Prequel: First Meeting

Storm damage is scary, and the settlers, newly arrived to the planet had no way of knowing that storms like that were normal and the weather all along the coast was prone to high winds and rain. Farther inland the weather also had sudden snows, burst storms came from seemingly out of nowhere, with no warning and tipped things over. Of course it was too soon for them to know any of that, they had just arrived.

So the storm had made a mess of their supplies, their plastic shelters and their clothes. The dragon that landed at the edge of their encampment was only being polite, inquiring after their health and well being. He last thing she expected was to be attacked, screamed at and to cause a panic.

The pioneers, those brave settlers, took one look at the long nose, b Ishtar colors, long tail, wings and claws and were sure this creature lacked intelligence and meant to hunt them. Contraband weapons emerged from secret stashes and caused even more confusion when the female shielded herself and flew away.

That first encounter became legend among both species and set the stage for all future interactions for at least a couple of generations. Humans believed the dragons were stupid, scary, dangerous beasts. Dragons considered humans too primitive to have relocated themselves on their great planet. They were barely able to look after themselves. Some other species must have saved them and brought them to their planet to be preserved.

It was after that encounter that one of the humans called the frightening beast a dragon. The name stuck until the OldEarth idea of what a dragon was became laughable in comparison. On OldEarth dragons were different shaped lizards, fictitious, and based on legend. On their new planet, there were a number of the colorful dragons that flew over their homes, settlements, and farms.

It took six long weeks for enough shelters to be built that everyone was sleeping under a roof that wouldn’t blow over in a storm. That level of security was something humans needed. When the next dragon was spotted, they raised a loud shout and cry as everyone dove for their shelters and cleared the area. This did not impress the dragons and only further convinced them that humans were lacking a basic intelligence to tell an ally from a foe.