Nettle

The restaurant Riley took us to was nice. Large airy room with tables of light oak was a nice change to cheap diners he usually preferred. He ate in uncharacteristic silence, but Kain was excited and soon I forgot all about absent-minded Riley by my side. Both starters and main course tasted divine and I was enjoying the meal and conversation with my friend.

"I don't want to go to a Talon college. Even if it's the best. We fought too hard and suffered too much losses to let them run our lives one day longer." Kain proclaimed. "I'd expect Ember to be limiting their influence as we speak, but let's not take any chances". Riley ignored us so I said. "Even if Talon is ours now, these board members are the same people they were, when the organization was planning to exterminate most of humanity, while abusing their own. I will not let an institution polluted by their values to form me." That got Riley to look at us, he opened his mouth as if he was going to argue against, but then he just closed them again and picked at his tiramisu instead.

"I don't like it, that all the places free of Talon are swarming with the Order though." I added. "Not anymore. " Kain said. "They've been decimated. Last time I heard, there were no more than fifty of them left." Yes, but whom did he hear it from. "I don't know Kain. They may be lying to us to buy time needed to replenish their ranks. You know how many people there is in the world..." My attention caught as Mist stormed into the restaurant carrying a black briefcase. She breezed past the hostess and went straight to our table. Flustered waiter rushed to lay a menu in front if her, which she ignored completely. We all looked up at her, but she just sat there staring into the distance until Riley laid his hand on her forearm and asked. "What's wrong Mist?"

"Nothing." She said. "I went back and asked for our school records to be made ready. Then I remembered and also asked about our files. These they apparently could access from there, so they've printed them out and given them to me right away." This did not explain her strange mood though. "Did you look into your files Mist?" Riley asked. "Yes, but it was nothing really. Don't fret, I didn't look into any of yours, it's all here." She pointed to the briefcase. I exchanged looks with Kain, it was very unlike Mist to show so much, when she apparently did not wish to talk about whatever bothered her. Kain cleared his throat theatrically. "We were just talking about going to England and checking out the schools there. Maybe sniffing after some dragon dens." He smiled maliciously. "This sounds great." Mist said. "I would love to get as far away from Talon as possible." She looked at Riley saying that and then proceeded to pick some food.

Later the same day we were sitting in a hotel room I shared with Mist, when Kain knocked and slipped inside. "Riley is booking our tickets to England. I have decided to let him do that." He put a hand on his heart making ridiculous impression of deep concern and added. "Shall we look at it?"

Riley would not come with us. He was called upon to participate in some renegotiation of the treaty, that the Order of St George apparently have requested. Order's demands were directed at Talon, but Riley wanted to be there as an observer on behalf of the free dragons.

Kain sat in the armchair and Mist handed him and me manila folders. I retreated to my bed and pulled out the files.

Hatchling No 1809

Mother...

Sire...

Human names: Naomi Jones

Hatched April 24th...

Nothing surprising, progress of my training in hatchling facility, shifted first... It was all so mundane that I almost missed it. Annotation made during my training when I was 5 years old "Prone to magic, lineage check requested." This was apparently granted and I was decided to be a breeder, already back then... I quickly leafed through the rest of my... life and found nothing interesting until my final test in human training. It was a provocation... My training inside of the facility was less strict than those of the other hatchlings, and then my 'guardian' was instructed to use any means necessary to make me break the rules... I didn't realise I was crying until a drop fell upon the page I was staring at. Mist exclaimed and jumped to come sit by me.

She put her arm around my shoulders. "What is it Nettle?" She asked softly. Kain joined us putting his arms around both of us. "What pains you beloved sister? Let me share your burden." He meant well but it only made me weap more. Talon has decided that I was supposed to be a breeder long before my human training really began. Because of possession of large amounts of ancient magic, that was best indicator of fertility. I haven't done anything wrong. I've never had a chance. Still shaking I handed Mist the damp page along with the annotation, that I have marked earlier.

"Bastards!" Mist said. Swearing wasn't really her, she was always poised and calm. Either whatever shook her earlier, still held its spell over her, or spending time with Riley was a lady's ruin. She passed the pages to Kain, embraced me again and patted my back. "Nettle, they are bastards, we knew it. They got what was coming to them. They'll never get you." Kain put the papers down and squeezed my hand. Some part of him probably enjoyed the tragic tableau we presented with ourselves at the moment. But his presence was comforting. I was shaking inside, overwhelmed by sorrow, because I have believed in my failure all this time. Shame I have felt ever since I snapped at my guardian turned into anger so great it threatened to rip me to pieces from the inside. All I knew about myself was distorted by these experiences, that were lies.

Then Riley knocked on the door and stopped short, when he beheld us on my bed.

"Damn it, what happened?" He said. Kain rose gracefully from where he perched on the edge of my bed. He handed Riley two pages of paper, and stood wringing his hands when Riley quickly scanned the documents.

"Damn bastards!" Riley muttered and approached the bed where Mist was still holding me. He looked helplessly at my tears and run his hand up through his hair and then down his face. "How about we go to the movies? You kids want to live like humans, that's what humans do all the time." He smiled and I considered. "Movie sounds like a great idea." I said. "Though a play would have been even better." Kain countered playfully and Riley rolled his eyes. "I've booked your flight to England tomorrow evening. I need to head to Talon's headquarters first thing in the morning. I hope you guys can manage shopping and packing by yourselves."

The movie was entertaining space fantasy with impressive CGI and enthralling chase scenes. We grabbed some fast-food afterwards and came back to the hotel in much better mood. Riley laid out a plan for our journey and we let him do that. He left Mist in charge, which we have agreed upon. Then he's given us our real IDs, passports, credit cards and bid us goodnight.

Back in our room we got into our beds and turned off the main light to read by small lamps.

Mist put her book away after a short while, switched off her light and laid down staring at the ceiling.

"What happened when you were alone with the Archivist?" I asked. After what I have found out from my file, I had a strong suspicion, that she has made similarly shocking discovery in hers.

Mist did not show that she has heard my question, she stared at the ceiling, her face this impenetrable mask of a basilisk. I was about to switch off my own light and lay down to sleep, when I heard her speaking in very low voice.

"The Archivist is my father. I am the Archivist's vessel." I sat up and gaped at her, unsure that I have heard properly. "What do you mean his vessel?" I asked carefully. Mist looked at me and I could see tears in her eyes. "I am a genetic copy of the Archivist. When Elder Wyrm announced that she have decided to get an heir he requested also getting one. After initial failures they've managed to grow me from his DNA." Mist talked softly but every word was laced with pain.

I moved to sit on the edge of her bed and took one of her hands in mine. Mist sat up and l leaned against me. I put my arms around her as she cried quietly. I stroked her arm and thought about something comforting to say, but my thoughts strayed in another direction.

"But you are a female and he is a male." I stammered not knowing where I was going. Everybody knew Elder Wyrm's plans for Ember, but Ember was a perfect copy, this did not make much sense. Mist sniffed.

"Not like that. I am made of his DNA, but not so that he can take over my body and live longer. He just wanted an heir, some way to be remembered when he's gone." That didn't sound that bad. At least she had a parent. Both me and Kain were offspring of some adult dragonells, who got 'terminated' shortly after. Kain's father died in the Order's attack at his home in Colombia not long ago, and mine disappeared on a secret mission many years ago and was assumed dead.

It actually made sense, Mist was the Archivist's protégé and he's aided her a lot both in her career in Talon and afterwards. But the hurt she showed stopped me from voicing any of this. Instead I asked. "Why did he do it like this? He could have just mated with one of the breeders." My stomach turned at the thought about this, about how I myself have been sired and how narrowly I've avoided the same fate.

"He didn't want that. Didn't you listen when he told us about magic and breeding? Instead of raping someone in order to produce an inferior offspring he copied himself and hoped that I somehow will do better than him. He... He took me away shortly after I managed to shift and trained me himself down in the Archive. We took field trips to city above, went for walks, to movies, sometimes other cities, zoos or amusement parks. I started my basilisk training, when I was ten. Chef basilisk owed him some favors." She sniffed but seemed calmed. "Please, don't tell the others." She said. "I won't, it's okay." I said.

The next morning Riley rose us before he left so we could have breakfast together. Over breakfast he was spewing warnings, admonishing us to be careful and let him know if anything happened. At last I could not listen to this any longer. "You didn't fuss this much, when we were going to war Riley. Chill we are going on a vacation." I said impatiently. He sighed. "It was a mistake to let you participate in that war. A mistake I cannot forgive myself for." He said seriously. "Please stay safe in England, apart from Talon and the Order of St George there are psychos, murderers, human trafficking and normal traffic to name a few dangers. I hate that I am letting you go on your own. If only you could wait..."

"We will be fine Riley." Mist said. "I will watch out for any danger and contact you, should anything unusual happen. Do you want us to seek out Wes?" Riley looked surprised. "What for? No, he lives his life they way he always wanted it. Free of dragons." Something like sadness showed in his eyes. "I gotta get going. You kids take care. See you in a month." He said and stood up shouldering a duffel bag. He brushed Mist's arm with his fingers, looked at each of us and turned around walking through the breakfast area towards the reception.

"God, I thought he'd never leave." Kain whined and we snickered.

The weather was gray and sad when we left the hotel shortly after. We took a cab to the waterfront and spent some time sitting on the beach planning our journey. Few people there paid us little attention. When we were sure, we went to hunt for food. We stopped any place that seemed interesting and served large amounts of food for reasonable price. Steak houses, pizzerias, fast food restaurants. We made a circle and when the sun started to set we returned to the lake. We wore jeans, t-shirts and sneakers, which we deemed to be practical and inconspicuous clothes for people our age. Mist added a trench coat to the setting I wore my beloved bomber jacket I got when I first left Talon and low key had a crush on Riley. Kain chose tweed blazer that somehow made him look English without even him trying.

We walked alongside the water until it was completely dark, or at least sun's light was gone. Then we made sure nobody was there and "disappeared from mind" shifting and taking off in the same heartbeat.

I climbed up beside Mist and Kain savoring exhilarating feeling of wind under my wings, looking at the black water passing by below, specked with lights from boats. Finally we were free of clouds sailing under the starry sky. After some chasing and barreling Mist circled once and turned toward east and we followed her. England the dragons are coming!