Shining Wyrm & The Blood Immaculate [Original Fantasy/Dragon Fiction]

[Zaealix]

Ooooh.
I think I get why Fizzbunches gave Adelyne the sneaky boon now.
She was nearly made into yet another handmaiden of the ShiningWyrm, and that would be a waste, given her heritage and connection to the streets.
Given time she might have spilled that golden shine even into the streets and made the alleyways a bit too straight for the Weird of Alleys.
But now she's a creature of the Streets, and she won't leave that behind so easily.
As for it being a GOOD idea…? Hrrrm.
I think it's an idea that will be rightfully shot down unless Adeline is particularly clever. Buuut…I have a suspicion that's not actually the point.
The point, is the roundabout explaination of how Guilds work and 'work' both on and off the books, so to speak.
So that Jewel doesn't just throw her weight around and force things into her shape, but can understand the spaces she's moving through and how that influences them…

 

[Calico J]

"That's why we should start one!"

Click to shrink...

But of course! Who could claim they have a well-governed land without their crime neatly organized and with a central authority to register complaints with if the quality of local work isn't up to standard? "That young man knocked me down in the street and stole my handbag. But he couldn't even take a moment to grab my jeweled necklace! Those are real sappires, you know. Over in the capitol they'd've had the shoes off my feet before I could blink!"

 

[Nighzmarquls]

13.3

Returning to Valasect was an incredible relief.

Autumn came and winter was imminent and at least for the rest of this year Jewel would not be going to Kaeketeh. Lord Kliatbatrn and the guilds could live up to their obligations to her and keep everything intact over one winter.

Jewel was going home to Rochford for the longest night.

As Gem she was spending as much time as she could stand and Smithson would allow away from the manor. Running with her friends and the rest of the village whenever the days were clear enough.

Swarmed with endless questions as she had been in the mid summer.

But instead of inquiries to what it was like in Kaeketeh it was questions about the Capital. About what the sky looked like under another vault.

When she spoke of the Capital, of its many overlapping rivers, the beasts of the menagerie, the food (and how awful and over spiced so much of it was), the Palace, the monsters and nobles she had met. Jewel was filled with a warmth that had nothing to do with her Wyrmflame.

They shared their own adventures, the riddles and jokes they had made in the two Valasect cants.

In the seasons since she had last signed with them the word for the two cants had changed again. Instead of Field and Forest cant it was now "Close" and "Far" cant. Jewel shared with them that the Footmen of the Manor and maybe also some people in Kaeketeh were going to learn the signs too.

Some of the children were frustrated, but the promise that their parents were unlikely to learn it unless they joined Jewel's guard and that few from Kaeketeh were likely to ever visit was enough to placate most.

"Was there really a blood eating walking corpse at the capital?"

Dorota signed swiftly and assuredly. Her brother Albert turning to watch her hands and Gem's as they 'spoke' between working with his carving knife at a block of wood.

The fire of their hearth made for poor light to do such fine work Jewel thought.

But it was better than the cold.
To help keep him included she and his sister made their initial gestures wide enough to draw attention before pulling into the closer Valasect Cant for precise finger gestures. Gem's mouth giving a wide smile and a heavy trilling laugh.

"There was! And a giant hairless cat bigger than even Celsus!"

Jewel was still learning the strange rules the children had made for 'shaping' out the sound of words (or more often names) that did not have an easy existing meaning in the cant. The rules were a bit arbitrary.

But just to be abundantly clear as she twisted and wiggled her digits into what she thought the siblings used to refer to the bull while she also tossed her head and a quick finger point to the wall that joined their house with the cowhold. She hoped it was clear.

Bethica and Celsus were weathering the snow together and had been pleased she was back.

The sight of Bethica so heavily gravid this morning left its own warm joy.

Hopefully the calf would not be born mute but they would not know until after the birth come spring.

Dorota's eyes widened and she flailed a bit wider, her gestures going out into a very clear Far Cant. Gesture clear enough to be spotted across the clearing of her family farm.

"Bigger than Celsus! That's impossible!"

Jewel snorted and shook her head.

"My mother is bigger than Celsus. You've seen her during our visits!"

There was simply no way in either Valasect Cant to even begin to explain Jewel's relationship with her younger self. Also Bethica had admonished her with an ear full (once for each head!) on not giving herself proper respect as both mother and child.

So she did not bring it up with her friends.

Besides, it was such a cozy time in the house!

Dorota's own mother hummed as she gently worked on what was probably going to be a new winter coat for Albert if Gem's eyes were getting the sizing right.

Wyrmspun wool of course, as most of their clothing was becoming.

Although many of the adults still had underclothes and many old garments of the more mundane weave and thread Jewel had made sure every family had at least a blanket and every adult woman a shawl of the fabric.

Her weaving work with the looms was still a bit rough, but it was barely even needed to have any woman in Valasect spin her own family's wool.

They all insisted on it of course and Jewel heartily agreed, but the work was much less rushed in Valasect than Jewel remembered it being in Rochford when she was younger. She'd been absent for most of the last two years but at least among the women of her demesne that had not made their acceptance of her any worse.

Jewel and Dorota both worked at their own spindles between their animated whirling gestures. Dorota under the occasional glance of her mother, and Jewel to try and hone the lessons of a decade's struggle and the growing assurance of her younger muscles.

She could feel the echo of the musical dance she did as a Wyrm. But it was so much fainter as her smaller self.

"Was it frightening to travel so far away?"

Jewel nodded to her friend. Face becoming solemn.

"If I'm with my mother it's not so bad, she makes me safe. But when I can't be with her I only have Smithson. And Smithson isn't a dragon."

Dorota giggled, but she didn't let it muss her gestures or harm the tempo of the spindle.

"But your Nurse-Knight is so big and strong! He's so tall and he has a sword! And a horse!"

The girl was not even ten and already far better at managing the spindle than Jewel's wyrm self had been until after the war.

Jewel's efforts to match her as Gem were despite all her practice lagging behind.

The way the wool passed her tiny fingers just didn't feel right.

Still the thought of Smithson and Ox Hoof and the absurdity of even comparing the so called 'Nurse Knight' to the martial prowess and assurance of her wyrm self?

It made it very hard to avoid breaking up the thickness of the thread on the spindle as the giggles shook her shoulders. She had to focus on evening it out and stop signing until the thread had regained its proper consistency.

Time that her friend Dorota was fine with giving.

In the lull Dorota and Albert's mother took up a spinning song. One of the old winter chants that Jewel did not know the word's meaning for.

It was a lot like the chant for the Longest Night. The words had the same kind of shape as them, but different specifics. And a softer, more round melody over all. Good pace for the drop of the spindle, the spinning twisting of the thread. The movement of wool slowly pinched as it passed through fingers.

Gem's hands, small and still somewhat clumsy they might be. But every woman and girl Jewel had seen working wool into thread had nearly the same hands as her spawn.

She should be able to do it far easier than her wyrm self.

Jewel added Gem's own voice to the song after it had made three rounds. Songs were much easier than normal speaking. You could hear the word coming, the melody even let you know the shape you needed your throat, tongue and lips to meet and when.

You didn't even need to know the meaning of the words!

Soon the whole household was singing with Gem, Albert's voice a good match for the two girls and woman. Not yet deepend by manhood.

The time Gem had with her friend passed that way.

Until finally Smithson had finished all the business he could afford to do as a delay and the sun was getting close to the peaks of the mountains to the west.

Jewel insisted with halting words that the family keep the wool she had spun.

"M-mothar ss-spin m-many. Y-y-you k-keep."

Dorota's mother sighed and nodded but even with her less acute ears she could hear a mutter from the woman behind the door how it wasn't right for a girl's family to not keep the thread spun before her first blood.

Jewel shuddered in the chill of the winter wind before running to Oxhoof so she could get up and out of the snow which easily went higher than her knees and was still coming down.

She missed the cold having no teeth for her.

Her Nurse Knight offered a hand to boost her up into the saddle and soon she was up and out of the potential soaking wet of the snow.
Gem huddled up above her Knight's shoulder on the horse. The lack of snow does not help with the winter wind. Smithson himself walked ahead, trudging the slowly frosting over mud of the path, the hackney mare familiar enough with the routine to follow along behind him without a lead or guidance from the diminutive rider.

"Did you have a good time with your friend today Gem?"

His back was turned, looking ahead, which meant that Jewel would have to put the words together and sound them out in the right order with her spawn's cramped, mostly human throat and face.

"I-I D-Did!"

 

[Zaealix]

D'awww.
I imagine Both Jewel and Gem would be fine with a hug if offered.
As for the spinning of wool, well…Hrm.
I wonder how well Jewel could taken wool she spun and knit it into proper cloth?
…
I wonder what that Thieves guild Adeline proposed will take as a cover?
I say that because a number of thieves guilds I've seen in fiction take up an alternative name, and it being an unwritten understanding that they're the thieves, in truth.

 

[Nighzmarquls]

13.4

Jewel was thankfully unsurprised to see her brother and the proud gryphon that Blizzardwrath had grown into.

Alexander's beard had filled out since last she saw it, as was his frame and build, he looked the very vision of a martial lord. Beside him Blizzardwrath was confident and regal as Zephyrvam. With only a hint of the thick plumage of its mother.

Her brother's bond was almost as tall as him at the shoulder. The feathers flutter over the muscular strength in each of the four talons in shoulders and hips.

But there was still a childish motion to the head, it regarded Jewel with a hint of wariness that settled as soon as Alexander had lunged at Jewel to embrace her around her throat. Squeezing with all the considerable strength he could muster.

He would not be strained by the pull of the Rochford family bow.

Jewel's flesh however even when she relaxed every scrap of flame from it barely depressed against that considerable squeeze.

"Sister! It's so good to see you!"

Jewel laughed deep in her chest, letting the sound shape and reshape up her throat. So her voice came out light, feminine, but with the timbres of a woman. Like Bethica's voice, a voice fit for a countess and a dragon.

"Brother! I thought you would have flown to Rochford! Why did you walk on Blizzardwrath like it was a horse?"

Alexander laughed and at a gesture his bond leaped to join them, nuzzling at his shoulder and neck then after a few furtive glances at its bond also nosing and picking at Jewel's scales with a tentative beak.

"Father recommended it and I have to agree!"

Jewel slowly offered strokes and scritches to the still smaller gryphon. Careful of the neck and ears just the way she was with Zephyrvam. The timidity soon melted into youthful enthusiasm and a delighted little cry as she reminded the still childish Gryphon that Jewel was family.

"The other riders might be able to burden their charges at this age and size. But Blizzardwrath needs more strength to carry my weight for more than a few hours. Perhaps next year."

She sighed heavily at that. Jewel had been looking forward to sharing a flight with her brother!

"However! That is precisely why we walked with only a few short bounds unmounted to keep Blizzardwrath from getting bored. I promised we would fly when I arrived, but he can't manage the weight of me for long so we walked."

Jewel sniffed at the Gryphon a few times before fixing her brother.

"It, dear brother, Blizzardwrath has not matured enough, their scent is unsettled either way."

Alexander stumbled a bit.

"It? You mean Blizzardwrath could end up female?! But all the instructors assured that he- it had matured to a fine drake-"

Jewel huffed hard enough it billowed both her brother's beard and Blizzardwrath's feathers.

"Your sister's nose does not lie brother, Blizzardwrath has not settled yet. Which is fortunate as I expect it will grow quite a bit more for that."

He laughed and shook his head.

"Far be it for me to question such a regal snout as my hound of a sister!"

Jewel frowned at the insult. But could not keep the grin from quickly splitting her face.

"Either way, the sex of Blizzardwrath hardly matters for the tack and rigging. You have your flying leathers packed?"

At Alexander's nod Jewel nodded to her footmen to see to it.

They obeyed swiftly and adequately. Smithson's own tutelage showing its merit and Alexander was responsibly watchful as Blizzardwrath stiffened at the approach of strangers. But the good mood and Jewel's own gentle grooming seemed to have soothed any apprehension from the beast.

At her brother's confirming nod they unloaded the garments and began attaching the harness straps of Blizzardwrath's tack. Something which was obviously making the young Gryphon excited although it exercised the will and determination expected of its station very admirably.

Merely ruffling its feathers in waves of delight that only slightly inconvenienced the footmen.

Alexander rushed into the manor house to have his own riding kit and the rest of his luggage secured.

Jewel sighed at that.

Wherever her brother had picked up that habit of carrying the entirety of his travel supplies and luggage on his own back she really wanted to admonish them. He at least still marched with guard and horse. But besides the feed for the other animals on the hackneys he was always hauling his own supplies, burdened like a mule and jangling with camp material.

It only took a few minutes for Alexander to get kitted for flight.

When he emerged in his Rochford black flight leathers the excitement that had been barely restrained in Blizzardwrath was bubbling over into excited wriggles and little just aborted hopping and bobbing of the head.

Finally, beak parted as her brother's bond began to trill in excitement, completely forgetting about Jewel and the two unfortunate footmen that were trying to check the ties.

Jewel gently pressed the excitable gryphon down at its back, right in the place where the harnesses crossed. Where her brother would be tied down to secure him in the lee of the otherwise torrential winds which blew past a Gryphon in flight.

A soft coo from her throat, a gentle soothing tone as she had heard Honeydown make over Blizzardwrath's egg.

It was enough to snap the Gryphon to look at her with a stilled shock.

Allowing the footmen to finish securing the main lines of the harness and settle them under the feathers, cinched close to the skin.

Then Alexander was there and Jewel was no longer needed to keep the excitable beast still. The excitement went from a jittering motion to an absolute stillness of anticipation as its rider swung into position in the small between the wings of its back.

Her brother scooted and shuffled himself around until the loose straps of his flight leathers were draped comfortably close to their complements. Out of the way of the primary flight feathers.

Jewel fussed at the neck collar of his helm. Making sure it was properly secured while the footmen did their duty of joining the loose straps of his armor to the rest of Blizzardwrath's harness.

Her brother took up the proper posture for a scout. Almost laying forward in his kit. No place for a gryphon bow.

Something in her wyrmflame felt like it was overflowing inside her. Saturating not just her scales but the air immediately around her. The wind of Blizzardwrath mingled with that flow, already flexing the extent of the wake which would soon carry her brother up into the sky to join her.

Finally there was no more to check and Jewel could only barely stand the wait anymore.

It was still mid day, and even with the bite of winter they should both be able to manage a few hours in the sky.

"Brother, are you ready?"

He responded to her in the now almost stilted looking pattern of traditional Gryphon Cant.

'Ready for flight'

Jewel responded with the Gryphon Cant for a clear and safe sky.

Then the excitement of the moment overwhelmed both her, Alexander and Blizzardwrath.

Gryphon and Dragon snapped their wings wide.

The wind roared as the wakes of each reached full extension.

Even still a fledgeling Blizzardwrath's was wider than Jewel's. But she didn't mind, The first wing beat was only just starting to arrest the weight of her brother and his steed.

Jewel was a full body length in the air before their second wingbeat.

By the third Blizzardwrath was falling below her.

The poor footmen had to crouch down into the ground to avoid being toppled in the wake of an ascending gryphon rider.

The snow of winter was a billowing storm that suited Blizzardwrath's name.

Jewel was ahead, but her lightened body was soon failing to maintain her lead.

The others' ascent only grew faster as her brother and the Gryphon gained on her in altitude. But she didn't mind, even past the howling wind she heard the booming trill of Blizzardwrath's joy. Climbing with hungry devouring scoops of air past its wings as it fought with furious downdrafts to rise up to meet her.

She saw the joyous posture in her brother's shoulders even as he was pressed close to the back of his bond, head nestled just right amidst the feathers so the wind blew around them in complement instead of fighting the currents.

By the twentieth wingbeat Jewel was struggling to keep up in her ascent with the young Gryphon.

And shortly after it was her turn to strive to win in a race with no purpose but the joy of flight in the crisp shining light of a winter's afternoon.

Her arms spread and waved when she saw Alexander had lifted his head to survey their surroundings.

'This way, Come look, sightings!'

She really needed to teach her brother the more versatile Flight Cant she had made with Father and the other flyers of the Army. Probably also the Valasek Far Cant. Although not all of it would be legible at flight distances even with a Gryphon Rider's eyes.

But for now the simple signs and gestures made with wings and arms would suffice.

Her brother gestured agreement with her and Jewel spun and twisted in the air, swooping past the rushing arrow of Blizzardwrath before they could turn about.

Laughing with the wind at the Gryphon's shocked cry of alarm.

It would seem that Jewel needed to spend some time teaching Blizzardwrath in spars just as much as she had done so with Alexander.

The thought of those exercises in the future filled her heart with an even fiercer light of Wyrmflame.

Her voice filled the winter skies in the sound of Jewel's joy.