Beginning A Life With A Dragon 5

Chapter 5
Lessen to Learn and Knowledge to Earn.

Jessie ventured down the main part of the cavern with Jason riding on the small space at the base of her neck. As she continued she would stop every once and a while to light a fire stone. She passed her room and continued down to the next opening on her left. She walked in and lit the fire stones within the room. It was much bigger than Jessie’s room but it was filled with things most of which were books. Three of which were extremely big and there was no writing on the covers. She put him back onto the ground so he could get a better look at his surroundings.

“This is a small but very useful study. Any questions you want answered can be answered here….well almost any.” She told Jason.
“How do you read books?” he asked confused looking at her claws.
“The same as you do with my eyes” she said lifting her fore claw into the air and twiddling her fingers”
Jason took a moment to figure out she was messing with him and glared at her in return. She smiled and leaned down to nuzzle him.
“We turn them very carefully or if the book is too small we use magic to turn them for us.” She then grabbed one of the very large books and places it down in front of her. She opened it but there was nothing inside. All the pages were blank. Jason was about to ask his mother why they were all blank when she suddenly stopped him from asking saying “Just give me a moment little one.” He was confused as to how she knew what he was going to ask her, but shrugged it off. She then closed the book and said “scientia antiquis” the book glowed with a white aura and then stopped. She opened the book and inside now was text and pictures of mythology. Jason went wide eyed at the book.

“How did you do that!”
“With magic of course” Jessie laughed.
“So you can do this to every book?”
“No sweetie, just to these ones. They are books that can display any known text by speaking what you want to read in Latin.”
“Why Latin?”
“Latin is useless to humans, but dragons have sown the words into time and everything. By this when we speak it upon certain things we can manipulate them.”
“That’s amazing! So I can read anything I want?”
“Yes and you’ll be doing a lot of reading with these books while you practice your studies.” She said sternly. Jason’s face went blank as he tried to comprehend that last word. “Studies……ummm……what studies?” he asked nervously. Jessie giggled and said “The studies that I will be assigning you as time goes on.”
“Why do I need to study and for that matter what!” he asked aggravated.
“Humans go to school to learn until they are 18 and most of them continue their studies well passed that age. Am I right?”

Jason waited a moment to answer and then said “No.” he said slowly. She tilted her head to the right and raised an eye brow, a look of pure amusement plastered on her face. “Care to rethink that answer little one or do we have to have another talk about lying?” Jason quickly changed his answer and she continued “Dragons do the same thing some of our kind actually attend classes, but for the most part we are taught by our parents. Most of us continue learning for our entire lives and because we live much longer we become much wiser. I will not I repeat not have an uneducated son.” She said in a stern and harsh tone, one that only a mother could give to a loved but stubborn child.
He tried to think of a way to argue with her, but couldn’t come up with a way to argue her point, eventually relenting to her.
“What will I be learning?”
“Anything I want you too.”
“Great……..” he sighed.
She leaned down until she was eye level with him and said “This isn’t a punishment it’s just you need to learn what the rest of your kind learns. Or at least for the most part. And it won’t hurt to add some dragon knowledge in too.”
“This is going to suck.”
“Only if you allow it to.” She said.
“I really didn’t think I would be forced to learn here or did I think you had books.”
“Oh stop sulking. You will be able to read anything you want, when you have finished your assignments.”
“I’m not sulking I just….” He stopped talking when Jessie gave him a serious look that denerved him. “Never mind.” He said defeated. Jessie giggled at his attempt and nuzzled him for the effort. “See anything else in this room you want to ask about?” she asked him.
“No… the further I am away from this room the better.”
With a laugh which made Jason even more upset with her she put him back onto his spot on her back. They left the room and headed down to the very back part of the cavern passing another room along the way to the smallest room in the cave.
”This room we use just for storage. Sometimes when food is scarce we will hunt surplus amounts and store them back here because it’s so much cooler. We also keep the rocks we used to seal the cave back here as well.” She soon left the storage room and went back to the room they had passed along their way and went in. she lit the firestone in the room and to her surprise Kyra was in there sleeping.
“This Jason is just another bed room as you call it.” inside the room was another nest much smaller than the one in Jessie’s room but still big enough for one dragon.
“Did you have to light that?” Kyra asked yawning.
“You know he can’t see as well in the dark.”
“So?”
Jessie glared at him. Jason noticed that there was a pool of water leading away into the darkness just like in Jessie’s room.
“Where does that water go?” he asked
“That pool is the same one from my room. If you can swim and it’s warm enough I’ll let you cross it sometime.”
Jessie exited the room and went back to her nest with Jason. When she got there she put Jason down and nuzzled him. She was still over joyed that she had a son. Maybe not her own kind but a son never the less. As she finished nuzzling Jason she breathed a heavy sigh and was revolted. She looked at Jason and gave him an evil look.
“What?” he asked kind of worry about the way she was looking at him.
“Nothing. I’ll be back shortly. You are to stay put while I’m gone, got it?”
“Yes mom.”

She smiled and walked back out of the room and disappeared into the dark. Ten minutes later she returned with a large rock and the things Jason had taken from the plane. “What is the rock for” Jason asked. She put it down and blow fire on it. It was a firestone and after she was done she carefully picked it up with the tips of her claws and threw it into the pool of water. The water began to sizzle a bit but not much.
“I’m guessing you have a change of clothes?” she asked
“Yes, I have a few.” He replied confused.
“Good because today you will be taking a bath.” She said smiling.
“A bath in that!” he said pointing to the water.
“Yes, unless you want a tongue bath.”
“I’ll pass on both thank you.” He said smugly
“Jason…. You smell terrible. You won’t be getting out of this.” She said gently.
“Do I have to worry about anything in the water?”
“Like what?”
“Sharp rocks, bug, fish, things like that.”
“No, if there was you would be getting a tongue bath immediately.”
At the thought of being liked to death he began undressing, but when he got to his pants he stopped and looked up at her. “Something wrong?’ she asked.
“Do you have to watch?”
“Is there a problem with me watching?”
“Yes….Welll……Yes kind of.” He said nervously.
“You have nothing to be nervous about.” She said reassuringly.
“Well I lost every disagreement today so I should at least win this one.” He said as serious as possible. She rolled her eyes and said “ok I’ll close my eyes, will that make you happy?”
“Yes!”

She closed her eyes and Jason stripped, grabbed a small cloth he had in his bags, and got into the water. As soon as she heard him splash she opened her eyes and watched him swimming out into the deeper water with only his head above the surface. She climbed out of her nest and laid down by the water’s edge, watching Jason.
“How long do I have to stay in here?” he asked
“Until you’re clean. So scrub little one.”
Jason began scrubbing himself trying to get clean. Once he believed he was done he began nearing Jessie.
“Are you finished?” she asked him.
“Yes, are you going to close your eyes so I can get dressed?”
“No, before you get out I’m going to make sure you’re finished so come here.”
“You said you would let me have my privacy!” he protested.
“I did not, I agreed to close them while you stripped and got in.”
He sighed and moves to her. When he got to her she brought her muzzle down and gently sniffed him and then gave him a disappointed look.
“Well your head still smells but other than that you did ok over all. So go back and wash your hair again.”
“I can’t get it any better without soap! He said agitated with her.
“Well then you will at least try.” She said sternly.
“It can’t be done!!!” he shouted.
Jessie stood up and frowned down upon him. “If you can’t do it yourself then I will do it for you.” She said entering into the water. Jason started moving away from her realizing what she meant and then began swimming away from her as fast as he could.
“Jason!” she yelled getting frustrated with him.
“You said you wouldn’t do this if I got in here.” He shouted.
He only got about six meters before she caught him. She attempted to scruff the skin on his back not realizing that there wasn’t really anything to grab onto so she gently latched her lips around his shoulder instead.
“Jessie let me go!” he screamed in protest.
“One more scream out of you Jason and I will punish you, so act your age!” he stopped yelling and went limp. After he was settled down Jessie turned him around to look him in the eyes. She could feel he was very upset and didn’t like it.
“Jason what is this about?” she asked gently.
“I can take care of myself.” He said angrily.
“What’s wrong with me taking care of you? You’re only 10 years old and for that matter how would you feed yourself and keep warm in these mountains?” she said in a gentle and sad tone. She hated to see him like this.
“I don’t know but I am certainly able to clean myself.”
“Do you have any idea how long dragon hatchlings are guarded, protected, and even cleaned by their mothers?”
“No.”
“A hatchling doesn’t even get a growth spurt till they are at least 15.” She stated. Jason looked at her a bit shocked by this knowledge.
“How old are you then?” he asked.
“I am 73, still very young in truth. Jason looked surprised at how old she was.
“Now let finish you up before the water cools.” She then began grooming Jason’s hair. To Jason it felt like she was tearing it out at first, but as she continued it became gentler. Every once and a while she would stop and smell him and then continued.  After the 7th time she checked him she deemed him clean. “Alright you can get dressed now.”
“Thanks …..Jessie...” he said in discuss.

She walked out of the water with Jason swimming right behind her. Once he was dry and dressed in a fresh set of cloths he climbed into the nest where Jessie was waiting for him. To his horror she had one of the books that she that she could change the text to whatever she wanted. He looked up at her. She was staring down at him, now smiling she said “That’s right.”
“Not today mom please.”
“Nope you get your first assignment today. You will begin studying dragon anatomy.”
“Dragon what?” he asked confused.
“Anatomy, it is basically the study of what makes people up and how our bodies work.” Jason sighed heavily and said “Jessie do I have too.” Already knowing the answer.
“Yes and for the record you may call me Jessie or you may call me mom but you may not switch between the two.” She had become agitated with him. All day he had been switching back and forth. Jessie when he was mad and mom when he wasn’t. It had to end. He was a bit shocked by this. He didn’t even realize that he had been switching between the two. He thought for a moment and relented to her.
“Ok mom, I’m sorry.”
Jessie smiled and moved her head down to him and scruffed by the back of his shirt. She lifted him up and deposited him between her forelegs. She then opened the book to the first chapter. It looked very much like a text book and unfortunately for Jason it was.
“This is where you will begin, it just basics ok?”
“I still think this is stupid.” He replied.
“Haha, it might be but you have to learn and you have no choice in the matter.”
“I know….”
She whispered some word upon the book that he couldn’t make out and the book then began to shrink down to the size of a normal sized text book. “There you are my son. I assume that you can read most if not all of it pretty quickly and if you run into a word that you don’t understand let me know, ok?”
“Yes.” He replied grabbing the book.

He opened it and began reading. The first chapter was mainly about dragon eyes and scales and some about shape. Kyra eventually showed up and went over to Jessie and Jason. When he realized what Jason was holding he began snickering. All Jason did was glare at him. Jessie on the other hand gave him an evil smile and said. “Jason unless you want to be an idiot in life as well as in combat then don’t study because that’s what Kyra did.” Kyra glared at her and then climbed into the nest and laid down next to her. Jason looked up at the two of them and asked “Does that mean I don’t have to study?”
“No!!! You don’t have a choice little one.”
The day went on, every time Jason finished a chapter of the book Jessie would assign him another one to read. At some points he would give up unable to continue on and she would read it to him. Kyra however went back to sleep while the two of them in his own words “Wasted their time.” All this reading caused Jason to have many questions.
“So how long do dragons live?”
“About 2000 years or so but some ave lived to be well over that.”
“So I’ll be well gone way before you to the point of dust.” He said grimly. She looked at him a bit concurred by that fact.
“Not necessarily……but..hm” she paused to thank. “There are ways to prolong your life, but it would require you to learn how to summon magic, which I’m sure, you have that ability.”
“You said there were ways.”
“Yes there is another way but it’s not exactly prolonging your life.”
“What do you mean by not exactly“ he asked becoming curious?

She sighed, “Since your obviously not going to let this go I’ll tell you. Thousands of years ago before the Greeks made their first marks upon this world a small race of people came to be in the heart of a great mountain range such as this one. They started out human but gave up that life and were reborn to dragons. Usually this would only happen to those who had magic woven into their soul so it could work. They would hatch as dragons and grow as dragons but eventually they developed the ability to shift from dragon to human and back. Of course it was many years after they hatched before they could even get close to channeling so much energy into such a shift. But it was a tricky deal for both human and dragon. Sometimes if the human did not have magic in his or her veins they would be reborn with no knowledge of who they were. As for the dragons well….. there’s nothing more annoying than a hatchling that tries to act like a man. Especially the one who were warriors who thought they could do anything they wanted after they hatched. Jason took a moment to let the information sink in.
“So why have I never heard any of this before, I mean shouldn’t there be a record or something.”
“They are scattered throughout the world, greats civilizations forgotten and destroyed.”
“So I can live longer by magic or by becoming one of your kind?”
“Yes” she said bluntly.
“I’d prefer the first option.”
“The first option will take a very long time. Not only will you have to learn how to summon your abilities, but also how to channel it to stop your aging.”
“The idea of being reborn again just doesn’t appeal to me.”
“Haha it no picnic for me either. I would be the one carrying you and laying you, as well as raising you of course we already have working out some of that.”
“I don’t even know how to access magic.”
“You don’t have to for this so long as you have it to access and you do.”

Jason looked up at her. She could tell she got him really thinking about it. She really didn’t like the idea of doing this to him. The process wasn’t exactly the most merciful thing in the world. But she also didn’t want to lose him. His life span would only be a small footnote compared to her long life.
“Will I still have to study and read a lot.” He asked.
“Of course.”
Jason sighed
“If I’m going to be with you for life I might as well be here as long as you so I guess I’m allowing you to do it.”
Jessie looked over at Kyra who was still asleep. “This would probably be a lot smoother while he’s asleep but it’s up to you little one. Now or later?
“Now before I change my mind.” He replied.
“Ok but I’m going to put you to sleep for it alright?”
“Yes, but how long will it take.”
“For you it will only be seconds, but for me it will be at least a month.”

That was the last thing Jason heard as she put him into a deep sleep. She then proceeded to swallow him into her secondary stomach were over time he would eventually become an egg, but in the meantime.
“YOU DID WHAT!” Kyra screamed.
“Well I wanted a child.” She said sheepishly.
“And you got one. Why did you have to go and do this?”
“He wouldn’t have lived very long if I had not.”
“And where is the trouble in the fact the humans don’t live very long?”
“This one is mine and now he will truly be my own.” She growly.
“I don’t understand why we have to raise him.”
“Oh come on Kyra, I know he was growing on you just by the way you were joking with him.”
Kyra frowned at her and attempted to walk away, but as soon as he turned his back on her she quickly cut him off.
“You’re not going anywhere until we have finished this discussion.”
“I’m only going somewhere else to sleep.” He said trying to get around her.
“I know how you are Kyra. You will come back and start complaining all over again and I’m not having any of it.” she said angrily.
“Look the way I see it what is done is done. You want a child? Well now you’re getting one of your own body and blood. You want me to stay? Then I will stay. And your right he was growing on me, but now I guess he’s growing on you.” he finished laughing. It took Jessie a moment to catch his joke.
“That was pathetic Kyra, but I’m glad you’re staying. “She said nuzzling him.
“I just have two questions, when will you lay your egg and how long after that will it take the brat to hatch?