How to raise your dragons (Private Svad)

Celestia's mate was a very busy person. He could be gone for long lengths of time fulfilling his work. But every once in awhile she could convince him to stay home and spend some time with her sometimes with the promise of some passionate time in the bed. Celestia loved Svadilfare very much and enjoyed affectionately showing him.

Celestia woke up one morning and found herself in her dragon from up against their bed and uncomfortably on her side. "What the..." She whispered out loud. She could have sworn she went to bed snuggled up against Svad as a human. She never slept in the house as a dragon. Whatever wasn't worth the brain power haven just woken up. Just shift back and snuggle back up........Celestia became a little scared when she wasn't shifting back. She tried but nothing was happening. Oh no could her locked up magic have caused her form to lock up. No that didn't make any sense. She had made her human form as natural as her dragon it wasn't sustained by magic. The black dragon leaned up against the bed the small portion of her weight causing it to creak in strain. "Svad." She said trying to wake him up. Her voice was a little uneasy with worry. She'd prod him with her head flipping him if he was a heavy sleeper.

It was a little hard to believe it had been three years since he had caught Celestia following him in Brysur. Maybe it was because Svadilfare was often away from home. Most of his assassin jobs were short and close to home so he could be back in a week. Others took him further away, as far as Brysur, and he might be gone three weeks. And on rare occasion, he was hired for an assassination that would take a month just to plan. With seven children to raise--five blood and stepchildren from his first marriage, a full dragon Hatchling, and a hybrid child--Svad had made a point of only taking a few jobs a year. However, as a warrior of Kryo, he still had a duty to his village that he couldn't get out of. As the best warrior his village had to offer, Svad was expected to train the next generation and older ones who could stand to refine their skills. Every once in a while, he could feign sickness and earn himself three days. But there was nothing he could do if Kryo or an ally went to war. Fortunately, that didn't happen often.

Sometimes Svad would stay home if Celestia convinced him to, though she never needed to try very hard. In truth, all she had to do was ask. But Svad enjoyed seeing how far she'd go. Would she offer to do the hunting for the week? Would she chop wood for the hearth? Maybe she'd try doing his job so he could stay home. Nope. Once in a while, though, she would offer some quality private time. This time around, Svadilfare needed no such convincing. He surprised his wife and kids at breakfast by declaring he would be staying home all week.

The third day of Svad's week-long vacation began strangely. Svad was a light sleeper. He felt something prodding him and heard Cele's voice. She was only saying his name but there was an uneasiness to her tone, like something was wrong. By nature, Svad kept a blade in easy reach while he slept, even at home. He grabbed the dagger beneath the fur under his head and sat up quickly, expecting trouble. He what he found was that he and Cele were alone in their bedroom... and that Cele was in her dragon form. His brow furrowed in confusion. Celestia never slept in dragon form, not in the house.

"Celestia?" He slipped the dagger back into its hiding place. "Not that I mind if you end up breaking the bed, but why are you in your dragon form?"

Celestia didn't mean to startle her mate but she supposed that was just the nature of things. Often times assassins were hired to kill other assassins especially ones people feared could be hired against them in the future. He quickly calmed down though when he saw it was just them and made a comment about her breaking the bed.

"You should care." Celestia said scolding. She backed up a step taking her weight off the bed and back on to the ground electing to just hover her head over the bed. "I don't want to have to go buy another bed or you spend your week with us building one." Celestia's tone quickly shifted back to concern as she addressed the reason she woke him up. "I don't know but I'm stuck. My human form wasn't fueled by magic so I don't know how this happened. It was formed by magic but integrated to be fuel by the normal laws of life. I don't know how but maybe it degraded. What if I'm stuck stuck." Celestia was concerned about how this could effect her life. If she was just a normal dragon how was she going to live with Svad and raise their children?

Svadilfare couldn't help but chuckle even as Celestia scolded him. He just couldn't take her seriously. Maybe it was how she hovered over the bed. Maybe it was simply the fact they were in their bedroom. Whatever it was, the setting or Cele's appearance, Svad listened with an amused smile on his face. "It would be a waste of coin to buy a new bed. It wouldn't take me long at all to build a new one, and I'd make it dragon-friendly."

His smile faded, however when Cele revealed she couldn't change back. He frowned for a moment but gave a reassuring smile as he reached out to pet her. "I'm sure it's nothing that can't be fixed. But even if you were stuck, it wouldn't change much. We could just move into woods or somewhere secluded. Although, we wouldn't be able to..." He got out of bed and walked over to the chest he kept his Moonstone in at night. He got it out and put it around his neck. "Maybe I could figure it out with this."

"Yes it would." Celestia said truly concerned. It would be a lot harder for me to take care of the little ones while you are gone especially the pure humans. I wouldn't be able to show my face out in public ever again. Everyone is going to wonder where the heck I went. I-I" Celestia didn't get to continue as Svad put his moonstone necklace on. It was the same one she gave him what felt like forever ago as a trade for showing her around. Now it seemed like it meant more. Celestia had a necklace of her own around her neck one of her goddess symbol and served an opposite purpose to the red moonstone. He offered to use magic to figure this out.

"I wouldn't recommend that." Celestia cautioned. "You're still just learning the basics of magic. The stuff going on with me. Lets just say the majority of dragons wouldn't even know where to begin." That having been said Celestia made no moves to avoid her mate and let him probe if he wanted who knows maybe he'd find something trivial she hadn't thought of. She couldn't sense the will of magic at all as she was now even though she was the one who created it gave it it's will well things with a will of their own can do things you weren't expecting. She wasn't even considering the danger of her key inspecting her with magic not yet anyways. She was rather tense at the moment. Hopefully that didn't bother Svad. He liked to figure out how to get her to relax. She thought it was pretty obvious but he really made her wonder sometimes. Often times doing things the got her more riled up.

"It would, but you wouldn't be doing it alone. Leo, Xander and Ami, Aurelius... they are old enough to help. And I would stay home as much as I could." Svad walked over to Astral and knelt down, taking her head in his hands. "You worry too much. Everything will work out favorably." It was rather ironic that the assassin was so relaxed. At Celestia's cautioning against him using magic to remedy the problem, Svad's expression contorted into one of thoughtfulness. He wanted to help, but he didn't want end up making things worse. "Hm..." He moved to sit down and looked at Cele. It was a little difficult to detect because dragons weren't expressive like humans, but Cele was tense. He could almost feel it. He frowned again. Then his eye happened to catch the necklace she wore. Well, it was more like a collar. Svad reached out and touched the pendant. It was Celestia's goddess symbol. He looked from it to Cele. She had given up her old life, her power, for him. He was still mad at her for that. He wondered if she ever regretted her decision to lock away her power; she probably did right now. He looked back at the necklace and traced the symbol with his fingertips, as if he thought he might glean a solution to the problem by doing so. "Hm... I wonder if..." he trailed off, retreating into his thoughts.

Celestia huffed. If being stuck was the case she wouldn't allow him to leave. Wasn't like they would need money anymore if they were to go live out in the woods. Hmm maybe it wouldn't be so bad if she could get him all too herself. While she was distracted with day dreaming she didn't take much notice as Svad too interest in her collar. It wasn't until Svad began tracing it then she abruptly snapped out of it hitting away his hand with her paw and taking a step back from him.

"Don't ever touch that." She said sternly. It was a tone she very rarely ever used with Svad only a couple times before when he almost did something stupid with magic. This time though it was because he could unknowingly reverse a decision she had no regrets making and even if she did wasn't going to turn back on it. After all as a mortal when things went wrong there was no going back, there was no changing it. You were stuck with what you got and had to deal with it. That was her reality now.

Now she was tense and on guard. "It's contents and purpose nobody but myself can fathom. If you fiddle with it there could be serious consequences. I assure you whatever is going on that has nothing to do with it." This night was beginning to really suck.

Svad saw Cele's paw coming but didn't bother moving his hand out of the way. "Alright," he said after she scolded him again, though in a much more serious tone. He scooted back over to her. "You don't have to use the angry tone. At least I wasn't trying to do anything this time." Svad reached up with his right hand and lightly scratched under her chin. With his left he pet her head. The combo always seemed to calm her down whenever she mad enough to use a stern tone. This time, however, she seemed even more tense. This called for the ultimate weapon. While he was petting her head and scratching under her chin, Svad moved so he was sitting beside Cele rather than in front of her. He leaned against her then and paused in his petting long enough to wrap his arms around her in a hug. Well, a sort of hug; it was hard to hug a dragon.

After a while of petting, Svadilfare asked, "That's where you locked away your power, isn't it?"

Celestia gave a short nod of approval at Svad heading her advice. She watched as he brought his hand back towards her. She didn't make any move to intercept and just waited to see what was happening. She trusted Svad and didn't suspect for a moment he was moving for her collar. "Mmm." She moaned with a slow pleasant tone as he scratched under her snout. So his ploy was to placate her. Well she was not going to be letting her guard down but that didn't mean she could enjoy it. It quickly turned to a deep vibrating purr as Svad moved to pet her head in unison. She didn't even noticed she had let her own eyes close to fully enjoy it. Human hands were so adept at showing affection in a way a nuzzle could never compare to. She liked the human ways of affection but this was her native form and she loved this.

Svad even managed to lull Celestia into laying down and he maneuvered into a hug. Celestia just enjoyed this quality time with her mate. Heck if it was going to be like this more often maybe she wouldn't mind being stuck as a dragon. It lasted a decent amount of time, but then Svad asked the question. Her purring came to an abrupt end but she otherwise gave no indication other than that obvious one of her cornering. Wasn't like she could fake purring. "Yes." She said simply. Now that the cat was out of the bag so to speak she might as well explain herself. "I can't release it and there are only two that can yourself and a dragon I trust. I don't want it to be release though. I couldn't get rid of it though. There would be dire consequences to the whole world for both humans and dragons. I can't let it go either though. I don't trust anyone else with that power. I also don't want to think about it. So if you could please, don't bring it up again." Celestia said turning her neck around to look at him in the eyes. It wasn't stern it was more pleading. It was veiled hurt at the subject.

Svad chuckled at Celestia's reaction. She moaned and purred. He even saw her eyes close. "Seems there'd be one good thing to you being stuck as a dragon."

Cele's purring ceased at his question. Either his comforting had worked, or she just saw no point in denying things. Whatever the reason, Cele answered without tensing up again. She went on to explain she couldn't unlock her power herself. He wondered about this dragon she said held the ability to unlock her magic. Another god, maybe? He decided not to ask right now. But he was especially surprised to hear that he could do it, too. "I can...?" He supposed it was only natural she would entrust her mate with such an awesome ability. But how could he possibly do that? And then Svad heard the pleading tone in Cele's voice as she asked him not bring up the necklace and her powers locked within again. His blue eyes searched her brilliant green ones. He patted her neck lightly and nodded. "Okay, I won't."

Svad was almost tempted to use Cele as a pillow and maybe go back to sleep. He glanced out the window and noted the position of the sun. He could hear the children getting started on their morning chores. He looked back at Cele and pressed his forehead to the top of her head. "We might better figure out this oddity if we had some food in our stomachs." With that, he got up and went to the door, opening it and going to help Aurelius with the wood gathering. Clementine spotted Cele as she ran up to her father and grinned. Rather than demanding a hug from Svad, the four year old made a beeline for Cele. She giggled as she tried to climb onto Cele's back.

Once again Celestia was glad Svad gave her this. She was very happy with her life as it was now. If she were to ever get her powers back everything would change. In the mean time perhaps it really wouldn't be so bad to be a dragon again till and if they figured out what happened. She very rarely took this form and she found herself missing it.

Celestia would have wanted nothing more than to just cuddle up with her mate and go back to bed but of course time had other plans. Svad opened the bedroom door and Clementine came bounding in apparently very amused Celestia was in her dragon form and began trying to climb up her. Her daughter's giggle was infectious and Celestia found herself giggling along. Never before we should have imagined letting a human on to her back. Would have been humiliating, shameful in years before. Despite it's potential convenience Celestia had never even entertain the thought of letting Svad on her back when he was showing her the human world. The few times it was brought up during particularly hard times well mostly hard for him slow and annoying for her, she had always been quick to shut it down. And now she didn't care.

6 weeks had passed and she was still stuck. As expected being stuck meant life in a house full of children was quite difficult. Mostly doorways though. They were everywhere and an absolute pain to get through every time. Celestia would still sleep in the house wanting to be as close as possible to her mate and children but tended to spend most of her time in the living/dinning area including sleeping as it had the most space to fit herself. Svad was great as usual when he could be around which was a lot more given her condition but it was becoming increasingly apparent that this was permanent and they were going to have to start making some long term plans. It wasn't too unusual that she was completely absent form the village yet or that they would not allow any visitors or at least Cele wasn't going to allow it. She wasn't going to hide.

She hadn't told Svad yet but things began to get more worrisome when after 4 weeks she began feeling progressively worse and worse. At first she was worried she had caught some disease even though it was super rare for dragons, but then she got really worried. What if her two forms were rejecting the other and she was beginning to fall apart. Svad didn't know she was careful to keep it secret her nausea and fatigue, little bit of throwing up. She finally figured it out on the 6th week though. Celestia waited eagerly in the living room for Svad to come in the front door and when he did she'd wait for him to come into the living room so she could properly bound around him announcing "I figured it out! I figured it out!...woah." She quickly regretted that as she got really dizzy and laid herself down. "I can't shift to human because something in me isn't compatible." Probably sounded awkward as she waited a very short moment for Svad to digest this. "Svad I'm pregnant and the only reason I can guess why this happened this time and not last time, is because there is more than one."

Not that this news fixed there their about her being stuck as a dragon and all.

Six weeks passed and still Celestia was stuck in her dragon form. Svadilfare could be found at home the entire time, never leaving Kryo. When people asked about Celestia--coincidentally it was always the unmarried women--Svad simply said that she was very ill and couldn't get out of bed. At night, Svad would lie awake pondering how to change Cele back. He could never think of anything... at least nothing Cele would approve of.

Being a dragon again meant Cele could no longer cuddle up in bed with her husband. She had taken to sleeping in the main room. Some nights, he slept with her on the floor; other nights he preferred the bed. Since Celestia enjoyed being pet, Svad would often set aside an hour to just sit and pet her. At least twice a day, Clementine would demand to ride on Cele's back.

One day, Svad returned to find Celestia waiting for him. She was quite eager to speak with him; he thought for a moment she might crash into him as she ran up. She told him her theory behind her predicament was due to being pregnant. Wait... What? "You're... pregnant?" The Kryoan smiled. If only he could have picked her up or kissed her. A hug would have to do for now. "And more than one? Do you know how many? Oh..." Svad pulled back from hugging Cele to look around the house. "We're going to need a bigger house. How far along are you? Perhaps I could have it finished by the time they are born, if I work all day."

Celestia enjoyed the great amount of attention she was getting these days though she was sad she couldn't sleep on the bed with Svad every night and that Svad was staying home for her. But excited for more hatchlings. It would be good for Cass to have more siblings to relate too.

Svad mentioned the need for a bigger house and Celestia had to agree. Even if they all were in human form there wasn't enough space anymore. But now they would need space for dragons running about. It was a very good thing she was a tiny dragon.

"Um not very far into the first trimester. I have no idea how many there are. I don't know that I'll ever know till it's time. I've only been pregnant as a dragon twice before this."

When Celestia looked at Svad's confused and surprised expression she realized she never told him about Nimbus. "Oh right uhh. A long time before I met you I was mated with the dragon god of death Nimbus. I had a lot of hatchlings with him but it didn't last. He hardly acknowledged I existed." Celestia looked away for a moment and wondered if she should tell him what she did next. She wasn't very proud of it. She supposed the mate that was always there for her deserved to know. "I uh...to try and get his attention and ignore my suffering I turned myself into a hatchling. Nimbus left me not long after that and I ended up getting adopted by a dragon named Tenebris. As I grew up I found all my hatchling children siblings died. Then Nimbus came back discovered what I did and and was looking to court me again. He returned my memories. I was broken for a long time two minds fighting in one body. I got through it though and now I have you." Celestia said pulling Svad in with a wing to hold him against herself possessively.

Svad's mind was racing with excitement. 'Not very far into the first trimeseter'. Okay. 'I have no idea how many there are... I don't know that I'll ever know til it's time'. Makes sense. And then Cele mentioned having had kids before. Huh? Svad's expression turned from excitement to confusion. She went on to explain that she had once been mate to another dragon god. His expression turned again--this time to worry--when Cele paused in her recounting and looked away from him. He was about to tell her that she didn't have to go on when she continued. When she was done, she drew him close with her wing. He brought an arm around her and pet her head. Why did such sad things happen to good people... and dragons? "You'll always have me, Cele."

Leonidas Sairk Wulfric Natura-Avedon stood in his home, staring at the flames in the hearth before him. Behind him, a man was rambling on about the village's growing concern over Svadilfare's lack of appearances in town. While there were plenty of fine warriors in Kryo that could train the young men, everyone preferred the chief's son. "...i suggested Bain and Frederick," the thin man was saying, "I even suggested Argon. The people would have none of it. They want your son. I think--" The man abruptly fell silent. Only the crackling of the burning wood filled the room now.

After a moment, Leonidas lowered the hand he hand raised to call for silence. He turned to look at the man. The thin Kryoan had straw colored hair that was dark brown at the ends. He didn't look like he could handle a sword, much less the cold climate, but he was quite formidable. He was about a foot shorter than the chief's son, his skin was peppered with freckles. A much bigger man, Leonidas walked by the man to the table in the middle of the room. He regarded the map laid out across it, and for a time it seemed he had no intention of giving the thin man standing in his home another thought. Finally, when the man began to shift uncomfortably in the festering silence and opened his mouth to speak, Leonidas spoke himself. "Has no one visited him? Has no one inquired about his health or that of his children, his wife? Has no one considered that he may have simply slipped away on some assassin's errand? He has done this before."

"Yes, sir, but--" He was cut off when Leonidas, his gaze never leaving the map, lifted his index finger.

"If this has been done and considered, why have you come to me? My son will be chief one day. Will you go to him as you should, or pester me in my dotage?" His gaze lifted now to the man, granting him permission to speak.

"Of course not, sir. It's just, he sends everyone away. No one is welcome in his home. He insists Celestia is sick... but it has been four months now. Surely she could not still be ailing? And..." the man trailed off.

"And what, Drax?"

"And we are nearing the annual competition. We need our champion. Also... well... the merchants often come with horror stories of great and terrible monsters terrorizing the roads and smaller settlements. They say even the dragons are fewer because of these things. I-I don't believe such nonsense, of course. But you know how impressionable small children and some of the womenfolk are."

At the last statement, Leonidas looked up from his table again. Drax found himself holding his breath in anticipation of a fierce scalding. Instead, the chief chuckled. Drax found it disconcerting, uncomfortably dark. "I should hope none of them learn you think them mentally lesser than the Gynaikes women. I will go see him myself, then." The chief walked to the door and Drax quickly followed. "We have not talked in some time, anyway. Tell everyone they have nothing to fear."

Leonidas walked from his house to that of his son. The chief was a four inches taller than his son. In fact, Svadilfare looked almost exactly like his father. The only noticeable difference between the two was Leonidas' long hair, full beard, and brown eyes. The chief stopped at the door and knocked. "Svadilfare! Come out here, boy!"

Svadilfare was giving a cranky Clementine a bath when he heard his father outside. "Amelia, come finish your sister's bath." When Ami came, Svad got up and went to the door. He stepped over Cele, who was curled up with Aerouant and being used as a pillow by Aurelius. He slipped out the door and quickly closed it behind him. "Father," he briefly knelt on one knee. "What brings you here?"

"You." He allowed a moment for Svad to stand back up before he continued. "You've been scarce in the village for too long. People are worrying, even starting to listen to the nonsense of merchants in their boredom. You know our annual competition is coming up."

"I am aware. I will make my appearance for it, of course. Is that all?"

Leonidas' eyes narrowed slightly. "You have duties to the village, which include training aspiring warriors, giving the seasoned a few pointers if need be. For four months they have had to put up with the likes of Bain and Frederick--"

"What's wrong with that?"

"--and Argon."

"You can't possibly be that desperate."

"They are. You have been here this whole time, yes? You haven't been working as an assassin? You need to be attending to your work as our greatest and heir."

Svadilfare waved a hand dismissively as he turned to open the door, inviting his father in. He had completely forgotten about Cele's... condition. But it was too late now. "You know I abhor the thought of being chief. How many times to I have to tell you?" he responded, hoping his father might not notice the new dragon in the room. Leonidas had visited unexpectedly once before, after Svad and Celestia had gotten married. He'd wanted to present his new daughter-in-law with a gift. Then, Aerouant had suddenly come into the room and Svad had to come up with an excuse for his being there. He had told his father he'd found Aerouant and was breaking him to be later sold to a dragon slaver. It seemed he would have to use that story again.

Leonidas, of course, was completely aware of the bigger dragon. However, because Aerouant was laying against Cele in such a way that he was impossible to see unless he or Cele moved, he thought it was Aerouant. "it's all grown up now, eh? Or at least just bigger. You're going to sell it before it grows more, I hope? And i am aware but you are my only son. I will not see some other clan leading this village, not while the bloodline lives. Do you think your grandfather would want that?"

"Don't bring Grandfather into this. And yes, I will. If those stories the merchants tell are true, a broken dragon will go for quite a bit. Might be able to give up my work as an assassin. Celestia would like that."

"Because he would agree with me? How is Celestia, by the way? I hear she is still ill?"

"Because he is an elder and doesn't need to be concerned with the village anymore. She's doing a little better each day. Not enough for me to feel comfortable leaving for town. And no, she is sleeping right now."

Leonidas frowned but sat down at the table. "Everyone will be happy to know she is recovering." A silence fell over father and son, finally broken by the pattering of wet feet on wood.

"Grwandpa!" Clementine ran up to her grandfather, giggling and demanding to be picked up. He obliged with a hearty laugh.

"Clementine! You've gotten so big!" He smiled and kissed the girl, who giggled at the tickling of his beard. "Where are my other grandchildren?"

Aurelius, who was woken up by the sudden booming laughter that could only belong to his grandfather, jumped and ran over. "Hi, Grandfather!"

Svad crossed his arms over his chest, chuckling quietly as he watched the interaction. "Leo and Xander are out hunting. They should be back soon. Ami is..." he looked back toward the girls' room. "Probably taking her bath now."

Celestia was getting rather uncomfortable these days. Her eggs were two months away from being full grown at which time she would lay them and they would incubate for the final trimester. It would be the most dangerous time for them as they would no longer be in the safety of her body. Not like humans who kept their young in their bodies all the way till young was ready to use it's own lungs. Already her mood was starting to have some dramatic swings particularly on the side of aggression in preparation for the fierce attention and protection the eggs will require during incubation. She would apologize profusely when it ended up getting directed at Svad and cuddle him while apologizing with a thorough licking. She knew this wasn't exactly human custom for apologizes but her instincts were just so demanding. It was hard to decide which she disliked more the pain of human pregnancy or the near loss of self control when pregnant as a dragon. It wasn't so bad with Nimbus. He knew what to expect and actually listened to her more at that moment than any other. This was the first Svad was learning and experiencing this though.

She was cuddled up with Aero and despite being mid day she didn't feel like moving an inch. Her eyes shot open as there was a insistent knocking on the door and a voice she recognized as Svad's father called out to her mate. Celestia was not up for dealing with this right now not that there was anything she could do. She'd just let Svad take care of this. At that very moment her mate had stepped over her trying to reach the front door. Celestia was surprised when her father in law came into the house. That was a funny thought that a human was her father in law. Wait did he just mistake her for Aerouant. She was offended. She was clearly a dragoness gravid with eggs. Her scent alone should make that plainly obvious. How could he mistake her for a male. Human ignorance be damned. As if that wasn't insulting enough he called her it like she was just some animal that he literally wanted sold. Her blood was boiling with anger too much to ignore.

Celestia let out a continuous menacing growl as she got up from the floor and stalked purposefully towards Leonidas. She wouldn't leave him wondering if he was about to get mauled and react as she soon after spoke in the human language. "How would you feel if I captured you, trained you into a servant of dragons and talked about how I was going to sell you as just some animal property not even affording you the title of pet."

Normally very clear minded and diplomatically intelligent she hadn't the presence of mind to think about what she was doing to just leave things be and let it play out. All that was there was anger and disgust that her own father in law would speak of her in such a manner.

The laughter of grandfather and grandchildren stopped abruptly with the sudden, menacing growling coming from Celestia. The Aurelius and Clementine were scared and rightly so; they had never seen Celestia this way. They hid behind Leonidas, the latter beginning to cry. The Kryoan chief was shocked, though strangely not because the dragon had spoken in his tongue. It was because it had the gall to growl at him. He narrowed his eyes and stood, grasping the axe at his side. "You let this beast stay in your house, near your kids?" He looked at Svadilfare, frowning. "It's a dragon, not a pet. You break it til it's asking permission to breathe. That means you can't be afraid to beat it when it needs a beating!" Leonidas was holding the axe like a sword, his hand near the axe head so he could hit Celestia with the shaft. When he raised his arm and prepared to strike, however, his son stepped in front of him and took his arm.

"Yes, I do allow her in my house. And she doesn't need to be beaten. She's just pregnant, moody. It didn't help that you kept referring to her as it."

Leonidas pulled his arm from his son's grasp. "Pregnant or not, it needs to learn its place. I won't beat it too hard." He went to step around his son, only to be stopped by an arm.

"You won't beat her at all, Father. I suppose there is no point in continuing the ruse, now that you have spoken, Cele." He looked over his shoulder at Cele for a moment, then back at his now very confused father. "Father... this is Celestia... This is her true form, or it used to be."

The chief of Kryo stood there, dumbfounded. He looked from his son to the dragon behind him, and back again. Then that amazement turned to anger. He shoved his son away and turned his axe to wield it properly. "You won't take my son the way you took my wife, beast!" The ringing of a blade being drawn caught Leonidas' attention before he could take a step toward Celestia. "You dare raise a sword to me, boy? Your father? Your chief?"

Svadilfare walked back over to stand between his father and his wife, a sword in his left hand and leveled at his father's throat. When he had reached his position, he picked up his other sword, which had been laying on the table. "I'll raise two to you. The choice is yours, Chief. Lower your axe and let me explain... Or step outside and we'll settle this the way we settled everything when I was a boy, the Kryoan way."

Had anyone been around to witness it, they would have been convinced this was a real fight. Father and son fought with too much ferocity for them to simply be sparring. They seemed to be settling years of conflict. One might almost guess they were trying to kill each other. It would have been clear, had anyone seen this 'spar' where the Pride of Kryo had gotten his aggression from.

Neither father nor son knew how long they had been fighting. The length of a Kryoan fight wasn't marked by time, you see, but by the number of wounds the fighters sustained. A fight that ended with not even a scratch sustained was a fight that hadn't gone on long enough. Interestingly, this method of measurement was also used to mark the skill of a fighter. A Kryoan that fought an outsider and came out unscathed was considered a master. But to come out of a fight with another Kryoan unscathed meant you were not good enough. It was a very odd concept the warriors of Kryo had, but it made perfect sense to them.


Going by the logic of a fur-clad people, Leonidas and Svadilfare's fight would never even start. They were evenly matched, father and son, and so neither would receive a cut or a bruise. It was pointless to keep going, but go on they would, for both were stubborn as oxen. They would keep fighting until someone came along who was in need of the chief, or they finally realized the utter hopelessness of their endeavor.

Celestia's growling came to an abrupt halt as Clementine began to cry. "No, no, shh, shh, don't cry." Celestia said heart broken at seeing her children react to her in this way. Humans were so fragile. She wanted to go and comfort the two children but was being blocked by Leonidas. She glared at him and tried to resist her best not to growl at his insults but to no avail. She couldn't wait for him to attempt a strike. A little fight was just what she needed right now. But Svad got in the way and she didn't dare attempt to strike past him. Again humans were fragile.

Svad defended her in word and in action and revealed to his father that she was his wife. He spared a glance at her but he would receive no comfort or appreciation in return. No she glared at him as well upset he got in the way of their feud. Apparently it was their feud now as the two left the house to go fight it out. Celestia wasn't too worried about Svad she knew he could handle himself for at least a little bit even if he was out matched.

Celestia's priority were the children. Regardless if they ran she'd scoop them up and hold them against her. "It's alright I wouldn't hurt you. Everything is fine." Think happy thought think happy thoughts think of all the time we've been able to spend together these recent months. Celestia managed to get herself purring. Purring always calmed everyone down, it calmed dragons down it, calmed humans down, it calmed Svad down, and it would calm their children down. It just wasn't something you could do if you weren't feeling it though.

After the children had at least calmed down a little bit Celestia went outside to go watch over her mate. One typically wasn't suppose to interfere with a personal fight at least among dragons but she wasn't going to let her mate get hurt especially since this isn't suppose to be his fight. The two were even though and the fight dragged on and on. She laid down to watch the two go at it was even able to pick up quite a few tricks for when she could get back to being human. The fight just continued to drag on though and Celestia was fed up. With a sudden leap and short glide she landed between the two and roared "Enough!" She would then turn to Svad and if his father dared interfere she'd knock him on his ***. "Svad I want you to do it. I want you to release my powers. It's actually quite simple which is why I didn't want you touching my collar. If it was any sort of complicated I worried that if the time ever came in which it was the only possible resort we wouldn't run into any issues." It didn't matter that Celestia didn't bother thinking about it and that this was not a last resort for anything. "Touch my symbol, reach out with your magic, find the barrier that keeps you out and it in, and just will yourself past it."

Clementine sniffled and whimpered. Cele's dragon form had never been a scary sight. But to a four year old, the very not-playful sounding growl was another thing entirely. Aurelius was not as scared, more cautious, protective of his little sister. He hugged little Clementine and tried to quiet her. When Celestia was finally able to go to the children, the girl had stopped crying. She cuddled into her stepmother and soon seemed to forget all about the brief and terrifying ordeal. She wanted to ride on Celestia's back, but Cele prompted her and her brother to stay inside.  Aurelius took his sister's hand and guided her away. "Come on, Clementine. Let's go play with Ami." Amelia had since finished her bath and gotten dressed. When she heard Svad and Leonidas talking, she's decided against going into the living area.

Svadilfare barely noticed that Celestia had come outside. He essentially had blinders on; he was focused only on his father's movements. His focus, however, wasn't for the fight itself. Svadilfare had sparred with his father countless times as a boy, a few times as a teen and young adult. In all that time, his father's combat style had never changed; Leonidas was incredibly predictable to his son. No, Svadilfare's focus was due to his right hand. It had been two years since he injured it, but still it alls him. At this point in the long fight, every strike against the sword set fire to the nerves. He tried to use his left hand for defense as much as possible and use the right for offense. It was a little awkward, but he managed.

Leonidas grunted slightly as Svad pushed him back yet again. He hadn't so much as broken a sweat and neither had his son. If he weren't furious, he'd have taken a moment to be proud of his only child. As it were, he was, and so he continued to butt heads with him, locked in endless combat like two fighting bucks who'd gotten their horns stuck together. It was only when the dragon--who, like with his son, had gone almost completely unnoticed--intervened.

Svadilfare's right arm came to an abrupt halt. The edge of his blade was mere inches from Celestia's neck. Before he could say anything, she requested that he unlock her powers. "You interfered for that?" He lowered his sword and drove both into the ground. "To what end? I begged you not to lock your power away when you found me in Leostonnia. You were like to take my hand off a few months ago when I was looking at your necklace. What possible reason could you have for suddenly wanting me to mess with it now?" His tone was a mix of anger and disbelief. The former was more a product of his sparring, but not necessarily unrelated to Celestia's action and demand.

It was rather uncomfortable to have her mate holding a weapon so dangerously close to her neck. He put the weapons down though and Celestia quickly got over it. "I intervened?" Celestia said rhetorically with disbelief. "I challenged your father and he raised his weapon against me. You intervened and I would have removed you from my fight if I hadn't had to attend to the children. I allowed you to take my place but it is going nowhere and I am taking it back. As for my powers I am going to show him who I was, what I was capable of, and what I chose and who I chose. Either he needs to accept us or we need to move away and that certainly isn't going to happen after a duel with you."

Svadilfare almost laughed. "That was not a challenge. Not by human standards, anyway. I've fought my father countless times since I was big enough to hold a knife; i've never beaten him." He grabbed his swords and slid them into their respective scabbards on his  back, then took the scabbards off. "I'm not unlocking your power for this purpose. Whatever effect you hope it'll have, it will have the opposite. This fight was never meant to go anywhere. It was just to prevent the alternative." Svad looked at his father. Leonidas just stood there, his gaze fixed on Celestia. His knuckles turned white as his grip on his axe tightened.

"How can you speak to that monster?"

Svad knelt and placed his sheathed swords on the ground, parallel to each other. "I yield, Father. I request a moment to myself before I am to receive whatever punishment you deem fit for my failure."

For what seemed like forever, Leonidas ignored his son. He wanted nothing more than to sink the blade of his axe into the dragon. Svad was almost tempted to speak when finally his father gave a grunt that must have been his way of giving approval. But still he held fast to his axe.

Svad settled for it even though his father had not lowered his weapon. He stood and went to Celestia. "Come over here." He walked back toward the house and sat down on the tree stump he used to chop wood. When Cele had settled down with him, he began speaking. "I never brought this up before because I was hoping my father would never discover this side of you. But you must understand he never used to see dragons the way he does now. When I was a boy, seven maybe, a dragon lived here. No one knew, of course; he was always disguised as a human. He was liked by just about everyone in the village. He was a good friend to my mother and father. They thought he was, anyway. I had not been home at the time, so I don't know exactly what happened. I came back to find a good part of the village destroyed. My father had been injured and my mother was dead. It was clear enough that she had been killed by that dragon. Apparently, you must resemble that dragon or my father wouldn't have reacted as strongly as he did, or mentioned my mother." Svadilfare trailed off and let that sink in before continuing, "So showing him what you're capable of isn't a good idea. I realize now I shouldn't have told him who you are yet. I have always wanted to raise the kids somewhere other than Kryo, but I don't know I could move away until this is resolved. But we can certainly get away for a while. I built a house in the woods in case the snowstorms got too bad for me to return home from a hunt. It's only big enough for you and me, but the children will be fine here on their own. Leo is more than capable of keeping the others in line. Besides, it's only half a day away. We can check in on them if you got too worried."

Celestia growled in response to Svad. All this time of telling her not to do what she had already done and even his tinkering around and now suddenly he's caught up over some specifics. Her ever growing restlessness was accelerated with Leonidas referring to her as a monster. She was on the cuff of not caring and mauling the next person that pissed her off further. Instead her growling was cut short as she stared in absolute horror as Svad formally yielded to his father. This was wrong this was so wrong. She did nothing as a silence ensued. On one paw she didn't want Leonidas to accept to validate what was happening here but on the other if he dared not accept she WAS going to tear into him.

He did accept though and Svad beckoned her to follow him. Reluctantly she left the still on guard chief and broke away her glaring eye contact with him. He brought her over for some sort of serious talk judging by his body language though didn't seem to want to start till she relaxed a little. The most Celestia did was sit on her hunches and provide Svad with her attention. He revealed to her some of their history and laid out how they would proceed from here. Celestia thought for a long time on it her gaze traveling all around from Leonidas to Svad to nowhere in particular as she pondered it.

If this was a safe and certain near future then it would be irresponsible to her coming hatchlings for her not to take it and she refused to be an irresponsible mother. She agreed.

3 months passed and Celestia had laid her eggs in their little cabin. There were 5 in total and she discovered after laying them she was able to shift back to her human form though she chose to remain in her far stronger dragon one and remained ever vigilant in her protection of her eggs. This was their most vulnerable moment and she was very aggressively protective. She wouldn't even let Svad near their eggs and was scarcely eating, paranoid that the moments she moved anywhere something would happen to them. This was similar to her pregnancies with Nimbus but she was a lot more aggressive and paranoid this time around. It almost wasn't even Celestia anymore and rather just some feral dragon that chose a small cabin as it's nesting grounds and she of course took the bed of which the legs broke under her weight.

Svad was relieved Celestia accepted his proposal. He pet her for a moment, then got up and returned to his father. Once more, he knelt before the chief; he waited for his sentence; it never came. Svadilfare reacted ever so slightly when his father's axe came down and bit into the hard earth. He had almost felt the cold metal as it passed in front of his face. The sharp edge of the weapon came to rest in front of his left hand, just inches from the tips of his fingers. And then Svadilfare heard his father walk away. He allowed a few moments to pass before he dared to lift his head. His father was on his way back to his own home. Svad stood and grabbed the axe, then returned to Cele.

Svadilfare put the finishing touches on the new bed. He was confident it would hold up to Celestia's dragon form. He just wished he could have convinced her to come outside for two seconds to test it. Svad went inside the small house and shifted into his dragon form. He went over to Cele, who was laying on the legless bed and watching the eggs. He laid down beside her and watched the eggs, too.

3 months ago
Cele told Svad she was days away from laying the eggs. He couldn't wait to see how many new kids they'd have. Svad figured now would be as good a time as any to give his wife another surprise. For the past year, Svadilfare had been studying shapeshifting magic. He wanted to be able to help Celestia with the kids whenever they were in their dragon form. He also just wanted to be able to understand dragons better. What better way than to take their form? It had worked out well for Cele, after all.

"I have something to show you," the Kryoan said as he set down an arm load of wood. Without saying anything more, Svadilfare got down on his hands and knees. He took a breath then began to change. His bone and body structure changed to fit that of a quadruped. He gained a tail and wings. His delicate human skin was replaced with tough dragon scales, his teeth changed to those belonging to a purely carnivorous creature. When it was all done, Svad tried first to stand. It wasn't terribly difficult; he was used to being on all fours, having spent plenty of time pretending to be a horse for his youngest. Of course, having another set of legs rather than his knees was a different story. He fell over a few times before he manage to stay upright. Once he was steady, he looked up at Cele--literally. He was shorter than her. "...Well, what do you think?"

Pic credited to kimbenoso

Celestia stared in concern as Svad dropped to all fours. Then she stared in shock as he transformed into a little nightfury. She watched as he struggled to stand in the unfamilar form. "I think our hatchlings are going to be confused on if they should call you dad or brother.

Celestia extended a wing and pulled him over to her purring against him as her instincts took over to treat him like a hatchling. When she laid her eggs she didn't mind him around especially since she was basically treating him as one of them. Once his magical energy ran out though she'd see him completely her intincts demanding she drive him away from her eggs. It was stressful on both of them. "You know if you unlock my powers we can keep you in dragon form indefinitely."

Eventually the time came her hatchlings were breaking their shells. She hovered over them watching intently but didn't dare assist. It would hurt their development. 5 hatchlings in total there were. Celestia named three of them. Jericho a white scaled boy she had though was a girl at first. Andromeda a black scaled girl with Svad's eyes. Then Aurora an interesting mix of black and white scales, she was also female. The other two Svad got dibs on.

"I'm really that small?" he asked, unable to tell from this new perspective. "I don't suppose it would be possible to make myself bigger? Or would that be like the time I almost burned down that Inn in Kakos?" Svad had been practicing with his fire magic and trying to make a longer fire stream. He hadn't properly judged his distance from the wall and caught it on fire.

Being treated like a Hatchling for an hour was better than not being able to be around his mate at all. At least for that hour they could properly cuddle. Once he changed back, however, Cele became hostile and drove him out of the house. Svad would stay outside for the rest of the day and night except to force Cele to eat something. He'd pass the time by whittling, training with his father's axe, and making plans for a bigger house. A few times he even returned home for a night or two. Once, Cele mentioned he could be in his dragon form as long as he wanted... if he unlocked her powers. "Nice try. I'm not unlocking your powers unless you're going to help dragonkind."

Finally, the day came that the eggs hatched. Svadilfare sat cross-legged beside Celestia. It seemed to take forever for the little ones to get through the shells. Even though they held their breaths in anticipation and perhaps a little worry, neither mother nor father moved. Even if it had been okay to help, Svad would have been too concerned about losing his hands. Celestia named the first three to hatch. The last two were Svad's to name.

One was a boy; his scales were black and he looked like Andromeda and Cele. By now, the Kryoan had noticed a pattern with the naming of these children. So he named the all-blue boy Cygnus. Next came the girl. Like three of her siblings, she had black scales. However, she also had blue and white scales. They were bright and created a dazzling, fire-like pattern on her wings and back. For a long time, Svad contemplated a name for such a unique-looking Hatchling. He finally came up with one he liked. This girl would be named Elara.

"Yes you are." Celestia said her tone continuing to betray how adorable he looks to her. She couldn't help but go in for a nuzzle. "Yes and no." She answered. As you are now you are just using magic to sustain a form that is not your own. Which sounds a lot simpler than it is as you well know. Especially a dragon body. We are very complex creatures. To gain mass though requires raw magical energy. I don't know if you have though about it but the larger something gets it's weight is increased exponentially. I'm not quite twice your size height wise but in weight I weigh like ten times more than you." Oh boy Celestia just realized at that moment how much of a struggle it's going to be to teach her children their powers and magic without any magic herself.

"I am helping dragon kind." Celestia defended. We created a bunch of hatchlings and it would be easier to teach them if their father couldn't only be a dragon for an hour at a time and a bit bigger. Could show you how dragons have fun." Celestia said suggestively. She was still a little miffed though

Eventually each egg had hatched. They were all healthy and managed to get out on their own. Celestia gathered everyone up in her wing including Svad. The future was going to be a little uncertain.