ã€ŠKindling Stars [Hiatus]ã€‹


 Chapter 1 - Beginning

    Rivka dreamt of fire, searing through her veins as inhuman hunger flared within her mind. The flame buoying her, driving her, unleashed by her. She felt the rightness of it and her invulnerability, the joy of lofting into the air under the strength of her wings, the thunderous calamity that was the lash of her tail, the screams of tiny things as she devoured them with her fanged maw.

    She woke with a start, jerking up in bed as a semblance of a horrified roar tore itself from her very human throat. It was not just a dream though, she could still feel the pulsing burn of flame within her body and her stomach was wracked with hunger. She stared at her unfamiliar surroundings wide eyed.

    This was not her room. This. Yes, this was her cabin aboard the starliner. Far from the comfort of her bedroom in her family home. There was no sound at all but instead the slightly queasy waver of reality from the smooth operation of the vessel''s well tuned jumpdrive, fluted crystalline vaulting, soft indirect lighting glowing gently into life as the room detected her wakefulness. She had been sleeping curled in one corner of the gigantic bed wearing simple white cotton underwear to clash with the thin and filmy magnificence of gold damasked nanosilk.

    The room was of course at the perfect temperature and she could hear nothing apart from her own heartbeat and breath, the kitbag with her sparse belongings in one corner whilst the smart furniture of the chamber waited to take whatever form she might desire. She wanted to be home. Her younger brothers, her parents, her friends, all lightyears behind her and growing ever more distant.

    Just a week ago she had been a normal student. A relatively normal student that is, both of her parents being mages meant that Rivka was expected to inherit their power and thus be in the top percentile of Imperial society, just below the nobility. Which is to say that her mother was a major in the planetary garrison and her father a doctor while she attended a prestigious institution requiring significant family wealth or a strong magical bloodline to attend.

    Her life was promising! She was popular, outgoing, excelled in her studies. Her homeworld of Thellonov might be a backwater periphery world but prospered under the benign neglect of House Sepra, left to organise itself democratically and ignored outside of annual tax payments, fixed payments growing less relevant each year as the world developed further.

    Whilst she was not raised in luxury Rivka had a happy childhood and never really wanted for anything apart from perhaps the time and attention of her extremely busy parents, with far too many hours spend with tutors or at mandatory clubs and activities despite their best efforts. The only sour spot had been a year before where she failed to Awaken when tested for magical aptitude, an early Awakening would have been propitious and indicated enormous strength after all, apparently she would be denied that or perhaps even lack magical talent at all.

    Both of her parents were capable mages though and so she was due annual testing until age twenty five, a mage of any power being far too valuable to miss or allow to be undereducated. Thus when she turned sixteen she was to be checked once more, this time more anxious, if she failed to Awaken once more then she would definitely be no more than average in her powers.

    The testing had taken place in a reinforced chamber away from the main grounds of the school, adjacent to the athletics fields, the girl taking her place upon the smoothly contoured chair surrounded by glyphs, mana nodes aligned before she was infused with a surge of unaligned power. When she was tested at fifteen she felt a huge surge of... Something, strength, vitality, that then faded gradually away without her able to channel it in any way.

    This time she instead felt fire, the mana igniting something inside of her. She roared, the power surged as the infused mana set off a chain reaction of within her body and her soul. She rose from the chair as wards shattered and burnt around her, incandescent, panting, feeling as if her body was a fragile glass shell containing an inferno.

    Then her human form broke and shattered as she surrounded herself in a corona of heat. Her wings unfurled, a lash of her armoured tail smashed open the wall behind her. The reinforced structure was torn apart from the inside as she rose in a halo of flame and glowing bright enough to burn as an afterimage into the retina of all who beheld her, unleashing a torrent of flame into the midday sky above.

    She was a dragon.

    Her awakening killed six people including two mages and hospitalised another fifteen but was viewed as a triumph. Her homeworld might have been irrelevant and largely ignored even by its feudal overlords as irrelevant. A dragon though? A dragon is never irrelevant even if humanity ruled the Empire. Whilst pure blooded dragons are almost unknown within human space their kind could, ever so rarely, breed true even tens of generations later. A dragon needs no source of outside mana but is a self sustaining nova of power and even fresh ''hatched'' as Rivka was, a ten ton winged monster with scales harder than diamond yet flexible as a feather. Needless to say her inherent magical aptitude was also far beyond any human apart from the greatest scions of the purest bred noble houses.

    And the hunger. She Awakened needing to eat, her mind numbed with the desire to feast upon flesh and turning upon her own school, her classmates, tearing into athletics fields and screaming teenagers. It took less than a minute for Imperial Legionaries to deploy from orbit and subdue her but by that time she had killed six people including a pair of faculty mages and maimed or seriously injured another fifteen.

    After her fiery rampage was subdued by orbital response forces the injured Ravka found herself thrown cattle and gorging upon fresh, bloody meat, a rare luxury even for her high status family, wolfing down entire animals. Hundreds of kilos of raw flesh to temporarily stymie her hunger.

    Whilst she was able to finally return to human form she was informed that she now had to eat for her dragon self and that despite the tremendous power and infinite possibilities of her awakening she now had a sharply proscribed existence. She was also faced with the horror of having murdered six people all of whom she at least vague knew, that she had outright eaten three of them whilst another trio were incinerated.Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

    The rulers of her world stepped in, abandoning the benign neglect that head lead to the flourishing of Thellonovo as they took possession of her... ''Sponsored'' her, to be educated in the sector capital as a ward of House Sepra. Refusal would have seen her responsible for both the destruction of her Awakening and also the unsustainable cost of her appetite. Acceptance? Elevation to some form of ''nobility'' as well as the finest possible education. This was not a real choice.

    And so she found herself in a luxury suite aboard a starliner, a sixteen year old girl who had never left orbit of her homeworld before, left with an allowance and expense account that was beyond anything she would ever had thought reasonable even with her elite background. But... That was not enough, surely she deserved more? Quashing that part of her was a constant struggle alongside the temptation she had to fight the urge to assume her ''true'' self and allow all to behold her new draconic magnificence.

    That was far too much introspection for one morning. Rivka shoved herself up to her feet with an overly abrupt motion, set her jaw, closed her eyes, took a deep breath. ¡°Room. I require a shower and breakfast.¡± Her stomach growled. ¡°Breakfast should be primarily meat and twenty times normal volume.¡± As she spoke, the room complied. One wall silently and smoothly irised open to lead to a well appointed bathroom whilst a table and single chair rose from the floor at the opposite side, the wall slithering somehow before plates heaped with lightly seared steak began to slide forth. Another rumble.

    She felt fire again as the warm room felt abruptly chill, a flare from her eyes, then her self control crumbling. ¡°No!¡± A sharp motion of her left hand before both clench to fists. ¡°Shower first.¡± It took every ounce of her self control to stalk toward the bathroom, strip away her clothing, then march on in with her bare feet thunking the smooth tiled floor. Activating by itself, the shower brought a welcome infusion of actual noise to the suite, she closed her eyes, sighed, luxuriated in the perfectly tuned flow of water across her skin. Then soap mixed, just enough, more water, a subtle vibration and surge of manage from the nodes in the walls as she felt her body cleansed.

    At this point Rivka allowed herself to sigh, to relax, stretching into the press of the high pressure water, luxuriating as it combined with the pressure of cleansing mana to near massage her form. She stepped from the shower to directed gusts of heated air to dry her skin as she stalked nude to the table and perched her behind upon the chair. Then she tore into the massively oversized breakfast as she swallowed down steak after streak, a tenth of her human form body mass almost in near raw meat as the wall continued to issue forth new platters.

    Eventually though the gnawing hunger faded and the gnawing internal fire began to relent. A napkin was just present, extruding from the tabletop then fading back into it after she wiped her chin, she stood. ¡°Mirror.¡± The wall in front of her breakfast table turned perfectly reflective as she considered herself. She looked across, studying herself, she remained tall, athletic, but not quite as she remembered. Was her skin ever so perfect? Did her dark skin previously have that burnished, almost bronzed hue to it? Was her dark hair so vibrant? No. Also her eyes had been brown instead of aburnished gold with vertically slit pupils. A shake of her head then before she ran her fingers through damp hair and turned to prowl across to her bag. She did not take any time to put away her stuff after arriving last ''night'' just before the liner''s departure, instead dropping the thing onto the floor before collapsing into bed and tousled, fiery dreams.

    The liner. She fought to recall what she knew about starliners. This was the Star Of Thuania, a mid sized but brand new vessel. Seven thousand passengers? She was travelling first class which was normally limited to the nobility and wealthiest of commoners. Her ''peers'' would be wearing haute couture and lavish attire custom tailored to them. She had.. Some fairly nice dresses? She found herself emitted a low, frustrated growl, a low and rumbling noise hinting at something far larger than her human frame.

    She needed to try to control this and fought down the urge to swell back into what was already starting to feel like her ''true'' self. No, she would wear a dress, not rampage down the corridor as a scaled monster no matter how shiny and glorious said scales might be. Even if her stomach still rumbled with a low hunger. Instead she picked a vertically ribbed mini dress in burgundy and black, front fastened with asymmetrical buttons, high necked and short sleeved to be paired with flat black pumps. It was nice! Nicer than almost anything else she had worn, bought by her parents just before she left, also slightly crumpled even after she shoot it a few times.

    Now suitably armoured she prowled on out of the extravagant gold and crystalline lair of her suite and into the similarly ostentatious corridor beyond. In her preoccupation with her... condition, Rivka forgot to wear the complimentary HUD contact lenses that would allow her to see the ship''s augmented reality thus ensuring that she was now completely unsure of where to go, fortunately her first class suite exited to a mezzanine floor suspended over the High Concourse, with breakfast being served below to a scattering of outrageously clad figures. Was that woman wearing nothing but a constellation of thousands of translucent levitating crystals? Did that man have four people carrying his shimmering cape behind him? She straightened her back before stepping to the edge and descending the grav chute down, legs kept close together.

    Upon arrival below she was first bowed to by a very dapper clad and athletic young man in a dark suit, she blinked, a smile, a warm. ¡°Thank you!¡± Then a tsk from the side as a blonde teen perhaps a year or two older than herself interjected. This younger man was wearing some manner of military uniform tailored to his slender frame, a profusion of gold braid combined with chameleonic fabric obviously set to obsolescent glimmer instead of camouflage.

    ¡°So you are the mysterious denizen of Suite 3.¡± His accent was definitely not one she was familiar with, she peered up to him. ¡°Why are you greeting the servants? I know you boarded from Thellonovo but...¡± A slight shake of his head. ¡°What are you even wearing?¡± Rivka found herself clenching her fists, a surge of fire within her as her jaw set, a pressure wave of power emanating outward.

    The boy''s eyes went wide then, a half step back. ¡°W-Control yourself!¡± A moment of further assessment, a slight shake of his head. Did somebody else mutter something about bumpkin mages? People are definitely looking now. ¡°I am amiss though, having not introduced myself. I am Na-Baron Isaias Toledo of Abreu. Whom might I be addressing?¡±

    Fighting down the urge to... To eat him? To burn him? Something undiplomatic, Rivka then set her expression into something approximating a smile as she tried to remember what she was supposed to say here. ¡°I am Rivka Karri Nagel. Ahh, Ward of House Sepra.¡± That was not quite right. ¡°Draconic Ward of House Sepra.¡± The boys face was paling. She added. ¡°I am being sent to the sector capital to continue, or begin, my education. A pleasure to meet you Lord Isaias.¡±

    She extended out her hand for his, he looked down at it as if she was about to grow claws. Could she grow claws? She asked herself that whilst suspecting the answer was yes. ¡°Draconic Ward.¡± He was measuring his own words altogether more carefully now. ¡°That would explain a great deal Miss Rivka. But show more control in future. You are powerful and valuable but fire and biting will not get you very far. I am aware you only Awakened a few days ago however. Also the correct term of address is ''Your Excellency''.¡±

    No! She was fairly sure that she did not have to take this from anyone. She was a dragon, she was glorious and terrible! Rivka shoved that part of her mind back into its box, a deep breath, eyes closed a moment then. ¡°Thank you. Your excellency. As you said I am new to... This.¡± She motioned expansively to the utter luxury of their surroundings. ¡°Could you answer my questions over breakfast though?¡±

 Chapter 2 - Breakfast

    Isaias, having just been asked by Rivka to share breakfast with her and her questions, hesitated, looking at her rather intently, perhaps lingering on those vertically slit andgolden eyes. Then some kind of decision was reached. ¡°Very well Miss Rivka.¡± The waiter from earlier thus materializing back again and guiding them toward a table, just how was he signaled? Or was he listening? Either way Isasias interjected to ensure he pulled out a chair for Rivka then motioned her to sit first. She did so rather carefully as she considered the much gold bedecked baronial heir who then sat opposite her.

    Gold.

    No. She forced that thought back into the depths of her mind where it belonged.

    The distraction ensured he then continued the conversation and directed it. ¡°I am happy to answer your questions but I do have a request of my own. Can I see a demonstration of your ''true'' form Miss Rivka? I have not had the pleasure of seeing a dragon before.¡±

    Now she did grin. That is one thing she has absolutely noticed over the last few days, she wants to preen in her ''true'' form and have others awed by her. ¡°I am very new to this, your excellency, but that I can do. One of the ship''s holds has been retained so that I can practise in my new shape as well as eat. Ahh, properly. I was also told I would be given en-route training? But this is still the first day and I have not seen it or any trainers yet. Anyway.¡± She almost fell over her own words there, rushing into an actual question. ¡°Can you tell me what to expect at the academy? Did you attend?¡±

    ¡°I do attend.¡± He then answered, a glance to the waiter. ¡°My usual. I assume that the girl will want raw meat?¡± His tone not derogatory but his words?

    Rivka bristled at this, half clenching her hands, setting her jaw, starting to jerk up in her chair. ¡°I.¡± She did want raw meat. ¡°I will take toast, poached egg and orange juice. With normal sized helpings.¡± No, she wanted f-! Again, she did her best to shove that part of her mind back into it''s box though her stomach growled in the process. Back to Isaias, her tone now somewhat clipped and a little forced. ¡°Please do not presume too much your excellency. What can you tell me of the program then? Also how will it vary given my. Well. Dragonness.¡±

    Isaias apparently seemed unphased by this. ¡°You will be given a standard education of course. History, sciences, the arts and humanities. But also high level magecraft and a solid grounding in military and political basics. As a dragon?¡± He considered her there, up and down, lingering a moment on the down before studying her face once more. ¡°More emphasis on the military. You are to be a weapon for House Sepra. Perhaps a marriage bargaining chip given that any noble house seeks an infusion of dragon blood. Your whole family will be watched as well in the hope that one of them Awakens as you did.¡±This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author''s consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

    Rivka''s mind flashed to her two younger brothers. Jamel was twelve and wanted to become a starfighter pilot mage, Arden only six and distraught when he learnt that his big sister was going away for likely years. So forever. Would one of them also be a dragon? It was possible but vanishingly unlikely, how many generations of her ancestors had simply been mages with an affinity for fire. Which side did the inheritance come from?

    Her father? He was a highly capable mage, apparently on par with many nobles, but a calm, gentle man who focused upon using his power for healing. Her mother? The hot tempered aerospace battalion commander able to scour a city block with her channelled elemental fury? That would make sense but then again Rivka did not recall any of these urges or prideful rages in herself prior to Awakening and her mother was not inherently a more than above average magical talent. Wait, did Isaias realize any of this? She spoke up.

    ¡°As a note, your excellency, both of my parents are mages with my mother a major in the planetary military.¡± She definitely noticed a spark of interest at the ''major'' part that was instantly disappointed by the ''planetary military'' portion, a faint frown of her own as she continued. ¡°I have been given preliminary education in the expectation of Awakening as a fire aspected mage. This is very different though. Also just why am I as a dragon quite so sought after? I think I am the first from my world and so my education did not cover such things.¡±

    Breakfast was now served, waiters unobtrusively delivering the ordered meals, another growl from Rivka''s stomach as Isaias delicately lifted his cup to take a sip of tea, her own swallow from a glass of juice abruptly seeming crass in some undefinable manner. ¡°That is simple enough Miss Rivka. Your natural talent for magic exceeds any but the most highly trained, bred and geneered scions of the great houses. You also generate mana inherently instead of having to draw upon it, ensuring that you can barrage extremely powerful castings near endlessly. Also you turn into a ten ton monster immune to man portable weaponry and will only grow as time passes. But I recommend you avoid duels.¡±

    Rivka had not considered duels but had found herself constantly considering attacking and eating any who slighted or thwarted her. Her quasi noble status would imply legal duels though, what could sound better than a way to strike down any who defied her magnificence using her unstoppable might? No. Again, back in the box with such thoughts. ¡°Why?¡± She forgot ''your excellency'', was that rude? Apparently yes given how the young noble opposite was considering her and pausing in advance of actually answering.

    ¡°Because you are a dragon. It would not be fair for any noble to duel you unaided and so they would face you in a starfighter. Right now you are untrained and too young for you to have a real chance in such an engagement. At least against any properly prepared noble scion.¡± His tone implied contempt for any improperly prepared individual.

    ¡°I see.¡± Rivka shook her head slightly as she considered that but was soon distracted by the rapid devouring of her merely normal sized breakfast, left achingly hungry in it''s wake. She paused to brush crumbs from her lap, looked up to a mildly accusing stare, then set her jaw and straightened. ¡°Your excellency. I can promise that my actual breakfast will be significantly more messy. You asked to see my ''true self'' though, are you ready to accompany me?¡±

    Isaias, still only a third done with his own breakfast? Then smiled rather more genuinely than most of his expressions before he smoothly stood to leave the rest of his meal unattended. ¡°I look forward to it. Miss Dragon.¡±

 Chapter 3 - Testing

    Rivka had to consult her personal terminal repeatedly to find her way from the first class concourse of the starliner to the cargo hold she had been allocated. The journey took her from vaulted, crystalline and gold magnificence to utilitarian corridors of soft pastel shades lacking that apparently all important eighteen feet of headroom. Isasias grew visibly uncomfortable at this but failed to complain.

    ¡°Your excellency.¡± This was becoming easier even if the term rankled her on a gut level. ¡°You mentioned that you attend the same academy I will be educated at. You are an upperclassman then?¡± She attempted to prompt him into something other than scowling at perfectly adequate walls. It seemed to go down well.

    ¡°Indeed! I am just about to begin my third year, if nothing else the timing of your Awakening was fortuitous, you will be starting with the academic year rather than having to play even more extensive catch up. Also is is truly necessary to traipse through... This portion of the vessel and associated with such people?¡± He motioned to a passing middle class family who were dressed perfectly respectably, the couple and their two children hurrying away even whilst staring at the brightly dressed noble wide eyed.

    She barely managed to avoid the temptation to sigh. ¡°We are going to the cargo holds your excellency. So yes.¡±

    Fortunately the journey did not take too much longer, her terminal greeted with a soft chime and the sliding open of an airlock to allow them through into a huge and largely empty expanse. A good hundred yards of matt textured metal, thirty wide and tall, space for a hundred thousand tons of cargo. Instead there was a pair of shipping containers against the far wall, one of them open, a folding table and chairs alongside it.

    One of said chairs was occupied by an extremely bored looking woman, tall, muscular, white haired and coffee skinned, wearing baggy pants along with a tight black tank top and very practical looking boots. She was in the process of poking at a large personal terminal on the table in front of her and frowning. The frown did not vanish as she looked across to the entrance. Her voice boomed with the pitch of a parade ground announcement. ¡°You wake up. Finally! Already dragging a dandy around. Well he is decorative enough.¡±

    Rivka found herself having no idea at all how to respond to this, she glanced across and up to Isaias, who as a leanly toned and yes, rather decorative, man of seventeen or eighteen in a tailored quasi military uniform... Did perhaps fit that description? Was she exploiting being a dragon to drag around dandies? He on the other hand did not appear to like this at all and his expression visibly hardened.

    ¡°I am Na-Baron Isaias Toledo of Abreu! I requested that the young dragoness show me her true self and she accepted. Just whom are you to insult me so, peasant?¡± His tone dripping disdain as he straightened.

    The much older woman answered with a casually leering look of appreciation up and down the young noble, along with an actual leer. ¡°I am Tribune-Emeritus Lissette Koehler of the 37<sup>th</sup> Stellar Legion and this young dragon''s initial instructor. So, here to spy on House Sepra''s new trump card are you boy?¡± Then looking to Rivka as she stood, she was tall! ¡°And you agreed to let him? You had better be impressive enough to justify it.¡± Her tone seemed casual enough but that introduction caused a definite startled and if anything frightened reaction from Isaias.

    Which Rivka could understand given that her mother was a military officer and she had picked up a fair bit of knowledge through osmosis. The forces of the Empire came, broadly, in three tiers. First planetary militaries raised by individual worlds, most of these were underfunded and largely irrelevant militia, though her own planet of Thellonov was effectively independent, wealthy and maintained millions of professionals under arms along with its own FTL capable navy.

    Then the militaries of individual noble houses from household troops to private star navies, varying wildly in quality but much higher status than the ''militia'' or local militaries lacking direct noble sponsorship. Isaias'' ridiculously ostentatious ''uniform'' was completely legitimate given he was the heir to a considerable military machine and probably a highly ranked officer within it.

    Finally the Imperial Legions, the most selective, well equipped, well trained and fiercely meritocratic of the three arms, under the control of the Imperial Throne. Tribune Emiritus meant that Lissette was a retired senior officer who would have commanded a fifth of an entire Stellar Legion, five hundred cruisers, battleships and carriers along with the elite armies aboard them.

    And she had been sitting waiting for Rivka to show up? She swallowed, stunned, brain not working for long moments.

    ¡°Rivka!¡± The bellow knocked her back into the present. ¡°Get away from the Na-Baron then shift. I want to see you properly.¡±

    Isaias was obviously reconsidering whatever violent impulse he had originally been thinking about, alarmed, on edge, also jumping as he was then shouted at in turn. ¡°Na-Baron Abreu, you are apparently a high affinity air mage. If you want a free dragon show then you are going to participate in the initial assessment.¡± Then back to Rivka. ¡°You, dragon, do not get to eat properly until we are finished. Move!¡±If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

    Rivka did not like the sound of assessment but... Her stomach growled again, she set her jaw, turning to stomp away and into a clear portion of the huge chamber before she changed.

    It was not an effort, if anything assuming her dragon form was a case of relaxing, releasing a tension that confined her to human scale along with a tremendous sense that this was right, this was her, like unfastening a far too tight piece of clothing only altogether more glorious. One moment she was a girl, even a tall and athletically built girl, the next moment she was herself and glorious.

    It was impossible to avoid a roar even if she then immediately felt self conscious as it reverberated from the metal walls. Her wings flaring, a flick of her tail hammering into the floor behind her as she turned her long, flexible neck to look back along herself.

    She was fifty feet long from nose to tailtip, half of that length tail, her wingspan at least equal to her total length. Slender bodied, four legged, her muzzle slender yet her jaws two feet across at the base. Two slightly curved horns angling back from her skull and talons the size of sickles, biting into the metal decking as she flexed them.

    Everything was so much clearer now as she looked out of eyes a foot across and infinitely more acute, the tiniest speck of dust clearly discernible. More importantly though she could feel her inner fire so much more easily and know just how simple it was to express her incalculable, glories, all consuming majesty.

    Wait. There were humans in the room and both of them were wincing in the wake of her literally ear splitting roar.

    Lissette was glaring. ¡°Did not vocalise like that again, dragon Rivka! Now, my briefing materials indicate that you have three years of preparationry magical studies. Form an aegis.¡± Her focus then to the reeling Isaias. ¡°As soon as the dragon has prepared herself I want you to try to break her shield using wind blades. Do not hold back, unless you are using a focus you will not be able to seriously injure her.¡± Then, admonishingly to Rivka. ¡°You will focus purely on defence! I do not think I need to tell you how much trouble you will be if you incinerate the heir to a barony.¡±

    Rivka blinked, gigantic golden eyes closing a moment. Wait, she was going to be attacked? But that might damage her glorious scales. She had not even had time to consider how lovely those were, her new ''true'' form gradated from royal blue along the spine and top through variagrated shades. Navy, sapphire, steel blue, then to burnished gold along her underside and the inside of each limb, her talons and horns gleaming brightly along with the membranes of her wings. Not to mention how lovely and shiny she was.

    Such thoughts were not conductive to trying to focus magic though. She was being glared at. A low growl in response before she mentally caught herself.

    Magic. She had been preparing for this over years but the theory was not at all the same as practise especially given she was no longer human. She would have expected to need to draw in power from her surroundings, mentally refine it, focus it. Instead she casually vented overwhelming force from the burning glory of her internal fire.

    Instantly she was surrounded by a corona of useless flame as she simply wasted as much power as an archmage might work to channel, air shimmering around her. Focus! Glowing with building intensity she then worked to consolidate the magical strength into a barrier just above her scales, drawing in her wings to each of her flanks as she did so. The barrier wavered, venting waste, glowing like a tiny sun and surrounded by licking flames.

    ¡°Now strike!¡± This was commanded to Isaias who looked altogether sceptical of the whole prospect, an awed expression as he looked up to Rivka''s now looming form, his left hand lowering from shielding his face before he set his expression. ¡°Very well tribune. Rivka. Brace yourself!¡±

    At that moment she felt her defensive barrier being hammered by invisible and pinpoint strikes, the air solidifying and punching at her with incalculable force and at widely separated points. The burning barrier wavered, surged, she worked to force more mana into it, more strength, mostly succeeding in creating more waste heat and light as she seared her surroundings.

    The aegis then destablised further before the next attacks pierced through to... Wash harmlessly across her scales even if she could vaguely feel as if she was being poked annoyingly hard. It was annoying! She should simply exhale and wash away this irritation, destroy her foes, her jaws starting to part.

    ¡°Halt!¡±

    She had retained enough self control to listen there though it took her a few moments to work out how to dismantle her aegis without engulfing the entire cargo hold in all consuming fire. Instead simply an outward pulse of warmth and heated air that sent a few seconds of gale force wind.

    ¡°Awful. You have more power in a single claw than I could dream of channeling but wasted almost all of it and could not retain your aegis integrity for more than twenty seconds. Na-Baron Abreu, that was impressive though, excellent focus and maintained tempo. The wide distribution of impacts was perfect for destabilising such a crude shield.¡±

    No! She could have annihilated him with but a moment! Her power was incomparable, why was she not being praised and fawned upon!

    Isaias smiled at the praise, a slight bow of his head, then. ¡°Thank you Tribune. That said this was I think her first attempt at deliberate channelling? It was still like trying to attack a mountain. Even when I penetrated her magical defences it did nothing.¡±

    The older woman continued to be completely nonplussed and, frustratingly, also continued to talk about Rivka as if the dragoness was not there, even with the way she loudly dragged her tail across the floor before sitting back atop her haunches, forelegs straight, tail curling about her talons. ¡°She is a dragon though. If she had proper focus and control then even with her current weak flame.¡± It was not weak, she was an inferno! ¡°She should be able to withstand the fire of an entire mage augmented battalion or the main batteries of a frigate.¡± Then directly to Rivka. ¡°You, dragon, have a lot to learn. Do not worry, the journey will not be too short. For now though? You can eat.¡± Then to the young noble. ¡°Feel free to watch this part as well. See more of what she really is instead of that cute little girl.¡±

    Rivka growled, again, then stretched, gleaming wings spreading wide. ¡°Yes, my true and glorious self!¡± A part of her was sighing at this but... Well she was very shiny and very majestic. So majestic, even as the second shipping crate opened and drones deposited out huge quantities of fresh from stasis raw meat. So majestic as she pounced, wings flaring wide, tail lashing, muzzle messy as she greedily devoured half a ton of flesh then licked blood from the metal floor.

 Chapter 4 - Training

    It was the first time that Rivka had really, properly, eaten since she Awakened, the first time she had feasted consciously in her new true form and done so to satiation. She had perhaps hoped she would be more refined, more controlled, maybe even having some semblance of composure and grace.

    But she was too hungry.

    Eventually she was done and sprawled belly down across the cool metal of the cargo hold, her wings splayed wide, tail extended out behind her, chin atop the floor and eyes closed. She felt... Satisfied and somehow pleased with herself. Then a tap against one cheek, she opened a huge golden eye to peer up at Tribune Lissette, who was looking somehow terrifyingly neutral as she looked down upon the dragoness, despite being outweighed by at least a hundred times.

    ¡°Lazy are you, dragon? You will only need to eat like this every two or three days. The rest of the time you will be spending either mingling with the nobility aboard this vessel or training with me. Mostly training. If you do not improve then they will eat you alive when you arrive at the academy. You have a choice, you can either be a pathetic, trophy dragon, valued only for the influx of your potential to a noble line, a token for marriage. Or you can be a living weapon, respected. Feared. Mighty.¡±

    Rivka was not entirely convinced about the idea of being a living weapon but feared, mighty, not being a marriage token? These definitely sounded appealing. She resulted with a low rumble felt through her now ten ton form, a flick of her tailtip, lifting her head slightly then angling it to allow properly looking at both Lissette and, further back and obviously wary, Isaias.

    She also considered. Lissette was obviously hired at not inconsiderable expense by her ''sponsors'', House Sepra, her legal wardens and feudal overlords who were taking responsibility and credit for her along with funding her education, feeding and, well, everything. A former Imperial Tribune was probably ferociously expensive to hire out of retirement let alone to allocate to mentoring a single person but then just how rare were dragons? She did not know of any Awakening from her homeworld in living memory. This was an excellent opportunity to find the answer though.

    She was surprised at how normal her voice sounded now that she was a dragon.

    ¡°The Empire does not lack for weapons though. House Sepra does not lack for weapons. Just how many dragons are there and what can I expect from myself?¡± Rivka ensured that it was not just the perhaps biased and certainly well paid Lissette included in the question, looking to Isasias as well.

    He was still too busy staring at the shiny dragon to answer before the older woman could speak.

    ¡°Dragons are rare. You do not die of old age and yet there are fewer planets in the Empire than your kind. It is hard to tell for certain but you are likely the only dragon to have Awakened in all of human space this year, though you are far from unique. That means you are also the youngest, weakest and most vulnerable dragon in the entire Empire out of perhaps two thousand in total. House Sepra has eight, you are not unique but you are, thanks to your potential, valued on par with a mineral rich and well developed moon or perhaps a maniple of capital warships. Frankly? You are worth as much as the entire province you were born within. Yes, I am aware just how rich and developed your homeworld is.¡±

    Isasias did then speak up to comment, though he seemed rather surprised at the last part about Thellonov being particularly rich. ¡°As the Tribune said, you are not unique, you are not all powerful, but I would have given your value relative to an entire continent rather than a province. It is not just potential personal prowess, any children you have will be mages of the most potent magical affinity and your descendants have the potential to breed true as dragons in turn. It is vanishingly rare but out of those two thousand, one hundred and fourteen dragons within the Empire.¡± That is a very specific number. ¡°Over three hundred are of the Imperial Family. House Sepra has profited mightily through your Awakening though, as demonstrated by the Tribune here being retained to train you, they are also going to expect great things in return for their generosity.¡±Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

    Rivka considered this. Being mighty and powerful was rather splendid but, a low, disconcerted rumble as she voiced her realisation. ¡°I am going to have very little freedom of choice when it comes to my future, am I? All of this promise of training, sponsorship to an academy, the luxury travel and expense of feeding me.¡±

    ¡°Precisely.¡± The tribune was walking around her sprawled and shiny self now, examining her critically. ¡°You will spend four years at the academy being trained and educated before, unless you completely fuck up, being commissioned into the Imperial Legions. They will probably plan on you putting in a decade to toughen you up and for the prestige before you join the House Military and they look at marrying you strategically.¡± Then a grin, a flash of white teeth. ¡°So morose about the prospect of being given an allowance of millions a year, groomed through the best possible education then married to somebody rich and handsome. Now up! You are going to need to work to be less wasteful with that rediculous degree of power you lucked into!¡±

    What followed was... Boring and somewhat humiliating, hours of concentrating on focusing her mana into simply barriers whilst being near constantly admonished. Rivka knew that she was wielding abilities far, far beyond any normal mage Awakened for three days but apparently she had much more expected of her. Isasias did not succeed in escaping though and found himself drafted into testing those barriers for a good hour and a half until he was able to excuse himself and Lissette took over.

    The retired Tribune was... Perhaps weaker than the young noble? She wielded her power far more adeptly with near perfect focus and control but the intensity was far less and her ability to continuously wield her power distinctly inferior. Eventually, four hours in an during a pause, Rivka asked about this.

    Lissette shrugged, leaning back in her folding chair. ¡°That is simple enough. I am not a powerful mage. Strength with mana is strongly inherited and the noble houses breed for it, if you had been just the normal child of your parents instead of turning into a scaly creature.¡± Rivka had to fight back a low growl. ¡°Then you would probably have had superior natural strength to me. The legions are not stupid enough to promote people based on how good they are at casting spells though, it helps but if you are commanding five hundred ships and a million legionaries with fifty thousand mages? Personal prowess throwing fireballs is irrelevant. That is different for you though, as a dragon? You can be potentially powerful enough to bring down starships by yourself and without augmentation yet when you wear human form you are almost impossible to distinguish from a normal person.¡±

    Rivka had never planned on a military career but she had considered it, depending upon how powerfully she Awakened, she also found she felt strangely ambivalent about the idea of killing people or even those she slaughtered during her uncontrolled initial assumption of dragon form and desperate feasting. The idea of being a tool though, not having any choice in her future? That rankled.

    Almost as much as the next six hours of intensive, boring training. She wanted to wield her newfound power, strike out with it, exert it! Not continuously engage in exercises in control and moderation and focus, at least she was no longer hungry.

    She felt relieve when she was finally allowed to revert to her human form then slink back to her cabin, sprawling across her oversized bed then slumbering as she watched mindless entertainment holovids. Nothing involving excitement, just soap operas from some planet she had never heard of. It took a few hours of this zoning out before she felt sufficiently recovered from the day''s ''training'' to consider doing anything else. By now? It was late shipboard evening but she was fairly certain that there would be no shortage of entertainment aboard a starliner even without her first class passenger status and ample allowance. She could probably not persuade anyone to serve her alcohol but she had to take advantage of being away from home and with this opportunity!

 Chapter 5 - Drinking

    Rivka''s venture out from her room late in the evening had confirmed a few things. First of all, as a first class passenger in one of the fifty ''super deluxe'' suites aboard the vessel, she was indeed served alcohol without question despite being sixteen. Was this legal? She was unsure given that they were in jumpspace and that anyone occupying one of said suites could be normally assumed to be a member of a noble house and thus above anything but the highest levels of Imperial law. She was fairly sure that legal drinking ages were down to individual planets or noble houses to determine.

    Secondly she decided that she really like cocktails and that flirting with the muscular bartender who was preparing them for her was an excellent use of her evening.

    Thirdly she was not getting drunk. Even after having thirty two extremely alcoholic cocktails she was just feeling a buzz. That made a certain amount of sense given that she apparently had to eat for a ten ton body even if she stuck with her distinctly smaller human form, would she also require a hundred and fifty or two hundred times as much alcohol or other intoxicant before it influenced her? She was going to find out given the all inclusive nature of her ticket.

    She was also increasingly feeling underdressed amidst the other first class passengers though her epic cocktail consumption spree had attracted some attention and she was now accompanied by a few of the other younger passembers. A few others had apparently decided to not deign to accept her presence or been pulled away by guardians or parents.

    Right now though she was talking to a young noblewoman who was apparently also heading to the sector capital in order to begin her education at the Imperial Academy. Larhonda was not the heir to a title like Isasias but rather a cousin to a noble line who had apparently turned out as a particularly potent earth mage when she Awakened a year ago, her family was sponsoring her education in the hope she would excel in Imperial service and advance their interests. She was however excited to be off to the sector capital with the chance to do something beyond ''merely'' working in some senior administrative position or serving in her house military.

    Also to meet a dragon. Apparently. ¡°We have to get you dressed properly! Right now people will think that you have somehow wandered in from the lower decks, not that you are a dragon. Unless they see your eyes but those could be some kind of cosmetic mod. Well, or if you flare your aura like you did this morning! Do you realize how rude that was? But it was so powerful! Nobody dared do anything.¡±

    Pouring another delicous cocktail down her throat did help Rivka cope with this, eyes closing, savouring the slight burn, an mmmh. ¡°Well this is day... Three, four, of me being a dragon? Also my first time offworld. I virtually did wander up from the lower decks Larhonda.¡±

    ¡°Irrelevant! You are a dragon now and should dress the part. Something evoking your magnificent scales perhaps.¡± Rivka did find some part of her agreeing now, her scales were magnificent after all. Larhonda continued though. ¡°Firstly you need to not shame your sponsoring house. Secondly? You need do not get angry because of people turning up their noses at you, then eat them. I have read a lot about it! Dragons always think about eating people if they are not ''respected'' but you would get in SO much trouble if you ate anyone important.This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

    Past Larhonda was a dark haired young man clad in an... interestingly tight and well tailored suit that appeared to be a perfect mirror, leanly athletic and wearing a sword at his hip, Kristopher Cade Valenti was apparently also the heir to his house, Na-Marquis of the Valenti March and thus in line to inherit control over a sixth of the entire local sector. Rivka''s annoyance at Larhonda and her enthusiastic conversation may have been due to the fact the tall, curvy and blue eyed blonde was in the way of her focusing upon him instead. Also the way that he was paying said blonde rather more attention than he was to herself.

    Though he seemed to find the whole thing amusing, joining the conversation at this point. ¡°I do recommend not eating anyone but it might be more important to learn the self control to avoid outbursts of violence or magical upsets. Rather than at the first sign of prosperity engaging in a crass shopping spree. On which note just how many of those are you planning to drink?¡±

    That did cause Rivka to pause, she was smiling brightly to the bartender as he prepared her the next drink down the list. Still she could turn that bright smile to Kristopher easily enough. ¡°It would be terrible of me to drink these lovely concoctions without feeling the proper effect your excellency. However, I am a fierce ten ton monster and so I might need to drink a few hundred for that.¡± Did the handsome bartender wince? Maybe. ¡°That is not practical but I do not need to worry about intoxication, or my waistline.¡±

    She really did want him to at least look at her! But no, Larhonda had to sigh, wearing a low cut and clinging garment seemingly made of not entirely opaque feathers in a spray of colours reminiscent of a bird of paradise. She was definitely where he looked. ¡°I am quite jealous there Rivka. Still, you must strive to make a good impression.¡± To Kristopher then. ¡°You should not encourage her to wander around like this! She might as well be wearing a sackcloth yet she is supposed to be the pride of her house!¡±

    Kristoph answered with an expansive shrug, a small, controlled smile. ¡°One does not expect a fresh Awoken dragoness to follow human fashion. This.¡± A motion to Rivka with his none wine glass holding hand. ¡°Is irrelevant to how the real players will consider merit. They will look to the dragon and the resulting raw power.¡±

    Rivka decided to be more circumspect with her next drink, sipping from it instead of gulping, making a show of considering the taste, which was to be fair delicious. ¡°How many dragons does your own house boast then your excellency?¡±

    Larhonda decided to interject. ¡°House Valenti has three dragons!¡± Then to Kristopher, with a slight bow of her head. ¡°I believe that your own grandfather is a dragon?¡±

    ¡°He is. Augustus is a hundred and fifty years old now and one of the pillars of the family strength.¡± The gleamingly clad heir to a march declared in a satisfied manner. ¡°House Sepra has just one though and has the fealty of only seven worlds. I am curious as to their plans for you Rivka, depending upon your performance they might try to marry you into their ruling line in the hope of strengthening their magical affinity or they might seek to elevate themselves from a mere Viscounty.¡± Then a wider smile. ¡°As such your training is going to be quite intensive. I recommend not lingering too much longer given that your pet Tribune is going to be even more intensive in her training efforts tomorrow. You only have two weeks before we arrive after all and most of your ''peers'' will have been Awakened for at least a year.¡±

    Rivka checked... It was past midnight. She had another ten or more hours of training tomorrow, a low, frustrated growl, her empty glass crushed in one hand. She looked down, blinked, then hastily dropped the powdered glass and shards adopt the bar top before giving a stiff bow of her head to the pair. ¡°Ahh.¡± Composure! Both were staring at what she just did. ¡°I should indeed excuse myself, your excellency, my lady.¡±

    She fled back to her room.

 Chapter 6 - Burning

    Rivka did not find herself going shopping or spending another evening discovering the joys of alcohol and being politely chided or mocked by nobles. That is not to say that she turned into a hermit for the rest of the trip and she did socialise during and after breakfast and evening meals, but she was left too exhausted to do much beyond engaging in minimal interaction and sleep.

    She trained, hour after long hour of intensive training both physical and magical, whilst she did not have room to exercise her dragon self Tribune-Ermeritus Lissette did have plenty of room in the cargo bay to have her running laps and start to introduce her to unarmed combat.

    The latter part at least she objected to, Rivka was a competitive long distance runner and hardly a stranger to exercise. ¡°But why? I know that I am expected to go into the military but what possible use is knowing how to throw a punch when I am a dragon? I can just incinerate somebody or rip a building in half.¡±

    Lissette considered the girl at this then left her a few seconds to consider what she just said. ¡°Control Rivka. First of all you can train physical fitness and coordination this way and that will benefit you when it comes to acting as a dragon. Secondly you will have already started to notice inhuman strength. Do you want to crush off a person''s hand when being introduced to them? Tear doors from their hinges by accident? It will become an ever increasing problem. Also subtle application of that strength can be far lower key and more decisive than just losing control and burning everything.¡±

    Rivka could see that, frustrating as it was to be repeatedly thrown into a gel mat. Lissette continued. ¡°More importantly you are going to be trained and judged on this and your ''peers'' will all have been training to fight from the age of ten or so, I have two weeks to try to ensure you do not completely embarrass yourself. You are going to be carrying a mana focus sword as well but I do not have five years to teach you how to use it and your uselessness will be easier to stomach if you can honestly profess complete ignorance in wielding it. Now, put your weight behind that punch!¡±

    Hours upon hours of repetition of very basic unarmed combat followed by more hours of mental focusing exercises as Rivka was pushed into channelling her mana. She knew the principles behind this, the basic mental patterns and theories behind spellwork, but theoretical classwork could only prepare one so far in the absence of the ability to do the real thing.

    All magic is of course elementally attuned but it was possible to accomplish a wide range of effects with a single element. Fire for example could be used to burn or melt things as its most straight forward expression and was probably the most effective offensive element for combat, but it could also be used to revitalise and heal, infusing a person with energy and supercharging their metabolism to recover from injuries or augment physical ability. Fire could aid mobility or even allow flight through propulsion and thermal expansion of surrounding air, but air magic was much better at this and less likely to cause collateral effects. For now Rivka was being focused on very simple expressions of her power along with trying to increase their efficiency. Burning things in a controlled manner rather than simply unleashing an all consuming apocalypse for example, or maintaining a defensive aegis that did not spill out enough heat to cook her surroundings or blind everyone in the vicinity.Love what you''re reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

    A normal mage would have to struggle with focusing and drawing in power more than control but that did not mean Rivka found her task easy. She was trying to make cups of tea using a fire hose and despite determined effort and undivided expert tuition did repeatedly find herself losing control, spilling out an oppressive radiation of raw mana or, when particularly frustrated, uncontrolled flame.

    She was not going to accept this though, not from herself, by the second week she could tell that the ex Imperial Tribune was genuinely impressed with her dedication to learning even if she obviously still had an infinite amount to learn. By now she had proper conscious control of her magic and was starting to be able to channel it in human form without too much overspill of power, though she was still limited to the most simple and unsophisticated of practical applications.

    three days out from arrival the Star Of Thuania was about to make her final jump to the sector capital and Rivka set out from her cabin early to ensure she arrived at eight o''clock sharp ship time for her training, wearing a lightweight fleece top over her sports bra and leggings given the rigorous workout she was expecting. She hurried through the first class section, massively underdressed but by now a common enough sight to be unremarked, then the 2<sup>nd</sup> and 3<sup>rd</sup> class passenger areas, still rather nicely appointed. Then as had started to become her habit she cut through the steerage decks to the cargo area.

    Which was when a burly middle aged woman wearing a frayed jumpsuit stepped out in front of her, a trio of heavily build individual then stepping up behind as another pair flanked the obvious ''leader''. Were those shock batons? Rivka did not have very long to consider this before the woman spoke. ¡°Come quietly and you will not be hurt. Try anything fancy kid? You are going to regret it. Understand?¡± The woman definitely now had a pistol in hand and was pointing it self assuredly for her face, the dull gleam of the laser weapon''s focus lens clearly visible.

    Rivka froze for a moment, froze only to feel overwhelming anger. She was not some ''kid'', she would show them! Finally she could unleash her frustration and she found herself not hesitating at all. She focused, golden eyes burning as she unleashed a horizontal bar of flame in front of her before launching it down the the corridor, liquid fire bright enough to burn into human retina and leave a seared after image, transversing a hundred feet in half an eyeblink whilst leaving searingly bisected corpses in its wake. A flash of pain across the side of her face as the woman jerked the trigger of her pistol.

    roared and exhaled even as she felt a searing pain across the side of her head. An incandescent lance of fire surged forward to first fill the corridor in front of her then melt through the bulkheads and decking, bursting beyond as the trio of thugs or would be kidnappers simply ceased to exist.

    Rivka he could not see properly out of one eye and her cheek was screaming in agony. Then she spasmed as something thudded into her back and electricity surged through her body, stumbling, whirling, control was beyond her now as she screamed and exhaled. Her exhalation formed an incandescent lance of fire that surged forward to first fill the corridor then melted through the bulkheads and decking, bursting beyond as a trio of thugs or would be kidnappers simply ceased to exist.

    She found herself laying limp and spasming on the floor as alarm klaxons blazed and the side of her head screamed with the most awful pain she had ever felt in her life, fighting to retain consciousness. She could hear more literal screaming as well, struggling or still figures on the other side of what used to be walls, or floors, or the ceiling,awareness faded.

 Chapter 7 - Embers

    Rivka found herself slowly returning to consciousness and... Everything was fine! She felt detached from herself, floaty, stretching her wings only to then hear a terrified scream. Her wings? Wait. The side of her face was numb and she was sprawled atop matt patterned metal, a dragon. For that matter there was a tube fed into one edge of her muzzle, she forced her heavy eyes open.

    She was in what increasingly felt like her ''true'' form, fifty foot long, sprawled over the decking in the cargo hold she had become so familiar with over the past few weeks yet surrounded by an array of medical equipment as well as several people she assumed were doctors, or nurses, or something. A dull throb from the side of her head where, she assumed, she must have been shot.

    She had also just bitten through the tube fed into her muzzle and was growling low as most of those around her expressed variously suppressed forms of abject terror. Well that was not good, she swallowed, throat dry, clearing her throat before speaking. ¡°How long was I unconscious. What happened?¡±

    The signs of abject terror abated before a short man in late middle age stepped forward, greying hair, dark skinned. Dully, with newly developed senses, she realized that he was a mage of reasonable strength. ¡°Mistress dragon.¡± Not a term of address she had heard before. ¡°I am enlighten senior doctor Estrada. You have been unconscious for just over seven hours while we operated on you but you will make a complete recovery both cosmetically and functionally. The maser blast would have decapitated a human but even without an Aegis your physiology prevented more than superficial damage and concussion. We were also able to salvage the brains of two of your assailants for interrogation after you... Bisected them.¡±

    This was not the first thing Rivka had been thinking of, her tail lashed, a scrape of diamond hard scales against the deck behind her. ¡°What about the other passengers and the damage to the ship?¡±

    The doctor seemed rather surprised at this. ¡°All of the casualties were limited to steerage passengers your ladyship and of course the management take all responsibility for the damage upon themselves. You were assaulted aboard our vessel! We have forwarded all information we have to House Sepra and hope that our care and assistance compensates even slightly for what you have experienced.¡± The man seemed conciliatory? But she had, she did not know, did she accidentally kill a dozen people, twenty? Fifty? Not to mention melting a swathe of the interior of a starship.

    Even if it had been in the steerage section she must have caused damage worth millions as well as those who were killed and maimed. Who had they been? Immigrants, families, children? A low, frustrated growl, angry more with herself than others as she pulled in her wings to hug against her flanks.

    The doctor''s eyes widened, the others started to back away. They were terrified, of her! ¡°Mistress dragon! Please.¡± He dropped to his knees and pressed his forehead to the deck as he bowed to her. ¡°I beg that you speak to the Tribune Emeritus Koehler and do not judge us harshly. We are merely the ship''s medical team assigned to labour in restoring you after your ordeal.¡±If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Tentatively Rivka reached out with her newfound senses toward the side of her face. She was sore, the side of her face definitely injured, but it did not feel too bad. Obviously she had been subject to magical healing as well as conventional and whilst she felt numb and detached, obviously drugged, she was certainly not at risk. She dry swallowed, a deep breath, then answered with.

    ¡°Attend to the other victims of the attack. I will recover without further assistance apart from perhaps a final check before departure.¡± Wait. ¡°Also changes of dressings when I alter shape. I strongly suspect that some of those steerage passengers are in greater need for attention than me.¡±

    Doctor (senior doctor) Estrada considered her for a moment before bowing again, then carefully rising to stand again. ¡°You are most generous Mistress Dragon, I am sure that the charity of House Sepra will reflect well upon you.¡± Realisation was dawning now as Rivka''s drugged mind considered things.

    It was not something she had ever had to think about given her own background, her own father was a doctor! But of course a starliner would not provide more than first aid to steerage passengers, apparently she had just volunteered her sponsor noble house to pay for full medical attention for however many people she had injured. A moment of further consideration. Good.

    If they wanted the advantage and benefit of her being a dragon and tied to their service then they could help salve her conscience as part of the price. Better she answer for that then whatever literally poor souls had the misfortune to be in compartments adjacent to the assault.

    But she was so very sleepy, after most of the medical team departed she found herself in a half slumber sprawled across the decking.

    A tap, another tap to her muzzle. She opened one golden eye to find the now rather familiar sight of Koehler looming over her, a hand resting upon her face. She blinked. The ex Imperial officer was looking rather serious and... Concerned? That was new.

    ¡°They were kidnappers.¡± Lissette then expounded. ¡°Cut-outs were used and so we have no idea who hired them but their hope was that you were still fresh enough and easily enough intimidated that you would go along with them without a struggle. They were going to eject with you in an escape pod then be picked up by what I presume must have been some house''s warship where you would be compelled into whoever''s service. Instead you killed all of them. I would praise you for that but.¡±

    Rivka winced internally, tensing a little, she could guess what was coming next. ¡°You fucked up. If you had raised an aegis you would have been fine but you were shot in the head then lost control and killed eight people, maimed thirteen and injured another forty two. You gutted a fair portion of three decks. The only mitigating factor is that you did it in steerage and so nobody of consequence cares. I think the magnitude of your actions probably weighs heavily already upon you. But remember this and remember the consequences of your composure or lack of it. We exit jump in two days. I will still be tutoring you after you begin at the academy but you will be judged by altogether more antagonistic figures there and be infinitely more public.¡±

    ¡°I do not need lecturing. I understand, unlike a lot of people I care. I fucked up, people died.¡± She wanted to vomit at that, her gut churned. That... Unleashing of flame had ripped indiscriminately through families. No. She had to think about what she could do to prevent it ever happening again instead of dwelling upon the horrible reality. ¡°I do not just accept that. I do not even like that I killed those people trying to grab me, but we have two more days. Continue to train me.¡±

 Chapter 8 - Arrival

    The Star Of Thuania exited jump on the edge of the Zeria system, two week''s travel and thus two weeks of communication lag from Rivka''s home planet. The starliner was one of the fastest ships in space and outpace only by the dedicated couriers used for the most vital communications of the rich and the military, Rivka would have no letters from home awaiting her with the journey here having kept pace with civil mail.

    The queasy sensation in the back of her mind cut off abruptly as the vessel returned to normal space but that did not mean she relaxed. The last few days had been spent on a reduced schedule of training as her face healed but she was still wearing a dressing pad across her left cheek and despite treatment was constantly accompanied by a dull, aching throb from the injury.

    This rapid recovery was through a combination of her apparently inhuman durability and magically assisted expert medical care with no expense having been spared on ensuring she was healed from what would have been a fatal injury to an unprotected human. Whilst she had grown up relatively privileged this mostly meant that Rivka had a very real sense of just how much had been casually spent on her medical care even when it came to the most minor scrape or bruise.

    More importantly though was the dozens of people she had killed and injured in defending herself. The kidnappers she could accept but the passengers unfortunate enough to be poor enough to be in neighbouring cabins and thus caught in the literal crossfire? Even if she had done what she could Rivka felt a smouldering level of frustrated anger and guilt. She had to do better, she would do better, maybe at some point in the future she could even try to make it back to those she had wronged. For now though it was time to make her first appearance as the draconic ward of House Sepra and be introduced to this academy she would be attending for the next few years.

    This did remove any choice when it came to attire and her lack of suitably ludicrous costumes compared to those of the nobility she had interacted with. Rivka now found herself in a superbly tailored double breasted military jacket of lustrous powder blue fabric blessed with impossible and distracting softness. The buttons were gold of course and intricately decorated with the burning land heraldry of her ''adoptive'' family, then more gold trim at hems, shoulder, heavy embroidery upon the high collar.

    Combined with the matching knee length skirt, white and gold damask stockings and high boots she was fairly sure that her outfit cost more than even a skilled professional would earn in a good year. Then there were the accessories, at her side she now carried a high grade mana focus in the form of a sword that she had absolutely no idea how to use, an intricately etched blade, a grip wrapped in wyvern hide and decorated with gems harvested from some rare and lethal stellar anomaly. It was near completely useless to her yet worth more on par with the value of an entire prosperous town. But it was part of the uniform.

    And so Rivka felt utterly self concious as she disembarked from the private shuttle hired to deliver her to the academy grounds, travelling separately from the handful of young nobles she had met aboard the liner who were also heading to return or attend. She stepped out to find that the shuttle landing platform was a secluded grove surrounded by flowering trees, blast vent grates hidden amidst coloured brickwork and blandly attractive young white uniformed servants already unloading her luggage. Much more luggage than she had ever packed. They paused to bow but made no move to speak to her as they returned to her work then her HUD contact lenses flicked into life as they connected to the local grid.A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

    She found herself being directed to a shaded pathway that apparently headed to ''incoming student acclimation'' but she took a moment to collect herself first. Apparently she did not have to worry about her belongings but she paused to smooth her skirt, tug at the sword belt and inconvenient weight at her side, test her low heeled boots in the unfamiliar gravity. Apparently Zeria was a little lighter than her homeworld and there was an odd if quite pleasant scent to the air. She brought up a hand to press at the dressing still in place across her cheek, that would draw notice. Deep breath, golden eyes closed, right. She had to make her best first impression and, having composed herself, she strode down the indicated path.

    Rivka was aware a minute or two later of her shuttle rising into the air as others decended and ascended, obviously a good number of landing pads hidden amidst the carefully sculpted forest she now walked through. Paths also merged and she gave a polite nod to the tall young man she encountered on the way, he in turn assessed her carefully before doing a double take at her golden and reptilian eyes. By contrast he was dark skinned, blue eyed and white haired, obviously the result of cosmetic gene tailoring even if that was not made evident by his sculpted features or being effortlessly poised and athletic at six foot five. She definitely found herself looking as well before jumping a little as she was addressed.

    ¡°Lady dragon, I did not know that we had any of your heritage attending in our year. Might I beg you for an introduction? I am Lord Alec Lyman Rosas.¡± He sounded warily respectful and despite towering over her, nervous. Rivka considered. Of course they were both in uniform and even if her sword was awkwardly slapping against her leg instead of carried with effortless ease as seemed to be the norm for nobles, he had no reason to suspect her to be anything other than some terrifyingly gifted scion of whatever noble house had just spawned a dragon and thus leap upward in their hierarchy.

    She cleared her throat. ¡°It is nice you meet you Lord Rosas. I am Rivka Karri Nagel, draconic ward of House Sepra.¡± He straightened from his bow at this answer, a look of realisation, though he still regarded her rather warily. ¡°A pleasure then Lady Nagel. Might I ask who you duelled on the way here though?¡± He indicated his own left cheek before turning to continue along the path, she also moved to continue walking along, shifting a hand to try to steady the unfamiliar weapon at her hip.

    That was a sore spot, she set her jaw a moment and hesitated before answering. ¡°It was a kidnapping attempt rather than a duel. Lord Rosas.¡± She did need to frame this carefully and much as her own anger was focused on her own failings? That was going to be a sign of weakness if she spoke about it. ¡°None of my assailants survived but there was considerable damage to three decks of the Star Of Thuania.¡±

    The young nobleman gave what looked like a genuine smile at that. ¡°Of course. Foolish of whomever it was to attempt to assault one such as yourself Lady Nagel. Rest assured that non here are likely to risk your wrath though I am sure there will be no shortage of groups seeking your favour.¡±

    This sent Rivka''s mind reeling just a little given the way she had been treated by her supposed ''peers'' aboard the starliner. Was this Alec very different to normal nobles or was it literally down to them having met her wearing what they presumably considered miserable rags instead of the same attire as themselves?

    She was about to find out, turning a corner in the manicured forest to be confronted with a colonnaded building of marble veined with silver, an expanse of smooth grass in front where dozens of similarly uniformed boys and girls her own age mingled, more arriving as individuals or small groups from various paths emerging from the trees.

 Chapter 9 - Rivalry

    Rivka found herself in front of what was presumably one of the academy buildings, stepping from the carefully idyllic forest to an expansive and flawless lawn. Sparsely occupying said lawn? A steadily growing accumulation of young nobles, all clad in the same uniform as herself, all bearing swords and in virtually every instance in groups who appeared to already know one another.

    She took a moment to scan over the unfamiliar faces in the hope of recognition, she did not spot the blonde Lady Larhonda, perhaps she had not arrived yet? But did pick out the Marquisal heir Kristopher, the na-Baron Isaias from her first day on the starliner was older and presumably not taking part in whatever reception or introduction was about to take place.

    Well she did not think she was going to achieve very much by standing and waiting. She looked to the tall young man next to her. ¡°Lord Rosas, would you object if I introduced you to Kristopher Cade Valenti, na-Marquis of the Valenti March? We met on the journey here.¡± Rosas frowned at this then took a step back, a slight shake of his head. ¡°That would be presumptuous of me, Lady Dragon. By all means do not let me detain you further though.¡± A bow following as he obviously moved to withdraw.

    Rivka did not quite know what to make of that. Was Rosas an enemy of Kristoher? Or their families? Perhaps it was due to difference in rank? Regardless of why she was obviously not going to win brownie points by introducing the two, a slightly awkward bow of her head in response. ¡°Ahh. Um, well thank you Lord Rosas, I am sure we will meet again.¡± She turned away only to hurriedly snapped one hand to the pommel of the sword at her side, said turn threatened to swing the scabbarded weapon out to menace her surroundings.

    Then without a better idea of what to do she approved Kristopher and his surrounding half dozen strong cluster of companions. As she marched across she did wonder, surely House Sepra had allies, enemies, or those they wished to court? She had been told nothing of that though, only trained briefly in correct terms of address and degrees of bowing as an aside to the relentless few weeks of magical and physical drilling. It was baffling given the investment obviously being made in her.

    Perhaps they did not trust her not to embarrass herself regardless and so wanted to be able to plead her ignorance? That was not a comforting thought. On which note she realized it was time to bow.

    So she did, definitely not practised especially with the added impediment of a sword. ¡°Your excellency.¡± This to the na-Marquis. ¡°I was lucky enough to make your acquaintance during the journey here but can I ask for an introduction to your companions?¡±

    Rivka felt herself greeted by a somewhat awkward pause as the existing conversion stopped and all seven of them looked to her. Two young men, one tall and dark and lean, the other a shorter browned haired individual with an enormously powerful build who seemed to be somewhat back from the main group, positioned as if he was flanking or supporting Kristopher perhaps? Then four girls, two tall blondes (was that Kristopher''s type?), a slight, red haired girl who Rivka had not noticed actually talking very much and finally a toweringly statuesque figure with no hair, literally pitch black skin in no natural hue decorated with intricately spiralling tattoos or similar markings in burnished silver. Also her eyes were bright silver and, just as Rivka''s now were, slit vertically and reptilian in appearance.

    She was also the one who spoke up first, not Kristopher. ¡°So this is the little dragon you spoke of cousin? I like her eyes and would laud her bravery. But does she even understand what she is doing?¡± Her tone was smooth, rather deep, a hint of amusement. Also she definitely looked at more than just Rivka''s eyes and was quite shameless in doing so, Rivka felt a slight flush rising to her cheeks though her dark skin thankfully ensured this might not be entirely visible. Her senses were screaming at her that she was confronted with something not human, another predator, a peer. A dragon!If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

    Then Kristopher spoke up. ¡°She is Lady Felicia, also your suppositions are no doubt correct.¡± He gave a small bow of his head to Rivka then motioned to his companions in turn. ¡°It would be amiss of me not to introduce you, Dragon Rivka. Lady Felicia Valenti is my cousin and the daughter of Legate Eladia Valentie, commander of the 3<sup>rd</sup> Stellar Legion. And yes, she is a dragon, she was Awakened eighteen months ago.¡± He smoothly continued. ¡°This stoic individual.¡± He indicated the extremely powerfully built young man flanking him. ¡°Is Lord Marcel Valenti, another cousin and my personal bodyguard. Lord Hayden Kowalski.¡± The tall, lean young man, also definitely looking at her with interest after she was introduced as a dragon. ¡°Is a friend and second heir to his baronial family. These two visions.¡± Blondes must be his type Rivka mused, fuming just a little as both of the tall girls were introduced. ¡°Are Lady Wynell Hahn and Latoria Meyers. Lady Charita Royster.¡± The redhead now. ¡°Is na-Baroness of House Royster, direct vassals to my mother.¡±

    With the round of introductions completed the young noble then motioned expansively to Rivka. ¡°And this is Rivka Karri Nagel. Draconic Ward of House Sepra. I must apologise for her intrusion especially to you Lady Felicia, she must be ignorant of your mother''s history with her adoptive family. Still, however newly hatched she is a dragon and one of our peers. I hope that everyone will show her due consideration.¡±

    That sounded like a very polite dismissal to Rivka, if not a final one, she set her jaw, rankled, who was he to send her away! But no, a deep breath. She gave another bow almost as awkward as the first. ¡°Thank you your excellency. I was indeed ignorant of any bad blood between my adoptive family and any of those present. I will excuse myself.¡±

    This seemed to be taken well enough but before she could make good on her promise there was a soft chime clearly audible across the gathering.

    Then the procession into view of a tall, powerfully built man looking to be in his fifties perhaps, iron grey hair, coffee brown skin, dark eyes, wearing a magnificent if sombre robe like affair of lustrous black trimmed with intricate and heavy gold embroidery. He was flanked by a dozen men and women in similar if less ornate attire as he emerged from the colonnaded front of the academy building.

    ¡°Young lords and ladies!¡± He managed to be very loud indeed without raising his voice and Rivka could immediately tell this was magic not just a well practised voice. ¡°Welcome to the Zeria Imperial Academy, you are all prodigies of one kind or another, the elite of the noble houses of this sector, from heirs to titles to unexpected talents found amongst peripheral nobles. Your four years here are to be a crucible where you will be trained and moulded into future leaders. Many of you will spend time in the Imperial legions or administration, others will return to champion your houses, a significant number of you will also fail.¡±

    ¡°Do not assume that graduation is simply your birthright or that your birth and talent will win through. You must dedicate the next few years to your betterment and attend to your lessons, back home you might have been exceptional but here? Even the elite are normal and we expect you to strive to rise beyond normality. Many of you are exemplars of humanity but you do not merely compete with your peers, in this year we have two dragons with Houses Valenti and Sepra both sending such exalted scions to be trained by our establishment.¡±

    Rivka realized that more than a few people were looking at her now even if Felicia was the obvious centre of attention. She fumed silently. She was the special one! She was mighty! But now she realized she was going to be directly compared to a girl with a year and a half of experience over her when it came to being a dragon, a scion of a powerful noble house including two other dragons who had no doubt helped to tutor and educate her.

    She had a lot of work ahead of her and also needed to shout at Tribune Lissette for not warning her, at the first possible opportunity.