Luke’s coma did bear the benefit of giving Karyu more time to play with Michael and Agalia.
He had to play extra-nice with them, though, because he was receiving an unprecedented amount of public attention. For the first time, a Rider’s dragon’s name was getting to be known to the public: “Karyu, Hero Dragon.” Before this incident, the only humans that would call a dragon by name were their own Riders, other Riders in their squadrons, and their close friends and families. Officially, they were the nameless steeds of the brave men that rode them and harnessed their power. A dragon becoming famous in his own right was a new idea.
Also, the sudden increased availability of dragons had resulted in a newfound demand for new Riders, and the kingdom was running out of privileged youth that were also physically fit enough to become Riders, leading to the sons of craftsmen and merchants—and even especially virile peasant children and orphans—being considered.
With Michael perched between his wings and Agalia nestled up on his collarbone, Karyu again recounted the adventure to yet another bard and his apprentice: “It really was not a battle at all, which is what I have been trying to tell to everybody. The new dragons are coming of their own free will.”
“But they are savage beasts!” said the bard’s apprentice.
Karyu nodded. “Yep. Savage, naked brutes that rut in the open, who in the wild beat and claw each other to death in territorial battles or for mating privileges, who often starve from having overhunted our own land, who...well, freedom sounds glamourous in a poem, but is it really freedom if we can’t opt-out and have a nice, quiet, domesticated life with a family if we want to? Besides, being confined to a tiny, overhunted territory and being at risk of violent death if one strays outside it is just a roofless prison.”
“It’s kind of hard to create a poem about,” the bard’s apprentice noted. “Practical ideas seldom take well to verse.”
“Then sing about what you see,” Karyu said. “That’s easy.”
“You playing with your Rider’s child, Michael?”
“His two children. Agalia has a name, too.”
This particular bard and apprentice duo was at least a little bit less dense than others, whose eyes would cloud over dumbly. These were asking good questions, which Karyu liked a little better. They stayed for several more hours while Rebecca entertained several other visitors in the house, while also attempting to care for Luke.
As the guests began retiring for the evening, Karyu went again to visit with Luke, and he found: