White was just small enough to sit on Avira’s shoulder, something she was very happy about. He did however have to pay attention to his balance, he almost fell when she opened her bedroom door.
They had spent four hours uninterrupted in Avira’s room, something she only realized after seeing the deep night outside. She had half expected her father to casually walk in after the second hour. But thanks to that, Avira’s questioning had fallen into a flow that White was hesitant to interrupt, even when he had grown a little tired of it. Though, he couldn’t argue with the results.
Avira had found that White’s memories were different from hers, not in content but in quality. If White presented her with one and she focused her mind on its stilled image, they became visions. Not just in sight, but in every sense including emotion and thought. The dragon was able to recall everything it had experienced in perfect clarity. Her shock came not from the ability itself, but the fact that it was an ability shared by the members of the Order.
However, only the likes of the monarchs or Generals could recall the memories so fully and with such clarity.
With White’s permission, she had used this ability fully, carefully examining every element she could from the hatchling’s small library of life. After two hours she had come to a few conclusions.
The first was that White had always comprehended their language even before Naroe bonded with him, but had not read anything until laying eyes on her library. There had been signs in the village where they arrived, and White could recall what they said perfectly, but it was clear he hadn’t read them at the time. The same went for any glances he got in Naroe’s unmarked book, which turned out to be notes he had taken under her grandfather’s tutelage, and the signs at Ladon’s.
She couldn’t be sure about the trigger, but the timing had fit too well. Something had changed in White after the two had bonded, which meant that something probably also changed when he bonded with Naroe. She believed she had guessed what these changes were, but couldn’t be sure until she had questioned Naroe.
The next two hours had been spent experimenting with White’s physical capabilities. With Avira able to get first-hand experience through White, she was able to guide him through a couple of small tests. Cutting paper, then wood. Jumping and running through small, makeshift obstacles. The only thing he struggled with was using his wings. But after some torn notebooks, ruined furniture, and nearly leaving a mark on the ceiling, Avira had developed a theory.
White had an extra degree of control over his body, but it was still in its earliest stages. Right now it was an instinctual thing, a response to something neither could quite identify. White could do some things relatively easily despite their complexity. Sharpening and dulling his claws, shifting his mass to gain a little extra muscle, and even growing his wings a little. However, this last change didn’t help much with flight, despite White’s increasingly frustrated attempts.
Again, Avira drew comparisons from this to her experience with borrowed weapons. This was the second thing White and the planes shared, though both were superficial in the grand scheme of things. However, if her hunch was right on the third, then she really might not have a voice in keeping White.
White didn’t like that thought, as he was quite enjoying his time with Avira despite the exhaustive investigation, and as such chose to ignore that pool of thought. Unfortunately, it had only grown since Avira had it.
They returned to the foyer to find Naroe and Rain waiting for them. Varen had removed his armor, now dressed similarly to how he was in Avira’s memory, but lacking any of the intricate stitching or additions. Despite this, his presence had not diminished at all.
Naroe had changed from the furs White had seen him wear since the hatchling had met him, having thrown on a worn grey tanktop and matching long pants. His boots had been left by the door next to a long ivory coat hanging from its hood on the wall. He smiled at the the dragon as they arrived, but it soon faltered.
It was only when Naroe’s familiar flame flared again that White felt a difference. Not in the flame itself, but in what he could perceive from it. As if experiencing Avira’s mind had helped him see through the fire's glow. He realized there was a world in there too, but it operated under different rules than Avira’s. Though he didn’t need to understand those rules to feel the young man’s newfound hesitancy and concern.
“She works quick,” said Varen. That earned him a deadpan from Avira and a chuckle from his guest
“I see that,” said Naroe before looking at White. “I thought I felt something earlier, but now I’m sure.”
“It’s something I want to talk about over dinner,” Avira cut in before the conversation could plant roots. “Is Pop-pop here yet?”
“He’s here,” said Naroe. He jerked a thumb back at the foyer entrance. “Just saying hi to your other residents.”
“I’m sure he misses the pups,” Avira responded as she finished descending. White’s wings flexed behind him as he worked to keep balance on his perch.
“They’re either with members of the Order or in The Sanctuary, right?” Naroe asked. “I’m sure he’ll check in on them at some point.” He smiled at White. “How do you like their place? Did you see the garden?” he asked
White flashed his memories to Naroe as he had learned with Avira, seeing it as the best answer to his question. There was a moment of comprehension for the apprentice as he slowly turned to the young woman.
“You kept him in your room the entire time?” he said, clearly disappointed.
Avira blinked. “Did you fully grasp what it was he showed you?”
“Oh, I saw all of it,” Naroe said folding his arms. “Four hours and all you did was experiment.”
Avira frowned, mimicking Naroe’s stance but keeping to the second step to stand just a little over him. “White seemed to have fun,” she said, her tone having the slightest defensive hint. “Or can you not experience his memories like me?”
“You can do what?” Varen broke in, taken aback by his daughter’s statement.
“I’ll explain at dinner,” Avira responded with an unsaid plea in her voice.
Naroe surprised her by picking up the conversation from before her father’s objection. “I can experience them just fine,” he countered, earning his own look from the General. “But you still had daylight and could have let him run around outside.”
Avira turned her head to her small rider. “You would have told me if you had wanted to go outside, right?”
White blinked. He thought he would have, but the thought hadn’t even occurred to him so he couldn’t say for sure.
“He’s practically a baby,” Naroe chided. “He wouldn’t know if he wanted to go outside unless he understood the opportunity. You didn’t even show him outside the window.”
“He wanted to walk on his own,” Avira was growing agitated. “I thought you said you thought he’d have a ‘great time’ with me, so why are you being so critical?”
“Because he didn’t expect you to form a bond with White so quickly,” Reil called out from the closing foyer door. All four of them turned to look at the approaching old man, who now wore simple white robes. “I didn’t either if I’m being honest, but we both knew it would be a possibility.” He looked at his apprentice, a knowing smile on his lips. “Now he’s worried that his impression of White may have been off.”
The words struck home on Naroe and the dragon felt the young man’s flame flicker in reaction. He turned away from Avira, whose growing annoyance had melted almost immediately from her grandfather’s words. A smile worked its way onto her lips now, spiced with a hint of smugness.
“Aw…” she cooed. “Did someone get a little overconfident again?”
Naroe looked back at her, his usual smile now half-heartedly concealing the steadily blazing fire within. “More like I’m worried you’ve taken advantage of White’s trusting nature.”
Avira’s storm began to brew, and White shot her a worried glance. “I’m taking advantage of him now, am I?” she said, still smiling despite how much his jab had stirred her.
“Enough,” Varen declared with an authority he hadn’t shown before. It was more than enough to cow both of them. “We’re all here and I have dinner waiting, so let’s eat.” He turned back to his daughter and her perched companion. “Then we talk about what’s happened and what’s going to happen.”
________________________________________________________
Avira was surprised to find that Naroe had fully digested all the time that she and White had spent together before they had even sat down. He even agreed with what Avira was thinking, though he had to give her theory some thought.
That just left the two authority figures who had no way to validate any of this information themselves.
When Varen served dinner, White had almost pounced on his plate while the General set it down on the long table. The decorated dining room was built to feed many more guests than were present, and no one had any issue with the small dragon sitting on the table’s ivory-blanketed surface off to the side. Naroe and Avira had taken opposing seats beside him, while their respective teachers sat next to them.
White had devoured everything offered to him both on his own plates and by others at the table. He had enjoyed the meal so much that he wondered if it was from the quality of the restaurant or just that he really liked fish. Either way, he loved the food raw or cooked.
And the entire time he ate, Avira had explained her findings to all present.
“It’s an interesting hypothesis,” Reil began after finishing his fried cephalopod, “that you and Naroe both can invoke physiological changes in White, but our ability to check such a thing is very limited.” He leaned back, his eyes moving to the ceiling. “Poe sent me a missive while we were out. He’s already plenty frustrated with how little he’s been able to gain from the sample we gave him.”
Avira nodded. “But Naroe and I can check,” she said while glancing at the young man in question, who conceded a nod.
“White’s definitely different.” He said. “He’s putting much more thought into things.”
Varen looked skeptically at the dragon who was still shamelessly indulging in the meal. “Is he?”
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
Naroe smirked. “He still loves his food, but if you had put a meal in front of him this morning, the rest of the world wouldn’t have mattered.” He leaned in towards the hatchling and White paused midway through the breaded tail of some cooked crustration to look at him.
The dragon blinked slowly, wondering if he shouldn’t have been listening. But the taste of the sweet coating was too much and he couldn’t stop his sharp fangs from crunching into the treat.
Naroe’s toothy grin showed itself then. “You’re fine, keep eating.” White was more than happy to take him up on that, and Naroe sat back. “He took things as they came, but now he’s starting to consider things if only a little.”
Reil crossed his arms, staring somewhat accusingly at his apprentice. “You’ve been bonded to him for over a day, why am I just now hearing about any of this?”
Naroe only offered a shrug. “When it happened, I knew he was practically a newborn so there wasn’t much there to begin with. Besides, I don’t think much changed when I bonded with him.” He popped a fried fish ball into his mouth and downed it quickly. “He already liked food and fighting, I know that much.”
“But I think something did change,” Avira spoke up and gained everyone’s full attention, except for White. “His physical ability. His claws were sharp enough to dig into Dessian’s Tree and even damage it to a degree. But after he bonded with Naroe, he didn’t hurt either of you once.”
Naroe paused midway through chewing a cut roll of layered fish and he considered her words. He swallowed before answering. “You’re right, but you think that was him controlling his claws like you brought up before?”
Avira nodded. “I think he gained the ability to alter his body once he bonded with you and I think his mind evolved after bonding with me.”
Varen cocked an eyebrow at that. “That’s certainly a compelling claim, but what’s your evidence?”
She turned to her father. “Our affinities.”
Varen blinked in surprise, then cocked his head with a hand to his chin in consideration. “I can see what you’re suggesting, but that doesn’t add up for me.”
Reil looked at the General and nodded. “Neither for me,” he turned back to his granddaughter and apprentice. “I didn’t want to say anything earlier since you were just saying the idea aloud Naroe, but I’m pretty certain I know which planes will be blessing the two of you.” Neither Naroe nor Avira reacted to this, as both had had their affinities examined years ago and both believed they knew the answers as well.
But there was someone who sat at that table whose blessing had shocked everyone who had known him at the time. It didn’t happen often but sometimes the affinity readings were wrong and sometimes affinities changed as a person grew. There was even the rare occasion that someone’s affinity had changed after receiving their blessing and then had to go through the ritual to get a new one. So there was always that chance of a surprise and in Naroe’s and Avira’s minds, having someone at Reil’s level voice their opinion now subtracted from that possibility.
However, the situation seemed a little more important than that surprise. The two glanced at one another before sharing a nod and turning to Reil to continue.
“White,” Reil called to the dragon, who stopped midway through eating another tail. “I understand you’re listening, but this is important. Please wait for a moment before you keep eating.”
White blinked, surprised by the sudden seriousness in Reil’s voice, but downed the tail and pushed his plate behind him to keep it out of sight. Even if he could still smell the delicious spices and nothing else, he hoped that would be enough to prevent him from reaching for another morsel.
“Varen told you during the duel that the Light deals in the ethereal and that the Dark deals in the physical. This is primarily the case, but as he also said it’s the barest of explanations.” His eyes turned to the General then. “In fact, I’d go so far as to say it was a rather slapdash explanation.”
Varen scoffed. “Don’t go all ‘old mentor’ on me now, I was talking to an infant. Like I’m going to go into detail about how primordial forces work.”
Reil raised a hand in acknowledgment. “You’re right, it worked for the time so I didn’t say anything.” He turned back to White then. “I didn’t expect us to need to go into it so soon either, but here we are. The truth is, White, that Light and Dark are the fundamental building blocks for nearly everything in existence. Both in things we can perceive and things we cannot.” Reil raised his palm flat and the lights in the crystal lanterns on the walls went out.
Then White saw a light with no source coalesce around the old man’s empty grasp. Something from nothing, an orb of the purest light. Every color of every spectrum burned at once within that orb, and White saw them all. Each one was accompanied by its own sound as if the droplets in a waterfall had each taken up a note to form a crashing song of raw power. No one would know then, but White dispaired then. Not at it’s might or strength, but at his deafness to its song. He could only feel it pound at the doors of his soul, not in an attempt to get in, but simply as a side effect to its sheer presence.
For the first time, White felt Reil.
The old master’s entrance into his life had been nothing compared to this. If he had the experience, he would have compared it to the heart of a nebula, with all its terrible power and beauty washing over him.
Naroe’s was a world that shifted with the flames and embers of something burning in his soul. Avira’s was an ocean fortified by carefully constructed barriers. Both had their challenges in understanding them, but White felt for the first time that he could get lost in that light. Then he felt something beyond that Light gaze into him.
Before if he even had the chance to think about that, it disappeared.
The small dragon had been staring intently at the orb for several seconds, though no one there felt that was an unexpected reaction. The only one who was confused was White, as it seemed Naroe and Avira had no idea what he had just experienced. To them, he had simply been mesmerized.
“Pretty, isn’t it?” Reil asked with an amused smile. “Light and Dark come in many different forms, not all of them can be perceived with the five senses alone. When it comes to judging one’s affinity, two elements of our souls are examined and judged in strength. For Darkness, it’s the mind.” Reil nodded to Avira. “As I’m sure you can guess, Avira excels in this category, she was judged to have an affinity for it and has worked hard to hone it.”
White felt Avira ripple with pride, but her temperature dropped when a stray thought froze near her core. Why don’t I have my blessing then? But the only thing she allowed herself to show was a bashful smile.
White found himself wondering just how much the members of the Order could read people because he saw no reaction from Varen or Reil.
“If I’m getting this wrong, stop me Avira,” Reil continued. “I believe her theory is that since you share similar abilities to what is granted to us by the Planes, forming a bond with you would be similar as well. So by bonding with Avira, who we currently believe to have an affinity with the Dark, your mind has reacted.” He stopped to look at Avira, who nodded in agreement. “As for Naroe, we believe in his affinity to the Light. This we measure through one’s spirit.” He gave a sly smile to his apprentice. “This you’ve seen first hand,” then the old man frowned as he turned back to his granddaughter. “But how do you connect spirit to control over his physical body? Simple enhancement I could see, but what you’ve described goes far above that.”
Avira grinned inwardly. White knew she had been waiting to put this forward since she came up with the idea, but he wasn’t sure why. All he knew was that the idea of her being correct made Avira very excited.
“What if,” she began, unable to stop her smile from growing, “his body and spirit are one and the same?”
There was an absolute silence as her words hung in the air before they fully sank into the minds of two elders in the room. Reil turned to Naroe, his expression unreadable. “What do you think?”
Naroe, having already heard the idea through White’s memories, shrugged. “I think it makes a bit of sense. He eats anything, isn’t made like anything else, and just appears in a place no dragon has any reason to be in.”
“To be a spirit made into physical form…” Varen trailed off, he glanced at the White and realized he had eaten another tail whole at some point. “It does explain a couple of things,” he looked back at the rest of the table. “But it also adds a lot of questions.”
“That’s putting it lightly,” Reil added. “Where he came from still being near the top, there are two more.” Eyes belonging to an avatar of Light locked onto his counterpart from the Dark.
The General already knew what was on the older warrior’s mind. “If he carries so many similar elements to the planes,” Varen began, “then why has neither one made contact with him?”
The question triggered a memory in White, the moment he had been in the elevator. The two who could see the memory looked at him in confusion. It was clear to White they hadn’t seen anything.
Reil stiffened. “Or has he?” It wasn’t entirely a question.
The dragon blinked, looking at the four other diners. He had no idea if that had been the planes or not, nor did he know why those bonded with him didn’t see everything he saw, but he had no way to say that directly. Thankfully, he didn’t need to.
“He doesn’t know,” both Naroe and Avira said in unison. They looked at each other before Avira motioned for Naroe to continue.
He nodded in thanks before continuing. “We’re not getting everything from the memories. Something is missing from them that only White seems able to get.”
“Can he describe what it is?” Varen asked.
They all turned to the dragon, who had almost successfully eaten the last tail before their attention returned to him, its crispy frills sticking out his mouth. They had less than a second to register it before it was gone completely.
White swallowed audibly before slowly blinking. He wasn’t sure how to convey what had essentially been the overwhelming of every sense he possessed.
Avira turned to speak for him. “He says that his senses were overwhelmed in the elevator.” White practically dropped in the relief of having good translators.
The answer was met with visible surprise and another shared glance. Reil spoke up first. “I thought he might have been reacting to the Heart as we got closer, but I didn’t think it was the planes attempting contact. It’s usually a much more pleasant experience when it happens.”
Varen rubbed a massive hand over his face. “But they still let him in, even at the center of The Sanctuary.” He looked back at Reil. “We might want to take him into the Heart.”
Reil’s eyes widened as he stood out of his chair, hands gripping the table’s edge. “We haven’t even spoken to the King yet, are you insane?”
Varen looked at him calmly. “As Generals, we can perform the rituals of direct communion or blessing with whomever we choose, without waiting on ceremony. I don’t see why that authority doesn’t include this situation.”
Reil leaned in, his small figure exuding barely controlled outrage, and White could feel a sun roiling within. “What’s the point of rushing only to take him to see the Dark? Aria is with his majesty and unless there has been some miracle you haven’t told me about, John can’t make the journey.”
Varen’s expression remained unchanged, his eyes still on his opposite. “We have another General of Light.”
The wood shattered where Reil had been gripping it, flameless burns marking its surface as the snow-colored cover cindered. “I’m not a General.” The old man breathed out like a furnace.
Naroe and Avira had both retreated down the table, lifting White to take with them. Neither was scared, especially with how calm Varen still looked, but both were more than a little nervous about what would happen next.
There was a silence where Varen continued to sit calmly and Reil’s broiling presence kept steady, neither increasing nor decreasing.
Varen leaned back. “You know that’s only true in technicality.” Reil looked ready to object again when Varen held up a hand. To White’s amazement, the burning star let him speak. “How about this, we take him to see John tomorrow, see what he thinks. If he likes the idea, you take his place. If he doesn’t, I drop it until His Majesty gets back.”
There was an unchanging moment, and then the extra light in the room departed as Reil reigned himself in. “Why are you so intent on throwing him into such an experience?” The older man asked. “He’s a child. Our own apprentices haven’t even been called to them yet.”
Varen looked over at the three who had yet to return to their original seats, the two humans holding back a small dragon that was desperately reaching for another bite of food. None of them were looking to jump in at this part in the conversation and Varen couldn’t blame them.
“I just feel it’s the right thing to do,” he said.
Reil deflated. “A gut feeling huh?” he said before chuckling and shaking his head. “What gives you the right to use my excuses?”
Varen gave him a wry grin. “Dark soul or not, your influence doesn’t go away easily.”
Reil sighed before looking up from across his ruined section of the table. “I fully believe White will end up with His Majesty, so I’d prefer him there with us. But you rule in his stead for good reason, so I’ll go along with this.”
“Great,” Varen rose and clasped his hands together. “But you owe me a table set.”
And the old veteran laughed honestly. “That was my intention from the beginning.”