“Daddy?” the little golden dragon chirped, “Why do the humans hate Mommy so much?”
Matthias stood silent for a long time. Ari in her humanoid form slept just a short distance from them. Matthias had been wondering that very same thing his whole life. Why did the Empire always preach about how evil dragons were? How oppressive? How they stole from everyone? When they were the very ones committing such crimes?
Matthias shrugged. “She doesn’t look it now, but they’re afraid of the beast she becomes. A fifty-foot fire-breathing lizard. If she wanted to, she couldn’t turn all of them into barbeque chicken. Can you blame them?”
Solaris wasn’t satisfied with that answer. “Do humans hate volcanoes? Oceans? Meteor showers?”
“What?”
“They can swallow you up, crush you, but they’re quite beautiful. I don’t imagine humans hate them.”
She wasn’t going to make this easy, huh? Even as young as she was, Solaris understood the Empire’s deep hatred for dragons. Their whole way of life embodied blaming dragons for everything… even if one hadn’t been seen in decades.
Matthias walked over to his wife. She was in her humanoid disguise, so he was able to run his fingers through her long, dark hair. She was fast asleep, and would be for at least another couple months-until winter passed. Her lips curled into a beautiful smile as he stroked her cheek.
A small twinge of rage flashed in his heart.
“Your mother,” he said, “inspires people. She’s turned hundreds of men into the bravest heroes I’ve ever met. She has an infinite amount of love for others. I once saw her give her own cloak to a freezing vagrant… she has this presence about her. Just by talking to her, you want to be a better person. Not like her… but a better you.”
Matthias continued, “There are plenty of mortals who don’t see it that way though. To them, she’s a reminder of how they’re not everything they could be. They’re not good enough.
Mortals have literally looked up to dragons, and some don’t want anything in life higher than themselves.”
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