“What this?” Red said, as he pointed at one of the items he had brought today. It was a shallow bowl, out of which he had demonstrated 'drinking' yesterday.
“Bowl.” I tried to say, but tripped over a fast chirp interposed between a short growl and a click, the only difference to the word for 'drinking'. For the entire day, Red had been going through all the words I still struggled with pronouncing. The structure of the language was honestly a breeze to understand, but pronunciation was a much harder nut to crack.
“B-ow-l” I went through each sound more slowly this time, ignoring the fact that it probably changed the meaning a bit. I did this a few more times, then tried for the proper speed, with little success.
I let out a frustrated sigh, then nodded for Red to show the next item. We had found a sort of routine, after the fourth day. I had found that 24 hours of being awake was a bit too much for 12 hours of sleep, but 20 hours felt perfect, giving me a 32 hour sleep cycle.
This, however, seemed to be longer than the one the kobolds have, leading to Red coming in twice on one day, and only once on the next. The lessons were then just about 6 hours long, with me eating lunch about the time Red arrived on the days with only one lesson.
I spent the intervening time either training my wings' strength and endurance, working on my pronunciation, or dozing the day away. I was confident that I could now glide down to the floor of the ravine outside without braking my neck, but I was less comfortable with the thought of trying to glide back into this alcove from where the tunnel from outside connected.
I wasn't above admitting that my little mishap may be influencing my confidence, but I believed in the saying 'better safe than sorry'. It also helped that this life felt rather comfortable, if one ignored the fact that my conversations were limited to gesticulation and the most basic speech patterns. Nothing to meaningfully talk about the future or present, nor about anything outside the immediate vicinity of the entrance out to the caverns.
That said, I'd say my progress so far was incredible. In just about a week, I had gone from merely knowing about the language, to being able to express basic needs. All that, without even having a language in common with the teacher. I'm sure he had help with structuring my lessons, as they had been improving in efficiency, but it was still blazing fast, considering.
As Red was trying to explain the differences in pronunciation for all sorts of words I was having trouble with, I relaxed into my treasure pile. It and I had also grown in the last few days. Where my shoulder used to be just a smidge above Red's head, I was now stood at least a head and a half above him, not counting my neck, which sometimes felt like it was trying to reach nirvana. My total length had increased by at least a factor of 1.5, allowing my head to rest comfortably on my haunches when I curled around my bed.
Said bed had also been added to by the donations/offerings of the kobolds. The day before yesterday, they had brought another two baskets with shiny rocks and rounded pebbles for me. I still didn't know if they expected me to protect them, or if it was to pre-empt any sort of destructive tendencies towards them arising. I only know that my bed had felt even more comfortable afterwards, So I didn't feel the need to complain at the possible manipulation.
My wings had also grown a bit, though not as much as the rest of me. This made me wonder if they were even adequate to lift my, now much greater, body weight. Literally all of the mass I had consumed during my meals must have been added onto my body, as I had yet to even feel the need take a dump. Thanks to the kobolds bringing me water every now and then, that other need did arise a few times.
I wonder if the reason my wings don't grow is because I'm not eating anything that could be used to make my bones bigger? For that matter, I don't get any organs either, so I must be missing at least a few essential nutrients. Either that, or dragons have an incredibly self-sustaining metabolism. Maybe it was a mistake after all, not to eat my shell when I had the chance. I'm sure that would have given me a nice boost in bone mass.
I must have nodded off, because the next thing I remembered was Red sitting there quietly and making a few more drawings on my floor. “Apologies.” I said as I stretched a bit.
“Is good.” he assured me.
That must have been close enough to good for him to understand, because it was another one that had a lot of hard sounds very close together. Red continued from where he likely thought I had fallen asleep, listing out the progression from 'stone' all the way up to 'statue', each word starting and ending with the same sounds, but always something different between, getting more sounds as the complexity or specificity went up.
If only languages on Earth had been this well structured. I hope Red is going to start going further into grammar soon. I'm sure it's going to be just as easy to learn as words. It wasn't that day, as that lesson's end, and with it my sleeping period, was approaching. After I tried my best on 'masonry', a word where chirps and the rare whistling sound flowed into each other, Red concluded the session.
However, instead of just leaving as usual, he bid me to come with him. At this, I obviously showed reluctance, as I had convinced myself of the difficulty of getting back into my alcove. My home. I curled myself almost imperceptibly tighter around my bed, which Red must have interpreted as me not wanting to leave my treasure unprotected.
He shook his head from side to side, saying “No take. Show others.” During the second sentence, he gestured to me and then in the direction of the kobold village.
He wants to show me to the other kobolds? Or the other way around? Either way, I won't go out unless I know I can get back in without hurting myself again. To this conclusion, I shook my head firmly.
Red hesitated, then said “Bring others?” I paused for a moment, considering what might have brought this up. Is it just to get to know more kobolds? Or do they need others to see me because they are doubtful of my existence? The first would be the obvious next step to speed up my learning of the language. The latter would make sense, since they have been channeling what might be considered a lot of food for them, my way. Not seeing any obvious downside for me, but some complications for my hosts in case I refused, I hesitantly nodded.
Red bowed before leaving, the relief evident in his face, leading me to believe the request wasn't primarily for my benefit. Welp, that's future me's problem. On to a bit of wing exercises, then sleep.
During this time, I started planning how I would communicate my need for bones to be present in my daily food offerings. I settled for using rocks as a metaphor, or, failing that, drawing an animal leg with a bone inside.
As I got ready to sleep once again, I reviewed my full status list for the first time in days.
Name: unknown
True Name: unknown
Age: 9 day(s) 3 hour(s) 34 minute(s) 37 second(s)
(6 day(s) 27 hour(s) 34 minute(s) 37 second(s))
Species: (some sort of)Dragon
Gender: female
Life Stage: Hatchling
Titles and Given Names: K
Statistics:
Notes to self:
Never do cunnilingus again
Always pay attention to your surroundings
Times I thought of my situation as weird in any way: 11
Times I fell on my face: 62
Points in favour of Fantasy prejudice: 3
Last noted age: 3 day(s) 12 hour(s) 15 minute(s) 55 second(s)
Goals:
Learn to fly. Progress: 75%
Learn the dragon language: Progress: 55%
I hope I get a feel for what a dragon can be named, soon. I don't appreciate not having anything to call myself other than K. Besides the progress on my goals going up, the one thing that surprised me was the new entry next to age. I did some quick mental maths, and the age in brackets was consistent with what the other one would be if counted on a 32 hour day. Must have happened shortly after I made the mental decision to go for my current sleep schedule.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Wait, something was added to the list without alerting me? Is that because it only does it for goals and stats or have I finally won? Test. What can I test this with? Pieces of treasure gained? Sure. I'll count it tomorrow. Lets put it aaat, let's say...169 pieces for now.
I had barely finished the thought when The list appeared once more. No dice. It was too too good to be true, anyway. I hope I dream of burning a few lists tonight.
My mind was unfortunately devoid of such beautiful dreams that night, but I did, disturbingly, dream of cracking various bones with my teeth. When I woke up, I was half worried I had chowed down on one of my thumb claws, which I had caught myself sucking on just once. Thankfully, I hadn't.
After morning stretches in bed, I lazed around for another hour before greeting the day in full. I'd have a few hours before Red came back with, presumably, some other kobolds. But before then, I wanted to get an accurate count of what my current hoard contained, so I'd hopefully always know exactly how much I have.
The count ended with 10 very shiny and sparkly rocks, 15 less spectacular ones but still nice to look at, and a nice, round 227 pebbles. I wonder if it keeps track even if I don't know if something has been added or taken. Regardless, the list updated to keep the same distinction between the items as I did when counting, so that's neat.
Anther few hours of exercising and stretching my wings later, and Red came back with a small group of kobolds. I could recognize one of the kobolds that always brought up my food, bringing forth another basket of meat, which I left alone for the time being.
Aside from that one and Red, there were four others that I didn't recognize at all. They all glowed with mana, though one of them only barely. As such, they didn't carry any of the light crystals, making it very difficult for me to tell what color each of them were. They were currently all prostrating themselves before me, heads touching the ground. So, red and the leader from that first day are definitely higher ranked, to only be bowing, rather than do this.
“Stand.” I said, annunciating as best I could. They did as I told them, meaning it was good enough, then bowed to Red and left once more. “What.” I voiced, intended as a 'why' or 'wtf' but I lacked the words to express those exact questions.
He hesitated for a moment, seeming to think about something, then, gesturing after them, he said “Bring food.” then gestured to me “Eat food.” He then gestured between them and me and said “Not see. Hear. Conflict.”
So it is as I had thought, the ones collecting the food were doubtful I even existed. I nodded my understanding, then looked over to the basket that had been set in one of the corners. “Food.” I brought it over and made a small show of looking for something among the scraps of meat. “Not here.” I looked over to Red, who seemed a bit confused at what I was trying to say.
“What not here?” He said, this time adding a rising chirp to the start of the words, likely indicating the sentence as a question.
“Food here.” I said, pointing at the basket. I then took up one of my pebbles and held it partway into the basket. “Food rock not here.”
Red looked like he was even more confused now “Food … rock?”
I lifted one of my front legs, then placed one of the scraps on top. “Food.” Then, I took the rock and put it under the scrap, next to my scales. “Food rock.”
As if a lamp had been lit, realization seemed to dawn on him. He said a word he hadn't explained before, wholly different in structure from both 'food' and 'rock'. I still imitated the sounds, committing them to memory. “Bring bone.”
Red nodded in understanding, calling something out of the alcove's opening. Even if any of the words had been ones I knew, the echo made the call all but unintelligible to me.
Not five minutes after, the 'food bearer' kobold arrived, was given some instructions, then left again. Then, while I ate, Red started today's lesson in earnest. This time, he was tackling prepositions.
There were more prepositions than in English, that was certain. There was a word for 'above, a bit to the right and before you' and 'before you and a bit below'. Really, there seemed to be 16 words for all the positions around oneself, without taking above and below into account. That added at least twice as many.
Here, the language took a stark departure from what I had experience previously, where each word was based and built upon more basic, less complex ones. These 30-odd words were all distinct three syllable words, stringing at least 8 distinct sounds together, each. That was all the structure these words shared, however.
Then, there were also prefixes that meant 'far' or 'not far', as well as suffices for 'approaching' and 'receding'. All the prepositions dealing with placement in time were a refreshing change from all this, with a nice, clean structure.
By the time someone arrived with the bones, and I did apparently get the correct message across, I was deep in a memorization phase. I counted at least 50 words in this category, the majority as complex to pronounce as some of the more difficult ones of the previous week.
I didn't need to be told so to give myself a small break from the headache inducing grind, and went to crack some bones.
The ones they had brought were nowhere near as big as those I had seen on the giant goat thing. The biggest among these were maybe as big as my foot, but most were just the size of one claw. Of those, I took one and attempted to crunch down on it. With some success.
I had to fiddle it around with my tongue a bit to get it to the right place between my backmost teeth, but I eventually got enough force down on it to split it. The taste of the marrow within was probably the best I had tasted so far, the difference to regular unseasoned meat like water and soda.
Almost addicting in it's flavour, but too rich to really have too much of. Well, I'm mostly after the calcium, anyway. If I get bones every day though, that'll be a nice addition to the meat. I continued grinding the bone down until I was reasonably sure the pieces wouldn't pierce my innards at any point, then swallowed.
While not revolting, swallowing the crushed bones was not pleasant either. It felt like pushing down sand that was slightly flavoured, complete with having to swallow many times to get it down my incredibly long throat and esophagus. As a small mercy, it didn't try to come back up, at least.
The sounds seemed to be making Red slightly uncomfortable, so I decided to wait until the lesson for today was done, then try and eat the bones together with the meat that I still hadn't eaten.
And so, the grind for language and flight continued for another 5 days before I was confidant that I could at least glide down into my alcove from above. My theory had turned out to be true, that I had been missing the material for bone growth. My wings had nearly doubled in size, more than tripling in surface area. I could now produce enough lift to get myself fully into the air, and I was able to flap fast and long enough to stay there, if it weren't for me losing my balance after 5 seconds of being stationary.
I obviously needed to feel real air under my wings in order to progress further. Thus, when Red had arrived today, I told him to go home again for the day.
“You want be alone?” He had asked, concerned.
“No. Want go fly. Want go … find.” I had been getting bored, always looking at the same old rocks, and wanted to see for myself what was out there.
“Find what?”
“Find things. Big things, small things.”
“Explore?”
“Yes, want explore.”
Red looked concerned, saying “Is dangerous. Big things eat small things. You small thing there.”
“I careful. They not see me. They not hear me. They not eat me.” I crouched, making myself as small a target as I could, walking forward without making a sound.
He just shook his head. “Is dangerous. Bring kobold. Bring -.” The last word was one I hadn't heard yet. Maybe a proper name? I repeated the word in a question. “Is special kobold. Can make sound not sound. Make light lot light. Is safe there with big things.”
So, that's what the ones with the mana glow are called, maybe? They're the only ones I saw while I was still out there. Most everyone else doesn't seem to have that glow. I considered the proposal for a bit. If I could have someone with me that could hide me in case there's a big, boulder throwing monster coming my way, that could prevent a very bad outcome. So, I nodded my assent “Bring mana-kobold.”
Red was positively relieved at that. “From cave opening, go up, slightly in front and slightly to the left. Will bring mana-kobold there.” With that, he left, likely to collect whoever he's going to send with me. I looked out and in the direction he had indicated, and sure enough, that's where the tunnel leading outside was.
I traced the path down towards the kobold village and looked for a spot where I could easily glide to, but was still as far up as possible. The glide there was actually a lot more stable and uneventful than I had imagined, leaving me with ample energy for the long ascent back up to the tunnel entrance, where I diligently waited for my chaperone.