Imprint Preparation
Waking up, it seems to be night. Mama is asleep so I wake her up.
“Hmm, what is it dear?”
“Mama, my tail and wings hurt.”
“That’s no good yawn- Wait.” Suddenly wide awake, mama looks at me then quickly helps me out of my clothes.
“There you go dear, are you feeling better now?”
“Yeah…”
“Let’s go meet with your aunt, uncle and cousins today, okay?”
“Okay. I’ll go to sleep now.”
“Of course, sleep tight, dear.”
Waking up again the sun shines into our room as Melina opens the curtains.
“Good morning your Majesty, good morning Princess~ Did you sleep well?”
“Yeah I did!”
“That’s gre-Wait, Princess!?”
“Yes?”
Running over to the side of our bead she hangs her head over the bed and looks at me, “Has-Has the curse finally been lifted? You look so pretty, Princess!”
Wagging my tail in excitement, I answer, “Thank you Melina!”
Giving me a hug mama answers, “Unfortunately it’s just temporary. Please call my sister to have her family visit, she’ll probably start her imprint soon. Also tell the tailor to prepare some suitable clothes for her and the cook to deliver food to us that has no reflective surfaces.”
“Of course your Majesty! Right away!”
Holding me really tight, mama wraps the blanket around me, “There you go, that should be warm enough until we get your clothes.”
“Hehe, now I look like a burrito!”
“Pfft, Yeah, the loveliest burrito ever made! You’re so cute I just want to eat you up~”
Giggle
Sometime during breakfast, the tailor, together with at least twenty normal sized maids, comes into our room and delivers a pink fluffy pajama with a tail and holes in the back for my wings. Being too weak to put it on myself two of the maids do it for me.
Mama then asks in an authoritative voice, “So…Did we really need this many maids for this job?”
The tailor answers, “Well…Usually not but since it is such a special occasion…I mean because we don’t know about the Princess' condition, some of the maids volunteered to help today…”
“Right…Sigh Was it at least worth it?”
The maids all emphatically swoon and sigh and say some things in Draconic.
“Right…Look I understand you wish to see the Princess’ true form but the next time ask and don’t do things like this.”
The maids then bow many times and spread their wings trying to fly away but mama interrupts them, “Hey! Who said you could leave?”
They then quickly fly back to our bed and bow many times saying things in Draconic again.
Mama answers something in Draconic and the maids look really excited in response.
“Rose, would you be so kind as to show them your draconic form?”
“Sure, mama!”
Changing into my draconic form I still feel the pajama on me so it’s probably enchanted. Mama then picks me up and we walk somewhere I can’t see. As we get closer the maids start to swoon and giggle and say things in Draconic I don’t understand. After some time of that I hear the flapping of wings and mama says, “You can turn back now if you want, dear.”
“Gao!” I answer and turn back.
“Looks like your fan club just got bigger again, dear…”
“Fanclub?”
“Ah it’s nothing important, let’s finish breakfast.”
“Gao.”
A little after breakfast there is a knock on the door and Melina says, “Your Majesty, your sister and her family are here.”
“Let them in.”
Almost bursting through the door, a huge red dragon that looks like a bigger version of mama, a yellow dragon about the same size with gentle features, a smaller red dragon with energetic features that is a little bigger than Scarlet and a yellow dragon that looks like a smaller version of Scarlet barge in.
“We came as fast as we could!” The big red dragon says, it sounds a bit like a more monstrous version of auntie.
“Then get over here, she’s awake today.”
Transforming into their polymorphed forms they let out their wings and glide over to us.
“Look mama, it's uncle, auntie, prima and primo!”
“That’s right! Come and go say hi to them.”
“Okay!”
Trying to fly over to them I don’t get far before my wings feel tired and I start to fall but auntie quickly catches me, “Got you! That was close…”
Giving her a hug I say, “Hi auntie!”
“Hello love! My, don't you look especially cute today.”
Wagging my tail I answer, “Thank you!”
Landing next to us, uncle, primo and prima appear and seem a little stunned when they look at me.
Uncle then breaks the silence, “Ay mija…You’re looking really healthy today, did you eat well?”
“Yeah! I had eggs and bacon and sausages and steaks and ham and milk.”
“That sounds nice~”
Prima holds my hand and asks in awe, “Rose, is that really you?”
“Yeah!”
Primo then picks me up and stares me up and down, his fiery looking unruly eyebrows moving up and down each time before getting a really big smile on his face, “Now you finally look the part of our family.”
Putting his hand on Miguel’s shoulder, uncle interjects, “Don’t be mean, she was always family and she always looked like it.”
“R-right! What I meant was now you look even more like family, hahaha!”
“Really? I don’t really know what I look like. I’m not allowed to know…”
Brushing through my hair, auntie answers, “You look like family, love. If you look at your mom and us you’ll have a pretty decent idea of how you look.”
“Did a fly get into your eye auntie? Your eyes look all teary.”
“Ah…haha, no. I’m just a little moved.”
Putting his arm around auntie, uncle lets auntie rest her head on his shoulder while they both look at me.
Mama then asks, “How about you show them your draconic form next, Rose?”
“Okay!”
Closing my eyes, I transform into my draconic form.
Miguel yells, “Eh!? You’re so cute!”
Emillia asks, “Can I hold her auntie? Can I please?”
“Pfft Sure go ahead but be gentle, she’s just a hatchling after all.”
“Okay!”
Feeling warm hands beneath me I’m being picked up by prima, “Look mama! She looks so unique and pretty!”
Wagging my tail at the compliments I loudly squeal, “Kyyyuuuuu~”
“You’re right, Emillia. I didn’t think her draconic form would change too,” auntie says.
“Her four wings sure look really unique,” Uncle adds.
Miguel then gets really excited, “Hey, hey, Rose? Is it true that you can already breathe fire?”
I nod then accumulate the mana in my throat and let out a flame.
“Woah! It’s really true! It’s blue too just like Scarlet told us- I mean just like Scarlet told us in her letters.”
Feeling myself picked up by someone else, aunty tells me, “Rose, you shouldn’t breathe fire until you’re a little older.”
“Gao?”
“Because it’s not healthy. That flame was big enough for someone a hundred times your age.”
“Your auntie is right, Rose,” mama agrees, “It’s not healthy.”
Burying my head under my paws I can’t help but let out a whimper.
“Awww. Rose, your mama and I aren’t scolding you. We’re just worried.”
Turning back into my polymorphed form I answer, “But I didn’t even use the big flame! Scarlet said it’s okay as long as I use the small one.”
“What do you mean with ‘the big flame’, love?”
“Here, I’ll show you!”
Channeling my mana into my neck, this time I also add some natural fire mana into it causing it to almost explode in my neck again as I let out a flame at least five meters long and one meter wide. Feeling the backlash, I then start coughing heavily.
“Rose!? Are you okay!?”
“Yeah cough cough Just a sore throat.”
Auntie seems panicked as she says, “Open your mouth Rose!”
“Okay…Cough”
Auntie then puts some weird tasting herbal drink to my mouth.
“Eew…It tastes really bad.”
“I know, but bear with it for now. I’ll give you something sweet when you drink it all.”
“Okay…Gulp GulpSigh Done. Hey, my throat feels all healthy again!”
“Don’t strain your voice, Rose,” getting really serious she holds me by the shoulders and looks me straight in the eyes, “You must never do that again Rose, at least not until I give you permission. Do you understand?”
“Yeah…But why?”
“Because that was very dangerous and reckless. I have no idea how you did that but you must not do it again without proper preparation and training. Do you understand?”
“Yes…
“Good promise me you won’t use it without permission.”
“Can I use it in an emergency?”
“No, the only way I’ll allow it is if you’re absolutely sure you will die if you don’t use it.”
“Okay…I promise I won’t use it again except for when that happens.”
“Good. Now tell me, how did you do that?”
“I just added some natural fire mana to my own.”
“You can do that!?”
“Yeah. I can also absorb natural dark mana and a little bit of water mana but I haven’t figured that out yet…”
“You tried absorbing water mana!? You mustn't do that!”
“Why not?”
“Rose, we’re descendants of fire spirits. Our mana is very strongly fire colored. Absorbing water mana is poison to us. That’s why we can’t use water affinity spells. For how long have you been trying to absorb water mana?”
“A few months…I tried it on and off but I always stopped when it felt like I was going to drown or freeze to death.”
“In Ifrit’s name, Rose you need to value your life more!”
“I am…It’s just part of learning a new ritual.”
“Ritual? What kind of ritual were you using!?”
“I’m using the Spirit King Waltz.” Putting my hands over my mouth I say, “Oops I wasn’t allowed to say the name.”
Uncle, auntie and mama look extremely shocked and auntie continues, “It all makes sense now…Rose, do not use that technique. Not only is it extremely dangerous both to use and to learn but it is also the very same technique that was part of killing your grandpa and killing thousands of our people. Where did you even learn this?”
“From Uli…”
“Who is that?”
“It’s Shara Seleen, she wanted to adopt me but we never really ended up doing that.”
“Shara Seleen tried to adopt you!? She was always a little ill mannered but I guess she was competent when it counted and an overall respectable person…Ruby, she was one of the adventurers I sent to find your egg.”
“I see…I guess she must be a decent person then if you recommended her.”
“Wait…Did Scarlet not tell you?”
“Tell me what?” mama asks.
“Shara Seleen was the one that smashed your egg.”
“What…What did you just say, Rose?”
“She told me when I was still in Berk. The reason she lost her leg and they split up is because Shara Seleen smashed the egg to get revenge and Ser Adin tried to stop her but failed.”
“So…Our child was still alive…”
Pulling her own hair mama has a horrified expression on her face and starts getting covered in scales as she starts breathing heavily.
Saying something in Draconic to her husband, auntie transforms into her draconic form, picks up mama, opens the window and flies away.
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