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.
After a few moments, Natalie stands back up and I let my hand drop to my side. With the far side of her head facing the fox-man, she addresses him, “John, are we opening our gates to humans now?”
John slowly shakes his head. “No, of course not. Dragons may be a danger from which our defenses cannot hide us, but there are certainly other threats we can keep at bay this way. However, Emilie and her friend may visit, so long as they do not cause trouble. And, speaking of that, I suppose introductions are in order.” He steps forward to within normal speaking distance of myself and Jess, who is now on my left. “I’m John, the mayor of Rich Creek. I hope the others here will need less persuasion than Natalie, but I do hope that you will forgive them if they do not.”
Mildly embarrassed, Natalie adds, “I’m Natalie. I gather herbs and berries for medicine, food and dyes.” She holds up her basket, and I nod. Interesting!
Hikari slides to stand next to John. “You already know that I am Hikari, but I do not think I mentioned my normal task. I teach the children here how to survive the forest, and tell them stories, sometimes.” Ohhh. Oh, hey!
“My mom teaches preschool! That’s kind of similar, right?”
“Not quite,” Hikari replies, amused. “I do not believe that involves teaching when to run, hide or fight beasts.”
Uh… “No.”
“I teach older children. Not as old as yourself, but certainly old enough to sit still for a few hours.” She waits for a few seconds. “Do you care to introduce yourselves?”
Oh, right, oops. “I’m Emilie. I’m, uh, well… I don’t have a job. I wanted to be an architect like Dad and make houses for people but I guess I can’t do that now because I’m a Dragon. I’ll never have the time to study.”
“Don’t Dragons live for practically forever?” Natalie objects.
“If nobody kills them first,” I reply.
“Then don’t die and I’m sure you’ll have time eventually.”
I’m not sure how to respond to that. Thankfully, John ends the pause by addressing Jess. “And you are?”
Natalie looks at John quizzically for a moment as I realize that Jess hasn’t said a single word since we entered town. “Aww,” Jess finally says. “I was hoping I could just watch.” I briefly glare at her. What, was I supposed to do all the talking? “My name is Jessica, but my friends call me Jess. And as Emilie forgot to mention, I’m also her classmate at school. We’re in sixth grade.”
Natalie now looks more directly at Jess. “I thought Blacksburg didn’t have many monsters.”
Jess rolls her shoulders. “Well, that’s right, but I’m… not. I’m a Mage, and my spells transform me into animals. My current ones are bird and bear.”
“Gyrfalcon,” I clarify.
Jess looks up at me without turning her head. “She probably hasn’t seen one.”
“Well, yeah, but…”
Hikari is actually the person who asks the question. “What is a gyrfalcon?”
“A very big falcon,” Jess answers.
“White plumage, speckled with brown,” I continue. Holding my hand a little below my hips, I note, “She comes up to about here. Gyrfalcons live really far north of here, so I don’t think I’ll see a wild one without traveling.”
Hikari nods. “That sounds like you would be quite warm in summer.”
Jess chuckles, which is an odd sound for a bear to make. “I carry an ice wand.”
Natalie turns a little away, then pauses to explain. “As educating as this was, I still need to make my deliveries.” A moment later, she’s gone.
“And you two should see more of town. Do you have a time constraint?” Hikari asks.
I nod. “We’re supposed to be home by noon.”
“Or at least contact them,” Jess offers. “I can’t use the wand while I’m transformed, but I can notify them after we leave.”
Hikari exhales in relief. I hadn’t realized how late it was. “Well, that should give you some more time. Perhaps we should meet with some of the people in the square? It doubles as a market, so many are buying food around this time.” That explains the crowd.
“Do you have any food for bears?” Jess asks. “I don’t even know what bears can eat.”
“The same things you eat normally,” I tell her, “except that the meat is raw. Bears are omnivores, just like humans.”
“Oh, good. I knew they eat meat, but I was hoping I could have things with it. Not that I have any money right now. Just thinking ahead, for next time.”
“Already planning a return trip?” Hikari asks Jess.
Jess’s head wobbles. “Assuming I can fly here, you’re not that far. Well, if you’ll let me in while I’m in that form.”
“We will find a way to pick you out if you want to do that.”
I kick at the dirt a little. “I can understand you not wanting me to fly here. I stand out more, and not just to the people in this town.”
Hikari frowns. “Can you not hide yourself? The stories—”
“Of the white dragon?” I cut her off. She nods. “That’s a white dragon. Light. I’m blue. Heat. I can freeze and melt and light stuff on fire, but hiding myself is beyond me.”
Hikari thinks for a moment. “What about wands? I know Invisibility is a spell.”
I shake my head. “All Dragons are Static. I can’t cast Aspect spells, and they can’t target me, either.”
Jess takes a second before replying. “I could just get a wand that makes a really big Invisibility illusion around myself. Then if I rode on your back, you’d probably be hidden, too.”
“We could try it,” I respond with a shrug.
We’ve been walking towards the market the whole time, and now we’re just about at a venison stall run by an upright kitsune with three tails. “Good morning, June!” Hikari greets the kitsune. “Have you gotten any cooked yet?”
The kitsune nods. “I should have a few pieces left. Are they just for you, or also for your unusual friends?”
“A sample for them. The bear transforms.”
“Ah. Was that the entire debacle by the gate, or is your blue-haired friend a part of it, too?”
“Uh—” I hesitate. The pair look at me, waiting. “I—I’m a Dragon,” I say quietly.
“A very shy Dragon,” June states, and Jess immediately laughs.
“Shy? No, not Emilie!” Jess chuckles, sticking her tongue out slightly. “Dragons just have a really, really bad reputation, and she knows it better than anyone. I might be relatively accepted here as a bear, but it looks like Hikari is the closest anyone here gets to human and Dragons aren’t accepted hardly anywhere. If anything, Emilie is just quiet because she doesn’t want people to attack her.” I glare at Jess, but she is right.
“A gentle Dragon, then,” June concludes. Looking at me a little harder, she frowns and asks, “Or are you afraid you’d lose?”
“A little of column A, a little of column B,” I admit, slowly shaking my head. “If someone or something attacked while I’m small like this, I’d lose very fast.”
“And when you actually look like a Dragon?”
“A wolf tried that.”
Before I can continue, June comments, “Brave wolf,” and I blush.
“Well, maybe. I was really scared. I’d been attacked before, a-and I just reacted. I think I threw it. It didn’t stick around afterwards.”
She nods slowly. “That explains the scale I found. I suppose the wolf must have torn it from you.”
“It did. It only hurt for a moment, but it was enough for my reaction.”
The fox smiles. “Well, I think I know why John let you in. And if Hikari’s actions are anything to go by, you’re basically the reincarnation of the Dragon her mother always talked about.”
“That Dragon is still alive,” I correct her. “I’d know if she wasn’t.”
“Oh?”
I look away. “Dragons can talk to each other, all the time, whenever they want. It’s sort of like passing notes, except everyone can see all the notes. She’s doing her best to be a good person, and the others really don’t like that. And I can read when she scolds them like she did last week.” After they started stating that they were watching for news on me, Akiko told them off for “pursuing a child as if their way of life was so fragile it couldn’t handle any challenges.” That was reassuring to read, although I don’t think it slowed them down any.
“So will they know about us?” June asks, looking rather concerned.
Well, if they fly over – Oh. “N-no, not from me,” I answer, shaking my head quickly. “I haven’t written anything at all there. I don’t want them to know much about me. But although your illusions are good, they won’t block a Dragon’s senses, which is how I found you. They just have to get close enough to find you.”
And then she frowns. “Then why is human contact linked with faster detection of places like Rich Creek?”
I think on it. Dragons don’t gain any magic at all while in dragon form, so they’d have to be human at least some of the time… “I’m not the only Dragon that’s a human. True dragons are just special people, like Mages or Wizards. If a place like this was talking with other towns all the time, and a Dragon happened to live in one of those towns, then they wouldn’t have to fly all over just to try to get you within range. They’d already know that you exist, and where you are.” That sounds like it’s reasonable enough to be true. “Probably, anyway. I haven’t read any notes about that or anything.”
June closes her eyes and nods once. “That makes sense. One more thing: why do Dragons hate monsters so much?”
I breathe in sharply. As much as this keeps coming up, I don’t want to know that. Every time it’s mentioned in the Mymoir, it’s connected with Frederick. Hikari must’ve processed the look on my face, because she immediately changes the topic. “How much for the meat?”
Thabks for sharing this
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