Little Dragons

  By Renee Hughes "What about you?" I asked him raising an eyebrow. There were few historical anthropologists interested in studying our ancestors before the enlightened ages. Gershom may not have studied them as long as I, but he was still considered an oddity in our field. "You are delving into time periods where even the 21st century would be considered an advanced civilization," I accused. Gershom nodded his head. " There is a popular trend in our field to analyze the past to discover when our ancestors became more like us. You tend to lean in this direction," he said looking at me for confirmation. I didn't disagree. "I don't. I am more interested in seeing the exact opposite," he said his dark eyes carefully regarding me. I found his viewpoint shocking, and I must admit I didn't hide my surprise as well as he did earlier. "I see," I said and cringed at how lame I sounded. Gershom shook his head apparently amus...

  By Renee Hughes "So how long have you been studying the 21st century?" Gershom asked me when we were alone. I took a deep breath and cleared my throat. "Six centuries," I said steering myself for the inevitable look of surprise. Gershom blinked a few times but to his credit he didn't show any other outward reaction. It was very unusual for a Little Dragon to stay in one field of study for that long. The average member of our species typically left after three centuries of study. A Little Dragon could study whatever they wanted for as long as they wanted but historically our people lose interest in a topic after three hundred years. A new challenge is needed. I was an anomaly in that regard. "How long have you been studying?" I asked turning the tables. "Two and a half centuries," Gershom said as his dark eyes stared right into mine for a long moment. The man then nodded his head like he was finally grasping the answer to a puzzle. ...