Music for today:
Rok Nardin - Waves
https://youtu.be/gnVGtCbJRdY
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Chapter 492: Reformation
Late Afternoon - Mid Summer : Year 39 : Poseidon, Draconic Continent
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*Woom* With the touch of Mother's paw, the frost on Krystallo's body thawed with a wave-like ripple—the warm, orange glow within Mother's scales spreading into Krystallo's body as her claws eased, wings settled, and expression softened like melting ice cream.
"It's likely that even she, herself, didn't realize what she was asking for when she told you to step back, so don't feel bad..." With the warmth turning into a scorching heat, the stiff, frigid air in the room finally began retreating with a stabilizing calm. "Sometimes naivety can lead people to want things they don't fully understand the consequences of..."
Until eventually, it was so radiating that it was far beyond what I would have ever even considered subjecting Krystallo to.
Though, Mother knew exactly what she was doing.
Watching Krystallo melt with bliss beneath her paw, her expression soaked with satisfaction. "She's grown a lot, but she still has a long way to go." Playfully fluttering her wings, she finally began easing the heat she was radiating. "You're exactly right in that healing her would set her back..." Coiling her head to give me a glance, her tone steadily grew more relaxed. "But just leaving her entirely on her own isn't the answer either."
Finally beginning to understand, I nodded with an attentive look.
It was guidance I didn't know I needed.. not on how to live, or how to teach, but.. how to parent.
Looking at Hera, wanting to make sure she was listening too, Mother continued with a tone I hadn't heard since we still lived in the Nest. "Its good to let them get hurt from time to time, but you can't let them lose their head for a lesson that could be learned with a bruise, you know?"
Hera was quick to nod, absorbing the advice like a sponge.
And I wasn't much different. -So.. I should still help guide her, just...- Instead of showing her exactly where to step to follow her path through fate, I only needed to help guide her around the major pitfalls.
Though, the extent of such 'pitfalls' would have eluded me if it weren't for Mother's guidance.
"Haha," Letting out a warm chuckle, the air around her continued to lighten. "I know you may not understand since you somehow cleaned the frost that contaminates our family's blood out of me.. but..." Lifting her wing to look down her feathered side, she paused, "The frost that runs in our blood can inhibit growth when it isn't properly dealt with."
Like during a dragon sleep.
"It certainly wouldn't kill her, but..." Turning away from Krystallo, she gave her one final glance. "It can certainly make her scars run deeper than they otherwise would.. and trap her..."
Finally reaching me like the glimmer of a falling star, realization settled. "T..Then..." Thinking of stepping forward, pausing.. questioning if my understanding was correct, I looked toward Mother...
But already understanding what I was going to ask, she nodded. "Would you like to give her a little guidance as well?"
Moving my eyes to Krystallo, sunken into bliss so deep she was practically drooling on the floor, a warmth rushed through me.. and with a hesitant nod, I stepped forward.
I wasn't going to heal her... I wasn't going to do what I could to ensure everything regrew as it was before, but... *tap... tap... tap...* Walking up to her, looking over her body, Mother's advice formed another option.
How she would continue forward.. how she would deal with her scars.. it would still be up to her, but... -If it ever comes to it, I can at least make sure she doesn't find herself so stuck I have to bail her out...- And ruin the progress she'd have made in finding herself by then...
It wasn't a correction, or an answer...
I was simply cracking open a door before it was locked for good...
...A nudge that prevented a future only Mother was wise enough to see...
*Woom* So, eventually sitting beside her with some reluctance, I moved my mana, spending the next few hours clearing the scar tissue that sealed her wounds before.. stopping...
It felt truly odd to leave her like that.. to leave her wounds open and exposed, one step from beginning to heal, but... -While it won't ever heal fully on its own...- If it truly came to it—if her own path led to a dead end destined to collapse beneath her paws—she'd still have another path she could take before I'd need to catch her fall.
Even if that path was immeasurably more difficult than it'd have been for me to simply heal her then and there.
-But in the end, it's her decision to learn from...-
Eventually finishing, I sat back, watching as the exposed flesh of her would morphed and writhed—reacting to the sudden exposure to air—with a content, but still somewhat worried look.
A look Mother knew all too well. "Seems like you finally get a taste of your own medicine."
Hearing her on the verge of laughing, I coiled to look over my wings, confused.
Only for Father to join her. "You know how many times your Mother and I worried about you like that? I thought it'd take a grandchild for you to understand it."
Immediately shying, my wings clamped to my side, and my posture shrank. "Ah..." All those years, I had been out there fighting far riskier battles, and unlike me with Krystallo.. they had no way to bail me out if it came to it. "I-I'm.. sorry for subjecting you guys to all of that..."
It was truly no wonder Mother's mind had been so worn down prior to her rebirth.
But, "Pfffft—" Unable to contain it any more, she simply burst out laughing. "Hahahaha!"
"Phew..."
Thankfully, both her and Father had already repaired the mental wear I had subjected them too over the years, and well.. Hera was healing the wear I left on her mind with her own methods. "It's alright, Vasilias. Understanding that worry now will make you a much better father when the time comes~."
Feeling Hera's gaze dig into the back of my head as her voice reached me, a subtle shudder passed down my spine. "I-I see..."
But, in the end, I was thankful for it... After burdening them so much for so long.. the time had finally come where they could rest easy...
Where they could always have confidence that I would pull through.
Or at least.. my ignorance made it feel that way at the time...
Continuing to ease the atmosphere with a mess of jokes and laughter, the tension that had filled the air just moments prior had vanished, and with some cheerful banter, we started going over what our plans going forward would be.
It wasn't an easy conversation, but in the moment, everything flowed. From discussions of who would remain to watch over Krystallo, to how we were going to move forward with handling and governing the Draconic Continent as a whole, hours turned to days, and days turned to weeks.
But in the end, it wasn't a matter that had an end within conversation, no matter how long we could have spoken, but after nearly two weeks of discussing Hera's views and plans with them, we had at least come to one consensus.
And that was that both Father and Mother would stay on Poseidon to watch over Krystallo, and help manage something else only Father and Hera were aware of.
Something.. Hera forgot to mention right away...
*Woom* Feeling a presence approaching on the edge of my aura, not from outside the mountain, but deep within it, my pupils thinned, fur ripped, and attention shifted. -Who is this...-
Unknowingly gripping the air with my aura, the conversation screeched to a halt with everyone's focus turning to me.
Except for Hera. *Vwoom* Weaving her aura through mine, her focus followed, spreading and searching for what I was seeing.
"Seems like we have a visitor..." My tone was dark and heavy as I watched the dragon weave and wind through a mix of natural cave formations and old abandoned hallways like a snake winding through cracks.
But as my aura started sharpening, and I shifted to get up and go intercept the stranger, Hera caught me.
"Oh!" Unlike me, she knew exactly who it was. "That's Reon! He's still getting tested for the position I want to give him, but he's trustworthy."
Suddenly stopping, my eyes shifted to her.
"He was well aware of the situation with Zachari. He's a little young, but his interests and talents are something I couldn't find even before the collapse."
But her explanation only made me more confused. -Huh?- "He's getting hazed for a position you couldn't find a talent for before?" Just questioning what the position could be made my head spin. -What kind of person could she possibly have a hard time finding..?-
But as it turned out, it was someone who I'd never even thought of looking for.
An irrefutably unique.. yet unbelievably useful dragon that knew the underground world better than any historian did the surface.
A geologist, archeologist, and subterranean explorer, by the name of Reon Koilos.
A dragon whose name would soon be carved into the very foundation of the new draconic world.
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