Captain William Laurence (betwixtsea_nsky) wrote in valarnet, @ 2019-01-04 13:00:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | amycus carrow, vanessa cleveland, william laurence |
It is disconcerting to discover that a belief you've held close to your heart is entirely wrong, even if it was my dreamself who was forced to learn the lesson. There was the belief that, in all the world, there could scarcely be a country that treated dragons any better than Britain herself. They weren't well integrated with society, but it could hardly be Britain's fault that humans held an innate and natural fear of dragons, and we could hardly expect the common person to rise above their base fear without any reasonable cause to do so. Our treatment of dragons is, perhaps, the gentlest in Europe. Certainly no worse, if not better, than that in France, and, from what I've heard, heads above that of Russia or Prussia.
But walking the streets of China, he's discovered that that is not true at all. The streets are build widely, for no other reason than to allow the dragons sufficient berth to traverse the streets. Dragons and humans, even those that are not forced into their presence by circumstance, live harmoniously, and certain breeds of dragons are even revered by the people. Dragons in China can chose their own profession, and can earn coin just as any human might so that they might purchase any goods and services that they need themselves. In Britain, no dragon would ever go hungry as the Crown provides their food and their lodges, but they do not have the same freedom as those in China do.
It is hard to reconcile the fact. Temeraire has assured me that he would never chose China over myself, but I am not sure if, in good conscience, I can ask him to return to Britain when he would be clearly be given more respect and freedom in China.