She was not wrong that it was the most uncomfortable part of the transformation. It started the next morning and lasted two days, a horrible pain in my stomach region that lasted the majority of that time. In her words it was my internal organs shifting and changing, not to mention closing the stab wound that Sophia had left in my stomach. To help with the pain the Dragon gave me a towel that contained an orange glowing rock. It radiated heat and she told me to hold it against my stomach. I did and it helped ease the pain quite a bit. The actual change for my hip region took maybe an hour and it wasn’t painful at all. I thought I might feel a bit upset at the disappearance of that piece of my body but I felt nothing but a sliver of joy, it might have been the crippling stomach pain that spoiled the moment there. It was the afternoon of the second day before I could remove myself from the bed of the room she had let me use. I was coated in sweat and still a little nauseous when I returned to the main room and found her waiting.

She led me to another room, what looked like her own bedroom, and beyond it into a room with extremely smooth stone. There was a wash basin and a mirror and another open area separated by a pane of glass. I looked at her with confusion.

“This is a shower. Wave your hand over this rune to cause water to flow, wave it again to make it stop. These runes allow you to control the temperature of the water. Take all the time you need, Naravie.” She said with a smile, placing a towel near the wash basin before leaving me alone in the room.

I stripped out of the robe and stepped into the spot she had shown me. Waving my hands over the runes did indeed make water come out of holes in the ceiling. It washed over me and soaked in the heat of it. I had enjoyed my time in the lake on top of the mountain but this…. This was divine. She had left me soaps to clean myself with and I did so, feeling the sweat of the past few days wash away, leaving my skin clean and fresh. She had shown me the oils to clean my hair and I did so, waiting for them to soak in as I realized just how long my hair had grown. It was down past my mid back now and incredibly thick compared to the short and well kept cut I had maintained for years.

As I waited for the oils to soak into my hair I let my hands roam over my body with the soaps, feeling awkward at first before remembering that this was me now. This was my body. That thought made me giddy and when my hands found my body I may have spent more time in the shower than necessary. When I did finally emerge from the steam cloud that I had made, I looked at myself in the mirror.

I barely recognized the person staring back at me. She was happy, smiling like an idiot and beautiful, if I was allowed to say so myself. I had gotten smaller. Not sure when that happened but I could see it. Noticeably shorter. I did indeed look younger as she had said I would. I looked to be in my mid teens, not fully grown but not a child either. My skin was flawless, perfect like the Dragon’s and I felt… alive. Like I had just been going through the motions of life up till now and now…. Now I felt like there was joy. Like I could be happy. I smiled at my reflection, wide and baring my teeth and I saw sharpened points. Not the daggers that the Dragon had in her true form but they were sharpened points in my mouth and I liked it. It made me feel like I had nothing to fear. I noticed a small pile of clothes lying next to the wash basin with a note on top.

‘When you are finished, dress yourself however you wish and come back to the main room. You need food for what is coming.’

I blushed as I realized she had probably entered while I was… The thought made my entire face turn a deep red and I buried my face in my hands before grabbing at the clothes. There were options. Dresses, tights, tunics, pants, undergarments. I went through each of them before deciding on a combination of black tights, a black skirt, a simple deep blue shirt and a dark gray cloak resting over my shoulders. I elected for no socks or boots as I had noticed my feet had changed as well, each toe now ending in black claws that clicked against the stone. smiled at my handiwork and made my way out to where she was waiting, similarly dressed with her typical pants and tunic. She gave me a smile as she rose to her feet.

“I see you like a bit more feminine clothing than I prefer.” She said, looking over the clothes I had picked.

“It looks nicer. Men's clothing is so…” I tried searching for the word I was missing.

“Functional?” She offered.

“...Boring.” I said, giving her a smile.

She chuckled and led me to the door of the cave. We exited the cave and she looked out at the Valley.

“You need to be able to hunt on your own. To be able to feed yourself. A youngling like you will need plenty of food. Especially if you are gifted with magic.” She said, half to herself.

“Magic? Didn't you say it would show if I had any skill with it?” I asked.

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“That was telekinesis. But yes, you should be showing signs of your affinity. Any strange experiences lately?” She asked.

I gestured to myself and she rolled her eyes.

“Besides the obvious.”

I thought for a moment.

“I sat below the water of the lake up there for a few hours without coming up for breath. Does that count?” I asked.

“That most definitely would. Which means you most likely have an affinity for water.” She said, stretching out her back and arms.

“So I'm a water mage?” I asked.

“Water affinity Dragon. Generally referred to as a River Dragon or a Sea Dragon depending on where they live. Magic is something you'll have to learn to control. Younglings, the stage you are at in your development, have volatile magic. Triggered and influenced by emotion. They can wield as much power as an Elder but have a higher chance of burning themselves out if they push themselves too hard.” She said as she shifted into her draconic form.

“So what are we doing?” I asked with my mind as I hopped up onto her back.

“Hunting. Your body is going to need a great deal of energy for the final stage of the transformation. So we are getting food. Looking for Elk. Or wild Oxen. They are delicious.” She responded, taking off and dropping lower towards the trees below.

We spent hours with her flying over the forests, teaching me to use my mind to Locate prey and how to rely only on my traditional senses if needed. It had been morning when we set out and by the time we were done it was drifting towards dusk. Purple tinged the sky and both of us were breathing heavily. She had spent the majority of the day flying and carrying me and kills on top of that had made her work up a sweat. I had spent the last three hours running about the forest slaying smaller game while looking for something large to bring down. I had finally found an Oxen at the edge of a meadow, alone and unguarded. Far enough from any settlement to not be in danger of being someone's cattle. I had rushed forward and snapped it's neck before it even knew I was there. We were gathering up my kill when I heard it. Footsteps, followed by the twang of Crossbow strings. I didn’t have time to react before I felt pain in my back.

I turned to see a trio of figures all clad in armor bearing the sigil of the Church. I had one crossbow bolt in my back, digging into my shoulder blade. I wasn’t sure if it was luck or if my skin was tougher but it had only barely gotten below the skin, thankfully. The Dragon had fared less well. The other two bolts had found their mark, one protruded from her jaw and the other was embedded just behind her shoulder, aiming for her heart. I saw the bolt protruding from her chest and saw her blood flow from the wound, dripping onto the ground and I raged. I rushed towards the trio, aiming to remove the crossbows from them before they could finish reloading.

“Hatchling! Stop!” She commanded in my mind.

I dug my heels into the dirt just in time to see a handful of other bolts fly in front of me. A quick glance in the direction that they had come from revealed another group, armed and armored in similar fashion. I leapt towards the first group, who were nearly finished with their crossbows when my foot made contact with one’s helmet as he was looking down at his weapon. I brought my foot down on the back of his helmet and I felt the crack of bone beneath my foot. I grabbed the one to my right and threw him into his comrade to my left, sending the both of them flying backwards onto a tree branch. It went through both of them and the first screamed in pain while the other made no noise at all.

I turned to the second group to see the Dragon had approached them. Her tail and claws were making quick work of their group when I heard a heavier clunking sound and saw the Dragon fall onto her side, a massive bolt protruding from her ribs. A chain on the end of it went taut and I saw her body begin sliding towards a larger group of the attackers, armed with a ballistae that they had set up among the trees.

Seeing her harmed, hurt… Something snapped within me. She had helped me understand myself. She may have been angry and short with me at times but she was kind. And these Humans were trying to kill her? My rage bubbled over and I reached out with whatever magic was within me. She had said that I had an affinity for water… I tried reaching out like she had showed me to do with my mind. I could feel the rushing River a few hundred feet behind me, banks swollen with fresh Ice melt from the mountains above. I pulled on that, drawing the water to me. It obeyed, rushing to my side and swirling around my legs. I let the water carry me forward and I drew the river with me.

The waves met the first group of attackers, a group of five that had been readying crossbows at me, and simply swallowed them up, sweeping them into its muddy waters. I didn’t care. My focus was on the group with the ballistae. The water was roaring in my ears and I crashed down with the wave upon the ballistae group, watching as they were battered against trees and rocks as the water pressed them deeper and deeper into the forest. A quick wave of my hand and the massive weapon was splintered against a boulder. I heard more yelling and saw another group aiming crossbows, this time at the Dragon. She was only just rising to her feet, a little shaky but still alive. She saw me and her eyes went wide.

“STOP! NOW!” She bellowed.

I looked at her in confusion as the group leveled their crossbows, two of them shifting to shoot at me. I waved my hand and the water rushed toward them before I felt cold. Not some winter cold, creeping and slow but a Cold that filled me completely and instantly. It felt like I had been running through the forest on a never ending path and then the ground fell away sending me tumbling down into a bottomless pit, and it was so cold. I fell to the ground and clutched my arms to myself, feeling the waters I had been commanding pool around me. Everything was drowned out by that emptiness and that bitter chill in my body. I barely felt when someone lifted me from the ground and my vision faded to darkness, all I could feel was the shivering.