“Dear me, those were some heavy topics the other two dropped on you. Worry not, I have not come to you with anything distressing like they have.” Joked the goddess.
Taking the appearance of a middle-aged woman, she radiated a maternal warmth.
“My name is Aanat, known to most as the Goddess of Fertility. It is truly my pleasure to meet you!” she smiled towards me.
“Before we speak, I just made a brilliant soup that I’d like you to tr-”
“Yes please!”
“Don’t even think about it!”
Azoth and I both spoke, interrupting her words before she finished them. After getting a nasty stink eye, I reluctantly gave in.
“But I wanted to try it…”
“Oh well, that’s a shame. Anyways, looks like its time to get to the boring stuff.” Aanat said, sighing.
“You see, I originally did not intend to join this meeting, nor was I aware it was going to occur in the first place. When I noticed that mortals were being called into the Garden of the Gods, I was curious to see who it was. And goodness, it was the Frost Dragon herself and a child of a new, never-before seen sapient race! There was no way I was going to let something so interesting happen without dropping by to see what the fuss was all about. Hurun was probably the same in not expecting your arrival, given that he joined right about when I did.”
Aanat then opened a rift through space near her, and pulled out a pastry from the rift, which then proceeded to close.
“Stop talking about irrelevant matters and get there anyway.” Azoth said curtly.
“Relax, Azoth, I was just about to get to that anyway. So, my child, may we use a blood sample from you to create more dragons of your kind?”
"Hmm...?”
More dragons of my kind? More importantly, blood sample?!
The room’s temperature dropped sharply, frost spreading rapidly from Azoth’s seat to the table and the grass near her.
“Choose your next words carefully, goddess, or I will have your head dangling from a spike on the gates of my home!” Azoth hissed, her fury boiling hotter than the ice spreading around her.
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“Whatever do you mean?” the goddess said innocently.
“Do not play games with me. Did you think we would allow you filth to raise one of ours and turn them against us?! If you are trying to provoke another Celestial War, then you’re going to get what you wish for!”
The tension in the air was thick and hostile, and I found myself struggling to breath, as if making a sound would spell my doom. Aanat, however, acted nonchalantly, eating her pastry in silence.
“What have you been imagining, Azoth? Stop jumping to conclusions. I haven’t said anything about raising a dragon myself.” She said, rolling her eyes.
Then she turned to me.
“Every sapient being, every culture, and every language brings us a new way of looking at the world. It is a precious treasure that cannot be reproduced once lost. For that reason, I wish to ensure that the spark you have lit is not extinguished by a stray gust of wind. Right now, your guardian is the mighty Frost Dragon, so few things will pose a threat to you. However, one day you will take your own path. And as Renet said, you will be in the center of a coming storm. I wish to take precautions now to safeguard your species’ existence, in the form of two methods.”
Azoth withdrew her menacing aura and maintained her silence. For now.
“The first method is by taking a blood sample; since the dragons would not trust me with this kind of power, I merely ask that you get another of your kin to do it for me. That way, even if all members of your species were to disappear from this world, we would still be able to bring you back.”
“…There are indeed a few individuals I can think of who can help with that, and that such a precaution would be in the dragons’ collective interest.” Azoth conceded.
“See! That wasn’t so hard.” Aanat grinned.
“The other is a more proactive measure. I can grant you my blessing, dear child, as I have done with a number of progenitors of new races before you. When you reach adulthood, you will be able to activate my blessing and create a new, healthy member of your species, upon which my blessing will take a short period of time to regain its strength. All members of your species will inherit my blessing, until a thousand of you are born. When that happens, my blessing will quickly fade from within all of you.”
“When is that going to happen anyway?” I asked.
“Dragons reach adulthood roughly twenty years after their birth, my child. On their twentieth birthday, dragons choose the gender they identify with and their body changes to accommodate them. Of course, many dragons tend to favor a gender earlier than that, but the changes do not occur.” Azoth explained.
“What happens if I don’t choose one?” I asked.
“Well, some do not settle on a choice while others feel that they are both at once. Others still do not feel represented by either being a male or a female. Regardless, the body adapts to fit the dragon’s view of themselves.”
“…Uhh, what is the difference between all of them?” I scratched my head, still confused.
Azoth opened her mouth, then closed it again. Then she answered with a hint of exasperation in her voice.
“That is subject to too much debate for me to explain, but it’s beyond the scope of our discussion right now. For now, all you need to know is that you don’t have to worry about any of that for now; you’ll have time to think it over yourself later, after I teach you about what I know of it.”
“Well, as entertaining as it is to see you give the talk to this child, I believe that we’ve discussed everything that needs to be said. Do drop by to greet me when you come over to see that grumpy old man!” Aanat said, waving at us before disappearing.
Soon, we were enveloped in light and vanished from the Garden of the Gods.