I awoke some time later, a simple robe over my body to replace the bloodied clothes I had fallen asleep in. I was clean of blood and the wounds barely ached at all. She must have cleaned me. The thought would have normally brought blood rushing to my face but… I couldn’t bring myself to care right now.

Sophia had stabbed me. More than that she had been hoping the Dragon would kill me. I sat up and looked around the room. It wasn’t the room I had awoken in previously. It was a small room, a simple stone bed covered with blankets and pillows was the only real piece of furniture in the room. There was a wooden door, carved with beautiful patterns that I couldn’t care less about at the moment. I stared at it as I churned through my thoughts.

Sophia hadn’t loved me. At least not for a long time. I had been a pawn. I had been used. I felt my face contort with anger and I balled up my hands. She had wanted the Dragon’s blood to kill me. She wanted me gone. And she had mentioned Argan. I roared in fury as I rose to my feet. The stone rumbled around me as my thoughts turned towards him..

He was an Ass. The Leader of the Paladins of the Church. Their own personal knighthood that wielded the Church’s magic. And oh did he like to gloat about it. I had been the leader of the Royal Knights and had the displeasure of working with him often enough. I had always been Cordial, kind even. But now? Now I was done making nice. If I saw him again I was going to ring his arrogant neck.

As I stood there, fuming over those thoughts pain shot through me. I placed a hand on the spots Sophia had stabbed me. Both flared with pain at the slightest touch and I grit my teeth against it. I made my way to the door, slow careful movements to avoid angering my injuries any further. I found stairs leading down outside the doorway and I carefully made my way down them, bracing against the wall as I did. At the bottom of the steps I found myself in the same wide open room I had found myself in the first time I had awoken here. The Dragon was busying herself in the open kitchen, her back facing me.

“I’m sorry.” I said with my mind, not trusting my voice to work after how it had broken during my time with Sophia.

She turned and gave me a look of relief as she held up a bowl. I shambled across the room to her and sat down at the table near her, stomach aching with pain. I let out a hissing breath as I sat there, willing the pain to recede.

“It's good you did not push yourself too hard after waking up. I do not have many clothes that would fit you well. And your old ones are quite ruined.” She said, walking over with a steaming bowl of some form of pasta.

“Thank you for the robe.” I said quietly as she set the bowl down in front of me.

I tilted my head in confusion and looked up at her. She was covering a smile with her hands, an excited one at that.

“Was that me?” I asked, not recognizing the voice that emerged from my mouth.

“Indeed. I believe it shifted while you were talking to… her.” She said with a low growl.

“But that's not… I don't sound like you! I sound like a girl!” I squeaked.

“Well let us remember that you are indeed changing into a woman…” She said, looking at me with a mix of confusion.

“No. No. I mean I sound like a child! I don't sound like you. I sound like…” I trailed off trying to think of a good comparison.

“But you are a child?” She saw me about to protest and held up a hand. “In human terms you may be an adult but in the eyes of a Dragon, you will not be fully ‘Mature’ until you approach the age of Fifty. Thus given you are… what? In your thirties? You will have the body of a young woman by the time this is completed. Rest assured that even a Draconic Child will bear the strength you need for your goals.”

I stared at her, the fury of my conversation with Sophia fading as I latched onto that thought. I was going to be a child? I'd always been the young one of those Sir Greyson had taken in but I thought I had finally outgrown those… my face fell as I thought about Sir Greyson and my brothers. Either they would never know what happened to me or Sophia would tell them and they would curse my name. Tears welled up in my eyes and no matter how I tried to push back against it they would not be stopped. She must have noticed because she grabbed my wrist as I tried to brush them away.

“Bottling your emotions like that is not healthy and it will not work anymore. You will feel them and you will not be able to just ignore them anymore.” She said sternly, but with a gentle understanding in her eyes.

I stared at her through the tears and nodded as I blinked. I didn't push back against the wave of sadness that rolled over me and I let the tears fall in sobs. I don't know how long I spent crying there but she was still there when I could see clearly again. I wiped the tears from my cheeks and looked up at her with puffy eyes.

“I'm sorry.” I said, my voice cracking slightly.

“It is no worry. What upset you so? Was it her?” The Dragon asked, eyes narrowing with fury.

“No, not her. My Brothers and my adoptive father came to mind and… I just realized I'll never be able to see them again.”

“Why not?”

“They live under the church's rule. I may have accepted that I want this but… I don't know that they ever could.” I rambled, simply letting the words flow.

“Oh? You do want this?” She asked, the fury in her eyes replaced with something akin to… Mischief?

I stared at her for a moment before realizing what I had said. My mind raced. Did I want this? Was I willing to accept it? I wasn't sure. I had said it but… I wasn't sure.

“I don't know.” I said simply.

She raised an eyebrow and I motioned for me to continue.

“I mean… I'm not upset about the changes. But it's still, I'm not sure. Part of me feels like everything is happening so quickly whether I want it or not.”

She watched me. No remarks, no jabs at me. Just watching, before she spoke.

“I think that some time outside will do you some good. Let you work through your thoughts. Eat, and then go collect yourself, Hatchling.” She said, pushing the bowl of stew towards me.

I was surprised it was still steaming but I assumed she had used her magic to keep it so. I hurriedly ate the bowl of pasta and I couldn't stop a smile from creeping across my face. She may claim to be an unskilled cook but it was still delicious, she enjoyed spices and used them liberally. I finished the small meal and wandered towards the door she had previously used to leave. I tried pushing on the stone but nothing happened. It took a moment for me to remember what she did. I brought my hand up to my mouth and bit down on the tip of my thumb, A small sharp pain shot through my hand as blood pooled on it. I rubbed the bloody finger on the wall and it parted as it had for her. I turned back to look at her and found her watching me with a half smile.

I left my weapons in the entryway and opened the second door, revealing a clear midday sky with the perfect temperature for a stroll. I walked up to the edge of the cliff and sat down next to one of the small streams, letting the sound of the gently flowing water carry me away as I let my thoughts take me.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

What did I want? How did I feel about this? Was it my own decision? Was this transformation changing my mind with it? Would I ever see my Father or my Brothers again? Did I want to? Where would I go after this? What would I do? My thoughts swirled through my mind and I spent the afternoon drifting through them.

I wanted… I wasn’t sure. I wanted to help my people. To protect my family. And this power would let me do that. Becoming a Dragon would allow me to do that, even if the church called me a monster. They hated magic, any that wasn’t their own anyway. They believed magic besides their ‘Blessed and Sanctioned’ magics were heresy before their God. I had personally never been much a believer in the Church’s teachings so defying them didn’t bother me overly much. And now with Argan and Sophia it made it all the easier to defy them.

How did I feel about the other changes? That was less cut and dry. On the one hand, all my life I had been told that women were weaker and shouldn’t fight. The power I felt flowing through me now was proof that was a lie, and the pain in my shoulder and stomach were even more reminders that that was an idiotic line of logic. And realizing that was…. Really the only part of it that bothered me. I didn’t mind the changes, the giddiness in my mind for most of them so far was proof enough of that. It was more than that too, I enjoyed the changes. I think some part of me truly had wanted that, even before this mess. I had just ignored it. Which answered the question of if it was my own Decision as well. I may not have planned on it but fate had a funny way of working out I had noticed.

I wasn’t so sure if the transformation was changing my mind or not. I didn’t feel like it was but then, would I really notice it if it was? I think it was more just unearthing thoughts I had pushed so far back in my mind that I had forgotten them. I remembered my teenage years and seeing myself in mirrors had been… a painful experience. And public baths had never been an option. I remembered days where we had rode through the city and seen the noblewomen in their fancy dresses and I had felt envy. I had always thought it might be for the easy life they led but now I had a sneaking suspicion that it was something else. Even if the changes were affecting my mind I couldn’t deny those things and others like them.

The question of seeing my Father and Brothers again… that brought tears to my eyes. I had to get up and move before I thought on that. I looked back towards the cave entrance and looked up to where the water for these small streams came from. It was a quick and easy climb to reach the spot where they were fed from, my shoulder groaning in protest but I ignored it. The spot feeding them was a few hundred feet up the mountain, not far from the peak of the ridgeline. A small mountain lake fed by a spring. The waters were cool and crisp as I slid my feet and legs into it. I watched the slowly sinking afternoon sun as I kicked my feet in the water and my thoughts churned again.

I wanted to see my Family again but… I was scared. Sopia had been a traitor to me. But my Father? I knew he would not betray me but… I wasn’t sure how he would react to me being… choosing to be a Woman and a Dragon. Not really a choice but accepting it I suppose. He had never been a huge supporter of the church but he was loyal to the Royals who did support them. It brought tears to my eyes thinking of what he might say. The man had taken me in as an Infant with his wife. The pair of them had looked after me my whole life and she had only passed away from sickness three years ago. The church hadn’t been able to cure her sickness. The two of them had taken in my brothers as well, Irand and Tiran.

Irand had come to us when I was eight and he was ten. His parents had been friends of Sir Greyson and they had met their end while they were traveling to one of Noble estates away from the capital. His mother had managed to hide him but not herself. So Sir Greyson had taken him in and trained him to be a knight like his father. We had been close ever since he arrived, as brothers would be. He had always stood by me against Argan and the other noble boys in the capital and he had always been supportive of me when I had courted Sophia. He wasn’t as skilled in combat as Tiran and I, preferring instead to bury his nose in books, a hobby that put him at odds with the Church. I smirked to myself as I thought of him asking me all sorts of questions about what the changes were like, what did it feel like to be so affected by magic. I think if I went to him, he might accept me but… if he rejected me I didn’t know what I would do. I think that would break my heart in a way that wouldn’t be repairable.

And then there was Tiran. He hadn’t joined us until I was twelve, he was only a handful of months older than me, and he had been closed off at first. He was quiet and seemed to be angry at something. It was nearly a year after Sir Greyson had brought him home that he opened up to us. He had made a decision that his parents could not accept and they had disowned him and cast him out. He never said what the decision was or why he had made it and we never pried on it. But he had pushed himself harder than any of the other boys during our training and it had paid off in spades. He was the most skilled Knight I had ever seen. He preferred a spear and shield to a Sword and he had an unusual fighting style compared to most of the other knights but when the competition to select the King’s champion had come around, it had been he and I in the final round. We had surpassed the knights who were senior to us and faced off against one another. I had edged him out by a hair and he had taken my place as Captain of the Royal Knights. He was smaller than the rest of us but he had an air of authority about himself as Captain of the Knights and I respected the hell out of him for it. I didn’t know what he would think of me now. He might accept me personally but as Captain of the Royal Knights he could never take such a strong opposing position to the church.

As my thoughts wandered to them, tears filled my eyes. I loved the three of them, and mother but she was beyond speaking to at this point. I could only imagine what lies Sophia had thought up to tell them. She had probably told them that the Dragon had killed me. And maybe that was for the best. Maybe then I wouldn’t have to tell them about me. They could believe Siran was dead and gone and never be any the wiser. Some might call me a coward but I didn’t want to lose my last real tie to my humanity.

My thoughts drifted off to where I would go after this. I didn’t want to stay here. Not when it meant I might see them again. Not to mention the Dragon would be displeased to have me be a constant reminder of what had happened. I think I would go to the Southwest. There were Kingdoms there that thrived in vibrant jungles and I had heard that the people there were more accepting of magic and the creatures it spawned. It sounded better than trying to hide from the church. I smiled at the thought of warm Sunny Jungles. Maybe I would even visit the oceans. I apparently had an eternity to try things out.

Which left one final question… What was my name? Siran was dead. Sophia had killed whatever was left of him in the forest. I had no desire to keep the name and I wanted something that felt… me. I slid my whole body into the waters of the lake as my chest begin to itch and scratch. Drifting along through the water, staring up at the sky I thought and thought and thought. I sank below the water as the sky turned purple with the light of dusk. I stayed below the water I don’t know how long. Long enough for the sky to turn black, never needing to take a breath as I went through things in my head. Eventually I climbed my way out the lake and stood overlooking the nighttime view of the valley. I could see the torch and lantern lights of the city and the villages that dotted the valley. I had my name. And the first person to hear it would be her. The one I had wronged and started all of this.

As I made my way down the mountainside I realized that my body had changed again. There was a slight weight on my chest now, not much and hardly noticeable with the robe I had on but, it was there. I smiled as I reached the doorway and placed a bloody thumb on it, noticing my fingers now ended in a single sharp black claw instead of nails. The doors opened and I found her lying on the couch I had originally woken on, nose buried in a book. She looked over at me as I entered and sat up, setting her book in her lap.

“So what have you thought up Hatchling?” She asked, a serious look on her face.

“I… I have accepted what I am. I want this. And I have a name.” I said, shy about speaking it aloud.

She raised an eyebrow and gestured for me to continue. I took a breath as I said it aloud.

“I am Naravie.”

She smiled and gestured for me to come sit with her. I did and she pulled me in close to her.

“Nuh-Rah-Vee. A beautiful name for a beautiful girl. Though I may be a bit biased on that front.” She said with a chuckle.

I smiled as she said it but tears filled my eyes. I tried to stop it but small sobs escaped me and she looked over, concern in her eyes.

“What is wrong Naravie?”

“No one ever called me beautiful before.” I said, trying to contain the sobs.

“Ah. The first time is always a bit overwhelming for people like us.” She said, pulling me in closer.

“People like us?” I asked, looking up at her.

“Did you think you were the only one ever born a man to become a woman? That is a story for another time though. You need food. And rest. The next few days will be the most uncomfortable for you. The transformation works its way down your body and the next piece will be…” She said, glancing down at my chest.

“That happened a few hours ago. It wasn’t too bad.” I said with a smile.

“No, I suppose that wasn’t. The next part however…”

I realized what she meant and a simple “Oh.” escaped my lips.

“Come. Let us eat and prepare you for truly becoming a woman.” She said as she rose and walked towards the kitchen.