The Dragon and the Hybrid

(6) Moon Eve

“Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.”

― Mark Twain

Rogan

In the middle of every month or sometimes during a full moon, I have a specific job that requires my particular talents. My father and I do some smithy jobs from locals like repairing some hoe's or sickles or metal rods for fishing, perhaps even a pole or two. There are even some requests for knives and swords a few times, and even though this is the age of incredible technology, this is still a poor port town. No one has the money to buy your essential electronic devices like a communicator around here; hence they need your necessary defense weapons at the very least.

During the full moon festival, we do it where people are too busy in town than in the clinic and lessen the chance of seeing my whole family outside the house. Mom enjoys the free time, but she sometimes watches us do our jobs, and Ragor is busy drawing or tending to his horses. He truly loves those horses, but it's also a mark of being a Draconi tamer.

He has an affinity to tame horses and wild Dragons in the volcanic rings that surround the country. Because of that, father and I thought of a befitting gift for him this year.

If we weren't in hiding, nine is the age of acceptance in the taming Draconi community. The honing of the voice inside you, urging you to tame a dragon. That voice is the magic in our blood that helps us bind the dragon to us, and because of that, the dragon would never be able to take on another rider until your death.

"Make sure that the bracelet is as designed," Dad points out to the paper he hanged on the post. It's a simple design of a silver bracelet. Still, there is the amethyst stone's embedding with ancient draconi letterings that we have to think about. "Wouldn't want our boy to feel left out."

I nod. My line of sight lands on my wrist, which is where my bracelet of acceptance is permanently placed. It's a tradition that females would have gold, and males would have silver. Hence, mine is gold with the same intricate amethyst writings and stones.

Mine was made by a master jeweler and blacksmith that trained Dad for a few months to do the same to any siblings that he and Mom would make. If I listen to his instructions, then we'll be able to make an identical one.

"Perhaps we should tell Arius of your gift," Dad says all of a sudden.

My hands drop the hammer and loudly hits the anvil. I jump in surprise, but thankfully the hammer didn't hit my foot. "What?"

Dad smiles. "I know that we've told you to hide it, but we can trust that boy."

"That boy?" I inhaled deeply. The simmering in my blood goes to a boil. My palms are heating up, and before Dad could see my burning palms, I shove it in the kiln where the lit coals could hide it. "Why do you trust him so much?"

Dad hums. His watchful eyes feel like holes burning on my face. "because I know him."

"What?" my head jerks up to meet his gaze in surprise. "You know him?"

He nods. "I didn't recognize him the first time, but now that I see him out and about, I realized who he is or rather was"

"Who was he?"

"I've seen his debut in society and a few balls before. I never thought someone as high as he would fall this way, but I shouldn't be surprised either" Dad pats my head. His lips are slowly frowning as he looks so distant. Perhaps, thinking of a life he once had where he had his family's adoration and protection. Where the two of us don't exist, it was a brief look, but something I'd remember forever. "Go easy on him, okay? He… might have had a harder life than the four of us combined."

I ignore the cold feeling of guilt inside me as I pull my hands from the hot coals and grabbed the hammer, "A high draconian noble who lost his inheritance. Doesn't sound so pitiful to me."

"Well, you won't understand the life in court, and I hope that you would never have to" He kisses the top of my head. Dad gives me that cryptic look again, which he only has whenever we talk about life at the capital or the past.

We all knew that he misses it even if he says that he'll choose this path again and again, but we can never ask him to forget his family truly. Mom always tries to bring it up in a conversation even though he gets mad in the end. She believed that missing something is useful rather than hurting yourself by forgetting it. Pain is normal. It reminds you that you're still a person, and with Draconi, losing yourself looms over everyone.

Indeed, I don't understand how hard it is to live in the court of Draconi nobles. I hope I never have to, but I wish I could understand it a little more with how Dad acts around it. All I know is the human aspect of the nobles. To humans, they're these pompous draconi's that made sure to remind us that they're better than humans.

"Go," Dad takes the hammer from my hands. "Your brother and mother are going to watch the fireworks. Go with them, and I'll finish up here."

"Are you sure?"

He nods. "Go"

"But Dad—"

"Go, your fires have done its job now." He lightly pushes me out of the way while smiling. His silver hair is glistening from the light. Why is Draconi hair so damn beautiful and eye-catching? "Your mother would be lonely if you weren't there with your brother."

He's giving me that no-nonsense look, and that's something I can't fight. He's as stubborn as Ragor when he wants something. I gave in, took the leather apron off of my body, and hung it on the hook behind the door.

Dad always does this when he wants to think. He prefers to do it when he's working on his own, and the only person he'll allow to be in the same room as him is Mom. I hesitated by the door. It's hard to leave him like this in the spiral of his thought.

"My spitfire, I'm okay," Dad grins at me. "You need to stop worrying about the whole family."

I smile. "I wish I have a button that stops me from doing so," I whisper. I didn't want Dad to hear that, but I quickly exited the barn even if he did.

The full moon is up and lit the surroundings enough for me to see. The three of us would be able to manage without a light, but my Mom is another matter. She's clumsy, and she often gets lost on her own, so Dad or I would go with her whenever we go out. Dad holds her hand to the point that it's cute as long as one of them is hooded.

Mom said that she'd watch the fireworks by the hill. The only place high enough to do so, and I feel that it would be my favorite tree. I wrap my arms around me not because I'm cold but because, at times, I feel like my head would explode with worry if I don't hold on to something.

My mother is worried that I have anxiety, and if I do have it, she'll blame herself if that ever becomes true. Perhaps, I do have it, and I would admit that but only to myself. My parents don't need to blame having a daughter with a rare gift and now with anxiety. It took a while for me to accept that, but if I denied it any longer, I wouldn't be able to hide it from my parents.

She'll think it's because of our lifestyle. She's right, but again I won't admit that. I've lived with this since I was a kid, which means I can live without anyone noticing.

I spot the small lantern on top of the hill. My eyes needed to adjust to the light again the moment that I got close. Mom had laid out blankets on the grass, and even a wicker basket that I gather has food.

Mom is sitting beside Arius with a glass of wine in her hands. Arius looks like he's nursing a drink of his own but wasn't as eager to tip it to his lips as my Mom is. She's smiling at the night sky, and I can even hear her humming from this distance. Ragor is at their feet, eagerly waiting for the fireworks to start.

"My firstborn!" Mom giggles. "How was being a blacksmith for the night?"

I smile at her. Trying hard to not look at Arius's direction, knowing full well I'd remember unnecessary things if I do so. "It was okay, and Dad wanted to be alone."

Sitting beside her, she wraps her arm around my waist, and I instinctively move closer to her. She gets cold quickly. "Hmm, your dad is deep in thought like always."

"Mom, I think you've had enough to drink" I sniff her to make sure, and I was right. The smell of alcohol just permeates the air around her, and she's rubbing it on me.

She sighs. "Yeah, I think I've had enough glasses. I can't be pissed if your Dad needs me."

"Ma, Dad always needs you," Ragor pipes.

"Yeah, and I need him," Mom's eyes twinkled from the light of the fire, or is it because of the alcohol? I'm not sure, but it's beautiful still. She turns to her other side, and that could only mean one person. "Arius, I'm just going to go get my husband before wrinkles would overtake that godly handsome man. Would you be a dear and guard these two? Who knows when their 'fight the authority' attitude would kick in? it's better to be safe than sorry now, isn't it?"

I hear Arius chuckle. "Yeah, it's better."

"Mom, if either of us would rebel, then the horses would've been gone," Ragor giggles.

Mom stands on her feet and brushes the phantom dirt off her skirt. "Exactly. We couldn't do our jobs then if we let that happen."

Without even looking back, Mom steps towards the barn with its kiln still blowing dark smoke. I've left on my own with a space of humans away from Arius, which means trouble. My mind immediately remembered that rainy night. Wrong timing, though. I can't let my family know what went on between us. He'll leave, and we would too; that's the best scenario for everyone—no need for any attachment.

"Sis, I'm just going to get water" He jumps to his feet and running towards the house before I can even react.

"Wait, do you have to?!" I shout after him

"I'll be quick! Shout if the fireworks are starting!"

He was already out of earshot when he finished his sentence, so it was useless to say anything back to him. I sigh as the silence between us settled like shifted sand. I refused to look at him, but - night is already weighing heavily on my mind and chest.

There was a moment of insanity that happened to me that night. A pull that asked me commanded me to go out in the rain like a madwoman who lost her goddamn mind. I couldn't explain it. I was resting in my room and bed, but then I had a peculiar dream.

Peculiar in the sense that I dreamt of Ragor's dragon that traveled during the storm. Low and behold, I woke up with a fright when thunder stroke just near my room. It felt close, like it's out of my window, and I know whatever it struck has singed because I could feel it. Anything warm that is caused by any kind of flames. I could feel like it's in me.

Ragor oddly didn't wake up, even after he's the reason I had that peculiar dream. Then the pull or longing to go out came to me out of nowhere—the rain calling out to me like a siren. Then I was there, seeing him shift back to human and soaked in the shower. Then there was only worry and my nerves. My nerves made me slip on the slippery grass and made him carry me back.

The odd atmosphere around us must stop. Letting it linger any longer would keep someone's hopes up, meaning my parents, or it'd disappoint them or anger them. I don't know, and I'm not willing to find out. Mustering the will to turn to him and say the words took an embarrassing amount. I did it.

"About that night—"

"Let's not talk about—"

Our gazes met. His amethyst eyes that glittered on their own like it emits its light pulls me. His lips parted slightly, and I don't know why my eyes noticed that upon a hundred other things.

"You don't want to talk about it?" He guesses. Head tilted to the side, and he leans his arms on his knees were bent in front of him. I hear the ice clinking in his glass.

"No, because just as you said, you'll leave and whatever that was... I was just concerned for your health" To keep myself busy and to avoid staring at him, I rummaged through the basket and pulled out a glass of the wine Mom was helping herself to.

He sighs. "That's right. I would leave soon."

Is it the madness again, or is that disappointment I hear? I don't peer into it any longer, though, as I take a sip and watch the night sky. I hear music and usual chatter from the town. There's a giant bonfire just outside of the little village, and small shadows of people gathered around it.

"Do you…ever wish that you were born normal?" the words were out before I even realized I said them. Though, I do wonder that. Most often than not.

He grunts. "More often than one might think"

I retake a sip. "Some are just born lucky, huh? To be normal and live a life with more choices and options than us."

"Humans are lucky."

"Oh, Draconi thinking highly of humans. A rare sight," I smile—the alcohol is buzzing in my veins.

"I like your smile."

My head whips in his direction that I should have whiplash. He's staring at me when he really should look at the sight in front of us. I brush off the compliment by ignoring it and finishing my glass of wine. Perhaps, alcohol is the answer to my overthinking and nerves.

"Sorry, but yes, anyone is lucky as long as they're not Draconi," he says after a few seconds of silence. "Humans included"

I put the glass back in the basket and sat back down. "Yeah, I guess even being half-human as long as you're Draconi, you'll still be unlucky."

"I don't think so."

"You don't?"

"you'll crawl and sneak around like a rat in the night. Taking what you can and living with what you must just so one day people wouldn't decide to kill you. You can't kill something you don't see every day."

"But you can go and leave this country. You'll be accepted…well, at least you'd be free like anyone compared to here."

We had that plan once. To leave this country and sail to another where we won't be as persecuted as much. We'll be free and perhaps lead an everyday life, but even I knew how cruel that would be for my Dad. His blood binds him to this country because his dragon is still here, his dragon that he can't take but is still bound to and dreams of at night. He could break the bond or leave the country, but Esaria would die in the process. One of his family's pride dragons as Esaria, was an ancient dragon that was thought to be a direct descendant of Aegir.

This was the last link to our ancestors. Dad has to die before the bond would break, and Esaria could still live. Mom thought it's better to stay than risk that as long as we live like this, never staying too long at one place and always moving.

"No, that would be cruel," I admit

"How?"

"because I love my family," then everything went dark.