Book One: Onnu and Pannu

New Hold Order

Onnu spent three days confined to the new Hold. It felt vaguely biblical, which she wasn't exactly thrilled about. Perilously close to the story of the tomb, she thought.
   Trey left the morning after the fall, though he didn't look healthy enough to do so. She sternly told him to rest, eat, and drink as often as he had to, because she wasn't ready to go bringin' him back just yet. She still had three hatchlings to raise, after all!
   "Yes, mom," he said, rolling his eyes. She was still adjusting to the electric blue, which seemed to be the mark she was looking for, to identify another Elder Dragon. "You oughta do some housekeeping while I'm gone, though."
   "What's that supposed to mean? Grass won't grow for quite some time, I should think."
   He sighed. "I meant metaphorically. Did you know that your littles have their own governing system?"
   She blinked slowly. "No..? But they're not really my littles, per se. I'm just the biggest being in the Hold."
   He cuffed her shoulder with less force than she thought he ought to muster, if he was going to be swannin' off to another planet. "You forgot what I said, didn't you? Dragons are supposed to manage their principalities. Well, normal dragons are. Maybe you get a pass, but that means your man's gotta keep a better eye on 'em."
   "I've got to do what, now?" Pannu asked, having just landed with a fresh kill.
   "Your littles went and made their own governing body. They don't answer to you anymore. Might wanna look into that."
   And then, he was gone.
   He didn't say how he knew, but knowing was his job, so she didn't think overmuch about it. After all, he'd been to their original Hold, long before he visited them in Egg Hold.
   "Well, I suppose they have been left to their own devices while we've been handling the whole parenthood thing," she reasoned.
   The downtime had given Trey time to figure something out that seemed quite obvious, when he said it: the reason God wanted them to take care of the Fortnight Worlds for Him was because the Tribulations were still happening on Erdewaz. She'd argued that an omnipotent being could multitask, but as he said, "Why split focus if He doesn't have to?"
   Onnu and Pannu certainly couldn't split their focus. Trey was right, the little kin had created a workable governing system in their absence, and no one had told them.
   "We didn't want to bother you," was the logic of everyone they talked to. "Besides, you guys didn't like doing it anyway."
   They couldn't really argue with them, but Onnu had to try.
   "Nomad Trey has informed me that it is the duty of every dragon to manage their Holds. Whether or not we enjoy it, it is our charge from Above. So, from now on, please keep us in the loop."
   "But the Judges handle such trivial things these days! It's not like the early days, when it was resource management and housing stuff."
   "Judges?" she asked.
   "Oh, uh... Well, someone remembered that's what they were called in Bible times, and nobody had a better word for it..." Harvey trailed off, wishing he could go back to installing the hearths in the new Hold.
   She couldn't read his thoughts, but she could see him looking off toward the wall where he'd been working.
   "Go on, Harvey. Politics aren't your strong suit. I'll ask around. Thanks for filling me in."
   "Yeah, yeah, any time. We just figured you literally couldn't see what goes on down here in the trenches, bein' so big an' all. May's well help out, I think was the thought."
   "I get that. Who should I ask about these Judges of yours?"
   He shrugged. "I'd guess Tandy or Berda, seein' as Tandy keeps records, and Berda handles everything domestic."
   "Right, right. Wow, I am rusty! Thanks again, Harvey. Those ovens probably need you more'n I do, so I'll let ya go."
   Berda was there, she knew, exploring the niches in the new Hold. She looked around for someone who could understand Draconic to translate for them, and spotted Mira setting up a healer's station.
   "Hey, can I borrow you for a sec?"
   She looked up. "Sure. I think I've done as much as I can here. I'll have to ask Berda where she keeps the peryarn stash."
   "Perfect! Berda is who I need to see, too."
   "Right, and she doesn't speak the language."
   "Doesn't understand it. I wonder if that'll ever change, 'cause it's deucedly inconvenient."
   "Well, we both need to talk to her anyway, so that's another day's problem."
   She lifted Mira onto her shoulder and went looking for their homemaking Holderkin. They were still learning about the formation of the Holds, so she could be anywhere under the crystals' bottom edges.
   If Onnu had to guess, the impact likely flung debris against the sides of the new depression, which bored right through the first several layers of rock. The niches scattered higher up the bowl here, though. If the reports were true, and this was the largest Hold in the neighborhood, then perhaps it was because the two largest dragons on this world made it. Larger bodies would spray debris higher up the newly made walls.
   She wandered along the edges, slow still, until she found the dwarf standing on the shoulders of a giantess she didn't immediately recognize.
   "Hey, can we talk for a sec?" she asked.
   Berda pulled her head out of the niche she was inspecting. "I s'pose so. What's up?"
   Onnu jerked her head sideways, to indicate the need for privacy. Or as much privacy as her booming voice could afford.
   Berda tapped the giantess's shoulder with one foot, and she was lowered to the ground. "See what you can see in those other niches, eh? I'll be back."
   The dragoness tried to lead her a short distance away, but that measurement was different for each of them. It didn't take her long to realize that this would disrupt Berda's work. She offered to simply lift the dwarf up to her face, near Mira, so she wasn't inconvenienced.
   Berda nodded and stepped into her palm.
   A dragonlength away, Onnu asked her about the Judges.
   The dwarf shrugged. "What didja 'spect us ta do? You two were off makin' more dragons, an' 'fore that, ye were so busy ye didn't even know each other's favorite colors. We thought if we took some o' that onto our shoulders, ye'd have more time for couple stuff."
   The dragoness smiled, keeping her lips closed, as close as the little women were to her incisors. "And we are grateful for the assistance, I assure you. But I have been informed by another Elder Dragon, I think you're calling us, that it is the duty of every dragon to manage their Holds."
   "But you hate that stuff!" Mira objected.
   "What stuff?" Berda asked.
   "Judge stuff."
   Onnu laughed wryly. "It seems we've been rather transparent about that, as oft as we've heard it repeated. Point is, from now on, keep us in the loop. Maybe not all of the, as it was called, 'trivial things', but anything you feel impacts the Hold proper. We never did set up those conference days, or whatever we were calling them. Once a month or so, just check in with us, let us know how things are going. Good, bad, in between. Got it?"
   "Yes, Onnu ma'am. Should I begin with your new title?"
   "A new one? From who?" She knew it was "from whom", but rarely stood on ceremony there.
   "Pannu decided that any mated dragoness is to be called a Queen. He didn't say that he'd be a king or anything, I think it's like alpha wolves or something." 
   She sighed, carefully aimed away from the littles. "I'll... talk to him about that. You two best get back to what you were doing, I think a Charon will pass soon."
   She set them both down near the giantess, so Mira could talk to Berda about the supply chain.
   Queen? Really? Great, now that's a thing I have to deal with...