Page 60 of Legends and Longing

I’d have probably jumped, but our grumpy human just smiled politely and nodded his head in the tiniest of movements. “Hello, I’m Agent Murphy of Earth. It’s nice to meet you.”

“Murphy of Earth, I am Baldron and I have waited a long time to meet you. Greetings.” The older dragon didn’t sound as old as he looked but that might’ve been a species thing. I just didn’t know because I’d only met humans that…well, ancient. “Dragons and mages of Earth, welcome home.”

That was the moment I could feel the weight of everything hitting our group. Half sniffled and the other half took deep breaths to keep their emotions in check. All we needed was to start bawling in the middle of the meeting for them to think we were all insane. They just didn’t do that in public…or maybe anywhere.

The old dragon wasn’t worried about us, though, he had other things on his mind because he actually smiled.

With his mouth.

Naturally, like he was human.

What the fuck?

“Thank you.” Hugh must’ve realized no one else was in the right headspace to respond because he stepped to the side of the group and walked up to the dragon. “This has been an amazing experience and we can’t wait to go back and share it with our people.”

Yeah, that’d been a good choice because he was the least likely of us to say something offensive or freeze up.

Maybe I could pass Hugh a note and ask him to get the old dragon to tell us stories?

“I am glad we have given you appropriate hospitality.” The dragon paused before actually shrugging like he was brushing off not being able to find the right English word yet.

“Your people have been very gracious. It’s been wonderful getting to know them.” Hugh sounded polite but I could see faint surprise on his face as he responded for us. “We never thought we’d have this opportunity, so it’s been amazing to learn about our history.”

“I am eager to hear about your lives, but I must ask a question first.” As the old man looked around, we all held our breath…because he frowned…really naturally. “Who is the one called Shiloh?”

Shit.

Shit.

Shit.

Me?

“Me.” I swallowed past the lump in my throat as I made myself wiggle through my mates and the rest of the crowd. I’d kept hoping I’d be left alone but it seemed like I was wrong and my mother had been right. “I’m Shiloh of Earth.”

Unfortunately.

“Welcome.” Baldron studied me for a moment like he could see inside me…it was creepy and impressive in equal parts, but I tried not to show it. I had a job to do and I wasn’t going to fuck it up. “I am told you are the historian of family lines.”

“Yes.” I stood straighter and tried to look confident. I couldn’t have done it without my mates both sending me support through the bond. “I’ve studied as much of the family lines as we have access to.”

It would never be enough, but I’d done my best.

“My family was tasked with keeping track of the family records from when we were first separated.” And I was the one who was going to fulfill that destiny. That was crazy but I didn’t show it. “Some lines were lost because they moved away from the gate early on. We don’t know what happened to them officially, but that doesn’t mean anything bad happened to them.”

There just hadn’t been a good way of keeping track of everyone in the beginning. They’d tried tracking spells but after a while it’d gotten too complicated.

“I might be able to help with that.” Agent Murphy’s interruption was a surprise but it probably shouldn’t have been. “The American government keeps track of every dragon or mage on the planet. I know it sounds intrusive but you guys create chaos everywhere you go and we need to be one step ahead of you to keep the weather working right.”

Oh.

Yeah, that was probably a good idea.

“Ugh. I should be pissed the government is tracking us all, but hell, I’d track us.” Wren just couldn’t help himself but his smile and wave at Baldron had the old dragon smiling again. “Oh, um, sorry.”

Maybe?

“That is because the only families who allowed their children to go on the portal adventures were the most outgoing…the ones who had the drive to travel and explore and to create chaos as you said.” Baldron’s confident response shocked everyone…well, everyone but me. I’d already known that part but we never really spelled it out. “The lines who were quiet and thoughtful and simply wanted to stay home never crossed the portal.”