The Dracons' Woman (14 page)

Trey climbed back into the car, sensing the change in mood at once.  He arched a brow at Garen, who shook his head.  He looked over his shoulder at Lariah, the expression of poorly concealed fear telling him all he needed to know.  He clenched his jaw and continued the drive into town.

Lariah’s spirits lifted again as they sped through the countryside, reminding Garen, Trey and Val of what Riata had told them about her.  She was, indeed, a naturally happy and optimistic person.  She continued to ask them questions about the animals, plants and trees, but the land they were in didn’t change much for several hundred miles, and before long she fell quiet.  Garen could see by the expression on her face that she was thinking of things more serious than the view outside of her window.  After awhile she turned toward him, biting her lip the way she did when she was nervous.  He reached out slowly and rescued the delicate flesh from her teeth. 

“What is it
sharali
?” he asked.

“Well, I’d like to ask you some questions, but I don’t want you to think I’m rude.  Most people do, though.  It’s why I’m a librarian.”

Garen’s eyebrows rose.  His earlier success at deciphering her meaning encouraged him to work harder at solving this latest puzzle, but in the end he shrugged slightly and looked to Val and Trey.  They both shook their heads.

“I’m sorry, but I don’t understand what you mean,” he said finally. 

Lariah smiled faintly.  “I like to know things,” she said.  “People say I’m nosey, but I don’t mean to be rude.  I’m just really curious.  Being a librarian means I usually have a way to find the answers to my questions without having to ask anyone. “

“I see,” Garen replied, disappointed that he hadn’t figured it out for himself.

“Would you mind if I ask you some questions?  If I ask anything I shouldn’t, you could just say so,” she added quickly, “I wouldn’t mind.”

“You may ask us anything you like,
sharali
,” Garen said, smiling.  “We will not be offended.  If it is something we are unable to answer, we will tell you.”

The look of mingled relief and curiosity on Lariah’s face made all of them smile.  “However,” Garen added, “I would like to ask you something first, if I may.”

Lariah’s face suddenly closed down, her eyes dropping to her lap.  “That’s fair,” she said slowly, though they all heard the reluctance in her voice.  It made Garen sad to see her excitement disappear so quickly.  But he had no intention of asking her about the subject she obviously feared.  That was something she would have to offer them, not be tricked out of. 

“The information we gave you last night, about our people and our history,” he began as though he hadn’t noted her reaction.  Lariah’s head came up, surprise and relief in her eyes. 

“I told you that we prefer to keep much about our race to ourselves, but I did not tell what we do, and do not, allow others to know.”

“Oh,” Lariah said, “I thought you kept all of it to yourselves.”

“Some things it is not possible, or necessary, to keep secret.  As we discussed last night, we are a planet with a shortage of women, and we let it be known that women who wish to come here to marry and have families are welcome.  Obviously those women need to be informed of certain facts when they arrive.  For example, that their mates, and their children, will be shifters.  Also that their children will always be males, and triplets.”

“Yes, I can see how keeping that information quiet might be difficult,” Lariah said wryly. 

“Exactly,” Garen replied.  “However, we do not share our history.  As far as the galaxy at large is concerned, we have always lived on Jasan, always been Jasani.  Nor do we reveal information about our magic, or our mating rituals, especially information about soul-linking.”

“I think it is your right to keep information private if that is your wish,” Lariah said.

“We thank you for your confidence,” Garen said.  “May I ask you another question?”

“Sure,” she replied with a shrug, no longer worried that he was going to try to trick her into speaking about things she didn’t want to speak about.

“We are curious about your reaction to what you have learned about us.  You seem to accept much that many women cannot.  We wonder, why is that? ”

 “I don’t know.  It just seems…” she paused, frowning thoughtfully as though searching for the right word.  After a moment she shrugged again.  “I know it will sound odd, but it all seems sort of normal to me.  I guess I’m just more open-minded than most.”

Garen was shocked.  A quick glance at his brothers showed they were as well.  Interesting. 

“I thank you for allowing me to ask you questions,” he said, not wanting her to notice his reaction to her statement.  “Now it is your turn.  What would you like to know?”

“I suppose the first thing I want to ask is, what does it mean that you three are princes?  I would have expected royal princes to live in a big fancy castle and have lots of people running around doing things for them every minute of the day.  But you guys don’t live like that at all.  So, are you really princes?”

Val grinned, then laughed.  “We are, but obviously we aren’t the kind of princes you are familiar with.  Maybe we need to go wherever they are.”

Lariah thought about sticking her tongue out at him, decided it was too childish, then did it anyway.  Val only laughed harder so she tilted her chin at him and turned back to Garen.

Garen smiled at her antics, pleased that she had a sense of humor. 

“”Dracon male-sets have always been royal princes among our people,” he told her.  “But we are not all powerful.”  Garen thought about it a moment, trying to think of a way to explain that Lariah would most easily understand.

“As you know, our people are shifters.  Our alternate form is an animal.  Many higher animals live in ranked groups.  In such a group all members know their own ranking, and the ranking of those around them.  That way, they live peacefully together, always knowing what they can and cannot do according to their rank.” 

Lariah nodded. “Yes, I’ve read about that,” she said.  “Particularly among wild canines of old Earth.  I can’t remember what they were called though.  Please go on.”

“The Jasani are ranked according to the animal we become.  Dracons are the prime beast, or alpha beast among our kind.  Dracons are the largest, fastest, wiliest and fiercest of all the clan beasts.  Therefore, dracons are, and always have been, the royal family.  All of the other animals, or as we call them, clans, are ranked in the same manner.  Within each clan its members are also ranked, with the highest ranked member holding the position of Consul.  We are the Consuls of the Dracon Clan, as well as the reining Princes of Jasan. 

“However, we have a very small population of Jasani, Lariah.  We are also a very old race, with very set ways of doing things.  Each clan governs its own people under an umbrella of Jasani rules, but also with its own rules.  This is very necessary as the animals we transform into have much to do with our temperaments and instincts.  Rules and customs that will fit for a dracon will not fit for a bearenca or a katre. 

“We are all taught, as a race, the importance of self-control.  We have no crimes, no criminals among our own people.  As a people, we have not been at war since the Dark Time, though many of us have, individually, chosen to aid certain peoples in their own wars if we feel it is right.

“As royals, we have certain powers, but we do not abuse them.  Most of the time, we are like everyone else.  We have our ranch, home, people, and we live our lives.  Once a year, we go to Enclave, a gathering of the clans.”

“Are there many other dracons?” Lariah asked curiously.

“No,” Garen replied, and she thought he looked sad.  “There are, in truth, only a few of us.  We had two sets of older brothers,” he said.  “Our middle brothers, along with their human mate and infant sons, were killed in a transport accident 200 years ago.  Our eldest brothers were killed during the race war of Pilorat about 50 years later, as were our father’s elder brothers, the reigning Princes at that time.  They had not mated, so had no sons.  Therefore the title passed to our fathers, who were the second, and last, male-set of their mother.  However, when their elder brothers perished, our fathers and mother were already dealing with the deaths of six sons and three grandsons.  Their hearts were broken and they had no desire to reign as Princes of our people.  They declined the title and passed it to us.  We have reigned for 150 years.”

“Are your parents still alive?” Lariah asked.

Garen smiled.  “Yes, they are.  They travel a great deal now that they have few responsibilities.  In fact, they are the reason we were at the spaceport on the day of your arrival to Jasan.  They are now on their way to New Peloponnesia for a month or two.”

“So they live nearby then?”

Garen shook his head.  “No, they live on the other side of our world.  Each year after Enclave they come and spend a few weeks on the ranch with us.  This year, instead of going back home, they decided to take a vacation off-world.”

“I am happy for you that you still have your parents,” Lariah said softly.  “You have lost so much family in your life.”

“Yes, we have,” Garen agreed.  “The worst of it is that it is so difficult for us to replace the members of our race that are lost.”

Lariah wasn’t really sure what he meant by that, but the subject seemed to be making him sad so she decided to change it.

“Don’t you guys have to do anything to run your government?” Lariah asked.

“Not really,” Garen replied.  “There is a council that manages inter-stellar relations, sends out and receives ambassadors, concludes trade agreements and similar affairs.  Matters of greater significance, such as treaties and alliances with other systems are decided during Enclave.  But we keep our lives simple here.  We have much security on our planet, and we make generous use of technology enhanced with our magic to prevent much of our true lives from being observed.  For example, when we call our dracons, and fly through the sky, we know that no off-world satellite or sneak ship will be able to view us.”

“That is just so…” she searched for a word, and Garen expected something like strange, or backward or isolating…instead she said, “wonderful.  I love how you live.”  She sighed.  “So peaceful and simple.” 

“We are a people who know war, and its consequences,” Val said.  “We, personally, have been in battle.  It is our nature as dracons to be warriors, yet at the same time, we enjoy peace.  We crave family.”

Lariah felt her heart leap at that.  She, too, craved family.  Aside from her sister who was often away on business, she was alone and had been since the age of 16.  To have a family of her own, and children, was her deepest wish. 

Thinking of that made her wonder about something else.  She bit her lip, hesitating. But she really wanted to know.  “So, you guys are over 400 years old,” she began, “you’ve been to war, traveled a bit I suppose.” She paused uncertainly, but decided to just spit it out.  “Have you ever been mated or married before?”

“No
sharali
, we have never been mated.  You must understand, for Jasani males, it is only possible to take one mate.  Once done, it cannot be undone, or repeated with another female.”

Lariah’s eyes widened at that. 

“We could have taken a human woman,” Garen continued, “as all of our people must, and there were times over the long years when we considered it.”

“Why didn’t you?” Lariah asked.  She was fiercely glad that they had never married, but at the same time, she couldn’t understand why they had waited centuries for something they seemed to want so much. 

“When our people first landed on Jasan, a prophecy was spoken.  It was said that a male-set of the royal family from our generation would find their Arima.”

 “But you just told me you had two sets of elder brothers, and one of those sets was married,” she pointed out.

“That is true,” Garen agreed.  “It was generally believed that our eldest brothers were those named in the prophecy.  That is why they hadn’t mated before they died.  For that same reason, our middle brothers felt there was no reason for them to refrain from finding a mate, so they did.”

“Then they all died,” Lariah said.  “So everyone just decided that you three were the male-set in the prophecy?”

“Not exactly,” Garen replied with a wry smile.  “In truth, most of our people believed that when our eldest brothers died, so too died all hope of the prophecy being fulfilled.”

“But you believed it meant you three?”

Garen hesitated a moment, uncertain how to explain.  “I cannot tell you that I believed in the prophecy so much,” he said.  “But I did believe that you existed for us, or that you would exist for us.”

“Oh,” Lariah replied softly.  She wasn’t sure how to respond to that.  It was almost too much to believe that these three men had waited centuries for her.  The woman they didn’t seem to want.  But if that was true, why would he say such things?  Lariah gave her head a little shake.  She decided to think about it later.  Another thought occurred to her and she bit her lip again.  She really could not ask such a personal question, she decided, but she wanted to.

It was easy for Garen to see what she wanted to ask, and he had no desire to make it difficult for her.  They were all pleased with both her curiosity, and her reactions to what she learned about them.  They wanted her to learn as much about them as possible, as quickly as possible.