Nobility was a game of who had the best purchases in a sense, whose wealth really shown, and it became a race where everything just dragged on, like a leg being drug behind a runner, useless and weighing everything down. And Kiki was bored with the schematics of it.
And yet, there was a perk sometimes to the rules and the showing off, because her father wasn't all about strutting wealth for the world to see and ignoring the practicalities of everything. Instead, he thought things through and their newest pet came right from the people who knew how to raise them.
There would be no burnt down mansion, no destroyed town, but rather a more practical approach. And Kiki was to stand with her father and welcome their pet dragon as her father officially paid the man who would also stay on staff to help teach them how to care for a dragon, without leading to a national catastrophe.
And Kiki didn't know what she expected from meeting someone who raised dragons, tamed wild ones, and trained them without merely just domesticating them. He stood fairly tall, and had hair a shade of green that felt as exotic as the dragon that he had leashed up and beside him.
The dragon was huge, with dark scales that ran up and down its frame like an alligators, and the man beside him just smiled, perfectly calm and content. Kiki saw confidence within his calm; he knew what to do and how to handle the situation, and there was a level of trust between him and the dragon somehow that kept them all safe.
The situation was well controlled even with the ease of his smile and his good cheer.
"He's Rorough." Was the explanation that the man gave.
"Rorough?" Count Seiran asked with a level of confusion that matched the situation perfectly.
"Like ra-rogue, sort of." The dragon trainer answered, "That's his name."
"You already named him?" Count Seiran asked, a bit surprised.
"We have to call him something." He answered, "And besides, he's somewhat of a teenager in dragon age. See his size? He'll get much bigger."
"Much bigger?" And for a moment, Count Seiran really was questioning his decision to take in a dragon.
"Yeah." He smiled back at him, "He's partially rider trained, still takes time getting used to people on his back. But if I teach you how and you take time to get to know him, he'll warm right up to you."
"Alright, sounds good." Count Seiran's eyes remained fixed on the dragon that clearly was going to get much bigger and grow older too.
The trainer's name was Mitsuhide as Kiki would come to find out, and he'd grown up around dragons his whole life, out in the woods where he's from. He's been getting close to them for as long as he can walk, and he could tell you the age of a dragon just by looking at it.
And right now, he's brushing the dragon, just like the stablemen brush the horses, and Kiki's a little lost as to what to say or do.
"Do you want to try?" Mitsuhide asks and when she looks over, he's smiling back at her. He doesn't seem like he's the time to consider noble rank, and Kiki doesn't really mind. It's hard to approach a dragon and not just be awed. She's still trying to figure out what it means to own a dragon, to have one as a pet.
No words really seem to do it justice, and she kind of wants to learn to ride. A noblewoman riding a dragon is extremely unheard of however.
"It's not that different than having a horse, is it?" She asks, and Mitsuhide blinks in surprise.
"It's very different. No two animals are the same. I've never raised a horse." Mitsuhide explains, as he pets Rorough's head, and Kiki once again marvels at how close the two of them are.
"Would I be able to learn to ride?" Kiki asks, though she can ride a horse, and has no issues fighting, just she's not quite sure about the culture of dragon tamers.
"Oh, yeah." Mitsuhide answers, perfectly relaxed, "There's a lot of women riders back home."
And Kiki looks back, just a tad surprised, and tries to envision whatever the place he's from is like.
"There are?" Kiki asks just in case.
"Yeah, pretty much everyone raises dragons, though it's a bit of a family business. It's not normal for us to come out and teach others how. So, it's an honor and a challenge to be here." Mitsuhide's smiling, and Kiki marvels at how happy he is to be here, though he sleeps and is treated like one of the stableboys on hand.
"You seem to be really good at this." Kiki tells him honestly, and pauses from brushing the dragon. A noblewoman is less likely to help out a stablehand with a horse, let alone approach a dragon and groom it.
But with Mitsuhide here it just feels comfortable to be away from what is expected of her or might not be expected of her.
"I'm used to him and to dragons." Mitsuhide brushes the compliment off, and Kiki is left wondering about how easily he seems to view himself and others, maybe not perfectly, but comfortably.
He's genuinely humble, and it puts a knot in her throat. She isn't anywhere near as humble as he is, especially as she stands here, comparing ranks and statuses and wealth, though the more she's around Rorough, the more she wishes she could have lived as Mitsuhide's lived.
"So, will you train me to ride?" She asks, turning towards him and handing the brush back; it's easier to change the topic than to keep it flowing towards another dead end.
"After you get to know Rorough a bit more, yeah." Mitsuhide tells her, and hope bubbles up in her chest, "Let him get used to you first."
And with that, a new beginning was being carved out, and Kiki would one day become the noblewoman who "tamed" dragons and was a force to be reckoned with on and off the battlefield, but right now, she's a young woman hopeful for the future and curious about the present.