Dragon Dreams

Chapter 22: Past and Present (2/3)

"How can I leave my own family?" I asked in a quavering voice. "Even if it's for the best, how can I...?"

She filled the lingering silence I left in the air. "These are heavy things, my dear. There's no denying that. But, if you make your decisions simply based on external concerns, that's no way to live. You must search within yourself to find the answers."

I had to ask her the question that first occurred to me after hearing her story. "Do you still see them, your family?"

Her eyes lit up. "Oh," she said. "I should have mentioned that before, my apologies. Yes, I see my family every year. Usually it's Christmastime, and I fly down to stay at the farm for a few days. My parents still live there, and one of my brothers runs it now. It was always interesting when my siblings would bring their husband or wife to meet me for the first time. Rofar even joins me now. It's a rather unusual arrangement, but it works for me. I might live far away, but I'm not cut off from them."

I swallowed, relieved. "That's good to hear."

We talked for a while longer, with her mostly answering my questions about what it was like adjusting to life in the clan. Nyraz said that it took some time for her to adapt, but it wasn't very long before everything became normal to her.

"Believe it or not," she said with a soft chuckle, "most of the time I feel like I was born here. After all, it's been twenty-five years. I've lived quite a bit more of my life in the clan than outside. It's all about your perspective, and mine has changed a great deal since I first set foot here all those years ago. I wasn't the same dragon back then."

She paused, as if a new thought had sprung up. "I'll tell you something about that. I'm about to ask you something that I don't want you to answer right now because I want you to think about it carefully during your time here. That question is: who are you? Deep down, not who you think you should be, but who you actually are. That's the most valuable knowledge you can have to navigate this difficult time.

"This is one of the toughest things I had to learn, but it was also the most liberating. Nobody else, not even your own family, can dictate who you are. The choices I've made, at least the ones that made me happy, were ones that reflected my true identity. When you get right down to it, it's really that simple."

Silence returned as I kept searching those green eyes for answers. I was at a loss for words for a moment. "That's a lot to digest," I finally said.

Nyraz hummed kindly, the sound resonating softly in my ears, bringing a wave of calm that surprised me. "I'm know it is. But I'm sure everything will turn out alright. I have to say you seem to be doing very well so far, given the circumstances. Rofar tells me a few things now and then—he really likes you, Ayreth. He thinks you will be a very good student." She raised her head slightly and looked around at the back wall. "Speaking of, I feel him getting closer as we speak. Well, there will be more time to talk later. I think I've probably overwhelmed you enough already. Like I said, I really want to help you any way I can, and I'll always be around if you need anything while you're here."

I nodded in gratitude. "Thank you," I murmured. "It means a lot to have someone to talk to. Someone who's been through this."

The other dragon nodded slowly. Then, she turned to look at the back of the house as we heard footsteps coming in the back door.

I saw Rofar's head first, rounding the corner as he peered into the main room. "I'm back," he called, "I don't mean to step on your tails, but I just wanted to stop in and let you know I'm back and I've got Stolvir with me too. How are you two getting along?"

"We had a nice talk, I think," Nyraz answered, switching back to dragon-tongue. She dipped her head in my direction. "But he's all yours if you want him. I'm sure Stolvir is excited to meet him."

Rofar's cornflower eyes gave his mate a knowing look. "Indeed," he said before addressing me. "If you'll come out back with me, Ayreth, we can make introductions and then get you started learning some more magic."

Getting to my feet, I whispered in English, "Thanks again," to Nyraz before following Rofar around the corner and out of the house. We were briefly covered by an extension of the roof, and I looked to one side and saw stacks of plants and bark sitting on a long table against the outer wall of the house. I stepped out into the backyard of sorts, which was just a sunny clearing illuminated by the midday sun. Soft, wispy grasses tickled my paws, and flowers poked up in random places from the green carpet.

Just outside, standing next to a moss-covered boulder at the edge of the clearing, was another young dragon. I knew it must be Stolvir. He was just a little smaller than me, but he had a similar build. I thought he looked solid and sturdy, and his paws were a bit large compared to the rest of his body. If he had carried himself differently, I would have considered him very tough and warrior-like, but his body language didn't fit that assessment. In fact, his face lit up in a toothy grin when he saw me, and I could have sworn he jumped slightly in place, his tail and wings bouncing a bit.

"Wow, it's nice to meet you," he said, bounding up to me. "I'm Stolvir. It's really nice to meet you. Oh, um, I said that already. Here, shake?" He held a paw out to me.

"Uh, okay." I grasped his paw to return the gesture. "Ayreth. Nice to meet you too." I was aware of his athka and felt its friendly, effervescent presence. The green dragon's scent, suggestive of earth and pine, reached my nose.

Stolvir withdrew his paw and stared at it for a moment, flexing his claws. "My mom taught me that. I think it's a funny greeting. That's how the humans do it, right?"

"Yeah," I answered with a wry smile. "That's right."

"Fascinating!" the young dragon said. "I can't believe I get to meet another one like mom. But somebody new." His eyes were bright and curious, with irises the color of corn. The scales covering his body were dark green, matching the pine trees in the surrounding forest. His scutes were a little more pastel, giving the front and underside of his body the appearance of smooth jade. A pair of straight, ivory horns emerged from his skull, and I saw spikes of the same color running along the top of his tail, with a small cluster of them at the tip.

Rofar chuckled. "Yes, Stolvir, you'll have plenty of time to interrogate our guest later. For now, I need his undivided attention." He turned to me. "It is time to begin your lessons in full. First, I have decided to broaden your knowledge of the abilities you can harness with your athka.

"You already know that magic works through using your will to harness magical energies with your spirit. You might have also wondered what different kinds of magic are possible and on what scale. The answer to those questions, I'm afraid, is rather complicated. The skill level of the dragon is highly influential on what magic they are capable of using. It follows logically that more complex feats of magic require more skill and concentration from whoever is responsible."

The older dragon paced slowly in the grass as he lectured. "However—this is very important for you to understand—the level of effort will decrease over time. You might have noticed that even simple bits of magic make you feel quite tired. This is entirely normal; it was once the same for me. But over time, with practice, you will become more efficient. Larger manifestations of magic will still have a draining effect, like what happened when I transferred the knowledge of our language. To give you some perspective, moving anything more than a large boulder would be out of the question. But at worst you will pass out. Every dragon has a few stories of this happening, and it's also normal. You shouldn't make a habit of it, obviously, since you can do rather unpleasant things to yourself. On more than one occasion, I've woken up feeling like I had just flown for two days straight and then crashed into a tree. My advice is simply to know your limits.

"Over time you will get accustomed to the kinds of magic you perform best, and I'm sure even over the next few days your advancement will be obvious. Every dragon has his own talents and weaknesses, so you must be patient and attend to a variety of lessons. The first of which starts right now, if you don't have any questions first."

I shook my head. "I'm ready."

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