Your Emerald, Vahakn.’
Alice sighed and folded the letter up. One of the servants came in. “Golden Wi-”
Alice tensed and spun to meet the red head. “Please Mia, Call me Alice.”
Mia nodded before striding over and hugging her boss. “Miss Alice, I’m here.”
Alice clung to her servant and started to sob. “I feel so unprepared.” Her chest heaved as they embraced. “Everyone I knew who would know anything is being evasive and now Vahakn is saying something that makes so much dreadful sense.” Alice pulled away and grabbed a mug to throw it all a wall.
Mia was in front of the arm, catching the mug before it could shatter. She set it back onto the table as Alice started to mumble out an apology. Mia pressed her fingers to Alice’s lips. “When I decided to serve you even when you are a dragon, when I choose to care for you that deeply as your kobold”
“I wish you would have chosen a different term than that Mia treasure.” Alice rolled her eyes.
“You fell in love with a nerdy secretary who took you to play D&D between hunts with your Grandmother.” Mia pressed aggressively towards Alice. “And were surprised that when she caught you as you are that she fell only more madly in love with you that she wouldn’t choose to be called a kobold?” Alice blushed at that. “You know me better than that Alice.”
“I do.” Alice smiled turned slightly teasing “Even when you’re unrepentantly a dork.” They stood there smiling before Alice remembered. “I can’t pay you overtime for this love.”
“I know, I’ll be off to see Sam. He misses you too Alice. Should I invite him here after all this tragedy is done?”
Alice sighed. “Just tell him to be normal about the wings.” And with that, Mia left for the day. Now there was nothing more to do but watch and wait for the death of her Grandmother. With every news station glued to the chaos in the Gulf it would been impossible to miss anyway.
“We’re throwing live to Saudi Arabi where General Schwartzkopf is giving a debriefing after the Wyrm War.” Bernard Shaw spoke clearly to the camera. Alice watched still human. A half empty bottle of wine in her hand dangled precariously over the hardwood as she held herself steady on a granite countertop. It had been three days, and it was over.
“Thank you for being here” The general addressed the press corps and the live cameras. “We have captured the largest of the dragons at no little cost, but we are proud to say that we are victorious and planning to study it for science.” At that the curtain behind the general fell. Alice’s breath stopped.
Grandmother was bound to the ground. Featherless and scarred. Her chest moved barely and her eyes were closed. The general droned on answering questions of the press. Alice felt like she was listening to the whole broadcast like she was underwater.
Then a laugh. “You foolish things.” Grandmother spoke in a pained voice. “You think you’ve won? You think I will surrender myself for study?” Chaos erupted among the press corps, people shouting to run, soldiers summoned, journalists told to cut the feed or keep filming. This was unprecedented proof that dragons could speak. “Hear me, I am Gold Span and today” Alice saw Grandmother shrink and become so vulnerable like she had before. “I choose my death.” And as nothing but a naked woman, Grandmother threw herself onto a soldier’s bayonet.
The feed was cut as she laughed.
The bottle Alice had clung to shattered on the ground. After a time the fax machine screamed to life. The letter was from one of the Japanese dragons. It simply read.
‘I am sorry for your loss.’
Alice’s tears stained the signature ruining it as she ripped free from her clothes to curl tightly under her wings. Dawn broke as it always does and Golden Wing stood from the shreds of her clothes and sighed. “I really liked that shirt.” Mia was already there cleaning it up.
“I’m sorry love. How are -” Golden Wing interrupted Mia by hugging her to the golden scaled chest.
“I’m awful Mia love. But I’m better now that you’re here.” Golden Wing nuzzled. “You are a delight my kobold.”
Mia flushed. “Y-you, you called me kobold.”
“I’ve come around to the term love.” There was a kiss, then a brief silence shared as they took deep comfort in each other. Still the loss of her ancestor Gold Span hurt but the world spun on. “I’m sorry Mia, I have work to do.” For the sake of dragonkind she could not slow down.
Mia understood. “Of course my dragon, I’ll be just a bellow away.”
She flipped the T.V. on with a claw to fill the silence of the morning. Stock market reports were in a tizzy, the cost of oil skyrocketing. Golden Wing made herself small again if only to enjoy coffee and cereal as she’s done for the last twenty years. She refused to cover her body though. She would when she needed too. When she would speak to the United Nations. For now she wanted people to recognize her glory no matter what shape she wore. Of course Mia endeavored and failed in not being distracted by it.
Papers lay on her fax machine, though some threatened to fall from the mahogany table the machine was perched on. They came in three types. Sorrows and grief. She wasn’t the only dragon to lose ancestors in the war. She responded with the compassion of a mother that she would be to her hatchlings. The second were those wishing her well and offering support. She was the First Speaker now. She was stepping into the role that Gold Span held. She thanked their senders, prompting them to find and support other dragons. The last type was inquiries about the plan for the United Nations and asking if there would be time to hunt before meeting the world. These ones she relished knowing that there was wisdom in taking any pleasure back from the pain her kind was grappling with. A hunt was planned with the council as a way to negotiate any last minute changes.
The changes never arose. Instead Golden Wing danced creation and destruction with the council. Destruction of prey that was shared and savored. Creation danced with each other forging a closeness needed to heal the absence of those who came before.
Of course Golden Wing found herself nestled against Vahakn’s chest. The ruby feathers framed her gold scales only contrasted with Vahakn’s obsidian black and smooth scales and sapphire feathers. They lost count how many times they sang and dance creation’s song that day. It didn’t matter. What mattered was they were here. Golden Wing broke the silence of the stars overhead of them. “So… we’re the new dragons.”
“Yes, I suppose we are.” Vahakn’s voice rumbled like a tidal wave. “I’ll be honest, I was a bit surprised you conceded to the hunt before everything else.”
“I felt that we need to blow off steam and find our way to celebrate the lives lived of other wyrms.”
“Already taking the old bastard’s words to heart?”
“They’re right love. We are the new ones. We have to choose what it means to be a dragon now.” Golden Wing’s feathers ruffled as she tried to warm against a shiver that wasn’t from the cold. “I just hope I’m up to the task of that.”
Vahakn laughed, and then guided her muzzle to his with a wing. “Alice.”
“Golden Wing.” She interrupted with an insistence.
“Of course, Golden Wing.” He chuckled and kissed her nose. “You won’t be alone. All of us, all of us elders, and the dragons who are lesser will too.”
Golden Wing laughed and licked back. “I’m glad, I worry I would be lost without you.” She looked up at the heavens. “Did you ever feel like you had to be perfect to step into their roles love?”
Vahakn sighed. “My elder disabused me of that notion. He once burned down a domicile I gave him because a spider frightened him.”
Golden Wing looked aghast. “Did… did he really?”
“Yes but no. He did it so I could make ends meet with a bad shipping deal that I couldn’t afford to fail on. The insurance money was used to pay the import fees.” He laughed. “Wise, but in a way that doesn’t make sense half the time.”
“Is that what we are to be then?”
He took the words in and he looked like he was chewing on them. “I don’t rightly know love.” With that the lovers sat under the night sky and looked up at the stars. They recalled the stories told that their dead became the stars. The hunt and revelry honored those who were of them but could never be like them. As the revelers were they who were like them but who could never be of them.
Two weeks passed. Economies stabilized on shaky legs. The dragons were still talked about in the news cycle. Were they alive? Was that communication? Such questions filled the world as Golden Wing marched into the United Nations Assembly dressed in mourning with a veil over her face.
The docket was slated to discuss supernatural forces entering into the world. The Wyrm War was still fresh on everyone’s mind. Still bleeding into the economy and public discourse. Golden Wing was summoned as an expert in dragons to speak. It had taken some time to get herself established as an expert. It was why the Wyrm War was so well delayed after the until Vampire Fiasco of 71. Dragonkind needed dragons to speak on their behalf. Golden Wing was the answer.
“Citizens of the world, I am called Alice Ormond, head of Ormond International Banking and expert on dragons.” Golden Wing spoke before turning the mic away. “And I stand before you in mourning for all the lives lost in the Wyrm War.” The delegates looked towards one another with curiosity. “The brave soldiers who fought and died yes. Yet I mourn for another side too.” With that she let her shape free. Crimson feathers spread into wings and tail, golden scales armored her. In shock the delegates realized she looked like the woman who threw herself on the bayonet. The woman who was a dragon. Fully as herself, she towered at 7 feet tall, and 15 feet long. A far cry from her ancestor. “Please, don’t be alarmed.” She raised her wing in an approximation of peace.
“I’m not here for vengeance. I’m here because my people exist.” The delegates murmured among themselves and she waited for them to quiet down. “As you can plainly see, I am well qualified to be an expert in dragons. In fact, we held an election and named me First Speaker of dragonkind.” A few small chuckles came from the English speaking delegates. Curiosity filled the room, displacing the awful tension that her reveal had caused. “And I just wish to speak for my people. For our peoples.” She gestured towards the delegates. “We are now an orphaned people. All of our elders, the ones who came before are dead. They said their way demanded that they be warriors. And I begged,” Golden Wing’s voice caught in her throat as she choked a sob. “I begged my ancestor not to go to war. To not even entertain war. But she was bound to it. She was bound by her cohorts to do so.”
She smelled their fear rising. “But I assure you, us orphans do not want war. We voted against joining our elders, knowing we would be orphaned.” Again the fear subsided, replaced with a hunger for knowing where this was going. “We did this because we were born human. We became dragon as the world became strange, again, not by any of our choice. Who chooses who their ancestors were and how they reflect them? The elders spoke to us of plans to help dragonkind live on after the first death of what the scientific community calls Resonance. They would interbred with humankind in human shapes in the hope of have some shape of our kind survive into the future.” She then gestures to her chest. “Thus I stand before you, First Speaker of Dragonkind. First Speaker of the new Dragonkind, the Dragonkind that was estranged before we were orphaned. And I beg to you all, you powerful men and woman who sleep well with a connection to who came before you, please recognize the sentience in me. I dare not speak of it as humanity for that is a chauvinistic word when I reach out my claws in a plea of brotherhood.” She outstretched the claw at this, eyes tearing up.
The smell of the other delegates was a bouquet of emotions. Compassion, sorrow, and grief were the main notes. Still some sour anger and fear lingered among the delegates. The most notable scent came from the American Delegate who now spoke. “Do you truly expect us to give human rights to beings who clearly aren’t human?” Arguments broke out on the floor among the humans. Golden Wing waited. The urge to snort cinders pounded in her chest. Still she swallowed that want. That wouldn’t get her what her people needed.
Soon the arguments subsided and Golden Wing bowed her head as she was given back priority to speak. “Thank you for pointing out that I am not human. Nor are my people. But we still are deserving of the rights that are labeled human rights.” She then leered at the American delegate. A pompous man who made money off investments and hoarding lands like she would hoard gems and coins. She let her crest rise in amusement before approximating what humans would call a smile. “And should we not be granted such rights, I would wish to remind the delegates that I am still also Alice Ormond.” That got him to turn sheet white. “It would not be a problem for me to do far worse to every economy with a word of peace than one belched in flame.”
The delegates sat in stunned silence. Golden Wing bowed adjusted the mic one last time so she could speak directly into it. “I thank you for your time, and pray for the sake of your people and our people and all people under Father Sun and on Mother Earth that you recognize us as having inalienable sentient rights.” She was excused to sit among the delegates. The conversation took on a more stressed tone as everyone wondered if their governments could weather the economic terror that Golden Wing promised. Eventually even the American delegate made the push to recognize dragonkind’s sentience.
From then on, the conversation about inalienable rights became more and more tricky to navigate.