The Gentle Dragon

Chapter 5: Kaylani

I work with Naida until I have to shift and get ready for class. I’m an animal, I’m used to being naked. The elves, however, are not as used to nudity and I find them staring, not just at me, but at all of the shifters when they shift. Being the mother of a teenage daughter, I find it uncomfortable that teenage elvish boys are staring at my naked daughter when she shifts. I probably need to talk to Yhendorn about that while he’s here.

I wait for Naida to shift and watch as Aithlin openly stares. I growl at him, just as Tesha smacks him in his chest.

“Get lost, perv. No one wants you gawking at their naked body.”

Naida turns to look at Aithlin who has turned an uncomplimentary shade of red. He drops his gaze and races off. I hand her my clothes to put on since hers shredded when her dragon answered Ancalagon’s call.

As we walk inside, I send Naida to her room and I head to mine, quickly getting dressed before heading out to my classroom. Because today is Elemental Manipulation and the dragons are part of that class, my ‘classroom’ is outside.

Before we opened our doors, we built several outdoor areas where the dragons can participate while still in their dragon form. Each of these buildings has bleacher seating for the other students so they have a place to sit and listen during class.

I walk in as the students begin to file in. Because every one of our students are first years, we’ve had to divide the first year classes up. We made sure to divide the classes so that they are evenly distributed with dragons, elves, and hybrids. We originally didn’t include other shifters as they have no ability to manipulate the elements. However, after speaking to some of the students and their parents or leaders, we’ve created a class where we teach the shifters how others manipulate the elements so they have an understanding of it, especially if there is a possibility that they will be mated to dragon, hybrid or elf. In the past, shifters mated with shifters, but now, we don’t know how the hybrids and laboratory created dragons will respond to other shifters or how mate bonds may be formed.

Elemental Manipulation is one of my favorite classes and since grumpy Ancalagon isn’t in this class, it’s a fun time for everyone, pulling on their element and then working with someone who has a different element to try and make them work together.

When class is over, I head back to the main house to check in with Yhendorn and Kenna. I hear my sister bugle at me and I turn, seeing her and Kenna each holding a baby, and Nova riding on Ishir’s back while he and Yhendorn talk.

I turn and intercept them as they too are returning to the main house.

“Hey beautiful,” I say to Nova.

“Hi, Kaylani.”

“You doing okay after Ancalagon’s call this morning?” I ask her.

“Yep. Dad took me for a run. I felt much better after that.”

“Kenna told me he was being what has become his usual self.”

“Yeah. When did he hatch again? How much longer do we have to suffer with these temperamental mood swings?” Kenna asks.

My sister grimaces. “Nearly a year.”

“What? It has to be closer than that,” I say, looking at Kaze in her arms and holding out my arms for him.

When she puts him in my arms, I lean in and kiss him, smelling his scent of air and earth, Zephyr and Ishir. “Do me a favor, little guy. Never go through puberty.”

“Good luck with that,” Kenna snorts.

“Speaking of puberty, I need to speak with you before you leave,” I say, looking at Yhendorn.

“Did another one of my troupe do something?” he sighs.

“It’s not just your troupe, it’s all the elves. They aren’t used to nudity, and it didn’t matter when it was just us,” I begin.

“Yes it did,” both Yhendorn and Ishir say, looking at their mates.

“But,” I say, exasperated at the interruption, “it does now that we have some teenagers who are shifting and other teenagers who are staring at them.”

“Is it just the boys?” Yhendorn asks, scrubbing his hands over his face.

“No, it’s all of them,” I tell him.

“Okay, I’ll say something to them before I leave, but it’s not something that they are used to. They may become accustomed to it after awhile, but it’s going to be a problem every year.”

“Understood. As long as you and your other troupe leaders know that it’s quite possible that some of your elves may get blasted with an element because they are staring. I won’t dismiss someone for reacting to feeling uncomfortable, but I will consider disciplinary action if the elves begin talking about or making comments about anyone’s naked bodies. Many of these hybrids have scars and I won’t allow body shaming or bullying in my school. That goes for anyone, not just the elves, but they seem to be the most enamored with the nudity of the others.”

“Understood, and I’ll make sure the others understand as well. If we need a meeting with you and Everett, we’ll let you know.”

“Perfect. Have you already had your meeting about the hybrids?” I ask.

“No, Everett asked us to include you in the conversation so you could get the update as well,” Ishir says.

“Oh good, I would like to know what is going on,” I say, looking at Nova.

“Have you had lunch?” I ask.

“Not yet,” Zephyr says, catching on to my thought.

“Let’s see if Naida has eaten yet and if not, maybe you could eat with them, Nova,” I tell her, and watch her smile. The age difference between Nova and Naida is also about three years, but Naida tends to act like an older sister to Nova.

Together we walk inside, and I can hear the sounds coming from the busy dining room. Mealtimes extend over the course of two hours so that anyone who has a class that interferes can get in and get food. There is also a grab-and-go spot with coffee and tea that is open early until late in the day.

I step into the dining room, seeing the cliques that formed almost immediately and searching for my daughter. When I don’t see her, I turn and nearly run into her.

“Naida.”

“Hey, mom.”

“Hey, have you eaten?”

“Just coming down now, why? What’s up?”

“I need to meet with Zephyr and Ishir and…”

“You need Nova out of the way.”

“Not exactly that harsh, but yeah, she doesn’t need to hear what we’re talking about.”

“No problem, where is she?”

I walk her back to where the group is waiting for me.

“Hey, Nova,” she says.

“NAIDA!” Nova screams, making Ishir flinch. She jumps off his back and races over to hug my daughter.

“Hey, wanna have lunch with me?”

“Yes! Is it okay, mom?” she asks, turning to Zephyr.

“Yes, but don’t wander off and if you run into any problems…” Zephyr begins.

“We’ll come find you,” Naida finishes, taking Nova’s hand.

“Come on, I think I smelled pizza today.” As they walk off, I see Tesha join them and I turn.

“Let’s go get settled and I’ll order lunch for all of us,” I tell them.

When we sit down and talk, the information that Ishir has for us isn’t good. The killing hybrids are still daring and aggressive, but they have been smart enough to move around, making it harder for Avani, Cedric, and Ishir to find them.

“We’re pretty confident that there are four of them and the scents that we’ve picked up are the ones that I smelled when Zephyr and I found Oliver mutilated. What is more concerning, is that when we found the last dragon skin that had been shed, we smelled the killing hybrids on it. We’re not sure if that means that they are together or if the hybrids found it before we did. Either way, it feels as though they are tracking the other dragon, whether it’s to kill it, or join forces with it, we can’t be sure.”

“There’s also that missing elf. Have you found any trace of him?” Yhendorn asks.

“No, and he’s not the only supernatural that has gone missing. They do, periodically, or did when the arenas were being built, but now I’m starting to get more calls for shifters who are missing. If it is these killing hybrids, then we’ll eventually find the bodies. However, if it’s this dragon, then it’s likely that we’ll never find a trace of them.”

“You think the dragon is eating them?” Kenna asks, her face clearly identifying her disgust.

“Avani eats animals and doesn’t think twice about it. If this dragon can’t tell the difference between an animal and a shifter, or doesn’t care, there’s nothing that we’ll find to let us know that he or she is eating them.”

“Dragon scat,” Zephyr and I say together.

“Avani mentioned that too. But here’s the weird thing. We’ve found dragon scat, but the scents seem different,” Ishir says.

“What do you mean they seem different? Like it ate different kinds of food?” Kenna asks.

“No, like maybe there are two different dragons.”

We all look around the room. “Another laboratory created dragon?” I ask.

Ishir rubs his hands over his face. “Yeah, and the three of us agree that the second dragon has the scent of all four elements.”

“You mean Oliver didn’t just add to Ancalagon’s two elements, giving him all four, he actually created another dragon that has all four elements?” Zephyr asks, horrified.

“Again, we don’t know for sure. We’re going off of what we do know, which is that we can smell all four elements when we find the scat of that dragon.”

“But it’s only one of the two?” Yhendorn asks.

“Yes. The second one only has the scent of air and earth,” he says, looking at Zephyr.

Zephyr sighs heavily. “I need to go back to the desert.”

“Why?” I ask surprised. The desert is where we go to deliver our dragon babies, where the sand is hot enough to keep their eggs warm.

She looks at Ishir then at the rest of us.

"When I laid Ancalagon’s egg, I laid a second egg. It didn’t survive, so I buried it before I left with Cal to head home. I know he wasn’t alive but if the Chief or Oliver somehow found my egg…”

“Oh, Zephyr…” I say, and the shock of her words reverberates around the room.

“If he found it, then at least one of those dragons is my son.”