Book IV: Avi Dragon

Them Bones, Them Bones, Them Dragon Bones

Angel flopped back against the pillows, gasping for air. Her face was flushed, braids awry, and the monitor looked like a Martian landscape. The ties at her nape had come undone again. For a solid minute, her labored breathing was the only sound in the room. He let her rest that long.
   "Ready for round two?" Avriel asked.
   Angel groaned and rolled her head toward the window. It was all she had the energy for.
   "Don't worry, you can do it lying down."
   Esther snickered behind him.
   Avi blushed, unable to look at any of his family members. "That's not what I meant! I was talking about Shifting..."
   Angel chuckled wearily.
   "You may as well know that you won't transform today, okay?"
   Angel was too tired to argue that she'd already figured the wings out.
   "First, we meditate. If you're lucky, you'll See the notches and hinges on your bones. That's the first step. You can't stretch muscles and joints, if you don't know you have them." He was repeating the same words his mother had said when she taught him.
   "The muscles I know of are too tired to stretch, anyway."
   "That's why I thought now would be a good time to practice. Your body is exhausted, so maybe your mind can focus better. Does that make sense?"
   "Yeah, sort of."
   "I can show you what to feel for, how to center yourself. Your body knows what it can do. It's your mind that you've got to convince. You figured one part out by accident. The rest might not be so easy."
   He patted her shoulder, self-conscious in front of his family.
   "It takes time, and practice. For you, it may go faster, because you have more free time than I do; or it could take longer, because you're still in recovery. We won't know until you try."
   "Nothing worth having is easy," Angel growled.
   Shelly laughed. "That's what I said."
   He lifted her chin gently. She blushed, resisted the urge to pull away. They were married now; she had no reason to shy away from affection. It was an old habit she'd have to break, if they were going to get along. The past two days had shown her that he was as affectionate as he seemed. There would be a lot of little touches like this to get used to.
   "You'll need more patience than ever before, Angel. The programming is here." He tapped her forehead with two fingers. "You just have to find it."
   She couldn't argue with his logic, so she followed the guided meditation he learned from his mother, trying to see her own bones. They sat cross-legged, facing each other. He sat straight and tall, while she had to raise the head of the bed and lean into it. Shelly gave advice here and there, as she saw the need.
   Esther went home soon after, to sleep for a week, as she said.
   He was right, in that she was too tired to get restless, but she had to work twice as hard to relax. Everything was one big ache.
   She was just beginning to get frustrated, when she Saw a tiny latch in her elbow. Her head cocked to one side, though her eyes were closed.
   She extended the arm by the window out straight, between Avi and the machinery, so she wouldn't hit anyone if her hunch was correct. What if I twist and flick my arm like this?
   The newlyweds yelped almost simultaneously, and clutched their knuckles. That is to say that Angel tried to, but one arm was now twice as long as the other.
   Everyone stared at her arm, with varied reactions: Shelly was proud, and a tad nostalgic. Mike was trying very hard not to be horrified, because she hadn't locked it in place. It looked crooked, and not right. Avi was stunned, and perhaps a touch jealous. Angel was trying not to panic, because she could feel that it wasn't supposed to bow the way it was.
   Shelly walked round the bed and carefully nudged her daughter-in-law's elbow into its new slot. Angel immediately relaxed with an audible sigh.
   "And that's why I didn't try it with the IV arm," she said, her mouth twisted wryly. "Now that I've got that part, how do I undo it? We don't need a nurse freaking out."
   Shelly gave her a Look. Angel sighed, closed her eyes again. She Looked for the little latch, squinted at it as though that would somehow help her understand how it worked.
   Shelly turned her arm sideways, and she Saw how a... diagonal flex..? Might pop it out so she could... She'd used centrifugal force to whip it out, like a cane. How did she... Do I push against the wall--? It was crude, and painful, but she could See that it was working.
   Not fast enough, however. The door started to open--
   Shelly grabbed her palm and thrust sharply up toward her shoulder. Angel yelped. The nurse's aide came in to see her mother-in-law holding her wrist in a weird way.
   "There, does that feel better?" she asked, quite as if nothing were amiss.
   "Yes and no," Angel said, rubbing her elbow.
   "It should feel better soon. Good thing I know a few chiropractor tricks, isn't it?"
   Angel saw what she was doing. She nodded, rubbing her arm appreciatively. She couldn't lie, but that didn't mean she couldn't let people believe the lie of another.
   The aide came in to inspect the damage, casting suspicious looks at the amateur chiropractor. He couldn't find anything wrong with any of the readings, or her arm, now that she was wholly human.
   "If your heart is going to work that hard after OT, we may have to take you off of it until you're in better shape."
   "I'm fine!" Angel protested.
   "It was most likely the pain causing stress. You can see, after a minor adjustment, that it's fine now." Shelly raised her hands, palm up. "I was just trying to help."
   "You did help," Angel said. "I feel much better now. Thank you." She wasn't lying. Being half-Shifted was extremely uncomfortable. It wasn't her heart pumping blood to the further extremity that bothered her. It was the feeling of being half in one body, half in another. Being shoved back into the body she was born in was a vast relief, and it showed.
   The aide glared at them, but Shelly was right. Her heart rate was back within a normal range, if a tad high, out of worry.
   "If you have pain after your next session, let one of us know. I'm not saying you did anything wrong, ma'am, but we're liable for everything that happens to her while she's in our care. I'd appreciate it if you'd leave things to the professionals from now on."
   Shelly agreed to his terms, but Angel could sense a fire under the surface. She reached out and squeezed the older woman's hand in silent support.
   "While I'm here, I may as well get you some bone broth."
   Angel groaned. "Can't I try some solid food? Anything but that!"
   The man scowled. "I doubt you want liver, and that's the only thing that's got the nutrients you need. Besides, we don't know how your stomach will handle solid food."
   "What if we made mashed potatoes with bone broth? No, wait, then it'd take longer to get it down. I'd like something solid, though. That broth doesn't hold me for long."
   "You're hungry?" he asked. Hunger was usually a good sign of recovery, and she knew it.
   "Famished. Can't I have something small, see if it stays down?" She was begging at this point, but she didn't care. Her stomach was trying to gnaw its way through her skin.
   "I'll see what the doctor says."
   It was the best she could hope for. She choked down the bone broth when he brought it, hoping it was one of the last she'd have to drink.
   When the aide seemed to be done coming and going, Avi smiled at his parents. "Didn't I tell you she was a scrapper? I didn't think you'd be able to do it right after OT," he said to Angel. "I thought you'd get some mental stimulation, get your mind off being tired."
   "Yes, you did say she was tough. Thanks, by the way, for helping your mother."
   Angel blushed, having Mike refer to them as her parents so soon after the rushed wedding. "She did help," was all she'd say.
   "Even so, maybe the practicing should wait until you're not being monitored anymore?"
   "Probably for the best," she agreed. "We've seen that I've got the general idea. Should be enough, for now."
   Shelly squeezed her hand once and released it. "You two should come out to the cabin. Maybe if you see how she does it, you'll figure it out," she said to her son.
   Avi grinned. "First chance we get, you can bet we will!"
   Angel wasn't thrilled about the assumption that she'd agree, even though she would have. She had to remind herself that she was his Guardian, as well as his... wife. That word was going to take some getting used to.
   The aide came back with snack options, most of which she couldn't have. It was a harsh reminder of her limitations--one of which being the missing teeth she'd forgotten about, until now. Her new in-laws didn't say anything about it, but she felt self-conscious. She resolved to find her partial dentures before they returned the next day.