Dragonsoul

Chapter 35

Years chased each other in what resembled a never-ending race, and each winter that came bore with it the greater sense of danger. Every winter was more threatening than the last one. Leonie and her family knew it was just a matter of time before the danger presented itself in its true form.

Nevertheless, life went on. No matter how scared they all were by what they could sense in the air, time continued to flow undisturbed by their mortal worries.

Leonie was growing up slowly yet steadily into a girl who was more in tune with herself and the world around her. Her confidence in her abilities and her worthiness was developing. It was chiefly due to the support of her family but especially Rim.

It was as if the dragon knew exactly what and when to say, as if the course of his mind followed the stream of her consciousness effortlessly. He always knew when she wandered from the path of confidence. He could sense when she was about to visit the cave of uncertainty, and he was there to haul her out with the power of his words.

His reassurances were as precise as Leonie's arrows came to be, and Leonie spent every day thanking the Fates for leading her to him. She was glad she at least had such an amazing being as her biggest supporter in those difficult times.

Leonie still missed her father dearly, but she had learned how to cope, how to survive without constantly being torn apart by the claws of sadness. As years went by, she learned how to allow the wound to heal. It still ached, but the pain was not as strong or as raw as it was at first.

There were good days, and there were terrible days. She was delighted to note, that even with the threat of danger hanging over their heads, the good days outnumbered the bad ones. It was the way her father would have wanted.

The best way to keep bad days at bay proved to be her little brother. Although he suffered similar scars, his young age had allowed his wounds to heal properly and although he missed their father, the pain was not as strong. How could one mourn something or someone they had trouble remembering clearly?

Even though Leonie frequently recounted Nald stories of their father's adventures, it was not the same. The boy had only the rare few actually memories, the rest were memories of Leonie's memories. That made them blurry, not vivid enough to cause suffering and yet strong enough to allow for fond remembrance.

He represented the sun that chased away the dark clouds with his endless energy and childlike joy that he managed to keep even though he did not consider himself a child anymore. He had grown both physically and mentally much faster than other children in the village. After all, he had his sister as a good example of how one should grow.

Amitola, on her part, was happy that even though life had delivered them a harsh blow her children had managed to stay true to themselves and be good people. That was all a mother could want.

While she worried about everyday tasks and taking care of her wonderful children, part of her mind was always trying to look ahead. It tried seeing the danger that they all knew was coming. Although she was not the one selected by the Fates, she was prepared to place herself between her children and whatever crisis might rain down on them.

The more time passed, the crueler Amitola found the Fates. Even Aqua could not calm down the anger of a mother, and often Amitola would do what none had ever dared do, she challenged the Fates. She challenged them to take her and let her daughter live her life in peace.

The Fates never responded to her please nor her threats.

Even though Aqua had pleaded with Amitola to stop tempting the Fates, Amitola never did. After all, there is nothing a mother would not do for her children.

Aqua's visits had become a regular occurrence over the years in anticipation of events that were predicted by all four Elementals. Her siblings disapproved of her meddling in mortal affairs, but since she never again shared more than she should have, they did not stop her. They knew she possessed a peculiar fascination with that family and merely decided to allow her transgression to continue. They had other, more important issues, to focus on.

As for the adorable little dragon that was Rim, he was gone.

In his place was a full-grown Green Scaled dragon, a wonder that few had the honor of beholding.

He had ultimately grown into his name, Rimar, The Firestarter, and allowed only Leonie, on rare occasions, to refer to him as Rim. All listened to his wishes since he was, after all, the most powerful being in the area.

They knew he would not harm them, yet none wished to risk the wrath of a powerful dragon. After all, a wise man respects power.

Leonie and he still spent a lot of time training, but it was even more intense than in their younger days. While back then they had practiced separately, since Rimar grew large enough to be able to carry Leonie, they started practicing how to work together.

Their first few attempts were not as gracefully performed as they had hoped, which was made immortal in Nald's poetry. Neither of them appreciated Nald's poetic inspiration, especially since it was not very flattering to them.

"To fly they thought they could

however, the air wasn't in the mood.

It blew them off its skies

as if they were annoying flies.

Now their pride is hurt,

and their answers are curt.

Oh, great ones, do not fear,

we will help you steer..."

It was a very long poem, but that was the main story it told which Leonie and Rimar did not find amusing in the least.

Although a few winters have come and gone without warning signs telling Leonie that it was time, every winter, she fretted. She worried that perhaps she did not heed the call. That she was too absorbed in her power to be able to distinguish what was a consequence of her worries and what the power within was telling her.

At times, she could not contain some of the more negative emotions from swirling through her thoughts, carrying everything on their way in a tornado of self-doubt and worry. However, at times, even jealousy was present.

Though no longer a little girl, Leoni was still a girl, still very young in body, though ancient in mind. Rimar, on the other hand, seemed to have grown in both body and mind in a blink of an eye. During her dark days, she envied the freedom that came from being deemed adult since no matter what happened, her mother worried too much about her trying to protect her as much as humanly possible.

Yet, Leonie thought that her overprotectiveness was unnecessary, exaggerated. Still, she understood why her mother did it and did not have the heart to tell her that it was having negative effects on her.

When Leonie would try to do some challenging tasks, to make herself stronger, both physically and mentally, her mother would offer help in a way that Leonie was unable to refuse. It was as if she was begging to help, as if it gave purpose to her life.

It was often said by the villagers, that some animals mated for life, and Leonie was starting to think that might be true for humans, as well, at least for her mother. However, Leonie thought it would be nice to see her mother happy again, to see her smile the way she did when her husband was alive.

The spark of life that all the beings were born with, seemed to be fading away from Amitola's heart, and it caused Leonie pain to see that. She did not wish for her mother to dedicate her whole life to her and Nald. After all, they would grow up, at some point, and Amitola would stay all alone, broken.

Leonie wished there was some magic way for her to fix everything, to make life joyous again, but she knew that all she could do was go on. Never giving up was the only gift she could give her mother and her late father.

Perhaps by living her life to the fullest, Leonie would be able to give a good example for her mother and Nald to follow. Yet, she was unsure if she would be alive long enough to do that.

After all, although the buds of spring were starting to slowly fade away, Leonie could feel that the next visit of the icy winter would be the one they had been waiting for.