Night Furies: the Next Generation Chapter 11
"All right," Bang nodded. "I guess our first question is, what do you mean by being grounded?" The Asian dragons seemed to wince. "If that's an impolite question, then I apologize," he added quickly. "We mean no offense."
"It is not impolite," Pan-long replied. "It is just... an unpleasant reminder. The Grounded are those dragons who have used up all their chi before their lives ended. It shows a lack of wisdom and self-control. The Grounded are not permitted a voice when the nest makes important decisions, and the young do not turn to us for wisdom. Many find it uncomfortable to talk to us. And because we cannot fly, that means we cannot mate. We live out the rest of our lives on the ground."
"Ouch," Six murmured. "Are you still a part of the nest?"
"Oh, yes," Tao-tie answered. "We are not shunned or cast out. If we cannot catch enough fish from the shore, the others provide us with fish that they caught, and if one of us gets in trouble, the others will help. They do not punish us. The punishment we have brought on ourselves is worse than anything they could do to us."
"You mentioned using up all your cheese," Six wondered. "What's that about?"
"Chi is the word," Pan-long smiled. "It is the power all dragons have. We use it to fly, to heal sicknesses and injuries, and to do anything else that we cannot do physically. We are born with a certain amount of it, we use it throughout our lives, and if we use it up too quickly, we must join the Grounded."
Six turned to her brother. "I think 'chi' is their word for our Power," she said excitedly.
"I think you're right," he nodded, and turned back to Pan-long. "We have chi, too, but we don't need it to fly. We use it for emergency healings and transformations."
Chi-long looked concerned. "That sounds like you would use a lot of it at once."
"We use all of it at once," Six added. "It's the only way we know. Every dragon gets one use of his or her Power, and that's it."
"Then you become Grounded?" Bi-xi asked.
"They do not get Grounded," Chi-wen corrected her. "They have wings! They can fly all they want, any time they want!"
"I wish I had wings," Pu-lao said wistfully. "You said you do transformations. What does that mean?"
"Night Furies lay only one egg a year," Six answered. "When we were at war with the Vikings, that meant our kind was at risk of extinction. So we would use our Power to transform a human into a Night Fury. That's how our mother and father came to be dragons."
"Willingly, I hope," Chi-long said nervously.
"During wartime... no, it wasn't willingly," Bang replied. "Now that the wars are over, we would never force someone to become a dragon against their will. Newest-boy's mother was the first human who willingly accepted the transformation. Our parents are pressuring our human friends, here, to become Night Furies, but they aren't willing, so they remain humans."
"Your parents were forced to become dragons?!" Tao-tie burst out. "That is cruel! Uncivilized! How could a dragon do such a thing to another intelligent being?!"
"In wartime, things are different," Bang said. He'd never faced that moral dilemma himself, but he was determined to defend his parents. "My father was never happy as a human; he loved being a dragon as soon as the shock wore off, and he turned out to be quite a good one. He's the leader of our nest now. My mother took a lot longer to adjust, but she loves what she is. Neither of them would go back to being human if they could."
"It still sounds wrong," Tao-tie said firmly.
"Have you ever been in a war?" Bang asked.
"Never," Pan-long said quietly. "We have had nothing but peace between men and dragons for centuries. They respect us and revere us; some of them actually worship us, which is rather embarrassing. We limit our contact with them, and depend on them for nothing. That approach has served us well for over a thousand years."
"That sounds amazing," Six replied. "We've taken a different approach. Mostly, that means we've made it up as we went along. We share a village with the Vikings; they accept us as friends, some of them fly with us, and we help each other in many ways."
"Such as?" Bi-Xi asked.
"Their healer helps us when we're injured," Bang began. "They provide fish for our meals. We help guard the village at night; sometimes we help them find fish at sea; and we just finished fighting a war for them. That war threatened all of us," he rushed on as two of the Asian dragons started to object. "It would have been bloody, and our side might not have survived. My father took charge and fought his way; we inflicted a lot of material damage and forced our enemies to yield, but fatalities were much fewer than if we'd let the Vikings fight their way."
"What was this war about?" Pan-long wished to know.
"The other side hated dragons and wanted to wipe us out, along with any Vikings who might take our side." Six was trying to be diplomatic, but she wasn't willing to take any criticism for her role in that war. "When you're in that position, you have three choices – fight, flee, or fall. We fought. Those enemies will not plague us again for a very long time." She glared at the much older dragon. "We love peace as much as any dragon, but sometimes there are worse things than fighting. If you've never been in that position, then please think carefully before you judge us."
There was silence for a few seconds. Newest-boy, eager to break the silence, finally turned to the young local dragons. "If you don't mind my asking, how did you use up a life's supply of chi when you're still so young?"
"Storm-cloud surfing," Pu-lao replied embarrassedly. "Every dragon does it now and then, but it became a compulsion for the three of us. We took no thought for the future. Now, we have no future." Smallest-boy tried to imagine being grounded for the rest of his life, and shuddered. It didn't sound like there was much he could do to help, though.
Then Chi-long spoke to Six and Bang. "A few moments ago, you made some simple sounds to your human riders, and they responded. What happened there?"
"That's our humans' newest project," Bang said, with a touch of pride. "We've invented a language that we can all speak and understand."
That brought more silence. Finally, Chi-wen asked, "Why would you want to do that?"
"We spend more time with each other than with anyone else," Bang answered. "We understand their speech, for the most part, and they understand when we write their words in the sand. But when we're in the air, it's good to be able to talk to each other. We all worked on it together. Even the young ones have added some words." He glanced at Newest-boy and Smallest-girl, who beamed with pleasure.
"Now that is something that will interest the elders," Pan-long said thoughtfully. "Not so much the language as the fact that humans and dragons have formed close friendships in your culture."
"Speaking of the elders, do you have any idea when they'll return?" Six asked anxiously. "My friend is suffering."
"There is no way to know," Tao-tie said. "They are fishing in a remote river, so we do not over-fish our lake. They might be on their way home now, or they may stay for two or three more days."
"Agmundr isn't going to last three more days," Six said quietly to her brother.
"Why do you not use your own chi to heal him?" Bi-xi wanted to know.
"That doesn't work for us," Bang explained. "There has to be a dragon somewhere on the receiving end. We can heal other dragons, or we can turn people into dragons, but just healing a human wouldn't work."
"Could you turn a dragon into a dragon?" Chi-wen asked suddenly.
"Why would we want to do that?" Six was baffled.
"I know you would not want to use up all your chi on one of us," he replied, "but if I could turn into one of you…"
"You could fly again!" Bi-xi burst out. "I would want that, too!"
"And I as well," Pu-lao added wistfully.
"Do you have any idea what you are asking?" Tao-tie demanded. "You would have to go live with the other Night Furies in a land full of war and violence! You could be killed!"
"He is right," Chi-long added solemnly. "We would probably never see each other again, Chi-wen."
"Mother, if I could escape the Grounded and fly again, it might be worth it," her son said firmly. His two friends nodded their agreement. "Would you not come with me?"
"I have lived all my days in Fu-cang-long," she said slowly. "I dream of flying again, like any of the Grounded, but if I left here, I would be like a tree without roots. You are still young; change comes easily to you. That is a path I could not follow."
"It does not matter," Pan-long said. "As you said, they will not use their chi on you."
"Didn't Uncle Toothless teach us that turning other dragons into Night Furies never works well?" Newest-girl asked.
"I think that's because other dragons aren't smart enough," Six replied. "These Asian dragons are obviously as intelligent as we are, maybe more so. They'd make good Night Furies, but transforming them won't help Agmundr."
"It's ironic, in a sick sort of a way," Bang said. "We have all the power we need to heal our friends, but we can't use it on them. We could use it on your young ones, and that would solve their problem, but not ours."
"Maybe we should translate all this for our humans," Six suggested. "They have the most amazing ideas sometimes." They switched to Forge and described the situation to the humans, concluding with the young Asian dragons' wish to become Night Furies.
"Do it," whispered Agmundr.
"WHAT?" Bang and Six couldn't believe their ears.
"All at once," Agmundr said, so quietly they had to strain to hear him. "Heal me… change them… together. Please hurry."
The dragon twins looked at one another. "That would put a dragon into the receiving end," Bang said, his hopes beginning to rise. "It ought to work! Agmundr is your special friend, Six; you can do the honors."
"Heal a human and transform three dragons, all at once?" Six also felt hope, but didn't dare let it rise too far if it turned out to be impossible. "Can I do that?"
"I don't see why not," her brother nodded. "Uncle Toothless transformed Mom and Dad at the same time. You're Night-fury-six-shooter! Changing only four at once should be child's play to you."
"What about Agnarr?" Six asked. "Agnarr, should I heal you, too?"
"I can wait a few days," Agnarr said. "I'm not as bad off as Agmundr is. We came a long way to get these dragons' help; it would be polite if we let them help at least one of us."
"Wait a moment!" Chi-long exclaimed. "Is anyone going to ask me how I feel about having my son taken away from me?"
"Mother, this is my chance to escape being Grounded!" her son exclaimed. "I could actually fly again! This is an opportunity that will never come again for me. Please, mother, do not forbid me."
She thought long and hard. Slowly, reluctantly, she nodded. "I will not hold you back," she said sadly. "I know how it feels to be Grounded, and you have many more years to be imprisoned that way than I do. Fly, my son. Fly high and free. Just promise me you will not forget us."
"I promise," he nodded. "I can come back and visit someday. I will still have my full lifespan; I will have time for a nice long flight now and then."
"What about the parents of the other young ones?" Bang asked. "Will they object?"
"I can say with certainty, they will agree to this," Pan-long said. "Like any dragon, the fear of not-flying is our worst nightmare. They will not hold their young ones back. They will never get another chance like this."
"There's another problem," Six said. "When we use our Power, it forms a Vortex disc that is about seven feet across. We aren't going to be able to fit three dragons and a human into that disc all at once."
"That sounds like a problem for Agnarr to solve," Bang answered, and quickly described the issue to his human friend. He thought for a few seconds.
"No problem," he decided. "Two on each side."
The Night Furies translated for the Asian dragons, who were impressed. "Those humans do have good ideas," Tao-tie nodded.
"That's one reason we've grown so close to each other," Bang explained. "We work so well together! They have the ideas, and we make them happen. They are twins, we are twins, and we've become a foursome."
"I think I understand," Pan-long said softly. "I see a marvelous bond between you that does not occur with us and the humans here. You should do this thing before your friend suffers any more." The adult Asian dragons backed away a few steps.
Agnarr made his way awkwardly to his brother's side and rested his hand on Agmundr's shoulder for a moment. "This will all be over in a few seconds," he said reassuringly. "You'll be back to normal. The dragons will fix me up later, and we'll all go home. The other Vikings might even listen to us in the Mead Hall when we tell our story. We've got a tale to tell that no other Viking can match!"
"It's been… quite a ride," Agmundr nodded weakly. "Tell them… I'm ready." Agnarr relayed the message.
"Okay, Six. Set things up your way. I'll help in any way I can." Bang stood beside his sister. She thought she caught a note of pride in his voice. He was proud of her! All right – she wouldn't let him down.
She thought for a moment. "Okay, the disc is going to form right here," she decided, and pointed with her wing. "Bi-xi and Pu-lao, you stand on that side. Chi-wen, you and Agmundr will stand on the other side." She repeated herself in Forge for Agmundr's benefit.
"Can't stand… for long," he grunted.
"Smallest-girl, Newest-boy, help him stand, let him lean on you," Six ordered. "Agmundr, when disc is ready, fall forward into it." To the young Asian dragons, she said, "When my human is about to fall into the disc, Bang will shout, 'Now!' That will be your cue to lunge into the Vortex yourselves. You will black out for a few seconds, and you may wind up with someone else leaning on you, but those are minor problems. Our main concern is that this cannot be undone; it is permanent until the day your life ends. You're absolutely sure you want to do this?" Three young dragons nodded firmly.
"Are you absolutely sure you know how to do this?" Bang asked her.
"I'm certain; I got the same lessons from Uncle Toothless that you did," she said confidently. "Blow out a firebolt, let it turn into the Vortex, drain all my Power into it, focus on the change I want to see happen, and the Power does the rest. I can't think of a better use for that Power. Three new Night Furies, and a friend."
"Okay, Six. Do it when you're ready."
She closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. She blew out a small firebolt, which traveled about twenty feet, slowed, and swelled into a swirling disc of endlessly-changing colors. The adult Asian dragons stared, wide-eyed. She focused on the disc for a few seconds, then nodded. The two young Night Furies stepped aside, and Agmundr slumped forward. At just the right moment, Bang shouted, "NOW!" and the three young Asian dragons leaped into the disc. There was a brilliant flash and a sound like a clap of thunder. The disc vanished. The transformed dragons fell to the ground, their minds overwhelmed by the Vortex. The thunderclap reverberated around the crater for a few seconds, and then there was only silence.
The dragons' sensitive eyes were dazzled by the flash, even in daylight. Agnarr was the first to recover his full eyesight. He stared in horror at the stunned, newly-transformed Night Furies stretched out on the ground.
All four of them.