Dragon Dreams

Chapter 20: North (1/3)

Rofar and I were airborne and just starting to level off at cruising altitude when the sun slipped fully below the horizon. Pink clouds still ringed the farthest reaches of the sky in the west, and the light was still sufficient to see the rugged coastline below. I was looking down at the dark waters when I felt the other dragon's athka reach out to me. It was like a soft fingertip brushing against my skin to get my attention, but in a sense that could only be felt inside my head. A weird feeling, and one that would surely take time to get used to. Moments later, Rofar began speaking.

"Now that we are settled in, I will tell you a few more details. We will fly north to reach the clan's valley. I cannot say exactly how long it will take, only that I expect we will need to rest a while in the middle of our journey. In the meantime, it will be most effective for us to communicate using our athkan. Can you try to do the same? Just imagine you are speaking right into my mind and your athka will do as you command."

I narrowed my eyes and clenched my jaw a little. Staying aloft already occupied almost my whole attention, and now I had to figure out this spiritual communication thing on the fly, so to speak. Trying my best to follow the older dragon's instructions, I imagined my mental voice traveling through the space between us and entering his mind.

"Is this getting through?" I asked. "Am I doing it right?" Weirdly, my thought seemed to echo in my own head, like I was speaking in a large auditorium. It wasn't at all like a normal internal monologue. I had a feeling I was doing it right, and this was how it felt to communicate telepathically.

"Yes, very good," he replied, and I felt a buzz of satisfaction pulse through our mental connection. "I am relieved that you are able to do it. It is not a very easy thing to teach. Natural-born dragons never have to learn to converse like this; it comes naturally to all of us."

With that brief lesson out of the way, Rofar soon took it upon himself to give me another. The first part of the trip was spent working on my flying. Although a few flights with him in dreams had given me some practice, the older dragon helped me improve my form.

"Put your head down more. You must try to lean into the wind—that is better, much better. Tuck your forelegs in closer. Good. Can you feel how that makes you more efficient? These things make a great difference on long flights."

He was right. A few small adjustments helped me feel less resistance. A short time later, I noticed it was getting harder for me to see the other dragon flying next to me—the sunlight remained in only the faintest tinge on the horizon. I found that I could still sense his presence, though. If I closed my eyes and concentrated, I could locate his spirit in the air next to me. It was similar to that expanded mental state I had the night before when I contacted Ares by accident, except I had more control over it now. Using my athka was becoming more and more intuitive.

"As I explained before," Rofar said, "it is a rather long flight we must endure to reach the clan. While we have this time together, are there any questions at all that you have for me? You must know that there is nothing too trivial for you to ask. It is my duty to be your guide and ensure you learn as much as possible while you remain with us in the clan."

I thought for a moment. There were definitely many questions I had for him; it was just hard to pick one to start with. As much as he reassured me, I still didn't want to ask anything he might find too silly. More than once, I had wondered such mundane things as whether dragons enjoyed music or dancing, or whether they told jokes, or even whether they played sports. Finally, I asked, "How old are you?" It was another thing I was curious about.

"That one is easy enough to answer. I am fifty-one. And if you are about to ask how dragons age, I will answer that as well. We grow and mature rather slowly, and most dragons will live well beyond one hundred. So, I am still in the early part of my adulthood by dragon standards."

"That's interesting. Do you know how old I am? In dragon-years, that is."

"I would say you are about equal to age twenty as a dragon. The age of adulthood in dragon clans is usually accepted as twenty-five. But, yours is a special case, since—I just want to give you realistic expectations—but your level of knowledge and experience are that of a much younger dragon. I would advise you not to be overly concerned about your age."

"Yeah. I figured that I would be a bit behind on the experience side."

I went on to ask a variety of questions about everyday life in the clan. It would be fair to say that more than a few of my questions were about food. Rofar explained to me that hunting parties of a few dragons went out every few days to bring food for the clan. They also had rivers and lakes to go fishing. Lastly, I learned that they kept gardens of sorts and would eat berries, roots, mushrooms, and other plants to supplement their diet.

We flew for a couple hours past sunset. As we made our way north, the coastal land below grew less and less populated. Dots of artificial light were spread out with very low density, essentially leaving the earth below black and featureless. At one point, I asked Rofar how he knew where we were going, and he replied that dragons have an instinct for direction, and can return to a familiar place even after traveling a great distance. "That's pretty cool," I thought to myself. "The list of things we can do just keeps getting longer. Flying was just the beginning!"

Streaks of clouds blocked out most of the stars, but a few peeked in and out to describe the heavens above. Periodically, a sliver of moon would emerge timidly as well. When it did, I could start to make out my guide next to me. Under the palest illumination, his scales almost looked like pure silver, with wings of fine mist. But when the moon slipped back under cover, my dragon eyes couldn't even see my paw in front of my face. It was a little disconcerting, but my constant awareness of Rofar's athka eased my mind.

He gave me a mental nudge. "Why don't we stop and rest for a while?"

I was grateful for a chance to regain some strength. My muscles were starting to protest the task of keeping me aloft. After a few minutes of searching the near-inscrutable landscape below, we found a small island with a suitable open space to land. Stirred by my wings, pine needles whispered as my legs contacted the ground. The two of us sat down on our back legs, stretching our wings out to either side. I exhaled in satisfaction as my fatigued muscles found relief.

Rofar closed his eyes for a moment and tilted his muzzle skyward. A few feet above our heads, a tiny light appeared, then steadily grew larger. I realized my companion was conjuring this glow, and when he was finished, a basketball-sized orb of light hung in the air. Its surface had the subtle, swirling appearance of luminous smoke. The light was not startlingly bright; it simply made our little clearing visible for both of us.

"That's cool," I said when I stopped being mesmerized by the sphere.

The other dragon's eyes sparkled as he opened them. "It is better than fire for the purpose of providing light. A simple piece of magic. You might be impressed, but you will accomplish this and more during your training."

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