Session 49a: The Codex Draconis

   Contacting the parents of the young dragons actually turned out to be pretty easy: the Chauffeur had a couple of the “Dragons Eye” personal runestone-computers, and they were all linked into the network. All he had to do was look them up and make the calls.

   It took a little convincing to get the system to put him through – but the fact that he was a superhero on a nursery planet was enough to get the system to put him through to the various sets of parents.

   The responses weren’t exactly as clear-cut as he would have liked though. He’d forgotten just how OLD their parents were. He stopped after checking on the ones that belonged to Chi’an. He’d have to give this a little thought.

   Baen’s parents were actually pleased with the situation. They cared for their son – and if he got out into the universe with the idea that “strong, tough, and fast was enough” in his head he’d die. Challenging a boy with four duel-victories, ten slaves to draw power from, and plenty of equipment and enhancements was proof enough that he NEEDED to be restrained until he developed some sense – and they’d rather see him leashed for a few thousand or hundred thousand years than see him dead. Dead is a very long time. They’d mourned enough children over the last three and a half billion years. Chi’an had already shown the foresight to set up emergency assistance systems for those who accepted his leadership. A few hundred thousand years was nothing.

   Herensuge’s parents felt that their idiot son had bet his virility and freedom on the unsupported assumption that a girl who’d issued an open challenge to every male on the planet wanted to be caught by him in particular. They’d apparently have wanted to bail him out if it was anything permanent, or even really long-term – but his new master would doubtless release him soon enough, and his little time-out was well earned. Hopefully the experience would help him learn to think things through a bit more.

   Kaarme’s parents wanted to see him set free. He was overeager, overconfident, and oversexed – but that came with being adolescent, and they thought the penalty was a bit stiff. Chi’an had already released several boys that had been defeated by other boys after he defeated their masters, perhaps he could be be talked into extending it to Kaarme? OK, he was beaten by a girl, but they didn’t really see why that should make any particular difference.

   Leontius’s parents were totally disgusted with him. Creating hybrid kids, cuddling them and letting them call him “father” as they grew, teaching them as much dragonlore as they could learn, and then leaving them to age and die – whether out of not caring or out of not bothering to learn how to prevent it – was utterly despicable as far as they were concerned. They felt that Chi’an was quite welcome to do anything he liked with his property for as long as he pleased; he wouldn’t be hearing any objections from them. Maybe they’d be willing to speak up for Leontius after he’d spent a few million years as an eunuch slave – but if the Chauffeur would really like to do something for them, they’d like him to look up any of the “grandchildren” who are still alive and see what could be done about keeping them that way.

   Malasin’s parents wouldn’t mind seeing him set free. They thought that the whole dominance-struggle thing was pretty silly. Still, it was normal enough for kids, and they always grew out of it. Given that Malasin was the one who insisted on making it a full challenge, he had nothing to complain about. If someone talked Chi’an into setting him free, that would be nice – but he’d doubtless be released soon enough anyway, sooner if he behaved himself. It’s not like Malasin wouldn’t have claimed ownership of Chi’an if he’d won. Besides, they suspect that Chi’an is probably the best potential flight leader in the bunch, and will probably be a better master to Malasin and the other boys than Malasin would have been to him – and they’d like to see all the kids survive and do well.

   Sarkan’s parents are of the opinion “boys will be boys”, and see dominance-competitions as a sporting proposition to be encouraged. They’re disappointed that Sarkan lost – they’d much rather have applauded proudly from deep space as he enslaved and emasculated a dozen or so of the other young males and claimed a dozen or so of the girls like his father when he was an adolescent – but it’s not like it’s really anything more than a kid’s game. At least he only lost out to another dragon, not to some planet-bound mortal. That would have been really embarrassing.

   Vasilko’s parents were seriously disappointed in him. Losing out to another boy in a hard-fought battle for dominance would be normal enough – even if they would have preferred a win – but pissing off most of the other youngsters and then being stupid enough to give them a reason to declare open season on him through inattention and neglect was just dumb. Oh well, he’d learn, and he’d be set free soon enough.

   Yoshima’s parents feel that their son is a decent kid who’s had far more than his share of bad luck over the past several centuries – and really doesn’t deserve enslavement on top of it. They have somewhat come to regret their choice of culture – the “Samurai” bunch had some good ideas and encouraged the military virtues, but turned out to be much too fatalistic – but there’s no changing that now. They know that it isn’t likely to succeed, but they’d be grateful if someone would make an effort to talk Chi’an into setting their son free.

   As for the parents of the females…

   Asura’s parents thought that the “submissive slave-concubine” relationship was juvenile and undignified, if not exactly uncommon – but she is a juvenile, and the kept-safe-in-a-harem lifestyle may not be particularly glorious, but it usually pays off in grandchildren. Since her submission was “forced” with nothing more than words, posing, and a bit of dominant-bad-boy attitude, so be it. The youngsters initial relationships rarely last longer than a few hundred thousand years anyway.

   Chizura’s parents would like her set free: The initial dispute she contested with Asura over was earth-political, and they never did think it made much sense. Still, it looked like Asura would set Chizura free soon enough – but then Asura let Chi’an claim her as a slave-concubine on the strength of nothing but arrogance, and took Chizura into long-term slavery with her. They know she’s not particularly unhappy – but at least part of that is probably the bonding spell. Neither of them are big on the “females exist to serve males” idea, they didn’t raise their daughter that way either, and don’t like her being stuck in such a relationship.

   Luchair’s parents felt that she belonged in a harem: if she was silly enough to think that challenging every adolescent male on the planet to try and claim her would keep them away, she was too silly to be out on her own – and if it had been a deliberate gambit to ensure that she was claimed by a powerful male, well, it worked. Chi’an seems decent enough for an adolescent boy, and they’d both enjoy themselves now that she was over her initial reluctance and he had acquired a little finesse. Things will probably change after they grow up anyway.

   Naga’s parents would rather that she had picked someone other than the flight leader – they tend to get killed a lot more often than the subordinate males – but they understand both gratitude for his helping her and the attraction of mating with the strongest available young male. She opted to offer herself to him, and they can’t fault an adolescent boy for accepting her. She’s Chi’ans property for the next couple of hundred thousand years now; hopefully he’ll live long enough to breed her properly.