Thrax

Under the water, Thrax held his dragon arms at his sides and kept his dragon legs straight, letting his hips and his undulating dragon tail do the work of thrusting and propelling him through the water.  Everything around him was serene, a deep blue-green tranquility.  Another dragon male shot quickly past him, leaving a wake of bubbles as he torpedoed into the distance where still others swerved and dove, some making for the bottom and others climbing to the surface.

 Beneath him, on the bottom, there were some who had taken not to swimming but just to relaxing on the beds of water plants in the sandy basin of the lake.  They looked almost like sculptures, sitting there so still, as tranquil as the water.  Thrax pushed on, letting them enjoy Shimmershine as they liked while he got on in his own way.

This was Thrax’s favorite lake in which to take rejuvenation.  It was really no better than any of the others; some of them, in fact, were even more scenic.  But this was the one in which he had taken his first rejuvenation as a very young boy, and the one to which he returned most often.  These waters were another home and had served him well.  And being down there  gave him more time to think.

Really, there was not that much to think about.  He had his duty and was bound to honor it.  This had to happen.  Thrax had pledged his skills, his muscle and breath and blood, his very life to the needs of the world to which he belonged and the community of worlds of which it was a part.  He was a Knight, and he had his orders.

And that was part of the problem:  These were his orders.  It was not his desire; it was what was required of him.  He would mate and copulate with a human woman.  He would contribute to the next generation of Lacertans.  He would provide for the health of his world as he did for its defense.  He was a Knight, and this was his duty.

What nagged at him was something that he could not shake, no matter how hard or how fast he swam, no matter with what force and vigor he cut through the waters of Lake Shimmershine.  A thing like this should not be a duty.  It should not be an order.  A thing like this should be a desire.  Of all things in life, this should be something that two people wanted.

To be sure, Agena wanted it.  She was preparing to make one of the greatest changes that a person could make in her life.  She was expecting to bear a dragon child and raise it on this planet of dragons, and she would do it with or without a formal marriage; what mattered to Lacerta was only the addition of a new life to the world.

  Thrax had every belief that Agena was ready for him to take her to bed, copulate her with all his dragon might, and produce their part of that next generation.  And if he were really honest, he would enjoy doing it as much as he had enjoyed s*x with more other females than he could count, his own kind and human.

But all of those countless other times were for pleasure: his pleasure and their mutual satisfaction.  This was something different.  And that, he knew, was something that he and Agena would have to discuss.  He admitted to himself that he was looking forward to the copulating and would do plenty of it, as much as she could take and then some.  He was not looking forward to the discussion in the same way. 

Thrax went on with his swim, meandering along under the water, breaking the surface a couple of times.  He could not actually feel the restorative effects of being in Shimmershine, but he knew that the minerals dissolved in the water were doing their job and would help him to keep in prime condition for another few years.  After swimming out a few hundred meters and breaking the surface again, he dropped beneath the veneer of the water and gave himself a rest, floating suspended beneath the gentle waves above.

  He hung in the expanse of blue-green calm, his tail barely twitching, and gave thought to what he soon must do.  It occurred to him that in all his travels and all his experiences, he had never s*xed another female quite like her.  She was an athlete, this Agena Morrow.  She filled that one-piece bathing suit most impressively.  She might actually be as ferocious in bed as he was.  He would soon know for sure.

At length, he was satisfied that he had been in Shimmershine long enough.  Perhaps now, it was time to have another swim, to see how the woman who had made a career running up and down circular walls and swatting at bouncing balls moved in a different environment.  Yes, he would now take the opportunity to see Agena’s moves in a setting other than a bedroom.  Perhaps it would inspire him for what lay ahead.  Decisively, Thrax launched himself forward again, with a wake of bubbles billowing out behind him. 

Aboard the hoverboat, Agena absently wondered, as most pure humans visiting Shimmershine must have wondered, what would happen if she were just to leap over the side of the craft and into the water and start swimming.  How long would it take before some member of the lake patrol spotted a human female knifing her way across the lake and came barreling in at her in an official craft or swooping down at her from the air?

 How exactly would they wrangle her out of the lake?  Would they throw nets on her and drag her into their boat?  Would they drop a net on her from overhead, gather her up in it, and bear her off through the air? 

However they caught her, and however quickly, she would then certainly be carted off to some holding facility to stand before a Lacertan court and answer for her reckless disregard for the colony’s laws.  She imagined herself being jailed for a time, very likely with some hefty deduction from her share of the Terrestrial Commonwealth as a penalty, then hustled off aboard some dingy, grubby transport ship, banished from the planet and possibly never permitted to return.

Oh well, she sighed, distracted for the moment by her illicit fantasy, I’d never do a thing like that anyway.  I’m a law-abiding citizen, here on Lacerta to have a baby with a dragon man.

As if on cue, a dragon head lifted itself up from the water in the distance.  It swiveled about a bit, tasting the air, before finally pivoting in Agena’s direction.  A white churning of water around the head told her that the dragon in the distance was on the move.  As it was not turning or veering in any other direction, she could see that it was making directly for her.