Windmire's underground was bustling, the mid-autumn day warm enough to keep the ground warm enough for harvest, but there was still enough of a chill in the air that the populace had begun it's annual relocation to the underground sector. Music and chatter filled the air, undercut by the soft sound of water rushing through the aqueducts and canals that gave the great city a steady supply of fresh water, fed by an underground river that flowed in from the north east of the city.
Merchants had already started to open their stalls, merchandise checked and displays organized. A smithy was going, the light and heat from the forge off setting its location under one of the various ventilation holes, one spelled to keep out the chill of winter while letting fresh air and the scant light shine down in spots that lanterns and lamps couldn't quite be placed. Livestock was herded into set areas with the most lighting, to keep them fed and healthy during the winter, and children darted to and fro with laughter and shrieks of glee.
The hubbub was distracting enough that only the most alert of shopkeepers, or the few soldiers on standby in case of thievery attempts, noticed the odd duo walking down a less frequented pathway, headed upstream.
A large man was the more noticeable of the two, walking with a gait not unusual of the well-seasoned wyvern knights that kept patrol in the skies. His manner of dress was of a similar vein, being simple and unadorned despite the higher quality of the make, and a simple short sword hung at his left hip. A lattice of bandages was bound around his lower left arm, and both that and the faintest of scars on his hands only furthered the soldier-like look.
In sharp contrast, his companion was a young girl of about eight, on the tall side for her age. She wore a simple dress in a style of an apprentice witch, the dark blues accented by star yellow borders and white frills along the hemline. The toy carbuncle she clutched only furthered the appearance, the feline-like toy well-made and sporting a collar of copper wire. Wavy hair of a similar copper shade hung to just below her shoulders, and if it weren't for her unusually bare feet, it would have been easy to assume she was a nobleman's daughter exploring the market with a bodyguard.
Very few outside of the soldiers would have assumed it was the king and his second daughter.
This suited King Garon just fine, offering a hand to the girl as they continued to walk. "This way, Terra," he spoke quietly, not wishing to draw attention as Terra turned to look at him. A second passed before she let go of her toy with one hand and took his much larger one, resettling her grip on the carbuncle before letting her father lead the way again. The action brought a quick smile to Garon's face, and he let out a soft chuckle. "Smart – it would be bad for Clover to run away now," his words were gentle, and won a small smile from Terra.
"I don't want him to get messy," she admitted, punctuated by a tight squeeze to the toy in question. "But, Poppa, where are we going? This isn't the part of town Gappa showed me ..."
"Mm, I know – Gunter took you to the center market and the sweet shop, correct?" when his question was answered with a rapid nod and a smile, Garon chuckled again, "we'll stop by there before heading home, then. But there's a place I wanted you to see first, considering recent events."
"Oh ..." Terra's voice grew quiet and sad, and lilac colored eyes began to drift to the well-worn stone walkway underfoot. "... Is it because I'm in trouble..?"
"No, you're not in trouble – if you were, I wouldn't promise the sweet shop, now would I?" The reassurance was calm enough that Terra looked at her father again from the corner of her eye.
"I guess not ..." She conceded, giving her toy another one armed squeeze before giving her father her full attention again. "But why are you being so quiet, then? Or are you just trying to think ahead about hiding the bonbons from Camilla?" The second question earned an amused look from Garon, and Terra giggled, "Well, she is good at finding where you hide them."
"Your older sister has a separate stomach for baked goods and chocolates, I swear ..."
"Gappa and Miss Izayoi say it's your fault."
"Of course they would," Garon grumbled with a shake of his head, knowing very well that his retainers would indeed say such things.
Especially since they were admittedly correct on the matter, and never let him forget it.
His annoyance drew more giggles out of Terra, and his features softened in response as he found the gateway he was looking for. "Ah, here … we're going to take this path now. Your feet okay, or do you need to be carried?" He asked as they stopped in front of the new passage, glancing down at Terra's bare feet.
Her response was an absent shake of the head, more focused on the elegant work done on the iron gate. The various phases of the moon ran along the outer arc, the full moon at the top of the entryway and hexed to let out a soft light. Iron vines and leaves made up the gate proper, and it was only the knowledge that she had her precious carbuncle in her right arm that kept Terra from reaching out and tracing one vine to see where it began and ended.
"No, you're okay with walking, or no, you need to be carried?"Garon asked, amused at her distraction. His question made Terra's focus shift back to him, a sheepish smile flashing across her face.
"How far of a walk is it?" She queried in turn, looking down the hallway through a gap in the gate. It was dimly lit with a faint blue glow, caused by stones enchanted to emit light pressed into the ceiling and floor. The latter had a pattern of the night sky to it, and Terra was trying to see how many constellations she could recognize from such an odd angle.
Garon took pause at the question, thinking. The last time he had taken this route had been by himself, so he was able to make decent time due to his greater stride. With an eight-year-old child – even one as tall as Terra was – it would take longer. "About ten, fifteen minutes if I carry you. Closer to twenty if you walk on your own," he supplied after a moment. There was a responding nod as his copper-haired daughter went quiet, weighing the options in her head before she let her hand slip out of his grip.
"Carry me, please?" The question was shy and muffled as Terra lifted her carbuncle to her face, lilac eyes meeting her father's russet ones. She was getting to the age where such childlike options weren't so common anymore, so she wasn't going to let this go so easily.
A smile was her answer, and Garon knelt down to better lift her up. "Fair enough, but you'll have to walk on our way back, alright?" he stated as he straightened, balancing Terra against his right side to keep her weight off of the bandaged arm. There was a huff and he nodded, giving Terra an amused look as he opened the gate. "Yes, you're definitely walking on the way back. And remind me to tell Izayoi to stop feeding you so much bear meat – knowing my luck, you'll be as big as one when you're grown up."
"But bear meat's so tasty," Terra pouted in response, shaking her head. "And Miss Izayoi makes really good stew out of it."
"Yes, it is really good stew, isn't it?" Garon let out an overdrawn sigh in play, the better to help Terra relax. The girl's nerves had been frayed for the past few days, for understandable reasons, so for her to relax and smile at her father's japes was a relief. He opened his mouth to continue the silliness, only for Terra to beat him to it.
"Besides, Xander's even bigger than I am. If anyone needs to stop eating bear meat, it's him." Her tone of voice was very frank and to the point, complete with crossing her arms around her carbuncle and a sharp nod of her head. The action was so unusual for an eight-year-old girl that Garon found himself laughing as he walked, trying to picture the face his eldest child would have made if he had been present to witness it as well. Terra smiled in response, most of the nerves that had been gripping her younger body gone at the sound.
Silence fell over the two after that, and Terra's focus returned to the glowing stones beneath them. She hadn't seen all the star charts that were in the library yet, so some of the arrangements eluded her, but it did little to stop her from attempting their names. Garon listened to her quiet mutters with half an ear, his thoughts focused on the pathway and the destination that lay ahead of them.
He normally would have held off on this trip until the girl was a few years older, but the events of the past few days had changed his mind on the matter. A frown flashed across his face as his eyes flickered to the tapered ears that poked from Terra's mass of copper waves, the only noticeable indication that there was something unusual about the child that accompanied him.
A phantom pain lanced through his bandaged arm, making Garon cut off that train of thought before his mood dropped.
Terra didn't seem to notice his temporary shift, more focused on the 'stars' that were guiding the way down the road. A handful of moments passed before she lifted her head in confusion and tugged on her father's overshirt "... Why am I hearing water, Poppa?" The query made Garon pause, and he gave her an impressed look.
"You have sharp ears, to hear the waterfall already. We still have a few minutes before we reach it," his statement made Terra's eyes light up, the glowstones reflected in them for a moment.
"A waterfall?" she repeated in a whisper, the excitement in her voice hard to mistake as Garon nodded. "I didn't think those would happen underground."
"Oh, they do. But that's all I'm telling you until we get there," Garon smiled in amusement at Terra's mild pout. His refusal to elaborate on their destination was distracting her from her nerves, but he had expected that - the girl was naturally curious, and hard to keep out of most anything. There had been several days where it took Gunter and himself to pry the girl out of the library in the castle, and there was a very distinct incident that had taken Izayoi and a bribe of cherries jubilee to get her away from the books and head to bed.
Terra's excited wriggling only increased as the sound of the waterfall grew louder, and Garon had half a mind to set her down. He was stopped by the very distinct knowledge that she would run off in the direction of the sound the instant he let go of her, and after the past few days, that wasn't a wise choice. Better to put up with the impatient squirming than risk any more harm come to her, although Garon did keep an eye on Terra's precious carbuncle in case she dropped it in her excitement.
He came to a halt before a second iron gate not a few moments later. It shared the same lunar cycle motif that the gate at the start of the tunnel had boasted, complete with the glimmer of the full moon, but that was it. Instead of the leafy vines that had guarded the way in, the gate before them now had an elaborate knotwork pattern to it, the shape one that made Terra stare in concern as the nerves began to return.
Four legs, two massive wings, a long tail and neck, and a crown of spines on the head. Not many creatures boasted such an appearance.
Garon gave Terra a squeeze in comfort as he set her down. "You're safe, Terra, I promise," he said as he took Terra's hand again, lifting the other to push the gate open. A spell placed on the iron kept the waterfall from drowning out all other sounds, so his voice was audible enough for Terra to hear him as she cast worried eyes on her father.
"But, Poppa, this is ..." She swallowed, and looked back at the gate once more. "... That's a dragon."
"Like me ..."
The last part of her words had been a mere whisper, but it was enough to make Garon release her hand in favor of pulling her into a one-armed hug. "Yes, it is a dragon," he conceded in a calm voice as he began to open the gate, "and it is why I brought you here so soon after that bad accident." When Terra glanced up at him in bewilderment, the king pushed the gate open fully.
A vast chamber laid behind the gate, the ceiling filled with glowstones of soft silvers and golds in a mimicry of the midwinter sky. Their light pierced through a soft mist that permeated the area, caused by the large waterfall on the opposite side of the chamber from the pathway Garon and Terra stood in. Rapids at the base of the falls slowed to a gentle current where it forked – one continued to flow without care, and the other fed into Windmire in the direction that father and daughter had arrived from. Soft moss and faintly glowing flowers covered the ground, and quick flashes of light darted to and fro were soon identified as moths.
In the center of it all, beneath an array of stones that made the young Terra think of a harvest moon, stood a massive, obsidian dragon statue. The silver light from overhead was accented by soft violet lights that ran up and down the dragon's large form, wings spread out in a gesture that felt more protective and sheltering than aggressive. Golden lights shown in the area where eyes would be on a living creature as they looked down at something that seemed to rest between the statue's four feet, and Terra clutched at her toy as she dared to lean forward enough to try and see what it could be.
Beside her, Garon smiled and placed a hand on her back to give her a gentle push forward. "It's safe, Terra," he reiterated when she looked back at him. "This is the nest of the Dusk Dragon – no harm shall come to you here."
Terra paused and turned to look at him fully, the death grip on her carbuncle loosened. "Dusk … dragon?" The hesitance and confusion in her voice earned her a gentle pat to the head.
"Yes – you might have heard some of the scholars and magi refer to 'Gudrún', correct?" Garon waited until Terra had nodded in confirmation before he continued, "they mean the Dusk Dragon – Gudrún is her name, and it was her pact and allegiance with the First Queen Freja that allowed Nohr to form like it has."
Understanding dawned in Terra's eyes, and she glanced around for another moment, her body relaxing. Garon smiled and held out a hand, and chuckled when Terra placed her toy in his grasp before she took a tentative step off of the stone path.
Her feet met soft, spongy ground, and she looked down for a moment. Shoots of grass and moss covered the earth, and it brought a shy smile to Terra's face as she continued to walk. A soft breeze that carried over from the waterfall brought the smell of fresh water and wild roses to her nose, and the moths darting to and fro taunted her into grabbing for them. Soon, she was darting about, the nerves from before forgotten as she became engrossed in the atmosphere of the cavern.
Garon kept one eye on her as he approached the towering statue proper, a small stone bridge crossing the gap between the walkway and the islet that the statue of Gudrún resided on. He had expected Terra to press him for more questions after what he had told her, but this was just as good – the girl's energy levels seemed to have returned, the terror that had haunted her steps seemingly forgotten.
Pain flared in his left arm again as Garon seated himself down by the statue, and he sighed. The fact that someone had tried to kill Terra had been bad enough. But the knowledge that said attack had brought to the forefront had brought more concern, and the king knew that it could have easily been a far larger disaster if he hadn't been present and capable of intervening.
It wasn't every day that a princess transformed into a dragon, after all.
A quiet sigh escaped him, watching Terra as she darted about, mud splashing onto her dress and bloomers. Izayoi was going to have a fit when they got back to the castle, but then again, Garon expected many things in Krakenberg at the moment would only serve to agitate the head maid. A bit of mud on Terra's dress would be far simpler to get out than the bloodstains she had needed to get out of the king's sleeve after the whole ordeal.
He had only known something was wrong when he had heard panicked shouting come from the hallyway outside his office. When he had opened his door to see what it could be, he hadn't expected to see a small, silver and black dragon tearing through the hallway, biting and headbutting everyone that tried to approach it. Xander had been running up behind it, a cut on his face and panic in his eyes and he kept calling out Terra's name and tried to grasp the hound-sized creature. A flailing tail and massive wings had kept him from doing so, and the noise had only seemed to make the small dragon panic more.
Garon wagered that there was probably a safer option in hindsight, but at that moment in time, all he could think to to was grasp the dragon when it attempted to dash past him. He had managed to get both wings pinned to her sides, but the tail had still thrashed, and she had let out terrifying screeches as he began to back pedal into the office with her. She had almost managed to bite Izayoi before Garon had thrown his left arm up in front of the small creature's face.
The feeling of metal piercing his skin was the only indication that he would possibly lose the arm, but at that moment, it hadn't mattered.
Russet eyes darted back to Terra's location as he heard a small splash, the king not wanting to risk her falling into the rapids if she got too close to the waterfall. Seeing that Terra had opted to instead splash in a small creek that branched off from the river proper, Garon relaxed again, and set the toy carbuncle down on a dry spot beside him. It had taken several hours of him and his eldest talking to Terra in the quiet of the office, but they had eventually calmed Terra down enough to take her human shape again. She had sobbed out most of what had happened – she had been playing in the stables near Gunter, as was normal with her, when a knife-wielding assailant had jumped out of the hayloft at her. Between that and the way Gunter's warhorse had reared at the sudden attack, the situation had spooked Terra enough into an instinctive transformation.
Who had paid the assassin to attempt such a thing, Garon did not know – the assassin had been dead before he had a chance to question them, trampled by Gunter's horse when the older knight had tried to take custody of them.
Beyond that, all Garon knew is that Xander had recognized Terra's panicked screams even in dragon form, and had been following her in an attempt to calm her down. While it was a bit of a relief to see his more introverted, eldest child take such action, Garon knew that the rumors he'd heard floating around the castle would be all but impossible to dispute now …
"Poppa?" Terra's voice brought Garon back to the present, and he looked to see the dragon girl knee-deep in the water nearby. The chill didn't seem to bother her so far, and she had drawn out the soft pouch she wore on a cord about her neck. When she knew her father's eyes were upon her, Terra fumbled with the leather to pull out a glowing blue stone that was about the size of her palm. "My stone's glowing ..."
"Then it's a Dragonstone, like the books said," Garon nodded, "It's possible that the stone is reacting to Gudrún's presence, since this was her nest in life."
"It was?" Lilac eyes looked at her father again, and Terra waded closer. She stopped before the river proper started, the glowing stone clenched between both hands now. At the responding nod, she glanced at the stone again, the blue glow drawing in moths that had noticed the new light source. "Do you think it'd be safe for me to try …?"
"To try and see if you can transform without something going awry?" Garon finished, to which Terra nodded her response. There was a moment's worth of thought before the king nodded and shifted into a position that would be easier to move from, if he was needed. "This place is vast enough, and if there is a risk of harm being done to it, there are forces that can stop it. It's perhaps the best place to test for sure."
An anxious atmosphere formed after his words, and Terra looked to him for one last bout of reassurance – or perhaps courage – before she took a deep breath and grasped the stone tighter.
Beneath her, the water reacted to the sudden surge in energy, and bubbled. Some of the water rose up and began to swirl as the light from the stone covered the young girl. The lights in the chamber appeared to dim for a moment as the water rose to encase Terra in a small sphere, only to burst a heartbeat later. It was bright enough that the king had to look away for a moment, but his gaze returned as fast as he could manage it.
Where Terra had once stood was now the small dragon from a few days past, up to the bottom of its – her, Garon corrected himself – belly. Silver scales covered the top half of her body from what he could see, but stopped only a short way up the back of her neck to leave skin that was deep violet on top. The underside of her neck and head was a soft white, while the rest of her underbelly looked to be black. Dark, steel-like antlers had begun to form and protrude from her head, a sickle moon shape at the area where eyes would have been on a regular creature. A pair of ribbon like tendrils extended in a manner that reminded Garon of rabbit ears, and if the way they twitched was any indication, that was what they were.
He could not judge more than that, owed in part to the two massive wings Terra had folded to her sides. It reminded him of the swans he had seen in Nestra, and after he had taken more than one hit from them, he wagered the comparison wasn't too far-fetched.
"I … Don't feel any different..?" Terra spoke up, a soft reverb to her childish voice. "Like my balance is kinda wobbly, but that's it … And you look funny."
"... How can you see without eyes?" Garon almost backhanded himself for the statement as soon as he had said it, but to his relief, Terra merely giggled at him with what appeared to be a wing shrug.
"You … kind of spark a bit. Like storm clouds that aren't dropping lightning ye – there's fish in the water?" Her head pointed downward as she said the last bit, staring at the river between her and the platform that her father sat on. "They're kind of sparky too …" She moved forward as she spoke, her legs bending in a manner reminiscent of a newborn horse as she got used to four feet instead of two.
It was the abrupt change in topic that made Garon relax the most, and a chuckle slipped out as he watched Terra stalk closer to the deeper water. With her head lowered, he could see the small sail that began just past her withers and continued on to the end of the scales on her tail, which dove beneath the water. Garon needed a moment to spot the light purple glow a few feet behind Terra that seemed to indicate the end of her tail, but the shape was hard to make out. He doubted it was a stinger like on a wyvern or duskwyrm, and he hadn't gotten a good look of it while calming Terra down.
Terra seemed oblivious to her father's observations, and a second later, she dove into the river head first. Garon let out a shout and bolted upright, watching as her tail came out of the water for a second to reveal a frill that he had seen on a foreign type of fish. A glance in the water where Terra had submerged herself showed a bright glow of purple from both the tail and the now extended wings, which seemed to be more than double her length as she attempted to catch one of the fish she had spotted underwater.
Five minutes passed, then ten, but still Terra didn't resurface. Garon couldn't see more beyond the darts of purple that seemed to indicate where she was underwater. But between the way the water had reacted to her transformation, the sort of 'spark' she had described as her sight, and now how effortlessly she seemed to have taken to the water …
"By the gods, she's a water dragon."
The words had been out of his mouth for a second before Terra decided to resurface, a fish almost as large as Garon's arm clenched tight in her mouth. "Got him!" Her voice was as clear as if she didn't have a massive fish in her jaws, one that was quite intent on escape if it's vigorous squirming was any indication. "Hey, stop that!" Terra spoke to the fish and shook her head in protest, and bit down harder. "You're not gonna get away, nuh-uh!"
"L – Let it go, Terra." It took a moment for Garon to find his voice again, stunned by the sight. "I don't now what the chefs are planning for di ..." He tapered off, the thought of what he was trying to do sinking into his head. He was attempting to tell a dragon not to eat a fish, for fear of spoiling her appetite. A dragon that would only get bigger as she aged.
He had confused Terra, if the way she had tilted her head to one side was any indication. The fish still flopped about in protest, and managed to land a good blow to her nose. Her response was a shocked yelp, or at least a dragonic version of it, and bit down harder. There was a snap, and the fish went limp. "... Oops?"
"Well, we'll have to take it back no – TERRA?!" The dragon girl had seen fit to start eating her catch, if the way she proceeded to toss it in the air was any indication. Garon had a split second view of her open maw, and had to double take at the sight of a second row of teeth on the roof of mouth. An instant later, the fish was in her mouth, and she had it pulled down her throat with a few snaps of her mouth.
Silence reigned for a moment before Garon shook himself out of his stunned staring and picked his jaw up off the floor. "... You can digest bone, correct?" He asked, not certain he wanted an answer to the question. Terra responded with another shrug, and he sighed. "Just … if you feel the bones coming up, get to a chamber pot, please?"
Terra nodded in response, and Garon relaxed as much as he could. A difficult feat, considering his life had turned into a farce in ten parts since he had brought Terra home from that horrific night in Cheve, essentially adopting her. Granted, it hadn't been too hard at first, as Arete had recognized the girl as her niece.
He felt a pang at the name – Arete would have made short work of the court after the attack on her beloved niece, just as it had taken quick action from Garon and a rather bedraggled messenger bird from Shirasagi to keep her from tearing off looking for her own daughter – Aqua – when she had disappeared. How the group from Hoshido had even heard of Aqua's supposedly magical song – Garon didn't know how much of that was literal and how much was exaggeration – to think of capturing her. What they had planned to do with her, the king didn't wish to think of, but the matter had been handled.
It had merely become a concern of if the Hoshidan court wasn't up to its particular brand of nastiness when it came to strange children being brought into the royal court. Even if the Hoshidan king had been a soft-hearted sort, they would be on guard for anything Aqua did wrong or could be interpreted as a ploy by Nohr to attack or invade.
Garon had to bite back a sigh at that – thoughts of court and politics tended to just bring up old wounds that he left alone elsewise.
"Poppa?"Terra's voice was worried, and it was enough to bring him back to the present. The girl had gotten out of the water and reverted back to human form, lilac eyes worried as she waved a hand in Garon's face. "You went very quiet – are you tired?"
"... Yes, I suppose I am." The answer was delayed, and it made Terra frown. She scooped Clover up regardless of her opinion, though, and waited for Garon to rise. He gave the draconic girl a reassuring smile, and offered her his hand. "Now, shall we go and get those sweets I promised? If we're in luck, they'll have apricots."
As he had planned, the mention of her favorite fruit made Terra's face light up, and she nodded before she grasped his hand. Most of her former fear was gone, and as they left, Garon wondered if the Dusk Dragon had spoken to her.
Then, as if summoned, a voice that sounded like the distant rumbling of thunder and the wingbeats of a wyvern pack crashed into Garon's head.
SÀMHACH AON DHÙISG.
SÌTHEIL OIDHCHEANNAN A 'TIGHINN GU CRÌCH.
ULLACHADH AIRSON COGADH, ARM AN DORCHADAIS.
Garon stumbled and grasped the wall, deaf to Terra's panicked shouting. He gave a shake of the head, only to grimace when it made the static in his head worse. It passed after a moment, and a glance back over his shoulder at the statue showed him that the eyes appeared to have followed him and Terra to where they stood.
And they seemed far more alive than should be right for a statue.
When he blinked, the eyes were back to how they were when he and Terra had first entered the chamber.
Convinced he had imagined it, the king returned his focus to soothing the very concerned Terra, which took a few moments. Once he had her relaxed and they were on the move once more, Garon stole a glance back into the chamber as he closed the gate behind him, the last words from what had to be Gudrún echoing in his head.
Prepare for war.
Tori: Well, it's been a sleeping dog's age since I uploaded something here, now hasn't it?!
Sorry, life happened, school was brutal, and I just lost motivation. But I'm back, and I should (Hopefully) have the next chapter of duality done and sent to Magnus here soon! Apologies to those of you who have been waiting on that that!
But yes, this story is - quite clearly - going to be canon divergent. It will follow the third route, and I'm not gonna give away ALL the changes, since The Plot will begin next chapter! The first and most obvious one has already shown up in this chapter in the form of "Not a raging douchecanoe" Garon. And oh boy, I have plans to make things interesting ... and make the third route seem less out of left field.
Also more focus on the Dusk/Dawn dragons, since they weren't really touched on much at all despite their supposed importance. SO EXPECT A LOT OF LORE AND WORLDBUILDING TO COOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOME.
Speaking of which the lines at the end there are in google translated Scottish Gaelic. if you have a fluent grasp on the language and want to give me a (likely) less butchered version of what's being said, send me a PM and I'll send you the full translation!
Until Next tiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiime~