Timeline/World: Through the Looking Glass – Atheria 1st Generation
Characters: Ceries Kashka
Race: Dragon – Reikaru
Age: 87, physically about 26
Current residence: Atheria City, Eresiel
Final Word Count: 807 words
We met strange people while we were roaming. Before she decided to give up her energy for a child that she would never see growing up. I know that she’s in him, in a way. She gave her up energy for him and I do see a bit of her in him at times, depending on the situation but I know he’s very much so his own person just the same. I will never take away from him the fact that he is absolutely so his own person.
There was only ever one thing that I truly made sure to remind him of, once he was old enough to better understand our species and how we work. I explained to him how others of our kind were born, I made so very, very sure that he understood that it was a life for a life, as unfair as it was when you did stop to think about it and even from a young age, I could see in his eyes that he had no interest in giving himself up for another life. When he got older, we discussed that, yes with the technology here as it was, the potential was there if there was any desire, but I don’t know that he’s thought about it much still.
I still think we were by far too young when we went out there into that big, big world. Renah just wanted to explore everything, probably enamoured by the idea that there were just so many things out there that we might otherwise just never really know about if we didn’t travel. If I’m being honest, I would have been fine with staying, but she was my twins without being my twin and I didn’t want her out there alone.
We did meet so many, many strange people while we were out there. There’s just no denying that particular thought and even now, so many years later, I think about it. I think about the other dragons we’ve crossed, in no way similar to us other than for our wings. The rest was very different and even our wings aren’t the same. The stone in our hand, the way we procreate, the things we ate, the language we spoke, all of it was just so different.
There were plenty of others that we met, whose paths we essentially only crossed as we moved from one area to the next. We didn’t stick around places very long unless she found a spot she was really interested in and those were honestly rare. I know that there was one particular village, nestled on a cliff side. Those who lived on the very edge were brave, at least as far as I’ve ever been concerned. I have no issues with heights and no fear of falling from those heights but the idea of living on the very edge of a cliff still sat oddly with me.
She insisted we stay in the little inn that sat closest to the edge. I sulked at her for that for a while, but I eventually forgot about it. I spent most of my time sitting out front, just sort of watching the people wandering on by. She roamed the village, curious and soaking in all the information she could. I didn’t feel the need to. She would ramble my ears off when she came back late in the afternoons.
As I watched folks come and go, I noticed patterns with some of them. Most didn’t really matter, but a young man—older than we were at that point—and an older woman walked on by every single day. He always carried a scythe along his shoulder and people tended to keep half a distance from him. It made me smile, as every time someone stepped to the side to allow them through, the woman walking with him would sigh and shake her head. I faintly remember hearing her telling him that maybe he should just leave the scythe out in the fields, carrying it everywhere unnerved everyone they came across and they really were trying to make friends with the other villagers.
He scoffed every time, too. I could never hear his reply, but I can only assume that it had to do with how he wasn’t about to leave such an important tool—especially if it was his—out and about free to be manhandled by the elements and others who might just not know how to take care of the blade. I mean, I don’t know if that’s at all that he might have said but I know that this is what I would have said, in any case.
Renah was never around when they walked by, and I wondered if she’d ever even seen them. She never mentioned them, not even after we left.
Works of JD Beckett 