Fenrir watched as the princess played with the children. He felt a smile on his face. It reminded him of a younger him, he loved his younger siblings. He turned his attention towards Vogaix, who was sitting there watching her human as well. The look on her face reminded Fenrir of the look on Marath's. Was this human⦠good for her? "Vogaix," His harsh voice caused the half-human to jump, "Pay attention."
"Please," She stuck her tongue out at the dragon, slightly flapping her wings, "Like you weren't looking over there too." Vogaix leaned against her father, her horns pushed up against his scales. "She's not so bad, is she? Lucy seems to love her."
"Lucy loves everyone, Vogaix," Fenrir softly pushed against the half-human's body, knocking her over, "It's Khora loving Lucy that brings me surprise."
"I knew it!" She stood up and jumped up and down excitedly, "You're starting to like her!"
"I still think you should be with me, or someone else that can help dragons come back to power."
"Nah," She smiled at the princess, licking her fangs slightly, "Like her too much." She turned back towards the dragon and grinned, "Do you even think it's possible for me to fly?"
"I do, all full half-humans can," He looked at Lucy, "As long as their dragon parentage can."
"Sure, but it's not like I haven't tried!" The half-human pouted and crossed her arms, "Maybe I'm just⦠wrong,"
"You may not be perfect," Fenrir put a claw under his daughter's chin, pushing it up slightly, "But you are not wrong. I want you to try again. This time, take in a breath and hold it." The half-human did, her scales shuddered slightly as her lungs expanded. "Good. Keep breathing, but keep it slow. Feel your heartbeat slow." Fenrir subconsciously did the same, his heart-rate quickly slowing down, below his normal resting rate, "Now, feel the wind around you, the stagnant air. Every little piece of dust. Feel how it rubs against your wing's membrane." A blast of wind came through the forest, causing Fenrir and his daughter's wings to slightly shiver. "Raise the wings." The two raised their wings, "And push downwards."
The dragon flapped his wings, blowing air around him, the trees next to him fighting against his wing's strength. He felt his legs rise above the ground as he flapped again. In front of him, with the help of the wind being blown towards her by his wings, was Vogaix. Her legs lifted off the ground as well. The half-human looked at Fenrir excitedly. "I'm doing it!" Her flapping sped up slightly, and it pushed her downwards. Fenrir laughed as he stopped his flying as well.
"Almost," He reached out a claw to help his daughter up, "You need a bit more practice, though." The half-human scoffed as she took his claw.
"That's lame," She patted off her pants, keeping the claws slightly above it so she wouldn't rip the weak fabric. "I get it though. Besides, it's more useful than the last thing you taught me."
"Are you not going to use your scales properly?"
"Why should I hide?" She sat back, using her tail to prop herself up, "It's a neat party trick, I guess. I'd rather show myself off proudly,"
"But you will be hunted for your blood, your scales," Fenrir growled at Vogaix, concern showing itself behind his anger.
"I don't care," Vogaix stared at her father with the belligerent gaze of a teenager, "Let them hunt me. It's not like it'll be any different than the rest of my life has been. Let me be proud of who I am!" The two sat relatively silently, eyes flicking around each other's bodies to read the other's intentions. Fenrir puffed out a bit of black smoke, letting the wind carry it to his daughter's face.
"Keep practicing." Fenrir turned his head away as he spoke, he let his scales shift, making it hard for those without trained eyes to follow him.
The dragon wandered through the dense trees of the forest. His tail and wings scraped against the rough bark of the trees, his knees were bent to keep his head out of the canopy of leaves. His keen ears heard the various forest creatures skitter away as he got close. They feared him, as they should. A luck-dragon glided from a branch in front of him to the shade of the roots covering the ground. The glass-dragon kept moving through the forest, his steps remarkably light for his massive size. As he moved, the sun moved with him, eventually getting closer to setting. He reached the clearing he had fished at earlier, the human couple nowhere to be seen in the lake, the path they had made from running away long cleared away by other animal's tracks.
Fenrir stared into the water as he let his scales relax to their natural state. His face materialized in the lake in front of him. He saw a strange thing behind his eyes in the ripples of the water. It was something that he hadn't seen in⦠years. Something he hadn't seen since Marath died. What he didn't understand is why this was coming back now. This⦠feeling of content. The dragon shook his head, closing his nostrils as he dove his head into the water. His eyes scanned the shallows for fish. There were a few that he dove towards, two bass fell into the dragon's maw and he chomped down. One of the fish's tails sank to the bottom as his teeth removed it from its owner. He pulled his head out of the water and shook violently, flinging droplets of water throughout the clearing. He crunched down on the fish, letting his saliva separate their bones from their flesh. The dragon swallowed, most of the bones slid towards his breath-sac, and the flesh towards his stomach. As it had been since the kingdom was founded, the fish tasted⦠tainted. Wrong. But they weren't harmful to eat, they just tasted bad.
Fenrir fished for a few more fish before the sun went down. Something kept him from going back to his cave, it felt like a tang of⦠loneliness. He delved into the depths of the forest, curling up around a tree and closing his eyes as his scales instinctively shifted to match his surroundings. His keen ears stayed alert as he slept, listening out for any approaching figures.
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The knight rushed to the training house, his armor clanking against itself as he stomped through the courtyard. One of the guards at the entrance nodded his head, the other saluted. "Not like you to be late for this, Boran,"
"I was busy, lost track of time." Boran gave the guard an angry glare as he stepped in. Inside the open training area were the recruits. Less than usual this year, only eighteen, but they had been in a time of peace. The man looked through the group, all of them standing straight with their hands behind their backs. None of them had brought their training shields, the tradition was to give the new knights the shield with the Cosis family crest before the king knighted them properly. He mentally named each one, but when he got to the end he noticed one was missing. Right next to Jane and George was where the last night should be. YaÄmur was late? Surprising, but like father like son apparently. "Jane, George," He looked at the twins, who stood up straighter at his attention, "Where is YaÄmur?" The two exchanged a glance.
"We figured you'd know," Jane spoke up, her face looking slightly worried.
"Last we heard of him he was-" George was interrupted by the door to the courtyard slamming open.
"I'm sorry I'm late!" YaÄmur yelled to the crowd, he was knelt over with his hand on his heart. He took a deep breath and walked towards his place, staring at his father with slight trepidation behind his eyes.
"A knight should always be on time," Boran spoke to the entire crowd of knights-to-be, "So normally, this would be something that barred YaÄmur from knighthood." His son slacked in his posture slightly, "But, if I did that today it would be slightly hypocritical of me, wouldn't it?" A small and slightly nervous giggle went through the line of knights. "So, YaÄmur, consider yourself lucky." The head knight's son smiled and gave a slight bow to his father.
"Typical nepotism," A whisper from one of the knights pierced the silence of the courtyard. Boran walked over to where it came from, giving the three knights he guessed it could have been a death stare. All three of them cowered, sweat beading on their foreheads.
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"Would you like to say that again?" The three of them stayed quiet, but the two smaller ones looked at the larger one. They looked almost more like twins than the redheaded ones. All three had stark black hair that always looked remarkably like bedhead. The two smaller boys had freckles, and the larger one had slightly darker skin than the others. But other than those differences, the three were almost impossible to tell apart. "Samuel?"
"I just said that letting YaÄmur through despite him being late is Nepotism," His voice cut through the slight whispering that the other knights had started.
"Sir!" The smaller ones, Moses and Louis, finished Samuel's sentence for him.
"Please," Boran felt his patience for these three boys snap, "As if I have not let you three flunkies through more than you would have been able to get through without your connections to the royal court! In fact, I don't think you three have the bravery to do what you'll need to." The three stood, the smaller ones shaking before the massive knight's figure slightly, "Leave," Boran pointed towards the exit, stepping out of the way to let the three through.
"Are you serious, sir?" Samuel scoffed at Boran, standing still. He grabbed Moses and Louis's hair, keeping them in place as well.
"I am," The knight put a hand on his blade. The sun reflected off his eyes, giving him an even more imposing look, "Leave, now."
"Let's go, Sam," Louis pulled the larger boys hand off his hair, pulling Samuel and Moses towards the exit. Boran and the knights-to-be watched the three flunkies leave the courtyard, and as soon as the left he turned towards the rest of the knights. Fifteen left, now.
"I apologize for their behavior," He looked at the fifteen recruits and collected the shields necessary for them. "Now, before we start handing these out, I have a question. One that I never thought I would have to ask." He sighed and looked at the recruits. He was confident that all of them were ready, but he knew that not all of them would be able to handle facing a dragon head on mentally, "If you all choose to accept knighthood. You will have to face the dragon that attacked us. You will have to hunt it, face off against its claws, fangs, and blasts of molten scales. Can you do it?"
"Sir, yes sir!" All fifteen knights saluted Boran, their faces showing no hesitation."
"I would not judge any one of you for not wanting to. I would not have wanted to at your ages, either."
"Sir Boran," Shelia spoke up, she was one of the smallest recruits. He remembered that near the beginning of training, she was the most anxious. Her hands shook whenever she held a blade, Boran was surprised she even made it past the first week of training, "I speak for all of us when I say you've taught us well. We are all eager to protect the kingdom's people, and if that means taking down a dragon, we will!" The other knights nodded in agreement. "So we say again,"
"Sir, yes sir!" The knights all shouted, bringing a smile to Boran's face.
"Very well," He began to hand out the shields to the knights, starting with the recruit furthest from his son, "I am immensely proud of each and every one of you. You have all come further than any of my other recruits, and I am proud that you are my last group to train up." Each knight received their shield happily, they had all worked over a year for this moment. Boran felt a sense of pride well up in his chest that he hadn't felt since YaÄmur's birth. When he reached his son, he handed him the shield, both of their faces not able to hide their pride. "I'm proud of you, son."
"Thank you, pa," YaÄmur smiled and playfully saluted his father. He was quickly followed by every other knight.
"Thank you all for being such good students!" He saluted them back, relaxing slightly afterwards signaling to the fifteen new knights that they could relax as well. "All of you, go into the castle, your lunch is awaiting there. The king will properly knight each of you afterwards." The group began to funnel out of the courtyard, but YaÄmur was stopped by his father, "We should talk, son, just for a bit."
"Of course, pa," He waved back at George and Jane, who happily waved back at him, "What is it?"
"Why were you late today?"
"I was with Jasmineâ¦" The boy grabbed his arm and rubbed up and down slightly, "She's doing better, I won't be late again. I promise!"
"I understand, son," Boran rubbed YaÄmur's shoulder softly, "I remember when I fell in love too," He smiled at his son.
"I'm not in love!" He blushed and started walking away from his father, "But⦠thank you, pa,"
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Vogaix approached Khora after the children dispersed. The half-dragon was carrying two bows in one hand with two quivers full of arrows in the other. "What's this, V?" She stood up and approached her knight, eyes flicking between the bow and her face, "You expect me to do some target practice with you or something?"
"Nope," Vogaix tossed a bow at Khora, who fumbled with it for a while before catching it. The half-dragon smiled kindly at her princesses' display, "Hunting."
"I've barely fired a bow at a still target, how do you expect me to hunt well?"
"I don't," She winked at Khora, "I love you, but I don't expect you to do well. Not this time, at least. But we're out of meat and I want someone to go with." The knight shoved the quiver into Khora's hands, "Besides, I'll teach you."
"I'll always take more time with my Vogaix," Khora slung the quiver on her shoulder, a few of the arrows falling out. She giggled awkwardly and picked them up, "Maybe it could be useful to learn how to use one of these too, I guess." Vogaix stuck her tongue out at her princess as she walked towards the forest. The princess followed her knight and rolled her eyes.
"Now," Vogaix slowed down when she reached the forest, walking side by side with Khora. Her tail corrected the princesses' quiver, "We're not gonna hunt any luck-dragons. Not only is killing them bad luck, but their meat is too tough." She notched an arrow on her bow, testing the strength of the string slightly.
"Noted," Khora did the same, her fingers fumbled with the arrow. She had used a bow before, once. And it was over ten years ago, "So what exactly are we hunting?"
"Rabbits, mostly," The half-dragon knelt down, looking deeper into the forest. The princess knelt down next to her. She pointed towards a bush, most of it covered by shadow, "See that?"
"The bush?" Khora squinted, but she couldn't see anything beyond the shade of the trees.
"Right, human," Vogaix laughed softly and moved Khora's bow to be pointing towards the bush, "Rabbit, right there. Can you go for it?"
"I can't promise anything," She pulled back the arrow and felt her muscles strain. She closed her eyes, picturing Boran next to her. Take a breath, just like he taught her. She opened her eyes and slowly released her breath. The princess loosened her grip on the string, letting the arrow fly past her face and into the bush. The pair heard a slight yelp come from inside the bush, another hare leaped out and away. "Did I hit it?"
"Let's see," Vogaix smiled, her sharp teeth reflecting the bits of light streaming through the leaves. The half-dragon stepped towards the bush, moving aside the leaves and revealing the rabbit. It lay there, chest rapidly rising and falling, arrow stuck through its hind leg. Vogaix knelt down, "Poor thingâ¦" She snapped its neck in a quick motion. Khora winced slightly, slowly looking back at her knight and her prey.
"I got it?"
"You got it, mostly," Vogaix giggled and stepped back towards her princess. Khora felt a sense of pride rise past her discomfort of killing the creature. The half-dragon put Khora's prey in a bag slung over her tail.
The two continued the hunt, Khora only got one more successful kill, and Vogaix got 6. As the sun went down and they arrived in the clearing, she felt closer to her knight than she ever had before. Someone was already starting a smokeless flame in the center, Slepna was at a makeshift table with a knife. She greeted the pair with a smile, "Successful hunt?"
"For me, yeah," Vogaix teased Khora as she sat the rabbits down on the table.
"I got two!" Khora softly punched Vogaix's shoulder with a smile.
"Well, you two can go ahead and sit by the fire, everyone's waiting for you." The half-centaur-dragon began to skin the rabbits as the princess and her knight sat on the ground near the fire. Morgan had just finished up telling a story, the children were entranced, and the adults spoke amongst each other. Khora leaned against Vogaix and watched the members of the clearing laugh as the sun went down. The warmth of the fire seemed to wrap her and her knight together. Slepna came over, a hunk of hare on a stick for everyone to heat over the fire. Everyone thanked the centaur-dragon as she sat down behind Khora and Vogaix, letting the pair rest up against her stomach. The night air began to fill with chirping of crickets, and Khora cuddled closer to Vogaix as they cooked their rabbits. Something about this was nice, a community that all loved each other like this. Lucy looked behind her, pointing at a couple baby luck-dragons who were staring at the fire. The beasts looked hungry, and Khora pulled her rabbit in. Her stomach growled at the prospect of eating it, the meat looked fresh and juicy. She took off a chunk and leaned towards the babies, holding it out for them to eat. The dragons slowly and cautiously approached her hand, sniffing the meat carefully.
One of the luck-dragons leapt at the meat, taking it from the princesses' hand in an instant. The two babies playfully fought over the meal, a wet growl coming from both of their throats. Morgan laughed at the sight, looking at Khora. "Dragons can be cute, can't they."
"Yeah⦠I was always taught that they ate us. Even that the small ones preferred our meat."
"Hogwash, your father was always a superstitious man," She tore a chunk of rabbit off her stick with her yellowed teeth, "Most dragons prefer meat like rabbit. Human is too tough for a lot of their preferences." The old woman smiled as she finished off her small dinner. Khora waved at her as she hobbled to her hill. She felt herself dozing off, watching the flame-licked luck-dragons curl up around the other to sleep. Just like she did with Vogaix. The princess fell asleep with a smile on her face.