Disclaimer: Do not own One Piece. All plot and OCs belong to Volleys-chan and I.
The Dragon Chronicles
Chapter 11 - Cultivate
"It may be hard for an egg to turn into a bird: it would be a jolly sight harder for it to learn to fly while remaining an egg. We are like eggs at present. And you cannot go on indefinitely being just an ordinary, decent egg. We must be hatched or go bad."
-C. S. Lewis
"Congratulations, Drake-san on your promotion."
"Hmmm? Ah, yes. Thank you." Drake politely inclined his head as he once more received someone's praise. Without stopping, he continued on to his destination.
It wasn't that he wasn't grateful, but he had become rather busy upon his return to MarineFord with his promotion and all. He was hoping that if he worked very hard for the next few weeks, his request for time off would be granted. He was rather eager to make sure that Rei was doing well after being reunited with her family. He had not heard from her since that day and was worried over how things were going.
Rei had been right when she accused him of being like a nervous parent sending his child off for the first time, but he couldn't help but be protective of the girl. The amount of trauma she had gone through had been vastly overlooked by both his superiors and he was the only one she had truly trusted after Gin's death. He hoped that his summons today was about his time off, if not, he would be sorely disappointed, even though he'd never let it show.
Walking to the grand doors of the Fleet Admiral's office, Drake knocked on the door, standing there until he heard the words 'enter' from the other side of the door. As he opened the doors and entered, Drake was immediately put on alert.
"Close the doors." Sengoku barked at him as he continued to work on the paperwork at his desk.
"Yes sir," Drake nodded, a sinking feeling entering his gut the longer he was in the room. His eyes were trained upon the tall lean form of a familiar ice user as he shut the door. Even as he slowly walked into the room, his eyes remained upon Admiral Kuzan rather than on Fleet Admiral Sengoku.
"Do you know why you were summoned here today, boy?" Sengoku asked as he looked up from his paperwork.
"I had been hoping that it was about my vacation time, sir, but I can see that it is not, with Admiral Kuzan gracing us with his presence. I hope everything is well, sir."
"As well as it could be I suppose. With as much tragedy that overtakes this world, this is small comparatively, but not any less sad to say the least." Sengoku sighed before looking over to Admiral Kuzan to continue telling Drake the news.
"Ararara," Kuzan sighed when he realized it was him who had to tell the young new captain the news. "It has come to our attention that the passenger ship heading to Water 7 that young Swift Rei was aboard was caught unaware by Aqua Laguna. The ship was not able to withstand the large rouge wave and was capsized before sinking. There was an investigation when the ship did not come to port as scheduled." He let out another huge sigh before finishing his report. "I am sorry, Captain Drake, but there were no survivors. Swift Rei, as well as the workers and passengers aboard the ship, were all reported dead."
Drake suddenly found it hard to swallow as he took the news the best he could. He would not allow these men to see how greatly the news affected him. It kept control of his emotions as he nodded solemnly.
"As for your requested vacation time, Captain Drake," Sengoku started to say before being Drake cut him off.
"It is no longer necessary. Please disregard my pervious request." Drake said dismissively. "Now, is that all you needed to tell me, sir?"
"Yes, you may go." Sengoku sighed waving his hand in a dismissive manner.
"Thank you sir," Drake bowed before turning around and swiftly heading towards the exit. "If you need me, since I have not been given an assignment, I will be in my quarters."
"Yes, of course." Sengoku sighed out. "If you can find the time, please, write a letter to inform the Swift family of their child's passing. I believe the words would be best written by someone familiar with the child."
"Yes. Of course." Drake agreed before closing the door.
He was able to hold it in till he got to his quarters. He had only closed the doors before his knees gave out and he slid to the ground, tears threatening to spill at the thought of such an innocent, willful child like Rei dying so young. She had suffered and struggled for the meaning of it all and now it didn't matter what her resolutions had concluded to.
What was the point of the marines if they couldn't protect such a child from the dangers of the world? What was the point of risking one's life when the lives it was risked for never grew up? If the marines had been safe enough to take her all the way, she would have lived! If it hadn't been for men like Admiral Sakazuki and his rotten temper and unethical outlook on the world, she could have been safe on their ship.
There was nothing to be done now though, he supposed. He got up from the ground and wiped his tears on his sleeve. He walked over to his desk and pulled out a paper. There was no use thinking of all the ways she could have been saved; it was better to savor and celebrate the memories of her short life.
And with that in mind, he began to write about a little red-eyed girl.
About a girl named Swift Rei.
A child who could have been something great had she the chance to live.
"Rei!" The telepathic call of her name should have tipped her off of what was about to happen next, but then again, even Tatsuo wasn't aware of the draco until he had already come upon the elder Kasai dragon. Rei barely had any time to react before she was tackled harshly into the dusty ground.
"Ooooph." She managed to grumble out. "Akira. Get off."
"This draco saw thee from a distance and realized thou art all alone. Would it not be better to have company than to sit alone?" Akira made his intentions known as he continued to lie on top of her.
"No. This one would prefer it if thee would leave her in peace." Rei countered, shoving the young draco off of her back without hesitation.
The young dragon pup was undeterred by her harsh manner. Instead of taking offense, he used his body to shove her once more to the ground while she tried to get up and pinned her once more before taking the odd object within her hands into his small paws.
"This one always sees thee staring at this object. Prithee, what is so interesting about such an odd artifact that thou would stare at it for hours upon end." Akira chatted as he gently handled the item.
Rei's eyes quickly dilated as she quickly bucked the bigger draco off of her, pinning him with her tail, and snatching back her belonging. "Tis a gift."
"Tis called a gift? What an odd name for an object."
Rei let go of her irritation as she let out a heavy sigh. Tatsuo's short temper with this particular draco was rubbing off on her. She should have been grateful for his willingness to want to play with her. None of the other dracos would play with her because they said she was not a dragon. It was fine though. They were right, she wasn't a dragon, she was a human and she didn't understand them at all. It also meant more time for her to learn and master her newfound abilities. Akira, however, had yet to grasp that concept and continued to persist in being in her company.
"Tis called a book. Tis filled with letters that form words and sentences. Books art the written language of this one's kin." Rei explained before opening the book to where she had been and showing the young draco what she had meant.
"Thy kin hath written down their language? Why? Can they not remember otherwise?" Akira roughly put his paw on her forearm to forcibly lower her arms so he could have a better look of the contents of the pages.
"Ouch, Akira!" Rei growled at him. "Don't do that!"
"Hmm?" The young child dragon looked at her with a confused look, reminding Rei that he probably wasn't even aware of what he had done.
"Thou art hurting me- this one- with thy movements. Canst thou be more gentle in thy handling of this one?"
"Tis but a gentle touch. No other draco would complain of this one's handling. Thou art durable, yet thou acts as if thou art not." Akira commented in an irritated manner. "Now, return to the subject at hand, why doth thy kin hath such commodities as books?"
Rei rolled her eyes, completely aware that Akira was not going to admit to being rough with her. It was one of the many reasons she wasn't always too happy to see the young Kasai draco when she was trying to be alone. He, along with all the other dracos, were irritating because they wanted to play with her, and when she attempted, they'd get offended or mad because of some reason she did not understand. They were entirely too rough and when she tried to tell them so, they acted offended and exclude her from their games. All the other dracos had stopped trying to play with her by this point, all except Akira who was too damn stubborn in his resolution to be her friend.
Deciding her best plan of action was to give him his answers and hope that he'd leave after his curiosity was sated, as it often happened when he was pestering Tatsuo, Rei didn't argue with him over his handling.
"This one's kin write down words for several reasons. This book is filled with stories. Tis for entertainment as well as for teaching morals or lessons in story form. There art other types of books, some filled with history and others with facts, but it serves as a way of sharing knowledge in some shape or form."
"How odd." Akira commented. "To write thy language on such flimsy material. How canst it face the wrath of time in such a form?"
"If one takes good care of thy books, they can last for centuries to come." Rei told him solemnly. "The material, paper, is light-weight and durable only if treated with kindness and care. Tis easy to travel with as well because it is so small, light, and compact."
"Verily. Tis a wonderful human commodity!" Akira let out a purr as he spoke excitedly into her head. He paused for a second before asking yet another question. "Thou called it previously a 'gift'. Gifts are objects willingly given from one being to another, is it not? What is the name of the person who gifted thee with such a wonderful item?"
Rei closed the book, much to Akira's disappointment, to hold it against her chest, both joy and sorrow emanating from her as she gave the young draco his answer. "His name is Drake. He was this one's caretaker prior to Oji-san and after Gin. He gave this book to this one because he knew that she loved stories and to comfort her after her pervious caretaker passed."
"Thou hath gone through many caretakers, it seems. Thou would do well to try to hold onto the two thee hath now instead of getting new ones. Tis a hassle, is it not?"
Rei was not sure why, but the serious tone of Akira's comment suddenly had her seeing red. It was like he was faulting her for having to be passed off from one person to the next.
"It's not like I purposely went from caretaker to caretaker!" Rei shouted as she suddenly stood up, her anger rising at Akira's ignorant comment. "If I could have, I would have never had left my parents in the first place! Do you think I wanted to be taken away from my family? Or Gin? Or Drake? Or even Oji-san? To be passed around like I'm some sort of burden to take on? Do you think I want to be here? Here where I'm the only human and hardly one now at that? Cause I don't!"
Before Akira could even reply to her outburst, Rei turned and ran away. She didn't want to hear his callous answer. Knowing him, it would be without sympathy for her long plight to even get to where she was now, probably pointing out the fact that 'if she were more dragon like, things would be easier' or the fact that she was 'speaking strangely again'.
Rei fought the tears forming. Why did everything have to be so difficult? Why couldn't something be easy in her for a change?
She didn't even realize where she had run to until she saw the forge. She quickly wiped at her eyes, trying to cover up the fact that she had been crying, but whoever had been clanging away at the open forge had already smelled them.
Damn dragons and their superior senses. Hell, even she could smell the salt of her tears.
"What tis the matter, Little One? Thou hath been weeping or, should this one say, thou art weeping." The sultry tone of Ayane's voice filled her ears, allowing the girl to know who it was while she still wiped her sleeve against her eyes.
"Th-this one hath not been we-eping. S-she merely hath something in her eyes th-that art irritating-g th-em." Rei fought hard at trying to keep her voice steady, but her sobs caused her words to be broken or stuttered.
Rei really had something to cry about when Ayane swatted her harshly with her tail. The girl squatted as she nursed the harsh bump and the back of her head as she tried to stop the tears of her agony from falling.
"Thou art not to lie to this one." Ayane said sternly. "Consider thee fortunate that this one is not Katsumi. Now, tell the truth so this matter may be settled."
Rei shook her head, unwilling to get the young draco in trouble. Now matter how mad she was at him for his callous words, she didn't want to admit that his words affected her so. That and she didn't want to be the reason he got punished by his mother. She heard Ayane let out a sigh before gathering her up in her hold. Rei was careful to not get her tears and snot on the simple yukata.
The feeling of being held by the older woman was always interesting. Her body was cool to the touch, unlike Tatsuo who was like an inferno of heat. Sometimes when the two of them nuzzled each other's faces, odd sparks would crackle at their contact. It was always a spectacle to see, since it didn't happen every time they touched, only when they rubbed their cheeks together or caused legitimate friction.
Rei cooled her cheeks, which had been heated by her crying, on the cool teal scales as she fought to compose herself. Ayane merely held her close, allowing the child to feel the comfort of a gentle embrace. For a while, small hiccups and short sobs were the only noise besides the simmering noise of the forge nearby. Rei was honestly glad that it had been Ayane, not Tatsuo, since the female Aisu dragon was more aware of how to handle a child and her wounded feelings. When Rei had calmed down further, Ayane began her investigation anew.
"Now, what has thee weeping, little one? And dare not speak again of it being merely something in thy eye."
Rei shook her head, knowing that she couldn't really pin her outburst on Akira. Something the little fire draco said shouldn't have had her bawling so easily. She paused, letting out a shaky sigh as she tried to honestly pin down what the problem was.
"I don't know... everything..." She finally mumbled against Ayane's teal scales, where her head still rested.
"Everything? Tis quite a lot that causes thee to weep then. Perhaps thou could narrow down thy scope. Tis entirely alright by this one if thou wishes to talk it aloud to pinpoint thy angst."
Rei paused, nodding as she did to try to summon the right words to explain her emotional breakdown. "I... This one... um..."
She realized her mind was still too rattled to properly speak in the way the dragons were most familiar with. Ayane seemed to pick up on this.
"Speak in whatever manner is comfortable to thee. Thou will eventually grasp our understanding of thy language, but if thee expresses thyself easier in thy more modern form of speech, then this one can easily adapt to comprehend thy words." Ayane encouraged as she rubbed firm circles into the child's back with her knuckles.
"I... I don't belong... anywhere..." Rei buried her face against Ayane's scaled body. "I wasn't a good human and I'm not a good dragon. None of the dracos want to play with me and I don't know why, yet the drakes ignore me entirely! The only dragons that pay me mind is Katsumi-san, Toshi-sensei, Tatsuo-san, and you." Rei felt like crying anew as she continued to confess her anxieties to the elder female. "I have been learning under Toshi-sensei for a while, but I can't seem to summon my qi or retract my appendages or communicate telepathically or... or even fly! I don't get the other dracos, why they won't play with me anymore, and why Akira says such mean things to me!"
Rei quickly covered her mouth when she realized what she had blurted out at the end of her large confession. The action was not lost on Ayane as she let out a heavy sigh.
"So thy tears were brought out by what twas said by the young draco Akira, twas it? Why is this one not surprised in the least?" She sat down on the ground, crossing her legs as she did so and repositioned the child to sit comfortably on her lap. "There are many things that this one obviously needs to address with thee, but first, allow this one to set thee straight about how to handle young dracos, specifically Akira.
"Little one, thou should not let the words of a draco hurt thee. He is nothing but a foolish whelp rambling off words as if he knows of what he speaks about, though he certainly doth not. Doth not let his words and poor observations affect thee so greatly." She combed her fingers gently through Rei's hair in a consoling manner. "And the next time thou art at odds with the young draco, prove thy point by showing him who is alpha in thy relationship."
Rei blinked in confusion. Was Ayane telling her to... "What?"
"Fight him, defeat him, prove to him that thou art more powerful and that thy views art truth and not his. That tis how this problem will be resolved."
Rei could not believe what she was hearing. "You... you want me to... beat him up to prove that he's wrong?"
"Verily. Tis how things are done among us."
"But what if I hurt him?"
Ayane actually let out a snort as she gave her reply. "This one highly doubts that thou canst hurt him gravely, merely wound his pride and his perspective of his own strength."
"But... what would Katsumi-san think if I beat her son up?"
"That thou hath finally learned how to properly handle dracos. Little one, hath thou not been playing attention to what thou hath been observing? This one knows thou art quite observant. Doth thou not understand what thou hath been witnessing?"
Rei suddenly felt very stupid. Yes, she had been watching as the dracos played with each other and never once did it occur to her that they expected her to play as hardy as they did. The other little dracos expected her to tussle with them, bite at them, swat them, and even fight them if they did not agree. She had watched them do it all the time, completely unaware that she was suppose to do the same with them!
Ayane petted her hair when Rei suddenly buried her face in her hands to hide her mortified expression. "This one can see that thou hath finally realized what thou hath been witnessing."
"Why has no one made mention of that to me before?"
"An oversight on our kin's account. This one asks for thy forgiveness. If she had thought that thou would be isolated because of thy understanding of playing, she would hath rectified the situation quickly. To be honest, she did not realize that the art of playing did not translate well between cultures. To be frank, this one hath never had the chance to observe humans or their culture up close before thee came to us."
"Tatsuo has though..." Rei murmured under her breath, "why didn't he say anything."
"This one's mate has traveled the world multiple times, but that doth not mean he carefully studied their culture. Merely enough to get by as he went from place to place. Children, as thou doth know, art not his favorite."
Rei blinked, somewhat surprised at that last sentence. "He likes this one."
Ayane chucked as she nodded, "Aye, he doth like thee very much, but thou art not like most of the dracos here. Thou knows to respect his boundaries and not hassle him with a surplus amount of meaningless questions."
"So he likes that this one is nothing like Akira?" Rei summarized.
"Verily." Ayane laughed at that comment. "That young draco is going to get it one day if he hassles this one's mate too often." Petting Rei's hair once more, Ayane decided to change subjects back to the original set of insecurities Rei had mentioned. "Now that thou understands how to deal with draco, allow this dragon to soothe thy insecurities. Thou admitted thy fears of inadequacy as a young draco, not just socially, but fundamentally as well. Tell me, little one, what thou hath learned of qi and let us see if this one can not offer thee insight upon things thou art not aware of."
Rei nodded, taking a deep breath before she recited her knowledge to the older female. "Qi is the unseen energy that all living things have- rocks, plants, elements, animals, and all sentient beings. Tis the essences of life itself, without qi, there is no life."
"Very good." Ayane thrummed, showing her approval of the child's knowledge. "Now, how doth one use this knowledge?"
"By understanding that qi exists within everything, one can strive to master manipulating qi that is or is similar to her own qi. According to Toshi-sensei, one can either use the qi around her and manipulate it according to her own or she can manipulate her own life energy internally to change shape."
"But art thou a shapeshifter?" Ayane quizzed the child, still playing with her hair.
"In a way, yes, all those that art dragon in some way, art capable of shifting their forms to an extent. Dragons can shift between their beastial form and a humanoid form, but they cannot shift their forms to mimic the looks of another individual. They have either their dragon form or their humanoid form and art unable to shift their forms past that."
"Limited shapeshifters." Ayane nodded. "We cannot change the appearance of either form. We can allow our appendages to show in our smaller form or choose to recall them, but we cannot change our physical appearance of either form past that. Thy knowledge and comprehension of qi is quite impressive."
"But this one's application of that knowledge is where she falls short. Toshi-sensei continues to tutor this one, but she is not able to properly sense or manipulate qi. Nor can this one fly, even though she has been instructed upon how to use her wings and tail to navigate the skies."
"Of course thou can not manipulate qi or fly, thou art just a draco." Ayane chided her lightly.
"What?" That seemed to catch Rei's immediate attention as she turned around to look Ayane in the eyes, confusion evident in her ruby gaze.
"Thou art merely a draco." Ayane told her again. "Toshi doth not expect thee to accomplish any of these feats as of now, he merely is instructing thee so that thou knows what to do when thou art older and capable of doing so."
Rei could not believe her ears. "Then why did he not say anything to this one? She would have readily accepted the knowledge if given to her!"
"Thou art suppose to trust thy instructor; similarly, thou art to trust thy keepers. Twas something thou were suppose to confide in us if thou were to receive council. We do not offer some things that art not asked of us. If thou truly wishes to know something, thou must ask. Take this as a lesson to a mistake thou were not aware of doing."
"But why not correct this one before she made her mistake?" Rei could not see the logic in it all.
"Thou art a child and prone to make mistakes. Our kin view mistakes as lessons only learned through making. If thou doth not make a mistake, how will thee learn the type of consequences that follow such a folly?" Ayane explained. "Tis the responsibility of the dragons to let their dracos learn from little, controlled mistakes. If a draco was told not to do something and merely obey because he was told, he may end up disobeying one day to a degree far larger than he can overcome. By allowing them some freedom to make mistakes and learn from their errors under our constant watch and care, we art attempting to stop larger mistakes from being made as they grow older."
Rei blinked in surprise at the logic. She remembered how her mother use to tell her things when she was in her care, like 'don't touch that, it's hot' or 'you'll hurt yourself doing that'. While she listened most of the time, there were the few occasions where she did not. Rei remembered scalding her finger in hot water once, the time she ran about the house with her eyes closed and ran straight into a wall, and the many other little occasions where she had not listened to warning. Her parents tried their best to prevent her from making mistakes, even small ones that could possibly benefit her. But what she realized was different here than with her family or her human guardians was that the dragons thought that mistakes were important to make, not something to be prevented. In controlled environment, they believed that mistakes were necessary experiences that their young needed in order to understand what their actions could do, the cause and effect of them as well as their severity.
"Dost thou understand our parental plight now, little one?"
"Thou needs to wait for this one to come to thee for advice. Thou art responsible for her education in learning from her mistakes and that means that thou art suppose to allow she to make these mistakes, no matter how difficult it may be to watch?" Rei guessed, unsure if she was right in her conclusions.
"Verily. All thou needed to do was ask, but thou remained silent in thy suffering, unwilling to trust those appointed to help thee."
"This one doth apologize to thee for causing such hardship." Rei said, ashamed that she had not trusted the very ones who cared for her wellbeing.
"Thou hath already been forgiven of thy folly." Ayane confessed to the child with a sweet smile. "Thou twas not born into this culture and thou art not aware of some of its intricacies. This one will do better to make sure that thou art more informed than previously, but tis thou responsibility to learn as much as thou can through thy observations as well."
"Wouldst thou tell this one why it is she cannot fly or even manipulate qi?"
"Yes. Thou art young, though thou dost possess a devil fruit, thy natural abilities hinder thy use of it till thou canst control thy kasai abilities first. This is what Katsumi has decided upon watching thee train with Toshi. Thy abilities may not take for a while, despite how thou had used them unknowingly when thou first arrived. Thou art still a draco, not yet old enough to manipulate anything. Pray thee, hath thee ever witnessed a draco spitting fire balls or turning the ground beneath their feet to ice?"
"No, never," Rei realized, her eyes widening at the revelation.
"Tis because they art not old enough to tap into their qi. It takes a bit more focus, personal discipline, and energy than they can properly commit. Thou art almost there. Thou hath the focus, nearly the amount of personal discipline required, but thou lacks the proper amount of energy to summon it for the first time. This one personally passed out after the first time she summoned her qi to create a little bit of ice."
"So when will this one be ready?"
Ayane chuckled as she gently pushed the girl's growing fringes from her face. "Soon. Thou art almost there. Have faith in thy abilities and have patience in thy growing strength."
"Alright." Rei relented with a sigh before pushing on to the next subject. "And flying? This one realizes that dracos doth not fly either, another thing that requires energy and time?"
"Not quite." Ayane shook her head before taking one of Rei's small hands and pressing the open palm upon her upper chest. "It requires a bit more than that. Observe."
With that, Ayane took a deep breath, expanding her lungs as she did so, Rei could feel it slightly from where her hand was placed. However, she was not expecting the second deep breath that caused something expand in her upper torso as well. She yanked her hand back as she looked up at Ayane for an explanation. The teal dragoness laughed lightly before exhaling the excess air from her lungs, her breath smelling like an odd mixture of air, sulfur, and something else.
"This one takes it that thou felt it?" Ayane asked calmly of the confused child.
"Prithee, what was that?" Rei had honestly never felt anything like that. It was almost like the elder had-
"That would be this one's second pair of lungs." Ayane informed her.
"Second?"
"Verily. Our kin hath not one, but two different pairs of lungs."
"Humans don't." Well, not that Rei knew of, but her parents would have told her that, right? School taught her that everyone has one pair of lungs. One. Not two. Did this mean she only had one since she was born human or did she develop another set somehow?
"When thy inner dragon was awakened, thy body changed, remember? Tis includes thy second pair of lungs." Rei opened her mouth to interrupt, but Ayane managed to hold onto being the speaker. "However, thy second lungs art still developing. They will not inflate till thy enter thy drakehood. Thy second pair art not required for breathing, like thy first, but for flight. Tis what causes thee to become lighter so that thou can fly easier."
Rei's ruby colored eyes were wide with awe. "So, when they inflate, this one will be capable of flying?" She received a solemn nod from the elder female and proceed to continue her questions. "When will this one know that they hath inflated?"
"Tis a uncomfortable event, this one must admit, but nothing in life is gained without some discomfort. Experiences, discipline, knowledge, wisdom, strength, dexterity, discernment, patience- anything worth gaining is gained through hard work and tribulations. Nothing is given for free. Everything hath a price that must be paid."
"The world revolves around equivalent exchange." Rei recited the lesson taught to her so long ago by a pirate and a marine. "If the balance is not kept, the world would fall into decay."
"Yes." Ayane looked at the girl in her hold with surprise. "Where did thou learn about this philosophy?"
"Her name was Gin." Rei told her guardian with a heavy heart. "She was this one's caretaker before Drake who was this one's caretaker before thee and thy mate. She died."
Rei didn't have the heart to say more than that. Even muttering Gin's name will still rather hard for her, though she had accepted that the woman had died without regrets.
"She sounds as if she was a wonderful teacher. Thou art fortunate for the time spent with her, no matter how short. This one can tell that thy interactions with this particular woman hath strongly shaped thee into the child thou art today and will continue to shape thee into the woman thou art to become."
Rei peeked up at Ayane to see her gentle smile. She nodded in agreement. Gin had affected her greatly and if it had not been for the woman, she would be festering in hate and thoughts of revenge. She could have become like Akainu. She internally shivered at the thought of becoming anything like that despicable man.
Rei was pulled from her musings when Ayane began to stand, pulling Rei up to a standing position as she did so. "Well now. This one can see that thou hath no more insecurities to address currently. This one personally needs to return to her fires before the flame become too weak and thou needs to show a young draco who art the dominate one in thy relationship."
The child suddenly realized she had forgotten the whole reason she had even stumbled back to the forge during their very informative conversation. Akira had said some things that he had no place to comment and had hurt her feelings. Now that she was aware of what was expected of her as a young draco, Rei felt like she could properly handle her odd relationship with the young kasai draco.
Ayane watched as the girl took a deep breath, unknowingly puffing out her chest as she mustered the courage it would take for her to attempt confronting the other draco like a regular draco would. She watched as the young girl marched back in the direction she had last seen the young male draco before returning to her forge with a sense of peace and accomplishment. Finally, Rei was starting to connect with the alien culture she found herself in as well as the people who were there, trying to support and raise her.
The slow climb uphill for Rei had perhaps just begun, but Ayane liked to believe that the girl had overcome the steepest part of that climb and things would be a lot better now. And if she stumbled during that climb, at least she knew there were people in her life ready to catch her and help her get back up again.
Her life's journey was merely beginning and Ayane was curious to see where it would take the unusual child. She had a feeling the girl was destined for great things. Great things indeed.
Though it would be a long while until those great things occurred, Ayane couldn't help the pride swell in her chest when Rei later came back to the den that evening, sporting bumps and bruises and a triumphant smile on her face as she told both Ayane and Tatsuo about her victory over Akira that afternoon.
Since her talk with Ayane that one day, Rei found herself delving further into the dragon's culture and seriously trying to adapt to it. She spent a lot more time dedicated to trying to decipher what she observed and when she wasn't sure, she went to either Ayane, Tatsuo, Toshi-sensei, or even Katsumi-san. Though Katsumi was often busy because she was the alpha of all the dragons, both Kasai and Aisu, living upon Soshi Shima, she purposely found time to mentor Rei when she could, teaching her pearls of wisdom when she could.
Her relationship with the dracos of the island, especially Akira, also improved steadily now that she was aware of what 'play' meant to them. She actually found herself enjoying her brawls and hard playing with them enjoyable. They would often ram into her, wrestle with her for dominance in their relationship, gnaw playfully on her, and many, many other things. At first, she was barely able to hold her own with them, losing whenever a few of them teamed up on her, but the more she played, the more she was able to overcome the lot of them, quickly placing herself in a high position in their childish hierarchy.
That's how it was done in their culture. Power was revered in dragon culture. The more powerful one was in these fields, the higher they were considered in social standing. They were respected for these strengths, not feared. It wasn't even all about brute strength either. As Rei had learned through personal observation, power could be strength, speed, intelligence, talent, qi control, or beauty. Often dragons had a mixture of the different fields, but what Rei specifically took notice in was that the strongest dragon, physically speaking, did not necessarily make him the alpha. Katsumi was the alpha because of her strong leadership skills as well as her charisma, her wisdom, and her prowess in a fight.
However, there were other special cases that allowed dragons that may otherwise be considered weak to be well respected and irreplaceable within a community. Dragons with the abilities to heal, craft, and fly for long distances where considered irreplaceable. For example, while one's speed and control in flight was important, it was the long distance flyers that proved invaluable to the community. They were used as couriers between the different colonies of dragons when needed, according to Toshi-sensei, whom was one of these few elite. Craft dragons were also important, which was why Ayane and Tatsuo even had status since neither of them could fly nor overpower other more able bodied dragons in a fight for dominance.
At first, Rei couldn't understand why craft dragons were so revered until she realized how utterly vain the dragons were. Beauty was also seen as a means of attaining power and, though the dragons did not do it purposely, they had an uncontrollable affinity for anything, well, shiny. Because of this, they made grooming a high priority within their culture. The better groomed a dragon's scales, nails, teeth, horns, and mane are, the more the gleam in the sunlight and the more beautiful they are perceived to be. The adult dragons also will decor themselves with intricate accessories and jewelry made specifically for them by the island's craft dragons, making them automatically the third most important type of dragon in the community since the talent is rare. Tatsuo had told her once that currently only he and Ayane were capable craft dragons on Soshi Shima, so they were respected a lot more than usual because of the deficiency.
Though there were some dragons that were not the most glamorous looking, scarred and battle-torn, they were usually very strong and often gained respect because of it. But the ones who took their grooming seriously and were powerful in some shape or form got the most respect from the community as a whole. That was what set dragons apart from humans. Humans could gain status from wealth, underhanded means, and power they did not rightfully earn. Dragons worked hard for the power they attained and rightfully earned the respect they gained.
Rei also took her grooming seriously. She wasn't a full blooded dragon, so she figured that in order to prove herself worthy of respect, she needed to show the other dragons that she cared about their customs and respected herself enough to care for her appearance, which, to be honest, wasn't as easy as one would think. Since she wore clothes, she had to make sure to keep them in nice condition and keep them clean and mended. It was harder than one might think because she often played with undisciplined baby dragons. She quickly learned how to sew because of her reluctance to look ratty or unkept. Her clothes may look worn, but they never looked dirty or smelled foul. She also would bathe regularly in the cold stream. She kept her nails, her hair, her growing horns, and her visibly scale on her wings, ears, and tail clean.
The tail was another interesting factor about dragons. Just like Uncle had a hidden blade hidden beneath the mane of his tail, so did all the other dragons. Some didn't even bother to hide their beautiful weapon, choosing not to have their tail's mane grow and cover the beautiful naturally occurring blade. From what Tatsuo said when she had asked about it, no two dragon had the same shape or design. The tail's blade was made up of something that Tatsuo could only describe as crystalized dragon bone. It was impossibly hard, more durable than even their scales, but that didn't mean there wasn't a way to cut away at the natural occurring anomaly and refine its unique shape and even etch a design onto the top layer. He said that most dragons would get this done when they entered dragonhood, but there were a few exceptions even then. Rei personally hoped that both Tatsuo and Ayane would allow her to be an exception, since she wasn't sure when she would enter 'dragonhood'. The way Toshi-sensei made it sound, it was still a long, long, loooong way off.
Toshi-sensei had to be the most patient, most benign, most knowledgeable dragon upon the island. Rei might have also thought him sensible if not for the fact that he willing chose to teach dracos and drakes. She wasn't too sure about drakes because the lot of them were significantly older than she was and would not associate with someone so young and juvenile, but she knew dracos to be a huge handful. It was like herding a bunch of hyper puppies that were finally allowed to explore outside the den. Rei should know, she had once attempted to teach them hide and seek.
Let's just say they were not very good at it and continually forgot the rules and made up their own as they went. Rei gave up after an hour; Toshi had been doing this for years. The male Aisu dragon had the patience of a saint and more to be able to teach dracos anything because it was often a long, slow process. That was also why he tutored her privately, since she had an attention span longer than that of a flea.
Though the process had been undeniably slow to Rei, because things like qi mastery and flight did not develop overnight and even required her to wait till she was older, she learned other important things that were fundamental to her development as dragon. Telepathy probably was the easiest of all the concepts to learn and administer. The hardest one, the one she would still probably be learning long after she mastered qi and flight, was their complex language.
While dragons could speak the human language, albeit a very archaic version of the language, they had their own. One that rolled off their tongue and had layers of meaning and concepts far beyond what human language was limited to. Direct translation of a single sentence in Drako, what they called their dialect, could be near two paragraphs of sentences in the human language. Though Rei was slowly getting better and better at speaking their language, she was not sure if she would ever fully master the language, merely attain enough to converse and translate a simple conversation, nothing philosophical or complex in nature.
She accepted that truth, but was diligent in her study of the language as well as anything Toshi-sensei thought important to teach her.
Days continued to pass, though Rei was unsure how many. She learned how to hunt, survive on her own despite the fact that she had caretakers. Though Ayane and Tatsuo were always interested in her welfare, Rei learned through her observations that they had no real expectations placed upon them by the others dragons, Katsumi-san included, to met her needs as a dragon would for their own draco. They were not her parents, merely guardians placed over her to guide her in her development as a part of their community and in become self-sufficient. In truth, the two went above and beyond all expectations, but Rei realized it was difficult for them to hunt of both her and themselves due to their limitations.
Dragons could easily consume a giant Sea King in a matter of two or three days. Depending on their size and the amount of energy expended, the greater their hunger. Tatsuo and Ayane chose smaller, condensed sizes, but labored hard crafting works of art for the community, therefore, causing a larger appetite despite their smaller frames. Since Rei had never seen either take to their full dragon form and she knew neither could fly, their means of hunting were limited to smaller prey- well, for a dragon.
The island they lived upon was an underdeveloped, prehistoric one. Though she was safe in the familiar places dragons deigned as their territory, Rei was well aware of the dinosaurs that lived on the massive lost island. Both her caretakers could, with some unnecessary effort due to their refusal to take a larger form, take down a T-Rex or Triceratops or even the occasional Brontosaurs if they so deigned, but the two of them could eat the entire beast by themselves and still not be sated. But eating to their fill was time consuming and often they tried to be content with one kill each, putting some aside for their ward to eat even.
However, Rei's appetite was becoming larger and larger the more she grew and the more she played, studied, and trained. She knew this and quickly learned how to hunt smaller prey on her own. At first it was rabbits and fish from the stream (the one that wasn't deep enough for her to drown in), Ayane and Tatsuo both teaching her how to successfully catch her specific prey.
Tatsuo had been there when she caught her first rabbit. He was also the one that walked her through quickly killing the small animal. He even held her when she cried over its death.
"Life tis a difficult balance, Lil' Draco." He whispered in her ear that day as she cried into his bare shoulder, the rabbit's lifeless body still in her arms. "In order to sustain life, we must eat other things that once carried life energy within 'em. Meat or plants or byproduct of either, we sacrifice their qi to sustain our qi. Tis the world's equivalency at work. Nothing can be gained without sacrifice, not even our daily lives. Ye must accept that truth and honor the lives thee take to keep yer own life. Doth not kill more than ye need and remember to be kind to yer kills. If ye must kill, do it swiftly and doth not draw out their agony. Eat all of what ye take, do not waste that what becomes yer food. That's the best way to honor the life that thee must take to sustain yer own. Tis how this one and his mate do so."
Baring that in mind, Rei would always be sure to eat everything eatable her prey could give and use the remains to the best of her ability. The more prey she caught, the more furs she had to make her own soft bedding and the more bones she had the more traps she could make to catch other small animals and feed her ever growing hunger so that she may continue to live.
Her daily food requirements nearly doubled when she finally tapped into her qi. It had happened quite unexpectedly for her. It had been merely been another day of what Toshi-sensei called 'reaching inside' when something, well, connected. What made that day different from any other, she wasn't sure, but for some reason, that day everything he had been teaching her... clicked. It felt like a surge of fire, bursting from the center of her being and escaping outward. Much like Ayane said happened to her, Rei passed out shortly after tapping into her Kasai qi.
And her food intact tripled from its original requirements when she tapped into her Aisu qi as well at a later date.
Now that she had finally tapped into both types of qi, her training intensified. She didn't have as much time to play with the young dracos, but Akira always made an effort to play with her in her spare moments. It made the sudden shift in her priorities easier knowing that Akira would always be there for her, even when she didn't have a lot of time to give. Qi training involved a lot of effort, especially since she was learning to control two opposite elements.
The was one of the first, crucial lessons she was taught. For every element found in the world, there is an opposite. When opposite elements collide, the backlash of those clashing elements is both a powerful source of energy and a quick way for the unprepared to be severely injured or killed. Ice and fire were conflicting elements- elemental opposites. It was even more interesting for Rei to learn that dragons of elemental opposites often dwelled on the same island. On Soshi Shima, Aisu and Kasai dragons lived in harmony. There were multiple other elemental dragons in the world, some dragons were defined with elements that Rei wasn't even aware was an actual element. Humans and dragons, apparently, even believed in different elemental forces.
Humans believed in fire, water, earth, and air fundamentally with electricity, light, and darkness only recently added in. Dragons believed in many elements and each having its elemental opposite, which didn't mean weakness - it meant opposite in nature. As Toshi-sensei taught her, it went like this:
Water to air, light to dark, earth to heaven, lightning to wind, metal to poison, void to gravity, and fire to ice.
These were the elemental opposites of which the world worked. Dragons lived by these elements, each element encased a type of dragon race that existed within the world. The elemental opposites dwelled together in order to create what they perceived as balance. Which, again, was why Soshi Shima had Aisu and Kasai dragons living on the same island.
Toshi-sensei admitted that, because of the destructive power two elemental opposites created on contact, he was worried at first for Rei. She encased both elements within her due to her natural abilities and the devil fruit's gift, but his worries seemed to be unnecessary because somehow the two different elements were separated within her and she could only summon one type of qi at a time unless she had an object to act as a conduit for her opposite qi elements.
Qi mastery involved learning, not only to summoning her inner qi and manipulating it into physical manifestations, like fire blasts or ice needles, but also to take her inner qi and manipulate her form. Apparently, older dragons could actually manipulate the qi within the environment to do their bidding as well, but it wasn't something a novice like Rei could do. Manipulating the qi in the environment involved making bodies of water into ice or causing a volcano to erupt or smothering a raging fire or even defrosting frozen landscape. Toshi-sensei even hinted at something akin to weather manipulation if one had the right amount of control.
Causing a blast of fire to spout from one's open hand or fist or foot or mouth was simply a matter of taking inner qi and pushing it outward through the chosen area and exciting the qi in the air to resonate in a similar manner. Ice was a little different, since it needed to take shape in order to be effective. Rei remembered all the times she tried to spew ice crystals, only for a chilly puff of air to come out instead. It was frustrating, because unlike fire, that came naturally to her, ice took more effort and thought to manipulate it and give it the shape she desired.
Manipulating her form was even more puzzling. It was shaping qi from within, not letting it discharge, like she would for a fire blast, but taking all her qi and shifting it within her to take manipulate her form. Rei wasn't sure how long it took, she remembered spending hours concentrating and meditating to try to manipulate her qi to at least pull in her extra features and return her to the state she was most familiar with.
Rei struggled over the technique. She managed to pull in and pull out her dragon appendages, like her wings, tail, horns, claws, and ears, but was unable to change past that. How was she to change her form when she was uncertain how it was suppose to feel like. Toshi-sensei was usually able to describe the feelings of how her qi should feel when manipulating it into fire or ice outside of the body, but for him, he was unable to relate with her over how to describe shifting her form into something she was unaccustomed to. He was not use to teaching a one how to expand their size, but usually the sensation of taking all their qi and condensing the form into something smaller.
The answer to her dilemma came to her in the form of Tatsuo. He had noticed her downcast attitude one evening after she had spent the whole day meditating on taking her dragon form. Ayane was out at the time, hunting for her meal while he was busy tending the forge and finishing a few commissioned pieces. Usually, once Tatsuo was involved in a piece, it was near impossible to pull him away from it, but apparently she looked that dispirited by her constant failed attempts that he willingly put down his hammer and approached her.
"What's wrong, Lil' Draco? Ye look like yer not in the best of moods." He asked as he hefted himself down onto the ground and sat criss-cross. He patted his thigh as he gave her a toothy grin. "Come here and tell this one about it. Perhaps ol' Tatsuo knows yer dilemma."
She shook her head, but came and sat in his lap regardless. Dragons were quite touchy in nature and sitting on his lap was a sign of closeness and fostering relationship. It wasn't rare to see those who considered themselves friends resting against each other or nuzzling. It was interesting to watch when two elemental opposites did so, the friction of their scales would cause sparks between the two. She was use to watching Ayane and Tatsuo do it the most, nuzzling, being close, and on occasion grooming the other's ears.
While Tatsuo would never touch her ears, Ayane did so on occasion when she was trying to comfort the young girl. The feeling was nice, calming, and comforting, but Tatsuo was not in a position to offer her such notions, from what Rei understood.
"Tis nothing." Rei sighed. "Nothing that a dragon can assist in, so it would seem."
"Something going array in yer tutoring, Lil' Draco? Ye have been spending too much extra time with Toshi fer it ta be anything else." Tatsuo concluded before puffing out his chest and mussing up her hair. "Come now, tell this one about yer problems. Perhaps he can be of more assistance than ye might think."
Rei chewed on her lip, thinking about if it was worth expressing her situation, but decided there was nothing left to lose by not. "This one can not grasp the concept of shifting."
"Shifting?" Tatsuo cocked his head as he looked at her in a puzzled manner. "This one has seen ye practicing shifting. Ye hath been pulling in and pulling out thy dragon features for days now. Ye seem to grasp the concept fine."
"But this one can not shift from this diminutive form to that of a dragon." Rei shook her head, tears threatening to spill in her frustration. "Toshi-sensei cannot guide this one in the change. His shift from a smaller form to a massive form is like second nature to him. Tis the shift from massive to compact form that he usually teaches to the others. This one's dilemma is nothing he is accustom to and doth not hath a solution for her."
She had not expected to hear the hearty laughter of her guardian. The sound of his jolliness was enough to cause her to look at him with confusion and betrayal. Was her problem truly that humorous to him?
"Poor Toshi, the Aisu dragon has no clue on how to guide ye!" He bellowed before picking her up by the scruff of her shirt collar and pulling them both up to a stand. "Ye have nothing to be downtrodden about though, Lil' Draco. This one is well versed in yer current predicament."
That was when it truly struck Rei. "Thou art familiar with the sensations this one is searching for to shift from humanoid to dragonoid!"
"Verily. This one has lived in this form long enough to feel the sensations of expanding his qi to take his true form." He crouched down, allowing his forehead to touch hers. "Allow this dragon to guide ye in yer shift?"
"Twould be this draco's greatest honor." Rei smiled.
Nothing more was said between them as both closed their eyes and concentrated. It was a technique Rei had learned not too long ago that involved a unusual use of telepathy. While words, thoughts, voices, and images could be projected into another's mind, if the receiver purposely open his or her mind to the sender, telepathy could be used to project sensations or even memories between each other.
Rei didn't hesitate to open her mind wide when she felt the gentle touch of Tatsuo's mind against hers. The moment he sensed her acceptance, he projected the sensation of the change she was searching for. The feeling of qi as it expanded from a small compact form into something larger and more spacious. Rei took such feelings and quickly mimicked it, feeling the shift take place as her qi expanded and her body changed form.
When she opened her eyes again, she was looking down at Tatsuo, now much smaller comparatively to her form. Though she wasn't as big as the other drakes she had seen, she was much bigger than the dracos she played with. She tested her motor skills, stretching out her wings and moving her limbs, claws, and tail about as she tried to adjust to the change, all the while Tatsuo was laughing merrily at her triumph.
"See?! What did this one tell ye? Not a problem at all!"
Rei honestly couldn't agree more. It didn't take much to shift back to her smaller form, surprised at how much energy was required to make such a form. She nearly had fallen over and hit the dirt ground from the sudden lack of energy she was experiencing if Tatsuo had not been there to swoop her up.
Ayane came back much later, confused as to why her mate was parading about their territory with the obviously exhausted child over his head while whooping and hollering. But then again, Tatsuo had always been an odd one.
It wasn't too long after she had learned how to shift did Rei experience what was considered the first sign of 'entering drakehood'. While baby dragons were called dracos, the teenage dragons were known as drakes. Though it wasn't exactly the deciding factor to her entering her teenage years, it meant that she was close enough to finally stop being addressed as a draco and start being addressed as a drake. Rei thought that she'd be more excited about the change, since it was obviously a big step in dragon culture...
Too bad she was in too much pain to really be in a mood to celebrate.
Or breathe.
If she could live without breathing for a while, she would have, but as fate would have it, one had to breathe to live. So she was stuck with having to wait as her second pair of lungs slowly inflated for the first time. Ayane had warned her it was not comfortable, but she might have warned her that it would hurt as badly as it did. She didn't know what made it hurt so much, perhaps because the skin that had once been stuck together was now slowly separating and filling with air? She wasn't sure. It hurt though, that's all that really mattered at the moment.
After about four hours, the pain slowly ebbed away and after the fifth hour, it was nothing by a dull throb. By six hours, Rei was wondering who was cruel enough to send Akira her way, asking her a thousand and one questions about her current condition when all she wanted to do was sleep, and by the seventh hour, she was well enough to tackle the young draco and forcefully silence his questions.
The next day, Rei realized something that she had always sensed was missing but could never truly figure out what it was.
Wind.
There was no wind on this island.
How did she know? Because it made flying ten times more difficult. In fact, she had yet successfully lifted off and taken to the sky. Without wind, it was difficult to get off the ground and more than not, Rei felt like she was jumping off of high ledges merely because she wanted to crash stylishly onto the hard ground.
Toshi-sensei was attempting to help her by allowing her to learn to fly in her smaller, more familiar form, but even that wasn't working. However, Rei diligently pressed on. Jumping off her designated ledge, flapping her wings the best she could, and smashing hard into the dirt below.
After five days of it, Rei was ready to scream.
She didn't show up for her training the next day, already certain that all she would accomplish was to further ruin one of her few articles of clothing far more than she could mend. Her old clothes were already getting too small for her and though she had taken out the clothes Gin had fitted for her so long ago, it was obvious that even those clothes, besides the jacket she once used as a cloak, were eventually going to be outgrown as well.
Ayane found her muttering angry words to herself as she futilely tried to sew while stewing in her frustrations. Honestly, Rei wouldn't even call it sewing since all she was accomplishing was stabbing her self multiple times with a damn needle. For a while, the younger female tried to ignore the elder's gaze, pretending to be mending one of the many tears in the shirt she had worn the day before, but Ayane was not one to be ignored for long. Eventually, her staring got to the girl before her.
"What?!" Rei snapped rather rudely, her usual good mood put off by her growing frustrations and the bad week she seemed to have been having.
"Thou art not to take such ill tone with this one. Thou art to respect this dragon and her mate as well as thy elders, thy teachers, and thy alpha." Ayane reprimanded as she gave a threatening growl. It was Rei's only warning to adjust her attitude towards the other female.
Rei was not foolish enough to defy such a warning. She laid her ears flat and bowed her head slightly before muttering an apology to her guardian. "Excuse this one's folly, Ayane-san."
"Tis excused." Ayane dismissed it, knowing the child would not purposely do it again. "What makes thee bitter enough to scowl angrily at thy meager task and to skip thy vital training. Tis important for a young drake to learn how to fly."
"This one has been learning more about how solid the ground is than how to fly." Rei shook her head, giving up her task when she pricked herself once more. She would attempt again when she wasn't so agitated.
"Thou hath been struggling in thy attempts to become air born?" Ayane easily guess, taking a seat next to the growing child under her care and stroking her hair in a soothing manner. The raven locks of hair had grown significantly longer since she had first come to them and her headband was beginning to look a little worse for wear.
That mattered little to Ayane at the moment though, being more concerned about the ruby eyed girl's confidence over flying above anything else. She looked at her hands in defeat as she nodded her head slowly, her downsized wings flittering in response to her mood.
"Thou art attempting in a more humanoid form? Why not in thy other form?"
"Tis uncomfortable when in dragon form," Rei confessed with a heavy shrug. "This one feels as if her skin is too big for her form, like... when she wears clothes many sizes too big for her form. It doth not feel natural. She would rather learn to fly first in this form before attempting to learn in her other, newer, more unfamiliar form."
Ayane nodded at the logic behind the reason. She had been very timid when she had first tried flying in the smaller humanoid shape. "This one, in truth, didst not attempt to fly in this form till she was confident in her more familiar form as well."
"How didst thee accomplish such a task? It seems near impossible of a feat to this young drake." Rei asked, her eyes now resting on Ayane's teal ones. "Thou were once a great flyer, no?"
"Verily. Among the best," Ayane couldn't help puff out her chest at that. "But Toshi still remains one of the best. Learn thy lessons well from him."
Rei for some reason returned to looking hopeless at that comment. "This one should have guessed that thou were not capable of offering guidance. She apologizes for putting high expectations on one who canst not fly any longer."
"Canst not fly any longer?" Ayane stood as she repeated the girl's last words. She couldn't help but see red at such words. The girl had not meant to insult her, but the words stung nonetheless. "How dare thee assume such things about this dragon!"
Instead of apologizing, Rei stared at her wide eyed, shocked at such a reaction from her usually level headed guardian. Ayane didn't care. She knew that she needed to put the child in her place.
"Pay attention, foolish young one, thou art about to learn that merely because one is limited by restrictions doth not mean that thou must accept those limits as reasons to give up thy dreams. This one may not be able to soar flawlessly as she once did, but that doth not mean she art grounded forever to this earthen floor!"
Rei watched with amazement as the dragon she had so wrongfully assumed could not fly because of only having one wing drew her qi behind her and gave it shape. It was almost humbling to watch as the older female displayed her level of qi control as the ice took form of a wing, bending and moving in perfect sync with her single teal wing. The amount of qi control Ayane must have attained to make ice continue to mold and move to her will was no doubt enormous.
As Ayane stretched out her other wing, her true wing, she shifted its form into something larger than she normally kept it. The size alone was massive and the ice wing was adjusted to match the long wingspan. Ayane gave the child one glance before she crouched low, her chest puffing out as she took in the necessary amount of extra air into her secondary pair of lungs, and forcefully shot herself into the air with one powerful leap. Her wings flapped with great intensity as she drew herself higher into the air, her stamina, qi control, and wing strength evident to the young girl as she watched her slowly begin to maneuver about in the windless sky.
She had learned how to fly on this island when she was just a drake, Rei realized. She was use to how there was no wind to lighten her burden during flight. Unlike the birds on Fireworks Island that used the wind draft to stretch out their wings and glide in the wind, Ayane's glides were short, mostly used to descend and adjust her trajectory. She used the air under her wings to slow her decent and would flap multiple times to rise. Even her tail was used to sway her directionality and when she had decided she had proven her point, she allowed herself smoothing glide close enough to the ground where she released her control of her ice wing, which disintegrated the moment her qi was no longer channeling through it, and angled her body so she would land on her feet.
She was breathing slightly hard, not from the amount of stamina required to fly, but from the amount of exertion it took to manipulate qi in the manner she had just done.
"There." She stated once she had caught her breath. "Doth that look like this one let her disability stop her? Doth it look like she canst not fly anymore? She did not allow such a simple obstacle stop her from ever flying again, she found another way." She took another deep breath before returning to what had instigated such a demonstration. "Thou art trying to fly in a different order than most, but that doth not make it impossible! Thou must merely not allow such an obstacle to stop thee from trying!"
Rei nodded, still dumbstruck at her female guardian's display.
"Good." She let out another heavy breath, closing her eyes for a second before snapping them open and giving her ward one last push. "Now GO!"
Rei didn't need to be told twice. She abandoned her sewing and quickly returned to the area Toshi-sensei had designated for her to train in. He was already there, looking curiously at his frazzled student he had thought was not going to show up today. She didn't even mutter a word at him as she quickly climbed to her ledge, stretched out her wings to an appropriate size, took in the proper amount of air within her second pair of lungs, jumped of the ledge, and proceeded to crash onto the ground below despite all her efforts.
Well, he figured, by the time she learned how to fly, she was going to be an expert at landing. He was simply glad that she brushed herself off, climbed back up onto the ledge, adjusted her technique, and tried again. Yes, she failed to fly and crashed harshly into the ground below, but Toshi was proud of her all the same. It is easy to give up when things are difficult, it is harder to press on even when things look futile. She would eventually learn to fly, that much Toshi was sure of, but it was going to take a bit of falling and getting back up before she did.
But wasn't that how all great things are achieved? Through struggle and effort? Nothing given is nothing gained. That was the world's law of equivalency, the law that dragon kind attempted to live by. Rei was merely learning this proverb the physical way.
Rei spent countless days learning how to stretch her wings and fly. She almost felt quite jealous to the baby birds how leapt from their nests and picked up how to fly before they hit the ground. She had managed to capture a bird once, a large on high in a tree she had climbed one day, and, without killing it, studied what made it different than her.
Her basic conclusion was it was lighter than she was and its body and wingspan supported its weight, regardless of the fact that it had to work just as hard to stay in the air as she did since there was no wind. For her, it meant that she needed more stamina and strength to fly. She already shifted her wingspan as large as it would go and she was making headway, but something eluded her.
It wasn't until she was sitting on one of the high branches of the massive tree near the forge that Tatsuo and Ayane also were responsible for when she finally learned. From that branch, she flapped her wings, holding onto the tree branch less she fall. She kept flapping, harder and harder and harder till she figured out how to efficiently flap them fast and hard. Taking in a deep breath to fill her second pair of lungs with the strange air they seemed to manifest when she did so, she could feel herself lighten. Not enormously, but enough to make a difference.
Though it wasn't that day she learned to fly, Rei continued to climb the massive tree, as high as she could get, which was higher than any brontosaurus could stretch its long neck, and would practice flapping. Everyday, after spending her allotted time with Toshi-sensei, studying qi, learning Drako, learning philosophy, and how to jump off high ledges and land on her feet (it use to be called crashing, but she had improved her skill level enough for it to be called 'landing'), Rei would climb up the large tree to spend some time reading her book in solitude and strengthening her wings.
At first, the climb would nearly take her all the rest of her evening. But the more she climbed, the more familiar she became with her body, her claws, tail, and wings especially. The climb up the tree slowly became easier and easier and soon she could scale the mighty tree without losing her grip or footing or tiring. And the more she practiced flapping and using her extra set of lungs, the more confident she felt in herself.
One day, Rei looked down at the jungle below, staring at the tops of trees and the small patches of earth she could see below, and without thinking twice, jumped. At first, panic at what she had just done filled her, but quickly she collected herself, stretching out her wings and filling her second pair of lungs and began to flap. The heavy sound of her wings beating fast and hard overpowered the sound of her erratic heartbeat pounding within her ears.
It took a moment before she realized that she was no longer falling, but instead rising further into the sky. She tentatively positioned her wings to glide, the still air beneath her filled the underside of her wings, allowing her to soar for a moment before she returned to flapping quickly and powerfully before gliding once more as she maintained her height in the sky.
Rei couldn't help but smile as her heart fluttered excitedly in her chest. No longer was she afraid of plummeting to the ground, but she was elated at her success. She was flying! It felt wonderful and familiar to her, like those short days where Uncle had let her fly on his back and let the air speed past her face and flood her senses. She remembered the feeling it brought her when she had first felt the rush around her and how she free she had felt up in the sky.
Slowly, as her impromptu flight lesson continued, Rei tested out the different techniques she was taught for basic flight, including using her tail to steer, shifting her body weight, and even how to land.
Okay, she had gotten pretty damn close to landing perfectly, but hey, she was use to crashing by then, so it wasn't as painful as if she wasn't use to it. Dusting herself off, there was no way that the smile on her be wiped off her face.
She had done it! She had finally flown.
She let out a shaky breath, letting out the extra air she had taken in. She felt exhausted, more so than she usually did when she climbed to the top of the tree, trained, and climbed down. Flying was a lot more strenuous than it looked, especially with no wind.
Taking to a crouching position, Rei quickly tested her ability to launch from the ground and take to the air. Her attempted only proved to her that she had a lot more to do, since not a second later she crashed into the dirt again as was dusting herself off once more. However, she was not too disappointed nor afraid that if was simply a fluke.
She had flown! She had succeeded!
Not only was she learning how to master her qi, how to shift more efficiently, how to speak their language, and how to fly, Rei finally felt like she was becoming more like the dragons that she admired so greatly. She wanted to delve further into their culture and to take their ways of life and their philosophies and make them her own.
Picking herself up from the ground, Rei quickly sprinted towards the forge to tell Tatsuo and Ayane the wonderful news, already certain that the Kasai dragon would throw her up on his shoulders and parade her about like he always did when she succeeded while Ayane tried to rescue her from her obviously over excited mate who well may try to throw her up into the air and see if she could fly if he did. Akira might even be there, ready to ask his thousand and one questions before his mother, who he no doubt ditched when she was not aware, comes and punishes her wayward draco.
Thus far, life was good, even though it was difficult at times, and she couldn't wait for the years to follow.
Kasai-Fire
Aisu-Ice
Soshi Shima-Element Island
A/N: Back for another chapter update! Volleys-chan and I are deeply grateful for your patience with our 'snail pace' updates which we apologize for as life gives us the turns we have to make before doing this. So the chapter has a lot of information for you, the readers, to understand. Rei comes up from a complex background which is the reason why we don't want a ton of flashbacks in the story. We hoped that you still enjoyed the chapter despite little dialogue, which the next chapter should make up for as well as introducing two canon characters I've mentioned two chapters ago. ;)
See you in the next chapter.