The book was taken from his hands in a flash.
"Hey!" Toshiro scowled, looking up at the thief.
"We give you a day to relax and you're studying?" Sylfie snickered, moving the book behind her though she was kind enough to keep his page marked with a slip of paper she'd nabbed before taking it.
"I'm sure I'll need the information in there and I don't like to sit around and do nothing." Toshiro growled. The woman opened her mouth but he was quick to cut her off. "And no, I'm not dancing!"
"Oh, killjoy." In a very immature act the woman stuck her tongue out at him. "Fine, here."
She handed the book back and he wordlessly returned to where he'd previously been reading. He was interested in this part, as it had to do with how the dragons and Soul Kings had first joined together as a single force, making dragons protectors of the dead. Apparently it had been the dragons to approach the king, not the other way around as he'd at first believed. The king of dragons at the time had felt a strong connection with the king of souls and they formed a sort of contract between them to rule together. But despite that, the dragons only took orders from their king, and not the spirit.
He wondered why the dragons had promised to rule under him, then. Myndræl was obviously not old enough to rule them as their king, but then again neither was he. He thought they'd perhaps follow his father but the blue dragonling had said they stopped interacting with people when Kinryu was killed until Ruala came along, and even then they're distant. He supposed it had something to do with his zanpaktou being a dragon. Perhaps he could find that in the book, or if not, he could always ask Lilianna.
"What would your mother think, seeing you with your nose in a book on such a good day?" Sylfie once more interrupted his reading, throwing open the curtains to let in the bright light of a sunny day.
He scowled again and moved out of the beam of sunlight. The weather was starting to heat up and he preferred it to remain winter.
"I wouldn't know." Toshiro replied to the green haired woman's comment. "If I'd been back in the Rukongai, Granny would have left me alone and Hinamori would continue to pester me until I went out to play with her."
"Well, my sister would have that book out of your hands and you outside in a matter of seconds." Sylfie smirked, poking said book to make him look up at her. He did so with a glare. "She's like that. The minute the weather's good she has everyone outside enjoying it. She did tend to prefer the colder days though."
"As do I." Sighing, Toshiro attempted to turn away from the woman. "Now leave me alone."
"Fine, fine." Shrugging, Sylfie headed back out of the room.
"Wait." Toshiro called after her.
Curious, the green haired woman turned back to look at him. He looked somewhat nervous, the book lying open in his lap.
"What…" He took a deep breath, something she noticed him do often to keep calm. "Can you…can you tell me more about my mother?"
A soft smile played on the woman's lips and she returned to his side, sitting in the chair next to him beside his temporary bed. Since Sofia had brought the book back he hadn't left the bedroom, reading through the contents faster than they thought was possible. He also seemed to remember a lot of it, though he'd go back and reread parts for clarification.
"Her name was Anya Greenleaf." Sylfie started off. "She was a rather free spirit, much like the rest of us. Runs in our blood. It was her who showed Ruala how to befriend the dragons, her who brought life to the kingdom. Your father had been infatuated with her the minute they met, though it took a while for her to be tamed." She winked and Toshiro rolled his eyes. "My sister was like you in that she loved the cold weather. Snow just seemed to fascinate her. She also could be strict at times. It's probably where you get your unrest from; she never could stay in one spot doing nothing for long. She had to have something to do, and usually dragged us along, and she wanted it done right."
"She sounds like a handful." Toshiro smirked slightly.
"Oh, she was. Not that your father cared. In fact, he always seemed to calm her down. He had this way of slowing down that racing mind of hers and get her to relax."
"What did she look like?" The young prince wanted to know who it was that sacrificed her life to ensure his own would continue on.
"One minute." Sylfie said, holding up a finger, and darted out of the room.
She came back in a flash with a small photo. In it was her and another woman, who he assumed was Anya, his mother. She had long golden hair with a slight wave to it and silvery colored eyes with a slightly blue color, a gentle smile on her face though he could see a tight grip being held on her sister, making him wonder what the story behind this picture was.
"We were just about to go visit your father." Sylfie explained as if reading his mind. "Anya was debating whether or not to marry him at the time – he'd just asked her – and I had a friend of ours snap a picture with the new camera humans had just invented. With a little magic we put color into it. Anyway, she wasn't happy about the picture because she was all in a rush. I had scars from her nails digging in for months!"
The woman laughed while her companion just rolled his eyes again.
"She's pretty." Toshiro said aloud without realizing.
"She was." Sylfie nodded, her expression turning a little sad. "She was the family's pride and joy. Even I admired her despite being the older sister. I grieved a long time when I heard she'd died…"
The silence stretched on as The Head of House fell in old memories of times long past. Rather uncomfortable with the depressing aura, Toshiro took the photo from her hands.
"Can I keep this?"
"Of course." Sylfie grinned again. "I have others if you want to see, you can keep that one to have something to remember her by."
"Thank you." He paused, somewhat nervous. "I'm sorry for bringing up any bad memories."
"Oh, don't worry about it." Sylfie ruffled his hair. He frowned but relented, letting her have her way this once. "Besides, you're alive and well, which means her spirit lives on. That's more than I can ask for."
Toshiro offered her a sympathetic smile before he carefully stashed the picture away and returned to his reading. His Aunt left the room as well, leaving him in silence once more.
He stayed in there for several hours, simply reading. Occasionally he would talk something over with Hyorinmaru to try and clear up what it could mean, going back to other parts if needed. He wondered when he'd get to meet the King of Hell. According to the book he had to keep in contact with him to make sure souls were going where they were supposed to. Also, Satan was the only dead spirit to have lived since the beginning of time, therefore making him the oldest being in all the realms. But despite that he didn't flaunt his power and actually assisted the Soul King with tasks if need be. He wondered if he could get the demon lord to assist him in stopping Dethmaiyn.
Affairs with the King of Hell seemed rather complicated, so Toshiro read on to the kind of tasks he needed to do to become king, the requirements he had to pass. The section about the mark on his hand mentioned other trials to take in order to prove himself worthy. None of the Kanji symbols shown in the picture had appeared on his mark, so he could assume he had more to do. He was curious as to what. He returned to the page where the picture was, looking at the symbols for a hint. It said the different trials centered on what the symbols meant, so he wanted to refresh his memory.
'Well, I might get one.' He mused, looking at the symbol on the left side of the star where the Kanji for Power was written. 'My Spirit Energy has grown significantly since the beginning. By the end of the trials I might have that one.'
'Most likely.' Hyorinmaru agreed. 'I wonder how to prove the other three, especially eternity.'
'I have no idea. Power is straightforward but the others are tricky. Honor, maybe not; that could just be a promise or a vow I have to make.'
'There's no telling what it takes, really. We'll just have to wait and see.'
Sighing lightly, Toshiro continued reading. The information about the different tests were vague as each king-to-be had different things that needed to be done in order to earn each mark. The final mark in the center appeared after one final test taken after completing the first four, and absolutely no information was given about that test.
He sensed a flare in his dragon's Spiritual Pressure and looked away from his book. What could Myndræl want? Using the paper Sylfie left behind he marked his spot and set the book down before heading outside to where his dragonling awaited him.
"What is it, Myndræl?" He asked once he was next to the blue dragon.
"I learned how to use my powers!" The drake replied excitedly.
"Impressive." Toshiro smiled. "May I see?"
"Of course! Come on, to the lake."
Even as the prince was mounting he could tell Myndræl was eager to show off, continuing to shift underneath him. He took off with great speed as if he couldn't wait to get there. As they flew, Myndræl let out a roar, icy mist blasting out as dragon fire would for a normal dragon. It was the first time Toshiro had seen the blue dragon use his breath. As they passed by the spot where the mist had spread, the temperature significantly dropped and frost began to from on them, Toshiro having to brush it out of his hair.
"You're learning quickly." He said with a grin. It was exciting to see his dragon grow.
"I can make it stronger, too." Myndræl grinned back. "But I didn't want us flying through that kind of cold."
"I'm not bothered by it. You should know this."
"Well, it solidifies into solid ice."
"Now that I'd prefer not to run into."
The dragon laughed before diving down to the lake.
"I can make it where anything I touch turns to ice." To prove this, he brushed his wings along the tops of the trees. They froze over, ice spreading down the branches until the heat of the day stopped its descent and melted it.
"Be careful with that." Toshiro warned. Couldn't have Myndræl going around freezing everything.
"I know." The drake smiled sheepishly. "Alright, for the final thing I learned. I can use water like you and turn it to ice."
"Making you an ice-water type dragon like my zanpaktou."
"Yeah. Strange, isn't it?" The dragon paused. "Anyway, watch!"
He skimmed low over the water and let his tail create a trail through the surface. Instead of forming back together, the water continued to split, moving upwards against gravity and twisting into a new shape. With a quick flip that disoriented Toshiro somewhat the blue dragon sent a blast of icy breath at the curling water shape, freezing it solid. Two pillars of twisting water became crystal blue ice pillars. It was quite a beautiful sight.
"I can tell you'll be a powerful dragon." Toshiro commented. "Now…you'll probably need to find a way to revert ice back to water, the animals here need this lake."
"Uh…right." Myndræl sighed. "Well, I can at least break it into smaller pieces, and then the sun can do the rest." His eyes lit up. "Actually, Shaderunner can melt it. He's a dark-fire dragon but it should work like fire."
"If you go get him I'll try to break it down to make it easier. Shaderunner's only a few decades older than you, his fire will still be weak."
"I'm on it." Dropping his companion off by the lakeside, Myndræl took off for Dragon Isle where the others dragons lived.
Toshiro let his Spiritual Pressure increase and focused it onto the ice pillars, watching as they crumbled under the weight and eventually crashed back down into the lake bed. The aquatic life would probably need to be replaced now, unless magic somehow protected them too, and the lake was currently a mass of shattered ice, but otherwise things would be fine.
"Hitsugaya."
The soft voice drew his attention and Toshiro turned to where Ruala stood in the tree line. Well, hopefully his dragonling's antics wouldn't make her mad. He'd never seen her mad but didn't really want to.
"You'll be starting the fifth trial tomorrow." She said instead, completely ignoring the lake of ice before her.
"I planned on it, yes." The white haired prince nodded, turning back to the skies.
"Your zanpaktou will be waiting for you. You are allowed to speak to him before your opponent appears."
"Thank you." Despite himself, Toshiro found himself smiling. He couldn't wait to get his zanpaktou back. Hyorinmaru purred loudly in agreement, just as eager. Ruala left as Myndræl came back with the roan colored dragon to melt the ice.
Though he knew the trial would be difficult, he wanted tomorrow to come faster.
So we learn a little about his mother and also various information about being Soul King, like keeping in contact with Satan. And the mystery of the title Dragon King persists. ^^ I like being cryptic. And Myndrael is learning how to use his ice powers! He learns fast like his partner! Next chapter is his final trial and then we can start getting somewhere, like back to Karin. XD Enjoy!