Harper

Lou Vivien. I smiled as I snuggled up between my siblings in my parents' cave. I had enjoyed watching Lou sleep and feeling the delicate warm human body on my dragon's body.

'What are you thinking about?', Ross asked me. Although dragons conversed telepathically, they could not hear each other's private thoughts. That would be terrible, too! Our magic protected us from this.

'Nothing special', I replied. But that was a lie. Of course. Vivi. The nickname made me smile.

'And I'm supposed to believe you?' Ross grumbled, annoyed. 'Have you met a nice dragon girl?'

'Or a nice dragon boy!' Max rolled her eyes. 'Have you ever seen Harper pay attention to the girls? No.'

'He's still much too young for that!' Connie rolled onto her back. 'We are all still far too young for that. I'm not interested in anyone! It's still too early!'

'I can't agree with that!' Ross snorted. 'There are very pretty dragon girls here in the mountains. And you're always staring at someone.'

'And? That's not really being interested! Let me stare!' Connie flapped her wings indignantly. I rolled my eyes. Were we supposed to believe that?

'No one is prettier than us!' Max buried her head between my wings. 'Right, Harper?'

I nodded languidly. My siblings were hardly interested in where I had been that night. The main thing was that I was fine. But Max had warned me. My parents had almost died of worry. I guess I was expecting a good scolding. They were not yet back from their hunts. Therefore, I enjoyed the calm before the storm.

The calm ended far too soon.

'HARPER JANNE VEIT!', my mother's voice rumbled in my head. 'WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN?' She and Dad were almost here, so we could already talk. They must have smelled me.

I sighed. 'I slept in a free cave.'

'Why? Why on earth did you fly into the sandstorm?'

Max grumbled amusedly. Her breath tickled me. 'I smelled a human. In the middle of a sandstorm. I helped him.' If I hadn't helped Lou, there wouldn't be a Lou now. Why, had he run into the storm?

'What?' Max plucked indignantly at one of my feathers. 'You helped a human?'

'Our brother wanted to play hero!' Connie hummed tiredly.

My father, on the other hand, growled angrily as he landed in the cave. 'We don't get close to humans.' Mom followed him just as angrily.

'Should I have let him die?', I replied. 'He had lost consciousness. A boy. About the same age as me.'

'A child? Why was a child in the storm?' My mother leaned her head against mine. 'It's good if you want to help. That was very brave of you. But we could have lost you in that storm! We struggled to make it back to the cave! Please don't risk your life.'

I sighed. 'I won't. That's a promise.' Vivi. I wanted to see him again soon.

Remy

"With the cursed boy! Again!" My mother stood in front of me angrily and reprimanded me as if I was still a teenager. "He could bring misfortune upon you! Or worse!" I sat by the window, on a marble chair upholstered with cushions, and looked out the window. So far, I hadn't said anything. My mother wasn't done with her nagging yet. Until then, I stayed silent. Before that, I didn't have a chance to get in between anyway. "I don't want you to meet with him! Maybe he brought us this sandstorm! When will you finally listen to me? The whole city is talking about it. With every attack, they are waiting for you to fail! How are you going to protect the city if you voluntarily run into the arms of a curse?"

When had I seen Lou the last time? I barely had the time to meet him... But, of course, people talked. I sighed and looked at her annoyed. "I'm not running into the arms of a curse. What do you mean by AGAIN? Hm? I rarely meet him. And! Firstly! I like women and not little boys! Secondly! Lou is a lovely boy. He's like a younger brother to me. Thirdly! There is no curse. Fourthly! I'm an adult."

My mother crossed her arms. She always did this when she thought she was being told nonsense. "An adult? With this behavior? Certainly not. Do you want to bring misfortune upon our family?"

"Mom!"

"As long as you live in my house, you listen to me!" Enraged, she accidentally knocked over a vase. That's how much she gestured. The vase rattled and broke into a thousand small pieces. My mother grimaced.

"I would have moved out long ago if you hadn't begged me to stay!", I reminded her. "I already have my eye on a house." A very large house...

"Of course! An unmarried young man in a house? Alone? That's not right!"

This, too, was something that annoyed me. Our culture demanded living with your parents until you were married. Something I wanted to change. As soon as I had the chance. And Lou was forced to live alone. Unmarried. Which, in the eyes of others, brought even more shame on the boy. But he couldn't help it. "Mom. I have three dragons! I'm riding them! I scare away black dragons! I work for the wise! What else do you want? Do I have to get married so that you leave me alone? Is that it? Really?" That was her other favorite topic.

"What I want? That you are reasonable! Remy! You're twenty-five!" She shook her head. Disappointed, like when I played silly pranks on my siblings as a little boy. She pushed aside a few shards with her right foot. "The boy is cursed. You must not approach him! He should be chased out of the city! He puts us all in danger! And you! Do you want to put your family at such risk? A curse, Remy! And this right before the wedding! Two weddings!"

"You're exaggerating!", I grumbled. My stomach growled. I hadn't eaten anything yet.

"I'm not exaggerating! Instead of lounging, you could invite the wise men to dinner! After all, your brother Bob wants to marry the great-great-granddaughter of one of the wise! And Danielle is engaged! And Aiden! Aiden is married and has one child! And you meet with a cursed one! You’re endangering the happiness of your family! Instead of being so foolish, you could also find a young lady to marry! That wouldn't be a bad idea! Or a young man! If need be..."

"I'm into women's mom." As soon as Aiden was married, she wanted to see us all married quickly! The sons and daughters of other families married diligently, only she squatted at home with three grown-up children. Blah, blah, blah...  I had centuries to look for a wife. And I had other plans at the moment. Important plans. Plans that would change everything.

Maybe I should just move out. I had three dragons. Who would dare to judge me? But my dream house was still occupied. I hadn't forgotten my plans. I wanted to rule.

"Or you could... Oh! I don't know! There's so much you could do instead of putting us all at risk! All you do is fly around with the dragons, work, or meet up with this boy! I'm afraid to lose you! What about your school friends? You haven't seen them for a long time! Why don't you meet them? And, don't forget the invitation. Please invite the wise men, will you?" And she hurried out of the living room of our family's proud mansion. She left the shards lying around. I looked at them with a furrowed brow.

My old school friends? I had nothing in common with them anymore. They were mortal and busy starting families or working all day. Their conversations were hardly about anything other than the stress of being a parent, little sleep, or work. We used to share hobbies and interests. Today this was no longer the case. We all had hardly any time left for our old hobbies. In the end, I also worked a lot. But less than them. And the dragons intimidated them. Since I had the dragons, our friendship had slowly crumbled. There was nothing I could talk to them about.

Nothing they could tell me interested me.

I preferred to talk to Renan, Narcisse, and Basil. We shared a common goal. And we slowly worked to achieve this. We would change this city. I would change Lou's life.

Lou was a better brother, and a better family than my actual one. His family didn't deserve him. He should be happy. Find a lover. Live a good life. When I reached my destination, we would look down on the city side by side. Lou would have nothing to fear anymore.