Beneath the Waves

A Bond Forged

They exchanged pleasantries for a while, chatting over this and that. Ria told them about the first time she transformed in front of Chris, and Chris told them about her becoming Chayal against her will (this softened Appo up a little bit) and how she had no control once she was under and close to Ria. They told the old dragons about their plan of training to be in the same place together, and Chris controlling herself, and how they would have to go to the dungeon and practice. Chris even told them about the library. Ria could see Appo's eyes widen at that... what he wouldn't give to be able to see it. That was deep in enemy territory though, and she wasn't sure he would risk everything he had.

Armin and Appo told them about their son, how him and his family now lived in another country, and how they found more of their kind there. They told them how there was a great fire when they were both still young and inexperienced, how they lost all of their books and the traditions that came with being Aghesto. They had lost everything, but "at least they still had each other".

The conversation continued over dinner, and as it turns out, Appo was a great cook. They had lamb chops with blackberry chutney and a bunch of different fancy sides. This had to be the best meal either of them had eaten in a really long time. They ate with gusto, and Ria didn't miss the smile on Appo's face when Chris went for a second chop.

After dinner, when they went to sit in the lounge again, that's when the talking really began.

"Do you two have anything to protect yourself from the Chayal following you?" Armin asked, shooting Chris an apologetic look at the word Chayal.

"I mean... I have my Chayal form and the powers I get when I transform" Chris replied

"And I have my powers once I transform too" Ria added

"I mean something to PREVENT them from finding you. Something to keep them from being able to track you" he continued

Both of them shook their heads, they had no idea something like that even existed.

"Chayal were created to find and kill us. It's like a moth drawn to a flame. A very angry moth with a very very big sword. They are expert assassins and have killed millions of our kind, your kind too." he said, looking at Ria

"All of us originals" Appo chimed in

Armin took Appo's hand in his and squeezed it gently. Ria got the feeling that they had lost someone dear to them to a Chayal.

After a minute Armin got up and brought Ria a small velvet box. Apologetic look once again reserved for Chris, he said "I apologize child, I think it would be too uncomfortable for you to wear this"

"What is it?" she asked leaning closer to Ria so she could see

Ria opened the box and inside was what looked like a pitch-black stone attached to a silver chain.

"A necklace?" she asked, confused

"Not just any necklace, it's black obsidian, it will grant you protection against the Chayal. It won't protect you from harm, but it will make them blind to you, unable to find you or trace your whereabouts" he responded

Chris reached out to touch it, and when her finger made contact she yanked her hand back immediately.

"Ouch that fucking hurt" she said

"It's your kind's one weakness. The only way to kill a Chayal is by using a blade of black obsidian" said Appo

"Luckily for you, Chayal were not designed to track each other so you should be safe" said Armin, looking at Chris

"How do you know they won't come after you?" asked Ria, genuinely concerned

"Well, if you remember our beautiful wedding ringts, they're not purely for aesthetics, they are also made of black obsidian, just in case. As an extra measure, our roof is tiled with it to hide our house from them... all but one" said Appo, glancing at Chris as he said the last part.

"I promise I'm not a danger to you... I'm only unable to control my transformation in the presence of a transformed original" she said defensively

"That brings us to the next part" said Armin, "we want to help you practice controlling yourself".

"Wh... Why would you put yourself in danger?" asked Chris

"For a long time we thought that we were the only ones left. We have family in our motherland. And there might be a few scattered tribes across the globe that have survived, but we feel a strong urge to protect you, kiddo" he said this last bit looking at Ria, then turned to Chris "and for some reason you too".

"The violence between our people has been more brutal than you can imagine. The massacre of our lands at the hands of Chayal, the number of young Chayal dead at ours... if there is a way to stop it, we want to help" Appo chimed in.

Chris and Ria looked at each other, stunned. They didn't know exactly what the two old men intended to do to help them, but they were thankful to have it.

"Chris" said Armin, "we believe that if you are able to control the spiritual aspect of being Chayal, you will more easily be able to control it when you transform." he turned to Ria "and Ria, you need to learn the extent of your powers. You have a book, but you need a mentor - we might not be the same type of original, but there should be some overlap."

He continued his explanation saying that he would be helping Chris with meditation and getting into contact with the spiritual realm (since he was some kind of spiritual yoga-doing dragon) and Appo (who had no time for that yoga nonsense) would help Ria train in monster form.

Ria was getting excited. This mean that she WOULD be seeing at least Appo in his dragon form, she literally couldn't wait.

"You'd take time out of your lives just to do this for us?" asked Chris, almost in awe

"It's not just for you. It's for all of us" replied Appo

They worked out the details, and since Armin and Appo's house had a really big (private) yard and a really unused basement, they would be training here. Hopefully the two were far enough apart that it didn't trigger Chris' transformation. As far as they knew, she had to see Ria, or any one of the monsters probably, to transform. So as long as they stayed out of each other's way, things would be fine. Chris was just happy that she didn't have to immediately figure out a way to get Ria into the dungeon. That they found a different place to train, and some actual help.

Before trainin commenced, however, they had homework to do. Chris was to study the notebook Amma left her, and practice controlling her powers as much as she possibly could according to Amma's instructions. Ria's homework was to finish reading the book of sea monsters and then transform and test all of her powers while in her monster state.

It felt like they had a really long road ahead of them, but at least they had direction now. It felt good to have real adults around for once, adults they could actually talk to about this. They knew that when they came face to face with Chayal again, they would be ready. As ready as they could be.