Case 5: Breathing fire
The invention and spread of a written language for dragons had a profound impact on the world as Waver knew it.
Due to their permeability through town, Waver and Valor decided that spark-lings and carrier sparks would likely make the best tutors. So, abusing his position as a consultant, Waver hired carriers to learn so they could teach those around them, and took jobs that would let him access pets that he could teach. On the dragon side, the requests piled up, and Pentwec paid secret visits to many a stable. In mere months, the trend took on its own life, and Valor Grotto had much less teaching to do.
Of course, lacking parchment and lacking ink, most dragons used their claws to inscribe their runes, and such carvings didn’t fade easily. Soon, the dux released a decree on the matter, declaring the new symbols to be a form of brigands’ cant and proclaiming them illegal. This frustrated Waver, but didn’t really surprise him. As long as the nobles weren’t tracing the symbols to dragons, they weren’t tracing them to his family, either.
Of course, there were those who knew better. Waver’s mother and Valse had been on better terms than ever after Granise learned the truth, so he showed her with little hesitation. The dux’s own daughter, Ori, naturally knew, but even if she had wanted to betray him, she had sworn an oath.
And how were the newly literate dragons using their power?
At first, it was merely for the novelty of learning, but very quickly they learned that they could use it as a means of self-expression -- in other words, graffiti. Everything from
Then, as expected, dragons started to spread ideas through the written word.
One could hardly pass a city block without seeing a proclamation that
Followed by
Largely, among humans, dragons were still pretending to be animals in order to survive. After all, as long as most dragons were still bound, the ones binding them would have much more military strength. But even in human circles, Waver was starting to hear rumors that dragons were acting unlike dragons. That dragons were nodding in response to questions, or grimacing when they heard bad jokes.
Waver thought it would not be soon that some humans would make the connection between the written symbols and the dragons acting strangely, but he and his family would have to be prepared for when they did. So, he kept learning to defend himself. Valse’s prediction -- that the first attempt on his life would take place days after the dux learned his name -- had almost certainly been proven false already, but he knew that was no reason to rest easy.
Not that this prevented Fracas from trying. The libel dragon had taken Waver up on his promise to let her live with Valor Grotto for a while, but she put almost no effort into trying to find a new place to live. At least she had given up on the idea of becoming subservient after witnessing how “domesticated” dragons actually felt about it.
Apparently, Valor’s venom was a type of magic. Waver wasn’t sure how to feel about this revelation, and he was even less sure how to feel about the revelation that his own method of speaking was also magic. It wasn’t as if he had any other explanation. It shouldn’t bother him to simply have a word for the mystery that already existed. But... magic should belong to dragons, he thought. Even his type of magic was merely the same type that Pentwec was blessed with, prestidigitation. So why had he become this way?
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To make matters worse, it had been difficult to move around outside at night without feeling like he was fixed by an intense gaze, lately. It was distracting, and would last until he could find something to hide under.
Soon, it was once again wintertime. As expected, that teacher Katsk had returned to Carry, supposedly on urgent business but most likely because he couldn’t afford to live under the dux’s wages. The next teacher hadn’t been quite as accommodating to the arrangement with Pentwec, and so she had to remain at home with Fracas almost constantly. When the weather afforded it, she would play outside or visit her mother, and occasionally Ori would take her around town, but being separated from the human children she’d befriended made her depressed.
So, today, Valor and Waver had taken a day off to play with her.
She still liked playing. She had all the maturity of a seasoned elder, sometimes, but she was only a yearling dragonet, and her mind still needed stimulation. Her little body still needed exercise.
To entertain her, Waver had picked up some scrap metal from a local smith, and Valor had formed wire into complicated shapes that were a challenge to pull apart, molded softer metal into rough spheres that could barely roll around, and kept some interesting pieces of scrap as they were. So the floor of the ranch, which had way too much space for only three dragons, was essentially littered with trash. Incidentally, Fracas had left to try to find and meet Ishcal, who she had heard about from Waver.
They played long and hard. Valor had managed to curb their venom, so accidentally poisoning Waver from a single swipe was no longer an issue and they could safely roughhouse however they wanted. Pentwec might have been small, but her scales were extremely hard. Even if she wasrelatively light and could easily be injured from too much force, it would be very difficult for either of them to pierce her hide by accident.
They played with knives, without knives, and when the fighting got old they played various word games and storytelling games. Then they practiced magic; Valor and Pentwec both claimed to be on the verge of discovering new magic, so they meditated, trying to find where within their bodies the inscriptions lay. Waver wondered what that felt like. He spent that time trying to conjure images other than the usual throat, tongue, or mind. He was mostly unsuccessful, but when a single lick of flame emerged from Valor’s throat neither of them could tell which of them succeeded.
Then, it was finally time for the little one to go to bed, so she curled up on a pillow while Valor and Waver kept talking.
<...Yeah.> Waver said quietly.
Valor looked at Waver critically.
Suddenly, a rustling of dead leaves and snow could be heard from outside the cracked-open windows, which were left open for just this reason. Human footfalls, several pairs of them. A drake, too. Valor narrowed their eyes.