Amy put the book down and looked out the window in a reflective mood. It was a beautiful evening, the sun sinking over the city and throwing long shadows across her view from the left, the light a deep orange. In the sky, the nearly purple clouds let the first and brightest stars past them, visible to her enhanced vision to a level she still found incredible, even though it was her own work.
She still wanted to go north and see the aurora the way Taylor described it. So far, they hadn't managed to make time for a trip just for fun, but with the way things were going, it should be possible soon.
Closing the book she was holding, she ran a thumb over the cover, then turned it over to read the blurb on the back. It had been an interesting read and the author was one she wished she'd found earlier. Somehow despite her love of SF and fantasy books, she'd managed to miss out on these ones, even though she was aware of them. Taylor lending her the entire set had kept her entertained for nearly a week's worth of reading.
Eventually she spoke in her head. ^Taylor? You there?^
^For you, always,^ her best friend said with good humor and a slight laugh. ^Just finished a meal with Dad. What's up?^
^I finished the books.^
^Ah. What did you think of them?^
^Really good.^
^I thought so too. They were some of Mom's favorites as well, she got me started on them. I've always regretted she didn't get to read the later ones.^
^Your idea… I like it. It's a nice thing to do, and it's another way to get some of our ideas out there.^
The reply was happy. ^You don't think it's too much?^
^Of course it's too much, but that's the Family, right? They do weird shit on a regular basis.^
Both of them giggled. ^We'll need the others. If we're going to do it, we might as well overdo it.^
^PHO is going to go absolutely ape-shit when they find out.^
^Yep. I can't wait.^ Taylor voice was sly.
Amy grinned. ^Me either. When do you want to do it?^
^Soon. Let's get together and work out the plan. Kevin and Randall can probably think of some neat ideas too.^
^OK. Let's call everyone and we can work it out. I'll see you at the office.^
^All right. I'll tell Dad I'm going out. He's going to visit some friends anyway, since things are less busy right now. He says he needs to lose at poker some more.^
^How the hell is someone with that poker face so bad at actual poker?^ Amy asked, mystified.
^Got me. It might be a Parahuman ability or something. See you in a while.^
Her friend's voice went away and Amy stood up. After a moment's thought, she headed upstairs and tapped on her sister's door, then opened it. Leaning on the door frame she waited for Vicky, who was chatting with Dean on her phone while doing her nails with yet another color of polish, to notice her. "Hey, Ames. Problem?" the blonde Dallon asked when she did, putting her hand over the microphone.
"Got a minute?"
"Yeah, hold on." Vicky uncovered the mic again and finished up her call, then tapped the call end icon. "I was nearly done anyway. What's up?"
Amy went into the room proper and closed the door with the end of her tail, then listened for a moment to make sure their parents were otherwise occupied and out of earshot. "Want to help in a little Family project?"
Vicky looked hard at her, then slowly smiled. "Sure. Is it good?"
"Should be. Come on, I'll explain on the way."
Shortly both sisters were driving to the BBFO building, Amy talking the other girl through Taylor's idea. By the time they arrived, Vicky was firmly on board.
It only took a day to finish the preparations, since a lot of the work had been done already. Very late on the next night, they gathered together, sorted out the last few things, and went to work.
She looked out the window at the garden, musing on how it was a beautiful dawn, a streak of unusually good weather for this part of Ireland having kept the sunshine coming for more than a week so far with no signs of it stopping. Deciding to drink her tea outside, she picked up her cup and somewhat slowly headed to the back door. Shortly she was sitting in a chair in the garden watching the sun rise, just enjoying the experience.
At her age she might not have that many dawns left, she thought with mild regret, yet knowledge that it came to everyone sooner or later. On the whole, she'd had a far better life than most, and had nothing to complain about.
A little mrrp next to her made her look down at one of the cats, who was staring at her with large green eyes. "Hello, Echo," she said, "How are you today?"
The feline blinked slowly at her, then settled down next to her leg, pressing against it, and watched with her as the sun cleared the horizon. "You know, when I look at something like that," she said to the cat, "I realize how amazing life really is."
He made a small sound, causing her to smile. "Even in this strange world of ours, the little things are still the same. Parahumans, monsters from the sea, strange powers… and in the end the sun still rises every day, and the cats want to be fed." She glanced down at the animal, who was watching her now, his head on one side and his whiskers curled forward. "Ah, that part you agree with."
Echo chirruped, butting her leg with his head. Being the size he was, it was a fairly substantial pressure. She reached down with the hand not holding the cup and tickled his neck, getting a deep purr in response. "I have to say I didn't expect the way things turned out when I was a girl. So many lives lost, and we still have no idea what the purpose behind it all is. If there even is one."
Shaking her head slightly, she kept stroking him, while watching the view. "I think I managed to help a little though. I hope I did, at least."
A twinge of pain in her shoulder made her wince. "Old bones," she sighed, moving it uncomfortably. "I wonder what would have happened had the Parahumans never come? What our lives would have been like in that world."
She'd considered the idea many times, and even begin planning a book about it, but it was another project she was unlikely to finish.
The cat pushed against her hand, which had fallen still, to remind her to keep going. With a smile she did. "Not that you care, as long as you get to push us all around, eh, my friend?" she remarked softly.
"Ah well. Life goes on, even if lives end. I can't complain."
She heard a faint sound from behind her, but it didn't seem important, so she dismissed it. "Hopefully I'll manage to finish a book or two before my time comes."
"If you had the opportunity to have more time, what would you do with it?"
There was a long pause. "Use it well, I would hope. Why?" She didn't look around.
"You brought a lot of pleasure to a lot of people over the years," the voice said. "We respect that. Some, when they reach their twilight years, have had enough and just want to rest. We also respect that. But others..."
The voice, which was incredibly deep, and female, chuckled. Echo, who had stopped purring and apparently frozen, made an inquisitive sound under her hand, but didn't seem tense.
"Others?" she prompted when a few seconds had gone past, feeling a sensation in her that she couldn't place.
"Others have a zest for life that is wonderful. That, we respect most of all."
The voice sounded full of sly humor and good cheer, with an accent that sounded somewhat familiar at the same time as being quite strange. She couldn't quite place it, but then her memory wasn't as good as it had once been.
"Life is precious," she noted. "But sadly limited."
"True," whoever was behind her said thoughtfully. "However, limits exist to be exceeded. Without that, what is there to strive for?"
She considered the comment. "I can't disagree," she finally nodded.
"Even we have limits, but we push them constantly. That said, our limits are not yours. So we like to help people out here and there."
A very large reptilian head on a long scaled neck slowly moved into view to her right. Glowing yellow-orange eyes met her wide ones. "And as a relative of mine said, humans are people too."
The elderly woman forced her breathing to stay calm, even as she turned to look at the incredible creature.
"My god, you're beautiful," she eventually said in wonder.
"Thank you," the dragon smiled. "I very much enjoyed your latest book. I hope to read many more."
While she was staring, a peculiarly detached sort of joy in her mind, a flicker of motion beside the enormous reptile looking at her attracted her attention. She felt her amazement increase as five smaller versions of the huge dragon appeared from nowhere, two of them flying around and talking to each other in some bizarre language full of hisses, one landing on the much larger one's snout and peering at her, and the other two perching on the back of her chair, one either side. They were about half a meter long and slender, their eyes glowing green.
And they were all different colors. The big one was jet black, the only color in it the eyes, while the little ones were far more colorful. The one on her right was bright gold and seemed to be grinning at her, the other one was silver, while the one sitting on the larger dragon was a brilliant blue. The flying ones were a mix of red and orange, almost identical.
Wonderingly, she reached out a tentative hand and touched the tiny gold dragon, which let her stroke its head and seemed pleased, its wings half unfurling for a moment. "Am I dreaming?" she said out loud.
"I don't think so," the large one said.
"She might be," a much higher pitched voice said from the silver micro-dragon at her left shoulder, causing her to look incredulously at it. "Maybe we're all imaginary?"
"Do you feel imaginary?" the blue one asked curiously.
"No, but then, would I know if I was?" the silver replied. It tilted its head to the side as she watched. "What does being imaginary feel like?"
"I have no idea, I merely posited a hypothesis. Perhaps we are merely dreams, perhaps she is a dream of ours."
"It's too early in the morning for philosophy," the silver sighed. "I can't handle it until I've had some coffee."
"We'll get some on the way home," the black dragon chuckled. "Hey! Both of you, stop teasing that poor cat!"
She looked to see the two flying miniature dragons had landed and were apparently playing tag with Echo, who looked about as confused as a cat could. Which turned out to be very. Both of them stopped immediately, stood on their hind legs, and saluted smartly. "Yes, Ma'am," the one on the right snapped. The other one pushed it over, then looked innocently at the sky as his companion glared at him.
"Stop doing that!" he complained.
The first one snickered, then took off as the second fired a jet of flame at him with a sound like a blowtorch and a small cloud of smoke. They were almost immediately chasing each other around in a dogfight, complete with air to air flamethrowers.
The large one sighed. "Sorry about that, they get overexcited."
Looking up with bright eyes, she smiled. "I don't mind," she replied softly.
"We brought you something," the silver said, making her redirect her attention to it. The tiny creature was holding out a small taloned hand, on which was a little chip of what looked like bone.
"What is it?" she asked.
"Time," the black dragon said in a calm voice that rolled over her in a way that was oddly comforting. "Do you want it, Anne?"
She turned her head to the huge creature and studied it for nearly five minutes.
Then she held out her hand.