One question kept running through Schneetochter's mind. Where was she going to lay her eggs?
Becoming mythical was supposed to have saved them. All the magical creatures, moving into the Unreal, and pulling the magic up with them so that the humans couldn't follow them. Certainly it had stopped the humans directly hunting them down to extinction.
The populations of the shorter-lived beasts recovered quickly, once the humans were gone, or more properly, they had removed themselves from the human's version of the world. With only their natural predators, the balance of supernature was restored to the extent it could be.
But the wise ones had not reckoned with the humans' ability to affect the Unreal by affecting the real. Their cities grew, they covered their version of the Earth, dug in the mountains, chopped down the forests, spewed poison into air and sea. Each of these changes was mirrored in the Unreal, transforming territories once one thing into another.
Some of the magical creatures could adapt. They'd alwasy thrived in the human dwellings, sustaining themselves on the magic that civilization brought.
But the wild, free creatures saw their territory shrink or grow uncomfortable. And since they'd pulled up the magic to their realm, they could not go back to the human world to fix it, or avenge themselves on the foolish sons of Adam.
It had not mattered to Schneetochter much a few decades before, when she had mated with Kaltesohn. Then it was all the chill of his breath, and the fast beating of her hearts. And she had slept peacefully, the long dragon sleep.
But now awoken, with her eggs heavy within her, Schneetochter discovered that her territory, at the southern border of her people's comfortable range, was now almost entirely melted.
The snow elves told her it was something called "man-made climate change", or "global warming". The humans had actually managed to make the entire planet hotter!
As an adult, she could produce her own cold, surviving in the still chilly area. But her eggs required temperatures well below the freezing point of water, or they would melt in their shells.
Kaltesohn's territory lay far to the north, and should still be cold enough, but she was heavy now and it was nearly impossible for her to fly that far before the eggs would demand to be laid. And the nearer territories were all inhabited by female frost dragons already--they'd not share their precious ioe floes with an intruder.
Schneetochter sniffed the breeze. Would it be necessary to kill one of her distant cousins to insure the safe hatching of her young? She did not know, but she would do it if she must.
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Warming
Date: 2011-12-18 04:54 am (UTC)Becoming mythical was supposed to have saved them. All the magical creatures, moving into the Unreal, and pulling the magic up with them so that the humans couldn't follow them. Certainly it had stopped the humans directly hunting them down to extinction.
The populations of the shorter-lived beasts recovered quickly, once the humans were gone, or more properly, they had removed themselves from the human's version of the world. With only their natural predators, the balance of supernature was restored to the extent it could be.
But the wise ones had not reckoned with the humans' ability to affect the Unreal by affecting the real. Their cities grew, they covered their version of the Earth, dug in the mountains, chopped down the forests, spewed poison into air and sea. Each of these changes was mirrored in the Unreal, transforming territories once one thing into another.
Some of the magical creatures could adapt. They'd alwasy thrived in the human dwellings, sustaining themselves on the magic that civilization brought.
But the wild, free creatures saw their territory shrink or grow uncomfortable. And since they'd pulled up the magic to their realm, they could not go back to the human world to fix it, or avenge themselves on the foolish sons of Adam.
It had not mattered to Schneetochter much a few decades before, when she had mated with Kaltesohn. Then it was all the chill of his breath, and the fast beating of her hearts. And she had slept peacefully, the long dragon sleep.
But now awoken, with her eggs heavy within her, Schneetochter discovered that her territory, at the southern border of her people's comfortable range, was now almost entirely melted.
The snow elves told her it was something called "man-made climate change", or "global warming". The humans had actually managed to make the entire planet hotter!
As an adult, she could produce her own cold, surviving in the still chilly area. But her eggs required temperatures well below the freezing point of water, or they would melt in their shells.
Kaltesohn's territory lay far to the north, and should still be cold enough, but she was heavy now and it was nearly impossible for her to fly that far before the eggs would demand to be laid. And the nearer territories were all inhabited by female frost dragons already--they'd not share their precious ioe floes with an intruder.
Schneetochter sniffed the breeze. Would it be necessary to kill one of her distant cousins to insure the safe hatching of her young? She did not know, but she would do it if she must.