" Yeah, now that you mentioned it. Its like no matter what I did, somehow, I always knew you'd still keep me as your student." said Jake. " Exactly. And though you've tried my patience many times Young One, I will always be here for you." said Lao Shi. " So how did this bond start anyway?" asked Jake. Now that he was with his grandfather, he didn't feel like he was about to break into a million fragments. " You trusted me with your dragon side as soon as your mother filled you in on our side of the family, did you not?" asked Lao Shi. " I did. I figured, if anyone knew anything about it, it'd be you. Instinctively, I knew you were safe and would protect me from anything." said Jake. " That's what started the bond. The bottomless pool of trust you handed me, along with your heart. I gave you a bit of trust as well when I took you on as my student. I trusted that you would listen to me when it really counted and that no matter how angry you were with me, that you'd do what's right in the end. That trust grew as I trained you and my side of the almost dormant bond opened, allowing us to share bits and pieces of emotions." said Lao Shi.
" But this is crazy. When I was away from you, I felt like someone was stabbing me with knives and ripping me apart. A bond shouldn't do that, no matter how strong." said Jake. " True, but its like the natural connection us dragons all have with each other. When one of us gets hurt, others, even enemies, rise to defend the fallen ones. We have a similar, yet stronger connection. When either of us gets hurt, the other instantly gets a feeling like something's wrong, much like a mother's gut feeling with her child. When a dragon is separated from their teacher for long or even short periods of time and has a bond like we do, it often does feel very painful to be apart. The pain will dull if we're together. Since your now aware of the bond, the feelings are much stronger. And I fully trust you." said Lao Shi.
" You sound like the pain isn't going to stop just because we're together. You said we have a similar yet stronger connection. What did you mean?" asked Jake. " We have an instant bond because we're student and teacher, as well as the automatic one we have because I am your grandfather. Usually, the bond is a normal one, nothing special. We share emotions and can feel each others pain. But ours is unique because we have two immensely strong, yet separate ties to each other." said Lao Shi. " You sound almost like this is a common thing between students and their dragon masters." said Jake. " It is Young One. All students and dragon masters have a slight bond when they start out. Some lose the connection, some just ignore it. Sometimes the masters don't want the responsibility of looking after a pupil. For students and dragon masters who've already bonded, its like having your heart ripped out and shredded when the master snaps the bond without remorse. Students usually never recover and go insane. There are one or two that bounce back, but they never trust again." said Lao Shi.
" How could a master just cut their student off like that? That's bound to hurt them too. Right?" asked Jake. " Yes, if, they fully bond." said Lao Shi. " What do you mean, fully?" asked Jake. " In order to fully bond, we have to bite each other. Otherwise, the bond is only half there and one sided, as the student is the one with love for the master. Often, the master doesn't have love for their student." said Lao Shi. " Meaning what?" asked Jake. " Meaning, that the masters were just using their students as a way to get in good graces with the dragon council. And to take credit for their students accomplishments." said Lao Shi. " Can they do that?" asked Jake. " Yes, all they have to do is say is that they had to clean up their student's mess. The council never checks to see if the claims are true." said Lao Shi. " OK, that's just messed up." said Jake.
" Indeed Young One." said Lao Shi. They sat there quietly for a while as Jake digested what his grandfather told him. " So, the bond stays partial until we make it whole?" asked Jake. " Yes, but once we do, its there for life. If one of us parishes, the other will fallow in minutes. Not only that, but you'll be able to feel my emotions as if their an extension of your own. As if your in two bodies at once." said Lao Shi. " Wow. That's going to be weird." said Jake.