A Question of Genetics

The dilemma was making Fweiu restless. It weighed heavily on her mind, stressing her out, keeping her awake: the risk that some of her people might mate with non-dragons.

Well, maybe that wasn't quite the right way to put it. Wyverns were probably okay; Vivra seemed happy and healthy enough. She had come to respect Ohri well enough, too. But Halcyon, the one with Basilisk in his blood - he was suffering from his mixed heritage. Fweiu couldn't let diseases like his keep happening to her people's children.

Fweiu needed advice. And yet, she didn't feel like she could talk to anyone in her clan about this. None of them would have real experience, or if they did, they had obvious reasons to be biased. She knew how badly that conversation could go. She only needed her jaw reattached once to learn the lesson.

The only people she could think to ask were Drakenhardts. So she arranged a meeting with Alex. Leader to leader. There were dimensions to this she couldn't expect the others to understand. Or at least not like Alex could.

That is why, today, Alex Drakenhardt's home shook with her arrival. Fweiu's true form was massive, and she liked that people could feel her landing.

Her knocking at his door was more subdued and respectful.

@Max!!

Fweiu navigated the pleasantries without much apparent urgency. A pleased nod to Marduk. "That would be nice, Alex." And she wouldn't turn down alcohol if it was offered, either - it would take the edge off. But a water or soda would do just as well.

They would exchange pleasantries, navigating through all the how-are-you-doing-fine-how-about-you as they eased into the conversation.

Now, how best to approach the subject? "I'm really starting to worry about how the next generation of my clan will fare in this world. And I know, part of that is just me thinking like an old person, but some of it is biology. You've met Hal, right? I don't know if his mother has told you about his condition."

She accepted the rum gratefully.

"You're right," Fweiu said. "And he's an excellent kid. 15 years, still a hatchling, but he already seems so mature. Emotionally strong..." with a fond smile, she stopped herself from talking too much about his strengths. It was his frailty that kept her up nights.

"He's sick. A genetic condition. His father was a basilisk, and Hal inherited some of his poison, but it's hurting him. It could have killed him if not for the treatments his mother invented. I'm not sure if he'll make it through his first century."

In her mind, that was dying young. Too young, tragically young for someone as upright as him.

"His sickness has gotten me thinking. How safe is it, for us to be having children with other species?"

She would stop there, but Alex could guess where Fweiu was going to stand on this. It's not worth the risk.

Fweiu looked surprised. It came as a shock that Camilla would have the blood of a non-dragon running through her veins. She was so vigorous for her age, too!

"Huh."

She sipped at her alcohol, thought for a second, and started nodding.

"Your daughter turned out really well, too. What species was her mother?" Maybe if she could figure out what kinds of species were fine to breed with, and what kinds weren't...

Fweiu considered this, and she wasn't sure she agreed with where Alex was going.

Everything he said was probably true. But it didn't feel right. It sat uncomfortably in her gut, and her mind snatched it up and turned it around, analyzing it from every angle, searching for some gap to justify the way she felt. The way so many in her community seemed to feel, even some of the oldest. She couldn't accept that they were all just overreacting.

But she also couldn't justify doing anything to stop hybrids from being born. So she just sighed, giving up and giving in to these new world influences and Alex's calm explanation. It still felt wrong, but it felt less wrong coming from someone like Alex. Someone on her level at least.

"So it sounds like the best action to take on interbreeding is none at all," she said. "At least until we're certain it's a problem for my kind. Until then it won't be worth the conflict it would cause."

She sighed, thinking about how Liun dislocated her jaw. What should she even do about that?