Page 39 of Crash Landed with My Weredragon

Marina Livingstone, chief scientist of the Vulcana expedition, human representative on Dobromia, bonded mate of the prince, stood in a stone room inside a volcano and felt, for the first time in her adult life, that she was exactly where she was supposed to be.

The bond hummed its agreement.

CHAPTER 13

*** MARINA ***

The formal alliance announcement was made the next afternoon in the communal hall.

Boradrith stood at the center of the hall; not on a stage, not on a platform, but on the stone floor, at the same level as his people. It was a deliberate choice. A king who stood above his people during a crisis announcement looked like he was issuing orders. A king who stood among them looked like he was sharing news. Marina recognized the instinct and respected it.

The hall was packed. Every seat was occupied, Weredragons standing three deep along the walls and children perched on parents' shoulders. The earthquake had shaken the Colony's sense of security, and the announcement of an alien alliance on the heels of it wasn't going to settle anyone's nerves. But Boradrith addressed that directly, because Boradrith was many things: cautious, closed and difficult, but he was not a coward.

"Yesterday, this Colony shook," the D'Karr began. His voice filled the space without effort, the natural authority of a man who'd been commanding rooms since before most of the audience was born. "The geothermal systems beneath us shifted, and our home reminded us that safety is never permanent. Walls crack, ceilings fall. The things we believe are solid can break without warning." He paused and let the silence do its work. "And when they broke, a Weredragon prince tore through rubble with his bare claws to rescue humans who were trapped in our guest wing. He carried a wounded human soldier through our corridors to our medical bay. Our healers treated the soldier with our medicine. And none of this required a treaty or a formal agreement or a vote from the council. It required only the willingness to help someone who needed help."

The hall was quiet. Not the hostile quiet of skepticism. The absorbed quiet of people listening to something that mattered.

"The alliance between Dobromia and Earth is now formal," Boradrith continued. "The terms have been negotiated, reviewed, and approved by the full council, including Councillor Khrelan." He gestured toward Khrelan, who stood against the far wall with his arms at his sides, this time not crossed. They were deliberately uncrossed, which was a posture of openness that Marina knew cost him more than anyone in the room would ever appreciate. "The details will be posted in every corridor and communal space. Read them, ask questions, debate them. An alliance that can't survive scrutiny isn't an alliance worth having."

A murmur ran through the crowd. It wasn’t hostile, nor enthusiastic. It was uncertain. The uncertainty of people who'd spent their lives underground, isolated, self-reliant, being told that the future required trust in strangers. Marina understood it. She'd felt it herself twenty days ago, watching three dragons descend from the sky on Ceylara.

Boradrith fielded questions for forty minutes. They came from every section of the hall. What would the humans provide? Food, technology, scientific data. What would Dobromia provide? Mineral resources, energy technology, atmospheric data Earth couldn't collect from outside the system. Would humans live in the Colony? Some would. Would Weredragons go to Earth? Eventually.

"Will there be more earthquakes?" a young Weredragon asked from the front. She couldn't have been more than eight or nine cycles old, her scales a pale lavender that hadn't deepened to adult color yet. She asked the question with the gravity of someone who took fear seriously and expected serious answers.

Boradrith crouched to her level. The D'Karr of Dobromia, king of an underground kingdom, kneeling on the stone floor to speak to a child at eye level. Marina felt the bond pulse with Toren's emotion from across the hall. There was pride in his father, and something older. The memory of a boy who'd once asked similar questions and received similar answers.

"There may be," Boradrith told the child. "The ground beneath us is connected to our suns, and the suns are changing. But we have scientists working on understanding those changes. Our scientists and human scientists are working together. Understanding a problem is the first step to solving it."

"Can they fix the suns?" the child asked.

"No one can fix the suns. But we can prepare for what comes when they change. That's what the alliance is for. So, that when the ground shakes, we don't face it alone."

The child considered this with the seriousness it deserved. Then she nodded, apparently satisfied, and returned to her seat. Her mother caught Marina's eye across the hall and gave a small nod that carried more weight than any council vote.

* * *

The communication with the Vulcana happened that evening.

Marina sat at the Colony's relay station with Toren beside her and all forty-seven crew members on the screen. The relay had been repaired after the earthquake, the connection clear for the first time in days. Rowan's face was front and center, wearing the careful expression of an engineer who had news.

"We've finished processing the titanium," Rowan reported. "The coupling is fabricated. It's not pretty, but it'll hold through atmospheric exit and one standard transit. We can fly."

The words hit Marina with a force she hadn't anticipated. They could fly. The Vulcana was repaired. They could leave Ceylara, leave this system and go home. The word home sat in her mind alongside the bond humming in her chest and produced a conflict she'd been avoiding for nineteen days.

"How soon?" she asked.

"Forty-eight hours for installation and testing. We could be airborne in three days."

Three days. Marina looked at Toren. Through the bond, she felt his reaction. There was a spike of fear almost immediately, followed by deliberate calm that cost him more than the fear had. He was afraid she'd leave. He was trying not to let that fear influence her decision.

She put her hand on his knee under the console. The touch said: I'm not leaving. Through the bond, she felt his relief; a wave of it, warm and overwhelming, that he tried to contain and couldn't.

"There's something else," Marina told the crew. "The alliance between Earth and Dobromia has been formally approved. The terms include personnel exchange. Human scientists and diplomats will be stationed on Dobromia, Weredragon liaison officers will be on Earth. I've been asked to serve as the primary human representative on Dobromia for the initial phase."

Silence took over the screen. Forty-seven faces processing the implication.

"You're staying," Rowan said.