The Brave Mate of The Unknown

Chapter Five: What it Means to be Me

I looked around amazed, there wasn’t an elf in sight but there were a few other types of species I didn’t know of. “I didn’t know there was a whole kingdom of dragons!” I started jumping in excitement. 

Dad smiled. “Yeah, it’s a lot bigger than it was when I lived here, they’ve expanded a lot now that it’s safe from elves. And ruled by one, sorta.”

I looked up at him with my eyebrows scrunched. “An elf rules? But it’s a dragon kingdom?” 

He stared down at me blankly. “Damn, what do they teach you in school? They don’t teach you about dragon history at all? Not even current events?” 

I shook my head. “I think that’s grade 5, something about war but other than that no..”

“Hm, I’m gonna have to talk to Carissa about changing the curriculum a bit.” He mumbled to himself looking up then looked back down at me. “You don’t know what your Uncle Kellin does huh?” 

I shook my head. “No, I know Auntie Kylie is a Luna of a werewolf pack but I don’t know what Uncle Kellin does.” 

“I’ll show you.” We started walking and as we did I noticed kids playing in the center around a statue of kids. One of the statue kids looked kind of like me.  The kids played ran off to a nearby grass area and shifted into their dragon forms and wrestled. It looked like so much fun, I wanted that.

We walked into the castle, it looked beautiful, it was so much different than ours, more fancy like I guess but smaller. We walked to the lounge area and waited. “Are we going to meet the Queen?” 

Dad shrugged. “The Queen isn’t the primary ruler like your mom, the King is. He should be out soon, the Queen might come with.” 

I sat on Daddy’s lap so I could rest my head on his chest while we waited. I yawned and looked up when I heard footsteps. 

“Hey, Scorch, what brings you by with my favorite niece.” I looked up at the King who turned out to be my uncle Kellin. We make sure we see each other on holidays and most full moons to praise our moon goddess. Stuff like work barley ever comes up, we just spent time together as a family. “Uncle Kellin??” I sat up straight. “You’re a King?? Of dragons??” 

Uncle laughed. “Yeah, I’m not the last Queen’s son but I still have royal blood because of me and your mom’s dad so she passed the throne down to me earlier this year. I’m half dragon shifter and my wife is fully a dragon shifter so no one really complains too much.” He sat down. “So why’re you guys here?”

“Daddy is showing me around, I never knew there was a real dragon kingdom!” I giggled. “Then he’s gonna teach me how to fly!” 

Uncle looked surprised. “You can shift? Already? I couldn’t till eleven, almost twelve.”

Scorch nodded. “She’s been developing just like a dragon would, she had hiccups, she started breathing fire a year ago and now she can fully shift.” He covered my ears. “Carissa is just worried cause she hasn’t shown any signs of magic, she looks half elf but she doesn’t have a connection to nature, animals or magic the way Kylie was.”

“She could be a siphon like me, if nothing happens for her in the next couple years I could teach her how to siphon. Kylie always had a connection to animals and nature, even before she could practice magic. Does Carissa sense anything?” 

“No, we’ll figure something out, maybe she’s a siphon.” 

My dad uncovered my ears. “Are you guys talking about me?” I pouted. 

“A little.” Dad kissed my forehead. “Alright let’s head out.” He got up and I yelped when he threw me onto his neck.

“Bye.” Uncle waved as we left. 

“I’m going to show you around then teach you how to fly in the area most kids learn in.” Dad said and I was so excited. We walked around the capital city, he showed me all the statues and explained all of them except the one with kids that I saw earlier. He showed me cool looking fountains and art around the capital. Apparently there are other cities now and even small villages but when my Dad lived here there was only the capital. “There’s one last place I want to take you then I teach you how to fly.” We walked to the residential part of the city and to a house. Dad knocked on the door and someone opened it. 

“Scorch!” The woman cheered when she saw my father and they hugged. “Come in, come in.” She said. Dad took me down from his neck onto my feet and we walked in. She gasped when she saw me. “You brought Dawn!” She picked me up and kissed me all over my face and I pushed back. 

“Dawn. This is your grandma, my mom.” Dad introduced us.

Grandma put me down and smiled. “I haven’t seen you in a couple years, you’ve gotten so big.” I don’t remember her very much. A man walked in and he was happy too see us too, he hugged my dad then hugged me. “Dawn sweetie, this is your grandfather.” 

I looked at both of them carefully. “You’re a dragon too? And grandpa?”

Grandpa nodded.”Of course we are, and so are you.” 

I nodded, so Dad had two dragon parents and Tamara had two. We started a little longer for lunch. My grandparents were good people, I liked them. Grandma Jenny is still my favorite though. Once we left I was dying to fly. “Does Grandma Jenny live here too?” 

Dad nodded. “We’ll visit her after our lesson.” 

I smiled and started running why holding my dad’s hand to get him to walk faster. It was a giant field called. “Dragon Jr way park.” I giggled when I read it. 

“It’s called that because it’s used to teach young dragons how to fly in a safe area.” Dad explained. We shifted into out dragon forms and he showed me how to move my wings by doing it himself then having me copy. He showed me some other things, a lot came natural but some was still hard to get the hang of. After a while he said. “Take a break. Play with the other kids.”

I nodded because I was tired and I wanted to see what dragon kids were like. “Can I play with you guys?” I asked after approaching five kids. 

“Yeah, we’re playing tag in the air then we’re going to go sit in the shade and rest.” One of the boys said. We all fly up but not high and played tag, it was so much fun playing with other kids like me. 

Once we finished we landed and all shifted into our human forms. Everyone’s eyes were fixated on me, like they saw a ghost. Everyone except one girl, I didn’t notice before but one of the girls were Tamara. “Tamara?”

Tamara frowned. “Hey Dawn... What’re you doing here?” Tamara and I were in the same grade 3 and grade 4 classes. In grade 3 she tried to be my friend but I never gave her a chance, I choice groups of friends over just her. I didn’t like the way she made me feel so I avoided her. 

“My dad brought me here to teach me how to fly.” I muttered, I was so scared because of the way they were staring at me like I did something wrong. The same way the elves at school starred at Tamara.”

“How could you fly if you’re an elf?” A boy asked and my heart sunk. 

“Elf..? I’m a dragon like you guys.” I chuckled nervously.

“She looks like an elf to me.” “Look at her ears.” “Elves can’t shift into dragons.” They all talked. 

Tamara turned to her friends. “Her mom is an elf and her dad is a dragon. My mom said she’s a hybrid.” I heard of hybrid’s before, that’s what uncle Kellin an Auntie Kylie call themselves. They’re half elf and half dragon. “It’s cool guys, isn’t it?” 

They stared at me then looked at Tamara. “Yeah, I guess it is, like the new king.” A girl said and turned to me. “Are you coming back next weekend?” 

I felt so relieved. “Y-yeah.” I smiled then my Dad came to get me. “I’ll see you guys then.” I looked at Tamara, she did for me here, what I never did for her back at school. “I’ll see you tomorrow.” I wanted to show her I appreciated her kindness and wanted to be more like her. When I play at school I’m going to include her from now on.

On our flight home I laid on my dad’s back and thought a lot. “Dad, why would you ever want to leave the dragon kingdom? Tamara’s Mom left too. It’s it hard to be different?” 

“Yes it is. I left for love. I fell in love with your mom and she was the only person’s approval I cared about. Soon I fell in love with her family and her kingdom. It was flawed before but we’ve helped them flourish.” Dad answered perfectly. 

“Am I an elf?” I asked, sometimes I felt like I looked like an elf but I haven't seen enough dragon shifters to know until today.

“Of course you are. Your Mom is an elf so you are too. You’re an elf and a dragon, a hybrid, don’t you feel like an elf?” 

I felt my ears and looked down at the elf forest, it had pixies, fairy dust, all kinds of magical flowers. I felt a connection to all of that. “I do.”

When we got home, mom was waiting in the room for us, she finished work early. When I saw her the first thing I did was hug her. I never realized how alike we were until I saw what I thought made us different and it didn't. "Mommy look." I looked up at her. "Mom my ears, they're just like yours." I giggled.

Mom looked surprised, she smiled down at me with tears in her eyes, maybe the happiest I've ever seen her. "You ears, your freckles, and your big heart."