10It was mid-summer when Saranath spoke his first words out loud, sitting on the heated sands of the Hatching Grounds, he had lifted his head one morning to look straight at Esme coming in with a heaping tray of fresh meats, and said.
"Would you be my rider?"
Esme was stunned, and almost dropped the tray. "Wh-what?"
"It's really a simple question, Lady. Would you be my rider?"
"Why, yes! Of course, Saraneth, I would be honored!"
At that, Mosrael piped up, "Hey! How come you asked her first? I was going to ask her, Saraneth!" Mosrael whined.
Saraneth tipped up his head rather proudly and said, "Well, I just happened beat you to it, Mosrael. You should have been quicker. Now she's mine!" With that, Saraneth trotted across the sands and curled his body around Esme's legs.
"Oh come now, I need to bring everyone their breakfast. Please let me pass, Saraneth, and I'll give you some holding time."
Saraneth brightened up at that, and uncurled himself, allowing Esme to set down the massive tray of chopped slivers of meat and fish. The other two drakkas ambled forward amicably and began eating their fill, they were no longer voracious things once they had the knowledge that there was always going to be plenty of food to go around.
Esme watched Yrael as the three drakka ate, he hadn't offered even the slightest protest at her being claimed by Saraneth. She gave a small smile, the young drake probably already had someone in mind. Or maybe, he just had no interest at the moment. There was still ten years yet until their wings opened. As if feeling her gaze, he looked up, his molten orange eyes were unreadable. With a blink, he went back to his food.
Esme didn't have any more time to ponder the bronze hatchling anymore as Saraneth butted into her lap, and demanded she hold him. She wrapped her arms and coiled them loosely around the hatchling, a tender smile gracing her lips.
He was hers now, and she was his.
Saraneth followed her through the passageways doggedly from then on, reveling in simply being allowed to roam with Esme, not having to have a reason for not being on the warm sands of the Hatching Grounds, playing with his siblings.
He didn't care what anyone else said, he had spent a long period of time in the shell sitting near Mosrael and Yrael and he considered the bronze his nest-mate.
While Esme went about her tasks of cleaning up imaginary dust particles around the Temple, Saraneth trotted happily shoving his nose into every corner that caught his fancy. Occasionally Esme would come across the large red-gold dragon-queen Selenay, and the large female would croon at Saraneth and nuzzle him behind his ears. He knew the Dragon-queen wasn't his mother, but she was there, and she was kind to him, so he didn't mind it so much. Usually, Selenay would be lounging in the vast throne room, near the Hatching Grounds, with Renesme sitting on her foreleg.
She was training the vampire half-blood to take over for her for when Selenay and the other dragons left for Enefra, or Efra, or Acorus. One of those three planets that had been colonized by the Alectors. He felt excited by the prospect, he would move to another planet with a whole race of his own kind, and more Alectors! Where humans were not the top dogs, but the underlings to the two superior races that lived outside of time.
His existence wouldn't have to be kept secret, and he would be allowed to fly with no fear of discovery.
Well, the Dragons themselves lived outside of time, the Alectors had extended life-spans. Dragon Hatchlings were rare on populated planets, because their life was tied to the planet they were born on, the planet regulates the Dragon's ability to live. When a planet reached maximum capacity in the Talent-Creatures known as Dragons, hatchlings came fewer and farther between.
All this had been explained to him, hurriedly, as an explanation as to why he had been allowed to be born. The Talent-Creatures had a better feel for the planet, they did not strain a planet, and cause it to die. Their own Life-force actually helped feed the planet with their energy they didn't use themselves.
But for now, he would be content to allow himself to feel close to the Dragon-dame who helped him, and defeated the cruel cold vampire who had imprisoned him and his siblings. She was a wonderful mother-surrogate, after all. Always making sure he ate his meals, not that he needed encouragement, and always crooning and licking and grooming him and his siblings.
She was amazing.
To know she was a hybrid even among their kind, half Sky-King, half Sea-King, it was amazing she looked so well formed. Most looked so odd, maybe that's why she survived.
Sure, her neck was longer than his, as was her tail, which oddly tapered down to a fluted tip that resembled something similar to a fan of some kind. But her wings! What glorious wings! They were even larger than her proportion allowed for, naturally. But it fit her, she was very lithe for a dragon, and moved with an odd grace that he would never achieve, being fully of one breeding.
One in seven is not good odds, though. Only one out of the clutch of seven born of Noomoack and Irenia was capable and able to fly and swim. As far as he knew it anyways. And Saraneth considered himself to be a logical little drake.
Esme was the most logical choice in the world. She was mate to Carlisle, whose brave exploits in the world gained him favor with many. She herself was a kind and motherly creature, but she was far from stupid. Thirdly, she had a determination and a will of iron to match that of any Alector, and she controlled what she felt with absolute certainty. Such a skill would be doubly helpful among the Alectors when he turned her.
Time passed slowly, it was an unspoken time for the young drakka and drakes to grow and reach their majority, to see who they would choose for riders before they set out to leave the planet with the Alectors transformed by the Talent latent within their wings.
-~*S*~-
Kebi had grown accustomed to her body long ago, and found after a time her sorrow at Amun leaving had grown to a dull ache. He had found her to be unacceptable, and she had thought to have known him well, surprises were at every turn it seemed. Though she thought she had seen her fill of them.
It didn't hurt as she initially feared, Horus was there the whole way, and while he was as mute as she was, he could impress upon her the feelings he shared for her, and it was good enough. She could feel his mental caress of acceptance and love, and joy at her being his. The sensations so intense it often made her cry, and imagine her wonder that she could indeed cry! Her first tears had fallen some time after she had woken up after being made an Alector and found Amun be so cold and distant towards her.
Benjamin still spoke to her, and his mate Tia also treated her warmly, but Kebi could feel their conflicted feelings of old loyalty to Amun, and their affection for her. Gratefully, at the end of the day, no matter what happened she could fall into Horus' embrace, and be comforted by a gentle nuzzle at her back as he comforted her as best as he could.
The bronze drake had grown large, and resembled from Selenay's mind pictures, the picture of Sky-King excellence in breeding. He had broad shoulders, and a heavily muscled body, a thick tail, and large wings to support himself in flight. He didn't really have Selenay's lithe form, and her over-large wings, but he was beautiful in her eyes, with his bronze scales that glimmered with a light golden undertone.
He seemed built like a bull, with his strong and thick neck, and bulky quarters.
Kebi would have him as no other, her glimmering red-flecked violet eyes shimmering with unshed tears as she threw her arms about his neck in the darkness of their private rooms.
Her hair she kept tied back in a braid, it had grown long now that her body circulated with new blood, and she had been surprised by the changes, and the arrival of her menstruation several months after the battle. Esme had discreetly collected tampons for her to use.
Like a regular boy, when she first started her monthly bleeding, the drake had given her the weirdest look and ran out of the room, snorting in displeasure to clear his nostrils of the scent of her blood.
She was told that Amun had left back to Egypt, Benjamin and Tia had moved in to the Temple in one of the lower chambers. She ate breakfast with them occasionally, sharing stories and catching up.
Too bad, if he had stayed, he may have been able to impress one of the dragons to become their rider. He always wanted power, there was his chance. It was for the best, though. If he was power-hungry now, he'd probably be power-hungry later and cause trouble or some such.
_*~S~*_
Yrael watched dispassionately as Mosrael hrrrmmed and thrummed over her decision of a rider, as upset as she was that Esme was chosen by Seraneth, she grumbled that there were plenty of other vampires to chose from.
But Yrael was not concerned, even if he didn't choose a rider from among the vampires, there were always the choice of choosing an Alector off planet. But, Selenay had expressed that they have something to show for themselves. That they needed to show that it was possible to transform Landers (aka Humans) into vampires, and then, through the connection of the Talent-Creatures known as dragons, into Alectors.
But not only that, but the Alectors ended up being reasonably strong Alectors with considerable number of skills that would make them useful to the planets. Probably left-over energy and brain capabilities from their former Vampire status. His tail lashed with uncharacteristic frustration.
Who was he to choose? Seraneth had made the first move by claiming Esme, which put pressure on him and Mosrael to also make a claim. With news of Seraneth's claim, other vampires now looked upon Yrael and Mosrael expectantly, and even hopefully.
Yrael wanted to growl with the unfairness of it all.
Instead he settled for stretching languidly and ambling off down the halls, no one barred his way, and it was just as well for he was in a poor mood. With his scales hissing softly as they scraped against each other, and his claws clacking sharply against the stone floor, it gave everyone forewarning of his presence. He wasn't quite as bulky as Seraneth, but he also wasn't as lithe as the diagrams Selenay had created of Sea-Kings.
So, Yrael wondered which he was; Sea-King, or Sky-King? He wouldn't really know until his wings came in. That aggravated him to know end, not knowing who his parents were or what they were.
He found himself following the cavernous passageways down to the floor where the resident shape-shifting wolves lived with their human wives. Children's laughter reached his ears, and they reflexively twitched as he recognized the sounds. The passageway opened into a large cavern that would have been dismal if not for the tall windows letting in light and fresh air on the right side of the room.
The floor was clean and swept bare of dirt to uncover the stone underneath. On the side of the cavern closest to the entrance Yrael came in at was a deep still pool. It's depths receding straight down, but in the dim lighting of this corner of the cavern, you could not see the bottom. Even so the water was very clear.
Cave entrances opening into the cavern were bedecked with wooden shingles that denoted that these were the living spaces of the children playing here, their bright faces and shining eyes were carefree indeed as they played their wild-child games. Their dark hair, and russet-red skin denoted their wolf ancestry as American natives. Yrael stopped behind a boulder and clambered atop it, so he could watch them. He had never seen the children of the wolves he had been familiar with during year he had been alive. Women were about, watching the children as they played in the sunlight streaming in as they set about their tasks during the day.
But the women had no interest for him, he was interested in the children.
They were young, yes. The oldest was possibly three. But in ten years, that child would be a young grown person, maybe even another wolf. Now, imagine if he were to take a human for his rider. Such an experiment would probably be ill advised by Selenay, but these weren't ordinary humans, they were descended from wolves. Not only wolves, but the Dragon-like wolves of Selenay's fold. These wolves actively fed on Selenay's blood, which she bled for them through a single fore-claw. And now those wolves had fathered children who carried even more of a dragon-like appearance.
It wasn't immediately visible, but after awhile one noticed the way their eyes were not the normal dark-brown to black of normal children of their heritage, but the orange-red of a dragon. Their fingers were long and shapely, yes. Delicate even and dexterous in their skillful movements. But if you looked closer you would see that the nail beds were slightly different. The tips of the nails ending in a point naturally.
Also, you could tell whether one was born of dragon-blood or not because when they rough-housed, and fought together in the sand, the one who didn't carry the traits always came away with small claw marks on their skin, where as the children who wrestled together that were born of the dragon-blood came away unscathed. As careful as they tried to be with the more delicate children, it was impossible to completely keep them from danger.
Eventually, a claw would cut too deeply, and a child would pull away. Blood running down their back. Usually, one of the other children would immediately run off, coming back with a jar of ointment and a wash cloth. The women would come forward and supervise the dressing and cleaning of the cut, and the children would resume their play. The injured party sitting still as their mother would ensure there would be no infection.
The most astonishing thing was that none of the children cried out, nor would tears run down their faces. They would scrunch up their faces in misery, but no sound escaped their lips.
Yrael watched them in fascination, and tried to work up his own courage to join in their games, or even just make friends with them. Even if they were only wolves, they were children. And children could be very judgmental of others and brutal with their opinions.
Eventually, he noticed a young girl sitting away from the others, she didn't join in the games, and didn't even appear interested in what the other children were doing. She was staring into the clear pool of water near the edge of the cavern. The child wore a loose-fitting black shirt, and her cut-off jean shorts were completely soaked. She seemed to be concentrating very hard, her arms hugging her knees to her chest as she gazed at her reflection. The water lapped at her ankles, but she didn't seem to notice.
Indeed, it became clear as to why the child was alone. Even as Yrael watched, he saw her eyes flicker and turn a sullen red-orange color, and as she did so, her body also started shifting. Yrael blinked, he didn't know when the wolf children started shifting, but this was definitely not normal.
Her body stretched out, seeming to burst out of her own skin while at the same time moving slowly. The child fell to her hands as she released the barest growl of exertion. She crouched on her toes and fingertips, her neck elongated and a tail erupted from the base of her spine. There was a blurring flicker as her legs became the saa and her arms became the sii of a dragon. When the transformation was complete, she stood there trembling, before slowly looking back down at her reflection. After a brief period, her tail lashed to the side, and she straightened to assume the Attitude of Accomplishment and the Attitude of Pride.
Her clothing was in tatters on the ground, and in place of the girl stood a young emerald green dragon. She chirped happily, and waded into the water. Seconds later she had sunk beneath the surface and disappeared from view.
Yrael leaped from his rock to the edge of the pool to look down into the depths, his eyes searching for the girl. With a snort, he backed off from the pool and clambered back onto the rock. He desperately wanted to talk to her. If he wanted to talk to her, then he would wait until she returned. He clambered back onto the rock to wait.
What a mysterious lass! Selenay would be very curious about this girl. His lip twitched at that thought.
It might be better if he talked to the girl first. This was his discovery, after all.
Several minutes later, the angular green head surfaced, and orangey-red eyes seemed to glow in the water. She waded out of the pool and shook herself of the remaining water. Yrael chirped at her, getting her attention.
Her eyes widened as she swiveled her head to look up at him, and she gave a soft hiss in surprise.
"It's okay, I just want to meet you. I'm Yrael, what is your name?"
She cocked her head at him and opened her mouth before closing it again. Finally, with great difficulty, she spoke. "I am Lily. My father is Embry, you're one of the three dragon hatchlings, aren't you?"
"Yes, Selenay is my mother. How long have you been able to transform like that?"
She girl looked down, and scratched at the stone. "I've been practicing for days, that was my first complete transformation."
"That is amazing, Lily, I would hardly know you were of human descent if I hadn't watched you shift myself. It looks perfect." Yrael slid down from the rock to move closer to her, the inclination to smell her was intense, he had to know what she smelled like.
When he drew close, his suspicions were correct. She smelled exactly like a dragon should. "Are there more of you, Lily? Has any other children managed to transform as you have?"
She shook her head, in human fashion. "No, none of the others have been able to, yet. But it should be soon. I am the oldest of the bunch, and I was like those children before."
Yrael tilted his head once more, "How old are you, Lily?" he asked quietly.
She looked up at him, surprised at the question. "Me? I'm almost five."
Yrael was struck by the oddity of it, he remembered a discussion he had overheard when he had been eating a few days shortly after becoming self-aware inside his egg, the words hadn't meant anything to him at the time. Just grown-up talk.
"The first of the next generation of shape-shifters has been born, a baby girl. She probably won't be able to shift herself, but her children might."
"What about that other girl, Leah? She can shift. What if this one will be like her?"
There was a long pause. "We still don't know what happened to cause Leah to disappear, leaving as she did shortly after the battle in Washington. My little birds tell me they had received reports about a strange girl in various parts of Europe, who knows, really. Jacob says not to worry, though."
"But what about this baby?"
"Dismiss the worry over her for awhile, if she does manage to shift then it will mean that Selenay's genes might be working on the females of the shape-shifters to have the capability also."
A long sigh was heard, "I see."
Yrael focused on the girl in front of him, "Lily, would you mind coming with me? I'm sure Selenay would love to meet you."
The girl nodded hesitantly, "Okay, let me tell mommy though."
With that, the girl shifted back into a human, and she picked up her remnants of clothing before pulling the rags on as best as she was able to before running off to the entrance of one of the caves. Children paused in their play to see her run away before their heads swiveled his direction.
Yrael suddenly felt very exposed there, the children cheered and ran toward him with cries of "Brother, my brother!"
They ran their hands over his shoulders and sides, and he fought to stay still lest he hurt any of them. He was growing more anxious by the moment, though. He was not used to being treated like some celebrity or an honored individual. He was just Yrael, just a young dragon, but his own person like anyone else.
There was nothing to be done about the children however, so he just stayed still as best he could. Lily came out a small moment later, and she shooed the children away, "Away with you guys, can't you see you're making him uncomfortable? The poor hatchling is unbearably shy." She chided imperiously, the other children deferred to her and backed off, with calls for Yrael to come visit again tomorrow.
Yrael decided that the children were harmless, and another visit wouldn't be so bad. He might even have fun.
When they reached the darkness of the passage, Lily shifted again and they trotted together up the passageways to the upper levels. When they reached the throne room, where Selenay was crouched, conversing with Lord Carlisle. Their discussion came to an abrupt end when Selenay flicked an eye over at Yrael and Lily and her voice trailed off. Carlisle, curious as to what caught her attention, looked over as well to see the other dragon next to Yrael.
"Yrael, welcome. Come here you two, let me have a look at you." Selenay said, her eyes wide with astonishment.
Yrael nudged Lily to walk with him as he walked forward, "Lady mother, I found her in the lower levels, where the families of the wolves has taken residence. She is only the first, there are several more siblings who may shift soon, too." Lily blanched at Yrael's casual response to the enormous dragon. Was he insane?
They stopped only a few feet from the dragon-dame, and she brought her head down to gaze at Lily in wonder, "What is your name, child?"
"My name is Lily, I'm pleased to meet you, Lady Selenay." The child murmured shyly. Her legs quivering in her nervousness.
"Lily, please call me Selenay. How long have you been able to transform, child?"
The girl dipped her head, "Today was my first complete transformation, Se-Selenay."
Selenay tilted her head, "First 'complete' transformation? What do you mean by that?"
"Well, for awhile, I could only change my eye color, and manage only the briefest shift before I would lose my concentration. It's very disorienting." Lily found that talking to the dragon-dame was not nearly so intimidating the more she spoke with her, she began to lose her old nervousness after a small period.
"I see, what a strange thing. You are quite a treasure, and a joy to my heart to see. You dear child are the future of a new race of dragons. Now tell me, what did you feel as you were beginning to transform? When you first started to notice the changes that were beginning to take effect within you?"
The young girl cocked her head to the side, "Well, I felt a burning sensation, it was almost unbearable. Like a fire was trying to bloom inside my very body. The only thing that gave me relief was to float in the pool whenever that happened. This time, I just forced myself not to jump in the water, and concentrate on this feeling when it came to see what would happen. Afterwards, I allowed myself to glide into the water, it felt very nice."
"Well done, thank you Lily. I think that was your soul changing within you, it is known as the "Soul of the Fire." Young dragons that are born as dragons begin to feel that sensation when they reach five or six years old. It's when their fire-bladder becomes active, and they can begin to actually breathe fire." the massive red Dragon-dame explained. "You telling me you were five years old confirms my suspicions, now. It is the blossoming of the Fire-Soul that causes the final straw to fall into place as the catalyst for your transformation. Now, would you like to come with me to the Hatchling Grounds? It's quite nice."
The young dragon glanced at Yrael, who nodded encouragingly, and at Carlisle, who was smiling benignly down at her. His gold-flecked purple eyes gazing on her with wonder.
Meeting Selenay gaze once more, she nodded eagerly and Selenay smiled down at her before turning and leading the way through another side passage, past a set of stone stairs leading downwards and into a vast room filled with sand, large doorways on one side opened onto an enormous balcony.
Another two hatchlings were sitting in the sand, wrestling playfully. Off to the sides was a large bronze dragon, who was watching the hatchlings play with a relaxed and gentle expression. As Selenay entered, the bronze dragon looked up at her and crooned a welcome. Selenay returned the greeting before stepping out into the sand with a gusty sigh of relief. Yrael was quick to follow her example, his tail curling around Lily's foot to do the same.
Without a further thought, she stepped out into the sand and she stopped and stared down at the sand in astonishment. It was warm. It felt so good, too. Lily walked out the rest of the way, and wallowed into the sand knee deep.
Mosrael and Seraneth stopped their play to see the young dragon now wiggling happily in the sand. They looked over at Yrael, who tilted his head smugly at his discovery. "Where did you find her, Yrael?"
"I found this little sister in the lower caverns, where the families of the wolves of Voltaire live. Many of the children have been born and raised on Mother's blood. I wouldn't be surprised if others started shifting in the coming years, too. This one is about five."
Mosrael's eyes widened in amazement. "Wow, we'll have more siblings, soon! Seraneth, isn't that great? We'll have more siblings, soon!"
Suddenly, there was a great whooshing sound from the balcony. Heads swiveled around to see lithe green Moiraine landing neatly on the landing platform, her Rider and companion Stefan sitting poised and relaxed in the saddle, his eyes taking in the scene with curiosity. After slender dusty-green female walked down the ledge and onto the sand, she enmeshed herself into the sand with a gusty sigh and Stefan dismounted.
"What have we here, Lady Selenay, Lord Carlisle? Another hatchling? Or is this one of the shape-shifting offspring ya'll have been breeding for?"
Carlisle frowned, "I wouldn't so far as to say 'breeding,' Stefan, they are precious creatures, and the first beings resembling Talent-Creatures born without draining the world of Lifeforce themselves. This is truly a momentous day, Stefan…" Carlisle and Stefan walked off together, talking quickly under their breath.
Seraneth grunted an affirmative to Mosrael's comment, while Mosrael bounded over to Lily to invite her to a game of strength. Lily spent all afternoon with the dragons of the Hatching Ground until evening set in and darkness fell. Lily's mother collected the sleepy lass for the evening, and Selenay accompanied the woman down to the lower caverns, a yawning Lily draped across her back as Euphemia and Selenay spoke quietly together.
Weeks passed, Lily found with actual mental effort how to link her mind to the hive-mind structure of the wolves of her father's pack. Being the first shape-shifting dragon born of the wolves, she felt adrift and apart from both worlds.
Yrael became a steadfast supporter through her loneliness despite his being so quiet and stoic. For hours they would just sit side by side in the Hatching Grounds or by the pool of water where they first met, and watch the ripples spread across the surface of the pool from a rock flicked from a tail tip. Most often, they sat near the water. It was always the water that drew them both closer. The dark mysteriousness of it all, and how it often reflected the ceiling and other fantastic shapes the more they watched.
It was fascinating.
That was not to say that was all they did. Yrael would join the human children in their wild-child games, and wrestle with them as carefully as he could, or allowed them to climb on them. Lily joined him in his endeavor, and when she asked him about it, he would brush off her comments saying he was only monitoring the children to see which child would be next to shift.
Other times, she would find him watching her, with an unreadable expression on his face. Occasionally flicking his tail. She wondered what that meant. She had the feeling that something was probably bothering him a great deal, but when she tried to get him to open up, he would only sigh and shake his head and tell her, not unkindly, that he was "running out of time" and he had to make a decision.
It was just turning mid-summer when one of the children started exhibiting the same signs as Lily did before she began her shifting. This child was also four, but he would be turning five that winter. He was the second child of the Dragon-blooded wolves born. He started isolating himself from the other children more, and a concerned and wild look would enter his eyes every now and then.
One morning, he just started shaking like crazy, and tore off his clothes, whimpering almost frantically about something "burning, burning inside me. This body can't live with this fire!" with that, he ran to the pool and launched himself into the water, and in the wild confusion of the water splashing about, the child shifted entirely. His body transforming into a scarlet red-scaled young drake. The young child thrashed in the water for a few seconds during which Yrael and Lily quickly dove in and fetched the youth out. As he lay panting on the ground, his tail still draped limply in the water, Lily and Yrael noticed that the red of his scales faded into a dark violet on each of his four legs.
They talked to him, and welcomed him to join them in the Hatching Grounds to speak with the "Blood-Mother" of all the dragons presently inside Voltaire. Selenay crooned over him and asked him the same set of questions as she busily groomed him dry and clean after his recent foray into the very cold water. Lily speculated why she hadn't reacted in that manner to the water; sure she dived in, and swam for awhile, but it was rumored that even Selenay was able to swim well.
Thus, Alec was born into the fold of the dragon shape-shifters.
Seraneth and Mosrael got another playmate in the Hatching Grounds, and Lily got another friend of whom was of neither one world or the other. She still hung out with Yrael most often though.
Neither Mosrael or Seraneth, nor Yrael seemed to really notice or care that she and Alec was descended from wolves, or was still partly human.
Lily was glad for that, it made it all the easier. But the thoughts that arrived from some of the older wolves of her father's pack made her feel alienated. She knew they couldn't really help the thoughts, they had no control of where their subconscious took them, but she couldn't help being the way she was.
The older wolves did their best to sound hopeful and proud of their children who were born to shift into dragons instead of the wolves they so resembled, but some felt the resentment that they would be the last generation of wolves born.
Jacob, the mate to the half-blood heir Renesme, did his best to quiet their thoughts on the matter, reminding them that they were warned of the possible side effects of drinking Dragon-Blood. In fact, they were told of the aim for being fed the Dragon-Blood; to possibly breed wolves to shift into dragons, instead of wolves.
It was hard to ignore the benefits of drinking Dragon-Blood for the wolves; the wolves grew stronger, faster, and possessed more durability against vampires, also, the longer they had been drinking Dragon-Blood, the more their features changed minutely. Wolves who hadn't Imprinted yet were eager to see what would happen after decades of feeding on the Dragon-Blood. But with the results of their initial forays before them; their own children starting to shift into something other than what they were tended to be a hard truth to swallow.
Other fathers, like Embry and Paul, were excited over their children. Embry's daughter Lily was the first to shift, which came as a surprise to many of the wolves, fearing another Leah. While Alec was a true blessing to the quick-tempered Paul, who cherished his little son and enjoyed watching the child go about his business and exploring his capabilities as a dragon on the Hatching grounds and playing with the other dragons there. The three older dragons looking on.
Later that winter, all the Cullens living in America came to have Christmas with their patriarch, Carlisle. Rosalie and Emmet being among the first to return from their recent tour of Europe. They were anxious to check on the progress of the dragons, and this would be their second time to see the hatchlings in the year they had been alive.
Emmet and Rosalie stamped their feet free of snow as they stood inside the entranceway into the main throne room, Emmet carrying most of Rosalie's bags for her as well as his own duffel bag. Esme greeted them warmly, hugging them and kissing their cheeks.
They saw Seraneth sitting on his haunches right next to Esme, and greeted him with their own cautious hugs. It was easier to bear the sweet smell of his blood because of their memories of what happened to Jared and Samantha when they supped from Selenay's blood, and also feeding on animals made it about as bearable as dealing with a slightly less than appetizing human.
"My loves! How was your trip? You must tell me all about it as soon as you get settled." She exclaimed, as she led them down the hallways to the bedroom they would be staying in. Emmet and Rosalie exchanged looks then looked at the back of their mother's head, "Well, we met Leah, that runaway wolf, in Russia. She was an interesting sight to see, but she seemed alright. We kept our distance though, she never liked us much."
"Oh? Was she happy?"
"What? Oh yes, she found her Imprinted, and has been trailing that poor kid ever since. We had to translate for him what was going on with Leah to make her follow him so persistently. He was a good sort, should be good for her." Emmet laughed, Rosalie elbowed him sharply.
"The child was barely ten, and imagine what you would do if you found an enormous wolf who won't leave you alone, and even scared off everything that could possibly touch the boy with ill-intent. The child thought he was cursed, but things should be alright now, he's an orphan living on his own, and after explain to him what he was to the girl, he invited her in and let her sleep in his little house." Rosalie clarified, "now she hunts for him, and cares for the boy, and he has been teaching her Russian, she's teaching him English."
"Well, I'm glad she found herself her man, well boy for right now. I'm sure things will turn out well. It's not easy to ignore that kind of devotion."
"Hey mom, why is Seraneth following you around like that?"
"Oh! I haven't told you guys yet, have I? I am to be his Rider when he grows older, he's chosen me! Isn't that exciting?"
"Wow, that's great, mom! Then you can finally match dad in height after that! Congratulations!" Emmet said, Rosalie just smiled and hugged her mother warmly.
She had heard about Kebi getting her menstruation after becoming an Alector, and was secretly jealous of it. But she would never say anything about it; no matter what, Emmet was a blessing in her life. If she were never chosen to be a Rider along with Emmet, she would still be happy just with being with him.
Later after the pair were settled in, they went in to check on the hatchlings and were ecstatic to find even more young dragons in the Hatching Grounds. The spell Selenay had cast upon the Oven underneath kept the fires burning eternally, as long as the Lifeforce node beneath the castle was still tied to Voltaire so it was amazing that the sands were still hot.
Emmet was quickly drawn into a wrestling match with the young dragons, and easily endeared himself in their hearts. Mosrael especially watched both him and Rosalie, her tail tapping in time with a tune only she knew.