Dragon Child by Kirkmenistan
Chapter 7 - Teacher by Kirkmenistan
Author's Notes:
Updates!!!
x 2!
-Nine months later-
Jet was exhausted.
He was currently standing on top of a cliff with his teacher. His leg's ached, his wings felt like they would fall of his back and land on the ground as limp as the meat that lay before him. As he feasted upon the meat as his teacher talked to him.
q73; Now Jet, since you have achieved a good understanding of our language, I can teach you of the draconian histories. Never before has one as young as yourself been exposed to these stories D
q73; Why Teacher? D
q73; Because it usually takes some time for young dragons to achieve your level of control and intellect. Normally it can take a dragon twenty, sometimes thirty winters to achieve self awareness like yours. Look at them, arguing and squabbling over their food, dividing it up according to their power. We have risen above that. We know that sometimes fighting is not always the best option. Giving dragons portions according to their needs rather than their abilities. For example you would receive a fairly small share of the meat if you attempted to eat in the usual style rather than your unique method. We know that you need a certain amount to survive, without gluttony. D
q73; It is rather useless, all of them fighting down there. I remember questioning their sanity as they destroyed each other. But there are things that are worth fighting for. D
q73; Really? What is worth fighting for? A mate? Hunting grounds? Power? D
q73; Freedom. Freedom is worth fighting for. We are creatures of the sky, the land and the sea. We do not deserve to be contained by these weak humans. They have no right. D Jet explained passionately.
q73; Power gave them the right. That, and our lack of action against them. D
q73; Our lack of action? Or that of our leaders? Your brother for example has been the leader of the clan for some time, he is one of the oldest dragons that exist. Does this mean that he is the most powerful? No, and In all my years I have never seen such a poor example of a dragon. He is weak and helpless. D
q73; He may be, but those who follow him are not. Remember the females? They are the strongest of us who were given the honour of siring his young. His power is not based upon his own flesh and bone, but upon the support of others. D
q73; That makes him weak. You say that depending on others isn't a weakness, and I'll admit I've seen the benefits if you find a strong dragon to watch your back, but personal strength is even more important. What are the wings without a strong guide, what are the teeth without strong muscles, and what good is numbers without a strong leader to reign them in? Weakness cannot be allowed to exist within the leader. D
q73; Hush! You shall not speak as such against my brother D
q73; Why? D
q73; Because he is the strongest and any word against him is an insult and a threat. He will punish you!. D
q73; Ha! You could crush his skull under your foot. He can hardly walk without the aid of his fire, let alone fly. He hides in his underwater fortress to escape the wrath of those who would seek to usurp his authority. D
q73; His fire? D
q73; Yes, the inner fire. The strength that allows dragons to fly. Why do you think I have such large wings? Because they look good? These were grown by the fire to save its usage. Allowing it to focus on rock melting. D
q73; Ahh yes. Your rock melting trick. I was surprised to see you doing that when I took you away. D
q73; Of course I can do it, I've been doing it for two years… Can't all dragons? D
q73; Only the oldest of the lost ones can. Only those who have seen at least fifteen winters can start to melt rocks, let alone make any decent sized cave. D
q73; But I have only seen five winters and I have made my own caves in the past. D
q73; Exactly. That is why I am worried. It would be bad for your… fire did you call it? To be stunted by your over usage. Show me your past work, perhaps we could improve on your technique. D
q73; Very well, follow me Teacher. D
Even though Jet had been worked hard this day, and even though the Teacher was starting to see things that defied the rules that he had created to organise his world. Such rules as that it was impossible for a dragon to fly so high as he could just breathe in the thin air. Dive so fast as they destroyed the world around them with a loud boom. He watched in amazement as Jet flew with his cumbersome wings. In the air, or in the sea, he was amazing to watch. Flying faster than any that he had seen before. They landed at the sight of their first proper meeting. The cold river of rock showed the place that he had emerged from.
q73; And you did all of that in just one day…Winter will be upon us again soon. We shall create our homes within this rock. Whoever survives with the least weight loss shall be the successor. D
q73; Very well. Can we store food, or should we only survive on the fat of our bodies? D
q73; Yes we can store food, but you cannot use any existing caves. D
q73; The thought! To cheat would be a strike against our honour. D
The elder did not honestly expect the young one to create a decent home in any decent period of time. He had been pushing the young dragon to his limits. Reaching a few of his own in the process. He could hardly breath rock melting fire for a few minutes at a time now, he was exhausted. But he continued to test the young dragon, as it was his duty as a teacher to do so.
q73; Right Jet, commence the construction of your cave, I shall do the same. D
Jet looked up at the rock face, searching for a good spot for him to use. He wanted to use a ledge again, the extra protection that it gave him and that feeing of safety from being above the ground.
THERE! A decent sized ledge. Jet jumped up, secured himself to the rock face, climbing up to the ledge. Once he was secure, he commenced heated the rock and scooping clawfulls of the stuff onto the edge of the ledge. He made good progress, reaching about where he wanted the cavern to be that day. He remembered to make the tunnel wider than usual to allow for growth. He didn't want a repeat of last year. He knew that he grew a lot over winter, it was just one of those things that he'd need to account for. Account for better, that is.
The elder watched in fascination as his student commenced production of his den. Exiting every now and then to dump the molten rock on the ledge. It was a cunning plan, creating a cover to the entrance by using the excavated rock.
The elder however was going for a more traditional approach. He started by finding a fault line in the rock, then heating the edges. The rocks fell in flakes as they heated and expanded. Eventually after the day, the elder had produced a large entrance, big enough for him to lie down in. He took shelter there that night. The scree that had fallen off was very comfortable, conforming to his shape very well.
xxXxx
The next day arrived to see Jet once again at work. The elder was exhausted from the building yesterday. For a normal dragon it would take weeks to produce a shelter the size required for the Elder. But Jet was not a normal dragon. He was a wizard dragon. The elder chuckled in his sleep. THAT was going to be an interesting conversation. Jet's sleeping area was starting to take shape; he could just about turn around inside now. His work continued until about noon. It was time to eat, and he was hungry! He left his home for now, finding the Elder still sleeping at the entrance to his cave. He was getting old. The Elder knew it, Jet was starting to. He remembered the talk they had yesterday, about how those who were found shared their food, not minding for only themselves, but for others now heeded their help.
xxXxx
The elder groaned. He hated building caves. He smelled smoke. Jet was already up and running. Probably ate lunch too, damn. He hated missing lunch.
The elder moved out of his shelter, only to smell meat. Meat that was close by.
He looked around for the delicious smell. There, next to his cave, a few meters above the ground on a new ledge was his lunch. It was warm too, an unintended yet welcome side effect of using a fresh ledge. The elder munched gratefully on his meal as he eyed Jet's home. It was shaping up well, too well.
It's outside had a good sense of camouflage. He had obviously gone to the trouble to shape the outside of the entrance with a little more skill rather than the haphazard slap of rock yesterday. The ledge had apparently disappeared, only a bulge of rock remained. And a hole just big enough for Jet to enter was visible. Of course having smoke pouring from this hole did make it a bit easier to spot. He decided to find out how his student was doing.
He raised his head and peaked inside. All he could see was black smoke, with hints of light some distance inside.
Whatever he was doing, it was ambitious.
The elder returned to his shelter. It would have to be deep, very deep. It would be another cold winter.
Xxx
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