Page 8 of The Dragon Shifters' Enemy
“Aw, Till.”Caden once again crossed to his family and he hugged Tilly.“I’m the one who's lucky to have you.”
“Do you think people are going to look at you differently, Tilly?”Claire asked.
Tilly nodded slowly.“Probably.I mean I think I would if it were happening to a friend of mine.”
“Think they’ll be jealous?”Claire twinkled at her.
“I just hope they’ll want to be a part of it, you know?Like still be my friend?”Tilly showed a spark of fragility there.
That truly won Claire over.“I get you.When I started doing YouTube and no one was watching it didn’t matter to anyone, but then when I got a little more attention there were some people who… well, I think they changed.”
“What did you do?”Tilly asked, searching Claire’s face for answers.
“Some of them weren’t my friends anymore,” Claire admitted with a sad smile.“But there were others who were there for me.Through thick and thin.You’ll have those too.They are the ones that matter.Listen to them, not the ones that try to tear you down.”
“Good advice,” Caden said.“I think I’ll be taking that to heart, too.”
Valerius wondered if Caden was thinking of Landry then.His heart ached a little for the young man who tried so desperately to see the best in people.
Chione suddenly stepped forward and said, “I’m afraid that’s all the time we have today for questions.There will be other interviews at future times, but today’s are done.Thank you so much!”
Valerius wondered if when they saw the dissections of every single word everyone said, not to mention the histories of everyone in the room, if they would really bethankingthe press.He stood up and Caden came into his arms.
How did I do?Caden asked.
Valerius pressed a kiss to his forehead.You were yourself.
Is that good?Caden let out an uncertain laugh.
Yes,Valerius assured him.Always.
Behemoth
“Idon’t know if that went well at all,” Caden admitted about the interviews as he and Valerius walked arm-in-arm towards the dining room for a well-earned meal.
“You did remarkably well,” Valerius assured him, rubbing the back of Caden’s clasped hand with his thumb.
“Really?”Caden’s eyebrows rose.“I thought maybe I overdid it with the equal justice stuff.”
“How so?”Valerius asked.“I thought you presented your ideas quite admirably.”
He had done that.He’d talked at length.He’d done what he thought was right.But he was seeing now how anything he said or did was going to have consequences well beyond what he intended or even contemplated.It was making him a bit paranoid.Maybe that wasn’t quite a bad thing.
With his free hand, Caden scrubbed the back of his neck.“Well, it's just not been a thing that you and the other Dragon Shifters have talked about openly.I didn’t want to make it seem like I was criticizing you guys.I know that what I was saying was hardly revolutionary. You all clearly have been thinking about it.Maybe you didn’t say anything about it for a reason.”
“In a way, itwasrevolutionary what you just did and I’m sure the other Dragon Shifters will have something to say about it,” Valerius remarked.
Caden groaned.“I really wasn’t calling anyone out!”
“No, but even if you were, you’re allowed.You’re our equal, Caden,” Valerius said.
“Yeah, but you guys have a lot more experience under your belts about what to and not to say.And it’s not like this issue iseasy.”Caden ripped at his hair.
The more he thought about it there were pitfalls around every corner.And yet, hewantedto make it a focus of the things he did.He felt deeply that things had to change.He would need people around him that had ideas about how to make that happen.Wally and Rose were just a start.
“No, they never are. But this one is well taken on.We’re partly in this mess because we’ve never discussed it openly. All of us have recognized the problems of inequality. We thought to just let it work out,” Valerius stated with a twist of his lips.“Instead, itfesteredand people with ill intent took advantage of our silence.”
“The Faith has always explained that the Spirits are above interfering in those types of human affairs,” his mother pointed out.
