Burned and Blackened Blood (G23 & loneiysong)

She smiled and chuckled and assured her family she was fine. She then crawled playfully behind Nabaz and then listened to him talk to Marcus. She felt the grass rub against her stomach and her wings that she let drag behind her. She smiled and then laid on her back completely stretching out and yawned and sighed. Her stomach was a lighter shade than her other scales. She wiggled her hind talons and sighed contentedly watching the clouds and listening to Furad hum her lullaby while she felt Nabaz's voice rumble beside her.

She was at peace. She traced the flight pattern of the geese until they were gone. She was so relaxed she began to doze. She breathed deeply and slowly let it out. She blinked slower and slower.

Nabaz gently flicked her with his tail sometime later. "Time to waken dear one. We have to attend to dinner."

The others had scattered around her on the grass, except her parents. Rowena was asleep on her chest, where Tirana had slept so many times.

Nabaz threw his robe into the air and changed into his human form with a loud pop of air. The robe settled over him before his scales had faded. Marcus stared up at him, amazed that he had met someone taller and larger than himself. "Does that happen to all Dragons?"

Nabaz shook his head. "No. It's up to each individual Dragon. Tirana I need some of your time before we join your family for dinner."

She sighed and then shifted feeling the urge of her master to awaken. She shifted gently and gently eased her grandmother off onto the ground gently using her claw to ease her path. She then eased up and winced and then turned into her human form with a shimmer and ran her fingers through her hair and yawned stretching. She nodded and looked at him.

"Of course." Tirana walked with him and wrapped her arms around herself a bit and leaned towards him to listen.

He smiled and took her arm.

"You are an incredible specimen of our race dear one."

He studied the skies as he walked with her, then suddenly a rush of energy exploded out from him and the grasses flattened about them and a little man that often hid around her brothers was thrown free and went tumbling away rapidly. once he stopped rolling he leapt to his feet and fled toward the city.

He nodded then sighed. "We will be attending dinner in our respective states. You as the Crown Princess, and me as the Dragon guest. We will have to be patient regarding your status. I have no doubt you have attended many state dinners and the like. But you must be very careful tonight. You cannot allow your brothers to bother you in any way. You must obey your family's rules, but you must also do yourself properly as a Dragon. That means so much. Namely it means ignoring the attacks, but also not allowing your dignity to be denied. You cannot allow them to demean or shame you. But you cannot use physical force. Your words are your weapons."

He studied the area and smiled, then stopped, sitting on a large boulder, then looked at her. "Now Milady, what questions do you have?"

She sighed and leaned against him as she listened to him. She smiled at his compliment. When she saw the man, she growled and felt herself bristling. However, when he spoke, she blushed and then nodded.

"Yes, I promise, I will be on my best behavior and I will not allow my brothers to tear me down." She sighed and sat down and then shifted a bit and rubbed her back a bit and then thought. "The skies were a lot different than I imagined. It was very tricky in some spots. Will I be able to learn how to navigate them better with time?" She bit her lip and looked at him.

He smiled and nodded. "You already have a true gift for flying. And you were wise enough to come down when you were tired. Which reminds me. Glide more. Let the winds carry you. Less tiring. But you'll build up strength in that area anyway. But back to the dinner. Your behavior is not the point. I trust you to handle that. I just have to remind you to be a proper ambassador both for your family and your races. That is part of being a Souled. you are part of the two worlds, meant to be a bridge."

He gestured toward the city. "Your family, like so many others, still assume that Souled are less Dragon somehow. They are wrong. We developed the ability to change to move amongst the smaller races freely. You cannot imagine the fear and hatred that struck us just for flying overhead. So doing this," He gestured to himself. "makes it easier. But it also requires us to obey the rules and laws of the race we are among."

he chuckled."Forgive me i am rambling. My point is to do what you have been taught. But recall that you must honor Furad. Listen to her if you are unsure. But i doubt it will be an issue. Everyone will be too busy trying to get information out of me. such as where the rest of the Dragons are, how many there are, and so forth. You have not been told this because...well truthfully because we do not have words for our new home, and we do not truly keep count of our numbers. We number our eggs, but I am not permitted to discuss those with you yet."

Furad giggled in Tirana's ear. "He has to show you our current cache of eggs first. it has been logn since I saw them. i am very eager to see them through your eyes little one."

She nodded and chuckled. "Yes, I must admit it was pure ego that I was flying. I just loved the power of my wings. The rush of them pushing me up and up every time I pushed down." She laughed and blushed.

"That reminds me. I read in many studies that Dragons much like many birds of prey they mate for life." She smiled and looked at him and canted her head. "Is that true or are Dragons as free wheeling as some kings." She smiled and looked at him as she looked to the kingdom. She knew that her uncles with the exception of Marcus had a new boyfriend whenever suited them, but Marcus was the romantic one who held to the code of honor.

She smiled to Furads warm nurturing voice in her head.

"I understand. nothing compares to flight."

He considered her for a moment, then waggled his hand. "Yes and no. Yes in that the actual act of mating does bind Dragons together, not entirely in the way you mean but powerfully. While we do take pleasure in the act, it often results in an egg, which is a binding contract in our race to care for the hatchling. But also no, but not every mating results in an egg, and not every egg is desired by both parties. Such as myself. I have donated my seed to many eggs over the years. I am their scale father, but not their nest parent. They know me and of me in every event, but they are not my responsibility to teach and train, unless they choose to grant me that honor. These happen for a number of reasons. Injury. Magical wards and blocks. And even choice in sex of partner. It may surprise you but there are gay Dragons. But yes a Dragon mates, truly mates for life, whether male and female, female and female, or male and male. Now of course as reptiles there is the chance that one of the Dragons will alter themself to be able to carry or seed an egg, but that rarely occurs anymore. We tend more toward the adoptive method. It is much more who and what we are. I should mention that no egg is left or abandoned. We treasure our young."

He considered her as he crossed his legs. "Now there are some wild Dragons who have kept harems, and some Dragons who have lost their way who have kept females as slaves. but we hunted the latter down, and there are no more true wild Dragons. We have some cousins out there but nothing else. Dragons mate for life by mating their souls and hearts. As my sister says of her wife, 'We match in every way.' Bit trite but very true. Dragons must find their perfect match. they can do much until that choice comes along, as we forbid very little in our culture, but loyalty to one's match is ultimate. Not by low or the culture, but because betraying one's very heart and soul is a form of suicide and very against the nature of a Dragon."

He stretched his arms and growled and opened his robe, letting it fall around his waist. His skin was dark, hairless, straining against his muscles and flawless. No scars, no marks, no signs of age.

As he stretched he continued to speak. "In the long history of our race much has happened. We have had Dragons try to name themselves our King or Queen and rule us. And yes do precisely what you ordered. We have also had leaders who have tried to make us live wild and carefree. and on an on and on. There are more stories than i could tell if my lifetime were to quadruple. To make it simple, yes Dragons feel love, and choose their mate based upon that."

he chuckled at himself. "you let me ramble too much little one."

"I love to listen to you talk. I have longed for all my life to listen to a dragon." She smiled and laughed and blushed and looked at his muscles. She looked at him and grinned.

"Master, I feel like you tease me further. You say that I am not to think about mating until I master my dragon form and yet you display a great form of flesh before me." She chuckled and blushed. Sure she did feel a bit jealous that he had mated brought about eggs, but he was very old dragon.

He laughed. "That is part of why Furad asked me to come. I am meant to tempt you. Meant to test you. My control is absolute. You will have to learn this for yourself."

He stretched further, his massive chest swelling thickly. "And spare me the jealousy." he smiled even as he delivered the gentle rebuke. "I am a comely male, and possess attributes that many of your brothers and sisters in the race have desired for their young." He drummed his fingers then looked at her again. "And i saw it in your eyes, and sensed it through your thoughts, and finally I could smell it."

He looked fully into her eyes, his strange vertical pupils gleaming within their greens. "Now tell me. What am i thinking?"

He was an absence in the world. Silent. No scent coming from him. His mind hidden from her, and his body language and eyes were unreadable. He sat still and silent as stone.

She rolled her eyes and then sat back on her heels and then stuck out her tongue. "Fine, then. Jokes on you. I don't find cockiness at all attractive. If you must know, I find someone who is romantic and humble way more attractive than looks." She crossed her arms and turned away. In that moment she was a bit angry at him and then at his question she turned to him and saw his eyes. She looked at him, she threw her hands up and began walking away.

"As if I would care." She walked away. Her ego was still damaged and she didn't care. She walked to the carriage they were to take back to the tent and got in and sat down. She covered her face. THe first person she let her feelings be known and she was rebutted. Leaning back she cooled herself and her emotions and made her thoughts and feelings a high wall and hid them in a small little box.

Furad gently touched her. "You are misunderstanding sweet one. Many young Dragons have sought out Nabaz specifically because he is handsome and comely. He hopes you will find your mate based on more than his looks. As you said."

She became corporeal and sat beside the young Princess. "He's trying to teach you Tirana. And it would actually be best if you had no interest or too much anger at him for any possible attraction to get in the way. But i can assure you he finds you quite attractive."

She was in Dragon form, just in miniature, and she began to fiddle with the seat beneath her. "Why do humans sit on such softness? Does it not tickle or bother them? And your control is not about hiding your emotions dear one. It is shedding those emotions."

She giggled then. "And just how did he rebut you? And if you want us to stop knowing how you feel or what you are thinking you will learn from the lesson he was trying to teach you."

She sighed when Furad appeared. Leaning back she sighed. "I have never had anyone showed me with compliments or show me any interest. But I am not attracted to him now." She rubbed her eyes and groaned. "I am not angry with him, I am angry with myself, I am acting like a child."

Leaning her head back she shut her eyes and sighed. "I lived my life with everyone either hating me or being afraid of me or both. Then this handsome dragon comes who is not afraid. How was I not supposed to find it attractive?" She lay her soul bare for Furad. And Furad could see just how much isolation and torment from her brothers she lived with. Turning away she met her emotions behind a wall.

"I just want to get this dinner out of the way and go to bed." She said simply. No hate or a life in her voice.

Furad folded her wings around the girl and held her for a long while. Then she spoke very softly. "i know sweetheart. i truly do. You have told me much of your pain. And I have wept for you, more tears than could ever be counted. I knew you might succumb to Nabaz's comely nature. But I cannot teach you what you need to know. i was only a few years older than you are now when I died. We also had to have someone who could handle everything else going on. There were options, but Nabaz was the best. We both worried greatly about your heart in all of this."

She gently squeezed the girl. "I am sorry we didn't warn you...but we were hoping to take this more slowly. Your brothers accelerated. I actually was hoping you could have a good week with your grandmother. Nabaz was to arrive at the end of the festival, and we could have stolen you away and had a long time to explain everything. likely even take you to meet the other Dragons. But---"

She sighed. "You are being forgotten in all this and I am sorry. But I doubt Nabaz is your match. He might be, but for now he is too much and you are far too young to even consider it. You need to meet the rest of our kind before you can make such decisions though."

She tapped the floor and the carriage set off. "Nabaz can get you excused for the dinner if you want."

"No I am expected." She sighed and leaned her head against his chest and blushed gently. She blushed shyly and shook her head. "I acted like a child. A spoiled little child. I acted like my brothers and I am sorry." She sighed. "I will tell Nabaz later. Its just that I have been deprived for so long, and I am not making excuses." She shrugged and looekd down and bit her lip and then took in a deeper breath and calmed herself.

She nodded and then looked out and watched the passing scenery. She ran her hand along the soft cushions and she looked at Furad finally answering her question. "We sit on softness because if we sit on hardness for too long it aggravates our skin. Our skin can break down if we remain still on it too long." She nodded. She had spied some of the healers sketches of what they called bed sores and it was a truly horrific thing.

Furad blinked at the information. "Interesting. Dragons have the opposite issue. If we stay on softness too much our scales weaken and can even fall off, exposing our tender underflesh...well at least that's what my mother told me."

She began to stroke Tirana's hair with her talons, where her physical presence began to fade, but still the sensation remained. "I have often wondered what color my hair would have been had I learned to take a human form. I never had the knack for it as a hatchling, and then there was too much going on. And I liked being in scales. honestly i don't know how you survived being in this weird little meat sack..."

She winced. "I'm sorry Tirana.. I... I just don't understand humans. Truly i don't."

"Don't worry, neither do I and I myself am one." She sighed. When the carriage pulled to a stop she fixed her hair and took a moment to still herself and leave her emotions in the carriage. Standing up, she moved out of the carriage with dignity and poise. She walked to her spot beside her grandmother at the dinner table and sat and sighed gently when she sat.

She looked ahead at the people and smiled serenely. She had decided to let the faux pas with her mentor go. Girls fell in love with mentors all the time. It was an age old story. And if Ana as brought it up she would apologize as was proper, and pay her penance, then move on. She kept her emotions down and just meditated on the thought of shedding emotions.

Letting her emotions slide off and around her like clouds in the sky. Not stopping or halting her.

Rowena smiled at her, as Furad flew to her place in her throne, letting a purple glint gleam from her eyes at the girl. The dining table for the whole family was in a room just off the throne, and opened onto it. occasionally they would eat in the throne, but tonight Binoc and Willow wanted to be closer to their children.

And their guest.

He was still not there. Rowena looked at Tirana confused, then everyone jumped as the whole mountain shook, then even more so as the elevator to the Dragon's ledge activated then lowered to open revealing Nabaz.

He had changed into a very fine black suit of robes, with touches of green accent throughout. His hair was bound tight into a series of braids along his neck and back, and he bore several touches of great wealth. Upon entering the throne room he bowed to Furad, who purred audibly at the sign of respect.

He then walked into dining room, revealing that he was actually wearing boots. He ignored all the others and went first to Rowena and knelt at her feet. "Great Mother, I ask permission to sit at your table."

She nodded. "It is given with pleasure good Dragon."

He stood then bowed to Binoc and Willow, "Your Graces, thank you for your hospitality." He then turned to Tirana. "Your Grace. You look lovely. A true example of both humans and Dragons perfection."

He took her hands and kissed them, then moved to the spot across from her and her grandmother at the table, ignoring the others, especially her brothers who were clearly furious at the compliment given to their sister.

Binoc sat after helping his wife do so, and everyone save Nabaz did as well. He raised his hand, intoned a blessing in his own tongue, then flicked his hands toward the lamps and they first went out, then reignited in a light purple. he smiled at Tirana, and Furad whispered to her soul. "A honor to both you and I."

The meal began and Nabaz ate and drank deeply of everything save the alcohol and wine. When asked he smirked. "Dragons can get drunk, but it is not wise. It has very...interesting effects on our fires. Perhaps in time some more of my people will come and exhibit the effects for you."

He looked at Tirana, and spoke in their now shared tongue, making seem he was speaking another blessing as he spoke. "Drink if you wish Tirana. But if you do you must fly tonight to protect your family from your fires." He smiled as he smoothly lied to her mother to tell her that he was blessing the table itself for providing such an excellent repast, and complimented her on her kitchen.

Furad was utterly lost. "I don't know what he means. But if he took such a chance he must be serious. Do be careful dear one. "

She sighed and blushed as he kissed her hand. She thought she was over him but clearly she was not. She nodded and just let the emotion pass acknowledging it. "As do you master. I mean, you look handsome as well as radiant." She blushed. Stammering over her tongue. She then cleared her throat and then shifted. She blushed seeing the color of the flame and then heard the soft voice of Furad.

She began to eat and drank her spiced drink that was free from alcohol. She looked at Nabaz and raised her eyebrows and then chuckled softly and shook her head softly. "First and only time I ever drank wine, I got terribly ill. My head pounded and I couldn't hold anything down for several days. The healer thought that the alcohol was poisoned, but I still have a taste adversion to it." She spoke in their tongue and she said so truthfully. In his mind she spoke quietly. "Besides of my flights of wild fancy and romance, master, you will find I am quite boring." She winked quietly to him.

After eating she suprisingly felt better and smiled. "Furad you take care of me, never cease to do so." She said quietly. The brothers were oddly well behaved save for a few mean glances but Tirana knew that they had something planned or something in the works. They were not one to sit by and watch.

Nabaz returned the wink. "i doubt that."

Dinner passed without incident. When it ended he bid everyone farewell, but motioned for Tirana to wait with him in the throne room.

Rowena stayed behind and he did not argue the point. When the others, including her parents had said goodnight and left her, he stood studying Furad's throne.

"An impressive specimen. Especially for her age. Have you learned the significance of each stone?"

He touched a line of diamonds along the tail. "For instance each of these stones."

He turned and moved to Rowena, placing a chair for her to sit in. She nodded and sat, clearly interested in the lesson, but also a little tired. Rowena herself did not know what the stones meant to the Dragons. Nor did Furad.

He sat on the tail and the stones glimmered. He tapped their surface, then looked at Tirana. "Each of these was formed by the flames of the first Dragons. great stones purified in the flames. Given as gifts to guard the throne and he or she who sits upon."

He leaned back. "There are more than ten thousand stones of every size shape and color on this throne. Each has meaning to the Dragons. meaning that I will teach you. Along with the full history of our kind."

She smiled and then continued to eat and drink. She listened to the conversations and let everyone talk to Nabaz and ask their questions.

When Nabaz motioned for her to stay, she turned and looked at him and raised an eyebrow and shook her head. "No, aside from the histories that humans were allowed to learn from dragons themselves, I have not learned much." She smiled and got up and followed him to the tail and smiled. She leaned against the rear flank of Furad feeling warmth surge through her and a sense of safety.

"I would like that." She smiled. "I only know the human meanings behind the stones." She smiled and watched him and saw the diamonds glitter and shine.

He smiled and began to teach. Each stone had been made, won, or even formed from Dragons over the long history before Furad's throne. Some had even been Dragon eggs before they had become gemstones.

He touched each stone reverently, but did not mount the stairs of the tail nor to the throne, instead growing a thin version of his tail and pointing with that.

Each stone had a name, but that he did not tell her, not in Rowena's presence. That secret was for Dragons alone. Furad listened through Tirana, as she had not known almost any of these stories.

She did know the tale of her own ruby, a large cylindrical stone that lay along her lower jaw, serving as a makeshift tongue. It was her heart. Her actual heart formed into a stone of such beauty and brilliance that only the fangs of a Dragon could serve as it's rightful guardian.

But there were so many more. Emerald chips that were the scales of baby dragons murdered while still in their eggs. Jets that were the eyes of wild dragons who had been legends in their own right. Sapphires that were the remains of Dragons who had flown to the ends of the earth and were never seen again. And on and on and on. More than ten thousand stones, each with a separate story, name, size, and age.

Rowena could not help but fall asleep. Nabaz spoke clearly but softly and the deep richness of his warm voice had lulled her to slumber. He was not concerned, nor did he seem worried if Tirana would begin to nod or not. He did not expect her to learn all of this. Certainly not in one night. What he was showing her was just how ancient her race truly was.

And this was never more clear than when he took her hand and lay it on a stone and she saw the Dragon flying. The stone was a small pearl, and Nabaz had not told her the story, just that the Dragon's name was Vecr. The Dragon was female, lovely, and only just a few years older than Tirana herself. She had only just mated and birthed her first of two eggs. But trouble came and her mate was killed. Vecr sent her eggs away with a young Dragon when their eyrie was attacked. She fell upon the would-be murderers and fought with a ferocity and savagery than no other race could match. And her young survived to grow into great Dragons. And one would sire the mother that would hatch Furad herself.

Nabaz smiled. "That is the legacy of our kind. We are all one nation. One family. And we will do anything, sacrifice anything to protect one another."

He gestured at Furad's throne. "And none tells that truth better than Furad herself. She saved the world by forging peace through her very bones."

He nodded toward the crowns. "And forged a legacy for your family that you must help mend Tirana."

He looked toward Rowena, who slept on peacefully, and smiled. "i would not see her fall to hurt and ruin. And i know you would not either. Will you dedicate yourself to learning?" He held out his hand to seal the bargain fully. He stood before an icon that told her just how little she knew of herself and her kind. And also told her that he knew just how daunting a task it was.

But he would be there. He would help her.

Tirana sat and listened to every word that he said. She got up and moved with him and took careful note of every gemstone that he pointed at and listened to every story. She asked appropriate questions. She hung on his every word. She was a rapt student. Taking in everything he had to offer. She nodded and then moved with him and then looked at him and then nodded.

"Yes, I hope I can only be half as great as they were." She said gently. She felt the weight of her duty and the grown on her head all at once. She looked at her grandmother as well. She then looked at him and then to his hand. She considered teh hardships. All the sacrifice. Clearing her throat, she took his hand and shook it in the noble way. "I do not do this lightly master." She said meeting his eyes. "I submit to your teaching totally." She said.

He nodded shaking her hand in return.

"Nor do I. And I shall dedicate myself to teaching you. Now please see your grandmother returns to her bed safely, then do the same. I want you to use this ward stone on your doors and windows."

He drew an oddly warped blue stone. "Rub it on the hinges, knobs and locks, as well as the doors and windows as well. And also your walls. I do not trust your brothers."

He leaned forward and suddenly his talons were on her face. Not painfully, but the length and edge of them rested against her flesh. A jolt of energy pushed through her. "I am borrowing your senses until you are better prepared and we have developed a true plan for all of this. I will not intrude upon your feelings or thoughts, but I will be alerted if you or I smell, hear, taste, or feel anything that concerns me. I will come to your aid, and alert you."

He drew his hand back, then stepped back. "Go rest Tirana. You already are a great Dragon. I hope to help you grow into a legendary one."

She took the stone and held it close to her heart. When he touched her face, she went stock still like a kitten being carried by the nape of the neck. She then smiled to him. "I trust you master." She then turned and gently roused her grandmother and helped her up and helped her to her bedroom.

Tirana smiled and moved to her room rubbing the tunes on her hinges and door but something overcame her, it was something like falling asleep, but she was awake. Her hand turned into a claw and she drew her own tune of magic of protection around her door where anyone like her master or grandmother would be able to come in but anyone else would feel suddenly ill or remember something pressing they needed to do. She walked into her room and did the rune stone over her walls and windows but also her own magic. She was in a state of shock in her own mind.