Page 10 of The White Dragon's Dilemma

QUEEN JAHARA

Valerius lifted his head.The scents of the continent of Africa swept on the wind to him: the dusty spice of the desert, the warm sweetness of the jungles, the icy rush of the mountains, and the bitter, burnt scent of humanity.

Chione, who was in the middle of relaying who would be their guests for dinner that evening--Marban and Rose, Wally and the Bryces--stopped in mid-sentence as Valerius got up from his throne.

“What is it?”she asked, head cocked quizzically to the side.

“Queen Jahara is here,” Valerius said and stepped down from the throne.

He headed towards the plaza where Caden and Esme stood, arm in arm, gazing out at the horizon that was a wall of glowing white fog.Valerius could see people in the streets staring out at the unnatural phenomena, pointing and talking amongst each other.After all they had endured recently, Valerius hoped they were not afraid of Jahara’s sideshow.

Chione quickly followed Valerius onto the stone plaza, but Illarion practically pushed her out of the way as he settled himself at Valerius’ left side.Tez, seeing Illarion positioning himself as an equal, did the same at Valerius’ right.The urge to grasp both of their heads and knock them together was almost overwhelming.

“What are you doing?”Valerius growled.

“We should all greet Jahara as the equals we are,” Illarion remarked.

The Green Dragon King seemed awfully pleased with himself.Valerius had glimpsed him speaking with Caden earlier. He had almost stalked out there to put an end to it, but the conversation had appeared relatively congenial and Caden had made no signs of distress.

“And why areyouscampering up beside me, Tez?”Valerius asked.

“Because the Green Dragon is lesser than the Gold,” Tez said with a wink at him.

Valerius stopped in mid-step, which had the two Dragon Shifters stumbling forward. This allowed Chione to step up to his side.She smiled and shook her head as she joined him.He offered her his arm, which she took.They walked past the Green and Gold Dragons who were scowling at each other and not him, as if the other were responsible for losing face.

“Well played,” Chione murmured with amusement.

“I have my moments,” he answered.

Upon hearing his voice, Caden turned excitedly towards him and jogged the ten feet that still separated them.There was high color in the boy’s cheeks and his eyes were wide with excitement.Valerius grasped him around the waist and lifted him up before spinning him around.Caden laughed.He gently set Caden down on his feet.The young man leaned against him still, cheek turned to the side, resting against his chest, humming softly.

“Hey!”Caden cried. “Queen Jahara is coming!I mean Esme says the fog--”

“Yes, that is her.She controls the wind and can create fogs and mists that can stagger the senses.”Valerius squinted at the fog wall approaching.“That one is 100 feet tall, I think.Impressive.”

“It’s so cool.I’m really excited to meet her!”Caden enthused.

Valerius was not surprised.Queen Jahara rarely left the continent of Africa, which was her entire territory, yet much was known about her as the causes she supported were wildly popular.With her stewardship, all of the African nations had entered a time of historic prosperity for all of their people and not just the lucky or corrupt few at the top.

The African wildlife that ignited so many people’s imaginations not only was protected under her reign, but thriving.Creatures that were feared to be near extinction were making huge comebacks. And she had merged her conservationism with technology.Science and nature combined in ways only imagined in books and on the screen.It was indeed Afro-futurism taking place in real life.

Caden went on, “She’s liketheperson on climate change and space technology and--”

“Queen Jahara is a wise steward of her territory, and…” he sighed, “some would argue the whole of the planet.”

“Yeah, I heard that all her cities now are completely green and she’s introducing hover cars essentially and--”

“Yes,” he replied dryly.

“And people are actually getting chip implants and--”

“Yes, she’s wonderful, yes,” Valerius interrupted with a sigh.“I hear quite enough about all of that from President Goodfellow.”

Caden grinned at him.“Are youjealousof Jahara’s good press?”

Valerius sniffed.“Never.”

Caden got up on his tiptoes and kissed Valerius’ nose. “You shouldn’t be jealous!You’re wonderful, too.”

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