The Strangers of Precedent

Singe took a breath of the private air for a moment. He hadn’t spent much time alone since coming to Earth. He wasn’t going to have it for long, but he could bask as he waited for his friend.

His time was swiftly interrupted with the rumbling of the ground as a fire dragon and its rider burst out.

As the two adjusted themselves, Singe gave a bow.

“Greetings, Lord Draco. Allow me to humbly welcome you to Precedent, Arizona, United States of America, of Earth.”

Draco Craddock looked much like his sister, red hair, expressive mouth, and a hidden shrewdness behind the eyes that left Singe wary.

“Do the kingdoms of Earth just pile into each other like that. Or are continent names just that long?”

“It’s weird here, fifty states form a union which they count as one country. I’ve mostly just stayed in the one state though.”

“And what is the difference between a state and a country?”

Singe could offer little more than a shrug.

“Please don’t make me get into how it all works, Drake. I really don’t know, and my friends haven’t let go of the fact I was unaware of a whole continent.”

“You have friends?” Lord Draco asked.

“Yes, Drake, why do you sound so surprised?”

“Where was your formality from a minute ago? You’ve called me that twice now.”

“It left with all your respect.”

Drake’s jaw dropped.

“You can’t be serious.”

“I still call your sister Drake and she ranks above both of us.”

“But she didn’t take time out of her schedule to come see you, did she?”

“She did when I left.”

“I was in Phoenix.”

Singe tutted.

“Excuses, excuses.”

Drake was pouted in a way that seemed like he was trying not to.

“Why are you here?” Singe finally asked, “There’s no reason for you to come to Earth.”

“Because I had to check on you. How goes the quest?”

Drake didn’t approve of Singe’s efforts the way his sister did. That was the real reason he wasn’t there when Singe left.

Singe took a breath, unsure if anything he’d done counted as heroic. He’d run from Vampires, failed to recognize a demon impersonating an old friend, only escaped a dreambreaking incident because a different demon deemed him too boring, unsuccessfully tried to sell himself to the demon who’d done it, and lied to a friend.

“Inconclusive,” he answered.

“So you’re not coming home anytime soon, are you?”

Singe shook his head.

“You won’t be able to coast on inconclusive forever.”

“I don’t plan to.”

“It’s nearly been a year.”

“Like eleven months.”

“You’re going by their calender now?”

“Of course I have, that’s how everyone measures time here.”

Drake looked away. He was mad at something else. He just didn’t want to say it.

“Where am I staying for now?” he asked.

“Uncle Burns was willing to give you the guest-room if I slept on the couch.”

“I’ll have to thank him, and you, for your sacrifice.”

Drake and his dragon started walking toward town.

“Wait,” Singe said, “Hide the dragon.”

“Elanorei won’t harm anyone.”

“That’s not the problem.”

“Then what is? I thought this town embraced the different.”

“It’s a haven town, yes, most of the population is superhuman, but the only people from Draconis they’ve interacted with have been ones without dragons to ride.”

“Didn’t your father visit regularly?”

“Yes, without his dragon.”

“Well she was a night dragon, of course she’d cause a disturbance.”

“So will Elanorei.”

“Fine.”

Drake turned to the fire dragon, whose height matched his own, and whispered in her ear.

Elanorei transformed into a tiger.

Singe held in a scream.

“That’s only marginally less disturbing.”

“Mortals have cats.”

“Mortals have house cats. That is a wild cat.”

Elanorei looked at him with big brown eyes. This form alone had to be uncomfortable. Singe knew it sometimes itched him to be stuck in a more palatable form all the time.

“Fine, but you’re going to get a lot of stares.”

“I’ve been getting used to stares since before I moved to Draconis, and Elanorei has dealt with them for longer.”

Despite the stares, they made it to the gathering of Bobbi, Syren, and V.

“Bobbi, Syren, V, this is my old friend, Draco Craddock; Drake, this is Bobbi Fayner, Syren Eves, and Vlad Drake. They’re who I’ve been spending most of my time with while I’m here.”

Draco bowed to each of them. They offered bows back, standing up from their seats and drinks to do so.

“None of them know who you are,” Singe whispered in Draco’s ear as he sat down. Draco sat on the end, next to V. Elanorei trotted over to Bobbi, who immediately lathered her in affection.

“She’s not usually this friendly,” Draco noted, “She almost bit me when I first met her.”

“She seems sweet enough,” Syren said as she extended her hand to offer affection as well. Elanorei snapped at it, “Or maybe Bobbi’s way with animals strikes again.”

“I was good with horses at a summer camp I went to years ago,” she turned to Elanorei, “And a dragon is far more interesting than a horse, isn’t it?”

“A dragon?” V asked.

“That’s an impeccable disguise,” Draco said, “How did you see through it?”

“You’re Singe’s friend, and you don’t see big cats around often, plus she’s warmer than she should be.”

Everyone stayed a bit silent after that.

“What are you, again?” Draco finally asked.

“That’s a rude question,” V said.

“You asked me that same question when we first met,” Bobbi noted.

“Because I’m rude.”

“Glad you come by it honestly.”

“I’m nothing but honest.”

Bobbi turned to stare at him incredulously.

“Sorry,” Draco said, “It’s just, no matter how good you are with animals, dragons won’t leave their rider’s side for just anyone.”

Bobbi shrugged.

“Guess I’m special.”

“Yeah. Has your hair always been that color?”

Bobbi pulled some of her pink hair in front of her face.

“I don’t check regularly, but I think so.”

“It gets brighter during the spring, and duller during the winter,” Syren noted.

“How often do you look at my hair?”

“About as often as I look at you, it’s part of the whole picture,” she gestured in circling arcs at Bobbi.

“Why do you ask?” Bobbi turned back at Draco.

“Actually,” Draco said, “I’m goning to steal my friend for a moment here.”

They moved out of typical earshot, though Singe was sure Bobbi and V could probably still hear. He’d have to be careful what he said. V had gotten more defensive lately.

“What?” he asked.

“Is she a Selkie?”

“Why did you need to ask that privately.”

“Because if she isn’t, I wanted the option to ask follow-up questions without the red-eyed one staring me down. They always seem so gentle on Reuben.”

“No titles between you and the King of Phoenix?” If he could distract Draco, then he could keep him from asking more dangerous questions, like “Is the other girl something weird too?” or “Does Bobbi happen to be hiding a pair of gossamer wings?”

“The man isn’t very fond of them in the first place,” Draco explained, “Most people close to him just call him by his name.”

“So you’re close to him.”

“I’m supposed to marry his daughter. It would be strange if I wasn’t.”

“She doesn’t call him by his name, does she?”

“Of course not. She calls him—wait, you’re trying to distract me from the girl.”

“You shouldn’t be thinking about other girls. You’re engaged.”

“It’s an arranged marriage. And you are trying to distract me. What’s so special about her?”

“Can you keep a secret?”

“Of course.”

“From your sister?”

“Are you worried about my sister being jealous of your new flame?”

Singe immediately gagged at the idea of romance with Bobbi. She wasn’t ugly of course, but she felt like family to him, distant family, but family.

“Not that then,” Draco concluded.

“You’re not saying you can keep a secret from her.”

“She’s my sister. I can’t really keep anything from Mom or Avery either.”

“Avery’s adopted you, you don’t have to call him by his name.”

Draco stared at him with some contempt.

“If your mom remarried, could you manage to be less formal than a first name with them.”

“That depends on how much I trust them, and more importantly, unlike you, I knew my father.”

The glare Draco gave was warranted. There were certainly politics around why Avery married the twins’ mother, but Singe knew he loved Epiphany and her children.

“I’ll leave your friends alone now. I didn’t come here to talk to them anyways.”

Singe was caught between running after him and checking in with the others.

He’d at least start by making sure the stakes were understood.

“What was that about?” Bobbi asked. “I mean, your friend’s nosy, but it’s not like anyone will believe him.”

“Maybe not here,” Singe said, “But Draco Craddock has some pull in Magek; if he claims he discovered the last Feyrie in a small town on Earth, people will believe him. No one will harm you, but I doubt you’ll be able to keep studying with all the pressures they’ll put on you.”

“What pressures?”

“For starters, Draconis formed as a kingdom to deal with the dwindling number of Feyries and the effect on the wildlife. Everything we do there is to make up for the fact the Fey are gone. Draco’s sister is the Dragon Queen. She’ll do everything she can to persuade you to stay there and take care of every creature that comes to you, or they’ll practically hide you away like a hidden artifact. And that’s just Draconis, there are six more kingdoms with their own agendas that would form around your existence.”

Bobbi’s eyes were wide.

“Maybe I should go there,” Bobbi said, “That much depended on the Fey?”

That wasn’t what he was aiming for.

“More than one, I assume,” V said, “Unless you can turn yourself into a population’s worth, all going there may do is bring you to extinction that much faster with the energy you’d expend trying to do the work of thousands.”

“Thank you,” Singe gave a small bow to V. Of course he’d think of what was best for Bobbi.

“So I have to be even more secretive than I was before?” Bobbi asked.

Singe nodded.

“Fuck!”

“Why don’t you keep an eye on him since you brought him here,” Syren said, “He kind of sticks out, so it shouldn’t be that hard to spot him.”

Singe rolled his eyes, though glad for the out.

From friendly visit to watchdog duty, and it wasn’t like tailing royalty would count that well for heroism.

Despite telling Singe to keep an eye on his friend, Syren wasn’t going to lose this fine opportunity to learn more about her local dragon.

She sidled up to Draco and not-tiger, glad to catch him before Singe found him again.

“You’re one of Singe’s friends here?” Draco asked, clearly uncomfortable.

“Yep,” Syren said, “More like family friend really. His uncle is close to my parents, so I tend to see him when he’s in town. I don’t really know much about him though.”

“Aahh,” Draco relaxed a bit, “You want information.”

Syren nodded, opening her journal to take notes.

“Are you a scribe?” he asked.

“My family are archivists, along with our more public facing jobs, so probably something similar, yeah.”

“Scribes are important, but why do you care so much about Singe?”

Syren shrugged.

“I just want to know if he’s hiding anything interesting.”

Draco laughed, then caught himself.

“I have known Singe since I was a kid, and he hasn’t really changed that whole time. He loves his mom, he wants to honor his father’s memory, and he believes in whoever he’s around.”

“How is he supposed to honor his father’s memory?”

Draco’s expression turned disappointed.

“Right now he’s on a quest for it.”

“What kind of quest?”

“One that’s supposed to be secret.”

“You’d be surprised what I’ve kept under wraps.”

“Tell me one.”

“No.”

Despite her answer, Draco did seem to think her question over.

“I came here to convince Singe to come home. I need him to get married.”

“Singe is getting married?” Then what was he doing around all of them?

“No,” Draco corrected, “I am, but I need someone I can trust as best man, and I can’t think of anyone I’d trust more for that.”

“Mages have a best man? That’s a pretty western tradition, isn’t it?”

His face turned confused.

“More European, British, American…” she tried to explain.

The confusion did not let up.

“Your people did come from Earth originally. Do you seriously know nothing about us?”

“Why should I? I never expected to come here. I’ll probably live in Magek for the rest of my life after this.”

“Your understanding of the future is limited, sir.”

This discussion didn’t matter.

“Why do you need a best man?” she asked.

“Do you have the option to challenge a marriage here?”

“Speak now, or forever hold your peace?”

“Flowery, but similar. Are these challenges handled by duel?”

“Duel, like a fight?”

“Yes.”

“That would make things so much easier. No, they just have to cancel it until the next attempt, and then you hope no one objects again.”

He just blinked a few times.

“My Aunt thought it would be funny to cause problems at my parents’ wedding.”

“Okay, well, Mages resolve it through a duel. I need Singe because there’s decent chance there will be a duel, and I believe he can win.”

“And he won’t come back because…”

“Because if he does, he’ll be put on trial to see if he actually succeeded in his quest, and if he fails, he can’t attempt it again. I think it’s been a fool’s errand and even if he succeeds, he will not get what he actually wants out of it.”

“What does he want?”

“I’ve already told you more than he’d want me to tell you.”

And that wasn’t very much. Syren had never thought of Singe as the secretive type, but the only thing she knew that was moderately secret about him was the dragon thing, and now that he was on a quest. She never asked him about himself much though, but he never seemed worth asking about.

Oh, that was intentional, wasn’t it?

“Thank you for the conversation.” Syren bowed, “It’s been—”

The not-cat growled in a way that made it very clear it wasn’t a mammal.

“What’s going on?” Draco asked.

As far as Syren could tell, it was growling into the forest, but the forest was Vampire territory.

“Oh no.”

The not-cat ran faster than Draco could stop it.

“Elanorei!”

Before he could run after it, Syren grabbed his arm.

“She shouldn’t be left alone,” he insisted.

“Are you part Celestial?” she asked.

“I’m a Craddock.”

“What does that mean?”

“Yes.”

He pulled away from her and ran.

“I’ll get a search party together!” She yelled after him.

Bobbi bent close to where the dragon had stepped, sniffing out some slight burning.

“This way.”

“Where’d you learn tracking?” Syren asked.

“Summer Camps, I thought I explained this already.”

“Did you?”

“Yeah, after the kidnapping incident.”

“Mine or yours?”

Bobbi turned around. They still hadn’t figured out the gap in her memory. Apparently Charmer wasn’t as skilled in that area as she was at beating the shit out of people.

“Yours.”

She’d been so terrified, she and Vlad both. She still couldn’t fully get the smell of Peter’s blood out of her mind.

“You haven’t really talked about it,” she added, “Must have been awful.”

“That’s why I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Have you written about it? You were going to be pen-pals with Peter, right?”

“He got the worse end, not my job to remind him.”

“What about your journal?”

“Not everyone wants to know everything, Bobbi.”

Right, Syren’s trauma wasn’t her job. She hadn’t talked about her trauma with Syren either.

“I think I learned something while I was kidnapped,” she revealed, “And now, no matter how hard I try, I can’t figure it out.”

“Is that why you keep wearing a scarf?”

Bobbi tugged at the scarf around her neck. It hadn’t seemed that special, just seemed right.

“Maybe.”

“Maybe we can figure it out together. I’ve been figuring out some changeling stuff.”

“Right, puberty, or whatever the hell its called for you.”

“No idea.”

They should probably be focused on the dragon thing, but Bobbi was just so glad she wasn’t the only alien without a clue.

“We should work on things together, like regularly,” she proposed, “I mean, obviously we don’t really have too many similar things to work on, but maybe it’ll be easier to bounce ideas off of someone equally confused.”

Syren smiled.

“I’d like that.”

Despite the agreement. The next few minutes passed in silence.

“Have you tried something other than fire?” Syren offered, “Maybe you need to figure out other elements.”

“What other elements are there to work on?”

“You can ask Singe. Mages have plenty of elements they work from, and if they colonized the fey, maybe they copied their elements too.”

“And the fucker never brought it up,” Bobbi muttered. She tried to avoid reminders of Singe lying to her, but then they kept popping back up.

She sniffed again for the dragon. She smelled smoky, felt warm too, and Bobbi caught the mildest trail.

“Freaky how you’re not that different from a vampire when you think about it for long enough,” Syren mused.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you and Drake both have better senses than the rest of us, you’re both nocturnal, you both have weird dietary needs—”

“My diet isn’t that weird,” Bobbi argued.

“You can’t eat anything from a dead animal, and your diet is almost 90% carbs.”

“Just like any other college student.”

“They don’t have the energy to decorate an entire mansion for Christmas, and you don’t have their budget constraints when it comes to food.”

“I get plenty of vitamins and minerals.”

“I bet if we checked your blood sugar, we’d find out you shouldn’t be alive.”

Bobbi rolled her eyes.

“What other comparisons do you have?”

“You both hide a lot.”

“That’s not—” Okay, it was true, “We have our reasons. How is that relevant to me being like vampires? Vlad is only one example.”

“You both hide parts of your bodies until you need to use them. His fangs, your wings.”

“You’re grasping at straws at this point.”

“Fine, but it’s funny considering everyone thinks you’re a couple.”

That made Bobbi pause. She liked being around Vlad. He was probably her closest friend at this point. She hadn’t even thought about how that would look from an outside perspective.

“I swear we’re—”

“I know.”

“I don’t even believe in that stuff.”

“What?”

This was going to be an awkward explanation.

“It’s all kinda made up, isn’t it? You like being around someone, so you assume that means you have to be in love or something, do the taboo tango together. It’s just societal pressure bullshit. You don’t need to do any of that, and the moment you assume you have to, it ruins everything.”

Syren looked like she was at least giving it some thought.

“Marriage is a business deal,” Bobbi carefully continued, “People fall for it because they think that’s just how it has to be, but it doesn’t.”

She stood up to check their surroundings and saw a broken tree. Without thinking, she was already walking toward it.

“Have you ever seen this before?” Syren asked.

Near the broken tree was a shack of sorts, formed from roots and rock that seemed to have moved themselves, not detailed enough to have come from the usual human builders.

Bobbi stepped in, spotting the dragon sniffing at a stone statue of a person lying on something close to a table, with a deep indent right around where the heart would be.

Bobbi froze, looking for a moment at her hair. She saw visions of algae. She didn’t want to move deeper into the house.

“Holy—” Syren started, “This is a warning.”

Bobbi shook her head, taking a step back, speeding up until the tree abruptly stopped her.

She took in its scent, barely there, but as familiar as her own reflection. She took a deeper smell, then sniffed her wrist.

“What does this tree smell like to you?” she asked Syren, who was still in the shack.

“I feel like we should be focusing on the stone guy.”

“Just tell me, please.”

Syren moved closer to the tree, then took a sniff. When her look turned quizzical, Bobbi offered her wrist.

“That’s you,” Syren said.

“Right?”

“Why do you and the tree smell the same?” Syren asked, “As in, identical.”

Bobbi shrugged.

“Maybe I’m a tree.”

Syren shook herself out, transforming into an exact match for Bobbi.

“How long have you been able to do that?” Bobbi asked.

“It’s kind of a natural instinct,” she explained, sounding similar to recordings Bobbi had heard of herself, “I think the main reason I wasn’t able to before was because of some sort of weird lock on me.”

Syren lifted a strand of her hair, which was Bobbi’s hair, up to the flowers of the tree. The shade wasn’t an exact match, but Bobbi moved closer and lifted the real thing up to it, trying to separate out the strands, which individually matched different parts of the flower.

“Freaky.”

“But how am I a tree?” Bobbi asked, unsure of any alternative, “And why would that give me wings?”

“And why would the man of stone be so close to the Bobbi-tree?” Syren added.

Wordlessly, they returned to the body, which the dragon was still whimpering at.

“Did he die recently?” Bobbi asked her.

“Long time ago,” the dragon said.

“How long?”

The dragon nudged her, and Bobbi understood.

The stone-man had been dead for about as long as she’d been alive.

She pulled a mirror out of her pocket, comparing her face to the man. It was hard to tell with the terrified expression, but maybe there was something in the cheekbones, or the chin.

Or maybe she was grasping at straws.

“Weren’t you found near Precedent?” Syren asked.

Bobbi nodded.

“And there’s a tree that smells like you.”

“Fey are born from nature,” Bobbi acknowledged, “I think that tree was me, or at least that I came from it.”

“And him?” Syren asked.

“I think I may have come from him too.”

She touched his cheek. She should be crying, feeling something about this loss she just discovered, but there wasn’t much to pull from.

“So this is your dad.” Syren said in a tone that would make more sense if the man was alive.

“Maybe,” Bobbi shrugged, “How am I supposed to know? For all I know, he died before I was born.”

“But why did the dragon run here?” Syren asked.

Bobbi scritched the back of the dragon’s neck.

“What brought you here?” she asked.

“Home.”

“This isn’t your home, your home’s back with dragon-man.”

“Feels like home.”

What was that supposed to mean? Bobbi didn’t feel any different. Shouldn’t she feel different?

“We should take her back,” Bobbi said, “Something tells me Singe’s friend would freak if he saw this.”

“If this is your dad, and that’s your tree,” Syren’s eyes were unfocused as she thought this through, “Then you’re originally from Earth. You’re originally from here.”

Another revelation that should shock her, make her gasp. All it left her with was a different question.

“Why would they come to Earth, and where’s my mom?”

“Your friend’s good with dragons,” Drake noted as Singe returned him and Elanorei to their entry-point.

“She’s good with all animals,” Singe justified.

“So is she one of the last animal mages, but not a selkie?”

“Private information,” Singe said, “Just like everything I know about you.”

“She’s better than Draconis,” Drake added, “She’s better than someone fated to help dragons for the rest of her life. I mean I heard the Dragon Queen was a pale imitation, but now I understand.”

Those words were almost a threat.

“She doesn’t need—”

“How long until she graduates?”

This was feeling more and more like a threat.

“She’s going to be a librarian, and stay on Earth unless she wants something else.”

“She’s not the one I want back home.”

Of course Drake hadn’t given up on that.

“Then why do you care about her graduation?” Singe asked.

“Dangerous place, she’ll need protection. By the time she’s done here, though, I doubt she’ll need much.”

A time limit.

“After she graduates,” Drake said, “You come home, and no one has to know.”

Singe’s dream for Bobbi’s freedom, and even then Singe might still achieve his goal.

It wasn’t really worth comparison.

“Deal,” Singe said.

“Why would you want to leave your family?” Vlad asked.

“That’s a little hypocritical coming from you, isn’t it?” Solomon countered.

“Those were extraneous circumstances, and a different family.”

Solomon sighed, putting a warm hand on Vlad’s cold face.

“Come with me,” he offered, “If you’re on the run, you may as well see the world.”

“No court has a foothold in Precedent. To go through an airport or any major port, you’d end up around several hubs. It’s safer if I stay here, for everyone.”

Solomon turned away.

“I’ve already agreed to write with Syren. Maybe we could write to each other.”

“I’d be found out.”

“Do you love me?” Solomon asked.

Vlad stood up, pulling on Solomon’s shirt so he could kiss him one more time, lingering in the taste and smell of him.

“Of course I love you,” he said once Solomon pushed him away to breathe, “How could you question that?”

“Is there any relationship we can have if I leave?”

Vlad wanted to give an answer, but knew better.

“Bye, Vlad,” Solomon opened the door for him, “Stay safe, since that’s what you really care about.”