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"Here There Be Dragons"Written By: Honor Disclaimers: I own Gundam Wing (and its bishounen),
polka dots have pin stripe suits, and mermaids live in Arizona. Rating: R. Pairing: 3x4, existing 1x2 Spoilers: Nada. Warnings: AU, yaoi, lemon, romance, some angst,
sap, dragons, clairvoyants, and cats with attitudes. Author’s Insane Ramblings on Who Knows What: DEATH! DEATH I SAY! Off with all plot bunnies
heads! I’ll slaughter them all! Shigeki: Just ignore her. She’s always like
this. "Here There Be Dragons " Chapter Three: Why Me?! Oh, life is a glorious cycle of song,
I could literally hear the capital letters. And I knew exactly what he was referring to. There were several agreements between the princedoms and most of the magic beings that lived within it, all of which were reviewed at certain points by both human princes and the leaders of the race in question. The agreements said numerous things, but usually the main points dealt with rights of citizenship, land, water (which was more precious than land, in the desert as we were) and how crimes were handled. The dragon’s agreement came under review every three hundred years or so. Obviously, I’d never witnessed one. With my training as a prince, I did know (intimately) what was in the Agreement, however. “Yes, quite well. Is it up for review?” Trowa inclined his head shortly. “It is why I am here—as well as Wufei.” That meant— “You are a wyvern as well?” A cinnamon brow shot up. “You did not know? I am wyvern to the green dragons.” Scratch that. I have *two* dragon lords fighting over me. Oh boy. “No, I didn’t know. I barely got your name, remember? Why are you asking me about the Agreement?” “We…are having difficulties with your family.” Knowing my family, ‘difficulty’ was a very polite term. “I can imagine. And?” “We need a negotiator,” Trowa admitted darkly. “The one they tried to use at court was not…satisfactory.” In other words, the idiot had tried to side more with my family than stay in neutral ground as he was supposed to, and was probably singed with dragon fire. “I am familiar with the problem. If you want advice on where to find a good negotiator—” He held up a hand to stop me. “I want you.” “…to negotiate?” I gaped at him blankly. “Why? I have no training in that sort of thing.” “You’re patient and polite while disagreeing, stubborn enough to stick to the point, and I know I can trust you.” “Trowa, that last part is a very large assumption.” “Are you saying I can’t trust you?” I blew out an irritated breath. “No. I am saying that the other dragon lords don’t know me very well. They could very well object to your bringing me in. And they would have a point too, because, as I’ve said before, I have no training in being a negotiator.” “I have already discussed the matter with them,” Trowa refuted, killing that protest dead. “Will you come?” Two things weighed heavily in my mind. One, the Agreement was more than formality, it was the only thing that kept the dragon world and the human world in balance. Without that written, and blood-sealed, contract there was the very serious potential for wars and other unpleasant things. The second thing was I doubted that Trowa was making this up in order to get me closer to him. A dragon would never, in a million years, ask for help unless his back was really up against a wall and he saw no other way out. I ran a hand roughshod over my hair. “Alright. I’ll try. Just be warned, I don’t think my family is going to approve of my presence there.” His face softened in a truly beautiful smile. “Thank you.” Aww!! Did he *have* to smile like that?! He looked even sexier when he smiled! “Don’t mention it. When do you want me to arrive?” “The session resumes in about twenty minutes.” It takes fifteen to get to the palace from where I am. “Dammit, Trowa!” I yelped, darting for the stairs. “You could have given me more notice!!” I could swear he was chuckling behind me, the bastard. + Fortunately for all concerned, my only truly formal outfit was in decent shape and didn’t need any cleaning or pressing. It was a light blue tunic with white trimming, and loose white pants that went underneath the long drape. Not particularly flamboyant, but still elegant enough for the purpose. I dove into it, ran a comb through my hair, then darted downstairs and quickly locked up. Trowa led the way as we practically ran to the palace. Keeping up with those absurdly long legs of his was a challenge, but I managed it. The palace was alive with people, brightly colored robes and tunics in sharp contrast with the gleaming white walls and light floors. I was greeted with surprise from several people as we ran, and I waved back in acknowledgement. It had been at least three years since I had been here, and that had been at my father’s death. We arrived with perhaps two minutes to spare. In a small antechamber just outside of the main council room, I finally met the rest of the dragons. Trowa let me catch my breath as he did the introductions. “Heero Yuy, wyvern of the blue dragons—” I can see why, his eyes were the deepest blue I had ever seen, the dark blue robe he wore only emphasized that “—his mate, Duo Maxwell, wyvern of the black dragons—” I choked. “Sorry, let me clear this up. Lord Heero and Lord Duo are mated?” Heero scowled at me. “Is this a problem?” “Er…no.” I shook my head, smiling sheepishly. “It was recently explained to me that wyverns avoided choosing a mate from other clans. I am surprised that two wyverns are mated, all things considered.” Duo laughed, sliding an arm around his mate and nuzzling briefly against wild chocolate hair. “It was quite the courtship, let me tell you.” Yes, I bet it was. “I do hope I’ll get told that story at some point.” Duo seemed honestly puzzled by the request, but delighted by it as well. “Sure. Later on today, perhaps.” “Assuming we can win free of the arguing,” I agreed dryly. “Forgive the interruption, Trowa. Pray continue.” “Wufei you already know,” Trowa was painfully bland, ignoring Wufei’s twitching lips. Gesturing to the far right of the room he finished with, “And Zechs Marquise, wyvern of the white dragons.” With all that white hair, I hadn’t expected anything else. Zechs proved to be as stunningly beautiful as the other dragons. I bowed to him politely, pleasantly surprised when he nodded back in equal cordiality. “A pleasure to meet you all, my lords. I am not entirely sure if I can do any good here, but for the sake of continued peace I am certainly willing to try. What issues are being aired?” A page knocked on the door and stuck his head in. “The council is convening, my lords.” Trowa gestured me through the door. “If yesterday is anything to go by, they should run through a list of complaints and amendments in the first few minutes.” Ah. I nodded back, squared my shoulders, and marched through. Most of my family wasn’t at all happy to see me. They greeted me with frosty formality, then did their best to ignore me. I allowed it to happen for perhaps twenty minutes, just long enough for me to get a feel for what was going on. It didn’t take long to figure out the issues—or who the ring leaders were. Some people just never changed. I stood up and walked onto the floor. Serena (one of my sisters, and not a favorite of mine) trailed off in mid sentence. “You wish to say something?” I can do cold formality too. “Indeed. The water rights for the Cloudland Mountains are of no use to humans—the land up there is arid and too dry to support people. Why are we arguing over this? Dragons are the only people to live up there, it is natural that they should have water rights in the area.” Serena’s mouth pursed, becoming rather pinched. “We wish to irrigate the water to the lowlands.” Hm. I considered the idea for a moment. “Such a project has merit. My lords, what say you?” I turned to the seated dragon lords. They were an impressive sight, arrayed in a half circle on a small dais, looking entirely in control of the situation. “We have no problems with such a proposal,” Wufei responded with quiet authority. Since it was red dragons that lived in the area, it was under his jurisdiction. “If you wish to share water rights in the area, then I am willing to accept the idea.” “That is unacceptable,” Serena maintained. “Water in the area will be contaminated if shared, making it unusable for humans.” Was she *trying* to get her head bitten off? “If that is your reasoning, then I advise giving up the idea entirely, “I shot back. “They have had water rights in place for nearly three hundred years. Any potential for ‘contamination’ has already been done.” Serena drew herself up rigidly, glaring daggers at me. “Water purification has naturally been taken under consideration.” It was a miracle that she didn’t burst into flames on the spot, considering the heated glares she got for *that* comment. “In Our experience, humans pollute water faster than dragons,” Zechs drawled. I winced at that ‘our’. When a wyvern spoke in that formal tone, including all of his fellow wyverns, it spelled trouble. It was rare when a wyvern dared to speak for other wyverns so openly like that, and he only did so if he were absolutely SURE that no one would disagree with him. It went downhill from there. We stayed on that one issue for three hours without coming to any kind of an agreement. I was nearly hoarse from talking and desperate for anything wet when we finally agreed on breaking for lunch. It was the only thing everyone had agreed on all day. I followed the wyverns out of the chamber and collapsed gratefully in a cool room just adjacent to the main council room. Wufei handed me a glass of water, making him a favorite person of mine with that one kind gesture. “Thank you.” He waved the thanks away and turned back to get another glass for himself. Duo sprawled on a low couch, legs over Heero’s thighs. “Ugh. Well, that was a waste of time. Thanks to Q, it wasn’t as bad as normal, though.” I swallowed the last of my water and looked at him blankly. “We just spent nearly four hours talking, without any agreement or noticeable progress, and that was an *improvement*?” Trowa sank into the seat next to mine with a weary sigh. “Yesterday we argued so badly that it didn’t stop until Wufei set a chair on fire and threatened to repeat the procedure on everyone’s hair.” “That’s when we decided to bring you in as a mediator,” Zechs offered blandly. “…and here I thought I wasn’t doing anything helpful,” I murmured weakly. “On the contrary, you have been very helpful.” Wufei sat on the other side of me and smiled slightly. “I’m glad you came.” “Speaking of that.” Duo abruptly sat up, energized again. “Just how is it that you two know him?” “I helped my sister Iria decorate Castle De’Gregora, where Trowa stumbled across me. And Wufei visited my shop several days ago in search of a present.” Duo quirked a grin at me. “And what’s the rest of the story?” There was a polite knock at the door. I let out a small breath of relief—yay, I didn’t have to answer that question! A page stuck his head in. “Excuse me. Lord Quatre, Princess Serena, Princess Amaya and Prince Rahjee wish to speak with you.” “Of course.” Even as I stood up and followed him, there was a cacophony of bells going off in my head, warning me to run in the other direction. Those three have always done their level best to hurt me or take advantage of my situation in whatever way possible. “Excuse me for a moment, my lords.” + “What did you just say?” I simply could not believe what I was hearing. When I had obeyed the summons and stepped into this room of sunlight and plants, nothing like this had even registered as a possibility. “You are officially stripped of all your property and branded traitor,” Serena informed me frostily. “For what?!” “Don’t be obtuse,” she snapped. “You have sided with dragons!” “They are not our enemy!” I snapped back. “They are our ally! And they asked for help in *negotiations* not for me to betray my country!” “You will be sentenced to five years in prison,” Amaya added. “Effective immediately.” …no. Absolutely not. I wasn’t just rolling over and letting them put me into prison. My shop and possessions could be replaced—my freedom couldn’t. I broke away from them and ran for it. I had no allies in that room, only people who hated my guts and guards—not a good combination. I dodged people as I ran, mind racing in circles. Where could I go? Who could I call upon for help? It couldn’t be a normal person. They wouldn’t have the power to help me. “There he is!” I glanced wildly to my right. Oh shit! I darted to the left and kept running, but panic was setting in now and I couldn’t really think straight. I wasn’t going to make it out of the palace walls at this point. I needed help—but who…? “TROWA!” More guards appeared in my path. I started to turn, but that way was blocked as well. I was caged in. Head darting back and forth, I backed up until my shoulder blades hit a column. How good was a dragon’s hearing anyway…? About a second later, that question was answered as Trowa appeared, running for me at full speed. Duo and Heero were right behind them—Wufei came in from a different direction, for some reason. I’ve never been more relieved to see anyone in my life. The guards apparently knew who they were. They stopped approaching as Trowa closed in and caught my shoulders. “What? What is it?” “I’ve been branded a traitor,” I explained quickly. His brows snapped together. “WHY?” Trowa demanded harshly. “Because I was helping you.” Duo started swearing viciously. Trowa looked like he was about to. “You’re coming back with me,” he told me flatly. “I’m not leaving you in this place.” Relieved, I just nodded. “And the others?” Heero inquired in soft tones. “Wufei, look into it.” “…done. Get him out of here, Trowa.” Trowa wrapped an arm around my shoulders as he escorted me out, and this time, I didn’t even think to argue against the contact. ~*~*~*~
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