BURT POV
The long glance the ruling dragon gave my son made my blood turn solid. It was not that I minded a dragon looking upon my son as, with great reasoning, the prejudice against Dragons in Hummel Kingdom was slowly dieing. The reason it disturbed me was he looked at Kurt with sadness as if he was about to break bad news to him. It felt as if changes were about to happen that would not be reversed and decisions which would shape the future.
The Glance happened as we were on our way to my private office to discuss the current status of the Dragons. Such a thing would never have happened before, the Dragons do not officially have a Kingdom, they are traveller, nomads, and they do not have a official monarchy, they elect their leaders every seven years. For these reasons (and the fact that they sometimes eat our livestock- having not much concept of ownership) meant we generally ignored them in the past however, recently we and the other Kingdoms of Gleeland generally just ignored the dragons… and sometimes hunted them down for sport. This continued until almost 6 years ago when Wes was elected as the new ruling dragon and insisted the dragons start to be treated as an equal kingdom, 4 years later his wishes were finally accepted and here we are now.
"What brings you here Wes?" I ask after an minutes uncomfortable minutes silence of Wes looking… guilty?
Wes started he answer by sighing and continued "As you know my reign as ruling dragon is coming to an end…"
"Unless you get re-elected?"
"I won't" He replied sharply then continued "I have achieved so much during my reign and the dragons seemed to be happy, getting better relations with humans and… then the new campaigns started and the frontrunner for ruling dragon is one Sebastian Smyth. He is… not a fan of humans and has managed to convince most of the dragons my actions are treason, that humans should be punished for their torment of us and not forgiven… not ever" The dragons pupils had grown larger which I came to know in the future was their version of crying "I do not know what happened to my people. I thought we could become something special but, they have all filled with anger and become… monster like…" The news was disturbing, humans outnumbered dragons twenty-to-one in any given kingdom but, they were powerful and could cause lots of damage. I feared for my kingdom if this anger would be turned on us. Is this why he looked at Kurt with sad eyes?
"What does this have to do with my kingdom?" I asked, I realised I may have been impatient but, it seemed there was little time to be patient.
After another long pause Wes began "We need to build better relations, something more permanent then occasional meetings… our kingdoms need to be joined… through… marriage."
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….
…..
"Marriage." I repeated, of Kurt, no it was too soon, he had only just turned 16 and "He's gay!" I blurted out hoping this would solve me having to make such as morally taxing decision, it didn't.
"I am aware of that. I already have the perfect husband lined up for him. One of my loyalist subjects, and dearest friends and since he is gay he will not have to meet up with our Sister Tribe during mating season. He can stay here and advice you on Dragon relations… and what to do if you are attacked…"
"This is a lot of information to take in."
"I know." Wes admitted in a manner as if he had been defeated. I sensed a sadness in him which I had not seen before.
"What will happen to you if this Sebastian is elected?"
He sighed "It is not important, what is important is the protection of your kingdom, you are a shining example to the other kingdoms, I need you to show how dragons and humans can exist together, this marriage will be the first step. Please, say yes." The decision seemed clear, this kingdom couldn't face the anger of dragons but, with a dragon on the inside and our kingdoms joined, we stood a chance.
"I need to talk to Kurt about this, he has other potential suitors, but, I trust you, about this being needed and I promise I will try to make it happen." Wes smiled with glee and relief.
"Thank you."