The Dragon's Eyes

by Oxford, Rain

  “We will have to take Sammy to the playground,” I told Mordon. “I think he needs more exercise.”

  “He gets carried around too much,” Mordon agreed.

  Jos laughed and led us through to another hallway. “This is our residential district. We have an apartment available with child accommodations.”

  “That would be great if we can afford it. We have no idea what the currency system is or how much we were given,” I said.

  “I can scan your identification band to check your account. If you are low on money, I will still let you use the room.”

  When we both stared at him, he laughed and pulled a black metal band, resembling a watch, off of his white belt. The length of his tunic had hidden the tools he had on his belt.

  “You run a business, yet you would offer your services for free?” Mordon asked.

  “Not normally, but this is during a holiday of peace, and it would be wrong of me to turn down travelers in need to let a room go to waste. Especially a Noquodi, his companion, and a baby.”

  “How did you know?” I asked.

  “I can feel your magic. No wizard could be so powerful. The way energy reacts to you is like it is seeking you out… I also felt you earlier, when you healed this world from its wounds. I travel, too, and so my name is in Shiloh’s book; therefore, I felt your magic when you dug into the magic of this world.”

  “Wow. Learn something new every hour.”

  “After the aid you provided to our world, how could I turn you away when all you need is a room?” He waved the little screen over my band. “Shiloh should have left you with enough…” He stopped talking as he looked at the screen. “Oh. Shiloh made sure to provide you with enough funding to live like kings for months. If you would prefer, we have lavish rooms far superior to this one.”

  Mordon and I shook our heads in unison. “The less lavish apartment with the child accommodations would do great, as long as it is clean.”

  He laughed hard at this. “Clean!” he declared. “This must be your first time to the water cities. Nothing in this city is unclean. Every room, every hallway, every scrap of clothes or food is always clean. Now, I do not want to worry you, as I know your own culture is important, but if you would allow us to clean your clothes, you would be much better received by the residents. If you wish to go to the playground, I suggest you dress your child in an outfit we provide. Clothes other than white is considered unclean and other children would not want to play with him if he is wearing something colorful.”

  Sammy looked from me to Jos, then did something he never did before; stuck his thumb into his mouth. I went to remove Sammy’s hand when Jos shuddered, but the baby had already reached out to touch the man with his wet hand. Jos jumped back, uttering a frightened whimper.

  “Sammy!” Mordon yelled.

  The baby giggled, then gazed up at me innocently.

  I gave Sammy a glare. “I am so sorry!” I told Jos, who had composed himself. “He’s never done anything like that; I think he was just teasing you. He might be high on sugar. Sammy, say you’re sorry.”

  The baby pouted like he was going to cry, but I just glared harder. He looked at Jos. “Sorry.” He at least sounded sincere, and Jos gave him a small smile.

  “It is okay. I know how children like to play. I think you have a prankster in your future.”

  “Well, that will be his mother’s problem,” I answered.

  “Mama!” Sammy screamed, reaching out for Mordon with delight.

  It really was difficult to stay on my feet with how hard I was laughing. I couldn’t even breathe because I was laughing so hard.

  “You laugh now, but Vivian will be furious,” Mordon warned.

  Once I finally calmed down, Jos showed us to our room. Every room door was bright white and had no doorknob. He put his palm on a black panel and the door slid open.

  I couldn’t imagine what the lavish suite looked like if it was nicer than this. The spacious room was about twenty-four by thirty-six feet, but looked larger on account of the transparent ceiling. Fur rugs placed sporadically around the wooden floor seemed more like an afterthought and replacement for carpet. The wall opposite of the door was crystal-clear and curved into the see-through ceiling, divided only by a small bar with spotlights, while the other three walls were white and smooth like plastic. The bed against this wall was huge and covered high with white blankets and pillows.

  To the left of the door was the kitchen. A black stone breakfast bar divided the main room and kitchen. This kitchen had high-end technology, but most of it I had no idea how to operate. “We do not have a food generator, so you can either buy food to prepare yourself at the shopping district, or you can use the vending machines placed conveniently around residential district. The machines placed outside the playground contain healthy snacks for children.”

  He went to another door in the kitchen, which slid open as he approached and revealed an amazing bathroom. Except for the bathtub, which was huge, round, and had a metal shower feature above it, the rest of the bathroom equipment was normal, though it was all sparkling white and stone. Shining from the small spotlights placed randomly about the room, the walls were pure white. As in the previous rooms, the ceiling was transparent. Jos showed us how to control the shower and bath, which both worked by verbal commands.

  Next, we went back into the main room and Jos showed us to the door on the other side of the entrance. This was obviously the child’s room; it had a soft carpet covering the floor and to the far side of the room was a rocking chair and a crib. A small bookshelf was stacked with what I assumed were children’s stories, and there was one more shelf full of toys. Sammy tried to get down, but I didn’t let him go. Jos said Sammy’s clothes were considered dirty, and they might have been since he wore them all day.

  “Dragon!” Sammy cried in frustration.

  I frowned in confusion, but Mordon went to the box of toys. When he pulled out a stuffed toy that looked like a winged T-Rex, Sammy stopped squirming and held out his hands patiently. Mordon tossed it to the baby, who hugged it so fiercely that I thought the stuffing would pop out.

  Kela entered the room holding a thin, white folder. “How long will you be staying?” she asked.

  Mordon and I looked at each other. “We’re not sure. It may only be a day, or it could be several days,” Mordon said.

  “Well, how about we do this by day, then?” she asked. She shuffled through the folder and then showed us a page. Of course, the writing looked like intricate circles, not words. “I know electronic documents are more modern, but we prefer this method because it is more private. This is an agreement document. This declares that you will not damage property on purpose,” she said, pointing to a section of circles. She pointed to another section. “This declares that there will be no sex in the room, due to it being unsanitary. This part declares that you will not practice magic that can damage the facility. Safety is important to us, and the pressure due to the depth of the city makes it vital that we use caution. No fire, no water bending, and no magic that is meant to infuriate the sea animals. This section declares that if you are injured, you will seek assistance no matter what.”

  “In our culture, blood is the most unsanitary substance,” Jos explained. “If you get even the smallest of scratches, we request that you report to the medical center to have it healed and tell us where you were at the time so we can have it sanitized. Even though you can heal yourself, we have measures in place that are traditional.”

  “His heart rate is increasing just talking about it. Either he is afraid we won’t believe him, which is unlikely, or they have a very real phobia of blood,” Mordon said. “If they become our enemy, we should have no problem; we can just threaten to bleed on them and they’ll run screaming.”

  “Mordon, let’s just assume for today that they’re not going to turn on us.”

  “Okay. For today. Tomorrow, we prepare for them turning on us.”

  “If you are in agreement w
ith these stipulations, please sign your name in your native script.”

  Since she said our native script, I signed in English cursive. Mordon signed in Sudo, even though Modo was his native language, because it was more common on Duran to sign in Sudo.

  She then turned to another page. “This is to verify the payment for… one night…” she wrote it down in a blank place. “At the price of…” She said a price, which didn’t translate because there was no Sudo word for their money system.

  I signed this form and let her scan my wristband with a metal wand. It made a happy beeping sound, and she signed under my name. Her signature was two overlapping circles with lines and loops through it. Kela left for a moment, then returned with three sealed bags of clothes, one smaller than the other two. She also handed us a small mesh sack.

  “If you place your dirty clothes in this bag and put it outside your door, they will be returned to you clean by the end of the day. If you need anything else, we are located at the end of the hallway. Our door has a sign on it stating that it is the residential office. Please enjoy your stay.”

  They left. Trying to adhere to their culture, Mordon gave Sammy a bath in the sink while I took a shower. After getting undressed, I stood outside of the tub in case the water came out too hot or cold. “Shower on,” I said. As soon as the words were out of my mouth, water felt from the metal disk like heavy rain. I held my hand out and felt that the water was warm. “Hotter,” I said. The water quickly grew hotter until I told it to stop. It was so much better than hydrosonic showers.

  All too soon, Mordon was pounding on the door. “You’ve been in there an hour! I want a shower, too!”

  I got out and dried, but didn’t shut off the water. I quickly dressed in the white clothes, which were similar to scrubs and made me feel like a mental patient. “Shower, scolding,” I said, opening the door before Mordon could break it down.

  I found Sammy sitting on the floor in his room, playing with toys. It was odd seeing him in white clothes. He looked up at me and smiled.

  “Sammy? Do you understand when people are talking around you?” I asked, mostly curious.

  His eyes darted away as if checking for Mordon, then he looked me right in the eyes. “Yes,” he said.

  “What about when we speak in Sudo?” I asked in Sudo. Half of the time, Mordon and I spoke in Sudo, especially on Vaigda, but Sammy always appeared to be listening. When he tried to scare Jos, we had been speaking in Sudo. I couldn’t imagine where he had heard it before.

  “Yes,” he said again. He went back to playing. A moment later, he looked up at me and beamed. My breath caught as his Byzantium purple eyes flashed with a bright purple glow. “Play,” he insisted, holding up a red block. There really wasn’t anything else to do until Mordon was finished and we could get some food.

  Mordon found us making block castles. “Want to get some food?” he asked, leaning against the doorframe. Sammy jumped up and held his arms up to be picked up. Mordon started to reach down but I shook my head. “Talk if you want something,” he said.

  “Up!” Sammy begged.

  Mordon picked him up and frowned at me. “Is there anyone who looks good in white?” he asked.

  His skin was just a little more tanned than mine, but the outfits looked like they were designed to be unfashionable. I wasn’t a guy who cared about matching the colors and patterns of my clothes, unless I was trying to look good for Divina, but I didn’t like looking like a mental patient. And I couldn’t imagine white was anyone’s color.

  “A woman with very pale skin. Divina,” I said after thinking about it.

  “Divina looks good in anything.”

  “Without anything, too.”

  We left the room in search of the vending machines. Our boots were left behind because while socks were provided in the bags, shoes were not. It only took us a couple of minutes to find one of the big machines, and we were lucky that there was a small family there. Dressed in Greek attire, a middle aged woman, a little boy about twelve, and a little girl about the same age stood discussing what they wanted. They were looking through one of the three menus. I grabbed one of the remaining menus and opened it. Inside there were about twenty-five pictures of food, along with many symbols. While many things looked appetizing, I had no idea how to order.

  “Excuse me, can you help us?” Mordon asked the lady. “We can’t understand the menu.”

  “Of course,” she smiled. “Do you have anything in specific you want?”

  Mordon pointed to the noodle dish. “This looked really good,” he answered.

  “This here is the price,” she pointed to a symbol. “This is a description, and this is the number you type in for your selection. Pass your identification band over the scan-plate and I will enter the number for you,” she volunteered.

  There was a keypad with symbols on it and a black slit above it. In the middle of the machine was a shelf like the food maker in the kitchen at Casten. Mordon waved his bracelet over the slit and the woman pushed several buttons. The devise made a happy beeping sound and a loud click. A black shield came down over the small shelf for a second, then lifted to reveal a large bowl of steaming noodles with chunks of meat in it. It smelled really good, but I wanted to try what looked like chicken wings covered in a thick red sauce.

  I showed the lady which one I wanted and then waved my hand over the slit. I memorized which buttons she pushed and in what order. “Is this stuff okay for babies?” I asked.

  Sammy twisted around to peer up at me like I was nuts for asking, as if I would ever consider not sharing with him.

  “Yes, but I would only feed him the noodles, because yours is a little spicy,” she warned.

  We thanked her and headed back to our room. A young man passed right by our room and nothing happened, but when we reached it, it slid open. “Technology out the wazoo,” I declared to myself.

  “The what?” Mordon asked.

  I just shook my head. We ended up sharing all the food between the three of us, as Sammy demanded some of the meat. It may not have been chicken, but it definitely tasted like poultry. The sauce was rich, sweet, and spicy like a good barbeque sauce. The noodles were also a little sweet, but it was more of an aftertaste. They had more depth to their flavor.

  After eating, we found our way to the child district. There were more colors in the walls and toys around here, but everyone wore white. Most of the men wore clothes like scrubs, while most of the women wore the white, Greek-style dresses that bordered on slutty.

  The playground had soft flooring material, colorful toys, and many climbing structures. There were even slides and swings. I sat Sammy on the kiddy slide, but he just frowned at me in confusion so I nudged him until he slid down. He giggled happily and hit the ground running back for more. He slid a few more times before I took him to the swing and pushed him.

  After a while, I looked up to see Mordon sitting on a bench seat, chatting with a woman. She looked to be in her late thirties and was still in her prime, but I didn’t like the way she smiled at him. She wanted something from him that she shouldn’t. I was actually surprised that he didn’t realize her intentions were unkind; he was normally so good at reading people. A few minutes later, he still hadn’t picked up on her bad vibes. Maybe we were so deep underwater that it was messing with his senses.

  I stopped the swing and leaned down to whisper in Sammy’s ear. “Mama’s not paying any attention to you. You should go play with him.”

  Sammy didn’t miss a beat; he climbed from the seat and ran full baby-force at Mordon, screaming “mama” at the top of his lungs. Mordon looked surprised, but picked Sammy up without hesitation. The woman got up and left, but he didn’t even give her a second look.

  “Who was that?” I asked.

  I didn’t like his upset expression. “Later,” he answered quietly.

  I assumed he needed to collect his own thoughts before talking about it, since he could have just told me telepathically if he wanted to talk in privat
e about it. We went back to the room soon after that and luckily, we didn’t run into the woman again. Sammy went right to sleep when I laid him down.

  * * *

  I woke up to a happy giggling. From the lack of sunlight in the water, I guessed that it hadn’t risen yet. When the giggling got louder, I sat up. Mordon was still asleep, so I tried to be quiet as I got up and found my way in the dark until I came to Sammy’s room. There were lights shining in the water outside, possibly for security reasons. Pressed against Sammy’s ceiling was one of the octopus creatures we had seen before. It wiggled its legs and pressed them against the glass, almost as if dancing. It didn’t look like it had malicious intentions, but I wouldn’t be letting Sammy around any open waters for a while.

  I really did want kids of my own. I hadn’t worried about it before I met Divina; I always thought it would just happen. Divina would make a great mother; she was loving and sweet, but also strict and willing to put everything on the line to protect her loved ones. Unfortunately, it seemed that I was her only loved one.

  A baby girl with her silky black hair and deep blue eyes would be the cutest child in the world. She would play pranks on her classmates and break tiny boy hearts every day. With my sarcasm and Divina’s stubbornness, there would be no stopping the child, good or bad.

  But Divina was a god, and her body was created, not grown. I knew she couldn’t have kids, and she knew I wanted them. Every time we were in town and would pass children, she would distract me. Listening to Sammy’s giggling and thinking I would never have one made my chest hurt.

  However… there were always other means, like adoption or surrogacy. I could never give Divina up, not even for children. We had only been together for three years, but I couldn’t imagine life without her. I asked her twice to marry me, and she never gave me an answer. Now this stuff is happening with the gods and the balance of magic…