Draconia Offline vol. 1

63.1. A Breather Before the Storm - Part 1

"Let's try again," Ingri nudges the Dragonkin she successfully caught and brought back. "Hint: Start with your name."

"M-my name is Haldis," the Dragonkin speaks up with an uncertain voice.

"I'm not that scary, am I?" I whisper to Gotrid because the Dragonkin is visibly shaking.

"Cute as ever," my partner assures me. "It seems the problem lies elsewhere."

"Go on, continue," Ingri nudges Haldis again. "As you can see, Erik and Gotrid are His Majesty's official Consorts so you don't have to be anxious about it in front of them of all people."

Haldis studies me for a long moment and takes a deep breath. I can recognise anxiety when I see it so I smile at Haldis encouragingly.

"My pronouns are they/them," Haldis blurts out, tensely awaiting my response.

Oh, I see. So that's part of the reason why Haldis is so nervous and why I was momentarily confused by their looks and the way their mind feels like—neutral. Being androgynous myself, I try to never assume anyone's gender. But it gets twice as tricky in case of new races, especially the Dragonkin whole females are rare in occurrence and lack breasts because they aren't mammals.

Come to think of it, I have yet to properly meet a Dragonkin female. The Dragonkin were a popular race choice among male players but not as much among female players. Predicting this, the developers incorporated the fact into the lore, stating that Dragonkin females make only one fourth of their population. I have to ask Fefnir how all that works in their society.

"Nice to meet you, Haldis," I wink at them. "How did you get to know our Ingri?"

"We were playing Draconia together," they say slowly, still not believing that I didn't even flinch when they told me their pronouns. "Ingri helped me get away from my family that...," they stop and their voice breaks.

"That's okay, Haldis," Ingri comforts them. "Take it slowly and don't worry, His Majesty is very kind."

"I heard you moved away, Ingri," I say quickly to distract Ingri's friend from an imminent mental breakdown that was pretty close just now. They aren't ready to talk about it yet which I respect but Haldis assumed they have to tell me because I'm the Emperor. "Is Haldis your flat-mate then?"

"They are," she nods.

"Will you be okay?" I'm concerned. "You're quite famous yourself for being my social media manager. A lot of people recognise you."

"Not so easy, I'm an Earthborn," she grins. "I can change my appearance for the convenience's sake. Besides, we found an apartment in a block of flats with only Draconians as residents. It's not far from here and locals got used to seeing many Draconians in the streets. I'll be fine."

"Were you assigned a job already, Haldis?" I ask. "I hope to give everyone a job they will enjoy but I'm afraid it won't be so easy in the beginning."

"Actually," Haldis steps nervously, "I don't mean to boast but I pride myself to be an artisan."

"Really?" I'm pleasantly surprised.

"Just say it, you're sooo freaking good at it," Ingri nudges them again. "You should see the armour Haldis made even long before transforming. And now that they have the Dragonkin's fire breath, fire resistance and strength..."

"It was just for LARP," Haldis cries, embarrassed that Ingri flatters them so much.

"If you created something with your Dragonkin powers already, I'd love to see it," I smile warmly, genuinely enthusiastic about it. "Don't be shy if it's just a prototype, everything we will create in the first years will be."