The Legacy ~ by Linda Boulanger

       

 I was struck by something Lori Roberts said in her post, Plugging Along. She mentioned that beyond just writing because she had characters who wanted their stories told, she also wrote her stories as gifts to her grandchildren… She wanted to leave them a legacy, so to speak.

The use of the term legacy was my word, not Lori’s. It kept popping into my mind, so I looked up the definition. As so often happens, I found one that fit what I was looking for: something handed down from one generation to the next. Lori wanted to leave her legacy in the form of her stories. She wanted her books to be there as her contribution to the world… and more precisely, to her grandchildren. We just get to share them.

I suppose the books I have written and the covers I have designed are a part of my legacy. They are one of my marks on the world, something I am proud to have accomplished and happy to share. It made me think of one of the families in an upcoming series I’m working on and the legacy they shared. I pictured a Christmas Eve with this Medieval family of dragon shifters gathered in the solar of their castle, sharing a tradition steeped in legacy…

"Christiev DuBois folded his tall form into a sitting position in front of the sofa in his family's solar and waited for his grandchildren to arrange themselves around him. This was the only way they could all see the pages of the book he laid on the floor before him. Tracing his fingers over the dragon etched into the wood panel on the front, he opened it up and began to read the words written by his wife, explaining the dragon carving on the front. 

The children listened in awe, especially when he closed the book again and allowed each of them to run their hands over the ancient dragon form. He smiled at their oohs and aahs as their little fingers bumped over the ridges making up the scales and wings. He hadn't been much older than them when he'd first seen this carving. He was pleased Ashlynn had found a way to use the piece in this book—this treasure she’d filled with legacies left by past DuBois generations. They were all pieces that might have been lost forever had she not salvaged them from the old castle his father had abandoned after his mother had died there.

His mother’s death and the years that followed were not a time he wanted to remember. It was a dark time, with too much sorrow and anger, his father taking that out on anyone or anything he came in  contact with—including him. 

The older dragon shifter had practically destroyed the old castle, building this one where Christiev and his family now lived, only after his aunt had stepped in and threatened to have her brother declared mad if he didn’t at least provide a decent home for his son.

By that point, it had almost been too late for Christiev. He’d been following in his father’s footsteps far too long, hatred and anger building, spurring him to where he, too, acted more like the hated Driagaran instead of a protector. He’d forgotten that most important part of being a Druajen—the side of the dragonkind that were sworn to protect the world against the dragon shifters that believed they had the right to take over and rule the humans. Driagaran dragons had forgotten they were part human. Druajen had not… though his father had, for a time, acted like he had forgotten, with Christiev doing his bidding.

He glanced at his wife while the children continued to look at and talk about the dragon carving, each speculating whether they would, someday, have wings and the feather-like scales of the Druajens. 

Ashlynn smiled at him and his heart melted, just as it had the first time he’d seen her buried within the rubble of a wrecked carriage. His heartbeat finding hers had been the only way he’d known there were any survivors, though it would be nearly a decade longer before she would be his. Those were years of change and reformation that hadn’t truly taken hold until after she and their son had come to live with him and his father at Castle Esperanza.

It had taken many visits to the abandoned castle for Ashlynn to unearth all the treasures she’d combined into this book she’d made. Originally, she’d done it as a gift to his father, no one quite sure how Kristoff would react. 

By that time, the old man had taken to spending most of his time in the few rooms he’d designated as his alone in the family wing of the castle. The only thing that seemed to give him joy was his grandson, Christof, though when Ashlynn had presented him with this book, he’d wept openly, his fingers caressing the carving much as the children’s were. 

He’d thumbed through it, lingering on each piece of work left by one ancestor or another chronicling the lives of the Druajens as a whole. Together, he and Ashlynn had added in the words that explained the pieces. It was a glorious memento—a book of legacy, as well as one of healing for his father.

In the days that followed, Kristoff had been more alive, more the gentle man he’d been during the time he’d been married to Hope. He’d wanted to make peace with the people who lived in his land and had begun to do so with the help of his son and grandchildren, though most days he could be found sitting in front of the fire in his quarters, the book Ashlynn had made for him opened to an image of a dragon with icy blue wings made of feathers. 

It had been painted by Christiev’s mother, who had then painstakingly cut a feather from an ice bird and meticulously placed the pieces to create an image of a magnificent feathered ice dragon. It was how she saw his father whenever he shifted. It was glorious, and another favorite of his grandchildren. He knew they would squeal with glee when they finally got to that page.

Christiev’s heart was so full as he sat amidst his grandchildren that Christmas Eve on the floor of the family solar in Esperanza Castle teaching them of their heritage and sharing with them the history of his family through this beautiful legacy—an heirloom, created with love, to be passed down from generation to generation for all eternity."

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little peek into the DuBois family. I am currently working on the books for this series, however, I introduce the Druajen dragons in both A Leap of Faith (historical time travel romance) and Stirring Up Some Love (contemporary fantasy romance). You may find out more about my books by visiting the links on my  page, and, as always, your comments here are most welcome. I would LOVE to hear about your family’s legacy or legacies. What mark do you intend to leave for future generations?