In Part 3 (Ch. 18-25), our narrator became more comfortable with what she is, now that she knows it. She’s still not ready to fight to survive, but she’s ready to learn how, even if that means telling other people.
The reason I didn’t share my last class of the day with Alex (and Jess and Shannon) yesterday is that my new schedule has my afternoon classes on a rotation. I’ll be back with everyone next Wednesday, but only every other week after that.
“How was the class yesterday?” Shannon asks as soon as I sit down.
“I got to see how out of shape I am,” I respond. At least I don’t have to go to gym class anymore, but I was doing fine there.
“Really? But you can fly for so long!” I jerk back. She wasn’t trying to be quiet. Shannon notices and explains: “Alex’s first class is next door to mine.”
Oh.
“I guess that form starts out more fit or something,” I eventually reply.
And then I hear a very recognizable voice. “When were you gonna tell me!?”
I wait for Alex to sit down before replying. “I was hoping for ‘never.’ But then someone saw me and put me on the news, so that changed to ‘just about now.’”
“But why the secret?”
I look her in the eyes. “Dragons have been around for a really long time, right?”
“… Yeah…” She’s looking at me like I just said the most obvious thing ever.
“But everyone thinks they’re monsters.”
“They… are, right?”
“I’m a Dragon.”
“They’re human?”
“Yes, but why wouldn’t people know this? I can’t be the only kind Dragon in history.” Jess sits down beside Shannon while Alex and I talk.
“… This is about your paper, isn’t it?”
“Depends. What do you mean?”
Alex shakes her head slowly. “You said that Dragons used to be mostly nice, but switched to mostly mean at some point.”
Jess’s eyes widen. “I remember you saying that Dragons would fight over territory. That’s not what it was about, though, was it?”
And then Alex bites her lip and frowns when she realizes why I wouldn’t tell her. “They’re gonna attack Blacksburg just because of you being here?”
“When they didn’t know I existed, then I was fine. But now they want to kill me. And probably the whole town, too, since I spilled their secret.”
“That’s awful! But you’re not gonna let ‘em, right? That’s why you’re training?”
I can’t help but snort. “Well, I don’t want to die. Realistically, I won’t help all that much, but it’s better than nothing.”
Shannon nods. “Are you still going flying?”
“I still plan to, yeah.”
Alex’s mood brightens instantly. “Can I come with you?”
“Well, it’s super early in the morning.”
“I don’t have a problem with that.”
“And I use a spell so her scales don’t ruin my clothes,” Shannon warns.
“You can share the wand, right?”
Shannon pauses. “I don’t actually… have the wand.”
“Then—wait, you learned the spell!?” She certainly picked up on that faster than she did with my earlier revelation.
“Well, the wand was expensive!”
Alex seizes Shannon’s hand. “You don’t need an excuse with us. We’re your friends.” She releases Shannon. “But, uh, how expensive?”
“A hundred and twenty dollars.” Oh, yeah, that’s quite expensive. I can tell Alex is thinking the same.
“… Maybe I’ll just watch for the first few weeks,” Alex finally says.
“I could buy it for you,” Jess offers. I raise an eyebrow and stare at her. “What?”
“How big is your allowance?” Alex asks for me.
Jess shakes her head. “I don’t get one. Mom taught me how to make and sell wands, and my spells are kind of rare. I could probably trade a wand of my bear form for whatever wand it is Shannon’s talking about.”
“Durable Clothes,” Shannon volunteers.
“Then I’ll meet you Saturday morning with the wand in my bag.”
Same thing, same time as usual, except that Jess and Alex are both here and the only one of us that actually snuck out was Shannon. Jess indeed managed to buy the abjuration wand, so now I have two passengers. Meanwhile, Jess is flying around as a gyrfalcon.
“This is so awesome!” Alex screams for the fifth time.
«Careful not to ruin Shannon’s ears,» I remind her, adding a mental chuckle.
Shannon sat behind Alex because she knew that Alex would scream, but their heads are still pretty close together. I can’t see Shannon’s face, but I bet she grimaces with every shriek.
“Sorry!” Alex shouts back. She’s still learning the volume she needs for me to hear, although she’s pretty loud by default.
After a few more minutes, I address Shannon, speaking only to her: «Not to cut this short, but I’ve been wondering about something. Shannon, if you look at the forest south of us, do you see a lot of illusions?»
There’s a pause before she replies. “It’s too far to tell, but maybe. Could you get closer?”
«I think there are a bunch of people there. Even if they knew I wasn’t going to attack, I wouldn’t try it.»
“Maybe you could land near it and we could walk?”
And now I pay for not including Alex. “Walk where?”
After a short discussion between all four of us, Jess decided to practice her scouting skills and fly over the strange area that has a very different heat pattern than looks would suggest. I’m still flying in the same area as normal, but mentally I’m following her progress. Another agreement we made was that if the people I can sense take as well to her as they would to me, then Alex gets to go home while Shannon and I protect Jess. Alex can then go to the DF to get help. Not that Jess looks threatening at all, but normal gyrfalcons don’t live this far south and anyone who lives in a forest could probably pick out that she’s not just a bird. Anyway, per our plan, Alex is on the ground and Jess is carrying the chat wand that Shannon normally keeps with her. So, I can speak to anyone, Jess can speak with Alex or Shannon, and Shannon can speak to me.
I watch Jess disappear—to my sight, anyway—beyond the illusory trees. No trouble yet, but she’s still outside what looks like walls down there. As she passes the boundary between real and illusion, however, Shannon’s grip on my neck tightens. «What is it?»
“Her spell ended.”
«She’s still transformed.»
“No, she had the chat spell active with Alex.” And Shannon could tell that from this far away? Wow.
«Can either of them tell?»
“Jess might, if she’s paying close attention. Alex can’t really except that Jess won’t respond to her.”
«I should probably—» I cut myself off when I realize that Jess is surrounded with magic cold! It looks the same as Shannon’s weird fire aura except that I can tell it’s cold because the stuff around it is cold.
“What?”
«Someone’s attacking Jess!» Still surrounded with the magic cold, which now that I think about it is probably ice, Jess falls from the air and is caught by something. Uh… arms, head… might be a naga? «Jess, can you contact Shannon?» I send to both her and Shannon.
I wait a few seconds. Anyone watching me would know something was wrong, because I’ve stopped circling and am just bobbing in place. The naga that caught Jess is taking her somewhere, but nothing else magic has happened, as far as I can tell. «Shannon?»
“She hasn’t responded.” I can tell Shannon is just as worried as I am.
«I’m not waiting for her to get hurt.» Without further delay, I pull in my wings, gaining speed for a rapid descent towards my captive friend. I close my eyes to pay more attention to what the heat tells me. Trees-walls-people-clearing! A landing spot! And the moment my feet touch the ground, I open my eyes and shout, «Let her go!»
My surroundings—I appear to be in something of a small town. The architecture looks medieval, and most things are made of wood. And everyone between myself and the nearest wall is a monster. Nagas, upright wolves, and some sort of half-bird, I think. Except, of course, the block of ice surrounding Jess, which vanishes after a few seconds of stunned silence.
“I told you so!” I hear Jess declare. Even so, nobody moves. I’m trying to be ready to react, but nobody is doing anything. Then Jess hops off the naga’s hand, gliding to land by my front feet. “I told Alex we’re safe.”
Really? «Did she respond?»
“Yes.”
“The spell’s working now,” Shannon confirms.
I sense, well off in the distance, that Alex is riding her bike towards the gates. «She’s still heading home.»
Jess explains, “You’re not around to protect her.”
«Oh, okay.»
“Is that a Dragon?!” I hear a woman behind me shout.
Before I can react, Jess takes a couple of hops to move around me and face the woman. “I don’t know of any other Dragon around here, so I’d say ‘yes.’”
“You’re not from in town,” the woman replies.
“No, but they pulled me from the sky when I flew overhead. And then my friends came to rescue me.”
“Your—wait.” The woman walks around to my left side; I turn my head to take a look. She’s wearing a hooded sweatshirt with—hold on. By heat, those are filled. The hood has openings for her cat ears. But otherwise, she looks human. “You’re the girl I saw before! In the ice!”
I feel Shannon flinch before responding. “Uh—yes, that was me.” I don’t recall any person getting close to her around the time mentioned, but I suppose it could’ve happened between the wolves fleeing and the field catching fire.
“Are you the Dragon’s partner?”
Shannon speaks my thoughts. “What?”
The woman raises a hand to her forehead. “Ah—sorry. It makes sense you wouldn’t know.” She lowers her hand and walks closer, speaking to Shannon, though sparing me a look first. She’s cautious, but not afraid. “My mother—she grew up across the oceans, in a place unknown to me. And when she was little, her village was protected by a white serpent-Dragon and its partner.”
There is no Dragon that description fits aside from Akiko. And if it’s Akiko, then… that might’ve been around the same time as the record I watched at the DF building. Which also matches the fact that this woman looks mostly Asian, aside from the cat ears. She looks a little too old for the record to have been before she was born, but maybe Akiko doesn’t travel very far.
The cat-eared lady is still speaking. “… was ridden by a young girl named Akiko.”
Okay, that’s impossible. She can’t ride herself. Except… she’s a light dragon. It could’ve just been an illusion, or at least a light-magic-equivalent-thereof.
I’ve been reading the dictionary lately so I can understand the Mymoir better.
“… So is that you?”
Shannon looks at me—er, the side of my head she can see. “What’s she talking about?”
«Just say “yes.” I’ll explain later. For now, I think it’s best if we pretend I can’t transform and can only talk to you.»
Shannon looks even more confused, but she replies, “Alright.” Then she answers the monster-lady, “She says it’s similar.”
Before Jess can say anything that would contradict the story, I fill her in. «We’re going to pretend that her story was true about how Dragons work for the moment, okay? Which means I should only speak to Shannon for a bit.» I wasn’t paying attention to the whole thing, but since she was describing Akiko, I can probably guess well enough to pass. Jess doesn’t acknowledge me, but I suppose she shouldn’t.
“This is fantastic!” the lady exclaims. “Oh, sorry, I never introduced myself. My name is Hikari.”
“And I’m Shannon, and the bird is Jessica,” my passenger responds.
“Amazing! So, uh, why are you here?” Hikari seems enraptured by Shannon.
“Um… you knocked my friend out of the sky. And my partner doesn’t like to wait when a friend is in danger.”
“Oh.” Hikari looks at the wall guards, who have mostly gone back to watching the trees. Only the bird is still observing our group. “I guess we’ve cleared that up?”
Or maybe not—the half-bird man glides down to stand right by my head, fiercely accusing Shannon with his gaze alone. “Why’d you come here in the first place!?” His voice is deeper than I’d have guessed. “First you flew over the mountains here for weeks, and then you had to get even closer!?”
“Uh—um—” Shannon stammers before hiding her head behind my neck.
“Out with it!” He sounds like my dad.
“Hey!” Jess calls. “Our Dragon friend didn’t know you were here and just wanted to avoid attention! It’s not like you’re on any map sold in Blacksburg.”
Before the bird man can keep squawking, Hikari puts her hand on his wing calmingly. “That explains the flight patterns, but not why you came here today,” she states.
“Curiosity?” Jess offers.
The bird shakes his head. “Why specifically here? We watched you fly in. You knew this was here.”
«Shannon?» She’s mostly calmed down. «Tell him that it took me until this week to guess what the illusions hid, and I just wanted to meet them.» Because it did, and I did. I like meeting people. I just am terrified of the other Dragons. And I know that most people won’t see a giant sapphire dragon and think “sixth-grade girl.”
She relays my words, adding, “We sent Jessica because we thought you might treat her better than you would us.” Watching his expression, however, it’s clear he doesn’t believe her.
“Incredible,” he exhales. “First we get stories of some sort of ‘guardian’ Dragon, and then we have a friendly Dragon.” He looks at my eye that’s been watching him and challenges, “Are you actually a true dragon, or just this Wizard’s experiment?”
I just stare at him. There are so many wrong assumptions in that sentence that I don’t even know where to start.
Shannon nudges me. “Partner?”
«How would I even prove it to him?»
“I don’t know.”
The bird-man appears to take Shannon’s words as being directed at him. “Incredible. You don’t even know?”
Flustered, Shannon responds, “No—I don’t know what I’m supposed to say!”
“What’s the difference between a true dragon and any other monster?” Jess interjects. I guess I did have the exact same issue with her mom. “How would you tell the difference?”
The man breathes in sharply… and takes a bit to let it out. “I—agh.” A few moments pass in silence. “You found this place.”
“Zeke and Rachel did that,” Hikari refutes.
“Ice and fire?”
“Every reptile in town.”
“Scale properties?”
“How would we even test that?”
“I—”
“Look,” Hikari stops him. “It may be a true dragon, or it might be an imitation. What does the difference matter? You were worried about if we had to fight it, and since nothing and nobody here is crushed, frozen or aflame, I think we both know the answer. Now, if you want to ask them to leave, you can do that, but I say they can stay as long as they wish, and I’ll escort them the whole time.”
The bird-man gives an extended sigh, then returns to the wall with a few flaps of his wings.
Hikari gives us all a slight bow. “Sorry about all that. Ben is certainly no optimist.” Hey, a name! “That said, how long do you want to stay? I should talk to our mayor if it’s more than an hour, or if you want to come back after sunrise—”
Jess tucks her head in a bit. “I told my parents I’d be home by then.” Same. And Shannon needs to be home before her parents wake up. I nod, slowly, to try to communicate such to Hikari.
“Hmm…” She thinks for a few seconds. “How about I meet you at the clearing with our mayor’s decision next Saturday?” The clearing is probably the park. If it isn’t, I can probably still find her. There aren’t too many openings in the forest that aren’t cliffs, and I can look for a person fairly easily.
“We can work with that,” Shannon answers.
«If it doesn’t snow.»
“If it does, you can still fly there.”
«True.»
“Saturday at the clearing it is, then.” Shannon pauses. “And, uh, is it alright if I bring a friend?” Alex, I bet.
Hikari frowns, but answers quickly, “They’re just meeting me, so, sure. But please don’t tell people about our town. Even if we’re not hiding from you, this place is still an important refuge for other reasons.”
“We don’t have any problem with that,” Shannon answers, speaking for all three of us.