What's a Dragon? - Chapter 32

Corrections

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.

Thankfully, it seems that the other Dragons only know what’s been in the newspaper, but that’s still enough information that I’m not sure why they’re not already here. It wouldn’t even take a full day of flying for me to reach the nearest territory. I hope I can prepare well enough in whatever time I do have. And when I entered my magic class on Thursday, I was given an additional task on that line of thought.

“Emilie?” Mrs. Williams called as I walked in the door.

I moved to stand by her desk. “Yes?”

“If I keep you after class, will you be stranded?”

That’s a fair question. Alex probably would be, but I run further than the distance home from here every morning—granted, without a backpack—and both Al and I know how to ride the public bus, and keep enough cash on hand for an emergency. Not that it costs more than a dollar within Blacksburg, and I’m not allowed to take the bus out of town by myself. “No,” I answered.

“Good. Then I need to chat with you after class. It hopefully won’t take too long.”

I had a lot of trouble concentrating on the lesson that day.

Afterwards, when my theories on “why” had ranged from doing very well to being on the verge of failing, I nervously approached Mrs. Williams’s desk while she waited for everyone else to leave, then shut the door.

“Now, Emilie, this is about… rumors,” she started, and I had no idea what she was going to say next. As it turned out, apparently nobody had told any of my teachers why my schedule had suddenly changed. “And while I don’t let rumors interfere with class, it does matter for this particular class. So to get straight to the point, are you a true dragon?”

I’d already told a whole lot of other people by this point. I didn’t think it was much of a secret anymore, though I’m not about to try doing a traditional announcement. “Yes.”

“Then what about your report?” Which I guess is the reason she bothered asking. It was supposed to be about a type of monster, after all, and it wasn’t.

“You approved the subject before I knew I was a Dragon.”

“Before you… knew?”

I thought back to what Davidson had said. “Sort of like the difference between being Dynamic or a Mage. Some Static people are true dragons, but at a much, much lower rate.”

“So, there was no indication before… whatever happened to you?”

I nodded. Century dragons apparently have to be from all-Static families, and since their parents aren’t Dragons, they get the same surprise awakening I did. Even way back when Dragons were nice, there was no chance of tracking them down before their awakening. It said that me liking Dragons my whole life might be one of a few clues, but it’s not like we have God’s rulebook on it. Dragons just take guesses by comparing with each other.

“How common is it?”

“It probably won’t happen for another hundred years.” If it happened sooner, that would be another surprise for us. Mrs. Williams sighed in relief to that response; I suppose it might be scary knowing that century dragons were more common, if you didn’t realize that century dragons are less likely to be the ones destroying cities. I mean, most of the century dragons recorded in the Mymoir are dead, but they’re the ones that set up the old model.

After that, Mrs. Williams was quiet for a bit. “It wouldn’t exactly be fair for me to make you redo the paper with so little time left in the quarter,” she eventually said. “Instead, why don’t you help me to revise the unit on dragons? It covers more than just true dragons, but you seem to be knowledgeable on the subject. It’s not until the fourth quarter, so you can wait on that until the third quarter starts.”

I agreed, and she let me go.

---

The “friend” that Shannon had asked to bring was apparently supposed to be myself but in human form. With Shannon being grounded, however—and her parents waking up earlier to make sure she stays home—Jess and I decided that coming without Alex this morning would probably be better for Hikari. We told Alex that someone was likely to meet us at the park and would want to keep her presence a secret. I hate that mentioning secret-keeping means that Alex can’t come, but she is who she is.

Jess and I were able to change the “expected return time” with our parents to noon in case Hikari wants to spend more time with us or shows up late. I’ve been pretty regular about my time going flying, so she’ll probably bank on that, but we wanted to be sure.

Jess decided to fly there—probably because she can—so it’s just me riding my bike while holding a flashlight and hoping nothing attacks us before I can react. I know Jess can defend herself a whole lot better than Shannon can, but there’s not a lot a gyrfalcon can do against something like a gryphon other than dodging. And I feel more nervous about myself when it’s just me. Was I not this scared the first time I went to go flying, or have I just changed what I’m scared about?

Between the later return time and the fact that the DF now knows both what and who the Dragon is, we decided to set out a little later than usual. I can try flying while the sun is up, finally, and maybe actually see stuff around me with my eyes. That works well with today’s weather, since it’s foggy again, and fog makes stuff harder to sense, too, since everything is even more blurry than normal. My flight is above the fog, at least.

Upon finally arriving at the park, Jess lands near me while I secure my bike so it won’t fall over. “Any sign of her?” she asks, startling me, partly because I thought she would see, and partly because it’s just so quiet this morning.

“You can’t see the park?”

“Fog is difficult for everything to see through, not just humans. Can you sense anything?”

“The fog makes that hard, too,” I reply with a shrug. “Things are blurry.” I take a more focused look at the grassy field of rocks. “Um… there might be someone at the low end? No idea on what or who.”

“I’ll take a look!” Jess declares, taking off before I can object. It’s not like with Shannon, but it just feels safer being together with her.

Thankfully, whatever is on the field doesn’t attack her, and she’s back about a minute later. “It’s her! I told her that you’re here but Shannon couldn’t come, and she seemed fine with that.”

And with that, Jess is human again and standing in front of me in her thin winter jacket. She has a fire wand, so a thick jacket isn’t really necessary, unlike my own bulky coat. I mean, I don’t really need mine anymore, either, but it fits so there’s not much reason to buy a new one at the moment. Maybe I’ll get a thin one when this wears out, since it’s not like I’ll be outgrowing things anymore.

When the two of us get close, I call out to Hikari. “Hello! Have you been waiting long?”

The fog is finally thin enough to reveal her (or we’re close enough, anyway), so I can now see she’s wearing much the same outfit as last week. And since we’re closer now… huh. She’s taller than me, sure, but not by much. Even then, she looks more like she’d be in high school. Not any sort of authority in her town like she acted last week. “Not too long,” Hikari answers, “but I am surprised that the Dragon is not flying yet.” How can she even tell? I doubt I’d see the ground.

“Maybe she slept in a bit today, too,” I try bluffing.

“Hrm. Perhaps. Would you two like to hear a story? My mother was quite the storyteller, and I think you would be interested.”

I—what? Why? “What’s it about?”

“‘The White Serpent of Nihon.’”

Jess is just as confused as I am. “What does that have to do with anything?”

“I think you will find out if you let me tell it,” Hikari answers, smiling sweetly. “There is a rock just over there if you wish to take a seat.” She gestures towards a block of stone that’s way more than big enough to be a chair. Since I know it’s cold, I start to heat the surface to a more comfortable temperature before obligingly moving around its back to climb into place. Jess hesitates a moment before following me. Hikari spoke about Akiko last week, so she might have a good story.

It's not a stage and the fog is thick, but just watching her movements I can tell that she is imagining this end of the clearing as though it is a stage. But she does make an effort to stay close by while moving about. “Nihon, the land of my mother’s ancestors, has a legend passed down through generations…”