Chapter 13
Rose found Tanner wandering from room to room. He jotted down details and sketched pictures in his notebook of the tapestries, the architecture, and even the people. “This place is amazing. It’s a treasure trove of symbolism, history, and art. I could spend the rest of my career studying these people and this planet and never get bored.”
“You won’t have a chance to do that, so get as much of it recorded as you can. What do you make of these tapestry patterns?”
“They appear to be stylized depictions of natural phenomenon. Take a look at this. It’s clearly a copy of a tree, and these fronds represent the unfolding of organic patterns found in nature. The Krataks seem to be experts at characterizing the world around them.”
“How do you explain the same patterns appearing under their skin?”
“I don’t explain it. I’m an anthropologist. You’re the doctor and the physiologist here. How do you explain it?”
“I can’t explain it, either. If I had to take a stab at it, I would say these artistic creations are copies of their skin patterns, not organic phenomenon found in nature.”
“That’s a very interesting theory. I’d like to hear you discuss that with one of the Krataks and see their reaction. I would also be very interested to hear what theory you put forward to explain how they came to display these patterns under their skin in the first place. Which came first, the patterns or their skin? Did they develop as people first, and then evolve these patterns as some kind of camouflage, or did the patterns create the people? Maybe the people are a later manifestation of the pattern seeking to express itself through the medium of their physiology.”
“Now who’s putting forward physiological theories? You stick to your anthropology, Mister.”
“And you stick to your physiology, Doctor.”
His words made Rose think. She went back to her room to do some work of her own. She compiled her notes, but she kept a secret diary, separate from the notebooks she planned to turn in when she reported to the Allied Command. In her own personal diary, she recorded her observations on the dual physiology of the Kratak dragon-hybrid.
The ability to shift back and forth between dragon and person posed an interesting problem for her as a doctor. The others might never find out about it, but it sparked her professional curiosity. How could a person of any gender possess two so diametrically opposed physiologies as well as the ability to shift back and forth between them at will?
How did they shift? What mechanism did they use to shoot fire out of their mouths? A thousand questions nagged her, and the longer she studied the problem, the more obsessed she became with answering them. She could think of only one source of information to get her questions answered: Rohn.
She went in search of him and found him outside on the parapet where she first saw Ben walking with Asya. Rohn gazed out over the mountains in a contemplative attitude Rose had never seen before. “Am I disturbing you?”
“Not at all. You are welcome to any part of this Keep. You know that. This is a lovely spot. It breeds deep thought for those who seek it.”
“I don’t need places like this to breed deep thought. Actually, I came here looking for you.”
“Then you have found me.”
“I want to ask you some questions about... about your dragon self. I don’t know what else to call it.”
“What you just said is fine. What would you like to ask me?”
“I’m the only one of our team who knows the truth, and I’m a doctor. I’m supposed to be finding out all about how your bodies work, and this dragon business presents certain problems.”
“For you, it presents problems. For us, it is normal. By the way, I want to congratulate you on how you’ve managed to keep our secret. You’ve done very well, much better than I anticipated.”
“What did you think would happen? Did you think I would cave in the minute anyone asked me about what happened?”
“Yes. That’s exactly what I thought. I didn’t think you would be able to hold your tongue once you got around your friends, especially your sister.”
“Well, don’t congratulate me yet. She’s a whiz at finding out when someone is hiding something and discovering what they’re hiding. She’s bound to find out sooner or later.”
“I expect she will.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“I see her getting closer to Damen. Maybe he will reveal himself to her.”
“You don’t really think anything could develop between them, do you?”
“Why not? Something developed between you and me.”
“That was before I learned the truth about you. I doubt anything will happen between us now.”
“Why wouldn’t it?”
“Because you’re a dragon. I don’t want to give my body to a dragon.”
He examined her with searching eyes. “Look at me. I’m a man. You wouldn’t be giving yourself to a dragon. You would be giving yourself to me, the way you already have, twice.”
“But you’re not a man—at least, you’re not only a man. You’re....something I can’t explain.”
“Maybe I can explain it to you. Ask me your questions, and I will try to answer them.”
“Okay. How did you develop the ability to shift back and forth between your dragon form and the form of a man?”
“I have no idea. We’ve been like this since the dawn of recorded history.”
“What happens when you mate with each other?”
“You’ve seen that for yourself. It happens the same way.”
“So, you don’t mate in your dragon form?”
“Maybe some people do. I really don’t know. Most everyone I know mates in their ordinary forms as man and woman.” His eyes twinkled. “That seems to be the most effective way.”
“What about when a baby is born? Is it born as a baby or as a dragon?”
“As a baby.”
“And when do people start to understand their abilities? When does a child learn about its dual nature?”
“There is no secret. Children shift back and forth involuntarily from the time they’re born. They grow up seeing others shift. They grow up hearing their relatives talking about it. They grow up seeing their dragon relatives fly away to hunt in the forest and fly back carrying prey for the Clan to eat. They hear the stories and sing the songs. No one keeps it a secret from them, that they should have to learn about it at a certain time. No one could keep it a secret if they tried. It’s normal. It’s natural. It’s the way we are.”
“You aren’t doing any of those things here.”
“No, we agreed to keep it a secret from you, and we don’t have any young children around. That’s why we agreed to take you, because it would be easier for a small number of us to refrain from taking dragon form as long as you remained in our Keep. It would be a lot harder for Clan Prowiss to make that commitment, when they have so many more people coming and going all the time.”
“I understand. I would be interested in studying your physiology when you do change. I would like to examine you in your dragon form and study exactly what happens to you when you change.”
“We can do that. I can change for you right now, if you like.”
“Aren’t you worried about one of my teammates coming along and seeing you?”
“Then we could do it out in the forest or in one of the lower levels of the Keep that they don’t know about.”
“You would show them to me? If you haven’t shown them to me before now, I’m guessing you planned to keep them a secret from us, too.”
“We did, but you know the truth about us and you’ve gone much farther to keep that secret than I ever would have expected you to. I trust you. I would take you there and show you whatever you want to see. It would be easy for me.”
She knitted her fingers together. “Just one more question.”
“Go ahead.”
“You told me the women of your people can stop themselves from getting pregnant until they are married and settled.”
“That’s true.”
“Do the men have the same ability? Can they control their fertility and decide which women to impregnate and which not?”
His eyes widened. “Why do you ask that?”
She shifted from one foot to the other. “Our people do not have that ability. If we mate with someone at the right time in our fertility cycle, we can get pregnant. We cannot decide to allow ourselves to get pregnant or not.”
“How odd! So why are you telling me this?”
Rose flew at him with her arms waving. “Because! I can get pregnant, and I had sex with you when I was fertile. I have an implant that causes a chemical reaction with human sperm to stop me getting pregnant, but I don’t know if it will work with you. I could get pregnant from you. What would happen to me then?”
He stroked his chin. “I guess you would have a baby.”
“I would have a baby that is half-human and half-dragon. I would have a baby that could shift from baby to dragon and back again whenever it didn’t get what it wanted. Can you imagine what a nightmare that would be?”
He put his arms around her. “Not as much of a nightmare as what every father and mother on Kratak has gone through. I’ve seen it hundreds of times.”
“Seen what—kids turning into dragons and spitting fire all over the place and snapping their jaws at anyone who comes near them?”
“Yes. Exactly. Just like that.”
Rose let her head drop into her hands and groaned. “I don’t think I can handle this.”
“What is there to handle? What you’re describing is perfectly normal. Every parent has to deal with it, and they understand because they’ve been through it themselves. They have their own parents and relatives to help out. No one goes through it alone.”
“If I got pregnant and I took that child back to the Allies, I would be going through it alone.”
He froze, and his face went very cold and hard. “Is that what this is all about? You’re worried what would happen if you had a child of Kratak and took it back to the Allies?”
“Wouldn’t you be worried about it, if you were in my place?”
“You forget, Rose. If you had a child, that child would belong to me just as much as it does you, if not more so. The Ingasores would be its people, and it would grow up with much more love and understanding for its true nature here than it would among the Allies. Even you must acknowledge that.”
“I don’t deny it, but how could I leave my child behind to be raised by Ingasores? How could I leave the planet without it?”
“Then don’t leave the planet. Stay. We could raise the child together—if such a child was ever to be born, that is.”
She stared at him. She could hardly conceive what he was talking about. Stay here—with him? Impossible! Yet how could she deny the truth of his words? Any child of Kratak would suffer untold tortures if she took it back to the Allies. She was a doctor. No one understood that better than she did.
Such a child would be studied and isolated and made to feel what a freak it was. Such a child would bring down the Allies on this planet like nothing else. They would invade, not with soldiers and phase cannons, but with scientists just like herself. They would leave the Ingasores—and her child—no peace until they got all the answers they wanted.
She closed her eyes and turned away. She couldn’t think about this. For all she knew, she was genetically incompatible with Rohn and they could never conceive a child. All of this could be wild conjecture.
She didn’t know it when she broached the subject, but this innocent conversation opened the floodgates to a new understanding in Rose’s heart. She allowed herself to imagine all sorts of potential scenarios she never considered before.
If the Allies found out about her hypothetical child and they would invade Kratak with scientists to find out what made these dragon people tick, what was stopping them from doing the same thing now? When you really got down to brass tacks, what was the difference between such an invasion and this team’s scientific mission?
The Allies sent this team to Kratak to find out about the native people’s physiology, their customs, their history and family relationships. Why? What function could that information serve to the Allied Command, if not to provide them with intelligence about the population on the planet, their strengths and weaknesses, how prepared they might be to join or not join the Alliance, or to fight back if it came to that.
Rohn’s words flooded back into her mind. What possible reason could the Allies have to send an embassy to a planet to convince a people to join the Allies when they didn’t really want to? The Allies used their economic strength, their political connections, and their advanced technology and medical service to coerce vulnerable populations to come under their sway. The Allies didn’t have to use their military might when they had other weapons at their disposal.
Rose spoke the truth when she told Rohn the Allies didn’t invade and force people to join them. They preferred manipulation, bait and switch tactics, and subterfuge to gain control of populations and resources they wanted to control. When the Allies set their sights on a planet or people they wanted, they never let anyone get away. In the end, everyone joined.
For the first time in her career, Rose admitted to herself the awful fact that she had played a crucial part in several of these covert conquests. Now she was doing the same thing on Kratak. She was in command of an advanced force bent on penetrating Kratak’s defenses. The Ingasores opened their doors to a scientific team, not knowing they were inviting the Allies to dinner.
She walked away from Rohn, deep in thought. She didn’t see him following her.
Rohn had revealed to her—to her! —their most closely guarded secret. Whatever brilliant mind came up with the strategy to hide the Ingasores’ dragon nature from the Allies, she, Rose, was the most dangerous member of their team to come into possession of it. If she revealed the secret to the Allies, Kratak was done for.
Yet Rohn trusted her. The smart thing to do would have been to kill her as soon as she found out the secret, or to let Rahni kill her. He never should have brought her back alive from Rahni’s nest. She knew too much.
He had brought her back, though, at great risk to himself. Why had he done that? Not because he thought she would or could bear his child. He did it because he cared for her, because he valued her, because he wanted her to live. In the final analysis, she could think of only one reason he did it. He wanted her to share the secret. He wanted her to know the truth about him. He wanted her to know who and what he really was, not some charade his family put on for the short time she stayed in their Keep.