The Consequences of Meeting a Dragon

The muffled rumble of an explosion sounded in the next room. The desk Thenio was sitting at trembled, making the line he was drawing wobble a little.

He paused, pencil in the air, and looked over at Amisi.

She nodded in response to his unasked question. "Looks like we're finally done for today. They just set off a trap formation."

"Was anyone injured?" Grandmaster Sephior asked, looking between Amisi and Bero.

"I don't think so," Bero answered. His brow was furrowed a little in concentration. He and Humerus could communicate through the barrier, but it was much harder for them than it was for Mideis and Amisi, the mental magic specialists. "Nothing major, at least. Maybe some bruises or small burns. Apparently it's quite a mess in there, so they'll need a few minutes to sort themselves out and check for any minor injuries. But Humerus says the magic buildup wasn't that strong, so the combat suits should have been able to block it without any problem."

"There's a mess? How come they made a mess?" Iggy asked curiously, tilting his head to the side. He was sitting on a nearby table where Bero had been stacking up the magic formations that Thenio was drawing.

Bero smiled awkwardly. "The flesh golem they were practicing on today was...uh...extra realistic. The ones before were bloodless, but the real thing won't be. So they needed to make sure the blood won't cause any problems with Ariom's magic. The golem was still frozen when it exploded, so it wasn't as bad as it might have been, but.... Well. You probably don't want to know any more details than that."

"Oh." Iggy still looked confused but didn't ask any more questions and turned his attention back to the stuffed octopus he'd been playing with.

Thenio made a face and bent over the desk again to finish the last few lines of the magic formation he'd been drawing. Then he set his pencil down and leaned back in his chair with a sigh.

"How do you feel?" Grandmaster Sephior asked him.

"Tired. My wrist hurts, and I have a bit of a headache. But otherwise I'm okay."

"Yes, I can see some inflammation in your hand and forearm and around your eyes. Your magic level is also getting quite low. Though it's much better than it should be after using magic for so many hours. That's quite a remarkable ability you have. It's a pity you don't have any control over it so far."

Today's practice had lasted almost the entire day. They'd taken regular breaks, but Thenio had still been using magic for six or seven hours total. It was something he'd never be able to do if he hadn't been absorbing Amisi's magic power throughout the process.

"I guess it's useful for this job. But I feel a little bad about sucking up someone else's magic like that...." Thenio looked over at the taua, who had just flopped down and stretched her long, slender body out along the padded bench that was placed to the side of the desk for her to use. She also seemed quite tired.

Amisi shook her head. "It's not like you're taking it from me directly. It's magic that I'm using on the telepathy anyway. So you reusing it doesn't hurt me at all. There's no need to feel guilty about it."

"I know that. But it still feels weird to me...."

"The only weird thing about it is that you're doing it as a human." Bero took the paper with the magic formation Thenio had just finished and added it to one of the stacks on the table. "It's perfectly normal for other creatures to absorb magic. There's nothing inherently wrong with it."

Grandmaster Sephior took Thenio's sore wrist in his gnarled hands and started gently massaging it while using a small amount of healing magic. "It's not something you can change, in any case. Even if it's not something you want, it would be foolish not to make good use of the ability, since you'll still have it either way. Now, close your eyes for a moment."

Thenio obediently closed his eyes and felt the doctor's hand on his forehead, followed by the soothing warmth of his magic.

He realized it was quite a luxury to have two top quality doctors looking after him. The other reason he was able to keep up the enchantment transcription for so long now was that they'd been taking turns treating him with healing magic during breaks. He'd only been able to do around four hours per day before Bero had started helping with their practices.

He was a little nervous when Grandmaster Sephior had used magic on him for the first time, during their practice the day before yesterday. Since he was a phoenix child like Seyli was, Thenio thought coming in contact with his magic might trigger another strange vision.

But so far nothing like that had happened. The doctor's magic did have a rather different feel to it, but it hadn't had any unusual side effects. Thenio wasn't sure if that was because there was something special about Seyli's magic on top of her being a phoenix child or because Grandmaster Sephior had better magic control and didn't need to use nearly as much power for basic healing.

Or maybe there was another reason entirely....

"There, how do you feel now?" Grandmaster Sephior asked, removing his hand from Thenio's forehead.

Thenio opened his eyes. "Much better. It doesn't hurt anymore."

"Good." The doctor patted him on the shoulder. "You've worked hard today, boy. Just sit here and rest a bit. It sounds like it will be a little while before they come let us out."

The room that had been prepared for Thenio had a barrier around it to protect him from any magic in the surrounding area. He wasn't literally trapped inside, but he was supposed to wait there at the end of the practice session until Ariom made sure it was safe for him to come out.

"It's fine for you to leave if you need to, Focilo," Bero said. "This one went pretty long, and I know you're busy."

Grandmaster Sephior shook his head. "It's all right. I made arrangements with the Center to spend as much time as I need to on this."

"Is that really okay?" Thenio asked with concern. "I mean, don't you have other patients and things?"

"I only have a few patients I'm directly responsible for. I'm mainly involved in administration and research these days. The only patients I take on are unusual cases, like you. It's not a problem for someone else to handle my administrative tasks for a few days. And observing you during this project definitely qualifies as research. Most stability patients can't use dream magic, of course, but I think I can still learn some useful things from it."

"It's quite fascinating, isn't it?" Bero said, looking at Thenio appraisingly. "Not just the dream magic itself, but how his magic power calms down when he uses it. It would be nice if we could figure out how that works and somehow adapt it for other patients."

"Yes, it would." Grandmaster Sephior looked thoughtful. "But even if that's not possible, studying the effect should be helpful for treating Thenio and other chaos morphs. Even that much is valuable. In addition to the lives that might be saved...there must be some reason why Ki'shiu is so committed to figuring out how to stabilize chaos magic. Mythic beasts are generally willing to help humans, but they don't usually put that much effort into it."

"Have you met any mythic beasts?" Thenio asked curiously.

"I have. I told you that I studied with the Shiu'tanas in Ket'qe, didn't I? I had the privilege of meeting Ket'shiu and Ket'yia during that time."

Thenio's eyes widened. "Really? What are they like?"

There was a brief silence. Bero cleared his throat.

"Oh." Thenio flushed a little. "Sorry. I forgot I'm not supposed to ask questions about mythic beasts...."

"There's no need to apologize. I understand why you would be curious." Grandmaster Sephior gave him a gentle smile. "And the restriction on learning about mythic beasts is only temporary, isn't it? I'll tell you about them once you have better control over your magic and Ki'shiu says it's all right for you to learn more. I promise."

"Tava and Seyli, hi!" Iggy waved his paws and then jumped down from the work table to run over to the door.

Ariom turned to see his cousin standing in the workroom doorway with her dragon perched on her arm.

"Hi, Iggy." Seyli smiled and bent down to let Tava hop off.

The two dragons began their usual greeting ritual, sniffing each other's faces and bumping their foreheads together, their tails waving happily.

"Look at my new collar, Tava!" Iggy said when the greetings were finished. He took a step back and stuck out his chest to show off the green leather collar he was wearing. "Ariom made it for me so I can play with the ice cream lady. He made one for you, too! So we can all play together, okay?"

"Krr?" Tava didn't seem to understand what playing with the ice cream lady meant. But she did notice the collar and bent down to sniff at it curiously.

"That's a good color. It looks very nice on you, Iggy," Seyli told him. Then she turned to Ariom. "You said you needed to do some final adjustments on Tava's collar? What do you want her to do?"

"Bring her over here." Ariom patted a clear spot near him on the work table. "Since she can't tell us how the collar feels, I'm going to start by testing her reaction to Namyis' magic without it. I got a few magic crystals from her, and I built a device that uses the crystals to mimic the effects of her dampening bands."

"You're really thorough, aren't you?" Seyli said with a wry smile. She reached down and picked up Tava. "Come here, sweetheart. Ariom needs you to do something for him."

The purple dragon docilely allowed herself to be carried over to the table. When Seyli put her down, Tava stood still and looked between her and Ariom, as though waiting for further instructions.

Ariom glanced toward the doorway. "Thenio's not nearby, is he? Did you see him when you got here?"

"Yes, he came to the door to meet us. Then Uncle Bero said something about giving Thenio a riding lesson before he put the golem away, so they should both be outside."

"Good. It would be a little dangerous to do this with him around.... All right. This might upset Tava a little, so be ready to calm her down."

Seyli patted her dragon's back. "Got it."

Ariom reached over to a small wooden box that was sitting on the table and flipped a switch on the side of it. He didn't feel anything when the device was turned on, but using magesight, he could see a light cloud of ice essence magic starting to spread out from the box.

Tava, however, obviously felt something. Her head immediately turned toward the box, her ears pricked in alarm. She let out a soft growl, and her scales started to stand on end.

"It's okay, honey," Seyli said soothingly, stroking the dragon's head lightly. "It's not going to hurt you."

Tava flicked her ears in acknowledgement and relaxed a little. But she was still watching the box intently, and her scales stayed partway up.

Ariom flipped the switch to turn the device back off. "That's about the reaction I expected from her," he said, nodding. He slid the box closer to Tava. "Here. You can check it out."

She stared at the box suspiciously for a moment. Then she stepped forward and began sniffing furiously at it.

Ariom picked up a blue leather collar from the table and held it out to Seyli. "Here. Put this on her once she finishes her inspection. From what Iggy said about his, it shouldn't really be uncomfortable, but it might feel a little strange at first. She'll accept it better if you're the one putting it on her."

Seyli nodded and took the collar from him.

Iggy had been watching from the floor, but now he flew up and landed on the table, making Tava, who was still focused on the box, jump a little and turn to look at him. When she saw it was just Iggy, she relaxed and resumed her sniffing.

"That's the box that smells like the ice cream lady's color," Iggy told her solemnly. "It's scary, right? The ice cream lady's magic is scary. But she's nice without her magic, you know? She plays with me through the window!"

It was hard to know how much of that Tava understood, but maybe she took it as Iggy reassuring her, because she finally stopped examining the box and looked at Ariom with a rather disgruntled expression. She seemed to be asking why he had such an unpleasant thing.

"I'm sorry," he said, reaching out to scratch her ears in apology. "It was just so we can make sure your collar works properly. If it does, you won't have to feel the scary magic again, all right?"

"Here, Tava. This is yours." Seyli held the blue collar out for the dragon to see.

Tava looked at it and then sniffed it. Then she turned to look at Iggy's collar.

"Right. It's like Iggy's. You're both going to wear one today. Hold still, and I'll put it on for you, okay?"

Tava turned back to Seyli and chirped in agreement. Then she obediently stood still while Seyli fastened the collar around her neck. When it was on, she flattened her ears for a moment and then shook herself, but she didn't try to take it off.

"Good girl." Seyli stroked her back. "I know it feels strange, but just put up with it for now, all right? You'll get used to it soon."

Ariom was watching Tava, frowning a little in concentration. "It looks all right so far," he said after a minute. "I made it using that scan I did of her the last time you two were here, so there won't be any serious conflicts with her magic circuit. But there might be some small adjustments I can do to make it more comfortable for her. Distract her a little, will you? I'm going to turn the device back on and see how much she notices it now that she's wearing the collar."

"Okay."

Seyli started scratching gently under Tava's chin. The purple dragon lifted her head a little to encourage the gesture. After a moment, her eyes closed halfway, and she let out a soft, contented hum, the end of her tail waving slowly.

Ariom quietly moved his hand to the wooden box and flipped the switch again. This time, there was no immediate reaction. Tava simply continued enjoying her neck rub.

When Seyli stopped scratching her, the purple dragon gave a couple of happy chirps before looking around. Only then did she seem to notice that something was happening with the wooden box. But she seemed more curious than alarmed this time.

She stared at the box for a moment, her head tilted to one side. Then she started sniffing at it again.

"There's still a small amount of essence magic coming through. Just enough for her to notice," Ariom explained, watching Tava closely. "That's by design. I tested a version on Iggy that blocked it completely, and he said it felt too stuffy."

"Right." Seyli nodded in understanding. "Dragons rely a lot on their magic sense, so it's uncomfortable for them if it's cut off. It's like putting a blindfold on. So it's probably not good for them to wear something like this all the time."

"Well, fortunately, I don't have annoyingly overpowered battlemages visiting that often," Ariom said dryly. "We just need to keep this one happy until my job for the Royal Guard is over. Though I mostly made these collars as part of my research on insulation enchantments for Thenio.

"Well, it's also possible they'll come in handy later on. Iggy's high magic sensitivity is a problem for him sometimes. And if you're planning to be a magic beast veterinarian, I'm sure you'll have to work with high rankers on a regular basis." He glanced at Seyli and saw she was looking at him with one eyebrow raised. "What?"

"Oh...nothing." She smiled awkwardly. "I'm just...impressed by the effort you put into your work. That's all."

Ariom frowned. That response was a little suspicious.... But he decided not to pursue the subject. Instead he turned the magic essence device off again, which seemed to confuse Tava, who started another round of sniffing.

"Hold still for a minute, Tava," he said when she was done. "I need to fix your collar a little."

She obediently stood still, allowing him to pick up a scribing tool and make a few small adjustments to the enchantment matrix inscribed on her collar.

"There, that should do it. Let's just check it one more time."

Ariom flipped the switch once again and carefully watched while the insulation collar began absorbing and processing the essence magic that came in contact with Tava.

The way the enchantment operated was actually quite simple. Since essence magic broke down quickly, all you really had to do to filter it out was to trap it inside the formation until it decayed a step further. Then it could be released as harmless denatured magic.

Harmless for dragons and normal humans, at least. There was still some question as to whether or not it was safe for chaos morphs....

After discussing it with Uncle Bero and Grandmaster Sephior, they had decided to wait until after the Royal Guard's enchantment analysis was done to schedule a session at the Stability Center for thorough testing on Thenio's reactions to different forms of magic.

Ariom hadn't seen him have any obvious reactions to denatured magic so far, though, so the current version of the enchantment was probably all right for the time being.

...probably.

"All right. That should be good enough," Ariom said with a nod after a couple of minutes of observing Tava.

She seemed to be resigned to the fact that the wooden box was simply a mysterious human object that sometimes emitted strange magic. She'd stopped trying to figure it out and had gone over to sit next to Iggy.

Ariom switched off the device and glanced at the clock. "The annoying ice mage should be here soon. We might as well go downstairs to wait."

When Namyis arrived, Thenio was still in the middle of his riding lesson. He'd happened to mention a few days ago that he was interested in learning to ride Ariom's horse golem, and Bero had volunteered to teach him.

They were practicing trotting today, and Bero had put the golem on a lunge line to make it run in a circle in the wide, paved area in front of the house. This let Thenio practice keeping his balance on the bouncing golem without having to worry about steering it at the same time. It also allowed Bero, who was holding onto the other end of the rope and controlling the golem's speed, to keep an eye on his riding posture and correct him whenever it slipped.

Humerus had wanted to ride on the golem, too, and was currently on the back of its head, clinging to the halter strap that went behind the ears. It didn't look comfortable at all, but the revenant seemed to be enjoying it for some reason.

Fortunately, the golem wasn't bothered by the extra passenger like a living horse would be. Maybe that was why Humerus wanted to do it—simply because it wouldn't normally be allowed.

Namyis parked her carriage a short distance down the driveway to keep it out of their way and walked over while giving them a friendly smile and a large wave. "Hi, everyone! Looks good, Thenio!"

Thenio smiled awkwardly and waved to thank her for the compliment. As he did, he felt the golem slow down to a walk and then come to a stop.

"Let's take a break for a few minutes," Bero said, coiling up the rope as he walked over to the golem.

"Ah...okay."

Thenio climbed down from the saddle. Humerus floated up off the golem's head and came over to land on his shoulder. As he moved through the air, a layer of golden scales spread over his body.

"You don't have to put on skin for me, Humerus," Namyis said as she walked up to them. "You know I don't mind how you normally look."

"It's not for you," Humerus said grumpily. He jerked his head toward the house. "It's for Tava."

Namyis looked in the direction he'd indicated, and Thenio saw her eyes widen a little. He also turned to look.

Ariom and Seyli had both just come out onto the front porch, carrying their respective dragons. Iggy was riding on Ariom's shoulder, humming and waving his tail happily. Tava was perched on Seyli's arm, looking over at the newcomer with interest. Both of them were wearing their brand new insulation collars.

"Those collars..." Namyis said, staring at Tava. "Did Ariom really...?"

"He really did." Bero set the coil of rope on top of the golem and turned to give her a knowing smile. "Come on, Ice Queen. Let's go introduce you to our Dragon Princess. She's a bit shy, but I think the two of you are going to get along very well."

He led the way over to the porch.

"Hi, ice cream lady!" Iggy waved as they approached. Then he stuck out his chest to show off his new green collar. "Look! Ariom made us collars to wear to make your magic not scary! So we can play together without the window, okay?"

"Hi, Iggy!" Namyis called, beaming and waving back. "That's a beautiful collar. You look very handsome."

Iggy stuck out his chest even further in response to her praise and waved his tail enthusiastically.

"Namyis, this is Seyli Ayerin, my cousin's daughter, and her pre-familiar, Tava," Bero said, gesturing toward Seyli. "Seyli, this is Namyis Ivoren. Also known as Ice Queen."

"I'm very pleased to meet you," Seyli said with a smile and a small curtsey.

As expected, the princess mask was back on today. She was wearing a cream-colored dress with pink and yellow flowers embroidered around the bottom of the skirt, and she had her hair pulled up in an elegant twist that was held in place by the wooden comb Eteon had made.

"Same!" Namyis said with a happy smile. She gave Tava a small wave. "Nice to meet you, too, Tava!"

Tava chirped and waved her tail in response.

Namyis' eyes widened a little. "She understood that? She's so smart! And so pretty! How come your family has so many adorable dragons in it? I'm really jealous...."

Seyli blinked, looking a little surprised by her enthusiasm. "Well, my grandparents own a dragon hatchery. Most of the dragons in the family come from there."

"Wow! That sounds amazing! There must be so many cute little dragons to play with in a place like that...." Namyis' eyes sparkled as she looked at Tava admiringly.

Although, Thenio noticed, she was staying a few steps back, in spite of Tava's blue insulation collar being clearly visible. Namyis seemed to have developed a strong habit of keeping her distance from any magic beasts she saw.

It was a bit sad to watch....

Seyli also seemed to notice that Namyis was reluctant to approach. "You can pet her if you want," she said, stepping forward and holding the arm that Tava was sitting on out a little.

Namyis' expression turned hesitant. "Really? Is that okay? I don't want to make her uncomfortable."

"It's fine." Seyli looked at her dragon. "She's not acting uncomfortable at all. She's curious about you."

It did seem that way. Thenio was still far from an expert at reading dragon body language, but Tava was clearly less nervous about the meeting than Seyli was. She'd been watching Namyis with a relaxed but interested expression.

"Oh. Well...if you think it's all right...." Namyis moved forward and cautiously raised her hand toward the purple dragon. "Tell me if she starts getting upset, okay? I know I'm scary to most magic beasts, so it's really all right to say something...."

"I'll tell you. Don't worry." Seyli gave her an encouraging smile.

"Okay...."

Namyis held her hand in front of Tava, holding very still as the dragon stretched out her neck to sniff at it. She didn't move even after Tava had finished assessing her scent and looked up at her. The purple dragon tilted her head to the side, apparently wondering why the woman in front of her was frozen in place like that.

"I'm going to pet you...okay?" Namyis told her.

Tava chirped and lowered her head a little, indicating that she had no objections. Namyis finally moved again, tentatively brushing her fingertips against the top of Tava's head. When the dragon didn't protest or pull away, she grew a little more confident and started lightly stroking her forehead.

"Wow..." she said in a small voice. "She's not cowering or trying to get away. She doesn't look scared of me at all. These collars really work!" Her whole face lit up, and she bounced up and down a little in excitement. "This is amazing! This is so amazing! You're the best, Ariom!"

As she continued petting Tava with a brilliant smile on her face, Thenio glanced over at Ariom. He was surprised to see that the enchanter had gone rigid and was staring at Namyis with a slightly bemused expression.

His normally greyish complexion had turned a light shade of pink.