[Episode 79731] [Episode 79731]“Awe, he’s just so adorable,” Aesthyrondalarurai gushed as she nuzzled the new bronze wyrmling. “Isn’t he just the cutest little darling?” she demanded, fiercely challenging any at the dragon moot to say otherwise. The assembled dragons, even the brass, remained mute on the subject, proving their reputation for wisdom to be well earned. “What’s your name, Sweetheart?”
“… anma … rarra …” cooed the bronze wyrmling on the altarstone.
“Anna? Hammer? Armor? Rammer? Runner? Rumor? Just what is he trying to say?” wondered a perplexed Aesthyrondalarurai.
“Perhaps it’s a human name,” Riikano-alinaris suggested sensibly. “Perhaps, Raymond, Murray, Ryan, or Ramses? Maybe Ahriman, or Orion? I knew an Orion once. Quite the hunter as I recall. Or was that Ahern? Ah yes, those were the days…”
“Meh. I suggest we call the tyke, ‘Trouble,’” a young copper named Galanthyr piped up over the gold wyrm’s rambling, “‘cause he’s bound to be nothing but.”
“…anamaa…” cooed the bundle of bronze.
“I do think he’s trying to call me momma,” Aesthyrondalarurai exclaimed joyously. “Oh, well, I’ll just name him…”
“…ahrama…”
“Uhm, ‘Brahma’? Why, yes, I do recall! It is a fitting name for a young bull. But, oh, why can’t he talk properly?”
“Tis quite simple, my dear,” Alazphraxion lectured. “You see, although the little one now has a dragon body he still has a human soul. As such he lacks the innate knowledge inborn to a true dragon. To ensure that he learns the draconic lore needed to survive in our society he will have to be lectured over and over and over until everything sinks in.…” the brass dragon froze into uncharacteristic silence as a look of startlement washed over his muzzle. “Dibs!! — Ahem, I mean, I humbly volunteer myself for that tiresome duty. It shall be a great sacrifice of my valuable time, but for the good of …”
“Yo! Before you start torturing young Brahma, perhaps we should wait until he learns to talk,” Galanthyr drolled.
Time passed. Raising Brahma was no easy task but Aesthyrondalarurai never regretted it; though at times she came close. To her dismay the wild bull proved to be no apt pupil. Though the silver dragoness cherished the time she spent tutoring her adopted son, his inattention to his lessons sorely tried her draconian patience. There was only one subject in which he excelled, much to Aesthyrondalarurai’s dismay, and that was the art of war. Brahma was drawn to battle as much as any true bronze.
It was a good thing, she thought, that there were so few chromatics left in the world. The dragon wars she recalled were nowhere near as glorious as Alazphraxion made them sound. But, having found a topic to which the young bronze would listen with endless fascination, the older brass would drone on about it with boundless embellishments.
The young bronze slunk into the cloud lair with all the stealth he could muster. His great paws trod across the silver linoleum with elephantine grace. (As any mahout knows, elephants tiptoe along narrow jungle paths with an amazing dexterity that belies their great size.) It was all for naught however, for there are some thing you just can’t hide from a mother.
“Brahma!” Aesthyrondalarurai hissed as her serpentine neck arced around the corridor. “Have you been fighting again, young dragon?” Her tone threatened to condense the cloud walls into instant hail.
“Uhm… no?” the bronze tried, then bowed in appropriate shame as silver eyes whirled in silent accusation. “Awe, Mom, the Aboleth started it! I was just playing with the orca when the skum…”
“Watch your language, young dragon!”
“But that’s what an Aboleth’s mutated slaves are called,” Brahma protested.
“No excuses, Brahma!” Aesthyrondalarurai reproved. “You know we are due at the elven moot on the continent at the next full moon, and just look at the state of you! And how many times have I asked you not to come traipsing through my cloud when covered in seawater. You know the salt seeds the clouds into rain like nothing else!”
“Sorry, Mom …”
She sighed, satisfied that he’d been properly chastised for the nonce. “Come along now, Dear. I have some healing salve to take care of those wounds, and then we can polish those scales.”
“Awe, Mom, do you have ta make such a fuss?” Brahma complained half heatedly.
“I’m a mother, Dear. It’s my job. Besides, you know how impressed elves are by appearance. I’ll not have a son of my nest showing up with dull and tarnished scales!”
“But Mom!” Brahma protested unwisely. “We’re going to be polymorphed anyway… erk!”
“Don’t back talk me, young dragon!” Aesthyrondalarurai’s chilled tone reverberated.
The dragons, though they kept themselves isolated from the world at large, still maintained connections with the one humanoid race to which they felt a certain kinship. As with most fantasy worlds, the elves of this world were a long-lived, wizardly, and yet slowly-dying-out breed. The dragons had been considered allowing the remaining elves to move to their hidden island and had been pondering and debating for several decades before they finally agreed not to rush to a decision.
Meanwhile the dragons had taken to, basically, holidaying among the forest holmes incognito. At sixteen years of age, still a juvenile among his kind, and just mastering the art of shapechanging, the young bronze dragon was finally allowed to accompany his mother so that, basically, she could show him off. It was the farthest he’d been allowed to fly from the island, and he’d been looking forward to the grand adventure for the longest time. Once it was finally begun, however, he’d made the discovery children of any species made.
“Are we there yet?” “No, Brahma, not yet.” “Now, Momma?” “No, Brahma, not yet.” “Uhm, can we stop to, ahem?” “I told you to go before we left!”
Long journeys were soOo boring. This was especially true when your mother controlled the weather to keep you concealed within layers of cloud and fog. The only break came when Aesthyrondalarurai would pause on a fogbank enshrouding a lagoon or lake and let Brahma sink beneath the waves to rest. By then he was far too tired to get a really good look around and there really wasn’t much to see at sea.
Finally they glided over the forestbound shore of the continent of Aestria and landed in a riverside clearing to be greeted by:
Read the comments on this episode
(Posted Wed, 07 Feb 2007 04:01)
Questions? Problems? Suggestions?
Send a mail to addventure@bast-enterprises.de
or use the contact form.
らんま1/2 © Rumiko Takahashi
All other series and their characters are © by their respective creators or owners. No claims of ownership of these characters are implied by the authors of this Addventure, or should be inferred.
The Anime Addventure is a non-profit site.