Dragon's life in college

Ch. 48 Lessons with Deep, part 2

But Nigel still wondered what in the world any of this had to do with learning how to breath fire. But since Deep looked deeply invested in whatever tiny component was causing his machine to not work, Nigel decided not to ask him. Besides, he still had to determine what Deep had even written on the papers he’d shoved at him, which wasn’t the easiest task as Nigel was certain Ember had neater handwriting.

It took a while, but eventually Nigel stood up, staring proudly at a piece of paper. While his final calculations weren’t done yet, he still had more work to do, he had managed to make significant headway on it.

“That’s it.”

Deep’s voice startled Nigel to badly that he nearly tripped over his own tail as he jerked upright. He had been so engrossed in his work that he had nearly forgotten the other dragon was there.

“That’s how you need to stand for breathing fire. Not all stiff and upright like you’re a stone carving, but loose and relaxed. Not slouched or careless, but relaxed.”

Deep paced forward. “That’s the main root of your problems. You tense up so much that your muscles can’t control themselves, which result in the erratic flames you experience. I suppose that you’ve felt a tightness in your throat every time you breath fire?”

Nigel nodded. “But I always thought those were a result of my being nervous.”

“The first few times they probably are. Although by now you should be long past the point of nervousness. Your father didn’t do a good job at teaching you.”

“My father didn’t really teach me at all,” Nigel admitted. “At least, for long. He usually just ended up frustrated at my inability.” That was the polite term his father had used, a more accurate term would be uselessness or incompetence. But Nigel figured that Deep didn’t want to know all of that.

Deep hummed slightly, nudging one of Nigel’s wings into a slightly different position. “His fault,” he said simply. “A good teacher doesn’t get frustrated to the point of not trying. Your father is a bit of a traditional perfectionist, isn’t he?”

“Yes,” Nigel admitted.

“And I also take it that he’s not the most thrilled at your unconventional career choice, even though accountants are needed. How else would everyone know how much money they have, since most dragons can’t be bothered to keep an accurate account, especially if they routinely raid villages.”

“Did Oceania tell you that?” Nigel didn’t think his friend would tell her father that, but he wasn’t certain.

“Not all of it. She told me you wanted to be an account and that your father wasn’t thrilled, the rest of it I figured out myself.” Deep swooped off the ledge for a moment, only to reappear holding a more neatly organized stack of papers.

“What else was there to figure out?” Nigel asked, as Deep vanished again.

“A lot.” Deep reappeared behind him. “Wings outspread please. There, like that. Don’t worry, this is necessary,” he said as he started to wrap some leather straps around Nigel.

“What is this?”

“A posture corrector,” Deep said. “It was mine when I first started using my breath weapon. I had the same issue as you, tended to be a bit too stiff which result in poor control. My teacher was more patient with me though, so it didn’t take long before I learned the correct posture and how to hold it. Since you’ve had years of bad habits and nervousness to work against, this should help. It keeps you in a more relaxed position, prevents muscles from seizing up or tightening to the point of loosing control. It’s still on you to learn the correct posture, but this helps. I suggest wearing it whenever you’re practicing and even when you’re not. Don’t worry, it doesn’t need to be on all day, just a few hours a day.”