Reunion

John and Meghan are reunited, and agree to put the past behind them to make a fresh start.

John was not having a good time. In fact, he admitted to himself, as he rested sore shoulders on his third day of travel, that this entire mess was a whole load of male cows and manure. Not that he was particularly angry over the turn of events which now sent him to the dragons' castle of which he had been told the night his children had been born. But as he walked over to take a drink, and once more spotted his altered reflection, he fervently wished his dream visitor had been a bit more bloody forthcoming!

Two days later, he arrived at the dragons' castle, and there he encountered a problem. He didn't want to alarm Meghan too much, but the curse which had claimed him wouldn't allow him to shift his form. In the end, he perched on a rock and called out a greeting. The sound which emerged from his muzzle was quite startling to him, but the high-pitched, fluting whistle caught the attention of a green dragon with a white, feathered crest on its head, and John had to refrain from flinching. The creature was huge! 'Um, I'm here because I, uh, was called,' he said lamely. 

The green dragon nodded. 'We've been expecting you,' it said. 'Are you hungry?'

John's stomach chose that moment to grumble, and if he could've blushed, he probably would have gone red from the tip of his muzzle to the tip of his tail. 'Yes,' he admitted. 

'Then climb on,' the green dragon offered, lowering its neck. John hopped on and, at his new mount's invitation, dug his foreclaws in. 'I'm Jeela, by the way,' it added. 'It's a pleasure to finally meet you.'

John nodded as Jeela took flight. 'It's very nice to meet you,' he said. 'Is Meghan okay?'

'She's doing wonderfully,' Jeela assured him. 'You can probably see her in the courtyard. There she is.'

Sure enough, Meghan was indeed in the enormous courtyard, and he swallowed nerves as Jeela came in for a smooth landing. 'There you go. Now, mind your manners. That green dragon she's talking to with the glasses is a historian, and he's a stickler for courtesy. Don't rile him up, or he'll have you for breakfast!' With that last admonition, Jeela took off, and John paused, nerves causing his stomach to roil as he anxiously groomed his scales. He hoped and prayed that, if nothing else, he and Meghan could be friends. With all that he'd learned about his heritage, he knew Meghan would probably have no real cause to care for him any more. Not that her own family had covered themselves in glory, with all that terrible business about the unicorns, and John admitted, as he finished his grooming, that he wasn't entirely sure about his own feelings towards Meghan. They did share an ancestor, and that ancestor had been downright cruel to his kind, leaving just him and his ancient grandsire as the only remaining members. 

But as Meghan looked up and exclaimed in surprise at seeing him, relief and wonder in her eyes, John decided to put his sour feelings aside. His mother had had a saying she was very fond of using. "Don't let the sins of your fathers define who you are," she'd said. "You're not them. You're you, and you can easily change your course based on what you believe is right, not what your fathers led you to believe."

With his mother's advice in his ears, John flew over to Meghan, landing on her hand with a feeling of vast relief. 'I know this is unorthodox,' he admitted, 'but damn it all, it's so very good to see you again.'

Meghan had no idea how to react to the sight of the tiny white dragon whom Jeela had brought in. He was no bigger than her hand, but with his golden wings, horns, and the delicate golden spine running along his back, he was actually quite a beautiful little creature. Even his claws were golden, and despite his minuscule stature, Meghan could easily see the resemblance to the elder, who would no doubt be pleased beyond words at seeing his last surviving heir. She held out her hand, letting out a soft breath as he landed on her palm, glad her lost betrothed had finally come back to her. 'I know this is unorthodox,' he said, looking up at with her with huge golden eyes - huge for his size, at any rate - 'but damn it all, it's so very good to see you again.'

"Likewise," Meghan said, smiling through an unexpected burst of tears. "You look well, but I can't imagine your flight here would've been easy. You're so tiny!"

John actually managed to look sheepish. 'No idea how this happened,' he admitted. 'But when my triplets were born - yes, I am the father - I felt this... thing come over me, and I shrieked like a girl when I saw myself in the mirror. But then I had a sort of living dream, and I was given the short run of events which led up to today.' He sighed. 'I can't say I like what our mutual ancestor did, and I admit to a bit of sourness when I saw you again. But then I realised that you and I aren't Angevin and Hanover. We're John and Meghan, and we have a chance to finally put to right that wrong which was did to us all those years ago.'

Meghan nodded as she gently stroked his spine, earning a dragonish purr from him. "I do feel partly responsible, since I'm descended from that idiot as well," she said. "But if you're willing to let it pass, then I'm willing to make all the amends I need to."

'Gods, no, don't ever feel that,' John chastised. 'My mother used to say that we're not our fathers, and we can make our own course. So don't feel like you've got anything to make up. You suffered as well, don't forget. But let's not go comparing who had it worse. We've both suffered, but our long-distant b*****d ancestors are gone, and we can make a fresh start.'

"I'm very agreeable to that," Meghan said, relieved beyond words that she and John could make a fresh start. "Were you told of the bargain?"

'Yes,' John said, looking sheepish as his stomach rumbled again. 'But can we suspend all negotiations until after I've eaten? I've lived most of my new life on berries and mice, and I'm really in need of something a bit more substantial.'

Meghan nodded as she stood, letting John scramble up her arm and onto her shoulder. "Good idea," she said, as he settled down on her shoulder, curled up companionably against her neck. He was actually quite warm, she realised, but it was a pleasant warmth, like the sun on your back, and she decided she liked this very much. "Kindal makes some very nice cinnamon cakes. He won't share the recipe, but he's very proud of them."

'Kindal might have a new fan,' John surmised, and Meghan giggled as she excused herself to Eemris, who waved her off with a gentle rumble. He'd courteously withdrawn during her reunion with John, and he had the good sense and the patience to know that history always waited. Eemris also had the feeling, as he watched Meghan hurry from the courtyard with John, that a new history was being born. He'd sensed it the moment John had reunited with Meghan, and he decided now was a good time to go talk to the elder and bring him up to date. He was rather looking forward to seeing how this new story unfolded. 

Author's Note

What do you think?