Varin and Rand look at each other before looking over at Angelidis. Rand closes his eyes. Varin looks directly at her. He’s about to open his mouth when their mother interjects.

“I think they still should. They really could use more structure in their lives and the military will train them well. Enlistment could improve their future prospects.”

Angelidis cannot rebut her mom’s claim. Right now, they have no real structure to their future. Their prospects are low in this city so they’ll probably have to move somewhere to get good work. They aren’t well qualified for academic or magical pursuits, due to their school’s segregative practices.

They do lack structure, and Angelidis cannot blame them.

Her mother continues.

“You three were born with a draconid’s natural strength and sturdiness. Varin, Rand… I think without enlisting, you would face difficult lives.” Just like your sister, her mother wants to add.

“My sons, my baby boys… you know that I want you to lead good lives. But, you need to face the facts. You don’t have strengths in academics or aptitudes for magic. But, you have your bodies. You should use those gifts that you were born with to serve the people of the Federation.”

Angelidis doesn’t like hearing this. To humans, this kind of rhetoric seems like praise. However, draconids were blessed with more physical strength than all other humanoid races. If humans weren’t able to ascend to nobility, the draconid race would not have been enslaved.

Throughout the millennia, that physical strength of theirs has been used as an excuse to overwork them. When demihuman slavery was still legal, draconids were kept chained like Miella.

Her father had died from overwork even after slavery was abolished. In the factory he worked at, he was treated harshly, like a pack animal would be. He died of a heart attack on the job. His management offered condolences, but Angelidis could tell they thought he was a defective draconid.

For Angelidis, even if she could find work in Tritol, she still wouldn’t work like her father had. She didn’t want her brothers to be forced to work themselves to death for humans. She had hoped they could excel in their grades. She hoped they could find something they were good at other than their physical abilities.

“Mom… Don’t tell them that.”

“Wait, Angelidis. I know you can tell that they’re not doing good in their school subjects. They’re draconid after all, academics aren’t for them.”

I asked you to talk to their teachers! I asked you to let them join the advanced placement classes! Fuck…

Varin and Rand look down at their plates. They are both aware as well how their mom’s prejudice has not helped them. They don’t blame their mother for this, everyone has their blindspots. Even the ones in their family. They remember how she was when their father had died. Her utter anguish at that moment.

She still loves her family and her husband. Angelidis remembers as well. This is why she finds her mom’s current attitude so grating. She sighs.

“Mom… Don’t talk like that about our race.”

“The sooner they can accept it, the better their lives will be. I know what you’re thinking. I must be reverting back to my ingrained ‘human’ instincts, right? You should know better about me, Angelidis. I married your father even though my entire family told me it was wrong. My own parents disowned me. We had to flee my village when I found out I was pregnant!”

It is the way of the Federation and the human race. Male humans could rape and father children with female demihumans. But, the moment one of their pure human daughters bedded a male demihuman, they were ‘tainted’. Even in Tritol, their whole family would avoid walking out in public, even if it wasn’t technically illegal anymore.

Angelidis stares at her empty plate. She truly understands what her mother and father had gone through. Even now, what her mother is saying is just the deeply ingrained ignorance passed down from her family.

“Varin, Rand… This country is not made for you to live happily. It’s made for you to serve our race. That’s what my father would say about demihumans. I don’t agree with him at all. But… you see it, right? Even if I don’t want him to be right… This is our current world, our current life. I want you to enlist because it could be the fastest road to success for you two… There are perks that could give you better paths forward after your tours of duty are over. Or… would you try to… follow in the footsteps… of your father?”

Their mom hesitates to mention his path, his fate. She too does not want them to die in a factory somewhere especially where she can’t see them. Not her sons. Not like her husband had.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

Angelidis wants to argue back. But, she doesn’t know what they should be doing. They cannot follow her own path. They cannot follow the path of their father. Is war the only option left?

Should they join Dzan and Sigvor? Petty crime? Organized crime? If they’re caught, they’ll be sentenced to years of prison time and slavery. Isn’t there something else? Some other option for their lives?

She doesn’t know enough. She still wants an answer from them.

“...Are you two going to enlist? You understand that it’s wartime, right? You won’t be going up against a crawler’s aberrant hive. You’ll be going up against the demons. We, you two and I, know nothing about the demons and their strength. Nobody I know does either. Even if the Devil is gone and the dragon knights have been wiped out… that’s still a whole country…”

Angelidis’ eyes tremble. She doesn’t want them to get hurt. She doesn’t want them to jump into a war with no information.

Rand looks at her. He bites his lip as he considers what she wants to hear. He is about to say something out of impulse, but Varin grasps his shoulder. He opens his mouth.

“Jelli… We just don’t know yet.” Angelidis can see that Varin is truly thinking deeply about this. No decision has been made yet. Angelidis sighs. Her mother looks slightly annoyed. She would like them to make up their mind already.

She truly wants them to have better lives than their father. No more factories. They can become soldiers and then mercenaries, bodyguards, etc.

But, truthfully, she is lacking just as much information as anyone else at the table.

Angelidis finishes eating while the boys get changed for school. They put on their shoes before heading out the door.

“Have a good day, you two! I can’t be back today for dinner, but we’ll have breakfast tomorrow.”

Rand smiles at her while Varin nods with a serious expression. Varin is always so severe as a person. He really took after his father. Rand seems to take after Angelidis more than anyone else.

The boys have left. Angelidis is sitting at the table next to her mother in silence.

“You really should eat more, mom.”

“Hm?”

“You look like skin and bones. At least have some lagia juice or–”

“I’m alright, daughter. Worry about yourself more than me.”

“I can multitask… Have they really been alright at school?”

“Yes, Angelidis. They have–”

“Mom, you really should have talked to the principal about their classes earlier… You know they’re putting in less effort because they don’t see a point to their current classes… Ah, wait… I…”

Angelidis normally doesn’t express her true thoughts to her mother so up front. She feels she shouldn’t have done that. Just as she’s about to try to leave in embarrassment, her mother responds.

“*Sigh*… It wouldn’t have made a difference, Angelidis. Do you know how they view me at that school? They all think I’m just a whore anyways, I have no ability to push those teachers to do anything… And, I know how the advanced students in a human-only class would have treated your brothers anyways. I don’t want a life of perseverance for your brothers. I want them to be happy… even under the shadow of the human race.”

Angelidis is surprised by this revelation. Why is her mother responding up front as well?

“...Why did you tell me this only now?”

“You seem just hungover enough to handle the truth. I do still think your brothers are too dumb to take a class like that. Even your father was like that, when we were still in school together. I don’t know exactly if it's because they’re draconids or not. He was still always better at the physical stuff.”

“You should stop saying that about us, especially in front of Varin and Rand. We’re not just meant to work like Miella, you know?”

“No, Angelidis. You are. They are too. You are my children… but your draconid blood will never thin like you’d like it too. Your ancestors were like that too. Your race was bred over and over and over through the generations to be good workers for my race.”

“Why did I even bother asking…” Is that what you think about dad? Angelidis wants to ask this of her mother. But… she doesn’t want to see her cry again. So instead, she asks:

“Do you think your sons will be fine in a war against the Empire?”

Her mother sits up straight and thinks over Angelidis’ question.

“...Yes. The Empire is weaker now. The… dragon knights are wiped out, Semjaza is dead… The humans are stronger than the demons. Our army… is stronger. Our country is stronger…”

It sounds to Angelidis as if her mother is trying to convince herself.

“My boys are strong, Angelidis. They’re strong like you, and they’ll get even stronger than you are. They’ll be at least as strong as their father… They might not have the same academic smarts that humans have, but they know how to handle themselves in real life, real situations.”

“Mom…”

“This war is not going to be a big problem for our side, Angelidis.”

“...What if they don’t… make it?”

Her mother opens her eyes wide and closes them tightly shut. Behind her eyelids, she sees the grave of her husband. She remembers thinking about harming herself or even suicide in front of that grave… but her children were right next to her. They were crying too.

She calms her breathing down. She slowly looks towards Angelidis with slightly teary eyes.

“I-I don’t know… I don’t know what I can do for them. Angelidis… what other life can they live?”

***

“And that’s the problem, guys.”

Angelidis sits at the table with Sudirja, Olah, Meixi, Dzan, Malia and Sigvor. Ajax and Shaula have just heard her recount what she had discussed with her family. She didn’t share all the personal details, but the table understands the gist of her conversation with her family.

“...What do you mean ‘the problem’, Jelli?” Meixi asks in slight confusion. Angelidis had just relayed that conversation. The table is unsure what she wants from them. Advice?

“Well… I need to ask you guys. How do I convince my brothers not to throw their lives away? How do I convince them not to join the war?”