028.008

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Peaceful Days

Bright Eyes

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“Your eyes are glowing.”

“I know, mom.”

“It’s been three days and they haven’t stopped glowing.”

Alyssa sighed, pulling off her sunglasses. Apparently, people found glowing eyes to be somewhat off-putting. Even though sunglasses were essentially unheard of around Lyria, especially fancy modern ones, they were far less strange than bright white eyes. A quick search on her phone revealed that sunglasses, eyewear designed to block ultraviolet light from the sun, had really only been around since the early twentieth century. People wore eyewear before then, corrective lenses and even tinted lenses for various reasons, so perhaps that was why nobody in Lyria balked too much when they saw her.

“It’s fine, mom. It’s not harmful.” Probably. “I can see just fine.” That was true. “And I can’t stop it anyway.” Not that I have actually tried. Last time, Tenebrael had been the one to cancel their connection. It had simply been a snap of her fingers. Alyssa imagined that she probably could break the connection from her end if she really wanted to, but she didn’t. If she did cancel it, she didn’t know how to easily reenter an adrift state to reconnect. Per Tenebrael’s words, it happened during extreme stress. Faking such a situation would probably be difficult.

Besides that…

She still hadn’t come across someone dying.

Alyssa had gotten relatively good at identifying people who were going to die soon. Of natural causes; she had seen two people who she was fairly certain had been murdered, and she had promptly alerted the city guard, but they didn’t have the same indications of impending death that natural causes prompted. Roughly fifteen minutes before someone’s death, their form tended to drastically slow interactions with nearby souls. They didn’t completely stop, so it became a bit difficult to differentiate between someone isolated and someone on the verge of dying, but the former was a fairly rare case at most times of the day. The dead of night was the most difficult time to tell.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy getting from one side of the city to the opposite side in only a few minutes. Lyria wasn’t a giant city, certainly nothing like modern metropolises, but it was large enough that a quarter of an hour was not much time. Especially because she didn’t always notice impending deaths fast enough, resulting in even less time.

There was maybe a death every two hours, on average. Over the past three days, she had seen maybe twenty natural deaths. Some had surely happened while she had been asleep. But she always seemed to be on the wrong side of the city. Or busy. On the first day, she had just about run out on Oxart to get to some poor guy, but had decided against it under the assumption that she would be stumbling across death constantly with the glowing eyes active.

What a mistake that had been.

It was to the point where Alyssa was considering burning the one Accelero spell she had successfully created to get to a death in time.

Though, for the moment, all those plans were on hold. Unfortunately. Today was mother-daughter-daughter day. When Alyssa’s mother had decided that she didn’t want to live with Tzheitza in the potion shop—not because she took objection with the owner, but simply because it was a bit too cramped—she had decided that they all should have regular get-togethers. Unless someone was dying within earshot, Alyssa wasn’t going to bother wasting her time rushing across the city only to arrive too late.

“I just wish you would stop doing things like… that, Alyssa. It’s unnatural.”

“Mom… This whole place is ‘unnatural,’” Alyssa said, putting finger quotes in the air. “Us living here is ‘unnatural.’ I have a sister that can change shape into whatever she wants whenever she wants. And we’re on our way to see literal dinosaurs. Glowing eyes is hardly worth getting out of bed over, let alone making such a fuss about.”

Although she let out a hefty sigh, Alyssa’s mother allowed the line of thought to drop.

Kasita, on the other hand, put her hands on her hips and threw a glare at Alyssa. “Are you saying that I’m unnatural? And poor Izsha too? I’ll have you know that we are perfectly natural aspects of this world. If anything, it is Earth that is unnatural,” she said with faux disgust.

Alyssa just smiled and shrugged, a bit too excited to get drawn into what was bound to be another bout of Kasita’s shenanigans. Brakkt had returned last night. Late last night, probably specifically to avoid having draken seen running around the streets. The first thing he had thought to do was to Message Alyssa. As scary as he could be when in full Black Prince mode, he was thoughtful enough to remember that she wanted to visit Teneville with the draken. Or at least with Izsha.

The palace grew large as they drew close. Unfortunately, the main entrance was securely shut. A hoard of protesters picketed around the front gate. It had been more than a full month since Fela first became publicly known and people were still out protesting the decision. Didn’t these people have jobs or something better to do? She could see a week, maybe two. Monsters wandering the city essentially all on their own was a notable and, perhaps, worrying idea. But it was just getting ridiculous at this point.

Alyssa had a feeling that the continued protests were… unnatural. Not in the same way that her mother considered glowing eyes, but in that someone was behind them, maybe even paying for a few hundred people to stand around obstructing everything they could possibly obstruct.

The nobles, most likely.

The protests were the main reason Alyssa had hardly seen Irulon in the past few weeks. It just gave her an extra reason to be annoyed with the state of this world. Or at least of this city.

It really made Alyssa wonder how Yzhemal and Lazhar would react when she showed up with draken. Would their friendly smiles be replaced with angry glares? Alyssa really didn’t want to alienate or upset them. It had been a long time since she had seen them and, compared to everyone else, she had really not interacted with them all that much, but they had been the very first people she had received help from.

Still, she wasn’t willing to walk back to Teneville. A two week journey was simply too long. She actually had responsibilities now. She supposed that a horse-drawn wagon would be faster than walking as well, but it wouldn’t hold a candle to the draken. Besides that, it would cost money that Alyssa probably didn’t have.

Thankfully, protesters did not surround the palace entirely. Alyssa was able to enter the side passage that led directly to the stables without any trouble. There were, of course, guards. The darker-uniformed palace guards stood by every gate as well as patrolled between the wall and the palace itself. Alyssa couldn’t really say that she knew any of them, but they knew her well enough. They let her pass with nods or even waves in one case.

Alyssa felt a bit bad about not knowing who she was waving back to.

It probably helped that Brakkt had likely told them that she was coming. Even she couldn’t just wander in normally. Alyssa held no doubts that at least a few of the more magically inclined guards were watching her carefully. Probably with various sight and sensory spells active.

When Alyssa arrived at the stables, she found them empty. Not completely empty. All the draken seemed to be present. But there was no Brakkt. No Irulon or Tess either.

Still, she didn’t stop. Brakkt had asked that she meet him in the stables, so he must simply be running late. With a small bit of amusement, Alyssa watched her mother freeze up as they stepped into the stables proper. It was her first time seeing draken. She knew monsters existed. Kasita, elves, and a few other slaves around the city proved that. But draken really were in their own league, being far more monstrous relative to what someone from Earth would expect.

Alyssa continued on for about three steps before she slowed herself, realizing just how many eyes were staring at her. Some small traitorous whisper in the back of her mind asked just how long it had been since their last meal.

Shaking her head, Alyssa straightened her back. The draken could smell fear. That was what she had been told, anyway. And she wasn’t afraid. She had come a long way. With her deck of spells, she was confident in her abilities. Even if all of the draken attacked at once, scythes would tear through them like butter. They wouldn’t attack anyway. They were smart. They knew that she was Brakkt’s companion.

And there was Izsha, sitting just a bit away from Musca. Alyssa headed straight for the familiar draken with Kasita at her side and her mother, slowly regaining her wits, following with wary trepidation.

“Hey Izsha. I brought you something I think you’ll enjoy.” Reaching into her satchel, Alyssa pulled out a fist-sized hunk of mutton. Fresh from the butcher. It was wrapped in a small sheet of waxy paper, but that was far from an airtight seal. Which probably explained why every draken in the room was staring at her. Izsha sat up straight, tongue lolling out between its sharp teeth.

Unwrapping it, Alyssa gave it a light toss. She didn’t think that Izsha would take off her hand, but throwing it seemed like the safer option no matter what.

Izsha caught it without a problem and promptly started munching on it. Draken teeth weren’t really meant for chewing. Not like human molars were. They were razor sharp, designed to rip and tear at living flesh. Alyssa had always wondered about animals like that. She had had her own cat when she was younger and the little fluffball always liked a small piece of cheese whenever she made a sandwich. But could animals like cats or draken actually taste and enjoy food in the same way that humans did?

Alyssa couldn’t say, but she could believe it with the way Izsha was trying to keep that masticated mush in its mouth instead of simply swallowing it.

It was… a bit disgusting to watch, actually.

“One for you too,” Alyssa said, pulling another chunk out for Musca. The narrowed eyes on the orange and black draken widened right away. While Alyssa might be willing to feed Izsha from her hand, the same wasn’t true for the far more… aggressive draken. Musca was scrambling to its feet. Not wanting it to come closer, Alyssa quickly tossed the mutton.

Musca caught it, chomped once, and promptly swallowed it mostly whole. Then it had the audacity to look to Alyssa like she had brought more.

Alyssa wanted to treat a friend and butter up Musca, but fresh meat was really expensive. “Sorry,” she said, folding up the wax paper. “That’s all I had.”

A loud thump from the side made Alyssa look back to the rest of the room. One of the draken had flopped over, pressing its head completely into the ground. Most of the other draken were clearly unhappy as well. It looked like a room of kindergartners that had just been told Christmas was canceled.

“Sorry,” Alyssa said a little softer. There was no way she could afford to feed a dozen giant monsters no matter how much she wanted to. But surely Brakkt kept them well fed.

“Alyssa… what—”

“Oh. Right.” Alysa gestured from the dark-scaled draken to the one with tiger stripes. “This is Izsha and Musca. I told you about them. And this is my mom,” she said, waving her hand back to her mother.

Izsha, finally having swallowed that hunk of meat, got to its feet and approached, doing practically the same thing that it had done when first meeting Alyssa. It stuck its nose right into her face and sniffed.

“Try not to scare her too bad,” Alyssa whispered. “It’s her first time meeting draken.”

For her part, Alyssa’s mother wasn’t reacting all that much. Or perhaps it wasn’t that she had no reaction, but that her sudden stillness was how she was dealing with having razor sharp teeth right in her face. Feeling a bit bad, Alyssa put her hands on the smoother side scales of Izsha’s neck and started gently pulling the draken away.

“Is there a problem?”

Alyssa jumped, heart leaping from her throat. Brakkt’s voice came from directly behind her. She hadn’t heard a single step from him and yet, there he was. He wasn’t wearing his heavy armor, so that was a small bit of mitigating circumstances that could excuse her sudden deafness. His current outfit was more of a uniform, somewhat similar to the coats guard captains wore. The black cloth fit handsomely and gave his shoulders a nice squared look.

As always, his sword was attached to his hip.

“No problem,” Alyssa said, finally finding her smile. “Just introducing my mom to Izsha. You’ve met her, right?”

“Once or twice,” he said before nodding a greeting. “Lisa.”

“Brakkt.”

“Work at the guild treating you well?”

“Can’t complain,” she lied.

Every single time Alyssa saw her, she had complaints about something. Usually magic and the fact that it existed at all. Perhaps she wasn’t lying that much if she was only talking about her actual job training people. But even that, she complained about on occasion. Apparently, people in this world were severely lacking in squad tactics and teamwork.

Ignorant of Alyssa’s internal rant, Brakkt just nodded again. “After observing your session with some of the guild rookies, I was considering asking you here to train some of the palace guard. Especially in that weaponless style you used.”

“Krav Maga?”

“If that is what you call it.”

“It’s a blend of boxing, karate, and about ten other martial arts, developed for military use by the Israelis.”

“None of those words mean anything to me.”

“Right.” Sighing, she nodded at herself as if she should have known better than to say anything. “Of course they don’t. But I wouldn’t mind as long as I’m being paid.”

“There should be time to discuss such things while on our journey. We’ll have to figure out a schedule that doesn’t interfere with your work at the guild.”

“Mhm…” Alyssa’s mother glanced around, looking back to the draken. “We’re really going to be taking these…”

Don’t call them things. Don’t call them things.

“Monsters?”

“Of course. I imagine they’ll be happy to take us. Won’t you?” he said, turning his violet eyes around the room.

While the one that had flopped over after not getting any mutton didn’t move, most of the others bobbed their heads up and down.

“See?”

“From what my daughter tells me, they are as intelligent as you or me. And I am not sure that I would be all that pleased carrying one of them around on my back all day.”

Brakkt chuckled for a moment, perhaps imagining a human carrying around the much larger and heavier draken. “It is true,” he said, pulling a hand brush from his jacket pocket as he walked over to one of the draken. One with emerald scales that might have glistened in the light had they not been so covered in dirt. It looked like the draken had been rolling around recently with how thick a layer was covering its hide. “They are not beasts of burden. But that doesn’t mean that they are incapable. I took great pains to have an elvish engineer design their saddles to properly distribute weight around their bodies to keep them from feeling unnecessary stress. Best of all, it gets them exercise,” he said with a glance to Alyssa. Poking the green one in the belly area earned him a mild nip, though it was clear that the draken wasn’t actually trying to bite him. “Some of them sorely need it.”

“Wouldn’t they be happier living outside the palace? They had a home outside here originally, did they not?”

“Going home is not much of an option, unfortunately. Finding a new home might be possible, but…” he paused and waved a hand around the room. “You can imagine that they eat quite a bit, collectively. Meat. Out in the wild, they would have to find a place with a population capable of supporting them. Our farms can do that here, but it would be tough in the wild. Normally, draken spread out to avoid that problem. But this family doesn’t want to split up.”

“And you can’t teach them to farm?”

“It isn’t quite so simple. They are definitely smart enough, and don’t let anyone tell you that you aren’t,” he almost cooed to the gathered monsters. “But sheep will instinctively flee from a draken, making raising and cultivating a flock far more difficult for them than us, despite us being just as predatory. More importantly.” Brakkt paused his brushing and raised his hand into the air. He didn’t wave around or gesture at anything, he just looked at it. “Sometimes, I think it is our hands, not our minds, that allow us to build cities and wonders. Elves are the same way, possessing a very similar physiology. Dragons, for instance, are far, far more intelligent than humans, but they don’t have cities and communities. Of course, a city of dragons would probably be impossible. A single one would dwarf the palace. With the amount they have to eat, two of them in one area would rapidly destroy all sources of food.”

Alyssa gaped. She couldn’t help it. The palace was huge. Not skyscraper huge, but pretty close. She knew dragons were big, smart, and capable of powerful magic. But that big? How did even a single one not deplete the food supply in an entire region all on its own, let alone two? Their stomach had to be the size of the Observatorium.

It was probably through hibernation and other long periods of inactivity. Perhaps they had evolved some super slow metabolism to keep going as long as possible on as few feedings as possible, maybe combined with some energy battery type of things so that, when threatened, they could act. Magic probably played a part as well.

In fact, she could probably ignore everything she had just thought and attribute everything to magic.

And Irulon had the soul of one living inside her head.

Glancing around, Alyssa frowned. There were only three humans in the room at the moment. “Wasn’t Irulon going to join us?”

“She was asleep,” he said as if that explained everything. Which, really, it did. “Tess is attempting to wake her. In the meantime, let’s get all of them ready to go.”

“A-All of them?” Alyssa stared around as a dozen draken started to get to their feet. Despite absolutely knowing that they weren’t going to attack her, it was still a little intimidating watching the muscles push and pull under their scaled hides.

“I decided you were right,” Brakkt said, smiling at her. “I keep taking the same few out, but these other poor guys stay cooped up inside.” He poked the green one again, earning another nip. “So tonight, we all are going to get some exercise.”

“Ah… huh.” When she had suggested to Brakkt that they need exercise, she had imagined mostly Izsha. Which probably made her just as bad as him. Even if she took out more than Izsha, she had figured they would only go one at a time.

A dozen monsters charging down to Teneville?

Yzhemal is going to kill me.

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