#thefiredrake

Not that she minded, really. It was nice, that, having a name to belong to, because it came with plenty of aunts and uncles, Smaug’s older siblings. While it was clear they did not like her mother and barely tolerated her, they treated Hoku well enough on the occasions when there were “family” get together’s, these mostly being around the holidays. The Fitzroy name also came with an amount of respect, it seemed, because suddenly kids in school were being nicer, if not outright obvious in their attempts to befriend her. She probably should have informed them that she had no claim on the actual Smaug Fitzroy millions (or was it billions? She wasn’t sure), though Smaug was kind enough to give her an allowance and get her a cellphone. 

Not even a year in and Kraven was born. Even as young as she was, Hoku knew her mother had less than upstanding morals. She would have suggested to Smaug to get a paternity test, but Hoku took one look into those eyes and knew Kraven was his- none but the Fitzroy men had eyes like those. Hoku fell in love with her baby brother at once, which was probably a good thing, since Isabella decided to only really pay attention to him when it would make her look good. And while Smaug tried to be as attentive as he could be, he still had that big bank of his to lord over. That left most of the baby raising to her, even at such a critical time when she made the transition from middle school to high school. 

It absolutely broke her heart when, at eighteen and Kraven was four, she left for university. Not that she couldn’t live at home, since she was attending NYU, but she needed to get away from her mother, who had become even more erratic and narcissistic, and only seemed to listen to Smaug when he lost his legendary temper. It was at nineteen, in her Sophomore year, that Hoku got the call. The screen flashed- ‘Boss Man’ -which meant Smaug’s number; unusual since on the rare occasions he did call, it was before nine, and it was already approaching eleven-thirty. 

Except her hello- said softly so as not to wake her dormmate -was answered by the voice of a five year old. A five year old who was known to rarely speak. “Hey, Kravman, what are you doing up?” Already, Hoku was sitting up, switching on her bedside lamp. Her heart was starting to pound. Something was wrong. 

“Mummy left.” It was clear the child was whispering, and in the background, something glass shattered. 

Hoku lept to her feet, went to the closet and dresser and started pulling out clothes to change into. “Mommy always comes back, hun. Where’s daddy?”

“Nu-uh. She said someting... someting about diborse. Daddy came home and her and her friend ran out. They was almost naked.” 

Divorce. And the bitch had her lover (one of many, she knew) over with her son in the house. How low could a person get? Even if Isabella was her own flesh and blood, Hoku found her behavior deplorable. 

“Where is daddy, Kraven?”

“In the gym. He’s punching the bag. It has mummy’s face on it.”

Hoku nearly swore out loud, but managed to catch herself. She tugged boots on over her hole-y jeans. “Kraven, listen to me. I want you to go upstairs and get into bed. Take Kalapana with you, okay?”

Kalapana was the stray kitten Hoku found in the garden three years ago. Isabella despised animals, but since it was Smaug’s house, he allowed Hoku to keep the cat. It helped that the feline was also attached to Kraven. As her baby brother did what he was told, Hoku shook her roommate. 

“Wha--???” Tauriel blinked several times as she half sat up. 

“I need to go home. There’s been a... family emergency.”

By the look on Hoku’s face, it was clear the red head knew it had something to do with her mother. She and Hoku met in high school and were friends ever since; she’d witnessed some of Isabella’s more tame... issues, but knew the dirtier ones from Hoku’s venting. “Okay, I’ll take notes, tell the professors. Drive safe.” 

Hoku thanked her before practically running out of the residence hall and out into the street. She located her scarlet Jaguar, unlocked the driver side door, and hopped in. It had been a gift from Smaug upon entering the University of London. Her mother couldn’t have even bothered to show up from her high school graduation. 

“Kraven, you still there?”

“Uh-huh.” He yawned and there was a small meow. “I’m in bed. Kapana was already here.”

“Good boy. I want you to try and get some sleep okay? I love you.”

“I love you too, Hoku.” 

As much as she didn’t want to, she hung up before getting into traffic. It usually took an hour drive to get to the mansion Smagu Fitzroy owned, but Hokulani made it in half that time, breaking a few driving laws along the way. In her anger, she did not particularly care, especially as she sent gravel spewing out from under her tires as she made her way up the driveway. Her mother’s Mercedes was gone, and in a hurry, if the deep skid marks in the gravel was any indication. 

While no where near fully grown, having matured thus far without any guidance, she had perfected her style of hunting. Hard to, or she would have starved. It had been a long trial or error lesson, but she was proud to have made it to her two hundredth year. The boar felt no pain. As quickly as she was on it, she snapped its neck between powerful jaws and sword sharp teeth. She feasted, and at the end, only a few bloody bones remained. She drank heavily from the nearby stream that also worked to clean the blood from her snout. 

Afterwords, she made her way back to the cave that she called home, but that required her to leave the shelter of the trees and cross the large open field, but that was no problem. At least until she felt it. Or smelled it. She wasn’t sure what came first. She turned her head toward the sky, sniffing, catching something on the breeze. A tingle of awareness that crawled along her spine, to the tip of her tail. 

The most feared as well as beloved creatures of Middle Earth. The legends say that they came from the Withered Heath within the Northern Waste, but no one knew for sure, and any who dared enough to find the truth were never heard from again. They say it is there, unseen by the eyes of others, the dragons’ true forms were revealed. Bigger than several houses, their flames hotter than the sun. 

South of the Waste, the dragons were smaller, some no bigger than a house cat and others growing no larger than a horse, though they weren’t exactly common and the few breeders that existed were highly sought after. And expensive. It was these horse sized dragons that the Elves and Men used in battle, as a status sign of the elite. The Dwarves utilized the rocky Dragons in their mining, the beasts at one with the deep earth the Dwarves called home, their flames used to melt the gold the Dwarves so loved. 

There were the Cold-Drakes to the North, the essence they spewed from their mouths freezing everything in their path. The depths of the ocean held the secrets of the Sea Serpents, the most illusive of the Dragonkin. Still, there were many kinds of Dragons, some yet to be discovered, and some that would never be discovered.

Hokulani had been around for a long time, a very long time, and a Dragon was really the only creature that could match her... long-livedness... but she had yet to make a connection with one. Oh, she had cared for enough in her lifetime, treated injuries, but they were always someone else’s beasts. She liked the Elvenking’s Dragons well enough, but she had no real bond with any of them.

Hell, she had no real bond with anyone, save for her cat. Speaking of which... Hokulani frowned. Kalapana always went out after breakfast, but always came back for lunch, but that had come and gone and it was nearly time for afternoon tea. Not that Hoku was overly concerned. She had a telepathic connection to the feline and would sense if anything was truly wrong. 

She let out a sigh of relief when she heard a meow at the backdoor. The tone singled she had something in her mouth. Ah.. that was it. She must have gotten caught up in hunting a mouse or a bird. “Coming, coming.” Hoku set the knife she was using down on the cutting board- it was steak for dinner -and wiped her hands on her apron. 

“What have you brought to show off today?” She asked, opening the door. It wasn’t so much a backdoor as a.. side door. It let out into an “alleyway” between the main part of the house and the back rooms of the house that held her bathing room and study. 

Those gathered around the oval shaped table jumped in their seats. The meeting had been paused because the founder/owner/queen of Paradise Records received a phone call from a very important foundation. The kindergarten of her daughter. Hokulani Hewahewa was already running from the room and the board members looked at each other in confusion. Nothing could ruffle their boss's feathers, so whatever was told to her was obviously a big deal. 

Many blocks away, the issue at hand was climbing the steps leading to one of the world's most prestigious banks. At just three and a half feet and not quite forty pounds, Nalani Hewahewa was on a mission. With her stompy boots and polka dot leggings sticking out of denim shorts over which was a bright pink tutu, a Hello Kitty backpack on her back, and a long sleeved shirt with a sparkling sequin star, she stood out among the adults in their more drab colors and clothing. Yet no one seemed to pay her any mind; they all assumed she belonged to someone else. 

Precocious for her young age, and having spent time in her mother's building, it was easy enough for her to find the elevator and press the right buttons. She knew which office she had to go to; her mother had pointed it out on more than one occasion when they drove past. Nala waited patiently, rocking back and forth on her feet. The elevator opened to a long hall with frosted double doors at the end. Just in front the doors but to the side was a desk. 

The woman behind the desk looked up, smiling at Nala, but her eyes moved past her. The smile soon faded as a look of confusion as the child stepped off the elevator... and was joined by no one else as the doors closed. The girl obviously knew what she was doing, because she made her way to the desk. The secretary stood, coming around her desk and bending slightly to talk to her. 

"Hello, darling. Where are you parents?"

"Mommy's at work. It's Bring Your Daddy to Show And Tell Day, an' everybody else has their daddies so I has to come get mine." 

"And where is your daddy?"

Nala pointed to the frosted double doors. "Mommy says that's his office where he does important stuffs with money for people."

O-kay. That... couldn't have been right. That was the boss's office and she knew for a fact that the boss didn't have any children. "No, darling, Mister Fitzroy doesn't have any children." 

A look of impatience crossed the child's round face. The secretary looked at her for a moment. Okay, so the dark curls certainly could have resembled the boss's, but her's were more ringlets than loose curls. Those blue eyes, however... no. No, way. Besides, the girl's skin was darker as well. The boss's former wife was as white as he was. 

"I'm a secret." Nala announced as if this news wouldn't shock the world. "Mommy said I was a special secret baby that daddy gave her without knowing. But I needs daddy for show and tell, so now he has to know. But don't tell mommy, kay? Cause mommy will be mad and I dun wanna get in trouble."

Before the secretary could pick her jaw up off the floor and stop her, Nala pushed the doors open and ran into the office. 

The car left behind the fast pace, noisy city. Rolling English hills with wildflowers scattered everywhere was soon on either side of the car. Hoku had to admit, she did miss England, birthplace of her father, Edward Davenport, and his family for hundreds of years. That did not mean she wanted to return like this, not on these terms. She was on her way to the Fitzroy Manor, the Fitzroy's who's family was as old as her own, dating back to the Tudor Era. It felt like the families were still stuck in the old ways. The Davenport Manor neighbored the Fitzroy estate, but Hoku refused to return home first; if she did, her father would make sure she changed before meeting her fiance. 

Her fiance. The Fitzroy son she had been engaged to since she was a child. She frowned out the window. She had been just seven years old. Smaug Fitzroy, youngest son, had been seventeen. They did not get along at all. He was a bully, teasing her and her older sisters. Wild, one would call him. It was clear he did not want to be tied to a child, and while she did not quite understand was what happening at the time, she did not want anything to do with him either. Even if he had pretty eyes. 

It was the one and only time she had ever met him, when their father's agreed to the marriage, smoking their cigars and drinking their expensive whiskey in her father's study. She was always hard to control, even at such an age, and her father always seemed to be angry with her. Not that she cared. It was a blessing when her mother convinced her father to allow her to attend Harvard. Once out of the county, she was allowed to do what she wanted. She got to party, got to make friends. Go on dates. Of course, despite being thousands of miles away, her photograph was still in papers. The College Party Girl. Her father loved that. It was the reason she was brought home now. 

The Fitzroy Manor came into view as the car made its way down the drive that ended in a circle around a fountain. Three stories tall, it was an imposing structure. The car parked, the driver opening her door. Her heels were the first to hit the gravel; black peep-toe heels that showed her obnoxiously green painted toenails. Her jeans, while torn, were snug; more than one man stopped to stare at her as she made her way through the airport, at the path of coffee cream skin that showed itself between the low waistband of the denim and the cropped hem of the top she wore, a top that showed a delectable amount of cleavage that a woman of her stature, her name, would not show off. A tiny diamond at her bellybutton glinted in the sun, a contrast to the peacock feather earrings in her ears. Her lipstick was dark plum, a complete contrast to her green toenails and matching green fingernails. Her hair was wild, a dark mass of silk waves that fell around her face, down her back.