Triple Strength

236. Change: Wiremu

I am feeling very unsettled. I really don’t want Kelda to leave, but it is looking more and more likely that she will go after Waiouru. I realise she is not asking me to stop my mission to go with her. I can't ask her to stay with me when she is uncomfortable with the fighting. There will be lots of fighting. Bloody hell, this is hard. She hasn’t decided yet and won’t till after Waiouru, but I need to be prepared.

I went with Tabitha and watched the army march in today. I think the whole city watched their arrival. There were almost three thousand troops under Colonel Peters. There were four majors under him, each with four captains, and so on down the line. Along with the army were two affinity users with their own squads. One was some sort of Nature Affinity, and the other was Air Affinity of some sort. The Colonel, his key leaders and the Affinity users took over the Duke’s mansion and the fort for now. Half the troops stayed in the city, and the other half started construction of a new Army base just outside the walls. The Nature Affinity User did a lot of the work. I think it was a wood or tree affinity. This obviously took a lot of Tabitha and Ruku’s time. Runa was on the periphery as well. I stayed well away.

Kelda was allowed up the next day but only allowed gentle exercise. Her leg and chest still had bandages. Astrid says it will be maybe a week before we can think about travelling to Waiouru.

While Tabitha hob nobbed with the top brass, Rodion and Wild Bill went drinking with the troops. I wanted a feel of how the soldiers felt. As expected, they had rushed here expecting a battle only to find it peaceful. Everybody was wondering what was going on. Some were thankful for the peace, and others wanted to test themselves. Everyone was glad they didn’t have to fight in the streets with civilians.

It was early evening, and I got warning vibes from Tāoke. He had stayed with Težka at the cottage, and something was wrong with Kelda and Liten. I got up to leave the tavern when the city alarm bells went off, and the army buglers trumpeted the call to arms. Krov’ had arrived.

My priority was Kelda. Krov’ was why the army was here, so he was their problem. Everybody was moving at speed, so my running did not stand out. The door to Kelda’s room was locked, so I knocked loudly.

The “Come in.” I received sounded strange, so I forced the door and entered. The first thing I saw was Kelda huddled on the floor, cradling something, holding it tight. The second thing I saw was the table with the eggs pulled to the centre of the room. The wyvern egg was cracked open. Did it hatch?

I started moving forward, and a bloody mess at the table's base came into view. I hope it is not Liten. No, I made out the dead remains of an almost-formed baby wyvern, lying with rips and cuts.

I approached Kelda and saw she was cradling Liten, but a struggle was happening. I used my Analyse Bond Skill and “Dragon shit!” It slipped out.

“She wanted to get stronger,” Kelda said.

They cracked the egg and got the embryonic Moster Core from the wyvern, and Liten ate it. The core would not yet have formed properly, and the ritual said compatibility was not there. I wanted to run the ritual again with their fire to test it. A bond might happen with less compatible cores, but making a monster was a big risk, as Layla had shown us.

“What do I do?” Kelda said desperately.

How the hell do I know? I didn’t say that. I don’t think. “Stay strong. Let me examine the bond.”

They were bloody idiots. Kelda should have known better. It was pointless saying that now, and I am sure Kelda was realising this in the worst way. I sat beside her and had a good close look at the bond. Before, the bond was like bright, dancing flames flickering between them. Now, everything was in turmoil. Keld’s flames were the same, but Liten’s were a mess. I even saw some green in there. There was no dancing it was like a battle, savage, fierce and consuming.

“The bond is strong, but the changes are on Liten’s side. This is all new, so we are going to try some things. I am going to try to use my Bond Care Skill to make the bond flow one way, or at least I will try. I want you to flood the bond with as much fire as possible. Pass it all to Liten. It won’t hurt her.”

I had no idea how to use my Bond Care Skill like that. I gently grabbed it as I did with Onslo’s Griffon, but instead of trying to break it, I wanted to massage the flow in one direction. Kelda’s fire increased and pushed back to Liten I changed my grip and tried to create a series of ripples. I couldn’t tell if it was helping. We kept at it with me, trying different things.

“Liten is changing,” Kelda said. She opened her hands, and I could see feathers and down in a pile like she was moulting. It reminded me of when Tāoke went through this. He shed his skin several times as the core was integrating, along with growing large and small again. Dusk and Težka didn’t do anything like that, though.

“It is not unusual. Tāoke did something similar,” I reassured her, all the time thinking of Layla and her deformed wings. Her body changes were unnatural, and she couldn’t fly or do anything. If she had lived, the wings would probably have had to be amputated. I didn’t say any of that.

“This is going to be a long process. Let's get you up on the bed and comfortable so you don’t re-open any wounds.” I helped her up. She kept Liten close and covered in her hands.

“Keep filling her with fire.” I encouraged.

When Tāoke went through this, he was merging the Shaman's Skills with his and mine. An embryo doesn’t have skills. An embryo is growing the body into the adult version. I am guessing here, but physical changes will probably be a strong focus.

Two hours of work later, Kelda said, “She is changing again.”

“Let me see.”

Feathers were falling out again. I touched Liten gently. There was something hard there. Was it scales? It was too early to tell, and even if it is, she may not keep them. I poked through the feathers she shed, and I think there were a few tiny scales there as well. There are definitely going to be physical changes.

“Try to focus your intent through the bond as well as how you appreciate her physical form and her personality and caring. Help her to focus on you and what you like about her physically, mentally and spiritually.”

I had no idea if it would help, but it might, and it would keep Kelda busy and focused. By morning we had had two more intense sessions with no sign of it abating. My Bond Care had levelled, and my Analyse Bonds were one step from the Journeyman level. Liten had gone from feathers to some scales poking through and then just bare skin, which worried us. Feathers were growing back now. She hadn’t changed in size. I did think her feet changed a bit, and I was a bit scared when I thought I saw teeth in her beak.

The Healers arrived for the morning session, and I had to chase them away. At least there was no fighting happening out there. I didn’t know what was happening, but Tabitha would be in the middle of it as she was the acting duchess. I am sure she has scammed them already.

The morning dragged on. Kelda caught a few short naps between Liten’s Spiritual struggles. I constantly tried to analyse the bond and compare it with the changes I observed. Sometimes, I think there is a spiritual comparison, and other times, I am completely baffled.

Things settled down in the afternoon, but I was concerned as only one wing had feathers. The wyvern had leathery wings like a bat. At least it was not like that. Yet.

Tabitha told me Dusk was trying different things when she consumed the panther core. Apparently, she tried to climb a tree. But this core will have no Skills. It has affinity and physical imprints. Dusk’s hair is more like panther fur now, but she hasn’t had many other physical changes. Liten’s change is looking mostly physical and spiritual.

The affinities are not the same, and that worries me. It brings me back to Layla and her constant sense of a strong wind blowing through her mind and the fact that she couldn’t live with it. If I have to kill Liten to save Kelda, I will. We are not at that point yet.

The pushing fire through the bond seems to be working. The fire is stronger in Liten and suppressing the other things. I assume the other is acid from the results of the ritual. They might be able to get a double affinity, but I feel Kelda is incompatible with acid. If it seems like it is going that way, I will kill Liten. Kelda might never forgive me if I do that, but I will do it anyway if I think it is necessary.

Mid-afternoon, Liten started to moult again and give off a fiery and acid Spirituality. The fire was predominant, which I was pleased about. Liten was in pain, though. We couldn’t sense where her pain was, but it went on and on for over two hours. I seriously thought she was going to die. One time, when she opened her beak to squark, I clearly saw teeth. It was nearly dinner time when she shuddered and squawked, and her beak fell out, revealing a small wyvern jaw full of teeth.

Liten collapsed in exhaustion, and I wasn’t sure it was over as the bond was still very unsettled. We all slept for a while. I woke first, and then Kelda woke. Liten was still asleep, or maybe unconscious. I encouraged Kelda to keep pressing Fire through the bond as I could still sense it was unsettled.

Liten woke a few hours later and was in pain again. She started moulting feathers again. I pushed with my Bond Care Skill. I was worried about the acid. I wanted to emphasise the fire. Liten burst into flame. Kelda’s flame was red, moving into orange, which was an indication of how hot it was. Liten's flame was orange, moving into white. It was hotter and more intense. This was good. We wanted flame.

She exhausted herself quite quickly, and when she had settled down, her body was covered in scales. Her wings were still feathers like a sparrow, but her body was scaled. Her body was still the short, almost round body of a sparrow with a feathered tail. She had not changed to the sinuous body of the wyvern except for her jaw and two small horns poking out of her head.

Sometime later, it started again, and it almost felt like Liten was fighting us on something.

“She wants the acid,” Kelda said.

“Talk to her. I strongly think acid is bad for you. Communicate that. It won’t make you stronger if you feel like you are being eaten by acid all the time. You must get stronger together.”

Kelda tried, but Liten was stubborn. There was back and forth for hours. Liten would burst into flame, and then it seemed her taloned feet would drip acid, or her teeth would drool acid and then the flames again. At least she was not bursting into acid flames or breathing acid.

In the end, I think it was Tāoke’s intervention that settled it. He came up on the bed in his small form, which was still enough to wrap around Liten and squeeze. She burst into flame, but even with hot flame is not comparable to lava. He hissed at Kelda and me, almost telling us off for not trusting Liten. At least, that is what I got through our bond. I think he was communicating the same message to Liten about trusting us. Everybody backed down, and we rested. The bond settled down, and I realised the conflict was part of the cause of the disturbance.

Dawn came and went, but we were fast asleep. I woke first and checked the bond. It was calm and flowing with fire. Not dancing anymore, but flowing strongly in both directions. It was definitely hotter.

Liten looked like a strange amalgamation of a wyvern and a sparrow. She was the same size and body shape as a sparrow. She had the face, jaws, teeth and horns of a wyvern. Her body was feathered, but when I looked closer, I could see scales underneath. This was the same for her wings. Her tail was just feathers. The talons on her feet looked stronger and sharper, more like a miniature wyvern than a sparrow. I could only hope all the parts worked together OK.

Kelda and Liten woke together, and Liten immediately proved she could move by flying to the table and pecking at the leftover food somebody had delivered last night.

“What is the Verdict?” I asked Kelda.

“She is a Sparrow Wyvern with a fire affinity. She has taken on all my useful Skills, including Tasty?” That was said in a puzzled way.

“Another connoisseur for your cooking.”

“She has Sharp Mind and Veneer… Wait, there are two skills I don’t have, Acid Claw and Acid Bite.” she looked a Liten, “Aren’t you a clever little thing.” Liten just nodded her head.

“Veneer ah? So she can look like a sparrow?”

“And other things,” Kelda said. “My fire has improved as well,” she held out a hand, and her normal red-orange flame appeared and then got hotter and hotter until it was white hot.

That team has just powered up. If Liten’s purpose was to protect Kelda better, she has achieved it. It was risky, though, and I think it could easily have gone very wrong.

Sparrow Wyvern - Liten

Resistances: Fire 29, Heat 29, Pain 23, Acid 20

Skills:

Novice:

Veneer, Target Weakness, Seek Hidden, Sharp Mind, Burning Mind

Apprentice:

Acid Claw, Acid Bite, Wings of Fire, Eyes of Fire, Thermal Sensing (Air),

Journeyman:

Blend, Fire Bolt, Sprint, Share Senses, Darksight, Farsight, Keensight, Tasty

Master:

Flaming Touch, Fire Manipulation,

Affinity: Fire