Based on characters from Fablehaven© by Brandon Mull. The original characters and plot details are my property. No copyright infringement intended.
Bracken went to talk to Celebrant at Wyrmroost. He had three reasons for visiting Raxtus' father. One was to talk about Raxtus and get his approval to change his son if it were possible. The second was to assist in the verification of the spell and availability of necessary spell components. Lastly, but very important to him, was to restore a Fairy Queen's shrine at the sanctuary.
Part of his current 'job' was to help his mother re-establish shrines linking the sanctuaries of the world to the Queen's new realm. She had destroyed all the shrines that linked to her old realm and one by one he was repairing the damage and establishing new links to the Queen. The neglected shrine at Wyrmroost had never been a very active one but it had been Raxtus' link to the sanctuary and an aid to others in time of need.
Bracken was amazed that the key to enter the Dragon sanctuary was still a unicorn horn. Although a distractor spell protected the sanctuary that worked on most people and creatures Bracken had no problems getting in to the sanctuary and the keep.
His unexpected arrival, duly noted by watchers as soon as he entered the sanctuary gate, prompted all manner of runners and flyers with the news to the keep. Several expatriates from his mother's realm anxious to see the Fairy Prince met him at the entrance of the keep to tell him he could see Celebrant.
A Minotaur took the role as guide and led him to a small library where he waited. Celebrant, in his human form, greeted him a few minutes later and Bracken explained his reasons for being there.
"I should have known that Raxtus would get you involved in this," Celebrant shook his head wearily and sat in an uncomfortable looking stone chair.
"Yes, he thought that my mother could shed some light on the origin of the spell and if it is a feasible choice for Raxtus. I think that she may be able to if we could take a look at it," Bracken replied.
"He is too enthusiastic about this course of action. I am concerned about what it might do to him. I also know if we could complete the spell that it could make Raxtus more dragon-like and less..." Celebrant looked up at Bracken apologetically. "I don't know what his avatar looks like but I will take his word that it isn't a seemly avatar for a dragon," he replied like an exasperated parent.
"That's his opinion, of course. My concern is making sure it is a real spell, the ingredients are available and that it could be carried out without endangering him," Bracken replied, trying to be as analytical as possible.
"Certainly, you and your mother may examine the scroll but you may only view it here. I can't allow it to leave Blackwell again," Celebrant agreed, shifting his weight in the chair.
"While I am here may I also reestablish the Fairy Shrine here at Wyrmroost? It would allow my mother access to the sanctuary without all the extra formalities. You also know how well her shrines are guarded," Bracken continued his analytical tone.
"Yes of course, it was never a problem for us and I know the fairies and their ilk would like to return home occasionally. Please go ahead," Celebrant conceded. He stood and inelegantly rubbed his cold damp backside, looking down disgustedly at the stone chair, the cause of his discomfort.
"Thank you. Mother and I will return when the shrine is completed," Bracken said gratified that he had gotten the concessions from Celebrant.
"Goodbye, Prince Bracken," Celebrant dismissed him and then left the room grumbling about the human body's physical inadequacies.
Bracken made the potentially dangerous trip out to the old shrine unscathed. The fairies still at the dragon sanctuary passed the word quickly that he was there and they came to greet him at the ruined shrine. With his encouragement, their help made his job much easier. In hours instead of days they had repaired the shrine and linked back to his mother's realm.
Bracken found his mother, sitting with his father. He thought he was looking better every day though his weakness still confined him to a bed. After appropriate greetings and bonding, Bracken got to his reason for the visit.
"Mother, I got Celebrant to agree to let us look at the spell Raxtus is excited about."
"Very well," she sighed. "Ah! Bracken, I am glad you were able to reestablish my link to Wyrmroost." She brightened as she felt the renewed link.
"Glad to be of service," he replied smiling.
The next day Bracken and his mother entered Wyrmroost through the repaired portal and visited Celebrant and the scroll. Celebrant greeted them again in his human form. He took them to the small room where he kept the scroll safely guarded.
"My, it is very old," she said as she looked at the vellum. "See, here – he calls it his reShape spell." She pointed to something on the scroll.
Celebrant grumbled and left the room.
"Is it real?" Bracken asked, looking over her shoulder.
"It is his mark," she confirmed. "I remember that he needed this particular entity." She tapped the name on the sheet. "Yes, this is the real thing and I don't see anything about it that would harm Raxtus if the spell failed, since he hasn't renounced his dragon form."
"Are all of the strange components required to invoke the spell available?" Bracken asked his mother.
They went over the spell one component at a time and she confirmed that they still existed.
"Oh, look at this Bracken," she said excitedly, "a wizard is not required to perform the incantation. You and Kendra can do this alone. That makes the whole thing easier," she whispered, even though she knew no one would over hear them, her privacy shield was stronger than his.
This played nicely into Bracken's plan to cast one spell before the other.
"I only have one concern dear," his mother whispered again staring at the scroll. "Once you remove his fairy magic. On the rare chance the spell is ineffective; Raxtus may not have the ability to invoke his old avatar. There is a possibility that he may have no avatar at all."
"I will tell him but I am fairly certain that he will be willing to take the chance," Bracken replied. He was glad she had told him her concern, he had been wondering what might be the possibilities if things didn't work out.
Bracken escorted his mother back to the shrine and went back to Blackwell Keep to talk to Celebrant.
"Mother confirmed that the reShape spell will work or at the very least not harm him. Raxtus will lose all of his fairy magic as a result of the spell and the lack will frighten him. He was actually changed to accept the foreign magic and it has been with him all his life," he said.
"That is unimportant. I should have never allowed him to remain in such an unnatural state. I only have myself to blame, I should have searched for a spell such as this one." He said mildly regretful. "Nevertheless, he will do well enough without it. He will have a guide to help him recover his dragon powers after the spell is performed and he rests," Celebrant replied confidently.
"The spell states that he will have to 'cessate' afterward?" Bracken added not having a clue what that meant. He knew cessation meant to stop but he didn't know what that meant to dragons.
"Yes, it may take a while for him to recover," Celebrant nodded but Bracken noticed a worried look cross his face but he made no other comment on the subject.
Bracken then assumed that it meant Raxtus would rest. He didn't want to ask for clarification or to seem like he was prying. He knew better than to irritate a dragon.
"Is that all?" Celebrant asked wanting to end the conversation.
"Yes, we will let you know when everything is set up," Bracken answered getting the feeling he was being dismissed, again.
"Good, thank you," Celebrant replied as he turned away.
With Celebrant's approval and the Queen's assurances that the spell was workable Bracken went to recruit Kendra.
"We have a chance of restoring Raxtus to full dragon status. He can get his human avatar and be able to develop his dragon powers. He can get his breath weapons and use dragon magic to cast spells," Bracken announced to Kendra in the privacy warded space of her room. Although his shield kept them from being overheard he felt safer talking to her in her doubly warded room. He didn't want anyone to be able to hear what he was telling her.
"Wow, that's wonderful," she said and smiled at him. She was very glad to hear the news.
"But…" Bracken smiled but his eyes looked serious behind the smile.
"What?" she said suspiciously.
"I need your help to pull it off," he said, the seriousness of the situation came out in his voice.
"Me?" she asked surprised.
"Yes, you. Without you there will be no human avatar or dragon magic for Raxtus."
"Me? How can I keep him from…" she trailed off, her forehead wrinkled at her confusion.
"Not keep it from him, give it to him. You can let his dragon magic in by releasing the fairy magic. You are the Queen's only handmaiden and you are the only one who can do it," he said fervently.
"Me? Oh Bracken, I don't know what to do," she said, shook her head and immediately worried. Her status as fairykind was a constant concern for her. She was afraid she would do something wrong or be asked to do something she wasn't comfortable doing. This was one time she felt the sting of acute discomfort.
"You don't have to know what to do. I will be there too. We have to do this together; me, my horns, and you. We can make this happen for Raxtus," he said encouragingly.
"I don't have to do anything gross or hurt him?"
"I don't think it will hurt and I know it's not gross. No live sacrifices or anything," he laughed.
"Good," she sighed. "I'll help if it will make Raxtus a real dragon," she smiled.
Kendra waited in the moonlight at the edge of the lake across from the island of Fairy Queen's shrine. Raxtus was supposed to be coming. She had commanded all the fairies away while she talked to Raxtus. She didn't want to be overheard so she told them to keep everyone and anything away also.
Raxtus had been told the spell on the scroll would work and that if he wanted to take the chance it was all right. Celebrant would allow it to be used this once. His father also told him that she and Bracken were willing to perform the spell. She was there to update him and fill in the particulars as they knew them now.
Kendra saw an undulating silver ribbon as the dragon shot out of the pond on the island. His silver wings unfurled as he continued his dive into the sky. Water drops cascading from his platinum scaled body glittered like falling silver in the moonlight. The dragon spiraled upward an icy blue figure in the moonlit night sky.
Kendra heard his joyous laughter as he pirouetted gracefully, the water flying from his scales as he glided toward her. She knew he was excited about the news. She was too but she was also nervous. Raxtus glided to land only a few feet from her. He wasn't big for a dragon but he was still big.
"Hi Raxtus! How is training going?" Kendra decided to ignore her doubts and just enjoy her friend; she hadn't seen him in over a month. Raxtus had been in training for three years and still hadn't developed a single breath weapon.
"Hi Kendra. It's going great! Dad is happy, well at least he's not too embarrassed by my progress. He is impressed with my maneuverability and my stealth," he said, his big toothy grin was a bit intimidating but his eyes sparkled happily, "and I've learned a few new tricks."
"I guess you can't get much stealthier than invisible," she laughed.
"Yah! I guess so." He replied his mood changing. "When do we do this thing?" Raxtus asked impatiently.
"On a solstice so we have to wait until summer." She saw the disappointment in Raxtus' eyes.
"That long?" he whined.
"You have put up with it for a long time what does a few weeks matter now? Besides we need the time, there is something we actually have to make to get it to work," she said trying to soothe his disappointment.
"You're not sure it will work?" he asked surprised and unhappy.
"Oh, it'll work or they wouldn't let us try. You know exactly what that means."
Kendra knew Raxtus wanted some part of himself to be normal. He would never be a 'normal' dragon; there was nothing he could do about that. He was small almost miniature compared to other dragons, and it embarrassed him even if he was strong, fast and deadly with his teeth and claws. If he could get his avatar to be normal it would give him some peace of mind. Knowing this was enough for Kendra to hope the spell worked and to be happy for her friend.
"Yes I know what that means. If it doesn't work, at least it won't hurt me. Arrrgh! I wish they knew what it was like," Raxtus growled at the moon.
"What do you mean?" she asked.
"That they could feel what it was like to be a universal freak. Then maybe they would know why I want this even if it would hurt me," he said resentfully.
"You are not a universal freak. You are my friend," she told him. "If you were a normal dragon I would be terrified of you - do you want that?" she asked him cynically.
"No of course not but… Grraaahh! I don't know. It's so frustrating. I love parts of my life and hate others."
"I think we all feel that way Raxtus. We all have good parts and bad parts in our lives... So have you thought about what you will look like?" Kendra asked curiously.
"I have thought of nothing else. I can't get a grip on what I really want except to be normal. What do you think I should do?" he asked, wondering what she thought he should look like.
"Why not just become a human that looks like your fairy avatar?" she asked.
"The few fairies that have seen it say I'm cute and giggle at me," Raxtus said angrily.
"Well there you go, that sounds good," Kendra said cheerfully. She remembered telling him he was 'adorable' when she saw him but he was a distance away at the time.
"Good? Men aren't cute!" he countered, irritated.
"I think Bracken is cute and so do the fairies," she answered defensively.
"What?" he exclaimed. "I thought Bracken was handsome," he said confused.
"He is, very, but he is also cute. Ah, I think you have a misconception of the term cute as used by girls and I guess by fairies too. 'Cute boy' is a term unto itself. Not like cute puppy or cute dress," she explained. "A cute boy can be someone you would like go out with, someone you just like to look at or someone you like to be around. A cute boy can be a friend or a boy friend if you're lucky a little of both. Cute boys may not even be considered handsome."
"So cute is good?" he asked still confused.
"Definitely! If you are a young person, you tend to think of boys and girls as cute rather than beautiful or handsome. You should know! You've seen enough drive-in movies haven't you?"
"Yes, I think I know what you mean. They used to show lots of teenage beach movies but the drive-in movies are usually horror films now. I don't go very often any more. I liked the beach movies better," he admitted.
"Those old things? I've tried to watch them, they are so cheesy but they do show how girls act when they think boys are cute: Sighing, staring, giggling and sly, shy glances and winks." She mimed each action as she said it.
"Looks like what fairies do around me on those rare occasions they have seen me as my avatar," he admitted watching her.
"Your current avatar is handsome, believe me 'cute' is a good thing.
"How old will you look?" she asked curiously. She had no idea since his current avatar was very boyish and though she had seen only a few dragon avatars, she had never seen one as young his current avatar.
"What?"
"When you invoke your new avatar will you be a boy, a teenager or a grown man?"
"If I had invoked a human avatar when I should have I suppose that even now I would look like a teenage boy. Our bodies age about one year per hundred human years –something like that," he said shrugging.
"It takes 100 years to age a human year? Wow!" His statement startled her.
"Yes, about that. I'm a young adult dragon but I still act like an adolescent or so I've been told. I suppose that if I get a human avatar, I will be a young teenage boy – man – whatever. If it's a fairy I'll probably look the same as I do except smaller and I will age faster than fairies."
"Why would you age faster?" she asked, she knew he didn't have to worry about that but she was curious.
"Fairies don't really age. They can die of course but not of old age. Most of the fairies I know have been around a long time. They don't act it though." He rolled his eyes.
"I wonder where they came from," she mused.
"The fairy queen's realm, it started getting crowded so she let them come here and they liked it," he said, smiling broadly. "I like it here too."