p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A/N: Second chapter is here!/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"RR!/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The only known person Hamilton confined of the dragon egg was his friend and recently alleged half-brother Edward Stevens in a letter he sent to him in King's College. He included a description of the egg in his letter, and asked Stevens to do some research (if he could for his classes), to find out what kind of dragon it might be./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It is unknown where Hamilton kept the egg, but seeing as Calliope was known for her mastery of many languages right from the egg (including Greek, Latin, French and several native African languages), it is safe to say Hamilton hid her egg somewhere public where she learned all the languages spoken around her egg. Hamilton himself was known for his phenomenal French, even if most of his known works are written in English, and learned Greek and Latin in his attempt to get to Princeton College./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Edward Stevens' answer to his letter came two weeks after Hamilton had sent his, and it speculated that the egg was the result of two wild dragons cross breeding, because no known dragon species' egg matched the description Hamilton had given him, but he had included descriptions of several dragons that had eggs that shared similarities with the egg. There were the British middleweight Reapers, the French middleweight Pecheurs, and possibly the rumored water spitters from Asia. Also, Stevens added in the post script, there are also the sea serpents to think of, but as they knew barely anything of them, Stevens didn't feel comfortable including them in his speculations, but a sea serpent's egg might be more likely to survive in the rough sea./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"In the following letter Stevens lined out what was the normal procedure after an egg hatched, and during the winter of ´72-´73, it is likely Hamilton made Calliope's first harness by himself, as his funds were limited. He also modified the Carabineer clip, in anticipation of easier movement and safer conduit on his future dragon. This has been confirmed from historical sources as well as Hamilton's own sketches. During the Revolution, the Patriots were the first to adopt this idea, and therefore had less dragon related accidental deaths in their ranks./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It is also obvious Hamilton read up on military tactics, specifically aerial tactics, in the midst of his other studies, because while he got some military training in the New York volunteer militia, he never got much formal education in the art of war. Rather, he learned from books and experience. When he wasn't reading up on tactics or studying, he was reading up on dragons, so that he'd have a good understanding of his beast's needs. How Hamilton managed to do all this and bond with Calliope, as well as write his famous political pamphlets A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress and A Farmer Refuted is unknown. But this is only the first inhuman show of strength and brain power of the fourth President of the United States. Many have suggested that some other anonymous writings published at the time were actually written by Calliope herself, and that Edward Stevens was the one who penned them down./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The egg wobbled in the grass, and Alexander stopped breathing. Behind him, Ned was holding his own breath, quill and parchment ready to write down his observations. This was it. This moment would decide if Alexander would go down in history or not. If the dragon accepted him, he'd be able to fight in the revolution that was closing in on them, and bring with him a dragon, which was something the revolutionaries could not have many, while His Majesty's Aerial Corps had hundreds. He knew he'd side with the rebels in case of violence, but he knew himself well enough to know he preferred the quill to the musket./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The sound of cracking drew his attention to the egg again, and he watched as the crack in the shell spider webbed all over the surface, until with one final push from the inside, the shell nearly exploded. In front of him was a dragon with pink and green scales. With the bright colors Alexander knew immediately the dragon was not related to any of the British breeds, since they were more often than not covered all over in dull colors. The dragon's body was sleek and long and had no other outcrops beside the limbs and wings – two sets of wings. In fact, it almost looked like a snake simply given wings and limbs. The wings were bat-like, and almost looked like it had three stubby fingers at the wrist, and under Alexander's intense gaze it rotated its wings in circles, first forwards, then backwards, and he realized it was stretching as the wings opened in all their green-bleeding-to-pink glory. Its tail was long, as was its neck, and Alexander was fairly sure he could see gills in its neck. It seemed like Ned had been right about the sea serpent thing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Which of you is Alexander?" it asked with a surprisingly melodious voice. It sounded feminine as far as Alexander could tell. Its eyes were green and split down in the muddle by a slit pupil. The gaze slid between him and Ned./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I am Alexander Hamilton, that's Edward Stevens. Do you have a name for yourself, or do you mind if I give you one?" Alexander asked./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The dragon craned her neck closer to his face and took a few wobbly steps forward. Alexander got the feeling she was sniffing him. Finally she drew back. "Yes, I believe you may name me. I have listened to you talk for months now, and I should like to be somebody."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alexander smiled and ran the wet rag he had on hand over her head, washing off the membrane left over from the egg. "How about Calliope? It means beautiful voice, and was the Greek muse and goddess of poetry and eloquence."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Calliope," the dragon repeated, tasting the name. She nodded decisively. "Calliope Hamilton it is. Alexander, I am hungry now and that thing smells very pleasing. May I eat it?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He had not been sure if she would accept the fish instead of meat, but he was on a tight budget and fish was cheaper than beef or mutton. "Yes, of course, it's for you." What he hadn't been expecting was for her to adopt his name as her own, but the idea pleased him very much. Dragons lived at best two or three centuries and she would outlive him, and therefore she would be part of his legacy one day./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Will you read to me again?" Calliope asked between mouthfuls of fish. "I liked to learn of history and politics. Is there going to be a war? Do we like the British? Will we fight? I think I'd like to fight before we have eggs of our own. You haven't mentioned a mate before, but do you have one? I'd like one, one day, but I'm not interested just yet, I think. Maybe in a year or two. That is, if I find someone I like enough. Alexander, why aren't there more famous females? You've read me about those old European Queens, but where are all the authors and artists and politicians? I don't want to be forgotten because I'm female or remembered only for the eggs I have or for who's my mate."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Feeling slightly overwhelmed by the rapid fire questions and comments, Alexander paused in his cleaning to really think how to answer. "I don't think you could be forgotten. I don't think the world has seen a dragon like you before. I'll make sure you won't be forgotten, even if I have to write you biography myself. The question about women… I have no answer to that. Except, most men don't think women have a use beyond having children."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Do you think so?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alexander shook his head. "No. No I do not. My mother raised me and my brother by herself when my father left. She was so smart. Her shop was the best shop in Christiansted. She survived until the illness and even gathered a small fortune by herself. I have yet to meet a person as smart as her."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Alexander, am I a person? I know I'm not human, but am I a person?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I think you are, but not under the current law. I… I never thought of that, actually. Maybe I should look into the laws concerning dragons? Would you like to know them? Should I read the books here?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Oh, yes please, Alexander. I would really appreciate it."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alexander switched from washing her to petting her when all the membrane was gone from her scales. When Calliope was done eating the fish, though there was still about half of them left, she crowded onto his lap like a lap dog. Her long tail curled around Alexander's middle. He had a book on Plato with him, and opened where he'd left off the day before. He started to read aloud, though Calliope fell asleep before he was done reading the first page./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He closed the book and turned wide, excited eyes to Ned./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Congratulations, Captain," was Ned's impish remark./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Thank you, doctor," was Alexander's reply before he turned to look in wonder at the sleeping dragonet. "It really worked."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""And she has gills," Ned said as he leaned to take a closer look at Calliope's neck. "Just from observing her I'll know more about sea serpents than any other naturalist on the planet. And two sets of wings, Alex! Two! Does it make her a faster flier, or give her better stamina on long flights? Or maybe help her agility? What about her colors? Green and pink are not the most useful when blending to a surroundings. I've never heard of a dragon or a sea serpent with those colors. Do you suppose one of her parents might be from the Incan Empire?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""It would make sense," Alexander agreed. "The only indigenous species of dragon in the West Indies is that really small fruit eating one, and they were orange."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yeah, I remember that one," Ned rolled his eyes. "It's the one thing I miss the least from home."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alexander couldn't quite agree. He didn't miss the little dragons either, but he missed the blatant abuse of slaves even less. That wasn't to say there wasn't slavery on the continent, no. His grammar school even had slaves assigned to clean the student accommodations and wash the clothes of the students once every two weeks. But the blatant abuse he'd seen on St. Croix and Nevis was absent. Also, slave prices in New York were at least triple that of those in Christiansted./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"His eyes turned thoughtfully to Calliope. Was she a person? Dragons had little to no rights in the known world. They had no right to property that wasn't given to them by their Captains. They got no pay for their services in the British aerial corps. There was no life for dragons outside military service, except the breeding grounds. What if one wanted to start their own company? Or write poetry? Or take part in the politics? What if Calliope wanted to be a fisher instead of a weapon in an army's arsenal? No one, not even him, would be able to force a fully grown dragon to do anything they didn't want to do, not really. They could threaten not to feed the beasts, but then the beasts could easily fly away and raid some sheep farmer's flock./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A dragon's Captain could be used to force a dragon to surrender, but what about those who had no Captain or didn't care for them? Or did not want a Captain?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He looked back to Ned. "Can you bring me any books about dragons from King's' library?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"After meeting a dragon, he had much more questions than ever before. The brief book on the common European dragon breeds had not prepared him enough for this, but he would learn all he could about dragons. Calliope deserved that and more. Calliope deserved a Captain who knew what they were doing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"RR!/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The only known person Hamilton confined of the dragon egg was his friend and recently alleged half-brother Edward Stevens in a letter he sent to him in King's College. He included a description of the egg in his letter, and asked Stevens to do some research (if he could for his classes), to find out what kind of dragon it might be./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It is unknown where Hamilton kept the egg, but seeing as Calliope was known for her mastery of many languages right from the egg (including Greek, Latin, French and several native African languages), it is safe to say Hamilton hid her egg somewhere public where she learned all the languages spoken around her egg. Hamilton himself was known for his phenomenal French, even if most of his known works are written in English, and learned Greek and Latin in his attempt to get to Princeton College./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Edward Stevens' answer to his letter came two weeks after Hamilton had sent his, and it speculated that the egg was the result of two wild dragons cross breeding, because no known dragon species' egg matched the description Hamilton had given him, but he had included descriptions of several dragons that had eggs that shared similarities with the egg. There were the British middleweight Reapers, the French middleweight Pecheurs, and possibly the rumored water spitters from Asia. Also, Stevens added in the post script, there are also the sea serpents to think of, but as they knew barely anything of them, Stevens didn't feel comfortable including them in his speculations, but a sea serpent's egg might be more likely to survive in the rough sea./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"In the following letter Stevens lined out what was the normal procedure after an egg hatched, and during the winter of ´72-´73, it is likely Hamilton made Calliope's first harness by himself, as his funds were limited. He also modified the Carabineer clip, in anticipation of easier movement and safer conduit on his future dragon. This has been confirmed from historical sources as well as Hamilton's own sketches. During the Revolution, the Patriots were the first to adopt this idea, and therefore had less dragon related accidental deaths in their ranks./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"It is also obvious Hamilton read up on military tactics, specifically aerial tactics, in the midst of his other studies, because while he got some military training in the New York volunteer militia, he never got much formal education in the art of war. Rather, he learned from books and experience. When he wasn't reading up on tactics or studying, he was reading up on dragons, so that he'd have a good understanding of his beast's needs. How Hamilton managed to do all this and bond with Calliope, as well as write his famous political pamphlets A Full Vindication of the Measures of Congress and A Farmer Refuted is unknown. But this is only the first inhuman show of strength and brain power of the fourth President of the United States. Many have suggested that some other anonymous writings published at the time were actually written by Calliope herself, and that Edward Stevens was the one who penned them down./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'*'/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The egg wobbled in the grass, and Alexander stopped breathing. Behind him, Ned was holding his own breath, quill and parchment ready to write down his observations. This was it. This moment would decide if Alexander would go down in history or not. If the dragon accepted him, he'd be able to fight in the revolution that was closing in on them, and bring with him a dragon, which was something the revolutionaries could not have many, while His Majesty's Aerial Corps had hundreds. He knew he'd side with the rebels in case of violence, but he knew himself well enough to know he preferred the quill to the musket./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The sound of cracking drew his attention to the egg again, and he watched as the crack in the shell spider webbed all over the surface, until with one final push from the inside, the shell nearly exploded. In front of him was a dragon with pink and green scales. With the bright colors Alexander knew immediately the dragon was not related to any of the British breeds, since they were more often than not covered all over in dull colors. The dragon's body was sleek and long and had no other outcrops beside the limbs and wings – two sets of wings. In fact, it almost looked like a snake simply given wings and limbs. The wings were bat-like, and almost looked like it had three stubby fingers at the wrist, and under Alexander's intense gaze it rotated its wings in circles, first forwards, then backwards, and he realized it was stretching as the wings opened in all their green-bleeding-to-pink glory. Its tail was long, as was its neck, and Alexander was fairly sure he could see gills in its neck. It seemed like Ned had been right about the sea serpent thing./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Which of you is Alexander?" it asked with a surprisingly melodious voice. It sounded feminine as far as Alexander could tell. Its eyes were green and split down in the muddle by a slit pupil. The gaze slid between him and Ned./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I am Alexander Hamilton, that's Edward Stevens. Do you have a name for yourself, or do you mind if I give you one?" Alexander asked./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"The dragon craned her neck closer to his face and took a few wobbly steps forward. Alexander got the feeling she was sniffing him. Finally she drew back. "Yes, I believe you may name me. I have listened to you talk for months now, and I should like to be somebody."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alexander smiled and ran the wet rag he had on hand over her head, washing off the membrane left over from the egg. "How about Calliope? It means beautiful voice, and was the Greek muse and goddess of poetry and eloquence."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Calliope," the dragon repeated, tasting the name. She nodded decisively. "Calliope Hamilton it is. Alexander, I am hungry now and that thing smells very pleasing. May I eat it?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He had not been sure if she would accept the fish instead of meat, but he was on a tight budget and fish was cheaper than beef or mutton. "Yes, of course, it's for you." What he hadn't been expecting was for her to adopt his name as her own, but the idea pleased him very much. Dragons lived at best two or three centuries and she would outlive him, and therefore she would be part of his legacy one day./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Will you read to me again?" Calliope asked between mouthfuls of fish. "I liked to learn of history and politics. Is there going to be a war? Do we like the British? Will we fight? I think I'd like to fight before we have eggs of our own. You haven't mentioned a mate before, but do you have one? I'd like one, one day, but I'm not interested just yet, I think. Maybe in a year or two. That is, if I find someone I like enough. Alexander, why aren't there more famous females? You've read me about those old European Queens, but where are all the authors and artists and politicians? I don't want to be forgotten because I'm female or remembered only for the eggs I have or for who's my mate."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Feeling slightly overwhelmed by the rapid fire questions and comments, Alexander paused in his cleaning to really think how to answer. "I don't think you could be forgotten. I don't think the world has seen a dragon like you before. I'll make sure you won't be forgotten, even if I have to write you biography myself. The question about women… I have no answer to that. Except, most men don't think women have a use beyond having children."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Do you think so?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alexander shook his head. "No. No I do not. My mother raised me and my brother by herself when my father left. She was so smart. Her shop was the best shop in Christiansted. She survived until the illness and even gathered a small fortune by herself. I have yet to meet a person as smart as her."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Alexander, am I a person? I know I'm not human, but am I a person?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""I think you are, but not under the current law. I… I never thought of that, actually. Maybe I should look into the laws concerning dragons? Would you like to know them? Should I read the books here?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Oh, yes please, Alexander. I would really appreciate it."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alexander switched from washing her to petting her when all the membrane was gone from her scales. When Calliope was done eating the fish, though there was still about half of them left, she crowded onto his lap like a lap dog. Her long tail curled around Alexander's middle. He had a book on Plato with him, and opened where he'd left off the day before. He started to read aloud, though Calliope fell asleep before he was done reading the first page./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He closed the book and turned wide, excited eyes to Ned./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Congratulations, Captain," was Ned's impish remark./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Thank you, doctor," was Alexander's reply before he turned to look in wonder at the sleeping dragonet. "It really worked."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""And she has gills," Ned said as he leaned to take a closer look at Calliope's neck. "Just from observing her I'll know more about sea serpents than any other naturalist on the planet. And two sets of wings, Alex! Two! Does it make her a faster flier, or give her better stamina on long flights? Or maybe help her agility? What about her colors? Green and pink are not the most useful when blending to a surroundings. I've never heard of a dragon or a sea serpent with those colors. Do you suppose one of her parents might be from the Incan Empire?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""It would make sense," Alexander agreed. "The only indigenous species of dragon in the West Indies is that really small fruit eating one, and they were orange."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;""Yeah, I remember that one," Ned rolled his eyes. "It's the one thing I miss the least from home."/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"Alexander couldn't quite agree. He didn't miss the little dragons either, but he missed the blatant abuse of slaves even less. That wasn't to say there wasn't slavery on the continent, no. His grammar school even had slaves assigned to clean the student accommodations and wash the clothes of the students once every two weeks. But the blatant abuse he'd seen on St. Croix and Nevis was absent. Also, slave prices in New York were at least triple that of those in Christiansted./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"His eyes turned thoughtfully to Calliope. Was she a person? Dragons had little to no rights in the known world. They had no right to property that wasn't given to them by their Captains. They got no pay for their services in the British aerial corps. There was no life for dragons outside military service, except the breeding grounds. What if one wanted to start their own company? Or write poetry? Or take part in the politics? What if Calliope wanted to be a fisher instead of a weapon in an army's arsenal? No one, not even him, would be able to force a fully grown dragon to do anything they didn't want to do, not really. They could threaten not to feed the beasts, but then the beasts could easily fly away and raid some sheep farmer's flock./p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"A dragon's Captain could be used to force a dragon to surrender, but what about those who had no Captain or didn't care for them? Or did not want a Captain?/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"He looked back to Ned. "Can you bring me any books about dragons from King's' library?"/p
p style="border: 0px; outline: 0px; font-size: 15.12px; font-family: 'Lucida Grande', 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'GNU Unifont', Verdana, Helvetica, sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline; list-style: none; margin: 1.286em auto; padding: 0px; line-height: 1.5; color: #2a2a2a;"After meeting a dragon, he had much more questions than ever before. The brief book on the common European dragon breeds had not prepared him enough for this, but he would learn all he could about dragons. Calliope deserved that and more. Calliope deserved a Captain who knew what they were doing./p