Piece by piece the Goddess was giving me my family back, here in a place where we’d all be safe. With tears streaming down my face, I clung to him, excited to get to know him. My girls had a grandfather, which meant another protector and teacher to grow up with. I felt when my mate slid into the nest to tend to our eggs so I could have this moment with my dad and Upalo, who had joined in on the hug.
It took time and a flood of salty tears that left my father’s shirt damp, before we were able to compose ourselves so I could show him our eggs.
“Meet your granddaughters,” I said as I wiped away the last of my tears. “Ruby and Opal.”
The sweetest giggles came from the eggs when I said their names, and dad smiled and hesitantly reached out, pausing midway to the eggs, waiting for my permission. I nodded, tearing up again the moment he stroked their shells.
“Hello, little ones,” he said, his voice the same low, soothing rumble I remembered.
Now I understand why they’d stressed the importance of talking to babies while they were still in the womb, or in the case of dragons, still in the egg. My father’s voice was embedded in my memory.
“They love to be read to,” I said.
“So did you,” he replied. “Your egg was the cutest darn egg I’d ever seen. Not that yours wasn’t adorable, Upalo, all gleaming red like Ruby’s there. But Ronan’s egg had white scales, just like Opal’s shell. I’d never seen anything like it. They are the same color as your mother’s dragon.”
“Dad believes that she went back to her people,” Upalo said.
“Beneath the sea,” I murmured. “Sometimes I wondered if that’s where she was.”
“Being on land for extended periods was always taxing for her,” Dad explained. “When you were an egg, we lived in a seaside fishing village. She swam to her heart’s content. She would take you boys into the water with her when you were still eggs and hold you in her arms as she floated.”
“I’ve never seen the ocean,” I said.
“Oh, you have,” my father said. “For three glorious weeks after you hatched you not only saw it, but your mother carried you outinto the water each day. The rest of the story will have to wait until there are no young ears in the room.”
Though he had not been a father in twenty years, he still possessed the wisdom and instincts of a dad, and conversations such as the one we would eventually need to have weren’t ones I wanted my girls to hear until they were at least in their thirties.
Make it forties.
The longer we could keep the ugliness away from them the better.
“Was that always your home?” I asked, curious about where we’d come from.
“Yes. Small, remote, we lived apart from the humans, traded with them when necessary, but otherwise, chose to stay to ourselves so we didn’t have to keep what we were secret. Allowing them to believe that we were myths meant we didn’t run the risk of curiosity seekers invading our space. For generations, that was life in our special piece of the world.”
“Did you and our mother grow up together?” Upalo asked.
He gently stroked his grandchildren’s eggs, a fond smile making his lips curve as he got this faraway look in his eyes. “In a way,” he replied.
He grew silent then, but it felt like he had more to say and was just gathering his words.
“We were the same age,” he explained. “But she lived beneath the waves, and I was fascinated by the ocean. Each morning, I would rush through my chores and studies so I could race down to the beach and spend the rest of the day in the water. It’s how we met. One day, she was just there, splashing in the surf with me, body surfing, diving, exploring the reef together. There was hardly a day we spent apart.”
“Soulmates,” Odem murmured.
“Yes,” he replied. “We knew, even without fully understanding what it truly meant, that we were meant for each other.”
“What a beautiful love story,” I said.
“It was truly magical,” he said. “Your mother had the loveliest voice I’d ever heard. Sometimes we’d sit on the rocks together and I’d listen to her sing for hours, in several different languages. But the one of her people always enchanted me.”
“My brother Caro’s mate, Emerson, speaks many languages as well,” Odem said. “He’s our archivist, and I know that he will be interested in learning all he can about the village you come from and the line of dragons that dwelled there. He’s been studying and cataloging every shred of our culture and history that he’s been able to get his hands on. Now that more dragons have come to Dragon City, we’re hoping all will be willing to share their stories and the histories of their people with him so that we don’t lose anymore of it.”
“A lofty goal, and an admirable one,” Dad said. “It would be an honor to contribute in any way I can. I am just overjoyed to be back with my boys again, and to see how my family has grown.”
“We have so many new brothers here,” Upalo said. “And there are other elders. Alex’s father and grandfather are among them. Alex is Ionus’ mate. They have four dragonets. Three boys and a girl who cannot wait to play with her cousins.”
“I’ll just bet. It sounds like she’s outnumbered.”
