A few days after my first successful use of magic, which had turned a rock to dust from just holding it, I learned how to not overcharge a rune.
My method didn't seem to be the greatest by the quiet mirth in my teacher's face as I showed him what I had done. He had cleaned the dust without a word, but I got the feeling this wasn't the first time he had seen something like this.
At last, after some more language lessons from Speaks-with-Everyone, he had been able to explain properly what I was doing, and what I was doing wrong.
There was more depth to mana than just it being there, and not being there. While I can't feel any differences, different parts of the body hold different concentrations of mana, with the head and the area around the heart being the highest. Since I had concentrated on my chest during that first time, I had essentially dumped half my mana into the ground.
And not all of it even went into the rune I had concentrated on, so I was once again worried what someone more skilled or knowledgable could do, if I could accidentally turn solid rocks to dust. I briefly wondered if I could make diamonds like this, but I didn't really have any use for the things. I somehow doubted that other dragons would engage in trade.
More trial and error had proved Speaks-with-Everyone's words true, as taking mana from my claws made the ground glow a lot less, than taking mana from my stomach area, and taking it from my heart or head area basically made it bright as day. Not that I even knew what that was, any more. I hadn't seen the sun or sky in- over 24 earth days? It feels like way more than that. Fuck, I need to stop being such a lazy lizard and get something done.
Truly, time flies when you are learning new things around the clock. It also flies when you can fly, but I hadn't had nearly as much time to do that since learning the skill as I would have liked. The last percent of my goal to learn the language was stubbornly refusing to come, and getting myself to use magic properly was starting to look more and more important. The 'food offerings', if they could even still be called that, had been coming later in my day, and with less content with every time.
As I was eating the few scraps I had been given for the day, I decided to finally offer my magic to the next scavenger party that would be sent out. Speaks-with-Everyone had told me a bit about them. One of the darkness mages, or 'Shadowclaws' as they are called, goes out with a group of other kobolds that basically act as mana batteries. That's another thing that took me by surprise. Apparently, it was possible to give someone else access to your own mana.
The only thing I now had to figure out, was when the next group would leave.
I briefly debated going over to the village and just asking, but the memory of being pelted by rocks kinda put me off that thought. I'll just wait for Speaks-with-Everyone. Checking my age revealed that it would only be a an hour and a half, until he came back. In the meantime, I contented myself with trying to figure out how the magic circles did what they did, but it proved near impossible.
After my success, I immediately asked for more 'spells' to learn and memorize, which Speaks-with-Everyone had nicely arrayed along the back wall of my cave. They all made use of earth magic, so I thought that by studying all of them in detail, I'd be able to learn some sort of relation between the effect, and the runes that make up the circle.
Unfortunately, the runes were all as different as the effects that they produced.
Among the 10 formations there were only two which had overlap in what runes they contained. One would let someone feel vibrations in the earth, basically giving a rudimentary tremor-sense, and the other was for quieting the vibrations someone caused in the ground. The way Speaks-with-Everyone had explained how they worked, was that they somehow sense vibrations, and then translate that into sound. The only difference was where that sound was produced.
The fact that they know how interference works surprised me, but I was able to brushed it off quickly, seeing as I was now a dragon, myself. That should have been the much more unlikely thing. It did make me wonder how people in less dangerous environments lived, on this planet, though.
Anyway, drawing out both spells in my mind, but leaving out the runes that did not overlap, gave me exactly the same formation twice. Runes on 3 adjacent corners of a 7-sided polygon, with the opposing 4 empty. For both spells, activating it was done by putting mana into the one end of that chain, the same for both, as well as the first rune after.
Likely the different functions of the spells. Those three must be for sensing vibrations, whereas the other four make the sound in a specific way.
The 4 pairs of runes that were different each had some of the same broader lines, but were very much distinct.
It wasn't much, considering I had no idea how they did even that, but it certainly wasn't nothing.
The other 8 spells had less similarities in their form and make-up. Many other runes had meaningful similarities, beyond being placed at the corners of polygons with different numbers of corners, but it wasn't enough to draw conclusions. Other than that runes are complicated.
And Speaks-with-Everyone says this is easy for someone with 'affinity'. I was indignant at how much like a cheat that seemed. Especially since Speaks-with-Everyone couldn't tell me how any of it works. Could it be that they don't even really know what interference is? They just do it instinctively, with the help of their affinity? Even more cheats.
Sighing yet again, something I was doing a lot lately, I went back to seeking patterns.
By the time the next lesson with Speaks-with-Everyone came around, I had only found one more thing. It seemed like an unlikely pattern, but if I went clockwise from each rune that was getting 'powered', then the last rune before going once around the circle (or hitting another 'powered' rune) was missing some lines in a specific part of that rune. All other runes, with the exception of a few, had exactly the same set of lines and angles where those had either none, or a different one.
Speaks-with-Everyone made me jump a little as he cleared his throat in that ratchety, almost clicking sound.
Naturally, my instincts took over and I was suddenly facing him with a snarl and aggressive posture.
“I am sorry. I did not want to scare you.” He said with an apologetic bow.
Slightly ashamed, I quickly folded my wings again and pretended my snarl was just a very toothy smile. “It is fine. I was only... thinking.” Such an interesting word, that, but just as difficult to pronounce. It derived itself from 'head' and started with the same sounds as 'earthquake', literally meaning 'having a slow head'. “Rise. I need to know something.”
By the nervous shuffling of his feet, he didn't seem to be buying my attempt at a smile. “What is it I can help with?”
I made my way back over to my pile to settle in for what might be the last language lesson. “I want to help with gathering food. When will the next group leave?” Dry, but to the point.
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He cleared his throat nervously, stammering out his reply “A-are you sure, Great Dragon? Last time-”
“Last time I didn't know what I was doing. Last time there was only one mage-scale. You have told me, that you always send out more. Now we know that I have strong mana. I know how to use it.” I tried not to tie my tongue in a knot at a particularly tough sequence. I couldn't help but feel like my word choice was more complex than it needed to be.
Speaks-with-Everyone looked like he was trying to find a good argument, but only came out with a placating “There is no need to trouble yourself, Great Dragon. There is enough food for us to last.” Even though we both knew that was not true.
“You say that, but I get less food every day. I will be hungry soon.” I contemplated pretending that I might eat some of them, if they don't start giving me more food again. I woudn't, though, as I had no intention to follow through on that threat. To be honest, I'd probably starve with them if it came to that. It just feels too close to cannibalism, not to mention that I refuse to eat sentient beings.
By how pale Speaks-with-Everyone looked, the mere thought of a hungry dragon looming over him seemed enough to make his resolve wilt. “There will be a group of four leaving the Maw in one day. I will tell them that you join.”
With that matter taken care of, we started the lesson proper. It was basically a recap of the most important rules of grammar, and it showed me that I did have a ways to go, until I could speak the language like a native. Speaks-with-Everyone assured me that my speech was flawless, but I was starting to doubt his truthfulness.
Either way, right after he concluded the lesson, I got another notification.
Learned the dragon/kobold language at 18 day(s) 16 hour(s) (32 hours/day)
Gee, thanks, Capt. Obvious. Whatever forces guided these things were as helpful as ever. I had already figured that I wouldn't need more lessons, but apparently I needed to be told so, explicitly.
“Speaks-with-Everyone, I think I am finished with language. You do not need to teach me further.” His face was a mix between sadness and relief, though I didn't know why he would feel the latter. “Are you sure you cannot teach me how and why the magic does what it does?”
“N- no, I can not teach you this. I am barely able to make the spells I showed you work.”
“You said before, that there are stronger kobolds than you, did you not? Can one of them teach me?” I had asked this exact line a few times before, but always got the same answer.
“The strong ones are needed elsewhere. They cannot leave their work for long.
Can't leave, can they? “What if I come to them?” I probably should have thought of that sooner.
Speak-with-Everyone, for his part, looked like would be sweating bullets if he could. “Th- they are very busy.”
“So busy they cannot even talk to me?” His breath caught in his throat, and I could have sworn I heard his heart beat a bit faster.
“N- n- no, of course not, Great Dragon. I will tell them immediately.” He bowed, and bolted down the cliff outside my little cave.
Well, that was weird. I wondered if I had been snarling unintentionally, but my face had been pretty passive during the whole conversation. If I didn't know better, I'd say he was scared of me. But I know he likes me. ...Right?
Alas, no one answered my monologue, so I just sighed and went back to learning what I could from the runes I had access to. Some real pointers would really be nice with this. Too bad I was never that good at recognizing patterns.
At some point while pondering how they all fit together, I had fallen asleep sprawled across one of the runic formations. I sadly hadn't noticed anything more, so I was slightly miffed at the runes in general.
I stretched, working the kinks out of my now sore neck and back. So that's how my body feels after not sleeping properly curled around something. ...And here I thought dragons were supposed to be invincible monsters of legend. To be undone by a lack of a pile of stuff to sleep on seems rather less grand than that.
My morning stretches and some wing exercises had had turned into something of a routine. Quick stretch, slowly warming up all my wing muscles, then throw myself off the ledge of my home to fly for half an hour.
I often flew over the kobold's village, but never had the courage to go in and walk around, after how the last time I was there went. I knew that it probably wouldn't be that bad, but I didn't want to force the issue. I never was the confrontational type. If Speaks-with-Everyone was true to his word, maybe I'd be going in anyway, but at least it wouldn't be out of the blue. Well, there wasn't much blue around, apart from the glow that mana seemed to give everything, which the kobolds can't see, but it's figurative anyway.
As I was about to go for another pass, I saw a group of five kobolds, one of them carrying one of the crystals they use for light. They were headed in the direction of the exit, the tunnel they call 'The Maw', for whatever reason. That must be the scavenger group. They're probably on their way to my cave, in order to collect me.
I wanted to save them some walking by intercepting them before they went too far past the way up to the Maw, but they didn't go past it. Did they see me and assume I saw them as well? Ahh well, saves them even more time. I instead steered myself to the Maw itself, as I was closer to it than to the kobolds.
I stumbled a bit from a less graceful landing and sat down to wait. Surprisingly, when it came to just waiting, sitting was more comfortable to me than lying down if I don't have something to curl around. I wonder how that came to be, from an evolutionary point of view. Could be that dragons curl up around their eggs, but then why would I- ...right. Keep forgetting.
My mood fell a bit at the thought, but sooner or later, I would have to accept my new physical reality. I was not male any more, but a young and growing female.
The group made it up the path before I could dwell on it further, thankfully. I think they had been talking about what direction they would be heading in, but the went stock still and quiet when they saw me.
“Hello.” I said, probably enunciating a bit too much. I was trying to smile, but dropped it when the five just continued to look like deer caught in headlights.
After a few seconds, the one with the darkest scales stepped forward on shaky legs and bowed deeply. I wasn't well versed in kobold anatomy, but it seemed like the other four were quite thin, compared to the one before me and Speaks-with-Everyone.
“Hello, Great Dragon. We did not expect to meet you here. H- how may we help you?”
I cocked my head at the question. “Rise. Has Speaks-with-Everyone not told you that I will go with you today?”
Again, the kobolds all seemed to freeze, their beating hearts even more noticeable, now that there were five of them. “It is dangerous out there, Great Dragon. Are you sure you want to be out there again?” my opposite's voice seemed a bit strained, but I didn't pay it much mind.
“Yes, I know what is out there. But I also have magic. So what happened with Chases-after-Boys will not happen again.” The troupe looked at one another, with looks I interpreted as uncertainty. “And I can help carry food back.” That much they couldn't deny. I was at least two heads taller than the tallest among them, and a quadruped to boot. ...to claw? Is it even worth it to start using new terminology in my own mind? Probably not.
“We would be honored to have you with us.” They said every word slowly and deliberately, almost like they were forcing each word out, and bowed again.
I cocked my head to the other side “Good. What are your names?” Of the four behind the speaker, one was a pale shade of pink, whereas the rest were different shades of brown.
Somewhat reluctantly, the one I was talking to introduced first herself, then all the others. Her name was Plays-with-Shadows. The one furthest to the left was a male named Likes-to-Dig. The smallest of the bunch was a female called Thrower-of-Rocks and the tallest a male named Fears-the-Dark. The one diligently holding the staff with the light crystal was a pink female called Bearer-of-Torches
I did my best to commit the names to memory, but had a feeling I'd still have to ask once or twice, before they stuck.
I stepped to the side, out of their path and told them to lead the way, which they did. One thing I noticed was that of the five, only Plays-with-Shadows didn't drag her tail. She did, however leer over her shoulder every so often as we made our way to the wider underground caverns once more.