Jackal Among Snakes

Epilogue 4.4: Family Vacation

The moon.

Long ago, it’d been transformed as a result of Lorena’s bargain with the Heralds. They used Sophia’s power of creation to create something of an isolated habitat for the lunar dragons. It couldn’t be compared to the moon that Argrave had known, by all accounts. Most prominently, it had something of a protective atmosphere, permitting life from their planet to persist. It had taken Argrave and Anneliese well over thirty years of study—the bulk of which had come in the past four years—to settle upon the idea that colonizing the moon might be possible.

Anneliese, Argrave, and a small cabal of researchers had been endeavoring to that end for a very long while. It was an idea born of Argrave’s whimsy, which eventually consumed Anneliese until her passion for the project overtook his own. The vast infinity of space appealed to her innate curiosity. Argrave just thought it was a cool idea, and enjoyed working with his wife.

Argrave hadn’t ever expected it to be something actionable. Now that the day had finally come, he was filled with a sensation he hadn’t experienced in well over ninety-seven years. It was nostalgic, almost. Confronting the impossible. Tackling uncertainty. As emperor and empress, uncertainty rested in the quality of their solution. Now, they weren’t even certain if what they were attempting was possible.

Just like it used to be.

“What was that?” said Anneliese.

Argrave was brought back to the present, and he looked right. Anneliese sat on a chair, looking out across the coast. They were waiting for their ride to arrive. It was a strangely mundane thing, this journey to space of theirs. In time, their people could develop vessels that bridged the gap on their own. Until then, why not take advantage of the already-available dragons?

“Did I say that out loud?” Argrave shifted in his chair.

“Mumbled it,” she answered.

“It’s just like it used to be,” he clarified.

Anneliese’s face scrunched. “Is it? Lives aren’t in the balance.”

“Who says there aren’t?” Argrave crossed his arms. “We’ve avoided war as best we could, but… there’s only so much we can do before things can’t be contained, controlled. Even some of our own children think it might be wise to head overseas, claim new territory for the Blackgard Union. If we can do this… can’t we prolong the peace?”

“Prolong, maybe. Stop altogether? Never.” Anneliese said, shaking her head wistfully. “Conflict is inevitable. I’ve come to peace with that fact. Someday, war will come, either from within or without.”

“Hmm.” Argrave fell into thought. “It’s funny. You can’t stop worrying about our more-than-grown children, while you’ve moved on from the Blackgard Union. Whereas I…”

“…can’t stop worrying about the Union, while you’re ready to let your children strive alone.” Anneliese smiled.

Some people thought it strange that they could hold opposite positions, yet still not fight amongst each other. Respect of the other and total trust eroded all of their differences as soon as they arose. True kinship, Argrave felt, couldn’t be broken down because the other held differing thoughts. What few disagreements they had only helped to refine the nuance of their own beliefs. Because they truly respected the other, they realized the other had come to their beliefs for a good reason.

“What do you actually want to do on the moon?” Argrave wondered.

peculiarly. “How long have we been talking

I mean…” Argrave shook his head. “The stuff that

said decisively, knowing precisely what he meant without him needing to

older relatives who’d done

his joke, leaning

whole day. We bring the kids up to the moon, wow them. We play catch. Come evening, we go to our little moon hut. You check on

“Moon food?” Anneliese repeated.

Argrave chuckled. “You know—animals, plants, all brought up on the moon. We

can’t cook,” Anneliese interrupted with

hers. “Though you would all smile and say it’s great because you love me, and then you’d tell me the

to tell you. You

we’d go to bed. You’d complain about my habit of stealing the blanket while we sleep, and I’d propose reasonable solutions that you never seem to like. Then, with perhaps a few twists and turns, we’d fall

Stolen novel; please report.

mundane day,” Anneliese said musingly before she kissed his cheek and leaned back in her chair. “I

leaned back as well. “That’s our shtick, isn’t it? Putting ourselves in difficult situations, then trying our damnedest to get

find ourselves ill-suited for

as he listened to the quiet crashing of the waves. “I’ll miss this place, a little.” Anneliese agreed with a light grunt, just as he had. He turned to her once more. “How do you think

focused her amber

our end. We’d spend our next millennia in that estate, reaping the benefits of compound interest.

ends when we do,”

we survive forever?” Argrave asked, a hidden

immediately. “We survived Enrico’s murder. The blame, the misery, the grief. I can’t see what

went silent for a long, long while. Eventually Argrave offered his

start a moon family, separate from this planet’s family.” Argrave looked at her stone-facedly. “We could have team battles. You

his jokes after their many decades—broke into laughter at the absurdity of his proposal coupled with his entirely stoic demeanor. She nearly tamed her laughter after a dozen seconds before it claimed her again, and she twisted out of her chair in

cheeks which already felt somewhat sore from smiling. “I’ll consider it,” she finally

drew both of their eyes. They turned their heads in time to catch Lorena appearing from the skies, alighting on their island with a gentleness that her speed didn’t suggest. Argrave and Anneliese were sobered by the arrival

on a mortal form of his own—that of gray hair and gray eyes, standing a shade taller than his wife Lorena as she morphed from her draconic form to a mortal one. Raven didn’t carry a shadow of either the Smiling Raven or

of the people you instructed we bring are being ferried over as we speak,” said Lorena, foregoing pleasantries. Her personality hadn’t changed much—playful, straightforward, compassionate. “All that remains are you two newly-minted lunatics. Are you having a change of heart, laughing so

Argrave rebutted immediately. “We’re eager