Dragoniers

Serious Discussion

A soft knock came at my door only a few minutes after Mitch left and when I asked who it was Lana gently slid my door open and I sat up.

"What's wrong, Lana? Did something else happen?" I asked as she sat gently down on my bed after closing the door again.

"No, I was just worried about you. I was happy to hear you call me your friend but I don't like getting too close to the crew. If I get too close it'll hurt more," she mumbled. I sighed, now I see.

"So that's why you don't talk much around the others. But it must be lonely to have to distance yourself because of that. Losing someone you spend your days with will Always hurt, regardless if you intend to get close to them or not. Their presence being gone will always stand out no matter what happens.

Lana, I'm going to tell you the same thing you told me. If you wait too long you might regret it later. The crew of this ship lives by that don't they? Despite everything they most likely have been through they live on and take every day one at a time. They're living their lives with no regrets behind them. That's what it means to be a Dragonier isn't it?" I said and she looked down at her hands.

"You've only been aboard for one full day and yet you seem to understand the ways of the ship perfectly. Still I have to try don't I? If keeping my distance will soften the blow even a little bit I will do what I have to. I understand what you are saying, but this is something I have to find out for myself.

Let me see your hand, I came here to check on you, not to lay my burdens on you. Are you okay after your fight with Jordan? You seemed a bit shaken up and surprised about what you said and did," she said. I sighed and decided to let her be for now. I let her take my hand and bandage it up.

"I'm not going to apologize for hitting him, I'm not surprised I did. However, I didn't expect myself to blurt out all of that. Sure it's true that I was in awe of the crew and I told myself I wanted to be like them someday. I never told a soul that and I never really realized that being like them someday turned into being a Dragonier somewhere down the line.

I suppose it was a dream I never really thought would be possible. At least not until I saw you guys again and got on this ship. So when he got me worked up I guess I subconsciously knew in my heart that was the truth and it slipped out. Still, my first and only goal right now is to find out what happened to my Dad. I don't want to get distracted from that goal, it's already been too long. If he is alive, somehow I don't think that would be the case if I wait any longer to look for him. It's already been three years, anything could be happening to him right now," I said. As she finished bandaging my hand she sighed.

"Where do you even plan to start? As you said it's been three years so the trail could be long since gone. People might not even remember even if they did see him," she said.

"My best guess is to check the towns that don't allow Dragoniers, since he hates them for what happened to my Mom. Still the other part of me wonders if he went after the Dragoniers that made the blunder that cost Mom her life. Still, I have to start somewhere, I can't just give up," I said and she looked at me.

"You have such a serious expression. You're too young to have to carry all that weight," she mumbled, "Still if you plan to become a Dragonier someday it would be good to learn a few things while you are here, right?" She isn't wrong, but is it really okay to have them start training me if I'm going to leave them? "Anyways I have to get back to work. I have to clean up and get ready to make our dinner. Lets keep everything that we talked about between us okay?" she said and stood. I nodded and also stood

"I'm going to see if I can help out somewhere else," I said. I'll mop and sweep the whole ship if there isn't anything else I can do. I hate to sit still, I've been working almost nonstop for about two years now and I've gotten used to it.

"If not I can always use help in the kitchen," she said and smiled at me before opening my door and heading off towards the kitchen. I went to find Mitch again and ended up running right into Valis.

Sure enough Valis put me to work and had me sweep and mop the ship corridors and then do the laundry. By the time I finished it was Dinner time and though I was hungry I decided to skip Dinner. I didn't really want to see his face again right now. Plus I'm tired and don't want to deal with his crap either. I just headed to the deck and leaned on the railing.

The sun was setting and I just stared out at it, enjoying the wind on my skin and enjoying the quiet peace. Aside from a few harsh crew members and the hard work this wasn't a bad place to be. I've even made a couple friends, which I haven't had in a while.

"It's a great view isn't it? I come out here every night just to watch the sun set. Tomorrow after breakfast come to the bridge, there is something I want to give you," Mitch said startling me at first. I nodded and something moving caught my eye. It was in the direction of the setting sun so I couldn't see it too well but I could tell it was big.

"Oh, what a rare sight. You have great luck. That is what we call the Dusk Dragon, It's said to be one of the oldest dragons. If a Sailor or in our case a flyer sees it it's said to be a sign of good luck," he said. Getting a better look at the glittering scales and yellow and orange color my breath caught. It's gorgeous and almost majestic.

"Don't you hunt Dragons though, shouldn't you be going after it?" I asked curious, but hoped he wouldn't.

"We may hunt Dragons but we only go after ones that have caused some trouble. There is also an unspoken code that Elder Dragons as well as baby dragons are off limits. If we completely wipe them out, there wouldn't be much use for Dragoniers," he said and I relaxed a little. That amazing dragon was safe for now. He chuckled and leaned on the railing next to me.

"Still what if the Dragon is causing trouble in order to protect its eggs or child?" I asked.

"In those cases we Dragoniers try the best we can to capture them and relocate them away from towns or places people visit. That being said we can't always capture them easily so there has been incidents in which the parent is accidentally killed. When that unfortunately happens we try our best to get the egg or baby dragon back to it's kind as quickly as possible.

We aren't demons, Zion, we do have morals. That said there are some crews, not many but some, that will hunt down every dragon in their path. Those Bastards really piss me off," Mitch said.

"Will you - Will you teach me the way you do things? I can't explain it, but I like dragons and I respect that you try to save them and not just hunt them. It might be selfish of me to ask since my time with you may be short, but I want to learn and I want to learn from you and your crew," I said. Somehow asking him wasn't hard at all and I actually felt calm about it.

"I don't think it's selfish at all, I think if you were going to learn I'd rather it be by us. Even if you left tomorrow I wouldn't mind, the fact you were even able to finally ask is a huge step forward. Besides that I'm always happy to teach, especially when I know in my heart that the person is sincere about it," he said. He then told me I'd better go get some food while I can.