Redux: Lineage

"Not meaning to insult you here," Luna said, eyeing up myself and Svea as she sat down at the war table. "But you have done infinitely better than I thought you could have. I put you in a location that I was sure only had two forces you could ally with and you've managed to pull another two out of nowhere. I suspected Angela might help out... but this? Could not have seen this coming."

"Thanks, Aunt Luna," I said, smiling at the older woman before turning back to Svea. "You need a drink or something?"

"I'm fine, thank you," she said with a shake of her head, soon turning her eyes to the others at the table. "May I ask your names?"

"I'm Zane."

"Call me Annerose."

"My name is Grael."

"You can talk?" Svea asked the enormous Direwolf with a confused expression. "I've never come across that before."

"Among other things, speech is one trick I possess," he nodded. "If you hang around longer, I can assure you that you'll be even more amazed."

"I thought we agreed on no flirting?" I asked him.

"I wasn't flirting!" Grael snapped. "I was merely informing her to expect to run into wild and strange-"

"Would those 'wild and strange' things happen to be in your bedroom?"

"We're not having this conversation," Grael snarled, turning his nose up at me.

"Indeed we aren't," Luna said, quickly getting the conversation back on rails. "So, Svea, you're here to be our whistleblower, so to speak?"

"I am," she nodded. "I'm ready to answer any and all questions you have about our former Matriarch."

"Right, what exactly is a Matriarch?" Zane asked. "In terms of dragons, that is; is it the same as ours?"

"The Matriarch, also known as a Grand Matriarch, is the highest power in our... kingdom, so to speak," Svea explained, scratching the back of her head. "It's rather hard to describe... dragons have rather strange hierarchies compared to humans, Elves, and the like. We do not all live in a singular kingdom, as you do, and instead we live all across the world separately. But we all must answer the call of the Matriarch, or the Council, should they summon us and we then converge at the Citadel."

"What does the council do?" Annerose asked.

"They act more as a... secondary command to the Matriarch," Svea went on. "They are the ones addressed with issues by other dragons, debate them between themselves, and then take them to the Matriarch for approval."

"Basic council stuff," Luna nodded. "I know when Celestia came to blows with Heimili, she was still the Matriarch. What got the leader of your entire race banished by everyone else?"

"Egg-smashing," Svea said, the weight of the action conveyed perfectly by the heaviness in her tone. "She deemed six clans... unworthy to continue. Went to a hatchery and smashed over two hundred eggs... so many hatchlings to never have their chance at life."

"Fuck," Luna said in an extremely surprised tone. "I knew Heimili was unstable before... but what the hell drove her to commit such a crime?"

"We still do not know," Svea sighed. "She showed no signs of insanity beforehand. She ruled and guided as any Matriarch would... and the next we knew she was stomping on the children of her own people and razing hatcheries in a manner too calm for any sane person to do so. She did not rant nor rave, she did not scream or give any signs of frustration... she merely spoke of how these eggs were unworthy to grace this world and that their lesser genes must be purged."

"So how long did it take for the riots to start?" Luna asked. "Because, Matriarch or not, there's not a chance your people would let her get away with that."

"She faced retribution in force," Svea nodded. "She was viciously savaged from every dragon gathered there... even from members of the Council. Blood, breath, and bone... my mother was there to witness it, trying to help the grieving mothers cope with what they had seen."

"Your mother's a Priestess, right?" I asked Svea. "What exactly is that? For your people, I mean. I don't remember dragons having gods."

"More of a worship of the world we live in than a deity," Svea answered. "We are all creatures of the elements, and thus we worship the elements in this world. Offer thanks and praise to the mountains, the air, the water, and all others. My mother, as a Priestess, often looks over the shrines we keep in dedication to the elements of this world, giving offerings of power to each shrine every day and night, so that they may never forsake us."

"Strange," I said.

"Some people worship cows, Richter," Luna said. "It's not your place to judge."

"Fair enough," I shrugged. "So, egg-smashing... what then?"

"She was obviously subdued, tried, and banished from our society forever," Svea went on. "There wasn't a dragon in our entire race willing to speak on her behalf, so the punishment was handed down swift and heavy."

"So who gets to call the shots now?" Zane asked. "Do you guys work on a lineage system or what?"

"The next Matriarch is selected from a list of accomplished dragonesses," Svea answered. "The new Matriarch is a very old one named Kriger. She's seen more than her fair share of strife and political unrest, as well as handled her own in many a gruelling battle. She was the perfect choice to replace Heimili."

"Any idea what set her off?" I asked.

"Nothing beyond her justification," Svea said with a heavy shake of her head. "'Purification of the bloodlines.' That was her sole reason."

"A task that is only ever appreciated by those who result from it," Luna said, shaking her head slowly. "It's the best thing a species can do for itself. It's just a shame that it's one of the most disgusting practices known to those living and only performed by soulless monsters."

"That sounds like you've experienced that kind of thing before," Zane said, looking at Luna.

"Because I've seen both the act and the result," Luna said, memories running through her mind. "Saw those deemed unworthy by the ruling minds carted off to be executed in the thousands. Streets ran red with the blood of thousands during public execution parties, watched by those deemed worthy by the crown."

"Fuck," I said in a low tone.

"Both Celestia and I were forced to keep a smile on our face and dine with the ruling party that night," Luna said, gritting her teeth and clenching her fist in residual anger. "I've never had to try so hard to not murder someone in my entire life."

"Why didn't you?" Annerose asked. "I'd have slaughtered the entire fucking family if I was there."

"Because war would've broken out. They had allies, we had allies, and we would've ended up losing so much more life during the conflict," Luna sighed. "Celestia and I went over this for hours in our rooms in the embassy. As much as it hurt to do so, we couldn't respond to the sacrifice of thousands of lives by sacrificing a few hundred thousand more. Despite how easily we could've won, the cost wasn't worth it."

"So you just let them get away with it?" Annerose asked, clearly angry at their complacency.

"I hate the fact I need to answer yes..." Luna nodded, a sarcastic laugh soon falling from her pursed lips. "I went back there a few hundred years later after the throne had changed families a few times. The place was a fucking utopia. Streets full of the most beautiful, intelligent, and well-bred people you've ever seen. Physical disabilities were practically non-existent and everyone was in peak physical condition."

"Really?" Grael asked.

"Yeah... like I said before, that kind of thing is the best thing you can ever do for a race," Luna said with a heavy heart. "But it's disgusting and a crime against nature. To kill so many innocents because they don't fit your standards... it sickens me to the stomach."

"So you can understand why our people were so quick to cast Heimili out," Svea said, staring at the table with a sickened expression. "From what I know of her... she never used to be like this."

"Never used to be a stuck-up, racist supremacist?" Annerose asked, leaning forward with a cocked eyebrow. "If that's not the case, then how was she even a dragon?"

"I mean she was never heartless enough to do this to her own kind," Svea said, clearly angered by Annerose's chiding.

"Oh, but it's completely fine when she slaughters our children, isn't it?" Annerose continued.

"I don't support that kind of behaviour in any way-" Svea began.

"But the rest of you walking handbags are more than content to let your psychopath burn down our villages and slaughter our people, so long as she doesn't do it in their neck of the woods?"

"Annerose!" I snapped, glaring at the younger woman with an angered expression. "We're not here to bring up how shitty the dragons are as people. We're all here to take Heimili down, and you driving a wedge into the team when there doesn't need to be one really isn't helping."

"Do... do you truly think we're all rotten?" Svea asked with a hurt expression on her face, her voice quiet and meek.

"You're honestly the first dragon I've ever heard of that doesn't masturbate to its own reflection, Svea," I said, hitting her with brutal honesty right out the gate.

"I'm not too familiar with any stories of dragons and humans getting along too well," Zane added.

"Your race does have quite a negative stigma surrounding it, Svea," Grael said in a comforting tone. "And while you're certainly more pleasant than others of your ilk... it doesn't change the fact that they're not well-liked by mortal folks."

Svea was silent for a long second, tracing a knot in the wood with a soft finger. She soon sighed loudly, shaking her head and knocking a lock of long, blue hair free from her fringe.

"I had hoped that the view of my people was not this toxic," she said in a downtrodden tone. "It seems I truly have my work cut out for me if I wish to forge a bridge between our races."

"Then start with us," I said, placing a hand on her shoulder and smiling gently. "If you manage to convince four of the most prejudiced people in the world, then there won't be a soul you can't convince."

"You're too kind," Svea said, giving me a look from the corner of her eye and a small smirk. "I've yet to do anything to convince you of my skills."

"I've got a feeling you can work miracles with that mouth of yours," I said with a shrug.

"Oh?" she asked, cocking an eyebrow and giving me a wry smile.

"Alright, you two," Luna said, snapping her fingers and getting our attention back. "I don't want you babymaking on the war table, so keep it all tucked away until you're on your own time."

"Haven't a clue what you're talking about," Svea said with a shrug, leaning forward and resting her chin on her interlocked fingers. "Now, where were we?"