"All right my eager student, it's time for your first lesson!" Sisu proclaimed.
Jarek noticed the dragoness striking a proud tone and stance, holding herself with the utmost grace and dignity. It was humorous to a point, so much Jarek chuckled a little, but mostly just stared.
"Okay Sisu,"
"Uh uh! Ms. Datu!" Sisu corrected.
"Okay, Ms. Datu," Jarek accepted.
Pleased with the response, Sisu continued, "Thank you. Now our first lesson is a basic one. One that all dragons learn after they hatch," The dragoness struck a determined look.
"And what's that?" Jarek questioned.
"How to fly of course!" Sisu declared.
Jarek could only blink at her confusedly, recalling his previous attempt at flight, "Flying? Yeah I don't think that's a good idea, I'm sort of a "no-fly" guy, and well I'd rather not leave a mark on my face if you get what I mean. I mean I was rather good-looking as a man, and as a dragon I guess I am bout a six out of ten? But yeah-"
"Oh come on Skippy! Flying is dragon 101," Sisu urged.
"Nah I think I'm better as a ground dragon," Jarek refused.
Jarek wasn't budging, but Sisu wasn't one to give up so easily.
"Fine, I mean if you want those little dragons to show you up, and if you really like hearing old man Dunghi chewing your ear off, whereas if you flew, you could fly away from him," Sisu said slyly.
Two clear factors presented themselves: One was the concept of baby dragons flying circles around him, and the other was dealing with a cranky geriatric dragon with a false eye. At that point, the situation answered itself for Jarek.
"Okay...Ms. Datu you've made your point, let's fly!" Despite the exclamation in Jarek's voice, he still sounded unenthusiastic.
"Yay perfect!" Sisu cheered, but then quickly composed herself, "I mean...very good my student, let's begin shall we?"
"You know? You don't have to put on that professional voice for me," Said Jarek, "It doesn't quite suit you," Yet Sisu either didn't hear him or simply chose not to listen to him, "Okay never mind," Probably the latter.
"Now flying may seem easy, but there's a style to it, a certain...procedure," Sisu started, "You see, a dragon flies by grasping at the magic around them."
Jarek raised an eye," There's magic air?"
"Well maybe not magic, but life energy," Sisu clarified.
"Thought this was a flight lesson, not how the world works?" Jarek griped.
"I'm getting to that! Geeze Skippy, show some patience why don't ya?" Sisu chided.
Jarek said nothing more. Despite the idiocy of the situation, he knew it would be wise if he kept his mouth shut. After all, he knew better than to talk back to the most famous dragon in Kumandra. What would his young niece, a diehard Sisu fan think? Just thinking of Padi made him sad again, and within that moment he missed her. His niece was such a bundle of joy that would just brighten up his day whenever he felt down.
"You see, dragons are naturally connected to the land."
"I thought you dragons were associated with water."
"No interruptions, now basically we aren't so much as flying, but using the magic around us to move us forward," Sisu explained, "First off, we get a big leap into the air.
Demonstrating, Sisu leaped into the air, her claws making a climbing motion as she did. Platforms of light sparkled, each step illuminating it all the more. Before long, Sisu was in the air, floating flawlessly.
"And once you get the right momentum, flying is easy, now you try!" Sisu urged.
Jarek granted Sisu a look, one that questioned what she was talking about? She wasn't a stupid dragon, and he assumed she recalled his previous attempt at flying unless her memory was failing her?
"All right, let's see another embarrassing attempt by yours truly," Jarek pessimistically said.
"Stop being a downer and give it a try!" Sisu prodded.
Rolling his eyes and giving his neck a stretch, Jarek reached up into the air! And caught nothing. No platform of light, no anything. Only the feeling of his face meeting the ground.
Getting back up and dusting himself off, Jarek gave a solid groan. "See! I didn't work!" Jarek exclaimed.
"You aren't concentrating enough, try again!" Sisu continued to urge.
"You keep saying "try again" but I keep trying and guess what sister? It ain't happening!" Jarek growled.
Zipping down to the ground with grace, Sisu put a comforting claw upon Jarek's shoulder, "Come on Skippy, don't give up just yet," Jarek's expression told the dragoness he was getting to that point, "Let's try something else, close your eyes."
Not in the mood to argue further, Jarek did so.
"Tell me, what do you see?" Sisu asked.
"Darkness, emptiness, stupidity, just about sums up my life so far," Jarek answered.
"Well with an attitude like that, of course, that's what you see, but you need to start thinking like a dragon, not a person."
Eyes still closed, Jarek said, "Don't dragons count as people?"
"Let me rephrase that, you need to stop thinking like a human because you're a dragon now," Said Sisu, "And dragons, we see the world a little differently."
"Different how?"
"Just focus, just try to imagine something that's not there."
"How's that supposed to...you know fine!" Jarek relented.
And so Jarek focused even if he didn't exactly know what he was focusing on, "Okay, still see nothing."
"Just keep your eyes closed, try and sense what is around you," Sisu continued to instruct.
Jarek continued, but all he saw was darkness. He was just about to give up when suddenly he felt something. It wasn't as if he could physically see something, but he certainly sensed something around him. Instinctively, he raised a claw, pawing at the air, and then it came to a stop. No one had grabbed it or anything like that, but rather he felt he was standing on something.
"Skippy you did it!" Sisu cheered.
Jarek opened his eyes and they grew wide as he saw he was standing on a platform of light.
"Go on! Push yourself up there!" Sisu encouraged.
Jarek had seen Sisu flew before, so he followed her earlier example. Pushing himself, or rather climbing up, he propelled himself up into the air. Then Jarek moved his other claw and another platform caught it. He continued to do so until he was climbing the air. A small laugh escaped Jarek as he did. The more he got up there, the more he wanted to climb. Then when he felt ready to burst with energy, the platforms stopped appearing. Jarek looked downward, and he noticed something that brought his excitement to its peak: He was floating in the air.
"What...I'm-I'm flying?" Jarek spoke in disbelief, but it quickly dawned on him this was the reality of the situation, he was flying, "Yes! I'm flying!" He cheered, but his cheers fell as he felt the air around him rushing, and looking down he saw the ground growing steadily closer. Before long, he felt the impact of the ground.
"Skippy!" Sisu cried, rushing over towards her student, "You okay?"
Jarek let out a low groan as he slowly got to his feet, "I was fine before I ate the ground," He said spitting out a few strands of grass.
"Hey no sweat, at least you got into the air, that's progress!" Sisu said optimistically.
Spitting out even more grass, Jarek retorted with, "Yeah, I guess."
"Look, even if you didn't do it perfectly, it's still progress, we just have to keep practicing at it," Sisu said.
Jarek found it amazing how optimistic the dragoness could be. But then again, he supposed that's what made her Sisu.
"So I take it we're going to try again?" Jarek asked.
"That depends, do you want to?" Sisu likewise asked.
The answer wasn't hard for Jarek, "Yes."
"All right then! We'll take a few moments to rest and then we'll get right back to it!"
And after a few moments, Jarek indeed went back to it. And they continued for some time as the sun slowly started to set.
XXX
Pengu felt his eyes straining as he studied the tomes that filled the library. The temple they had built had been well stocked with all sorts of mementos of dragon kind, tales of glory, history, and an odd joke book or two. Anything related to their kind was stored here. Pengu often lost himself in books. Even when he was young he enjoyed reading. By all means, he was what one might consider a "nerd". Not that he was insecure about that. He wore that title proudly. After all, someone had to be the guiding light in their family. As the head of the said family, he needed to be so.
"Still reading Pengu?"
Pengu did not stray from his book, remaining focused upon it, "You know me Amba."
A soft-hearted chuckle peppered out of his younger sister, "So what are you reading?"
"Old legends, no, history," Pengu answered.
"Anything in particular?" Amba asked.
Pengu flipped a page, "Just about our history."
"I thought we knew our history?" Amba said with a tone of confusion.
Pengu flipped through another page of the book he was reading, "Apparently not all of it."
Amba had seen this look before on her brother, and whenever he had it, he was engrossed in whatever he was doing, or reading.
"Well anyway, I just wanted to let you know Sisu took Jarek out for some lessons," Amba said, hoping to spur her brother from his book.
Pengu halted momentarily, "So she's truly serious about that?"
"You know Sisu when she sets her mind on something she goes for it," Amba noted.
Indeed their sister had been that way since they were children. It was admirable, though he wondered about Jarek.
"Amba? The river that Sisu found Jarek?" Pengu beckoned.
"Hmm? What about it?"
"It flows from Heart correct?"
"Yeah, I think it does, why?"
Pengu closed the book he was reading at last, "Oh nothing, just making conversation."
"My big brother tears away from his precious books to make conversation? Will wonders never cease?" Amba joked.
Cracking a smile, Pengu followed after his sister, stretching his legs from the amount of sitting he was doing. As he walked away, the title on the book lay clear: "Artifacts of Dragon Legend."
XXX
Jarek let out a low groan as he felt the bruises upon his body.
"Hey no worries Skippy, you're getting better and it's only your first day!" Sisu exclaimed, ever the optimist.
"Gee thanks," Jarek groaned again, then was interrupted as he heard the sound of his stomach grumbling.
"Worked up an appetite, well I'm sure Pranee's been baking away, so you'll definitely get your calorie intake."
Extra calories sounded good to Jarek right about now. At this point, he didn't care what he ate, even if it was burnt. So long as it was edible, he would eat it. Even if it was burnt.
Jarek's trek through the dragon town was somewhat slow as he was injured, nothing that would require hospitalization (if dragons did have hospitals), but nothing but a good night's sleep would fix. As soon as they made it to the dwelling of the Datu, a curious smell reached Jarek's nostrils.
"What...what is that smell?" Jarek asked in bewilderment.
He rushed inside, which spurred Sisu, "Hey Skippy slow down! You're injured!"
Jarek came to a skidding halt and what he saw nearly made his eyes bulge out of his head. There laying before him was a plate, no, several plates of baked goods. There was enough to feed a whole group. And standing before them was a very tired-looking Pranee.
"Oh...you're both back, just in time," Pranee breathed, "I practically spent the whole day baking.
Sisu gaped at the feast before them, "Geeze sis what were you doing, baking for an army?"
"I took your advice from last time, made certain to time it just right, and maybe I had to go to other people's houses and borrow their ovens too, but I think it was worth it!" The indigo dragoness pat herself on the back. And judging from how heavily she was breathing, she had practically killed herself to make this meal perfect.
"Wow...okay," Sisu sighed.
Though this wasn't anything unusual for Sisu, for she knew her sister well, what shocked her was Jarek's expression. The black dragon held a wide-eyed look upon his face. His eyes were even wider than they were earlier, and a trail of drool was leaking out of his mouth.
It would seem Jarek's sweet tooth had been piqued, and now it was going into overtime.
"Uh, Skippy?" Sisu cautiously asked.
Jarek said nothing, but dove into the food and began shoveling whatever he could inside. Both Pranee and Sisu watch with a mixture of shock and awe. Yes, it would seem Jarek's sweet tooth was going into overdrive. Major overdrive.