Kalon
"Greetings Prince Leon. We seem to be seeing much of one another today." Grinned the handsome man who was sitting on Kalon's large tail. Though he no longer wore the armor from before, he still had a sword strapped to his hip.
"Hello again Captain." Leon smiled, sliding off my back. "Hello Kalon."
The large dragon lowered his heard towards Leon. His head alone was about the size of the prince's torso, and those electric blue eyes were easily the size of his fist. The golden horns on the dragon's head were just as massive as the head itself.
"You have grown well since last I saw you, young princeling.
" rumbled Kalon, pulling back a little to get a better look at Leon.
"Trent was telling me of your newly awoken skills.
To be blessed by one of the god's at such an age is quite the accomplishment.
Perhaps you are being rewarded for helping a daughter of the sky. "
This Kalon was chattier than I would have expected of a dragon so old. But, I did like his voice, so hearing him talk wasn't as annoying as some of the other people I had met since coming to Helios.
Leon chuckled, bowing his head slightly towards the black dragon. "I don't think I was much help. Rather, I'd say that Allura has been more of a boon to me, then I have been for her."
"How have you been settling in, here in Helios, Allura?" Trent asked, stepping aside so that he could be seen around Kalon's bulk.
I shrugged. It was a human like move that didn't really translate well in a dragon's body, but I didn't really care how odd it may have looked.
"It's been fine enough. I miss hunting, but the people here provide good food.
I fear I might get lazy." I said, engaging in small talk, which was not my forte.
Though, I feel like I had been getting a little better at interpersonal conversations since becoming a dragon.
.. If growling and getting your way all the time counted as 'better', that is.
I think it counted. And, in the end it was my opinion that mattered the most, so who was to argue?
"We just left the palace." Said Leon. "My father suggested that we come and ask for your opinion on finding Allura's siblings."
Kalon pulled his head back to its full height and looked down upon us with some sadness reflected in those electric blue eyes of his.
"I've heard of your plight, of course...
the theft of dragon eggs is the gravest of sins.
All the more so when they were snatched from the nest of a wild dragoness, slaying her in the process.
" I could hear rage reverberating in that rumbly voice now and I had to admit that I liked hearing it.
Leon nodded. "Allura told me that she was in her egg still when it happened..." He turned to me, allowing me to tell my tale.
"I heard alarming sounds outside my shell, and tried to force the hatching.
" I said, remembering my first gulps of air in this strange new world, tinged with the scent of my families freshly spilled blood.
"By the time I broke free, the fighting was done.
My mother lay dying next to me, several eggs had been smashed, and two of my siblings eggs were missing. "
A low growl bubbled up from the fierce black dragon, his eyes now blazing with blue fire and his half-meter long claws digging into the lake-shore as he restrained his rage.
"Female dragons are rare and precious. It is one of the very many reasons female eggs are never offered up to the dragoons.
To slaughter one as she sits on her nest.. ."
"I take it that this does not happen often?
" I asked. It was sad to speak of my mother, but it seemed that Kalon was almost taking it harder than I was.
As much as I missed having what I could have had with my mother, I was more concerned for the little siblings that could be suffering a fate worse than death right now, for all I knew.
I felt my anger spike again, and Leon's hand brushed through my slowly growing 'mane' as he tried to calm me.
Normally it wasn't so hard to reign in my rage.
I realized then, that I had been hurried out of the palace for exactly that reason.
How was it that I was only seeing that now, after the fact.
I couldn't care less for that moronic noble I had been just about set to eat.
.. but I was a little mortified now that I had been about to do it right in front of Leon and his family.
Surely it was bad form to eat a man in front of royalty? right?
Wait... shouldn't I have been more mortified that I have been thinking of eating a person at all? I was technically a dragon now, so it wouldn't be cannibalism... but eating a sentient being probably should have bugged me more, shouldn't it?
I contemplated that for probably less than a second before shrugging it off, tossing the thought into the 'welp, such is the life a stunningly majestic dragon' pile of useless thoughts.
If it didn't bug me, then it didn't bug me.
Why bother forcing moral responsibility if I didn't feal any int he first place?
"No, it rarely happens at all." Kalon growled, shaking out his head an neck, as if to clear his head.
Maybe all dragons felt spontaneous rage from time to time.
I remembered then that Kalon was supposedly one of the first dragons to have joined the order, and therefore was also- originally speaking- a wild dragon in his own right.
I didn't know whether or not the 'bond' between proper dragon/dragoon pairs changed that in some way or not.
"There have been time where the eggs offered up to become bonded partners have been taken. .. but the raiding of a wild nest?"
Kalon shook his head again, rage still burning in his eyes, even if his voice was a little calmer now.
His partner, Trent, stood thoughtfully by those sword like claws and seemed to ponder.
"To be honest, taking a dragoness' eggs would normally be nearly impossible.
" He said. "Could you provide us with some information about your mother, the location of the nest, and even a description of the bandits as you might remember them?
Did your mother transmit the knowledge to you before her passing? "
I shook my own head. "Mother was unable to provide me with much. She did what she could as death crept up on her, managing to hold on long enough to see me hatch... She asked that I track down and save me siblings."
"Yes, it is the responsibility of all dragons to make sure eggs do not fall into dirty hands." Kalon growled from above me.
"As for the nest... well, Mother had laid us on a bed of coals in a dried up riverbed, deep in a forest full of monsters." After hatching, I didn't hang around to take a decent look at the place, and when I returned to get the heart stone and then her bones I didn't linger either.
"A nest in a river bed?"
"In the Zolftar Forest." confirmed Leon as we waited for the dragoon duo to, perhaps, enlighten them on what may have occurred that day.
Trent looked surprised. "I can't think of a worse place to have a nest." he stated, shocked. He looked up at Kalon for confirmation.
The large dragon nodded. "Normally a Dam would lay her eggs on a high peak, or at least inside a mountainous cave.
Depending on the size of the Dam, Dragon's Maw would be a favorite location.
.. But I have never heard of a dragoness laying her eggs on a forest floor, much less one so famous for its ravenous monsters. .."
"Are you calling my mother slow witted?" I asked dangerously.
"No." Said Kalon, unaffected by my ire, even as the two humans took a cautious step back. "Rather, it suggests to me that she was desperate... do you know if your mother was gravely ill or wounded before laying her eggs?"
The thought had never even occurred to me.
Was my mother hurt before the bandits had finished her off?
My own lack of dragon history and habits had blinded my to something that a dragon like Kalon found to be obvious: if there is a dragon nesting on the ground- leaving her eggs vulnerable to monsters and thieves- then there must be a reason for it.
"I- I don't know... when I hatched she was dying, covered in many wounds.
.. there were several human corpses around, my brothers dead in the shattered remains of their shells.
" I shivered, not even realizing just how affected by that scene I really was.
A mixture of sick and rage burned within me, and I wanted to kill something.
"Its alright Allura..." Leon murmured at my side. I realized that I had been growling in a low tone as my thoughts raced.
"Not having seen it all myself, my best guess is that your Dam must have been gravely injured before she decided to lay her eggs.
Unable to reach the location she had planned to lay her eggs, she likely had no choice but to make a rushed nest in the forest..
." said Trent in a hushed voice, clearly trying not to agitate me further.
"My best guess would be that the 'bandits' you saw dead around the nest were not simple bandits at all.
" Growled Kalon. "No mere bandits could take on a dragon, deep in the Zolftar forest. Not even if your Dam was hurt at the time.
This screams of a plot performed by well trained men, specifically to take on a dragon. "
"I can't say that I have much of any experience with bandits on the whole, but their corpses didn't look to have any special gear or anything.
But, maybe I wasn't looking close enough.
" Had I left behind some glaringly obvious clue to my mother's passing, or to where my siblings may have been taken.
I was suddenly questioning many things. Perhaps I should have taken their belonging, as I had done with the giant dragon bones?
There just hadn't seemed to be anything worth taking for a dragon who neither wore shabby armor or swung average looking swords.
"I assume that the king may be thinking of sending you off on a mission within the next day or two." mused Kalon. "Perhaps Trent and I should discuss taking you back to the Zolftar forest, that way we can examine the nest sight for clues that you may have missed when you were young."
I wasn't sure if Kalon and Trent knew that I was still, technically, young by their reconning, and that my biological age was being forcefully sped up.
Because it had only been a few months since my hatching, and it was still fairly fresh in my mind.
Though I didn't argue, because I also thought it would be a good idea to return and see what there was to see with fresh eyes.
But, before that, there was a question now bugging me. "Why do you think the King is going to send me off some place?" They made it sound like a job was being generated specifically to see me gone from the city for a time.
The three men- both human and dragon- exchanged glances that had me glaring at them suspiciously.
"Er, well..." Trent said awkwardly, before Kalon took over.
"You seem to be enter full maturation." he stated, as if commenting on the nice weather we were having.
"For bonded dragons, it is a volatile time, where civilians may get hurt unless the dragon is separated for a time.
I can't say I have been around too many females during this time in their growth, but I have been around enough full grown females to know that anything a male dragon does, a dragoness does ten times more aggressively. "
I wrinkled my nose in irritation. Did he just tell me that I was going through dragon puberty? Sure, I may have notice a certain... snappishness these last couple days, but- seriously. Did they think I had the dragon equivalent of 'middle school syndrome'?
"And what gives you that Idea?" I huffed.
At that Kalon raised a scaly eyebrow, gazing down upon me.
"Personally? Your scent. But given the things I have heard about you since arriving here, I assume that snaping and growling at the slightest perceived insult- though not uncommon amongst most dragoness- is a bit out of the norm for you.
This attitude change is exspected of a dragon reaching maturity. "
"Just think on the bright side." chirped Leon, patting my side. "Soon you will be full grown, like the other dragons in the squad! And, as an added bonus, we get to go on an adventure that will likely offer up some sorely lacking clues as to the location of your siblings."
I narrowed my eyes at the prince. I didn't like being pandered to, nor was I fond of an entire kingdom worrying about my maturation cycle.
.. but I also couldn't deny that the thought of learning more about my main mission in this world so far had a nice ring to it.
I supposed that I could forgive them all making assumptions concerning my body if it got me closer to finding the little ones. For now.