"You will be representing us," Shezumi repeated pointedly, low and almost angrily, "at Talor Cliff's last clutch. It is not a normal clutch, and I expect it to be quite a send off for them."
Churana shook her head to clear her mind. She blinked but her eyes remained glued upon her grandmother's form. "Grandmother. I am a student."
"Not if you continue to argue with me," Shezumi countered harshly. "I will have you silent, and if I must make you so myself, I shall. Do you understand?"
Churana remained aghast. Her wings had come up to their full flare, and her tail shifted angrily below her colorful dress. She wanted to breathe in deeply and scream. But this blasted cursed dress constricted her neck so! And her chest could hardly expand.
The third-generation Kazoku dragoness felt faint suddenly. She remembered to breathe, only barely.
"Is this meant to be some kind of honor, or is it a punishment, grandmother?" Churana growled out. "Because it is punishment enough to be made to leave my home. It is even more so that I must disguise myself among my peers and my family --" she finally looked around at the gathering, who were again riveted to her. "You shame me? In front of everyone that means anything to me?"
"I do not shame you, Churana, you do it to yourself." Shezumi replied, not even with any effort.
That drove Churana over her already-precarious edge. "You witch!" She screamed, hoarse. A gasp of terror spread through the room, even the musicians were silent by now. No one confronted the Mother of Dragons this way! "I will not have this! Not in my own home! I will not wear this human trash!" She stripped the dress off herself, using her barest dragon strength to do so. It burned her neck where it tore.
Throwing the tattered dress off to the side, she dared to take a step toward her grandmother. "You might be older than any of us but I swear you do not rule me if I do not wish it! I will go where I please, and it pleases me to remain where I am!"
"Even though you have just ruined your own reputation among your friends and family?" Shezumi whispered, with the hint of a smile on her tiny lips. A dangerous spark danced in her eyes. "Think on it, Churana, you are clearly not meant for this House to hold for very much longer."
"Only because you have pushed me out of it!" Churana screamed. Then, she breathed deeply -- finally free of the confines of the dress. Her golden tan skin glimmered in the fire light, as well as the magical orbs of colors which bobbed here and there. Her wings fanned out, then folded back down. She stood proudly, glaring at her grandmother. "If I leave, it will not be to your little last-clutch. Why should I bother myself with them?"
"Because you may be meant for a dragon there, you ungrateful brat," Shezumi replied, "because you may find a partner there. A mate. As I found mine at Ryslen, and later at the Den."
Churana's forest green eyes widened. "You would have me mate with another mortal dragon?" Before she said anything more, however, Shezumi waved her hand. The silence was overwhelming, and the sudden darkness and chill stunned Churana.
"You will be silent now and you will listen to me." Shezumi glanced around, nodded to herself. "We will speak here, you and I. And you will keep a civil tongue in your head or I WILL have it cut out. You do not speak to your elders in such a tone. Particularly not at my social events."
"You planned this! You PLANNED to shame ME! How dare you!?" Churana squealed, unable to even keep her anger in check now. "If you had just ASKED me, do you want to go to this last clutch at Talor, Churana? I would have said, perhaps! Maybe I might be able to stop my studies, but they are more important to me!"
"Your studies will be here. The dragons may not. They will certainly not be there forever, in fact they will not be there for a moment longer than necessary, I have heard. Just as the Protectorate faded from their home world, back to the nexus, and we have found this place, Talor will be locating themselves where they are needed."
"Then let someone else take the duty. I don't belong there!"
"You belong everywhere a dragon flies," Shezumi said, and then sighed. "I had hoped you would take this sensibly, but I can see that you will still be trouble. So be it. You have a temper that would make my mother pleased, you know."
Her mother -- the dragon herself. Not a shred of human about Churana's great grandmother, no.
"So... What is that supposed to mean?" Churana asked, her anger finally deflating.
"It means that I am proud of you for standing up to me, but I will be expecting you to bond well to your partner. As Tesimith and I are deep partners, and her mates have been mine. There are other beautiful dragons yet to come, Churana. What if one of them is waiting at Talor?"
Completely broken now, Churana looked away. The darkness of this not-world Shezumi brought them to was not unnerving, but the closeness that it created between the two women was uncomfortable at best. Even at her proud tall stature, compared to the sheer calm grace of her grandmother, Churana could only admit defeat by nodding once.
"And I believe they will take you any way that you come to them," Shezumi commented, "but you will have to wear something. You will choose the right things to wear, the climate is not harsh there."
"I can make my own climate," Churana muttered, a last effort to subvert her own demise. "And I hate wearing clothing."
"I know sweet thing. But you must. You are human *enough* to make anyone uncomfortable with your form. They have never quite gotten over a nudity taboo, and besides, sitting on bare stone seats or someone else's chair with nothing between your butt and it is very very rude!"
Taken aback by that comment, Churana let out a broken laugh.
"So go back to your rooms, and take what you would like to study while you are there. You will also be expected to learn their riding rules, but I do not expect them to keep you to them tightly. You can fly yourself after all."
Churana nodded, and numbly allowed Shezumi to guide her back to the party... Where no one remembered the tiniest thing about the incident...
Because I want you to teach me how to fly. Remember? You wanted me to fly off a cliff or something.
"I told you to... ahhh, what's the use... You're just a little boy aren't you." Churana folded her wings back and knelt next to the bronze dragon. "No one understands about you being a bronze and me being a female or something. What's up with that, huh?" She chuckled, scratching the bronze's head until he gave off a croon of draconic delight.
Grandmother will be proud of me... Churana thought. Here I've gotten myself a beautiful bond in Raiokh, or is he a mate? Hmn... I'd best not let her know until he's grown.
Churana remained at Talor Cliff until the dragonet had gotten big enough to fly a bit. Then, she decided, it was time to take him somewhere more private.
It is dark here. Are these the cliffs you wish me to leap from? I think you are insane. The dragon looked down at the churning dark waters, and pulled his head back into the den.
"I think you should keep your thoughts to yourself!" Churana laughed. She spread her wings, and said, "now, you know how to fly, we've got to work on strength training. You're a big boy, come on and follow me."
I want to eat first, Raiokh muttered mentally, and true to form he somehow got his stomach to grumble at the same time. Churana wasn't impressed.
"Now, look, you can dive for fish if you fly." She indicated the waves below their cavern. "And I know you love fish. The way you eat I'm surprised there's anything left in the sea."
But then I will have to fly back up!
"That--" Churana hissed with her eyes finally blazing, "is the POINT! Now move! You're able, now you've got to get WILLING!"
Churana's face fell from a smile into a smirk of anger. "Rai, you're kidding. I swear you come up with the silliest"
It is not silly! I am serious, Churana! I need to mate!
"I can tell! You're ... hormoning all over the place!" Churana groaned. "Do you have some plan for finding a female? I mean, it's not like they're flocking around here on the dark half..."
They aren't. That is why we must go to the light side again. I like it there, my hide shines best in the sun you know.
"You certainly haven't gotten any less egocentric these last couple months. I take it you do have a female in mind then?"
I don't know yet. I must look around. You got me into the air, Churana, now you've got to fly with me.
Laughing, Churana took wing with her big bronze companion, looking for love...
