The Dragon Queen of Thelvadore

With a low thud, Cecily’s blade landed on the ground, a few feet away from us. She was breathing a bit more heavily now, after our prolonged sparring session, but still not enough to be truly exhausted.

“Well done.” I said with a nod, lowering my weapon and straightening my posture. “Thank you for the spar.”

“Thank you as well,” she said between a few deep breaths, likewise straightening her posture before retrieving her weapon. “I’ll admit, I’m still not sure if I was of any help. You clearly know what you are doing.”

“Ah, but you noticed all the mistakes I made, haven’t you?” With a dismissive gesture I let my blade return to my shadow storage.

She didn’t reply for a beat, giving me a short glance, before turning and walking back to our camping location.

Lucy had remained silent for most of our fights, although she had been watching us intensely.

“I have to admit, I find it hard to believe those were honest mistakes, and not traps laid out to catch me. But you never capitalised on any of them.”

“Because they were honest mistakes,” I explained with a smile, just as we arrived back onto the small clearing between the underbrush that formed our camping site. “As I said previously, while I have the knowledge of technique, I’m a bit rusty in their application. This has helped me greatly.”

“The more I learn about you, the stranger you are,” Lucy interjected, sitting down at the table and staring at me with intense curiosity.

Her comment made me chuckle, and I leaned back in my own seat, my tail flicking behind me with amusement. “I can’t argue with that. Even amongst dragons I am quite the unique personality, if I do say so myself.”

A short moment of silence followed, while Cecily pulled out a waterskin to take a drink.

“There’s another thing. Something I haven’t brought up so far.” I began, then smirked at the glances both of them gave me. “Nothing bad, don’t worry. In fact, it’s actually quite positive for you, I think. I do appreciate that you help me, even if you have your own reasons for doing so. And I want to repay that a bit. Cecily has already learned to control her aura, at least to an extent, and while I’m still a bit rusty with my own application of it, given that I still haven’t been able to fully suppress my presence, I do believe I can give you some advice on that, if you so wish. Lucy too.”

“Wait, why me?” The Catkin asked, evidently surprised by the development.

“Because, while you aren’t a combatant, aura control can be helpful in many situations. It can help you shield yourself from another’s presence, be it for stealth or simply to endure less well restrained aura’s more easily. A skilled practitioner can read your aura to deduce your surface thoughts and emotions. It’s not quite mind-reading, but it does allow them to get an idea of what you are thinking about. Now, before you worry too much, most people who learned to read auras aren’t all that powerful. Those that can go deep diving are far more rare and oftentimes powerful enough that they do not require such tricks, but they can still make use of them.”

The two exchanged a quick glance.

“And you said you are willing to teach us?”

I nodded, a small smile on my lips. “Yes. It’s the least I can do, really, and it also helps me go through the basics and perfect my own capabilities. At least, that’s the hope. If it works out or not, I can’t say for certain, but it’s not like it would hurt to try.”

“I don’t quite get it, but I also don’t see a reason not to at least give it a shot. Not that I could think of many situations during which that sort of thing would be useful to me,” Lucy said with a shrug.

I gave Cecily a questioning glance, waiting for her reply. After another moment, she shrugged as well.

“If you are offering, I don’t see a reason to decline.”

“Wonderful. Then, beginning tomorrow, we’ll have a small lesson each evening. I’d also like to repeat our spars, if that is fine with you.”

The swordswoman nodded her agreement.

“Alright. Again, thank you.” Stretching a bit, I got up once more, giving them both a smile. “For today, let’s call it a night. I can take the first watch if you want. I don’t need sleep the same way you do, so staying awake for a night isn’t much of a problem.”

“While I appreciate the offer, I’d feel bad not contributing at all. If you could wake me later on?” The adventurer’s comment didn’t surprise me, and I gave her a small nod in acknowledgement.

“Will do. Rest well, the both of you.”

Both Lucy and Cecily gave me a nod in turn and stood up, the three of us exchanging our farewells for the night, before the two went to retire for the evening. I was left alone between the tents, stretching once more.

Now, then, what to do with myself while I kept watch?

To my mild surprise, the next couple of days were quite relaxed and uneventful. There was still a bit of a strange atmosphere between Lucy and Cecily, something I put down to the topic of Abyss during our conversation on the first evening of our travels, but I couldn’t find any hostility in it. Just the awkwardness about someone really wanting to learn more, but the other side being unwilling–or unable–to share.

For the most part we kept to the roads, Cecily leading us with apparent ease towards our destination. Each evening we set up camp to rest, talking a bit about this and that, mostly previous adventures the two had gone through, going over the basics of aura control, and, of course, ending with a spar between Cecily and me.

It was quite fun, I had to say, far more so than I would have expected. Not only were the two good company, I also learned a lot about them and the world at large through their tales. Additionally, I also really enjoyed our training, far more so than I would have originally thought. I still couldn’t be quite certain, given my lackluster recollection of the past, but I was still convinced that in my old life I wouldn’t have been caught dead doing any physical activity. Much less training.

Of course, I stayed up during the night, even when Cecily took over watch. Mostly I was curious how long I could, but that wasn’t the only reason. Truth be told, also because I wasn’t quite comfortable sleeping in the wilderness.

We didn’t see any beasts or similar, but I was still left feeling uneasy. As someone who had enjoyed the safety of modern Earth society, having only a flimsy tent between me and any possible threats wasn’t exactly what I’d call reassuring. Even if we didn’t so much as catch a glimpse of a threat, mostly thanks to my own presence. Apparently I had quite the threatening aura, which didn’t surprise me.

The only real issue I encountered was the threat of boredom. Coming from a society in which you were constantly assaulted by sensory input, be it analog or digital, having actual peace and quiet–or at least as quiet as the wilderness could be in a world where humans hadn’t steamrolled over everything–was borderline insanity inducing. Normally I’d spent my time on the phone, doomscrolling or whatever, but with that not being an option, I had to find other ways to entertain myself.

Which, in my case, meant more training.

Perhaps that little fact also helped with my newfound enjoyment of the processes involved. Even if physical activity wasn’t something I’d usually consider my go to entertainment, having any form of stimuli was a huge help.

A pleasant surprise was that my strange learning-from-Vuthe’s-experiences thing I had going on hadn’t run out. Either because a month hadn’t passed yet–something I couldn’t say with certainty–or because it wasn’t time gated after all. Whatever the reason, I made full use of it during the nights, continuing my training with various weapons, spells, and aura control.

The last of which I kept to a minimum, mainly because I didn’t want to draw too much attention to myself.

On the morning of the fifth day of our trip, Cecily pointed out that we were likely to reach our destination today, probably in the early afternoon. I had to admit that I was kind of terrified by the thought. So far I’d been all on my own, or with Lucy and Cecily. Civilisation had been a consideration, but a distant one. Now I’d be thrust back into it, in a world I didn’t know, and with a society I only knew of by proxy. As much as I was a stickler for details, I had never really gone deep diving into how Satien society would actually look like. Really, the only context I had was negative, given everything I had written. It made the prospect of experiencing it eerily dubious.

Not that I shared any of these worries with my two companions.

Unsurprisingly, the two of them didn’t seem to be bothered, apart from Lucy being a bit overeager to meet whomever we’d find in Dussel. Neither of them had been there before, apparently, so that much wasn’t a surprise.

The closer we got to the village, the more the surrounding area felt… different. Not that it changed much physically, but the feel I got from it all changed. Less… overbearing, less threatening, much more calm. It was clear that the people calling these parts their home ensured that no dangerous beasties came close, and it seemed nature had learned that lesson well. Not surprising on its own, but I was somewhat surprised how obvious that was to me, given that I had no experience on such matters.

Then, about halfway through the day, we met other travellers for the first time. According to Cecily, the road we were on would eventually lead all the way to Vrona, one of the bigger cities in this corner of the world, so it was to be expected. Dussel lay along one of the main roads leading through the country, which meant a surprising amount of traffic. The bigger cargo was transported along a river leading from the western coast to nearly all the way towards the eastern border. Unsurprisingly most major cities were built along said river.

The group we met seemed to be an adventurer group of some variety, greeting us with a nod and keeping their distance, which I supposed made sense. Out in the wilderness any encounter could end up being deadly, even those that seemed innocent initially. Bandits and the like were a thing, after all, as were slavers.

Thankfully, though, nothing happened. After the initial greeting Cecily and their group’s leader exchanged a few words, simply exchanging reports on what to expect on the roads so far–which was absolutely nothing, unsurprisingly–before both groups continued on their way.

The entire event was absolutely bland and to be expected. Yet, somehow, it was this that just hammered it home that I was now in a world of magic and adventuring. Neither of the people in the other group looked to be special in any way. Just a group of people doing their job, whatever it might be. They all wore functional equipment that I’d consider passable and well-cared for, but utterly bland and forgettable. None belonged to any fancy fantasy race from what I could tell.

They were just… human adventurers. Not even a mage between them. Yet it still somehow floored me inside.

Our trek continued, Cecily and Lucy marching on like usual. I followed, trying to keep myself from getting distracted. And then, only a couple of hours after our run in with the other group, the village of Dussel became visible in the distance.

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