Thank you for the reviews and follows everyone, glad to see you are enjoying the continuation. Hopefully this chapter continues that feeling.
Ch 2 How to Change
Lapis stared down at her newly hatched children who were scrambling around her small nest wrestling with each other. They were beautiful, all in their own colors but similar in features. A sob choked her as it threatened to escape and tears burned her eyes, she turned away slightly to try and control herself before they fell. Thorin should've been here to witness this, to see his children born and grow. She should look for his remains, perhaps bury him as his people were so inclined to do with their dead. From her peripheral vision, Lapis saw Smaug inch closer to the three newborns with narrowed eyes. Still a dragon, she placed herself before his nose and in front of her nest; there was no way he was going to hurt her babies.
He looked down at the smaller dragon, amused she was trying to stand up to him again. Although it was instinct for animals to protect their young, she had been unsuccessful in all her attacks thus far. "I'm not going to eat them, I simply wish to inspect them." Her guard didn't lower much so Smaug twisted his neck around her, ignoring the bite she tried to inflict on him.
One of the children tumbled over the edge and slid down the pile of gold, squealing in delight and slopped when she hit the ridged edge of Smaug nose. Lapis watched as a small amount of smoke left his nostrils as Smaug breathed in her second hatchling. His hide was too thick for her to inflict pain, as she had tried on numerous occasions, and she stood by, poised to jump if he tried anything. However, she became frozen in surprise when her child giggled and jumped onto the red dragon and Smaug remained still.
"When are they going to become dragons like you did?"
She was hesitant to tell Smaug anything of her history, she didn't know what he would do nor how she came about really. "I shifted the day I was hatched."
"How?"
Somehow, her baby had remained clinging to Smaug's snout as he talked, giggling at the vibrations. "I don't know, I just did. I remained a dragon for many years afterwards."
"Hmmm." His head rose and Smaug shook off the child and she landed back into the center of the nest with the other two. "Either figure out how or I suggest changing back to a woman. I promise not to eat you." With those parting words, he slithered back into the mountain of treasure and buried himself again, only the tip of his tail and an eye visible to her.
Lapis stared at his hidden form, waiting for Smaug to move or do something else. When nothing happened after some minutes, she returned her attention to her three babies. She was going to have to name them, another task Thorin should have been involved with; but he had given her a name he liked and was for a boy or girl. Tarin. It meant from the earth, something preciously connected to the dwarf's origin as Lapis had learn in a lesson form Frerin. Thorin insisted it also meant beacon or light. Glancing back at the hidden dragon, she knew he was right. She had to show her babies they could change, it might mean their survival as it had her own. Within a few seconds, her body shrank and shimmered, reappearing as a human in the same shape as before she was pregnant. Lapis climbed up the pile and when she rose above the edge of the nest, all three turned to her and crowed in excitement. They knew who she was immediately, and Lapis fell into the center with her babies climbing all over her.
Days turned into weeks and her three children continued to grow as humans. Lapis had finalized their names in the first week, going through books she had read to find ones she thought would suit her babies. The boy, though being first born, wasn't given the name Thorin had chosen, to Lapis it didn't suit him. Instead, she named him Keahi, meaning fire or flames, after his red hair and gold eyes. Her second born was given the name Tarin after answering to it when Lapis said it out loud. The youngest was named Meio, meaning water, since her hair and eyes were blue as the river and sky outside. They were smart, realizing their names quickly and responded to them in turn, when they wanted. Lapis hunted for them when they slept, quickly finding fish or a wild animal closer to the forest to take back to her nest. While they hadn't shifted, their teeth and fingers could sharpen to eat whatever animal she brought back.
Smaug peeked out an eye the first time she brought back nourishment for her offspring and watched as they ate, disappearing once again into the gold when they didn't change. For all intents and purposed, he seemed to ignore them, but Lapis knew better. It was instinct, she could tell he knew what was going on at all times in the mountain he had taken over. What surprised her was he let Lapis and her babies live, the literature she had read in Dale always stated that dragons coveted gold with a fierce and dark desire. A sensation she had never felt, other than the inkling to collect certain gems and trinkets. The only jewels she coveted was the jewelry Thorin had given her and in the first week after her babies hatched, she had returned to his rooms to gather what she could and bring it back to her new nest. Lapis had the feeling it would anger Smaug greatly if she moved her nest towards the top of the mountain where he couldn't see her.
Everyday now, Lapis wore her head piece, necklace, and the silver clasp holding back part of her hair. She found that when she shifted into a dragon, they melded into her form and created a new design of scales, immensely pleasing her. After weeks of her three hatchlings not shifting, Lapis had decided maybe they needed to see her do it more often. They didn't speak, not that she expected them too, but they seemed to understand her when she talked, whether human or dragon. Every day, for almost a week, Lapis would sit them in front of her and change forms at least twice a day, so they could see and understand. It wasn't until Smaug decided to stir and involve himself did a result show.
It was a midsummer day and Lapis had just shifted back to human, frustrated with herself that there were still no results in her children's forms. Beneath her feet, the ground seemed to rumble and Lapis looked over to see Smaug emerging partway from under his hoard, his great neck snaking towards her babies. Fright overtook her and the only thought in Lapis's head was that the other dragon had finally had enough and decided it was time to eat them. She heard the intake of air but wasn't quick enough. The three had gotten excited at seeing Smaug again and Lapis was only able to grab her daughters, watching as Keahi ran to the huge, crimson snout that opened and released a jet of flames over him. Lapis screamed, covering Tarin and Meio with her body, scales sprouting over her skin to protect her from the flames. What was confusing however, was the lack of noise from her son. She looked up and instead of a little boy, there was a red and gold baby dragon rolling in the flames surrounding him.
To say she was stunned was an understatement. "What…how…did you know…?" Lapis couldn't form a complete sentence through her surprise.
Smaug stopped spraying flames at the dragon the size of his one talon and retreated back under the gold, leaving his head out. "It is a matter of circumstance, figure out the other two before I get annoyed again."
Lapis blinked at Smaug. That was his reasoning? He had gotten annoyed with her failures? She looked down at Keahi again and was surprised once again, her two daughters had abandoned her for their brother and were making little chirping noises at him. The idea wasn't wrong though, she had been scared into changed the day she had been born, this was just a different approach. Kneeling next to Keahi, she picked him up and laughed when his tail wrapped around her arm and neck around her shoulders. Perhaps this meant he was a firebreather like their unappointed and hidden guardian. Lapis turned a thoughtful eye to Meio, if they had powers after their namesakes, then her youngest might change in water. There was that large pool Thorin had brought her to long ago when Frerin had discovered her.
She set her son down, "Come. Let's go play." Her children chirped in excitement and chased after one another as Lapis led the way to the bathing hall. She could smell the water, thankfully since she didn't really know the way there.
Upon reaching the hall, Lapis picked up Meio as she made to run by and carried her to the water. Lapis was struck with indecision in that moment, should she toss her daughter into the water or swim with her? If it was a circumstantial change, then the greater the shock would provide the shift. She could only hope. Reaching the water's edge, Lapis hugged her squirming daughter.
"I believe in you."
With those words, Lapis threw Meio into the air and watched as she landed far into the pool, a large splash reaching her at the bank. Worried cries filled the air as Keahi and Tarin ran back and forth in the ankle-deep water, not understanding what had happened to their sister. The few seconds seemed like days to Lapis as she watched the rippling water, waiting for the surface to break again. Not able to wait anymore, she started to run into the water, intending to shift, when a little blue dragon head popped above the water. Lapis nearly cried with relief and called out to her youngest who swam over to her and curled around her as Keahi had before. It had caused her heart so much pain to perform such an action, but the outcome was undeniable. Now only Tarin had to learn and Lapis had no idea how to help her other daughter.
Wading back to the bank, Lapis set Meio down and watched as she and Keahi chased each other in circles, smiling when Tarin joined. Sitting on the ground, she watched her children play together, chirping and tiny roars filling the air. Soon, Keahi and Meio stopped and circled their bodies around Tarin, nudging and chirping at her. Lapis watched as concentration marred her baby face, lines forming on her forehead as her small fists clenched. Tarin was trying to shift and Lapis could only assume the chirping was their form of communication, encouraging her to turn into a dragon like them. It didn't work and frustrated tears leaked at the corner of her gold eyes as her siblings squeezed tighter around her, Lapis watching all the while. She knew eventually it would happen, but not sure of the means.
It took another few days of play and encouragement for Tarin to shift. They were chasing each other through the piles of gold, Keahi and Meio as dragons, and Tarin had dove into a pile of jewels to hide. When her siblings started attacking the pile, viciously digging through the treasure to find her, Tarin popped out with a growl, her black and white body a blur as she tackled her brother. Lapis couldn't have been happier in that moment, even when she noticed Smaug had an eye on them, she steadfastly ignored him. Her babies had more of a lead against someone who would harm them now.
One day, while they were sleeping, Lapis took advantage of her alone time to try and find Thorin in the piles of dead dwarves. A portion of them were rotted or burnt, but Lapis knew what to look for and began her search. It was another few weeks until Smaug spoke again while she was peering into a room where dwarves were piled up, like they were trying to escape through somewhere in here.
"You haven't found him, have you?"
Lapis ignore him and tried to smell Thorin's scent through the musky air and the smell of death.
"It would reason, little one, that he isn't here."
"Did you eat him perhaps?" Lapis shot back, closing the door to leave the dead dwarves in peace.
A dark chuckle filled the halls, "Dwarves are taste terrible, no, I didn't eat any."
"He wouldn't leave me." The statement was insistent and sounded weak to Smaug.
"How do you know? How long did you know him? If he were alive, and your mate as you have claimed, wouldn't he have come back for you?"
Tears itched her eyes and Lapis blinked them away as she looked at her three sleeping baby dragons. They preferred this shape right now, more fun to play on four legs with wings than just two legs. "He wouldn't have left us behind. Maybe he was hurt."
"Dwarves only care about themselves, the same goes for most creatures. Had he wanted to, he would've found his way back here regardless my presence."
"He didn't leave me."
Her words were small and Smaug closed his eyes again. There was nothing more to be said in that moment, there was enough doubt.
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