Breath of Fire

Chapter Eight

      "That was completely horrible!" I complained two hours later as I followed Blair into the girl's locker room to wash off the dirt and grime that covered my limbs after fight and flight class. "How does anyone do two hours of this, let alone every other day - that's like...my brain can't even handle that amount of math right now; I'm so exhausted, point is, that is far  too many hours," I bit my lip to resist the urge to snarl in discontent. Every muscle in my body was sore and throbbing. How had I never noticed how many muscles I used on a daily basis? I doubted I would ever complain again about sore leg muscles. I was used to walking everywhere or using public transportation but the fight and flight class was beyond anything I could have ever imagined. It had not helped matters that Blair's brother and his friends were in the class as well. As the most skilled in the class, the professor had them roving around helping teach us "younger students" proper fighting techniques and flight tips; the latter not pertaining to me since I had no wings with which to fly. 

      Blaise had been a complete slave driver during our lesson, constantly shouting out directions at me and snorting in derision when I failed to follow his directions according to his high standards.  I personally thought he was being completely unfair. I had managed to survive this long without anyone's help which should say something, but all I got out of Blaise was a frown at every turn. It didn't seem to matter that I more than kept up during the running portion of the class and out climbed half of the students at the rock wall, all that mattered to Blaise, was my faults. Why was that all he ever focused on? I was starting to sense a pattern here and I didn't like it one it. I had thought to mention it to Blair, Blaise being her brother and all, but I didn't want to seem like a baby who couldn't handle a little stiff competition. 

      I sighed with relief as I stepped into one of the free showers and turned the heat as high up as it could go. I immediately felt a sense of calm wash over me as I grabbed a bar of scented pomegranate soap (my favorite scent) and lifted an arm up to wash under my arms. Nothing better than a nice hot shower! I didn't even care if it didn't make sense to take a hot shower after spending two hours hot and sweaty, I had always loved my showers hot, no matter what the circumstances and I doubted that was going to change anytime soon.

      Ten minutes later, I stepped out of the shower and changed into the same skin tight outfit that Blair had picked out for me to wear before fight and flight school. I squirmed uncomfortably as I stared at my reflection in the mirror. If it wasn't for the lack of makeup I wouldn't have recognized the girl in front of me. 

      "Come on, hurry up, Bambi! We don't have all day to stand here looking at ourselves," Blair said cheerfully as she all but grabbed my hand and forced me out of the changing room and off to our next lesson.

      I moaned and groaned my way through the intro to wind class, my sore muscles screaming for my attention. I almost felt bad for the professor, as I glanced around and noticed that I was not the only one not paying attention to the lesson. Everywhere I looked, there was a student shifting in their seat trying to stretch out their poor muscles. It was comforting to know that I wasn't the only one in pain after fight and flight, but again, I felt sorry for the poor professor who stood at the front of the class desperately trying to keep his class focused on the information at hand. It sounded quite interesting; he was talking out the first four dragons in existence and how they had been taught by their parents how to control the earth, wind, fire, and water elements but I was just too bruised and mentally worn out to pay much attention. Besides, I still had a sneaking suspicion that my memory was going to be erased in the next few days so it really didn't matter either way if I retained any information since it would all be wiped out anyways. 

      *****

      Four hours later, I grabbed a bowl of salad and walked out of the kitchen to place it on the dining room table as Elios and Terrence grabbed the rest of the food. They had taught me how to make a warm lentil salad and paired it with some eggplant over toasted baguette with garlic aioli. I had to admit, it tasted far better than I ever would have imagined. My stomach was used to a diet of cheap fast food because that was about all I could afford on my own. Blair had decided to spend the evening with a few of her other friends so dinner tonight was just me and the boys. I was still traumatized from fight and flight class which the others seemed to find amusing for some reason. 

      "Don't worry, little dove, as with everything else, you'll learn quickly, I mean you have us four geniuses to guide you through so how could you possibly fail!" Elios said as he slathered on some garlic aioli onto a piece of break and piled a stack of the eggplant on top with a smug grin on his face the entire time. I rolled my eyes, but Elios just swallowed and stuck his tongue out at me in response. 

      After dinner the five of us went into the living room, tea in hand, and decided to play another round of dragon chess. Blaise didn't want to join so he sat in a chair away from the group  reading a book while Elios, Terrence, Caspian, and I set up the board game. If it weren't for the fact that the game board consisted of three separate boards raised up into the air above one another I think I would have had a better grasp of the game, but the three dimensional aspect of the game made it even harder to understand and I was constantly making the wrong moves. Nevertheless, there was something soothing and extremely pleasant about sitting down with the guys with a cup of steaming tea and a interactive game that brought out the laughter inside of us. It was hard to believe that I had already spent three days now in the dragon realm and had completed my first day at "dragon university" as I had decided to call it.

      After playing three rounds of chess, I managed to break away and sat down with my new books and took a wild stab at getting some of my homework done. I had no idea why I was bothering to do homework for a university that I wasn't ever going to be able to graduate from but hey, I may as well follow the rules and see how long I could manage to survive here, right?

*****

      I woke up the next morning feeling more rested than I could ever remember feeling and I stretched my arms high up in the air with a satisfying yawn of approval. I stumbled into the bathroom, splashed some water on my face to help me wake up as I brushed my teeth and hair and took a quick shower. After I finished getting ready, I went downstairs to see about making some breakfast with the boys. I plodded into the kitchen only to find that the downstairs was completely empty. They must have made their way into school early again. Oh well, I'd survived this long all on my own, I think I could manage a quick breakfast without anyone's help. I rummaged around the cabinets and refrigerator until I had collected everything I was going to need to make some eggs on toast with leftover garlic aioli from yesterday. 

      Fifteen minutes later, I sat down at the table and took a big bite out of my toast, letting the flavors dance across my tongue with joy. Living on the streets, I usually stuck to cheap fast food whenever and wherever I could afford it, but there was something more enjoyable about eating a homemade meal that was both tasty and healthy. I had just finished washing the dishes when Blair burst into the cottage, shouting merrily as she came in to greet me. I rolled my eyes but smiled right back at her. She was wearing yet another skintight outfit that matched her flame colored pixie cut hair beautifully. 

      "So what lessons do we have today?" I asked her as I closed the front door behind us.

      "Well, they like to mix the days up so that everyone gets a good understanding of all of the elements, not just the ones they have an affinity for - so today we are focusing on the element of wind. Elios helps assist with those classes, Terrence helps with the earth classes, Caspian the water classes, and of course, my brother helps with the fire classes," Blair explained to me as we made our way across the lawn and towards the first class of the day. "Elios told me that the professors want to observe how you react to each of the elements to see where your specialty lies. Once they find that out, it will be a lot easier to figure out what kind of a dragon you are and what your heritage is," she added. I hung my head in embarrassment but not wanting to admit that I thought everyone was going through a whole lot of trouble for something that may not end up bearing any fruit. Yes, I had developed some sort of control over the four elements growing up, but "control" was a very loose description and I rarely was able to do anything on command. The longer I stayed here and the more I learned, the more my hope grew that maybe I had found my place but I still found it highly doubtful that I myself was a dragon, especially when dragons like Penelope reminded me on a constant basis that I didn't belong in this realm...