"Are you sure this is necessary?' Qibli asked Moon. "Can't we talk to the mastermind or something?" "No, first of all, I don't want the mastermind to try to experiment on her, and second she's the only dragon alive that would know if anything like this was heard of back then," Moon replied. "Well, sure, but if there is a scientific explanation...." But his trailed-off train of thought signified he wasn't sure if he believed that statement.
"So do I, but frankly, I trust Hope better than Mastermind because of what he did to Kinkajou and the other rainwings." She retorts. "Although I will give him credit for trying to help them the best he can," she said, giving him some respect. "Although I don't think there IS a scientific explanation."
The two stopped in front of a house and knocked on the wooden door. After a moment, Hope opened the door. "Ah, Moon and Qibli, my favorite night/sand couple," she said with a smile, stepping back to allow them to come inside. "Hey Hope, how have you been?" Qibli asked. "Been pretty well. How about you two?"
"We've been doing well. Spirit just started to tell corny jokes like Qibli here." Moon jokes, nudging Qibli. "Hey, they make you laugh, don't they?" He retorted with a friendly smile. Hope laughed, "Good luck, Moon, There are only so many corny jokes a dragon can make before they turn to corn mush." she warned with a teasing tone. "What brings you two to my humble abode?" She asked.
"Well, Spirit has been in some odd situations, and we were wondering if there were some ancient prophecies or mentions of similar events that might explain it. I haven't had any vision in a long while, so I'm at a loss." Moon said. "And while they aren't deadly, yet we don't want them to get to that point." Qibli finished.
"Mmmm what makes you think I'll be helpful? I do have a lot of memories still of the prophecies, but it's been a while since those times." She pointed out. "Well, we think it's connected to some strange runes on her body," Qibli said. "They are very old and neither of us knows what they mean." That caught her attention, "Runes? Do they seem to be written in a different language?" she asked.
"Yeah, why?" Moon asked. Instead of answering, she asked. "What are these occurrences?" "She would suddenly get soaked with water, but there was nothing to cause it, she found winter berries in the rainforest and there was one time the ground went from solid to liquid like a mudslide. She was trapped up to the neck for almost an hour before we got her free." Qibli said. "Why? Do you know what is going on?"
"There was a prophecy. That, someone, would be gifted the power of the elements, but I thought that had long since passed..." she said, opening a drawer on the coffee table. "But it's the only one I wrote down because of what it entails and how it could be interpreted." She continues. "Let's see." she unrolled the scroll, quoting the prophecy.
Years from now though none may see
A powerful force will come to be
On a dragon's scales, they shall have
Strange runes of old on the young Dragon calve
These runes of old upon the dragonet
The dragon shall have powers of the elements yet
Many shall these as a threat
And all powers shall want her as an asset
Those who know of it will be wary
For that, they don't understand they find scary
If the dragon uses their power for good
The kingdoms will find them without falsehood
If they use their power for vile
Their home will turn black and fill with bile
If that happens only one can hope to crack
To end the wickedness with one swift attack
"Three moons," Qibli whispered. "Talk about multiple interpretations." "Which is why I wrote it down, that way I can theorize differently in my head while having an original copy around. Usually, just for curiosity's sake, I never gave it any real thought. I would be willing to look at the runes and try to help in any way." She said, "Alright, thank you. We would appreciate it if maybe we can all put our heads together and figure out how to stop these occurrences." Qibli said with a nod. "Although I'm worried about the part of ending her in a swift attack."
"If she uses her abilities for evil purposes," Moon said. "Spirit's a nice dragon, so I don't believe she will do bad things no matter what power she has." "Well, that's the problem," Hope said, causing them both to look back. "What we may see as nice and vile could be different from a different tribe. The seawings for example ban eating dolphins because one of the queens believed that seawings and dolphins are related. We see them as just fish and prey to eat, while they see a kinship with them." Hope explained. "And unless you want all of the continent to know about this, we need to do everything possible to hide her newfound abilities, so she doesn't fall victim to scrutiny and possible experimentation and/or weaponization." Hope explained.
Moon sighted. "And I thought worrying about queens weaponizing mind reading and future seeing was hard enough." She rubbed her temple. "But now my daughter?? I'm beginning to see how my mother was always stressed out. Did the nightwings ever figure out a plan in case it was them?" She asked Hope, "Well, yes and No," She responded. "The most realistic theory was that since the elemental power was going to be incredibly powerful if the dragon with them didn't try to be at least able to control them, anomalous things would happen around them, linking the dragon to said elemental abilities. Imagine it like a dam, if there is proper maintenance then the dam won't overflow. If neglected, the dam will slowly fall into disrepair. But in this case, instead of disrepair, the power that flows through your daughter has to be understood by her. If she doesn't understand the power and is, therefore, able to control the use of said power, it will continue to show itself around her; I fear that if this goes on for too long it will start to become dangerous. The only thing is we aren't sure how many elements she will be able to control. The most we came up with are the main ones anyone could think of. Water, Air, Earth, and Fire. But there could be more that we don't consider elements. I'll help in any way I can. Give me a moment to gather all the theory scrolls I thought up." she said before heading into a back room.
Qibli placed his wing over the Moon. "I'm sure it'll be ok. From what I understood from the essay, she just said All we need to do is help Spirit understand and be able to control her powers, and then it should stop manifesting around her. No one would have to know."
"I know that, but I'm just worried that, because there are twelve different runes, we won't be able to figure it all out." She said quietly. "Well, that depends," Hope said, coming back out from the back room with a bulging pouch. "I've only ever had one picture of a rune, and I think I've just about cracked how to decipher them," Hope said with a grin. "Moon you and your friends saved me from the icewings, from the nightwings of my past, but most importantly you all gave me the chance to raise the son I've always wanted. I'm going to help you both figure this out. It's the least that I could do." she said with a reassuring nod.
"Alright let's go," Moon said, putting on a determined face as they headed back to Moon and Qiblis's home. They opened the door and, while Hope unpacked her scrolls, they brought Spirit home and explained what Hope had told them; Trying to make sure that no one was around who would try to report this information to Queen Glory or any of the other queens.
"I have powers? That's so cool!" she said excitedly. "Spirit, you know you can't tell anyone," Moon said. "I Know there are dragons who would experiment and study me. I heard you for the first time. I'm just saying it's cool. Assuming I can get these incidents under control." She nodded as they arrived and entered their home. The dragon trio was shocked to see how much Hope had. "What?" She asked. "I kept myself busy after my son went off to live on his own. And do you know how hard it is to try to decipher a rune you don't understand?" Spirit giggled as her parents just stared in stunned silence.
"Alright, from what I can tell....... I got nothing." Hope said once they got each rune enlarged. Spirit had allowed her to sketch out the runes all over Spirit's body and placed them on the table. "I thought you said that you just about had it?" Moon asked. "I know what I said, but the dragon who had the prophecy didn't see any of the runes on Spirit, this rune isn't anything like hers. You had a prophecy once, can you remember everything correctly?" She asked. "Good point." Moon agreed grimly, remembering the pain of her prophecies, "The pain alone made it hard to focus."
Spirit walked over and tried to look at the runes. "Spirit, you're supposed to be in bed," Qibli said when he noticed her trying to climb up. "I know, but I wanted to help. If it's bound to me, I might be able to see something you guys can't." She suggested. He chuckled. "Let me guess if I say no, you'll come back out anyway." She hung her head in half shame, half embarrassment. "Yes." She admitted. After a moment, he picks her up, so she can see. "Alright but not too much longer sweetie." She nods in thanks and looks at the runes. Tilting her head curiously, after a while she grabbed the one for her left front arm and tilted it onto its side, staring intently. "Do you see something, Spirit?" Her father asked, she reached and gently traced a flowing movement in the rune "Earth." She said after tracing it completely. Hope took in and looked at it for a good 5 minutes. "Dang, I don't see anything." She said in amazement before quickly writing the word 'earth' below it. Spirit smiled and went through each of them until she had finished each of them
Left front arm "Earth"
Her tail "Fire"
Her back left leg, "Water"
Her back right leg, "air"
Right-wing "plant"
Left-wing "lightning"
Her front right arm "Metal"
Neck "smoke"
Left horn "Sound"
Right horn "Speed"
Forehead "Mind
Chest "ice"
By the time she was done, her head was drooping in exhaustion. "I'll put her back into bed, Qibli said, scooping her up. "You did amazing, sweetie," Moon said, pride filling both hers and Qiblis' chest at how special their dragonet was. Hope looked at them all. "Wow. I don't even consider half of these elements." "Me neither," Moon said, "Did the nightwings have any theories on how to control them?"
"Yes, the dragon who had the prophecy did remember clearly that she saw a fuzzy shape of a dragon in deep meditation. Based on that, we could reasonably deduce it takes a deep connection with the dragon and her inner self. The meditation suggests that the dragon would need strong mental willpower to be able to control the elements. Because it's not animus related, we have no reason to believe the soul of the dragon would be in any danger. However, without any idea as to why these powers were gifted, we had no idea what she should concentrate the meditation on. But given only she could see the words, maybe when she begins her meditation she will instinctively know." Hope said, looking at the two. "Alright, thank you so much for your help," Qibli said. She smiled, "Anytime, if you have any other questions, feel free to ask." They both nodded, thanked her again, and wished her a safe trip home.
"Well, we are going to be able to teach her a lot more than what we had originally thought," Moon said, rubbing her head. "Yeah, but look on the bright side," Qibli said, pulling his partner close, "our little dragonet may save Pyrrhia one day." He kissed the top of her head gently. "If she gets caught and taken I-" Moon choked on her words, pressing her head into Qiblis' chest. "Hey, hey, calm down, it's ok. We won't let that happen, we made sure no one was listening, and even if someone does find out I'd rather fight tooth and claw against Queen Thorn herself than lose her." He said, gently squeezing her. She tried to get closer to him, his warm scales giving her a blanket of both warmth and comfort. "I know you would, as will I." She said quietly.
While they both enjoyed each other's embrace, promising each other to not lose their daughter to anyone who would treat her like some kind of oddity to use and exploit. They had no idea that a certain lime green rainwing had overheard their conversation.