Rayne, on the other hand, was shaky and hesitant. The shadow that followed him was more reluctant to release his advisor from its grip. Caelan missed Rayne’s confidence, but that was something that would take time to rebuild. For now, leaving his advisor behind wasn’t an option. Rayne had offered, but Caelan shut that nonsense down fast. Rayne was too big a part of this now. He had to be there as Caelan’s voice of reason.
But in the meantime, shouts and squeals rang out across the practice field while snowballs flew through the air. Snow bunkers and forts had been hastily constructed as protection, but they were no match for the younger dragons who shifted and darted through the air, dodging snowballs to get behind enemy lines.
After seeing so many adults shifting into enormous, scaled beasts, it was disconcerting to see the younger children shift into dragons barely larger than a horse. Their coloring was also paler than the adult dragons, closer to pastels of blue, orange, lavender, and pink.
A loud bark of laughter jumped from Rayne beside him. Caelan followed his line of sight in time to see a dragon fly overhead and dump a huge mound of snow where Eno, Adrian, and Drayce were hiding. Drayce jumped up and danced around, shaking at his clothes. A small pile of snow slipped out from under his coat.
To his shock, Drayce shifted into his dragon form and shot a lazy geyser of fire into the air, missing the young dragon by a mile. The child let out a sound that was a sort of chuckling roar. The massive black dragon then stretched out along the edge of the snow-covered field, half burying his head in the snow while using his massive paws to toss more snow over his body.
“My mind still struggles to comprehend that the black dragon is really Drayce,” Rayne murmured. Caelan looked up at his companion to find Rayne shaking his head, glasses glinting in the afternoon light. “And he’s enormous! In his human form, Eno and I outweigh him, but as a dragon, he’s easily the biggest dragon I’ve seen. It…it defies logic!”
“Size varies between dragons for a wide number of reasons.” They both jumped and turned to see Nori stepping out onto the covered patio with them. “Sometimes it’s a matter of genetics, but there are some who believe that when a dragon is growing, the more time he spends in his dragon form, the bigger he is likely to get.” Nori jerked his head toward Drayce. “With Drayce, he was rarely ever seen with his clan. It’s my understanding he spent a lot of time in his dragon form exploring the island.” Nori leaned close and added in a stage whisper. “Drayce is bigger than both his father and older brother. I get the feeling it has always irked both men.”
Caelan snorted and Rayne chuckled drily.
“Yes, Takahashi Masaru seems to be the type to worry about size,” Rayne muttered.
Nori’s delighted cackle drowned out Caelan’s groan. Really? His advisor made a size joke to his grandfather?
“Lord Omari, may I ask how old a dragon usually is when they shift for the first time?” Rayne inquired, thankfully changing the topic of conversation.
“Nori, Rayne,” his grandfather reminded him for what felt like the hundredth time. Caelan had told him that Rayne was stubbornly proper and wasn’t going to use his given name, but Nori appeared to take that as a challenge. He corrected Rayne every time, but it was always with a warm patient smile.
But this time, there was something more to the smile. “Dragons shift into their human form for the first time when they are about five or six years old.”
“What?” both Caelan and Rayne gasped.
“We’re born in our dragon forms and shift into humans later,” Nori explained.
Caelan pressed his cold fingers into his eyes and rubbed. “I need you to keep talking, because the mental images I’m getting about the birth are kind of gruesome.”
An arm wrapped around his shoulders and he was pulled against Nori. “Well, when two dragons love each other very much, they—”
Caelan cried out, shoving away from Nori who was laughing. “I know how babies are made, you old dragon! I’m more concerned with how a woman gives birth to a dragon.”
“A human woman doesn’t,” Nori corrected when he got control of his laughter. “After a period of gestation, she shifts into her dragon form and lays an egg in our rookery. The entire clan rotates through the rookery, protecting, warming, and bonding with the egg for the next year. When the whelp finally hatches, it will instantly recognize the entire clan.”
“Astounding,” Rayne breathed. “How big is the whelp usually?”
Nori shrugged. “About the size of a large dog.” He paused and chuckled. “But they grow fast. They stay in or near the rookery for the first years and mostly interact with others in their dragon form. It’s simply safer that way until the child learns their own strength and size.”