Book One: Onnu and Pannu

Dragons?

Onnu also slumped forward. She'd been lying down, when her mind had abruptly flooded with thousands of other minds. Mara had been standing, so it had affected her more strongly. Some dragons had even been mid-step when The Call began.
   She didn't know what to call it that didn't sound too egotistical, but it was basically one huge conference call, so that's what she called it.
   Okay, I could go a year without thinking the word "call" again, she grumbled.
   Pannu joined her as soon as he was able.
   "That was the weirdest thing that's ever happened to me. Are you okay?"
   She looked up at him, eyes still not quite focused on the world around her. He lay next to her without another word, and cuddled her for the rest of the day. The hatchlings were on their best behavior, partly because they'd also been part of the Call.
   Every dragon across the worlds was tired, for the rest of the day. Their smaller kin helped them recover, and the sense of community was reinforced, for a time.

   As with all of the other little eggs Onnu laid, these hatched after a week. She rather thought that they must manifest right before exiting her... body... and the week was for them to rest, in a sensory deprivation tank. She tried not to think that she made those tanks, because she wasn't sure that she did. You would think that if she grew the shells, she would feel something while carrying, or making them, but she didn't.
   As with the other ferried souls, they hatched solemn and nervous. These were the most difficult kin to acclimate thus far, so they remained with Onnu and Pannu in Capitol Hold.
   More importantly, they stayed near the hatchlings.
   Having dragons to protect them was nice, but they were dauntingly enormous. The hatchlings were a more manageable size to interact with. Their exuberance, while shocking at first, slowly drew them out of their shells. It was akin to horse therapy, and the innocent play of children, rolled into one joyous romp. The adult dragons curbed any overly rambunctious play, which slowly won the traumatized kin over. They began to see them as parents, in a way.
   It was one of those beleaguered souls who noticed something that no one else had; not even the Elder Dragons:
   The creatures and kin that they'd been attributing reptilian or amphibian characteristics to, could also be said to look part draconic.
   The only exception that she could see was the shells on the snurtles and shurtles. They had yet to see a dragon with a shell. But the scales could be smaller versions of dragonscales, not just reptile scales. The tails of the bimobasna could just as easily be dragon tails, instead of snake tails.
   There was talk of changing their names to "bimbads", but they had affectionately shortened it to "beemos", and they couldn't think of the cute flitters any other way.
   As for the wolmods, this revelation sent a ripple throughout the Hold, and they became "wodra". It was agreed that the less clunky name sounded as intimidating as the creatures themselves.
   The peakraptors could very well be feral feathered dragons, but no one really wanted to connect the cunning, terrifying things with dragons. It seemed like a disservice to their dragon protectors. Bones suggested using Quetzalcoatl somehow, as the deity was a feathered serpent who was sometimes called a dragon. They tried quetzalclaws, feathercoats, and even limbed quetzals. Bones thought quetzal was enough of a distinction from the deity on Erdewaz, and did not need the clarification of having legs. The beautiful creatures did look as exotic as quetzal sounded, and it was one less syllable, so they agreed to use the word from then on.
   As for worgles, although their tough hides could resemble a stone dragon from the deeps, as the Mountain Clan served (a word Onnu still didn't like), "wordra", or "worda" just didn't have the same ring to it. Besides, both sounded too close to wodra. They were worgles, and that wasn't going to change.
   Neither did the Tupin fauns or ajitup. Though they also could be said to have draconic characteristics, they'd gotten so used to their names, nothing else would suit. The ajitup, in particular, had taken so long to be named, another change was just too much. Besides that, they had not the ego to take on draconic notions. They were far too loyal to their dragons to take some of their thunder.
   Not that the dragons minded any of it. Onnu took the opportunity to point out how similar they all were. If many of the kin looked a bit like dragons, then they couldn't really elevate them beyond their physical size, could they?
   Gargoyle wings were simply smoother, thicker dragon wings. Faun horns and scales could be draconic, instead of reptilian and ruminant. Ogre hide sort of resembled tiny dragonscales, as Dragonfriend noted when he woke on Tupino. Dragonkith, of course, looked like their dragons, in one form or another (though they all had grey scales, for some as yet unknown reason). Even Clack's minotaur horns could pass for dragon horns. Add in the centaurs who had scaled quadruped bodies, instead of vaguely equine, and they really did have more dragons throughout the Holds than they thought.
   And then Trey mentioned the furred dragons on the other side of Tupino.
   And Dwayne said that his planet had feathered dragons.
   It threw everything they thought they knew into an upheaval that took a long time to settle down. Onnu, of course, was pragmatic about the whole thing.
   "I'll keep saying it until it sticks: nothing is the same."
   She would remind this generation until the day they died, it seemed, but that was her duty. She was to remember what others forgot, as were her Brothers.
   Okay, okay, I get it. Maybe Ya do need us. Doesn't mean I have to like possibly living forever, she grumbled up at Him.
   It occurred to her, as well, why she hadn't been drawn to the City. The concept had been rolling around in her mind since her trip north, but the dragon revelation brought it out where she could see it.
   Had she been in the City, she would have been inundated with the doctrine and dogma that they seemed to live by. It would have been much harder to Hear Him when she wasn't Above. Harder to remain detached, impartial.
   Do their dragons even go Above? she wondered.
   No, far better to stay out in the suburbs, and keep her mind free of the drama and stress of church politics that seemed to be going on in the City. It kept her faith more... pure? Less bogged down with ecumenical technicalities, anyway, so she could advise the advisors. She could, as she was doing now, remind them of the simple things that tended to get lost in the liturgy. Even the faithful--perhaps especially the faithful--forgot the lessons they learned first.
   There were some things that would never change; like that still, small voice that had guided them on Erdewaz. The ten commandments would always apply. And when they forgot the things that children know, she would remind them.
   The probability of doing so for eternity was exhausting.