Draconia Offline vol. 1

50.2. Arriving in New York - Part 2

Don't let anything show on your face, Aefener, Liana warns me, brushing her wings against mine so that I can hear her thoughts. I know that you're scared but we're safe. They just want to intimidate us.

We slowly descend the stairs and our whole entourage gathers. I thought we took a lot of people, maybe too many, but now I'm starting to think it's not enough. The Celestial delegation consists of thirty people in total: me, Liana, Luviael, Taranah, Vermiel, Miruel, my maids Ayala and Cien, two Liana's maids and twenty guards.

Emi brought Rien and her pack, twenty-two people in total. Fefnir took only ten Dragonkin with him since Deminas is bringing the rest. As for the Earthborn, there aren't any representatives coming with us. Ingri stayed home, and most of the Earhborn left already. The Earthborn delegation is entirely up to Twyla and Werden.

As for the EU representatives, Miss Ortega and Bodin returned to Brussels a week prior to the conference but I have no doubt I'll see them here. Together with the EU President Bennett I'm not exactly fond of.

"Welcome to New York," a middle-aged woman in a very formal business suit steps forward to greet us. She has shoulder-length brown hair and piercing brown eyes. "My name is Yasmine Behera and I'll be taking care of your safety during your visit."

She offers her hand to all of us but me. I'm grateful for that even though I still don't feel comfortable with people bowing to me. Emi doesn't accept the handshake. In a normal formal interaction, it would mean a huge faux pas but it seems Ms Behera simply thinks that it's a Clawfang custom or something so she doesn't dwell on it.

I was hoping Emi would mostly overcome her trauma by now. She does like Erik a lot and she even got used to Julia over time. But I was mistaken. While her burning hate for humans isn't so dramatic anymore, she just doesn't trust them and maybe she never will.

"Please, follow me," Ms Behera shows us the way. "We'll escort you to your hotel."

I gulp because there're several cars waiting for us. I was hoping it would be a helicopter again even though that's not much better. But remembering Liana's words, I let nothing show on my face. I just clutch Erik's hand more firmly.

It'll be okay, Ryuu, he comforts me. Look, they're limousines so you should have enough space for your wings.

I'm not worried only about that. All those human emotions are getting to me, soaking into my brain. And they aren't nice emotions at all. I don't want to claim that all Americans hate Draconians by default but compared to Europeans, they're definitely more antagonistic towards us in general.

We divide ourselves into cars, Celestials taking limousines out of pure necessity while other races board SUVs. Limousines are supposed to be the epitome of luxury cars but I can't bring myself to enjoy our generous transport. It's still a metal box to me and my wings are too big so I take one whole seating area. Erik is able to sit next to me but he can't lean back. Liana occupies the seat in front of us and Vermiel somehow manages to squeeze next to her so that he can maintain the shield around our car.

I hope I'd be able to relax at least a bit but Yasmine gets into our car, sitting next to the driver and rolling down the window separating us.

"No need to be so wary, we're monitoring the area we'll be passing through by police drones," Ms Behera tells us, eyeing the thin layer of protective shield enveloping the car and trying to act nonchalant about it.

I study her emotions and the overall impression she's giving off and I come to the conclusion that she's someone we can't mess with. She's not just our assigned escort, Ms Behera probably holds a very important position in the government. Is she from the Department of Homeland Security? I bet that's the case. Her job is to protect us as much as it's to keep us in check.