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“But I can’t.”
“But if youcould. Would you? To live. Not to visit.”
She made littlehmmnoises and was still pondering her answer once we arrived at “Movie Night,” which was held in a large open cavern/meeting hall I’d had no idea even existed. The meeting hall was elevated, so that behind the massive screen, were oblong windows that overlooked West. Dragons got woven mats from a large stack along one wall and picked a spot on the polished floor.
“This is a grown-up showing,” Kira told me under her breath as we fetched mats. She instructed me to get three for myself since at least Akoni and Keon would be joining us. Auryn was on duty. “This movie might be too grown-up for pups.”
“Isn’t this an American high school comedy?” I followed her with my three mats.
“High school comedies can be raunchy.”
I wouldn’t argue with her there, but this particular comedy was rumored to bebarelyPG. “Wholesome AF” and “funny high school humor” weren’t circles in a ven diagram that overlapped ninety nine times out of a hundred.
We arranged our four mats in a little square and chatted about strawberries until Keon arrived. He settled behind me and leaned on his elbow so he wasn’t blocking the view of the other dragons. “Helena. Kira.”
Kira smiled at him. “Keon. And no, Helena, I don’t think so.”
“Don’t think what?”
“I’d go to Homeworld if I could. Earth’s my home, and I’m not giving up on humanity. Maybe I could still help them in a few hundred years.” She shrugged.
Keon gave me a wary look. “What now?”
“Oh, Helena just asked if I could go to Homeworld tomorrow—tolive—if I would. I’ve been thinking about it. Wouldyougo?”
Keon painted over his brow furrows with his best human charm. “You happen to know of a way to get to Homeworld by morning?”
Kira giggled. “Nope! Not that I think it would matter anyway. I don’t know how many dragonsreallywant to leave.”
“No?” I asked.
“Earth is our home,” she said. “I mean… it’s not. Not really. But I think a lot of dragons won’t actually want to leave.”
“So they’d rather conquer Earth,” I said dryly.
“I didn’t say that. And I didn’t say I had a good solution. That’s why I wish there was a way tointroduce ourselves!”
“Should have done it about five hundred years ago when humanity would have been easier to tame.” This talk about the dragons notwantingto go to Homeworld? Fresh nightmare fuel. If there was a Gate, they could go back and forth. A ship? A ship was forever.
She sighed. “Yeah….”
Keon masked over his exasperation. None of my consorts especially liked Kira very much. Akoni considered her the dragon equivalent of a Golden Retriever with a barking habit, she’d instantly dismissed Keon as a potential dance partner due to his lack of magic, and, of course, Auryn…
Kira was messy, clueless, privileged, spoiled, and an overly-enthusiastic humanity fangirl, but she was also genuinely kind, considerate, worked hard, and wassmart. Nobody had ever accused Kira of being a nepo-baby or idiot.
Akoni slipped in just as the movie started and the lights dimmed. The movie was fairly standard tween/teenager high school fare from a studio that specialized in that kind of thing, so it was wholesome and the main cast looked like thirteen year olds, but also succeeded in being legitimately funny in that nostalgic cringe way. The dragons seemed to appreciate the humor built around a bake sale competition.
But the tween puppy-love romance angle horrified the dragon audience, and at the very end, when the couple (finally) held hands and one quickly kissed the other on the cheek of the other at the bake sale, everyone gasped. Akoni practically sputtered and Kira had her mouth covered.
“Um…” I looked around.
“Scandalous,” Keon told me.
“That was the most cringe-chaste thing I’ve ever seen. And totally unrealistic. No way in hell a thirteen year old has the guts to steal a cheek-kiss in public.”
“That wasvulgar,” Akoni said indignantly. “Who permits children to form tethers! That’s disgusting.”
“I forgot who I was hanging out with,” I said while Keon snickered. All aboard the smut bus: hands were held. Cheeks were kissed.
