It’s Blue!
When I wake up again, it’s afternoon. Sher Aka and John are at the reins while Scarlet and Rayla are taking a nap next to me in the wagon.
Slowly waking up, Scarlet smiles at me, “Oh? Good morning Rose, did you have a nice nap?”
“Yeah…I guess.”
“What’s wrong? Still embarrassed about your accident?”
“Well yeah! I peed on her! How can I not be embarrassed?”
“Rose…You’re barely one month old. Calm down. No one is mad at you.”
“Even so I peed on her like some…Some animal!”
“No, you peed on her like a baby. You’re not an animal, you’re a person. Don’t call yourself an animal or monster lightly, you’re a proud Dragon and Dragons are people.”
“Okay…Sorry.”
She brushes through my hair, “It’s alright, I’m not scolding you, I’m just telling you because it’s important. Say…You wanted to learn how to breathe fire right? Would that cheer you up?”
“Maybe…I definitely want to know.”
“Kikikiki of course you do! Alright, listen up! Essentially our mana’s base form is of the fire attribute, so what you need to do is channel your mana in your neck, let it accumulate then release it through your mouth.”
“Huh…I’ve never really knowingly used any of my own mana before. How does that work?”
“You’ll just have to go by feel. It kind of feels like letting the warmth from your heart travel up to your neck.”
“Hmm…Sally, you always eat my mana right?”
They nod.
“Could you show me what my mana feels like?”
They nod again and put their paw on my cheek. Closing my eyes I do feel an energy inside me, but whereas the natural fire mana feels like a warm blanket my own mana feels more like a lit matchstick in comparison. Trying to move it is hard too, it feels like I can only pick one matchstick at a time and it easily goes out when I move it too quickly or too slowly. But after messing around with it for a few minutes I do manage for one to go up to my neck.
Alright now I just need to let it stay there and grow…
Feeling the flame get bigger and bigger it becomes harder and harder to keep it in and when it feels close to coming out on its own I open my mouth and slowly let it out. A deep blue flame the size of a pen then leaves my mouth, it feels both weird and natural at the same time.”
“No way!!! Ahahahaha! It’s blue!!!! Sher Aka! Stop the wagon!”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“Just stop it! Rayla wake up!!!”
“Huh? I’m awake! Are we under attack?”
“Not at all, come outside!”
After Sher Aka stops the wagon we all go outside.
“Alright you have to see this, go ahead Rose, try it again.”
It takes me about three minutes to replicate it but when I do the same blue flame comes out of my mouth.
“Nice, that’s pretty cool,” John says.
“Yeah, good job, oki.”
“No no no, you guys don’t understand. Blue is one of the highest purity flame colors you can produce. Both blue and white flames are extremely rare!!! Rose is immensely talented! Come on, do it again! I want to see it again!”
“Haha, okay. Can I try something this time though to make it a little bigger?”
“Sure!”
With Scarlet's permission I try again, this time though when I get my own mana into my neck I also start fueling it with natural mana which causes it to almost explode instantly inside my neck. Looking down, my neck looks unnaturally expanded, similar to a frog.
“That’s not good! Rose, spit it out!”
Heeding her advice I let it out and a blue flame about three meters in length leaves my mouth and causes me to violently cough and gasp for air afterwards.
“Oki!? Are you okay?”
“Yeah cough, my throat just feels irritated cough.”
Scarlet then puts her hands on my shoulders and stares at me with a serious and slightly panicked look, “Rose, you must never show this to anyone in public, not even in Blaze. Do you understand? This has to stay a secret!”
“What? That I can cough produce a blue flame?”
“No, not that. Whatever you just did to make the flame this big. Don’t show that to anyone besides us and the rest of our family, understood!?”
“Okay...Why?”
“Because a baby producing a flame this big will make you a target. Both for exploitation and assassination. Promise me you won’t show it to any strangers, Rose.”
“Okay I promise.”
“Good, you should lay down. You overexerted yourself. Don’t use your flame again today.”
“Okay. Cough cough”
I then go back into the wagon and lie down.
—----------------------------------------
Motion Rayla to follow her, Scarlet whispers, “Rayla, I need to talk to you about Rose.”
“Alright.”
“Don’t take what I’m going to say now the wrong way. We should definitely keep encouraging Rose and treat her her age, but if she’s going to keep even half the talent she shows now, she might become one of the strongest Dragons that has ever lived when she grows up. We need to keep this a secret and we need to be very aware that she does not abuse her power when she gets older.”
“Is it really that bad? I mean the little flame he made at the start wasn’t very impressive and the big one ended up hurting him. He probably used natural fire mana to enhance it.”
“It doesn’t matter what she did, it was immensely impressive, even the small one. And it’s not just that, the fact she’s walking this well at that age is unheard of. She should barely be able to move her neck at that age. I know it’s still pretty fresh for you but you need to view this as her being a newborn not an adolescent.”
Letting out a sigh, Rayla shoots a worried look toward the wagon, “But even if I do that it still doesn’t make any sense. It’s too much, how could the body of an infant withstand all this? Even if the curse is working as some sort of support to keep his form like that it’s still the same body as his Draconic form right? Just a different shape?”
“Essentially, yes.”
“Then no matter how you slice it this has to take an immense toll on his body. There is no way that sort of physical activity is healthy for him and not just that, think of his mana as well. The more you use your mana when you’re young the more you get when you’re an adult. Thoma had above average mana when he got tested before he got reincarnated and now that he has been reincarnated it doesn’t seem like he lost any of it and not just that Sally, his familiar, is in a contract with him where they live off his mana. So in a sense he is constantly passively using and training his mana just to keep Sally alive. I don’t know if there is a problem with having too much mana but eventually it has to be too much, right? I can’t imagine it’s healthy to have so much mana in such a small body.”
“You’re probably right but so far she still seems fine.”
“Maybe, but we can’t be sure. Thoma has a very bad habit of not taking his own problems seriously. He could be in total agony and just write off as something dumb like ‘I guess that’s just how it feels to be a Dragon’.”
Scarlet bites her underlip, “Tsk What an annoying habit. I didn’t know that. I’m glad I talked to you about this. If you figure out that she’s hiding something like that please tell me. If she’s overexerting herself to the point of hurting herself we need to stop her and if it’s serious or that damn curse’s doing I’ll call my royal guard and you, me and her will meet them halfway.”
“What about John and Sher Aka?”
“I’ll give them some money but I can’t carry four people.”
“Makes sense.”
“Also, I’d appreciate it if you started treating Rose like your sister and not like your brother, even if just in private.”
“I’m not who you need to convince for that. Thoma is the one that doesn’t want that.”
“Probably because she’s not used to it and doesn’t want to make things awkward for you. Just go and try it a bit with her. It might be awkward at first but I’m sure she’ll like it.”
“What makes you so sure of that? He might be female now but he still lived life as a guy for the last three years. All these changes are really hard on him, I’m not surprised he wants a bit of comfort by being treated like always. I don’t want to force anything on him he doesn’t want. I want to respect his wishes.”
“Then at least try speaking to her about it in private. She has a bit of a complex about how others see her so don’t do it where others could hear.”
Getting a guilty look on her face, Rayla answers, “It’s not really a complex. It’s more like a bunch of horrible experiences he went through in his life. He used to not care about what others thought at all when I met him…For the most part at least. He did hide that thing about Rhaast beating him whenever he acted out of line after all…Sigh I’ll talk to him. Is there anything else?”
“Nope, go ahead. Thanks for the family meeting, prima.”
“Sure, cuz.”
—----------------------------------------------------------------
“Hey oki, how’re you doing?”
“Okay, just a little hoarse.”
“Sher Aka and John are out for a small walk and Scarlet is out for a flight, so we’re alone for a bit. Can I ask you a question?”
“Sure.”
She then lays down next to me, “Would you like it if I treat you like my little sister when it’s just us and maybe Scarlet?”
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know. I’m asking if you’d like that.”
“I don’t know. Let’s not complicate things.”
“It’s really not that complicated. It’s just saying oko instead of oki and calling you Rose instead of Thoma.”
“I dunno…”
“Can you tell me what makes you feel hesitant?”
“Well…You like me as your brother. If I…If I change too much you might not want to be my sister anymore…”
“So that’s what was on your mind…Thoma, Rose it doesn’t matter. Do you know what I mean when I say I love someone like family? It means no matter what you do or how you change, I’ll always love you. Even though I’m extremely angry at my family in Sovar and don’t want to meet them anytime soon I still love them which is why them hurting you hurts me so much more. Compared to that, something small like changing the way I address you is nothing. So please be honest with me, would you prefer it if I treated you as my sister in private?”
I hesitate a bit before answering, “Yeah…But only if you don’t mind. It’s okay if it stays like this.”
“I don’t mind at all, Rose.”