Dragon Kin 2

19

Carmen

Vlad left me at the treating room. Alicja was inside. Coloration around the wound turned to blues and pale yellows from the angry reds and purples she showed the day before. She was healing faster than I expected as well. I checked the packing just to be sure, and then took her her vitals.

"You look good," I said. "We may need to repack the wound tomorrow so that you don't heal over the packing. That would be annoying. Aside from that, any head aches? Dizziness? Anything?"

She shook her head.

"Then before you take off again, could you talk to me about the goddess aspect of the Change?"

"Yes, that's likely going to happen soon. Have you been able to call mana yet?" she asked.

"Just learned about it," I admitted. "Vlad sent me a mental message using it." I shivered slightly when I recalled that feeling.

"Eerie, eh?"

"I would rather not do it again. I like my mind. I like being the one in my mind. On the same thread of thought, I like my God as well. So what is with the goddess?"

"Well, near as I can tell, there are several powers at work here. But the primary power is the dragon."

I raised an eyebrow, hearing in her use of the word, that she wasn't talking about the men and women with wings here in the city. "Dragon? As in Tolkien and Smaug kind of dragon or something else?"

She shrugged, and got off the exam bed, "As I said, near as I can tell, they mean a real dragon. There is a full myth-history a few thousand years old about how the dragon came and made a deal with the men here, and they gained strength."

"What did the dragon get?" I asked.

"What dragons always get – exactly what they wanted. But according to the story the men were to guard the ways into the mountains and the dragon sleeps up there." She cocked her head to the side, "Sounds much better in the story halls. Have Vlad take you out for a dinner tale. They're very good."

"But what about the goddess ... thing?" I asked. "How does that fit?"

"Well, when the dragon wakes there is suppose to be three goddess aspects there to help get everything working again."

"Not virgin sacrifices," I offered.

"Right, not virgin sacrifices. I don't know why the aspects are required and the stories are vague. I do know that it makes sense in that – if you're asleep for a few thousand years, you're going to be stiff when you wake up. I think it is more of a guard situation. Keep enemies at bay why he gets his legs under him. I mean, why else would one of the aspects need to be the Mórrígan?"

"The Mórrígan? I don't follow," I admitted.

"Let's go to lunch, and we'll talk on the way," she said, and took my arm. "Victor gets testy if I'm late for meals." Then she grinned like a goblin with a secret. Just as fast she was mild of manner and expression.

"Now the Mórrígan," she began. "She's a goddess of war and strife and magic. It's not her name. We don't know her name. We're not sure where she came from or if she was with the Danu long or had only recently joined. It is always the Mórrígan. It is a title, an office. Most translated it to mean the Phantom Queen or Queen of Shadows."

She had me sit with her at the king's table.

"So, you see what I mean? Why require someone of that nature to be there? She's all about adapt and over-come but in a narrow field of focus."

I tried the fruit and found it flavorful, but it smelt nothing like it tasted. "She lives up to the name then?"

"Oh yes. She's quite the bad-ass and scary as hell."

"And you have to have her in you?"

"No, it's not like that. Well, my ascension was in battle. Since that time she will talk with me – in that way you don't like, in my head – but she doesn't control me or anything.

Steepling her fingers, she said, "What I'm understanding is that these are serious powers, and they are symbiotic to our universe. But interacting with our physical plane is difficult and easier if someone is willing to be a conduit."

"What if I refuse?" I asked.

She bit into what looked like a kumquat. Then said, "Victor? Anything?"

Victor turned to me from talking with Uncle Max, and said, "Just to be certain I understand the question – you're asking what happens if you refuse to host the goddess aspect? Yes?" he asked. When I nodded, he sat back with a thoughtful crease to his brow. "I can't recall any stories with that in it. Jeffery? Any tidbits you might have heard?"

A young keen eyed server to my left answered with, "No, but if it were to happen then the Three would not be able to form, so I'm guessing the dragon doesn't wake. Which would not result in much of a story, sire."

"No, it wouldn't," Victor agreed. "However, having the woman in question blasted with lightening or burst into flame or causing a plague would make a good story. People enjoy talking about gruesome deaths at the hands of angered gods. Since there doesn't seem to be any, you're probably safe."

"Unless they died quietly in bed, alone, strangled. " Alicja pointed out.

"Thank you, Mistress," I said, and then laughed into my sleeve.