‘I am delighted being finally able to welcome you. Welcome to the Dragon Mountain, the ancestral turf of our clan. You are amongst the few human visitors ever invited to our home. I can’t wait to get to know you, Mr and Mrs Marrow.’ Miriam Long-Drake, the queen of dragons stated and smiled as she welcomed Rhiannon’s parents.

But even though she presented herself all cordial and friendly she still sat on her huge stone throne. Her presence enough to fill it even though it was built for dragon’s and she greeted her visitors in her human form.

‘Thank you for your kind invitation and for caring for our daughter, I presume. We are also delighted to get to know those, who brought such major changes to our daughter’s life.’ Rhiannon’s father answered completely unperturbed by the dragon queen’s presence. He, Christian Marrow, who had stood toe to toe with warlords to negotiate a proper medical care for their underlings, was not afraid by the queen of dragons. And he would surely not trust her with his only daughter, even if she was now a dragon herself, if that dragon-queen didn’t proof herself worthy. Being a proud and caring man, that was the least he could do, even if he had failed to protect his daughter before.

Miriam, who could only guess his thoughts, since she refrained from using any magic on ‘her daughter’s’ parents, was pleased by the defiance in his tone, although she would do hell showing it. Fighting spirit like that would come handy in the future. He was a fighter, straight forward.

Rhiannon’s mother seemed to be a sly diplomat on the other hand as she squeezed her husband’s hand and said ‘Forgive my husband, your majesty, he always behaves like a tiger protecting its cub as soon as Rhia is involved. We are delighted to get to know and looking forward to really getting to know you.’

Miriam smiled and nodded. Yes, now she knew her counterparts were worth the effort to befriend them. Coming to this conclusion she rose from her throne and went down the stairs to welcome them as friends. The gesture was promptly noticed and all dragons presents loosened up immediately. The atmosphere changed from a formal greeting to an informal meeting and allowed therefor talking and joking amongst themselves.

‘Another important topic for our meeting today is to officially ask for your daughter’s hand in marriage. Morgan, go on.’

Morgan nodded and stood before Mr and Mrs Marrow. ‘We have talked in beforehand about our connection, Christian, Elisa, now I ask you again, officially. Will you give me your daughter’s hand in marriage?’

‘Of course, my dear. We would make Rhiannon extremely unhappy if we didn’t.’ Elisa answered smilingly.

‘I agree, but if you break my daughter’s heart, I will come for you, prince or not, dragon or not.’ Christian grumbled in a tone that made Morgan gulp. This father-in-law, would be quite a handful to deal with. Then the crown-prince returned to his fiancé.

Rhiannon and Morgan shared a grin and joined Miriam, who led Rhiannon’s parents towards the high table. A feast had been prepared and everyone including the court felt relieved that Miriam had decided to celebrate instead of using it to show of the dragon clan’s power.

Once all had sat down Miriam once again stood up and hit her wine glass with a little spoon. Silence fell again.

‘Thank you. We have come together to celebrate the arrival of Rhiannon’s parents. All of you know, that my son, Morgan, your crown-prince and Rhiannon are quite fond of each other. Now -to my great pleasure- I am happy to announce their official engagement. That means she and her family are to be treated as the royalty they are. Now, let’s celebrate. Enjoy!’ the queen declared and sat down again.

A murmur ran through the hall, but none of the dragons dared to raise their voice. A hushed sigh escaped Miriam’s lips when the tension left her body. Ever since Mero’s treason, of which no one could estimate the full extent, an unrest had taken root in her clan. ‘They still have not forgiven, that Kim ran from his problems. Thinking of us royals as weak is awfully common, nowadays. Introducing Rhiannon and Ethan has mended some of the fissures, but we are still walking on thin ice. People, especially dragon-kin like holding onto grudges. We always have to justify, why we are the chosen few. Flaws are what I would call dangerous.’ She had told her son and future-daughter-in-law in the morning, for they were the ones, who had to uphold the image most.

The two of them had simply nodded. Merlin had taught them well. Ethan, who was thankfully out of the focus for the moment, still struggled to adapt to his new role as first knight of the younger generation, not in fight but in spotlight. His lineage forced him into that role. He was a kind and intelligent young dragon, who enjoyed being a dragon and worked well with Rhia and Morgan, popular among his peers, but he was no innate leader much less a fighter.

Only now that her son was gone, she could see his genius in tasks like that. Never loud, never unruly, but still commanding, the perfect sidekick for his older brother, the perfect first knight.

Now she oftentimes wished he had showed more of his flaws to his subordinates, for they now saw him as a misunderstood hero or something. Directing their ire at Morgan and Rhiannon, especially Morgan’s ex-fiancé had more than a little steel in her voice, when she talked about the royal wedding. Miriam knew all that.

She had her spies among her own people and hated herself for being unable to lead in a fashion that would render such measures superfluous. Sometimes she even wished for the order to succeed, because that would solve a whole bunch of problems for all clans. But then she would look at her people, the humans in the streets and she knew just how many problems would be solved in a way she could not subscribe to.

Those dark thoughts in head the queen of dragons forced a smile on her lips and continued to dance at the strings her role as a queen offered. Like a marionette of her time. Sometimes she asked herself if she should abdicate, but that would only force Morgan and Rhiannon to shoulder the responsibilities prematurely. So, she carried on, following the motto of ‘the show must go on.’

Completely unperturbed by Miriam’s dark thoughts Morgan and Rhia celebrated their engagement, officially. Having her parents agree to their connection had been a huge relief for both of them, because even if one was the black-prince of dragons, one had always to fear one’s in-law’s ire. Soon they feasted together with all dragons present. Celebrating life and their momentary happiness.

After a while Miriam and Christian were enthusiastically chatting about different economical and governmental structures of the countries they had travelled. Rhiannon listened quite attentively because Miriam’s view, was quite relaxed and regarded longer periods of planning, while her father’s opinion carried the urgence and emotionality of his comparingly shorter lifespan.

It dawned on her that she as a recently changed young dragon was sitting on the fence. Being taught by Merlin didn’t do her any good in this regard, either. This way of thinking collided with the human ideals her parents had taught her in her childhood. Not in the most direct manner possible, but she had to admit the clans’ view of the world they were living in was much more warlike than her parents more idealistic view, that allowed them to work at doctors beyond borders without giving in. That did of course not mean, that they were naïve, but they believed in the good in everyone. Love and mercy were their grand Maxime. Nihil nocere their credo. She couldn’t imagine her father, who had gone unarmed into the enemy’s camp to treat their wounded to fire a bullet to safe his own life. He was no angel, he could and would deal enough damage if he had to, but he would never be able to do ‘necessary evil’. He dreamt of a world that lived as one. Her Mother was the same. The reality of war hadn’t been enough to make them lose their dream.

A dream Merlin and Miriam had long learned to purge from their minds. They had fought with their backs to the wall, never knowing if they would see another sunrise. Sometimes mercy was nothing but a weakness to them, they treated everything outside their clan and their family as a game of chess or a war. Strategically. Unemotional. Result-oriented. Being a dragon helped a great deal in this regard.

Rhiannon on the other hand knew the reasoning of both sides and understood both their arguments.

One had to find a way to walk over broken glass in this world, physically and psychically, one couldn’t avoid to be cut, but one chose for oneself how to treat the wound, either let it fester, put a horse hair in it, to never forget or try to bandage it properly and go on with life. Scars would be obtained either way but one had to choose how restrictive they would turn out.

Both sides had their arguments and both sides were true to a certain point, but she couldn’t subscribe to either side wholeheartedly. For the first time it occurred to her, that she would have to pave her own way, if she did not want to keep on being a little lamb, dumbly following orders. It was not like Miriam or Merlin had forced her into submitting or something. They had simply led by example to the point it hadn’t occurred to her once to question them. She couldn’t blame them, though, they hadn’t manipulated her. The stress of the last year had influenced her attitude more than a little, leading her to think more like a dragon than a human in more than one point… her parents being here changed that, though. Now she could find her own way, now that a period of temporarily peace seemed to last. She smiled contently.

That moment the huge doors of the dining hall flew open. A lesser dragon, Erica, ran into the hall. Panting she came to a halt directly before the high table ‘We are under attack! They are coming through a tunnel.’ She cried falling to her knees. Miriam shot up from her seat and ordered Morgan and Merlin to join her. Claire Finley, Ethan and Rhiannon followed directly after them.

‘Who, Erica, who? Where exactly, my dear?’ kneeling beside the girl she asked the exhausted messenger in a friendly soothing tone, that betrayed nothing of her obvious tension.

‘Down near the hall of bells, they seem to attack there. The guards are doing their best to fend them of but there are too many. At very least 200 of them. It’s the blood-suckers. Their minions those crazy, rotting ghoul.’ Erica panted. Miriam whispered ‘Thank you’, patted her shoulder and raised her voice in a loud bellow. ‘Heed my call and fight for me. I, the queen of dragons, order you to defend our ancestral ground and people with all you have got. Help your clansmen in need.’

All dragons present including Rhiannon felt a surge of power. Their queen had used her power of leadership and loyalty to create a total command. No one with dragon-blood could defy it.

And so, the dragon clan headed to war. To fight the first battle of what would once be known as the prelim of the third interplanar war of supremacy.