Dragonsoul

Chapter 20

Upon receiving her mother's permission, Leonie ran to Rim, excited to start his training. She felt as if she were a Dragon Trainer of the olden times. The same ones many in her village had spoken about and yet were never able to tell whether those tales of heroes and battles were truth or fiction.

Whatever the truth might be did not matter what mattered was the idea, the notion of being heroic that everyone wanted to feel in their hearts at least once. After hearing so many stories about the Dragon Trainers from her father, Leonie couldn't help but imagine herself in that role.

However, the training did not begin the way Leonie had hoped. The first raft she had made was a challenge for Rim to hit. He made either too much fire in the wrong direction or too little in the right direction.

The reality quickly erased the ideal image of their training that Leonie had in her mind. She was a bit disappointed, but she still did her best to hide those emotions from Rim.

He was taking his failure to control part of himself hard, and Leonie did not want to make the situation even worse for him. She understood that since it was his first time trying to control his power, it challenging, but her expectations were higher.

"Rim, let's take a break. Let me give you some advice," Leonie said, keeping a safe distance from the firebreathing dragon.

"Fine," Rim said, dejectedly as he closed his mouth while a puff of smoke came out of his nose.

"Listen, Rim, I think that you are worrying too much about the training. You are trying too hard, and that is why you can't do it." Leonie said.

"What do you mean?" Rim asked.

"My father used to say that if you do something just to have it done, the work you do will be empty, it will not have that special spark of who you are in it. That way, even if you do accomplish a task, it will not be worth as much as the one that originated from the heart.

That's why his advice to me was: 'Whatever you do, do it with your whole heart. No matter how menial and lifeless the task might be, you can give it life by providing it with your special spark, your unique way of accomplishing the task'.

Now I am giving the same advice to you. Do not do things the same way others have done them find your unique way, have fun." Leonie said.

"It sounds like your father was wise. Even you sound like a sage, not a little girl." Rim said.

"He was one of the wisest men I know, and he transferred a lot of that knowledge to me. I was never truly a little girl I always knew much more than most of the girls my age. I guess now, with my father's death, I just had to grow up even more." Leonie said.

"Is never truly being a little girl a good thing or a bad one?" Rim asked.

"Both, if he hadn't taught me to be strong, I would have broken like a branch in the storm. However, I am still here standing proudly withstanding the storm." Leonie said.

Rim looked at her with such deep sadness that Leonie wondered if the sadness she saw in his eyes was his or her sadness reflected in Rim's soul. Was the tear that glistened on the sun and collided with the fertile soil his or her own?

"So, are you ready to try again?" Leonie asked, desperately trying to change the subject.

"Yes, I am ready," Rim said determinedly.

Instead of just spitting fire like Leonie expected him to do, as he did before, he stood on the shore, focusing on his target. It reminded Leonie of the way she usually estimated the target's distance, and then line up the arrows to be able to make a precise shot.