Restrictions that had been loosened had been tightened again recently, and there was a minor incident during Chris' shift when two women attempted to loiter in the large lobby that had been a seating area the year before.

The fact that he knew both of them and was fairly confident that neither Anne nor Tanwen were likely to carry the virus only made the situation more awkward. He seriously considered pretending he didn't know them and making one of the cashier's deal with them, but made his way around the waiting customers who were standing on their marks.

"What are you doing here?" he asked from six feet away.

Even though he lived with Anne and had seen both of them only hours ago, it was important to provide a good example. If one person saw someone without a mask or not keeping their distance, a dozen more would follow their lead. Anne stepped forward, but stopped when Chris held up his hand.

Tanwen regarded him with fascination and amusement hummed beneath her words as she exclaimed too loudly, "Sweety the question is what are you doing? Are you pretending you don't know us?"

Every eye in the fast food joint turned toward the voluptuous redhead. She would have given redheads a bad name if her hair hadn't seemed unnaturally metallic.

Chris almost unconsciously tilted his head as he gave her a look. His lips quirked and he replied sweetly on the surface, but with a threatening hum beneath his own words that he'd never been aware of until meeting Amaru, "Tanwen dear, I told you when I left that I was going to work. You can't linger here, it's against regulations at the best of times, which these aren't. Please run along sweetheart, if you're bored at home you can have Anne show you to the market and do the week's shopping."

Both human and dragon regarded him with startled expressions.

"She didn't believe me when I described your job," Anne muttered as she tried not to meet anyone's eyes.

Tanwen bared her teeth at Chris, in an expression that he knew most people would take as a smile. She was playing to the crowd as she replied archly, "What a presumptuous babe."

He smiled back at her, surprised by her awareness of the people around them. Genuine amusement laced his voice as he asked, "Are you going to complain about how I'm not respecting my elders next?"

That was exactly what he was doing, but not how it would appear to observers. Anne reacted more obviously than the dragon, as she covered her mouth.

Tanwen gave him a slight toss of her coppery hair, and flipped her hand in a slightly old-fashioned manner from another place, that subtly showed the amount of time that she had lived alongside humanity. "Nonsense. I will simply require your attention when you are finished," she replied almost mockingly in her simple honesty.

Chris was actually rather impressed by Tanwen's understanding of human appearances. Amaru probably wouldn't have cared, and he doubted that the elder dragon would even have understood the nuances of the situation. She was giving in to his demand, but showing that he was subservient to her. He gave her an ever so slight bow as he promised, "After I am finished with all of my scheduled tasks tonight."

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Anne whispered to Tanwen, softly enough that most humans wouldn't have been able to hear her, "He's scheduled to sing later."

Tanwen actually glanced at him with interest, but then glanced at the employees at the counter who were dawdling in their tasks in order to watch the small drama. Chris sighed internally. He ought to scold them a little for that, but they were all exhausted and doing their best to comply with all the new regulations.

As Tanwen and Anne made their way out and Chris edged back to his place behind the counter, Eric whispered curiously, "Your girlfriend? Or are they both… ?"

Chris glanced at the teenager who was currently supporting his mother and two younger siblings on a paycheck that wouldn't even cover a new car payment these days. "You probably won't believe me," he told the boy mirthfully, "but that woman is old enough to be my mother."

Eric emitted a nearly inaudible whistle-like breath. "Damn. But I'd still go for it! She's smoking hot dude."

"She's a dragon, she can probably breathe fire," Chris replied dryly.

Eric laughed, but his hands never stopped moving.

--

She watched everything with interest, as her fingers traced idle circles in the ring of liquid left by a cup on the bar. The girl, Anne, had delivered her to the bar with the slightly offensive air of a nanny delivering her charge to a daycare facility, and then made her escape.

The place down beside the river, like the fast food joint that 'Chris' worked in, was the kind that you could find in any large human city. People were scattered across the room in an exaggerated version of the wary isolation and comradeship that had characterized the communities that gathered at watering holes since long before she had existed.

Their eyes observed her with a variety of emotions, but her flashy appearance attracted their attention. It was her 'win' in the 'game' she played among them. Observed but undetected, seen but unseen, as she imitated them, studied them, and continued to learn about the world she lived in as her kind had always done.

The people here were more settled, less anxious, than most of those she'd observed in the western city. One of the old women was even wearing a feather at the end of her whitening braid. It was just a small blue feather, hardly the colorful array that the tribes had worn when she'd visited this continent in her early years, but Tanwen gave her an approving smile that was returned with wary curiosity.

She watched Chris walk onto the stage, felt smug about the way the younger dragon's gaze settled on her. She was actually quite excited about meeting him, because as one of the youngest dragons in the world she hadn't had many chances to see children younger than herself. She was an elder in his eyes, and would be able to teach him many of the things her elders had taught her. It pleased her very much.

She was disconcerted when he began to sing. The eyes that had been watching her turned to him, and for a moment she was quite indignant. He was manipulating them directly, commanding their attention, and… only after a moment she realized that he hadn't opened his true eyes and he was still meeting her own gaze.

He wasn’t commanding them, but they were watching him with joy and expectation. As he sang, she realized that he was actually energizing them. His song was leaking energy, but it wasn't leaking precisely, rather it was being poured out and the audience was absorbing it as though it were a natural pool.

His song faltered for the barest moment as she opened her true eyes, and he turned his gaze away from her rude examination. Her observation of the younger dragon's energy ended only moments later, as a hint of a familiar scent tickled her nose, and she turned away to seek its source. The weathered face of an older human male watched the stage like all the others.