Family

There are many concepts associated with the word family, but the ones I use most often in the NewEarth Series is the idea of loyalty. Some families work, others are broken, some have been damaged by grief and loss, others were strained by distance and shifting loyalties.

Families while often looked at as blood relations and legal agreements here on OldEarth, but they are not limited to that scope on NewEarth. Adoptions are accepted, families are formed through psychic bonds out of necessity and common craft and abilities. Matching or marriages form a family, but friendships often extend to include people in a family circle.

Among the dragons, family ties are very different. There is the home territory where they were raised and first learned about the structure and workings of a territory. There is the home nest, where parents and nest mates lived, the nest they were born into. There is a stopping place, when a dragon finds a territory they want to be part of or claim. There is the nest they share with a mate and youngsters, including all of their chosen clan as part of their family. However, if a dragon pair become disenfranchised with a territory, struggle with the territory dragon or other clan members, they are free to move on, go awandering and find a territory they might prefer.

Some humans outside of Grabon and Heron’s clan have a difficult time understanding the struggles of dragons to find and establish themselves as part of a territory. Most dragons do not understand the extended family ties that some humans feel when they do not all share a territory, but wander in different directions.

It is another point of confusion between the two species.