Disclaimer: Do not own One Piece. All plot and OCs belong to Volleys-chan and I.
The Dragon Chronicles
Chapter 14 - Dispensation
"Time is a sort of river of passing events, and strong is its current; no sooner is a thing brought to sight than it is swept by and another takes its place, and this too will be swept away."
-Marcus Aurelius
Time is the only thing that remains constant in the world. That was what Rei realized as she continued living her daily life on Soshi Shima among her dragon companions. The flow of time was the only thing that did not change as it continued on in its endless journey. Everything around time was subject to change. Seasons, the sun, the stars, the phases of the moon, islands, and people, even ones unchanging in appearance, were affected by time and its journey foreword.
Even she was subjected to the change that time brought. What's more, she was now painfully aware of how unaware of time she had spent the better part of her childhood. It had been a long time since she had gone to Drum Island and a long time since she had last seen Doctorine or Tona. She knew this to be true regardless of how unsure she was to how much time had passed exactly. Her life on Soshi Shima was definitely affected by how unchanging the people of the island were.
Akira was still a curious small draco, still full of an endless supply of questions and intrigue. Ayane and Tatsuo still worked at the forge for long hours of the day, creating masterpieces from precious metals and dragon scales. Toshi still was teaching dracos and drakes with patience as always and Katsumi was still the island's Alpha. The main reason she knew that much time had passed was because she changed, regardless of whether the dragons did or not.
Rei had long outgrown the clothes that she had once worn, now having to use the outfits once worn by Gin and hemming them to fit her. Ayane had even revealed the mystery of the silk bandages Gin had in her bag, teaching the girl to use the material to wrap her developing chest properly. The growing girl's small little shoes no longer fit and were in tatters with how long she had tried to keep them. The bottom of her soles were thick calluses from how long she had gone without them and not even sharp rocks hurt her feet anymore.
Her wiry short locks of hair had long grown out into a wild mane that ran down her back. While she brushed it when it counted, most of the time Akira managed to make a mess of it when he roughhoused with her. She couldn't even use the headband that Gin had given her, it having been wrecked one unfortunate game of hide and tackle. Rei had nearly cried over the loss of the gift if Tatsuo had not taken the gem upon it and forged it into a necklace. The girl was never seen without her beloved necklace around her neck after that.
She was taller than before as well. Though she wasn't as tall as her guardians, she no longer barely came up to Tatsuo's mid-thigh, now tall enough to stare unamused at his thick waist line with the huge pectorals muscles when he pulled her close to tease her about her diminutive height compared to his. Compared to Ayane at least, she was not as pathetically short, but hey, she wasn't even sure if she was short or small or lacking in muscle tone. She didn't have other humans to compare to, only Ayane and Tatsuo, neither of which were lacking muscle tone (no matter how elegant and sleek Ayane looked).
The funny thing was, was that it hadn't hit her at all that a lot of time had passed until one day when Akira had tried to sneak up upon her and she easily pinned the young draco and he began to fuss about how unfair her winning streak was. It was then that she realized that all her playful brawls with the young dracos ended with her pinning them and showing her dominance over them. That had been what had triggered her curiosity to how long she had been on the island.
At first, she tried counting days, but no matter when she began counting, she knew she was not aware of how many days had passed previously. She tried to count the cycles of the moon, the positions of the stars, the subtle seasons that passed, but no matter how she counted, she didn't know some of the most important questions filling her mind. How old was she now? How long had she been living upon this island? What day was it? Month? Year? Where was her birthday in comparison? When had been the last time she had seen her family? Gin? Drake? Kureha? Tona? She was angry with herself for being so ignorant of time previously. Memories of her life prior to her kidnapping were beginning to fade into bunch of mushy impressions. She could hardly even remember what Gin looked like or sounded like, regardless of the fact that she remembered that she looked and sounded beautiful. Small details, like how exactly she grinned or how her eyes twinkled mirthfully, were being forgotten with age.
She had gone to her elders about the dilemma, but much to her silent surprise, they didn't keep of track of time the same way humans did.
She had bugged Tatsuo about it one day, after he had finished telling her a story about some of his travels, this particular story about a human bladesmith he had met and 'accidentally' gave him tips on how to make powerful blades, as he worked on a commissioned piece of jewelry for one of the members of the herd. When she had asked her question, he stopped his hammering to look at her with this odd look.
"Ye don't get it, Lil' Drake, this one's kin doth not consider time the same way yer kind do. Humans count in seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries, and millennias. Dragons doth not. They doth not keep track of days or years. Instead, they observe time through important events, like the blossoming of this here tree." He gestured up at the huge tree that he, his mate, and Rei lived under. "Tis how we tell the passing of time."
"But why? Tis not paramount to know the day and hour or even years that thou lives upon this world?" Rei asked him, curious to his reply.
"No. Tis no point in countin' all those years. Dragons know their age eventually, but our lifespans art vastly different than that of humans." Tatsuo told her, beginning to hammer once more.
"How so?"
"Tis not something ye truly want ta know, lassie." His voice seemed oddly melancholy for his usual upbeat and boisterous attitude. Rei realized at that point that the male Kasai Dragon before her was quiet and saddened by where his thoughts had taken him.
"Prithee, do tell this one, Tatsuo-san, so that she doth understand why thee looks so melancholic. She promises that she willst listen and contemplate what thee hath to say." Rei pressed him.
She was frightened of his answer, but at the same time, she felt like it was something she had to understand. There was something that separated dragons from humans, much more so than just form, society, and means of communication.
"This one ain't unfamiliar with humans, having traveled the entirety of this world multiple times over." Tatsuo explained as he continued to work, Rei was unfazed by his dedication to his craft. "He hath met many a man, woman, child, and beast during those travels and became quite close ta a generous amount of them." His frown deepened as his red gaze stayed on the glowing form of his latest piece. "Tis only the truth he speaks when he says that none of them live today, all having been lost long before yer grandparents were a twinkle in yer great-grandparents' eyes." He stopped working to look at the child with a seriously grave look. "What tis a human lifespan in comparison ta a dragon's? Nothing but a fleeting moment in time. Merely a blink of an eye ta one like this dragon. Even ye will not outlive this one. One day, ye will be but a lingering memory ta him before ye."
That had caught Rei completely off-guard. The horrible realization of these people's longevity fell hard upon her at that moment as her stomach twisted itself in knots. She stared at Tatsuo with something akin to disbelief as she tried to find tells in his face that would lead her to the conclusion that he was making it all up. Dread fell upon her further when she realized he was not.
"W-what?" Rei swallowed dryly. She didn't want to believe it. She didn't want to believe that her life played such an insignificantly small part of his life. It hurt to think that she could spend her whole life on one island and it come to nothing comparatively.
Tatsuo put his taloned hands on her shoulders as he dropped down to his knees to level with her, eye to eye. "Hey, tis alright, lassie."
"Nay! Tis not alright!" Rei shook her head, trying to break out of his powerful hold. "Thou hath said it thyself, this one is insignificant in comparison! She willst pass from this plain before thou even canst realize it! Pray tell! How can she be alright with this?"
"Hey, hey, hey, hey, Lil' Drake!" Tatsuo cut her off, a stern look on his face. "This one never meant to say that yer life twas insignificant! Only the allot time ye art given to live it! This one hath met many a man and woman that hath shaped their world over and over again in less time than he before ye could ever dream to do in his long span. Ye art not insignificant, not to this one's mate, Toshi, Akira, Katsumi, or he. Ye art treasured. Even when ye art nothing but a memory, this one will always remember ya with great fondness."
Rei's mind settled at those words. She realized that she meant a lot to her dragon companions here on Soshi Shima and that it was just the sad reality for both them and her that she did not live the same amount of time.
"Katsumi-san said once that she believes this one will leave the island eventually." Rei muttered, unsure of why she was bringing up that conversation the two of them had a long time ago now.
"This one doth not doubt it." Tatsuo agreed, standing up now that his charge wasn't a wild mess of teenage hormones. He was not looking forward to the teenage years when he finally had spawn of his own though. "Ye art not destined to live here for yer whole life. None of yer kind, to be frank." He paused to look down at her as his next thought came to him. "Ya feeling that time's a coming soon, doth ya not?"
Rei nodded. "This one doth not know when, but she knows that she canst not stay here forever."
At one point, she thought that she wouldn't mind living here for the rest of her life, even if at first she had planned to leave. She had been eight at that time, inspired by tales of a seafaring woman and her own imagination. Over her time here, however long it had already been, she came to love the idea of staying. She thought she would grow up along side the dracos, learn forever from Toshi, maybe pick up smithing, and so many other tiny little daydreams. Maybe she would travel, she had thought after meeting Tona and Kureha, but she didn't want to leave Soshi Shima forever...
But now, she realized that she had to. Not because they were forcing her to go, but for the sake of her own life, she had to leave eventually. She couldn't simply be content living on one island where nothing changed ever because the flow of time was observed differently. She had to make something of her life, find her niche, like Katsumi had told her to do. She had a destiny, a fate, and was already tied to the lives of others far away from this one island, Katsumi already informed her. This island was merely a temporary stop, no matter how comfortable and simple life was on the island.
"Finish yer schooling with Toshi before ye decide ta head out. That much this one will advise ye ta do." Tatsuo returned to his forge, hands pressed against the rim as the dragon man leaned over to gaze at the fires burning within.
"Of course." Rei agreed. She wasn't even sure why it had to be said. The whole reason she stayed originally was to learn how to master her abilities as well as qi.
Tatsuo said nothing more, not even picking up his hammer to continue working on his commissioned piece. Their conversation obviously still weighing heavily in his mind as it did hers. Deciding the two of them needed their respectable space, Rei hopped off the rock she had been sitting on and made her way to the giant tree they lived under to begin her routine climb to the highest branches.
She had somethings she wanted to think about without being interrupted, especially by a inquisitive draco pup named Akira.
Despite the hard conversation she and Tatsuo had, Rei continued her daily life on Soshi Shima. A few things changed after that day, including how less and less the younger dracos were willing to play with her now that she fully entered her drakehood. She felt somewhat lonely because of it, especially since the drakes of the island would not affiliate themselves with her because they viewed her as 'too young' despite the fact that the dracos viewed her as 'too old'. She was socially caught in a middle ground that none of the dragons knew what to do with since they had all their pups around the same time to prevent such an occurrence that Rei found herself in. The only one of the dracos that still sought her out was Akira, of course, but even that relationship was strained by their mental maturity gap.
The best way she could describe it was that she had found herself in Neverland, with Akira being Peter Pan and the dracos as his lost boys. The only problem was that while everyone else never aged, never grew up, Rei was finding herself the single exception to that rule. She was the Wendy character, struggling with the fact that she was growing up and forced to face and accept the reality of what went with that. On top of that, it wasn't like Wendy who was simply moving out of the nursery and getting her own room, Rei would be getting the whole world to explore.
She sometimes felt overwhelmed by the idea of returning to a society she had long since been taken from where she wasn't quite sure of the rules anymore.
Secretly, Rei was trying to find any reason she could to stay on Soshi Shima without looking like she was staying because she was afraid of the change leaving brought. She knew one day she was going to leave. She had to! She just knew she had to from deep inside her. But despite that understanding and slowly growing desire to leave and travel like she had once dreamed of doing as a child listening to Gin's adventurous tales, Rei was also filled with anxiety over the upcoming event. She didn't know when the time would come and it was eating away at her.
In order to counteract this growing anxiety, Rei did her best to fill her days with as much as she possibly could. The less time she had to think about such things, the easier it was to keep her anxieties at bay. However, she knew in the back of her mind that one day she was going to have to face her growing anxieties head on and either overcome them or drown in them.
And that day was creeping upon her. In fact, she wasn't even aware how close that day was until it was too late.
Rei had been doing as she had done every afternoon, working with Toshi as he schooled her in her understanding and mastery of manipulating qi. Because she was naturally a Kasai user with the devil fruit abilities of an Aisu dragon, she could manipulate both fire and ice. Due to that unique ability, she had to understand both spectrums of heat to properly manipulate the opposite elements. Fire had come naturally to her and was the first of the two elements she had become apt in while ice had taken her a while longer because it went against her original nature. However, the more she worked at it, the more she understood both elements and the easier it was to use them.
Not only that, but qi could be used for so much more than creating a concentrated shot of fire come out of her fist or freezing over a lake or tree. She could use the qi to sense things around her. She could map out the entire forest, knowing what was earth, water, plant life, wildlife, and dragon life. Hell, if she really concentrated she could navigate the forest with her eyes closed, though it was extremely difficult to do because it took all her focus to do so. The further she had to expand her qi, the more focus and energy it required.
Qi was also used in manipulating one's shape. It was how she could shift her form from a human to a dragon or pull out her dragon appendages or hide them again. In fact, she was sure there were thousands of more applications for qi that had yet been explained to her or even discovered and she enjoyed every session she had with Toshi-sensei as he further expanded her understanding and mastery of qi.
Perhaps that was why she had not been expecting what was about to happen that day. She felt there was so much she still had to learn that she did not think that her schooling, and time upon Soshi Shima, was coming to an end.
Toshi-sensei had just put her through one hell of a review, going over all the lessons she had ever learned under his tutelage, including telepathy, Drako, shifting, Kasai qi manipulation, Aisu qi manipulation, general qi manipulation, and flight. They had been doing this review for nearly a month in a half, going from the basics to the more advanced techniques that she wasn't expecting what happened after she successfully preformed the most advanced move in her arsenal.
"Excellent!" Toshi praised her, causing the young drake to preen with pride at his encouraging word. "Thou hath come to understand qi and its facilities quite well, young drake. This one congratulates thee in thy accomplishments."
"Thank you, Toshi-sensei." Rei thrummed up at her teacher as she took in his compliments with much satisfaction. She had worked hard to get to where she was now in her skills and it was nice to be recognized by one of her superiors for that effort.
"Tis astounding at times to think of what thee hath accomplished in such short time. Thou art quite the prodigy, to hath learned as quickly as thou has." Toshi informed the child, well aware that his student was now bashful at his praises. Too much praise, despite how deserved it was, would embarrass the child. She had always been overly humble at times.
"This one tis hardly a prodigy, Toshi-sensei. Merely more apt at focusing than thy other students." Rei blushed at his words, unable to take the compliment without feeling haughty. In order to avoid her teacher needlessly praising her for her ability to learn for more than five seconds without getting distracted, like the young dracos of the island did, she decided to ask about their next lesson. "What will thou be teaching this one now that she hath overcome thy review?"
What sort of qi techniques would he instruct to her? How to manipulate weather? How to manipulate ice's mold in a constant manner as Ayane did when she flew? She was excited to know what new tricks she would learn now that she had a strong grasp of the fundamentals.
"Nothing." Toshi responded, completely shocking his student with his words. "Thou hath graduated my lessons. Thou canst do anything now that thou hath passed my basic, moderate, and advance classes. Everything else tis simply practice, innovation, and experience, Little Drake."
That had not been what Rei had expected to hear. She stared at him with shock evident in her expression as her mind swam around the words he spoke. She couldn't believe what she had thought he had said to her telepathically. There had to be some sort of mistake. Her? Finished? There was still so much she felt like she didn't know.
"W-w-what?" Rei spoke aloud, no longer able to mentally project her thoughts as her distress whirled around in her mind. "What doth thou mean... Graduated? This one is hardly ready to be graduated! She cannot do anything comparatively!"
Toshi was instantly perplexed at his student's reluctance to believe his words. Should she not be excited that she had passed all his lessons, in record time even? There was more to this than just her graduating, he surmised, whatever had brought on this outburst was the heart of her recent anxieties. He had no doubt about it. Time to figure out what was going on with his brilliant young prodigy student.
"No, thou hath indeed passed this ones courses. In dragon community, thou art now a young drake readying to take her first steps towards becoming independent and growing in thy unique skill set. Not something that thou can normally attain through merely learning the basics of dragon culture." Which consisted of Qi manipulation, flight, speaking Drako, knowing the idiosyncrasies of dragon culture, and mental projection. "Thou must now go out on thy own and discover thy own personal strengths, the things that thee excel at and art passionate about. Tis not something that can be taught through lectures and standard courses."
Rei shook her head, tears threatening to fall while she shook as her anxieties all came bubbling out of her. "But this one is not ready! She does not want to leave yet! She still hath so much she can learn from thee! Don't make her leave! Don't send her away!"
Toshi suddenly understood. Rei was scared of leaving the island. While not something that usually happened anymore once a drake graduated his lessons, Rei was the exception to that rule because of her human blood. She knew that her time to leave was coming close at hand, a time when she'd forever leave the island and return to the people and culture she had left behind to be a part of this one, but now that it was soon to be a reality, she was frightened of it.
The world outside this one had not been kind to her before the dragons of Soshi Shima had inherited her as their ward. She had been set apart by her unique features and forgotten heritage, which had caused many hardships for her. Here, the dragons did not judge, but out there? She would become set apart once more. Not only that, but she was not sure what she would come to find away from the safety of Soshi Shima.
It was also obvious that she was afraid of them forcing her to leave. Her past abandonment by the people she loved, however unintentional it had been, made her fearful of being all alone again. The young drake knew that she would not be able to find the island by herself if she were to leave, so, by sending her out to travel the world to find her place within it, was like abandoning the child completely in her mind, at least somewhere in the dark corners of her thoughts.
"Oh Little Drake," Toshi sighed, "Thou art not to be abandoned by us. The finishing of thy lessons doth not mean we will cast thee from thy home. Not until thou art ready."
Rei, who had at that point started to cry, sniffled as she wiped her open palms against her cheeks to dry them of their tears. "Thou willst not?"
"Nay. None of the dragons, let alone this one, would ever cast thee out. And as for leaving one day, thou art more than ready to do so at anytime now. However, thou should leave when thou art good and ready to leave."
Looking down at her hands, her small human hands that were covered in nicks and marks and faded yet still noticeable, tiny scars from before she had come to them, Rei spoke aloud her insecurities. "This one hardly thinks she will ever feel ready for leaving. But she knows she hath a destiny waiting out there for her to find. Katsumi-san has told her as much in her talks about her sight beyond the physical realm. This one's red string of fate leads away from here and links her to many."
"Then what doth thou fear? The unknown? Tomorrow is unknown. There is no telling what it will bring. Life or death. The future is a mystery, the past is our history, and the present is a wonderful gift. So if thou art to treasure thy present, thou must embrace thy past, and look forward to what the future brings forth."
"This one sees thy point, Toshi-sensei." Rei nodded, taking in a shaky breath as she slowly calmed down. "But tis hard to go forward. What should she do now?"
"For now, perhaps it would be best to set a date for thy departure. Twould be best to work towards that day and prepare thee fully for leaving. Thou hath finished thy tutelage under this dragon, but thou needs to prepare mentally for thy departure as well. This one can also say for certain that there art multiple dragons that wouldst like to help equip thee for thy upcoming adventure. Doth that sound like an agreeable suggestion for thee?"
"Verily, Toshi-sensei." Rei nodded, a shaky half-smile adorning her lips. "When should this one plan to leave?"
Toshi seemed to muse something before taking a look at the sky above. "Twould be best to send thee on thy way when the waxing moon is almost full, to allow a source of light as thy travels the seas at night."
"The moon is currently waning, the full moon occurred four nights ago." Rei informed her teacher, knowing quite well that the dragons did not take notice of such things unless they had to, like now.
"Then thou will plan on leaving a day after the waxing half moon takes its place in the sky. Doth that sound agreeable to thee, young drake?" Toshi didn't want to decide anything for the child if she thought herself not ready.
"Tis well enough." Rei nodded. It was as good as it was going to get with her. She knew her apprehension to leaving the island would not disappear merely because they set a date nearly three weeks out from this day. However, she knew she had to leave and perhaps it was best to do it sooner than later, where it would be harder to leave the comforts of familiarity and routine.
"Very good." Toshi thrummed, tilting his head towards the giant tree in the center of the island. "Thou should go celebrate thy graduation with thy guardians. This one knows that Tatsuo had something special for thee as a graduation gift. Perhaps thou should ask him about it."
Already knowing it would occur, Toshi wasn't surprised when the young girl perked up at that information. Rei was off like a bullet, quickly saying her goodbye as her ever present curiosity propelled her towards the forge and to where Tatsuo was likely to be. Even though she lived with the two craft dragons, Tatsuo and Ayane didn't make her a lot of things because she was so young and would outgrow any jewelry made for a child in a matter of a few years. However, now that she was significantly older, Toshi knew that both Ayane and Tatsuo were considering crafting things for her now, especially since she was to be leaving soon. He didn't doubt for a second that the next few weeks would have both craft dragons working feverishly at the forge on items specifically for the girl and her upcoming journey.
Now, he contemplated, what would he provide his student as she prepared to leave in the next few weeks? It was a good question that left that Aisu dragon thrumming with thought for the next few hours before his lessons with his drake students began.
"Young One." The voice of Ayane forced Rei to look up from her work. Ever since the date of her departure had been decided, Rei had been working hard at making sure she had enough provisions for her journey. She wasn't sure how long it would take her to find land and she wanted to have enough food, water, and other necessities to help her reach whatever island she came upon.
Tatsuo and Ayane's graduation gift was really coming in handy as she was packing to leave. When she had come to tell them of her success and of her impending departure date and that Toshi-sensei had maybe let it slip that they had something for her as a graduation gift, Tatsuo laughed heartily at her excitement before Ayane went and got her gift. To be honest, when Ayane had presented her with Gin's old leather backpack, she had been a little confused. She had stopped using the bag due to the harsh wear and tear she was afraid might be administered to one of the few things she had left of the woman. Imagine her surprise when the two craft dragons revealed what they had done to the old leather bag.
In the simplest of terms, they had modified it, giving the backpack an unusual trait, an unlimited space for packing. A void pouch, as Ayane had called the trait, was something that used special materials imbued with the powers of Munashii Dragons's scales. By focusing her qi as she attempted to place or retrieve something from within the bag, the pouch became bottomless and endless as everything would be stored in a private void only accessible through the backpack itself. Rei couldn't help but love the gift, no longer worried about storing the many things she wanted to take with her as she journeyed through Paradise. What was even more thrilling was the fact that they had made her a smaller pouch that easily strapped around her upper thigh and could be accessible to her when her backpack might not be.
Since then, she had been slowly organizing what was to go in the side pouch for anytime access and what would stay or go in the backpack. So far, her hunting knife, her medical kit, her sewing kit, the grappling hook, and its companion belt and gloves were in her side pouch. Her clothes, furs, and book were to stay in the backpack along with any extra provisions she was taking.
She had just finished putting her book in her leather bag when Ayane had drawn her attention. She looked up curiously to the teal colored dragoness as she acknowledged her calling. "Yes, Ayane-san?"
Ayane looked at the work the girl had accomplished already before turning her turquoise gaze to meet Rei's crimson colored one. "Doth thou hath time to spare at the moment? This one wishes thy presence for something important."
Rei was busy, yes, but she could do this later. "This one can attend anything that art required of her now. What doth thou need of her, Ayane-san?"
"Lay near the forge in thy full dragon form. This one wants to view thy tail." Ayane told her calmly, watching as the young girl's features lit up with realization.
"Thou art going to access her tail?" That meant that Ayane would probably give the crystalized bone underneath her tail mane shape, like she had seen upon Ouji's tail.
"Perhaps. If this one deems thee ready for such a task. If so, twill take a few hours to shape and design. Doth thou hath the time for that currently?" Ayane asked, a teasing smile twisting upon her lips.
"Yes! Yes! Yes! This one doth hath the time for thee to work upon her tail's blade and give it shape!" Rei jumped up, nearly tripping over her things as she dashed clumsily over the short distance to the forge.
"Good," Ayane laughed mirthfully as she watched her young ward clamor about in her excitement. "Take thy full dragon form so this one can start her work. She hath been working on this design for some while now and she thinks that thou will definitely be pleased by it."
Rei nodded, fully trusting that anything Ayane designed would be elegant and refined. She didn't linger in her human form long and quickly let the transformation to her dragon form take place. She still marveled at how much bigger she was in this form compared to the dracos and how small she still was in comparison to the most of the drakes and all of the adult dragons. Then again, the first thing she had learned about dragons was that they never stopped growing in this beastial form. Only if they took a humanoid form did they not constantly grow larger.
"Lay down and get comfortable, twill be a while before thou willst be able to move." Ayane told her, already heading for Rei's tail to take a look at the crystalized bone she was to shape and mold. She hummed in her assessment as she pulled back the mane that hid the anomaly to gauge if it was ready to be shaped. "This one thinks that thou art ready, Young One. She will start working on thy tail's blade now and should be done with the first part within a few hours. The second part will be continued in the morrow."
Rei thrummed her acceptance and closed her eyes as Ayane went to work, knowing the female liked it best when all was quite as she worked. It was a little hard not to fidget at times, the pressure of Ayane carving away at the crystalized bone was not comfortable at all, let alone when Ayane blew her teal taroth flames upon it to soften the material. However, Rei was disciplined enough to keep still as focus on the thoughts of how Ayane would design the structure of her tail blade.
"Art thou getting excited for thy adventure?" Ayane and Tatsuo had been making it a habit to call her leaving 'going on an adventure' over saying that she was 'going away forever'. It made it sound less permanent to Rei, which was the desired outcome, she supposed.
"This one tis not dreading it anymore." Rei gave her answer, still a little nervous upon the subject.
"Tis good to leave and experience the world around thee. Especially for one like thyself. There art so many things that we, as dragons, cannot tell thee and thy answers lie far from the beaches of this island. Twill be good for thee to search them out and come to discover things thou cannot learn here."
"Answers to questions unanswerable here?" Rei nearly snorted at the thought, withholding only so she wouldn't be perceived as rude. "Dragons art far more knowledgeable than humans, if this one could be so bold as to say."
"True, this one's kin live long lives and manifest natural abilities far beyond human understanding, but that doth not mean we hath all the answers. There are more things out there in that world than even us dragons know of or, possibly, realize, due to our seclusion." Ayane explained, pausing for a long while before adding, "or perhaps, there are answers out there to questions thee have that we art forbidden to speak to thee about."
That caught the girl's attention. Her curiosity was peeked by that comment, however offhanded it was made to sound, Rei knew Ayane too well to know that it was the whole purpose of this conversation. Rei had been asking many questions as of late, questions about dragons, about why they had chosen their seclusion when it seems there had been a time when they roamed the world freely, and, most of all, why or how she had been naturally blessed with the spirit of a Kasai dragon.
Questions rose up in the girl the older she got and the more she pondered her uniqueness. There had been a time that Gin had told her that they both had come from the same people-group. The tell-tale of this rare birthright only displayed through the vivid coloring of their eyes. The more she lived with the dragons, she began to wonder if that legacy Gin spoke of was what the dragons here called being 'born with a dragon's spirit'. And if so, how was one born with a dragon spirit when they were born of a human womb?
Rei had asked Toshi-sensei, Tatsuo, Ayane, and even Katsumi-san, but each time she asked, she was given no real answer. Toshi-sensei, Tatsuo, and Ayane merely told her it was something she would have to ask Katusmi-san, while Katsumi-san told her that it was not something she needed to fret about, that she should merely be happy that she was counted among their kin. The finality in Katsumi's tone told Rei not to breech the subject again. It was not something she was going to learn here on Soshi Shima.
But it was not something that could be withheld from her if she searched for it out in the world of humans. Perhaps her answers lay beyond these shores? Rei suddenly was more interested in her up and coming journey. Far more than she had prior to Ayane's casual hint.
No more words were spoken, Ayane continued to focus on her work while Rei fell deep into thought, thinking of many things she had not thought of for what seemed be forever, including Gin, Drake, and her family. She wondered if she would come across Drake and her family during her travels and perhaps even run into a few reminders of Gin.
She would like that. She admitted to herself. While the memories of her time with Gin were still strong in her mind, she was slowly forgetting the image of the woman the memories were about. If she could find even one picture of Gin out there in the human world, Rei realized, it would make the entire thing worth it.
Right then and there, Rei was determined to make this journey, regardless of how frightening it might be, if only to seek out the secrets that Gin had whispered to her about and to find something to restore the image of the pirate woman to her memories. Yes, Rei was going to leave and she was going to do so with great determination to fulfill her goals.
The next few weeks seemed to fly by for Rei and soon it was the day she was to leave. She had gotten a lot of things done in the small amount of time she had to prepare and often had been caught off guard by the gifts given to her by those she had been very close to during her stay on the island. Tatsuo and Ayane probably had showered her with the most gifts. The two of them had seemed determined to make up for all the lost time of not making her jewelry since she had been too young prior to estimate how big she would get when she was full grown. Now they had given her large amounts of jewelry that Rei wasn't even sure what to do with, bracelets, necklaces, armlets, anklets, rings, and jewelry for her horns, tail, wings, and ears. She had more jewelry than she knew what to do with, to be honest. She wore what she could without looking over the top, in her mind, or conspicuous, which, in her opinion, consisted of two pairs of earrings on each ear, her necklace with Gin's gemstone, and one anklet.
Tatsuo nearly had a fit because that was all she would wear at most. Rei assured him that she would take care of his other gifts and wear them at the appropriate times, and only at those times. He sighed, but took what he could get from the girl, internally blaming himself for not getting her more familiar with wearing more jewelry when she was much younger.
Her tail blade had also been finished by Ayane and the design upon it was beautiful. It was hard to describe the intricate design of the blade itself let alone the engravings place upon the blade. All that could be said was that Rei found it beautiful and loved staring at it when she had the time. Ayane was please enough by Rei's adoration and cared little if the girl wasn't wearing much of the other adornments she had worked upon. She knew the girl was grateful, if a bit overwhelmed, by the sudden onslaught of gifts. It would take time for her to adjust to having so many fine pieces of jewelry when prior to that she only had the one necklace with the gemstone given to her by her precious Gin.
Now, standing at the shores where she had first been dropped off onto the island, Rei was now gazing at the dragons who had a hand of raising her into the young drake she was now as well as her loyalist of draco friends.
Toshi-sensei, Tatsuo, and Ayane were all in their humanoid forms while Akria and his mother remained in their beast forms. Katsumi laid in the warm sand behind the three other adult dragons as she held Akria under one of her massive claws so that the young draco did not interrupt till it was his turn.
"Ah, so the day ye art ta leave has finally come upon us," Tatsuo sighed, his mood reminiscent as his eyes glazed over a bit. "Reminds this one of his own journey from Soshi Shima. The world of men hath always been very different than t'at of dragons. Twas truly fascinating as it was frightening at times." He pulled from his memories to smile at the young girl before him, who barely reached his torso height wise. "Twill do ye good ta see and experience it, Lil' Drake."
Rei nodded, she was nervous but not as much as she thought she would be. Perhaps her motivation to seek out the questions she had been denied on Soshi Shima had steeled her resolve or perhaps the talk of adventure that Tatsuo and Ayane kept mentioning had finally won over her thoughts of leaving forever. The two always made it sound like one day she'd be able to see them all again.
"Since thou art leaving on a journey of discovery, tis customary to present thee with parting gifts to aid thee in thy plight." Ayane informed the girl.
"But thou hath already given so much to this one!" Rei wasn't sure what'd she do with more jewelry, if she were to be honest.
Ayane chortled softly, pulling out a cloth of silk with her gift wrapped inside. "Trust this one, Young One, she knows thee hath more than enough jewelry. This gift is so that even when thou art among humans, thee willst always be well equipped to defend thyself."
Rei's curiosity won over as she slowly accepted the gift and unwrapped the silk from around her gift. Her eyes widened in awe as she looked at the finely crafted gloves with long golden claws designed into the fingertips.
"The claws are hollow so that thee can fit they own claws into them without people realizing that thou doth hath claws. The gloves are adjustable so that when thou continue to grow that thou willst not outgrow these. Twould not do for a young drake to not be able to summon her claws when she hath need of them, no? Humans will merely believe that thou hath an usual commodity."
"Thank you so much, Ayane-san!" Rei immediately was trying them on, pleased when they were already adjusted to fit her hands perfectly. The artificial talons were thick but light, not at all like what gold of this amount would feel like. More like... Rei glanced up in surprise as she wordlessly questioned Ayane's choice of material.
"Tis true. This one used some of the scales given to us by thy Denkou dragon friend. That way, thee will always have something to remember the dragon by." Ayane smiled.
Rei hugged the female dragoness fiercely. She heard Ayane laugh lightly as she gave her a light hug back, being careful to not use too much strength on the young drake. "Thou art very welcome Rei. Use thy gift well."
"This one will," Rei promised, pulling back and wiping away a stray tear. She was already use to have her claws out all the time, so she was easily able to avoid injuring herself with the gloves on.
"Tis this one's turn to present thee a gift." Toshi spoke up next, he too having wrapped something up in a silk cloth. Rei sometimes wondered where they even got the material, but she never bothered asking. "This one commissioned this piece, so in a way tis a gift from all three of us, but this dragon was given the honor to presenting it to thee."
Rei accepted the cloth and worked around it to discover what was inside. It was a necklace, she realized. However, unlike the necklaces and other jewelry she had been given, this one was made of a simple leather thong with only three charms upon it. Each charm was beautifully crafted and unique in their appearance and on each one was a written symbol Rei did not understand. There was a red charm, made of Kasai scale, a turquoise one, made of Aisu scale, and there was a golden one, no doubt made of her Denkou dragon's scales. Though is was much simpler than her other necklaces, Rei couldn't have put it on fast enough. She loved it!
"Whaaaaat?! Ye loves that one more than the other necklaces this one made ye? This dragon didn't even make a chain fer it! Just a piece of leather with clasps at the end!" Tatsuo loudly complained before letting out an annoyed huff. "Damn, this one can never understand female drakes like this one. He gives up even trying to understand yer oddities."
"At least she loves the gift, Tatsuo." Toshi laughed at the craft dragon's outburst. "This one doth believe that she will wear that necklace as much as her other one, no, Rei?"
"Un!" Rei beamed up at Toshi-sensei. "This one will keep it with her at all times, Toshi-sensei. Thank you for such a wonderful gift!"
"Keh," Tatsuo huffed as he crossed his arms. "Almost makes this one want to recant his final gift to thee, but it took to damn long to make to keep out of spite."
"Tis not more jewelry, is it?" Rei wrinkled her nose at the idea of her last gift from Tatsuo being something as plain as jewelry. Toshi hardly gave her anything and his necklace he commissioned fell perfectly into her taste preference, but it would have been just wrong if Tatsuo did so. He made jewelry often, yes, but it wouldn't suit his personality if that was his last gift to her before her journey. But, to be honest, she was happy they wanted to give her anything at all as goodbye gifts, so she would take whatever he gave her with a grateful heart.
However, if it did end up being jewelry, she would tease him over it, no doubt about it.
"NO! Tis not jewelry!" Tatsuo almost stomped his foot like a little child. "Just because of that, this dragon will wait to give ye his gift last and ye won't even be allowed to look at it till after ye head out!"
"Tatsuo, just give the child her gift. She hath done more than enough to deserve such an endowment from thee." Katsumi's voice thrummed through all their minds, causing Tatsuo to sigh in defeat.
"Alright, alright." He accepted grumpily. "Twould not be good to give such things to her and send her on her way without some sort of word about them, this one supposes..."
He walked a ways away from where they were to a nearby rock on the beach, pulling from it a long fur hide with his gift wrapped securely inside with think leather straps around the fur to keep it bound together. He brought it back to Rei and presented the long fur wrapped gift to her with two hands on each side.
"Think of this as not only a gift, but something similar as a sound of mind fer this dragon." Tatsuo began. "Sometimes, out there in the human world, ye cannot use yer dragon powers. Humans doth not understands us anymore and fear what they doth not understand. So, when the time comes that thee cannot access yer dragon powers, take these and use them to defend yerself. This one doth not want to boast, but he strongly believes that these are the finest pieces he hath ever made. But be careful, as well as they can defend life, they also hath the power to take life as well..."
Rei tried to figure out what Tatsuo was talking about, noticing that whatever was hidden under the fur pelt was long and not jewelry. Her eyes widened as she came to her conclusion.
"Thou hath made this drake swords?!" Oh ancestors above, if he was teasing her about this she would never forgive him.
"Find yerself a good swordsmaster and allow him to teach thee how to properly wield them. This one doth not want thee using them until thou understands how, ye understand, Lil' Drake?" Tatsuo told her in a stern voice, the one that meant he was serious about what he was saying.
"This one will! She will, she will, she will!" Rei grasped the fur pelt into her hold and clung tightly to her new swords, too excited at the idea of even having swords made by Tatsuo the Master Bladesmith himself to actually think of looking at the blades just yet. That would be a private moment where no one could hear her squeal like a draco pup.
"Good." Tatsuo said, pleased by her assertion that she would heed him. He inwardly smirked at his round about way of making the girl keep her promise, glad she had yet tried to sneak a peek at the gifts just yet. "When ye get a chance, find those two good names, alrighty?"
"Un!" Rei nodded once again, the smile on her face could not be removed by anything at this point.
"Ah, then it seems tis someone else's turn to say goodbye to ye," Tatsuo mussed a hand through her raven locks of hair, laughing at her indignant 'hey' as she ducked out of his grasp. "Next time we speak, we'll speak of the things ye hath seen and done, got it, Lil' Drake?"
"Indeed, Tatsuo-san." Rei nodded before turning her attention just in time to dodge Akira's pounce. She quickly readjusted herself and pinned the draco beneath her, regardless of the fact that she was still holding onto fur pelt that held her blades with both hands.
"This one will miss thee, Rei. Who art going to play with him now that thee art going away?"
"Thou still hath the other dracos to play with. Thou willst not get lonely, Akira." Rei assured the draco before letting him up.
"But thou were the only one that this draco could not defeat." Akira whined, "Canst he not come with thee on thy journey?"
Rei switched the pelt her blades where in to one hand as she kindly petted her dear draco friend endearingly behind his ears. "This one and thee both know that thou cannot come. Thou must stay here and be tutored like this one. Then thou may entreat thee mother to see if she will allow thee to journey once thou hath graduated thy lessons with Toshi-sensei, just like this one."
Rei knew that his mother would probably never allow him to leave, but at least it gave the draco something to focus on for a while until he overcame his loneliness for her.
"Then this one will focus more than he hath ever done so before! He will soon be out adventuring thy human world alongside thee! This one assures thee!"
Rei laughed. "This one will keep an open eye for thee in the near future then."
With one last pounce, Akria easily toppled over the girl the same size as his young dragon self and soon found himself pinned once more as Rei nipped at his hide and pulled at his mane. The adult dragons let out their sounds of amusement before Katsumi finally directed Rei's attention to her.
"To be honest, this one feels as if thou had only just been given to our care by thy previous guardian. Tis the same beach that we met upon and the same place as where thou passed this one's test and awakened thy inner dragon."
"Tis truly, thou this one doth not perceive it merely as yesterday." She had no clue how long ago it was, but it felt like ages to her. Back then she was small and scared and weak, now Rei could honestly say she wasn't as small, nor scared, nor weak- though how strong she was still eluded her.
"Indeed. To thee, much time must hath seemed to hath passed. Now, thee art to leave this world behind and re-enter the world thee left behind to stay upon this haven. Art thou nervous?"
"Verily, if this one is to be honest with thee, Katsumi-san. She doth not even know of which direction to head once she has left these shores." Rei confessed.
"This one understands. She could say that thee will know where to go if thou art to follow thy instincts, but as her parting gift to thee, she will allow thee sight to guide thee to the place where thee art to meet thy first person thou art connected to." Katsumi closed her eyes and Rei felt a flood of power envelop her before fading into nothing. She peered down to her ankle to see a red cord tied around it and leading her in the direction to the first person she was destined to meet.
"Tis strange. This one thought that the red string of fate was upon one's little finger..." Rei mused as she stood on her cordless leg and tried to pull at the red cord connected to her other. Her hand fazed right through it.
"This one hath granted thee sight beyond sight. Twill not last and will only show thee thy brightest cord, but it will get thee to the island that thou art to go to before it fades." Katsumi explained before thrumming humorously. "As for the string upon thy little finger, tis the red string of destiny. That one binds thee only to thy fated lover."
Rei blushed at the idea. "This one doubts she will ever like somebody like that."
"A child cannot understand what an adult will want. Do not assume what thou cannot even begin to understand." Katsumi cryptically told her.
"Yes Katsumi-san." Rei bowed her head submissively and did not bother to argue with the large Kasai dragon.
"Now since Akira art too young to present thee with a proper gift, this one shall bestow upon thee one last gift. Name what thou wishes of this dragon." Katsumi told her, allowing the child to pick out her final gift from the Alpha female.
"Would it be too much to ask thee to answer a question?"
"It would be if it is the question this dragon knows thee longs for an answer to." Katsumi was already well aware of what question Rei wanted. She wanted to know why she had been blessed with a dragon spirit when her mother and father were both humans. "This one will not answer that question, dear child. It is something us dragons long ago swore not to speak about again when we withdrew from the human realm. That tis something thou must journey to discover thyself if thee truly desire the questioned answered."
"Yes Katsumi-san." Rei bowed her head, accepting that she could not get her answers so easily. Perhaps it was because Katsumi knew that for every question that was answered, two would take its place. It was how Rei was.
"Thou hath learned much during thy time here with us, but there art still much for thee to learn out within the vastness of Paradise and even New World. The truth of the world is that understanding things, such as what thee longs to know, is a lifelong process. However, when though art feeling distressed and discouraged by the little thou may hath accumulated, remember this: self-discovery is found throughout the journey, not at the end of it."
"Yes Katsumi-san." Rei wasn't sure what Katsumi meant entirely, but she knew to honor and cherish the words of wisdom as one day they would no doubt make sense.
"Good Young One." Katsumi thrummed her approval. "Now speak thy final request so that we may allow thee to start thy journey while the sun still lingers in the sky."
Rei may not have been given her answers, but she thought of the next best thing. "This one wishes to be able to return here one day. Tatsuo-san has often spoken about the special event of thy great tree blossoming and producing thy special produce. This one would be honored if thou would allow her to return to witness such a spectacle as that."
Katsumi thrummed a few moments before purring. "Very well, this one can allow such a wish to be granted. When the time comes, thou will be summoned to witness our special festival."
"Thank thee Katsumi-san." Rei couldn't help but smile. It meant that she would have at least one more chance to see everyone she cared about upon the island in the distant future. That was all she could really ask for.
"Thou art welcome child." Katsumi told her before looking at Toshi. "Toshi will be the one to escort thee past the coral reef. Once he has done so, follow the red cord of fate to the island where thou art to meet the first of many lives thou art to touch. And remember to celebrate thy uniqueness, tis what connects thee to us here on Soshi Shima. Remember thy training and seek out thy natural gifts that stem from thy abilities taught to thee by Toshi. Walk the human world and learn through thy journey what it means to human in body and dragon in spirit."
"Yes, Katsumi-san." Rei acknowledged the parting words as she made sure she had everything and began to approach Toshi, who was to see her off safely.
"And child." Katsumi added one last thing before knowing she had told Rei all that she had wanted to tell the child. "Thou art free to travel wherever thou wishes, but heed this one's final warning to thee... There art an island among all islands that would be best for thee to avoid outright. Tis not a place for the likes of thee to visit." Katsumi was nearly growling in outright anger as she continued to telepathically speak her warning to the child. "Stay away from the island known as Sabaody Archipelago. Our kin doth not belong on an island as vile and deceptive as that one. Thou understand, Young One?"
Rei tried not to tremble in fear at the name of the island she had now received a warning, not once but twice now, about. Gin had told her something similar and now Katsumi spoke the same warning, only with much more anger than she had ever seen the dragon display.
"Y-yes Katsumi-san." Rei was not sure what Sabaody was like, but she knew that if she could help it, she would never want to go there.
Katsumi calmed instantly. "Good girl. Thou will do well on thy journey, this one hath no doubt. Now take her words with thee and set forth."
Rei nodded as she once more said her goodbyes before following after Toshi-sensei, who wordlessly began to walk towards the ocean waves beating lightly against the shore. Since there was no wind on the island, the waves never got to powerful and merely kissed one's bare feet if they got to close to the water. Rei watched in intrest, unsure how she was suppose to start this journey since she couldn't always just fly, especially since there wasn't any wind in the Calm Belt. She was nearly floored when Toshi began to freeze the water beneath his feet and slowly create a path a few feet before him as he began to walk towards the coral reef.
Rei had never once thought of doing something as simple as that. She quickly got over her shock, especially when she heard Tatsuo laughing at her expression, and chased after Toshi-sensei as he continued making the path for them to take, but not before quickly sticking her tongue out at Tatsuo and letting Ayane get the last laugh at her mate's indignation. Rei quickly came to realized that there was a leather strap bound around the fur pelt that held her blades specifically for her to put her arm through and carry the blades over her shoulder, which she found much easier than merely carrying them in an awkward grip.
Toshi and she spent the short trek in silence before they slowly walked over the frozen path where the coral lied underneath. Once they were past the coral, Toshi stopped.
"Thou can still see where thy red cord connects thee to the individual thou must meet, correct?"
Rei looked down and indeed could see the cord and the direction it was leading to. "Yes, Toshi-sensei."
"Good." He nodded. "Thou will be able to travel this way without exerting thyself too greatly. If thou art tired, create an ice drift to rest upon. Thou can also fly when there art a good current, but this one wishes to warn thee to hide thy dragon features the closer thou gets to human civilization. True, they may mistake thee completely as just a devil fruit user, but tis best not to let those thou doth not trust in on thy secrets."
"How will this one know who she can rely upon and carry the weight of her secrets without revealing them?"
"Trust thy instincts. Dragons art far better judges of character than humans and we can sense such things from within. Rely on thy instincts, they will never lead the array."
"Yes, Toshi-sensei." Rei nodded, realizing this was officially her last lesson from the Aisu dragon.
Toshi smiled down at his student. "Thou hath been a wonderful student and he wishes many great things upon thee. He will look forward to the day that thou will return so he may speak with thee about all thou hath learned in thy travels."
"This one will work hard at practicing what thou hath taught her so that she may be able to show thee how greatly she has mastered her abilities."
"This one will look forward to it." He touched her necklace, lingering on the teal colored charm that matched his scales perfectly. "This one wishes much for thee, but his hope is that thou art able to attain good attributes to thy character above else. This one knows that thou hath suffered greatly before thy time with us and this one is glad that thou doth not carry around thy harsh past like a heavy burden.
"Life is full of many wonderful things as well as many terribly things. We as sentient beings upon this world, must bear both the good and the bad. However, remember that there art harsh times so that we may learn to treasure the good times. We need both to bring balance to our lives. Just like the elements have opposites and how both are needed to bring balance to this realm, so must there be happy times and sad times, good and evil. Our world requires equivalency to survive. Remember that for this one, alright?"
Rei stared at her teacher's expression and could feel that he spoke from experience about good times and bad times. He seemed almost melancholy as he spoke, but Rei attributed it to the fact that she was leaving. His words were nothing new to her. It was something he had been teaching her since day one. The world required balance in order to survive. Dragons, though they did not use money, still had a sense of equivalency for all that they did. Power and control was gained through hard work and laziness brought weakness and malpractice. Yes, dragons lived to the full measure of equivalent exchange. Even the items given to her were technically owed to her due to her hard work and effort and bravery to leave, or at least, that's how she knew the dragons of Soshi Shima saw it.
But not often did Toshi-sensei speak about such things as why there was good seasons of life as well as bad seasons of life. Rei realized that it was a reminder that no matter how horrible things may get in her journeys, it would bring that much more value to the happy times that were sure to come, no matter how small and unexpected they may be. Rei steeled herself a bit for the harsh times, knowing that life could not exist without a lot of seasons of hard, unhappy moments, but she also promised herself to find the joy of life in the moments she could.
"Thank thee for everything, Toshi-sensei. This one will not forget the lessons passed down to her." Rei bowed her head once more before standing up straight and slowly making her own path of ice leading to where the invisible cord directed her.
"May thy journeys bear the fruit thee art hoping for..." Toshi mumbled under his breath as he watched the young girl slowly get farther and farther and no longer in hearing range. "And may thee find it within thee to one day forgive these foolish reptilians for trying to play god among men and for abandoning what we hath created... Forgive us for abandoning our children of human flesh..."
He watched until she was no longer in sight before stretching out his wings and taking to the air, melting the path around him as he did, severing her path back to them until that designated time when she was given permission to return. Sometimes Toshi wished that he did not have an obligation or duty to return and was free to wander the oceans to try to find what he had lost long ago.
"Stupid Tatsuo probably getting his last laugh in." Rei grumbled as she continued to trek towards her unknown destination. She had been traveling for what seemed like weeks now with no sign of the island she was to arrive at.
The only thing she had to curb her boredom and loneliness was to constantly complain about Tatsuo and his 'insurance' as to why she would not wield either of her blades without obtaining a master. Not to mistaken for him not actually having given her two swords. He had alright. One that was made of his own Kasai scales, crafted to be light, fast, and durable. A perfect conduit of her fire qi. The other was teal, made no doubt of Ayane's scales, that too was crafted to be light, fast, and durable. A perfect conduit of her ice qi.
The problem? Though indeed she now had a fine set of blades, they couldn't really be called swords since both were missing the finishing touches, such as their tsuka, tsuba, and saya. With no handle, hand guard, or sheath, she could not use the blades as they were designed to be used. Hence why she was furious at Tatsuo. Now she had to not only find a swordmaster to teach her, but one that knew how to finish her blades for her. For now, she would have to keep them bound up in the fur pelt and carry them around like that until she could find someone to finish them for her.
"He's probably still laughing about it right now..." She grumbled sourly.
Rei sighed, deciding to give up her grumblings for the time to focus on getting ready to retire for the day. The sun was due to set in an hour and she wanted to fly as far as she could in the dark before the temperature dropped too much for her to stay awake without exerting the extra energy to regulate her inner temperature. She pretty much rose with the sun and fell asleep a few hours after it set. That was how it had been on Soshi Shima and how she was keeping it throughout her journey. She had tried to stay up longer, using the technique Kureha had taught her, but it exhausted her since she was also using her Aisu qi to make her path. The constant use of it was beginning to drain her and she hoped that she would find land soon, she was almost out of the large supply of provisions she had brought with her due to her increased of appetite she had not accounted for when originally packing.
She took to the sky soon after the sun touched the horizon and allowed herself to be carried high into the sky where she would not be conspicuous it seen. She only pulled out her tail and wings when flying now, trying to get use to wandering about without her extra appendages so she did not cause unwanted attention. It was always nice taking to the sky and flying for a bit, especially since she had a bird's eye view from above and could see things over the horizon that she could not see previously.
Still following her red cord attached to her ankle, Rei flew as the sun set and the moon was slowly rising. She was getting ready to call it quits for the night when she spotted something just over the horizon. Her chest beat in excitement as she pushed herself to fly just a little further. She glanced at the cord around her ankle and it seemed to be stretching itself towards that speck.
The more she flew, the higher her spirits got. The speck slowly got bigger and bigger until she was very certain that it was an island! Not just 'a' island 'the' island, from what she could tell since her cord of fate was leading her to the island. Rei pushed herself further, growing a little sleepy now that the moon was slowly rising in the sky and focused on staying awake until she had at least landed on the island.
Since it was dark, Rei flew closer to the ocean and at the first dry spot of land, she landed, no longer able to continue going any further for the rest of the night. She really didn't care, she had finally reached the island she was suppose to get to and could explore it in the morning. Unconcerned with sleeping out in the open, since she had been doing so ever since her journey began, Rei withdrew her wings and tail and curled around the pelt that held her swords, already out for the night. Tomorrow she would definitely figure out where she had landed and who she was destined to meet.
As she slept, the cord around her ankle faded at last. It had lead her to where she would meet her first of those connected to her. The rest was up to her to fulfill.
As morning came, Rei rubbed her eyes tiredly, having forgotten briefly of her arrival until she realized she was laying in soil. That caused her to waken faster as she quickly looked around for the island that she had come to, curious as to if she might know it upon looking at it. She had taken a look at a picture book back on Fireworks Island right before her family had headed out and could remember a few islands by the pictures.
Upon looking at the island she had landed on, her eyes grew wide with shock.
Here? Of all places she was to first go to, it was here?
At long last...
She was here... She had finally made it to-
"Water... 7..."
A/N: We are not dead and the second arc is finished~! Our lack of presence is due to the recent passing of Volleys-chan's aunt, whom she was very close to. Due to that, I let her continue writing when she was ready and able. Now onto the chapter! In the part about Rei getting a lot of things: yes, Rei did receive a ton of gifts and jewelry that she doesn't know what to do, but do recall that Dragons are hoarders in their own way and Rei is no different in this mannerism. She just is specific in what she collects, unlike most dragons on Soshi Shima, who likes their treasure. And for the ending, can we say irony played a part? ;)
See you in the next chapter.