Following Aurieste further back into the stone complex carved into the mountain, Ranma thought nothing of the other elf girls having to stay behind. He hadn’t considered the possibility that they too might need to thank him, merely thinking they had been invited in because of their ordeal with the orcs.
The dragon mother spoke up as they went along. “My daughter, the one you saved, is so eager to meet you, but she hasn’t yet figured out how to change forms.”
She continued in the manner of a proud mother. “Their father was a silver, so I was worried if they would make it with their mixed blood.”
Eventually they entered into a grand chamber. “This is my audience hall for when I am in dragon form, the hatchery is nearby.”
From there they entered a smaller chamber, a little wider than the dojo in size. A familiar little gold and silver dragon was there to meet him. “Poppa!”
Ranma stared at the little metallic dragon that was closer to panda size than dog size. “Poppa?”
Aurieste had to smile at the sight of his confused face. “Yes, adopted so to speak.”
The little dragon scrunched up her face, making him think she might have to poop. “I’ll change shape any moment now, just you wait!”
Not ready to deal with whatever was going on at the moment, Ranma turned to what looked like another egg encased in a jagged block of ice and frost. “So what’s up with that one?”
Aurieste’s smile faded away. “One of the unfortunate ones, her fire and ice elemental natures are out of balance. There’s nothing I can do for her.”
Ranma was decidedly less pessimistic since the little snowball was still alive. “Well, mind if I try?”
For a moment Aurieste was stunned, having not expected such an offer. There was no healing she knew of available for such a birth defect outside of very strong transmutation magic, but perhaps the young hero was actually capable of it? “Be careful, she’s freezing her surroundings.”
Ranma strode forward, slipped his arms out of the sleeves of his shirt and wrapping the garment around his waist. “No problem, I just happen to know some techniques about fire and ice.”
Reaching the block of ice, Ranma displayed his strength instead of some magic as he knocked chunks of ice loose with a mere rap of the knuckles or tap of the finger. In the work of a moment he’d carved the face of the ice boulder to reveal a small silvery dragon about the size of his torso, curled up in the remnants of her egg shell. A few more taps sheared the other sides of the ice boulder loose, leaving the baby dragon curled up atop a pedestal of ice.
Taking a moment to focus first, Ranma placed his palms on the frozen hatchling and resumed concentrating.
Aurieste had to wonder if that was what he was trying to do. Paladins could heal by laying their hands on the wounded and she had heard monks possessed a similar ability. That wasn’t something that could heal her hatchling.
The air around the young man started to waver and even Aurieste started to feel his presence. It was similar to the presence of a dragon, the cloak of power that would overcome mortals with a sense of awe or fear. Despite the similarity, it was not a dragon’s aura, although perhaps not human either.
With his aura becoming partially visible and tangible it was easier to tell what he was doing. His aura started to take on some draconic notes as it resonated with the hatchling’s wavering spirit. This was like laying on hands, but a more primal type of healing, primal in the same manner that a dragon’s magic compared to that of the arcane spells of a wizard.
Whatever it was the human was doing, he eventually stopped with a somewhat troubled look.
After a moment, Ranma spoke up. “I need to master a new technique. I need fire, magical if ya got it.”
Looking at his outstretched hand, Aurieste didn’t know what to do. Did he want magical flame in his hand or an object that produced flames?
Her contemplation was cut short as her daughter did what felt obvious to her, spewing a gout of wyrmling strength dragonfire at his outstretched hand. Aurieste’s horror and shock at her little one horribly burning their guest turned to a different sort of shock as his only reaction was to feel the fire with only curiosity apparent on his face. Sure most adventurers used enchanted items and fire resistance was common, but Ranma was one of the least magically equipped adventurers she’d ever seen. The elf girls he’d rescued even had enchanted lingerie, it was to be expected of adventurers.
As the little dragon’s fire died out, Ranma flexed his hands a few times as the fire clinging to his hand eventually died out. Well, he’d certainly absorbed part of Saffron’s excess berserk power, but it seemed like he’d need a stronger fire to activate it. “Got something a bit stronger?”
Aurieste couldn’t help but stare. Being heat immune and able to bathe in lava, she tried to be careful of flammable things like elves, humans and trees. Even a newborn wyrmling could burn several humans to death, yet he’d judged the fire to be not warm enough? Just what the hell was he?
Sighing, the golden dragon moved towards the exit back to the larger chamber. “If you insist, I will give you my flame. Please try not to endanger yourself, I would hate to exceed your flame tolerance and burn you.”
The young man followed her, showing little concern for his impending fiery doom.
Once in the larger cavern, Aurieste assumed her true for as a rather large gold dragon, releasing a gout of flame that filled the rest of the chamber as a demonstration of the horrible danger Ranma was placing himself in. Turning to her little wyrmling, she gave her little one a lecture. “Be careful in the future, most creatures, humans included will be killed by your fire.”
Walking out to the scorched area, Ranma was still showing an alarming lack of concern. “Well, I was pretty flame resistant by the time I fought Saffron, and after beating him I absorbed the Phoenix king’s excess power, so it’ll take something pretty impressive for me to be able to figure out the will of fire quickly.”
The gold dragon still had serious misgivings about roasting the young hero alive. “My flames will not hurt you?”
Ranma simply shrugged. “Eh, we’re about to find out.”
Seeing the hesitance this caused in the motherly dragon, Ranma sighed and crossed his arms in front of his face. “Fine, if it’ll make you feel better, I’ll block, okay?”
After a long pause of simply staring at the young man, Aurieste heaved a sigh. “I don’t see how that would help, but as you wish. Prepare yourself.”
Ranma frowned in response, thinking it a bad joke as he was already prepared.
The golden dragon opened her maw, another plume of flames filling the large chamber with heat and light. The flames engulfed Ranma, curling about him as if they were parting across a stone pillar. As the first wave passed, Ranma relaxed from blocking to casually keeping one arm in front of his face to protect his eyes from debris.
Aurieste’s flame breath guttered to a stop as she closed her mouth, a different color of flames clinging to Ranma. The flames clinging to him eventually faded away except for the flames held in the hand that had protected his face. Contemplating his flaming hand for a moment, Ranma closed the hand with a satisfied look on his face. “Yeah, this should do it.”
As Ranma walked back into the hatchery, Aurieste remained in dragon form, wishing to avoid excessive shapeshifting. The concerned mother opted to merely peek through the archway. “Are you able to absorb flames?”
Returning to the frozen hatchling, Ranma prepared himself as the rest of the treatment would be rather complex. “Not really. Saffron needed to bath in a divine hot spring to awaken his powers, I figured magical fire would work for me.”
Aurieste let the topic drop at that as he resumed laying on hands to the frozen hatchling. There was very little to observe other than that, so she waited as the minutes ticked past.
Finally Ranma shifted, picking up the hatchling and holding her like a human baby before patting her on the back as if to burp her. To the dragon mother’s surprise, it worked. Much more surprising was how that burp destroyed the stone wall between the hatchery and audience room, creating a human sized passage.
Ranma seemed pleased with her progress as the hatchling started moving around. “There we go. Feeling better now?”
The hatchling didn’t reply, except by way of sparkling in a cascade of silver before pormotly turning into a petite little girl with slender limbs, long platinum white hair, wearing a simple white dress edged with gold. So transformed she wrapped her arms around his neck and snuggled into his shoulder.
The other wyrmling, having long since forgotten she was trying to turn human, took exception with her sister upstaging her. “No fair!” With the battle cry of an indignant princess, the little wyrmling puffed up her face before finally managing to transform herself and immediately glomping Ranma’s leg. Once transformed she had a build similar to female Ranma, only more petite, making her curvier with thicker limbs than her sister, trading elegance for cuteness.
With one curled up in his arms and the other wrapped around his waist, Ranma looked to the golden dragon for help in dealing with her daughters. “A little help please?”
A strange echoing sound filled the chamber, causing Ranma to give the now giggling dragon a flat glare.
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(Posted Wed, 24 Jul 2013 23:40)
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