Luke and Karyu listened amusedly as Vrack and Anija quarreled with each other. "You just had to go and play matchmaker, didn't you?" Luke said wryly.
Karyu made a shrugging motion with his wings, and he turned his head to preen.
(((Hitchhiker's Guide-style lecture, just to be clear on the significance of this gesture:
- The reason for this gesture was related to the fact that dragons of all kinds all had varying degrees of similarity with birds, reptiles, mammals, amphibians, and fish.
- On a side-note, dragons were also a lot like horses, including in the construction of their genitals. The reason for this was literally the fact that they were half-centaur. Dragons, because they were six-limbed, really had two chests and therefore two collarbones. However, this constituted a lot of internal anatomy that it would have taken a scholar to really describe. After all, they did not look like centaurs. However, many parts of their anatomy would only be possible if they were closely related to centaurs. Therefore, dragons actually did have disproportionately large penises for their already large size, very much like horses, and also like horses, they tended to make obedient mounts, once broken to the saddle. All horses revered their herd-stallions and worshiped them as god-kings, and ones broken to the saddle likewise worshiped their Riders as god-kings, although this did not deter them from being sassy when it suited them. They preferred to cut up and misbehave in the present and then confess their sins later, knowing they would always be forgiven, with caresses and soft-spoken words, just as long as they did not press the envelope too much.
- Anyhow, while eastern dragons did not require preening, this was partly because they had inherited the capability of centaurs to produce sweat, or at least ones that voluntarily flew above water did. Ones that had not inherited this capability needed to remain submersed in the water, since they were part-fish. Consequently, the ones that did fly through the air not only did not become injured from not being submersed in water, but they also did not require any degree of preening. However, bathing them was important, or they would smell like transvestite Indian hookers that had not bathed in a while.
- Karyu, though, was a western dragon that was related to a cross between a griffon and a basilisk that had produced a type of two-legged wyvern; he therefore needed routine preening in order to keep his scales soft to the touch, and dragons in the wild engaged in social grooming behavior. Preening was important in western draconic social behavior because to be preened could mean many things. From a more dominant creature to a more submissive one, it was to be treated with compassion, and it was used to reward gestures of submission. While being submissive to a weaker member of a flight was unwise and invited bullying, being submissive to the strongest tended to deter it. From a more submissive creature to a more dominant one, it was to be treated with dignity and recognized as having status. Those dragons that attempted to be dominant while not having strength to back it up, then, tended to suffer while those that did tended to have dozens of followers fawning over them, whereas a more submissive one could, if he chose his leader wisely, dependably get a moderate amount of care. Being submissive, then, implied that one was inclined to trade on being an astute analyst of future potential, rather than fight one’s way to the top.
- This was why confession was such an important ritual, between dragons and their Riders. Luke, being his Rider, performed the effect of preening by rubbing down Karyu's hide every evening with a mixture of tallow, beeswax, olive oil, and the fragrances of various softly scented flowers as his reward for giving his confession. Being groomed routinely after an act of total submission--by laying his soul naked for Luke--reinforced Karyu's status as a mount, whose place in the world was to obey. Confession and the subsequent grooming was really a gentle process, but it utterly negated dragons being able to lie to their Riders voluntarily or engage in any serious act of disobedience, beyond a sassy gesture or friendly tease.
- To turn one's head and preen oneself, then, was a gesture of offended or jeopardized dignity, and it was the equivalent of giving someone the middle-finger. Therefore, Karyu preened.)))
Luke rolled his eyes. "Keep being smug like that, and I might leave you unsatisfied after tonight's rub-down," he grumbled. "Let's see how sassy you are after sleeping with a fat, throbbing boner, you miserable cockatrice."
Karyu quickly turned his head, with his eyes wide in half-serious and half-feigned horror. "Well, at least now they fuck after their arguments, rather than spending days being sullen."
"But now, they argue constantly, in order to give themselves energy to fuck, which is practically all they do now when off-duty and not asleep. How you dragons can fuck twenty-five times a day is something I cannot understand," Luke pointed out. "Of course, I will admit that hearing their rimshots has gotten to be an amusing background noise," he added as Anija shot off with a string of memorable remarks that had a couple of nearby courtiers pulling out their clay tablets to take notes.
As they entered the throne room, the party became respectfully shushed, and they all knelt before Adam and Sephira. Like all hens, Sephira had a hopeless crush on Karyu, who--tragically for her--only had eyes for Luke, his Rider.
Adam called for Vaestro to come forward and give his report, regarding the Kilin. This was something that Vaestro had sent to Adam a magically transmitted scroll, which Anija, being an eastern dragon, was uniquely capable of performing as a part of her magic. Written messages were, after all, very important in the magic of eastern dragons. It would therefore be Vaestro's duty, as his Rider, to come forward and further explain the contents of the scroll.
Vaestro had also formed a tight bond with Ethel, who had had a perilous upbringing among feral dragons. What Vaestro had learned from Ethel was that the reason why kilin were so rare was that they could only be produced by a union between a male dragon and a human that had been magically transformed from a man into a woman, which left enough residual magic in them to make the offspring possible. Since Adam and his successors would be needing kilin bodyguards, this created a need for a human volunteer and a draconic voluntold.
"I am afraid it cannot be me," Vaestro said. "My dragon, Vrack, is now completely monogamous with his lifemate, Anija."
"Congratulations, Vrack and Anija," said Adam, being happy to deliver his blessing to their union in spite of the inconvenience imposed by it. The two drakes flushed happily from Adam's blessing, bowing their heads together in recognition of it. In the kingdom, Adam's blessing was as good and as binding as a marriage, and Adam could both order and negate them, being an absolute monarch.
Karyu and Luke looked at each other, being the only male human coupled with a male dragon that was available. "I take it that this will be my own responsibility?" Luke asked tentatively.
Adam nodded. "Luke and Karyu, you have two alternatives. Either Luke can become a woman himself, with the aid of combining the forces of draconic magic and human witchcraft, or you can find substitutes, among our kingdom, that might be willing to do this in your place. If you choose the alternative of finding substitutes, though, then you must find a man that is willing to become a woman, by the aid of magic, and then receive the seed of a dragon enough times to insure fertilization, which will be an arduous duty requiring a full month of constant courting until it is undeniable that the union has been successful and productive. You can take on this duty yourself, but I do warn you that it is one that will require dedication."
Luke decides...