Canneth raised his brows and said, “Well, in that regard, I believe we have enough data now to put out some sort of information leaflet. We can distribute it to communities and farmsteads in our area and to anyone who wants one.”
Lord Baronel, a thoughtful expression on his face, said, “We need to make sure it isn’t sensational in any way. We don’t want to incite panic, we want to disseminate knowledge. But that concern aside, I agree.”
“Excellent,” Doronal said. “We will present a draft for your review soon.”
Lord Baronel nodded. “Good. I am also glad to see that Aeron and Anaya have performed as well as we hoped they would.”
“Indeed,” Doronal remarked. “Being able to get to a site so quickly is going to be of immense value.”
“And we are not the only ones who see that value,” Lord Baronel said.
Canneth raised his brows. “Oh?”
“There have been inquiries,” Lord Baronel began, “from various communities and even a few of my fellow lords. Word of your team’s recent visit to Cotter’s Grove, and how quickly they got there, has spread almost as quickly.”
“And?” Doronal asked.
“And,” Lord Baronel said, glancing from one master to the other, “they want to know when they can get a dragon from me and how much it will cost.”
The two masters were stunned.
“Ah!” Lord Baronel grinned. “It is not often I see you two speechless.” He sat back in his chair, a large smile on his face.
“This is most interesting,” Doronal said.
“They are asking you for dragons.” Canneth grunted and looked at Doronal.
“I suppose,” Lord Baronel began, “I have a choice to make.”
“A choice?” Doronal said.
“Yes. Should I sell each dragon outright, or, should I lease them out, maintaining ownership?”
“Assuming, of course,” Canneth said, “that Aeron and, more importantly, Anaya agree to it.”
“There is that.”
“After all,” Doronal began, “it is her children you are talking about selling or leasing, I assume? Will she be willing to allow her children to be sent away like that?”
Lord Baronel sighed. “Yes, yes. It is as you say. When discussing this with others, it sometimes slips my mind that she is actually a thinking creature. Dragons are not like horses.”
Doronal chuckled and said, “Not in the least.” His expression became more sober as he said, “I do think we should cultivate those attitudes, however. If people are looking to us for dragons, we should endeavor to keep it that way. I don’t like the idea of every would-be dragonlinked traipsing about the world looking for a dragon with which to Bond.”
“Dragonlinked?” Lord Baronel asked.
“It’s a term Trader Dellia used for Aeron. I favor it myself, as it concisely describes a person who is Bonded to a dragon.”
“I see.” Lord Baronel nodded. “Do continue with your line of thinking.”
Doronal sat forward in his chair. “In light of their usefulness, I think it would be more efficient to have an organized approach to raising dragons. Admittedly, now that people know that a newly hatched dragon can be Bonded, there will probably always be people that will try to find one themselves, to their own great peril, I believe. But for the rest, I think we should work toward creating an environment where everyone looks to Caer Baronel for anything to do with dragons.”
Lord Baronel smiled. “It would be nice to be known for more than lightglobes. Not to belittle them, they are our lifeblood after all. With only two other lightglobe concerns producing them, and those on opposite ends of the continent, we do quite well. The prestige garnered from being the only source of dragons, however, could be quite important and valuable, and they could add a substantial line of revenue on top of that.”
Canneth nodded. “Perhaps. However, there are a few questions to think about beforehand. Assuming we get to the point where we are raising dragons, what are the potential purchasers or lessees expecting of them? If most are going to be using them for their own investigations of various sorts, are they not going to want to own the dragon and select a rider of their own choosing so as to insure any confidential or proprietary information is kept confidential? Conversely, if you decide to go with a lease agreement, I assume lessees will be responsible for upkeep—replacement gear, food, medical care and such. But a lease arrangement implies you will need to replace a dragon, and by extension, its rider, if one or the other gets severely ill or injured, or if they die. Even more importantly, where would you raise all these dragons you intend to sell or lease? And what dragon would sire them? We have but Anaya.”
“I see,” Lord Baronel nodded slowly. “There are yet many details to think about.”
“We don’t even know when Anaya will be of reproductive age,” Canneth remarked, “nor do we know how many eggs dragons typically lay.”
“There is that as well,” Doronal agreed. “We held off finding out information about dragon reproduction because she was so young. Perhaps it is time we asked at least some of those questions.”
“There are two important things to take away from this report,” Millinith said, looking at the faces around the table in the investigation office. “One, this nahual was also female, and two, she was preparing to reproduce.”
“Also female?” Willem asked.
“The other corpses I have been able to examine were, I suspect, female. The decay they experienced before I was able to get to them did make it difficult to extract a lot of information, but based on what I learned from the most recent corpse, and re-evaluating what I remember of prior corpses, I am fairly confident of that assessment.”
“All of the corpses we have been able to examine have been females,” Master Doronal stated.
Millinith nodded. “Yes, they have been.” She twisted her mouth. “I had told you that we don’t have a big enough sample size to make any conclusions, but I find that I am starting to agree with your prior thought.”
“Only females attack.”
“Indeed.” Millinith looked from Master Doronal to Master Canneth and to the rest of the investigative team. “The reason for the attacks, I suspect, is that they need animus to reproduce. Exactly how the animus is used, I could not say, but they do seem to need it. A similar type of behavior can be seen in other creatures. Mosquitoes, for instance. Of mosquito species that bite, the females are the only ones to do so because they need blood to reproduce. Males never bite us. The males drink nectar from flowers, as do females when they aren’t reproducing.”
“True enough,” Master Canneth agreed. “But people aren’t the only place nahual could get animus. Why attack us? We fight back. Many nahual have been killed by people over the years.”
“That is true,” Millinith agreed. “They can get animus from animals. And they would have to in the deep wilds because no people live there. But the amount of animus they can extract from an animal is a great deal less than what they can get from a person. It would take them much, much longer to gather similar amounts from animals. And that could be one reason they have taken so long to increase in number.”
“So,” Sharrah began, “you’re thinking that before, with only animals as a source for animus, they increased in number very slowly. But they eventually spread out enough to where they encountered people more often, which is when we started hearing about nahual attacks.”
“Exactly. And because they then had access to larger amounts of animus, from us, their numbers could go up more quickly. Thus, the growing number of attacks in the last several decades.”
“It does seem to follow from what we know,” Master Doronal said. “As we get more data we will see whether that hypothesis continues to hold true.”
Millinith nodded. “Yes. And finding more nahual caves will be be very helpful, along with what we might find in them.”
“Those branches were willow?” Aeron asked her.
“Yes, they were. Which makes m
e happy and gives me pause.”
“Why is that?” Aeron asked.
“It makes me happy because it lends itself to the hypothesis, but it also concerns me because it implies they have some intelligence, being able to discover and then use the pain-relieving effect of willow bark.”
“Yes, that does add another worrying aspect to those creatures.” Master Canneth nodded slowly. He glanced at Master Doronal before turning to the others and said, “We think it is time to put together some sort of information leaflet for everyone in our area, informing them of what we know and what we are looking for. The more knowledge people have, the better they might prepare. Also, we should probably include tips that would assist in the investigation, like that fellow who put the nahual corpse in the snow.”
“That’s a good idea,” Sharrah said. “I could come up with a very short summary of what we know about them, maybe in list format, along with what to do if a nahual is killed. Millinith’s reports are very good,” she said, nodding at the young woman, “so it should be easy.”
“Excellent,” Master Doronal said. “Once it is complete, we’ll just need to make several copies, say a hundred, so we can distribute them.”
“I don’t relish the idea of writing out a hundred copies by hand,” Sharrah said, grimacing.
There was knocking from the other side of the building and then the sound of the far door opening.
“Hello?” It was a long way to that side of the building, and the speaker’s words could just barely be made out. “Good afternoon, Anaya. You’re looking fantastic today.”
They all heard the happy rumble from Anaya.
Aeron was about to ask Anaya who it was when Sharrah stood and looked out the door.
“Hi Cheddar,” she said, a large smile on her face.
“Hi Sharrah! Oh, are you guys having a meeting? I didn’t mean to interrupt, I can come back later.”
Master Doronal had risen from his chair and was standing in the doorway. “No,” he said to Cheddar. “Please, come in. I think you may be able to assist me, actually.”
There was only the briefest pause and then Cheddar said, “Alright.”
“Cheddar,” Master Doronal began when the tall boy entered the room, “the printing presses, do you know how many jobs are in line for them?”
Cheddar glanced at Sharrah and then turned to the magic master. “We actually just got the print jobs caught up as of this afternoon,” he replied. “The reason I came by was to ask Aeron about the trip and how it went. I’d been so busy helping with the print jobs that I hadn’t had the time to drop by until now. There still remains a fair number of print jobs in queue, however.”
“I see,” Master Doronal said. “The reason I ask is that we are going to need one hundred leaflets printed up soon. Leaflets concerning nahual that we will distribute to outlying communities around us.”
“A one-page leaflet?” Cheddar asked, tugging on his lip.
“I think so,” Master Doronal said.
“Hmm. I could do that job myself after hours, I think.”
“Could you? That would be perfect,” Master Doronal said, smiling.
“Yes, sir. I’ll just need to check with Master Freida, but I don’t think she will mind, especially as it is for two masters and Lord Baronel.”
Master Doronal smiled and tapped the side of his nose. “I knew you were a quick one. Our investigative endeavor is indeed at the request of Lord Baronel.”
Master Canneth laughed and said, “It’s good to have you on the team, Cheddar. I think we are done with this part of the meeting, so you can remain here with Sharrah and Millinith to discuss the leaflet.”
“Alright,” Cheddar said, smiling.
“Sharrah, where is your latest notebook on Anaya?” Master Canneth looked about the office.
“Right here,” she said. She removed a notebook from her satchel and handed it to him.
“Ah, good.” He grabbed a pencil from a nearby desk and walked back to the table.
“Well,” Master Doronal said, rubbing his hands together, “now that we are done with the report briefing and you three have your task, the rest of us can move on to our own. Come.” He rose and walked out of the office.
Aeron, Willem and Master Canneth followed him out of the room. Behind them, Sharrah and Millinith could be heard discussing the leaflet with Cheddar.
When they had joined him in front of Anaya, Master Doronal said, “There is another aspect of dragon life that we did not inquire about before, which we should address now.”
“Because she was so young,” Master Canneth began, “there really wasn’t a need to. But now, she’s much more mature, and fairly close to what we think will be her full adult size.”
“And thus,” Master Doronal said, “she may be close to reproductive age.”
Aeron’s brows rose and he turned to Anaya.
Are you ready to, ah, mate?
I have no interest in that at this time.
Aeron breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn’t sure he was ready to deal with that yet.
“It is best if we find out reproductive information now so we can be ready for when the time comes.” Master Canneth leafed through the notebook, and when he found the appropriate spot, he folded it back, ready to take notes.
“Aeron,” Master Doronal began, “could you ask Anaya, typically, how many eggs are in a dragon clutch?”
Aeron nodded and turned to Anaya. Normally, how many eggs do dragons lay at a time?
Anaya’s eyes changed as she remembered back. One and sometimes two eggs seem to be normal. Laying four, as my mother did, is uncommon.
“She says that normally it is one or two eggs. Four has been uncommon.”
Master Canneth nodded as he wrote.
“And,” Master Doronal said, “how about reproductive age? How old are females and males when they begin to reproduce?”
Aeron asked Anaya. Females, she told him, were generally able to procreate at ten to twelve months, while males were able to at six to eight months.
“Do females always fly off to bear their young?”
“Most do,” Aeron replied after Anaya had thought back. “But not many have traveled as far as her mother. They typically find brooding areas within an hour’s flight from the warren.”
Master Doronal nodded. “Does she know why they fly so far away, why they don’t just use the warrens?”
It took Anaya a minute or so to come up with a response.
“She says it is because they are nervous. There seems to be a, a sort of cloud of worry or fear over them all. There is a lot of uneasiness, which causes them to be shy and skittish. But they can also suddenly turn from being timid to being very angry or irritated. She can remember a lot of petty actions and arguments.”
Dragons are incomplete until they are linked. They do not know this, but they feel the wrongness, the emptiness. These feelings lead to all their actions.
Aeron looked at Anaya. “Yes. This ever-present nervousness that causes all the mistrust and strange behavior is due to them being incomplete. Without a bond-mate, with no link, they are not whole.”
“An interesting hypothesis. Although, that would explain a lot about their society, if true. The years, decades and centuries of those feelings lead them to be as they are. And you mentioned that Anaya was very nervous just after she hatched as well.”
“She was. But she changed completely after the Bond, once were were linked.”
We are one.
He smiled at her. Yes, love, we are.
“Does she think she would need to fly away to bear her young,” Master Doronal asked, “when the time comes?”
If a good brooding area is available, my children will be born wherever we are. I do not feel the need to leave.
“No.” Aeron smiled. “She says that as long as there is a good place for her to lay her eggs, she does not feel any need to fly somewhere else.”
“And how are mates selected?” Master Doronal asked. “I know
many animals have fairly complex rituals they go through in selecting a mate.”
Many pairings are arranged.
Arranged? Aeron wasn’t sure what she meant.
By the House from among its members. My mother had to bribe a few officers and perform some unpleasant duties to be allowed to pair with my father.
Dragons aren’t normally allowed to choose?
Anaya was quiet for a moment. It does not appear so. I do not think I like that.
Aeron explained about the arranged pairings.
“Arranged pairings can be dangerous, genetically,” Master Canneth said. “Reducing randomness, especially in a small population like a dragon House, can lead to dangerous reinforcements of bad traits.”
“Unless,” Master Doronal said, looking at Master Canneth, “they have very few bad traits?”
“Dragons do seem to be unusually efficient in many things,” Master Canneth allowed. “So that is possible.”
I will not be restricted in that way.
“Well,” Aeron said, looking at Anaya, “she says she isn’t going to follow that, ah, tradition.”
The two masters looked at Anaya and then Master Canneth wrote some notes down. “What about the reproductive act itself?” he asked. “Where does it typically happen?”
Aeron blushed and asked Anaya the question.
I remember a lot of fumbling around in certain rooms in the warrens.
Aeron caught glimpses and felt the strong sexuality in her memories through the link and blushed again. He felt heat building in his cheeks and other areas and quickly distanced himself from the link before anything embarrassing happened. He put his hands in his trouser pockets in case he needed to make any quick adjustments, and the thought that he might have to made him blush once more.
“She says it was in the warrens. Certain rooms, caves really, were set aside for it. She says it seemed to be fairly clumsy.”
“Yes,” Master Doronal nodded. “In a cave, and with their size, a tail, and wings, I can see that it might be tricky to get, ah, everything coordinated.” He cleared his throat and looked at Aeron. “I know this is probably embarrassing for you, Aeron, but we do need to know the answers.”
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