Boran stood at the gate, watching the Merlean carriages arrive. Three massive carriages pulled by wolf-dragons went through the streets, the farming peasants watching them arrive cowered in fear. A few smaller carriages, pulling citizens here for the party followed, pulled by oxen. The blue wolf-dragons stopped in front of the head knight, they smelled of wet dog, and their breath was warm on Boran's face. The driver took off his top hat and bowed to Boran, "We thank you very much for letting us into your fine kingdom of Karcosis." His voice was nasally, speaking with a strong Merlean accent. "The kingdom of Merla is happy to be in your presence."
"We are glad to host you," Boran spoke to the carriage driver while pushing the wolf-dragon's snout away, "And we hope you enjoy your stay, please follow me." The head knight gestured to one of the guards on the wall, and they began to slowly open the door. "I hope your journey wasn't too difficult?" He stepped through the gate, letting the convoy of carriages follow slowly follow him.
"Ahhh," The carriage driver paused, thinking back, "It was not the worst, your previous crusade against the dragons made the journey much easier." He looked at the head knight, "And where is the king and his daughter?"
"They are eagerly waiting in the castle," The two continued their small talk, eventually getting to the area where they had to leave the carriages, "Park the carriages here, we will have to continue on foot from here, though it is not very far." His eyes flicked to the wolf-dragons, "I'm not sure we will have the proper resources to take care of your⦠mounts,"
"It will be okay, Sir," The driver stepped off of the carriage, opening the door for the three members of his carriage, "But thank you for worrying about them." The three figures stepped out of the carriage, one by one. The first was a tall, pale skinned man. His hair was slicked back and pitch black, and his eyes were a strikingly pale blue. After him, came a shorter, stouter woman. Rather, she would have been short, if not for her hair, which took up almost a third of her height, she said something to the man in Merlean before the third figure stepped out of the carriage. He was almost as tall as the first man, with longer hair. He had a pale blue eye, mirrored on the other side by a distinctly yellow one. His hair had a white streak down the side. The royal family of Merla, each more dignified than the last.
"Welcome," Boran bowed to the three, who all stared down at him, "To the kingdom of Karcosis, we are honored to have you."
"And we are honored to be here, Sir Boran," The first man did a slight bow, "Me and my wife," The Merlean king, Louis Merla. His accent was stronger, but more dignified than the carriage drivers was. His wife, Marie Merla, bowed to the head knight, her face covered in a heavy layer of makeup. Their son stepped forwards, hand outreached to Boran.
"Lovely to meet you, Sir Boran," The knight accepted the gesture, shaking the boy's hand, "Phillip Merla, at your service." A smile appeared on his face, but it didn't reach his eyes. Behind them, other royals got out of the carriages, and nobles got out of the others, knights leading them all to their quarters.
"Lovely to meet all of you," Boran led the three to the castle doors, where the king awaited their arrival with Alaric by his side. "Meet his royal highness, the king of Karcosis, and the current prince of Karcosis, Sire Alaric Cosis." The three Merlean royals bowed to the pair of Karcosian royals, who bowed back in turn.
"I apologize, Phillip, my daughter is currently still getting ready. She should be able to meet you soon enough." Alaric led the queen up the stairs as the king apologized to the prince.
"I assure you it is fine," The same empty smile crossed his face, and the king didn't respond in kind, "As long as my future wife looks as good as she can for our meeting. I assume she is excited?" The bastard-prince snorted, coughing afterwards in an attempt to hide it.
"As excited as my sister can be about marrying a stranger," Alaric smirked, holding out a gloved hand to shake Phillip's. "Though I assure you she is excited to become a queen." The head knight followed the royals inside, making sure that everyone was feeling good before he left the group without a word, letting the king and Alaric show them around the castle.
Other than the princess not being there, everything had gone as planned so far. He felt himself release a breath as if he had been holding for the entire walk to the castle, those Merleans were an⦠uppity bunch. He reached his castle room, when a voice cut through the ambient noise of the crowd. "Pa!" At least it was just YaÄmur, Boran wasn't sure he would have been able to handle someone asking for help again. "I was wondering," His son paused, taking a deep breath.
"Wondering what, son? Have you finished your tasks for the morning?" All the knights in training had to stand at attention for all of lunch, but there were plenty who had already finished their tasks.
"I have," Boran looked proudly at his son, it was no surprise that the head knight's child was able to finish so quickly, "I was just wonderingâ¦" He paused again, clearly not able to spit out what he wanted. Boran got on one knee to get to YaÄmur's eye level.
"Wondering what? Are you feeling alright, YaÄmur?" The father put his hands on the smaller knight in training, squeezing softly.
"If you could let Jasmine out earlyâ¦?" YaÄmur braced himself for something, being reprimanded, hit, anything except what Boran gave.
"After lunch, I can let her out. Just let me walk her home."
"Really?" His son's face lit up, "Why? No wait, don't answer that, I don't want to look a gift centaur in the mouth."
"Really," Boran laughed, "Jasmine seems like a sweet kid, she was just cornered. And I want what's best for our people." He ruffled YaÄmur's hair, smiling down at him. "Just behave until after lunch, son." YaÄmur beamed at the head knight, nodding while running down the hall, very clearly excited. Boran opened his door, chuckling to himself. At last, a break from the chaos of the morning. He sat down at his desk and pulled out the books he had taken from the library, histories of the castle. He wanted to know what that room was.
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Khora sat at her makeup mirror, hair half done, but she wasn't focused on that. She was reading The History and Physiology of Dragons, she was turned to the second page on glass dragons. Their lineage was surprisingly detailed, showing every animal that dragons bred with to become glass-dragons, from octopi to specific species of bugs. It specified that their scales were not actually glass, they could each individually change color, the only weird thing is that the first dragon marked was a shark-dragon, the history beyond that was unknown. There is only so much I can do without speaking to dragons who were around during that time or finding remains, and the king is not letting me go on a paleontological expedition. Was written in the margins of the book. Some other notes were written on the page as well, mostly questions if the scales could somehow be used for their color changing properties when off the dragon. Khora was so lost in the book, she didn't hear Mary come in the room.
"What are you reading ma'am?" She turned around, quickly closing the book, "You realize the Merleans are here already, yes? Your father is not going to be pleased with you being late." Her servant smiled softly to her, already beginning to work on her hair.
"Oh, it's just you, thank the gods," Khora turned back to her book, opening it back to the page she was reading, "Just a book I found in the library, I've never seen it before." She pulled her head away from Mary as she unknotted a part of her hair. "I know father will be mad, I really don't want to go through with this, Maryâ¦"
"I know ma'am," Mary pulled a comb through the princesses' hair softly, "But you know you have to, and I wish I could help you not have to." The servant kissed the top of her head as she helped the princess out of her chair. "Is your makeup done?" Khora shyly nodded.
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"Thank you for all your help, Mary."
"Of course, Khora," The servant nodded, "Thank you for being the best mistress one could ask for." Khora smiled with a giggle, "Now go, Khora, they're on their way to lunch."
"Okayyyy, Mary," The princess ran to the door, stopping right before she opened it, "Could you put that book in my night-stand? And please don't tell anyone I have it." She left before her servant could respond, holding up her dress as she ran through the halls. She paused at the door to the dining hall to compose herself and pat down her hair. The princess took a breath and opened the door.
The hall was much more crowded than Khora was used to seeing it, and there were a few new faces. There was an empty seat next to her father and across from her half-brother, sat next to her was a scarily skinny man, his hair had a white streak on the left side, and he gave an empty smile when he saw Khora enter the room. "Ah, you must be Khora. Your father and brother were telling me oh so much about you." He pulled the empty seat out, rubbing its arm possessively, "Come, take your seat." She quietly walked to her seat, glaring at her father the entire time, she sat down and pulled the chair closer to the table. "I am Prince Phillip, it's lovely meeting you." He gave the empty smile once again, as he grabbed the princesses' hand, laying a soft kiss on top of it.
"You too," She couldn't stop her face from grimacing, he at least wasn't ugly, "I'm so sorry for being so late, father." She pulled her hand away from the prince, turning her attention towards the food. At the center of the table, a massive pig lay on the table, its eyes seemingly following the princesses' gaze. On the plate in front of her was a delicate balance of meat, bread, fruit, and honey. Phillip popped a grape in his mouth, the empty smile staying on his face the whole time. She stuck the meat with a fork, shoving it into her mouth. Alaric was eating calmly across the table from her, speaking to the queen in Merlean. Her father seemed to be ignoring her, the only one she had to talk to was the prince.
"So, Khora," As if on cue, Phillip began to speak, "You must quite enjoy living in this castle," He ripped a slab of meat apart, chewing slowly while he waited for an answer.
"It's certainly an experience, living here. Sometimes I feel like monsters could hide in all the tiny little corners everywhere." She put a piece of bread in her mouth and met eyes with Alaric for just a second. "I spend a lot of time in my room, and as much time out in the forest as I can."
"Well you will have plenty of time to explore my, or rather, our castle, once we wed." Phillip took a small sip of his wine, eyes exploring Khora's body. The princess turned her body away slightly, gripping her knife tightly.
"Eyes to yourself, prince." She rolled her eyes, "We aren't married yet. Which means I am not yours."
"Touchy girl, aren't you," The prince smiled his empty smile while he scraped his knife against the plate, "Very well, I can wait. For a bit." The two sat in silence for a while, before it was broken by her father finally speaking.
"Khora, darling," He set down his silverware, done eating for now, "Please show Prince Phillip around the castle when you both are done. He will be staying in your room for tonight, you are okay with that, correct?" The princess balled her hand into a tight fist while she gritted her teeth.
"Yes father," She took a breath and looked at the prince, "Are you ready to go on a tour, Phillip?" She felt the last word escape her mouth with a slight venom. The Merlean prince nodded and helped Khora out of the chair, as they were walking away, Alaric spoke up.
"Good luck, sister. And do have fun Phillip~"
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The glass dragon let his daughter dismount on the top of the mountain. Her claws sunk into the snow, and her wings instinctively wrapped around her body. Fenrir landed as well, nearly half of his lower legs sinking into the snow. "What the hells are we doing way up here?" Vogaix shivered, her scales rattled against each other, creating a sound similar to a rattle-dragon. "I thought you were gonna teach me something, not try and freeze me to death!"
"I am here to teach you," Fenrir moved to one side of Vogaix, blocking the wind from hitting her too hard, "I learned here, and so you will as well." His tail flicked around, using the tip to push Vogaix's wings away. "The cold is good for you." He looked his heir up and down, "Did you not inherit my breath-sac?"
"Obviously not." The half-human knight's teeth rattled together, "So what are you teaching me?"
"How to properly utilize your scales," Fenrir flexed each scale, causing them to flick between white, pitch black, and a display of color that moved along his scales like waves. "Because you are currently easy to spot, easy to exploit," The glass-dragon looked down at Vogaix, disgust formed in his eyes, "Just easy." His daughter rolled her eyes.
"Why should I camouflage? I could just win fights." Fenrir's tail flicked to her still broken halberd, he wrapped his tail around it and pulled it away from the half-human. She jumped towards it, slightly flapping her wings to get more air. He stared at the halberd, twirling it in the air before letting it fall to the snow covered ground. "If you could win fights, how do you explain this?"
"I still won that fight!" She protested, bending over to pick up her weapon.
"Only thanks to me, if my blood hadn't been on the blade, Boran would have beheaded you immediately. Stop being stubborn, child."
"Then stop calling me child," The half-human spun her halberd and hooked it in her belt. "And if I'm able to do it, how about you do something for me?" Fenrir looked his heir up and down, thinking slightly.
"Fine," Vogaix looked at Fenrir with surprise behind her eyes.
"Wait are you serious?"
"I am," He relaxed his scales to their natural reflective state, "If you figure this out, I'll get Khora."
"Oh my gods thank you!" Vogaix beamed at her father, tail wagging in joy. The dragon felt a warmth in his chest, something he hadn't felt for a very long time. He fought the smile attempting to creep on to his face.
"Then we should get started," Fenrir flexed his scales, causing each one to individually change color. He turned his tail the same white as the snow and slithered it up to Vogaix. She didn't seem to notice, "It is important to note how useful camouflage is, whether it be for hunting, hiding, or fighting." He wrapped the tail around her leg, pulling it out from underneath her, causing her to land flat on her back. "Not only that, but if you quickly flash back to your natural reflective state in the right position," His scales positioned themselves against the sun, flicking back to their reflective color for just a second. The reflection of the sun flashed his heir's eyes, blinding her for a few seconds. "It can be a useful distraction."
"Bit of a harsh example, pops," Vogaix got herself up, wiping snow off of her shoulders, "And it doesn't exactly teach me how to do it."
"It teaches you what you can do with it," The dragon stepped around the half-human in a large circle while he spoke, "And I am getting to the actual process. Most of it is instinct, for me. I imagine your human half dulls your brain slightly." His daughter looked at him with annoyance, "You can flex your biceps, yes?" She nodded and flexed, her muscles tightening and growing slightly, "Perfect, each of your scales has a muscle connected to them, try focusing on your arm, see if you can feel the muscles slightly rub against the others as you move it."
"Is that what that is? I always thought that was normal," Her shoulder moved in small circles as she spoke.
"It is, for dragons." He stared at Vogaix with slight disappointment
"Right," She flicked her eyes away from his, "So how does that help me change the color, or whatever it is you do?" A harsh wind blew a flurry of snow in between them. The half-human shivered slightly, staring at her father.
"Flexing each muscle is how you change the scales." He let a wave of red swim through his scales, "At first it will be hard to control the color, but with enough practice the possibilities are nearly endless." Vogaix attempted to flex specific muscles, her face showing an obvious strain. Fenrir laughed, putting his tail on her shoulder. "Relax, Vogaix." She took a breath and stared back at the glass-dragon, "Where is your largest scale?"
"Right here, I think," She pointed at her back and turned around, showing a relatively large scale right above where her tail began. It was significantly smaller than Fenrir's largest, but at least as large as an average human's palm. "Why?"
"Focus on that one, flex the muscles around that area, see if you can pinpoint where you have to flex to affect that scale. I'll let you know if I see it change." The half-human nodded, and the muscles around her tail began to flex, causing her tail to stiffen and flick in the air. They stood there for a bit, before the scale began to slightly shake, its color becoming a more opaque white, it flashed to black before reverting back to a mirror. "You got it," Fenrir smiled, and Vogaix turned around with a smile as well, her tail wagging.
"Seriously?" She jumped up and down on the snow, and immediately attempted the same thing with her other scales. Starting with the largest ones, they became snow white. The color slowly spread to the other scales, and eventually every scale was white. She looked at her arms in amazement, flapping her wings as the skin turned a snow white as well. As she admired herself, the scales and skin flashed black, before going back to mirrors starting with the smallest ones. "That was kind of cool." She beamed at Fenrir, slightly panting. "Exhausting, though⦠how do you do that so consistently?"
"You get used to it," He bowed slightly, inviting Vogaix to ride him once again, "Let me take you back to your⦠family. Keep practicing while I go get Khora."
"Thank you again, for getting herâ¦" Vogaix softly thanked her father as she got on to his back. On the ride back to the village, she told him which tower the princess was usually stuck in. They landed, and most of the half-breeds greeted Vogaix happily. Fenrir, without a word, took off towards the castle. He would have to be careful.