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THE KEEPER: Tales from the Fringes of Reality. Episode 9 – Dragons of the Blue Sun.

THE KEEPER: Morning wanderer! Minerva’s been working overtime to get us a full list of all the loose heartlines out there. It’s going to take me a week or two to actually go through the list, especially with the regular jobs that are sure to come in during that time, but I promise you I’ll be doing a full search through there, alright? A lot more loose lines came up than I thought, honestly, but we don’t have that many missing people lately so it might just be that these people are in the same reality and haven’t made their connection yet. That doesn’t happen often– well, it might given how many lines there are but you know what I mean. It’s also possible that some of these lines are loose because people have died. Like we saw with Marigold, the line doesn’t just disappear. For most folks the connection just breaks but…

Well, I still hold out hope that she can get Xander back. She deserves to.

But enough about that for now! I’ve just got one more job to get through before I can start working on our little side project; it was a lighter day today. You’re welcome to stick around as always, sorry again that there’s not much else for you to do here. It must get awfully boring just listening to me ramble on when you can’t say anything back… But we’re going to get you out of here, wanderer! I have a good feeling about the heartlines, it’ll just take a bit of time to look through it all. 

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: Yes, yes, Min, I’m going to get started don’t worry. You send through the file for me to print out?

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: Lovely, thanks Minerva! Alright, last story of the day, let’s see what it holds. Let’s see… Sasha Hsu, he/him, from reality 2426. 

Sasha’s family had often told him of dragons. They were a major cultural icon, after all, and a drawing of a dragon hung proudly in Sasha’s room for his entire life. It had been done by his grandfather– a beautiful, green, Chinese dragon guarding over Sasha and his books for as long as he could remember. A reminder of a grandfather he never really knew and a culture he could only hope to grasp at.

Dragons weren’t real, he knew that. He had always known that, always known that the drawing hanging from his wall was just an image from mythology and not something that had ever existed. Don’t get him wrong, he wished more than anything that dragons could be real and that they would watch over him the same way his grandfather’s picture had, but they couldn’t be. Not for Sasha, not for his family, not for anyone in his world.

He had woken up in what seemed to be a cave– a tapestry hanging over the entrance, his body lying on top of what felt like genuine furs. They were soft, distractingly so. So distracting, in fact, that Sasha didn’t notice the dragon poking their head through the cave entrance. “I see you’re awake, little groundling.”

Sasha loved all sorts of dragons, he really, truly did, but he couldn’t help but feel that Western dragons had created a too kind image of the species. While Westerners strove for ferocity and terror, their dragons still had a soft edge to them, largely due to simply classifying dragons as beasts who could be tamed by humans. Looking at this dragon, Sasha could feel the knowledge and wisdom in their eyes, could feel the breath escaping from the mouth that always seemed so much scarier than Western dragon mouths, could see the whiskers of the dragon moving in the space close enough to scrape against the floor directly in front of him. He was not ashamed to admit that he was afraid; whatever dreams he had had of dragons being real as a child could not account for the reality of seeing a dragon in front of him.

“Your heart rate has picked up significantly, groundling. Please, I mean you no harm. I found you passed out in front of my cave system, wolves threatening to tear you to pieces. If I wished you to be dead, you certainly would be.” If the dragon was striving for comfort, they missed the mark significantly. “My name is Wingyee, you’re safe here, groundling, I promise.”

Sasha sat up slowly, closing his eyes for a moment to escape the relentless gaze of Wingyee. He breathed in deeply, trying his best to recenter himself. They had a point, after all: it would hardly be difficult for a dragon to kill him. And it wasn’t as if they were toying with him either, leaving him stripped on the cold ground of the cave to suffer before they eventually ate him. No, Wingyee had taken him into their cave and given him furs to lay upon until he woke, leaving him clothed and warm and comfortable all things considered. Sasha opened his eyes again, looking at Wingyee and nodding once. “I… Thank you, great dragon. My name is Sasha. I… I’ve dreamed of meeting one of your kind for many many years.”

Dragons didn’t smile in the way Sasha expected. In fact, they didn’t really smile at all. Their mouths seemed to be locked in position, only able to open or close as needed. But still, he knew they were smiling at him. He could feel it, just as he could feel their confusion at his words. “I’m certain you must’ve met a great number of dragons, groundling. We coexist, after all, and I’m certain you’ve partaken in dragon business before. I can feel it on you, the calling to aid and be aided by dragons. You are marked by the dragons, that cannot come from nowhere.”

He had half a mind to wonder if the dragon meant his tattoo before realizing there was no way Wingyee could’ve seen it given he was wearing a long sleeved shirt. “I’m sorry to argue with you, great dragon, but you are mistaken. I… I had been led to believe that dragons didn’t exist. Clearly I was incorrect but this is truly my first meeting with one of your kind.”

“Please come out of the cave, groundling Sasha. I would like to study you more closely.” Knowing better than to argue with a literal dragon, Sasha got up, taking the briefest of moments to straighten his clothes before exiting the cave.

The sun shining in the sky above the dragon was not the usual orangish yellow that Sasha was used to. It didn’t cast the world in a stark but vibrant light that allowed all of the colors to shine upon the earth. No, this sun was, from what Sasha dared to look at, blue. The entire land seemed to be swathed in soft blue light, giving everything a cooler tinge and dampening some of the brighter colors. The red that he had seen on Wingyee’s face looked almost mauve in the light of this blue sun, though none of this seemed to faze his dragon companion at all. 

“You were indeed marked by dragons,” Wingyee said as they took a better look at Sasha. “Though not any dragons that I have ever felt before. They feel… flat. Almost fake. You said that you had never met a dragon? That they did not exist in your land?”

“Dragons are something out of story, out of legend. They appear in stories I’ve heard my entire life, but… But we were never taught to believe them to be real.” Wingyee hummed thoughtfully at this, circling around Sasha with their serpent-like body. “My grandfather used to draw you, used to pull your images from stories and sketch your likeness onto the page. You… You look a lot like the dragon he drew for me, actually.”

He once again got the feeling that Wingyee was smiling at him, a sense of light seeming to emanate from their body as it surrounded him. “I wonder if your grandfather ever passed through our realm. It seems unlikely given how rarely strangers come to pass, but there is always the possibility that he saw us for what we truly are and passed us along to you. It would explain your marking. Perhaps it’s not from the dragons themselves but from the love of the drawing that watched over you.”

Charles Hsu had passed away when Sasha was about two years old, leaving him only with pictures of himself in his grandfather’s arms and the hazy thought of what they might have felt like. Sasha always wondered what his grandfather would’ve thought of him– would he have loved him? Hated him? Found him annoying? Found him endearing? So much of his culture revolved around the veneration of ancestors and yet he often found it hard to think of his grandfather, this man who he didn’t know and would never know. The pangs of loss that he felt at the dragon’s words were clashing against the flickers of warmth that were offered by them: perhaps his grandfather had loved him so much, cared for him so much, that he was able to be marked by dragons solely through the love permeating from the drawing that had guarded over Sasha for so much of his life. He could feel the tell-tale signs of tears prickling at his eyes, trying his best to remain composed in front of Wingyee; it would likely be fine if the dragon saw weakness in him, and yet he still felt the need to hide it away. 

“You view your tears as weakness, groundling Sasha?” Wingyee asked, startling any thoughts of tears from his mind. 

“How did you know that?”

A chuckle seemed to erupt from the dragon. “My dear groundling, I didn’t realize that you didn’t know this conversation was taking place in your mind. We dragons do not have a better way of communicating with humans than through a mental link. I apologize, groundling Sasha, and will share a piece of myself with you in return.”

Now that Wingyee had said it, it did make sense that this conversation was happening in his mind. He had already thought about how the mouth of the dragon moved and the fact that it was unlikely to be able to form words, he just assumed he had been incorrect. “It’s… It’s alright, great dragon. Thank you for the apology, I apologize in return for not noticing the nature of our conversation.”

Wingyee seemed to coil closer around Sasha, looking at him in a way that he almost wanted to describe as ‘sad’ even though he knew the expression hadn’t changed. “You need not apologize, groundling Sasha. You had made it very clear that you were unused to communing with dragons, it is my fault for not explaining further.”

“May I ask a question, then?” The dragon nodded, circling closer once more so that Sasha’s back was resting against their body. “Why did you save me from the wolves?”

A pause, one that Sasha could feel deep in his bones. “You… Felt familiar to me, groundling. It was as though your mark, flat as it was, was a mark I had made. And while I didn’t recall doing so, it seemed wrong to leave you out there to die, especially if you had been marked by my hand. But it was also simply the right thing to do. You were asleep and defenseless and out of place; the wolves could find another place to get their meal, they always do. There was no reason for you to die if I could prevent it so I did.”

Feeling a surge of bravery, Sasha reached out and placed his hand against the side of Wingyee’s face, just managing to avoid the sharpness of their teeth. “Thank you, great dragon. For saving me and for answering my question. It is an honor to be in your presence, one that I think my grandfather would’ve appreciated learning about.”

Wingyee grew quiet again, as if they could hear something that Sasha couldn’t. “I’m afraid that you won’t remember this encounter, my dear groundling. I don’t think either of us will. Your time here is running out, you will be home soon in the bed you fell asleep in. And I will continue to watch over you, though not as me and not as you remember. The dragon your grandfather drew does bear a striking resemblance to me, you were right. Please, if you can, think of me when you look at that dragon just as I will think of you when I look at the painting in the cave.”

“The painting in the cave?” Sasha asked, mind racing with all of the information Wingyee had just imparted upon him. “Why will I forget? Why must I leave?”

The dragon’s body circled tightly around Sasha, embracing him close. “It is simply the manner of the universe, my dear Sasha. You were not meant to be here, though I am grateful to have met you. Please take care of him, sky one. You’ll find him where the dragons of the blue sun fly.”

…Min, you felt that too, right? They were talking to us? I thought… Well, I suppose some realities do have beings who know about the Council, like Sapphire, but Saph is a magical anomaly, dragons are not. So how did they know… 

I’m almost not sure if we should erase their memories, Minerva.

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: Yes, yes, I know it’s protocol, but we’ve been breaking a bit of protocol lately because of stuff like this. Ben got to stay where ze ended up, why shouldn’t Sasha and Wingyee be allowed to remember?

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: Min, they’re not going to wage an interrealtity war.

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: They’re just not! One, they don’t have the means and two, they don’t have the desire! What do you mean I don’t know what they desire, you really think that these two are looking to destroy each others’ realities?

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: That doesn’t make any sense, Min!

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: You’re being unreasonable, I’m trying to be fair! They didn’t ask to fall through, to find each other, to feel bonded to each other, to- to be forced to forget and to know that it’s coming. Minerva–

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: No, Minerva, listen. Yes, the rules are in place for a reason but I don’t think anyone on the Council would be opposed to us bending those rules for the sake of what’s right.

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: That’s cruel, Minerva. You know we’re having issues reaching them. I’m not putting these memories in the hands of a faulty system where we can’t even reach–

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: I’m not insulting you! I–

The dragons of the blue sun. What reality do they exist in. Min, please don’t be like this, we at the very least need to get Sasha home.

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: 8.8 L? Alright, I’m opening the file. He’s there, just like the dragon said. I’m moving him back right now but please, Min, just hold on a second before you go through with the memory erasing. At least hear me out.

Wingyee said that Sasha was marked, right? And that the mark seemed to be from Wingyee even though it didn’t feel quite right? What if they were meant to meet, meant to be in the same reality? Things go a little wild sometimes and people get lost in the shuffle, what if we… What if we messed up? And didn’t notice when his grandfather originally fell through, meaning his family grew up in a reality they weren’t meant to?

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: Yes, I know it’s a lot to base on a ‘what if’ but… Don’t you feel like something is wrong here? Can you not feel that wrongness deep inside your chest, like this is more than just systems breaking down on the fringes and files becoming harder to read and to find? I’m… I’m worried, Min. I’m worried we’re doing things wrong and that we’re actually making things worse.

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: Of course I trust you, Minerva! I just… Maybe it’s myself I’m not trusting. None of this feels right anymore and I… I guess my faith in the system’s been a little shaken.

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: No- I mean, yes, of course I want to get them home I- I’m not blaming you, Minerva!

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: We’ll have the heartline information soon enough and–

MINERVA: (violin plucking)

THE KEEPER: Min, don’t be like that please. Minerva– 

Oh, wanderer, I forgot you were still here. I’m sorry you had to see that… No, no, we’re… fine. It’s fine. Are you hungry? I’ve been at this for a little while and was thinking about making some food. You don’t need to look at me like that wanderer, I’m– Oh. Thank you, wanderer. I… I had forgotten how nice hugs could be. Come on, I’ll make us some food.