"Hey Sen, Drake wants us at the training rings for sparring."
I look up from the book I was reading to see a smug face staring at me upside down, knowing he had interrupted as I was getting to the good part. "Fine, and you don't need to come into my room to tell me." I sent a small flame at his face to get across that I was annoyed.
Predictably he disappeared and appeared next to my door, leaning against the wall. "Now, don't be like that; I was just telling you."
"Go, I will be there soon" I put the book aside and get up, going to my closet to get into a more appropriate dress for fighting.
"Ok, I will see you there." He walks away, nodding to the guard in the hall as he does.
"Why must he be so annoying? Now, which dress to wear? I know Dad will not go easy on us, but Mother always says to look my best. I know, this one will do." I pick out a shirt that only covered my lower back but had almost complete coverage of my front, perfect for if I want to let my wings out, and these arm sleeves will look great with it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I get to the Training room a bit later. I look around. On the right is the Training dummies and a few weapon racks; on the left, I could see the weights; my Grandmother was up top on the balcony. Great, so now she can watch Dad kick my ass again. And of course, in the center was the sparring rings, which dominated most of the room, with my father in one of the smaller ones. I make my way to the ring that my Dad was in. I could feel Dylan appear next to me.
"Nice outfit, didn't you get that from your mother?" He was in his usual outfit for this. Pants that fit him well with no shirt and a cape that seemed always to hug one shoulder, all of it matching his black hair while contrasting with his white skin.
I roll my eyes; he already knew the answer; my mother had gotten me this dress a week ago. I could also notice that many of the women were looking at him. He was almost old enough to look for a mate by our race's standards, and they probably knew it, not that he didn't already flirt with anyone that caught his eye. Once in the ring, I nod to my father, as does Dylan.
"And why are you two minutes late? You know we spar on this day and the time." He tapped his foot in his usual outfit. Pants that fit him well like Dylan, with straps on his A jacket that did little to cover his torso but held anything he needed, then his pure white hair.
"I"m only two minutes late." I don't understand why he's always such a stickler with time. I draw my sword. "Are we going to start?"
I see him roll his eyes as Dylan also draws his sword and whispers in my ear. "Are you trying to make him go harder on us?"
"If you want me to teach you respect, Sendria, then very well." I watch my father draw his saber and, Dylan sighs, drawing his katana.
I huff and start forward slowly. I knew that the others had stopped what they were doing and were probably watching us.
Dylan follows my lead as we advance; we split slowly to try and encircle my Father, who stands there almost lazily, his sword off to the side. Once we have him between us, we both move in at once, my blade going for his throat while Dylan goes for his legs. We watch as he simply sidesteps; he paries my sword to block Dylans. "Your teamwork is getting better."
We both do a quick small jump away before he can retaliate, but he seemed not to try. "You need to work on accounting for your enemy's moves." He starts to walk towards me. I quickly try to press as Dylan moves up to use any potential openings I create. My father blocks the sidesteps my stab and goes for a slash at my wrists that I barely stop.
Dylan goes to slash at the arm my Father had attacked with, causing my Father to disengage with me and block Dylan as my Father then sidesteps away all in one motion. "You too easily fall for provocations Sendria." he starts to sidestep towards Dylan while keeping his eyes on me.
I slowly move forward as Dylan tries to move so my Father would be in between us again; my Father seemed to have predicted this and suddenly sprints at Dylan, going for a slash that put Dylan on the defensive before sweeping his legs. I move to block his next thrust, only for him to duck then sweep my legs, now having both of us on the ground. "I would say it is a victory for me again; care to explain why you lost this time?"
I roll my eyes and stand up; I sheath my sword. "Because you have far more experience." That, of course, gets a sigh from my Father.
"We lost because we allowed too much distance between each other and so weren't able to cover each other efficiently." Dylan sighs out.
"Correct, now go wash off and meet at my office; we have a few things to talk about."
I look at Dylan curiously, who shrugs, not knowing why ether. We go to leave only for my Mother to hug me.
"You are growing up, Sendria, but don't be so rude to your Father; he's only trying to teach you."
I sigh and hug her back. "I know, but he doesn't need to be so harsh about it."
"Maybe so, but you know he loves you and would never go too far."
I nod and start walking again. "So what is the meeting at his office about? We rarely get called there unless I'm in trouble, and I know I didn't do anything...this time."
My mother seems to smile more. "It's a surprise, oh and I do love that dress on you; I think the humans would call it modern."
I nod again. "It works for me and lets me do anything I need without getting in the way, including flying, which many outfits I have can be problematic with that."
My Mother nods, understanding the problem that all dragon shifters face with their clothing getting in the way of partial transformations.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I knock on the door to my father's office, a bit nervous since I didn't know why I was called.
"Come in."
I enter and see Dylan already sitting in a chair; my father was going over some paperwork on his desk, so I took a seat next to Dylan, giving him a questioning look; he shrugs again.
He looks up from his papers. "Good, the first thing is that we will be visiting the Werewolf lands soon."
Dylan is immediately interested, but of course, he is; his sisters live there. I am excited since I will finally meet Dylan's sisters and see what things are like there. "Wait, you said that's the first thing? What else is there?"
"Did you forget that easy? Your birthday is in a few weeks, and while we normally don't celebrate birthdays, you should be excited for this one." He had an almost teasing smile, and I knew why.
"My awakening? I'm almost there!" I try not to jump out of my seat as my father nods.
"Yes, this one will be your awakening. The day your dragon wakes up, and you receive your true dragon form." I had been looking forward to years; how could I have forgotten?
I hear Dylan chuckle. "So we both have something exciting happening. I bet my sisters will love to meet you and witness your awakening ceremony." He looks at my father as though asking for confirmation.
My father nods; he had, of course, planned this, but we couldn't complain.
"My two precious children are growing up so fast." I turn to see my Mother having just entered. I smile as Dylan pipes up.
"We aren't both your kids." He tried to act annoyed, but we had both been raised together since we were six, basically siblings.
"You are to me, I have raised both of you, and we know that you see Sendria as your sister."
Dylan rolls his eyes but a smirk and zaps him, making him jump before my father raises his hand. My mother sits next to my father. "Now that you both know, you can prepare and also remember. We are traveling outside the kingdom, so you need to be on good behavior, even though the werewolves are our friends."
We both nod, having been told the same things when meeting delegates or going to Balls.
"Now go get ready. Your father and I need to plan a few things."
We both nod and get up. I could see how my mother was looking at my father that they might be doing more than just paperwork, but I wasn't going to say anything.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I meet Dylan and my mother on the landing pad near our rooms, waiting for my father. I look down the edge to see the mountain almost gently sloping below us. Off in the distance on the ground was a small line with people waiting to enter the mountain, the unofficial capital of our kingdom, with the castle in the distance more of a symbol.
"Always impressive, isn't it? That our ancestors managed to hollow out this mountain into a home." I look to see my father standing next to me and nod.
I step away from the edge and see my Mother CHanging into her dragon form; I do the same as does my father, then I let Dylan get on my back before we all take off.
As we soar into the sky, I feel the wind around me, lifting me higher as Dylan Holds onto me, trying not to fall off. I even my climb for him as my parents fly up next to me, my father in the lead.
"Where are we stopping for the night?" I ask my father telepathically.
"There is a small clearing next to a waterfall I normally use when traveling there. After that, there is a stream in their land that we will stop at for the second night."
I nod briefly then look ahead, still excited that we were going to see the werewolves. I glance at Dylan on my back, who seems to be doing fine, and then open a link to him.
"So, how do you feel?" I already knew the answer. We were going to meet his sisters for the first time.
"Nervous, but also excited, I always wondered how having two werewolves for sisters would be like, maybe a lot like growing up with a dragon shifter."
"You know we like being referred to as dragons, not dragon shifters." I rolled my eyes even though it was true; we are technically dragon shifters, able to change between human forms and dragon forms.
Sometime later, my father speaks into our minds. "We're coming up on the waterfall, kids. There's a clearing over there that we can make camp at."
I nod and follow them down. My parents change to human form as they land; I lower myself so that Dylan can get off, then change I to human.
"I will find some food for us. Your Mother already planned to set up camp. You two can do whatever you think will help, or shower at the waterfall."
I nod to my father and go to my Mother, who already use a spell to summon our bags. "I'm going to take a shower."
She nods. "Ok, just don't take too long." She had already started setting up the tents, one for them, one for me, and one for Dylan.
I nod and head to the waterfall with a towel. I see Dylan helping to set up camp.
Once I get to the waterfall, I find a rock to put my towel on and begin to undress. I go to one of the small offshoots of water where the pressure isn't too great and start washing while thinking of what it might be like in the werewolf lands.
I heard that they live in an extension of the great forest that dominates most of our land, but they also have mountains as we do, but they don't have any cities or anything, just packs with scattered housing.
I began thinking about my awakening ceremony as well, I'll get my true dragon form, and my dragon side will wake up. I could even start looking for a mate, but will they be another dragon or a different race entirely like my family has had for the last few times? All this made me a bit excited, no, very excited, I was finally becoming an adult, and there was so much I wanted to do.
After I finish washing, I go back to the stone, my mind still imagining everything from the werewolves to my possible mate when I see Dylan. He was facing away from me and seemed to be carving something. I check to see if he wouldn't be able to see where I had been washing, and luckily it appeared a tree branch would have blocked his view.
"I didn't see anything Sendria, I just came by to tell you that your dad came back with a deer, so we'll be having that, and we are getting up at first light."
I sigh and grab my towel and clothes, going behind some bushes. "And why couldn't my mother come or my father?"
"We're practically siblings Sen, You know I Would never think of you in that way; they do too."
I roll my eyes but finish getting dressed. "So what? You flirt with every girl you see."
He seemed to get annoyed at this, making me smirk. "I might flirt, but that it, and not with everyone."