>>5322647You take a few moment to steady yourself, to collect your composure and regulate your breathing. When your energy and equilibrium are in balance once again, you stride (rather than stagger, a you might have done) back to the side of the arena where the Novice waits. She is rubbing her sore, stiffened muscles, looking nearly as bad as you feel.
“You are an absolute—”
“Champion of our Master Race, yes, I know,” you finish her sentence.
You narrows her eyes and hisses, but you interrupt her again, this time by handing her the limp kobold, Agno.
“Fix this one,” you tell her. “I need him strong, to serve his penance.”
The Novice is so startled by this declaration that she actually forgets about her planned barrage of invective.
“You’re SPARING him?” she asks. “And… Still taking him into our forces? WHY?”
You shrug, conflicted yourself.
“He was brave,” you admit. “Even injured, only my lack of luck, and his abundance of skill and resilience, prevented my initial blow form besting him. He was clever. He resisted my Presence, even when the rest of you could not, and he put up more of a fight than I expected.”
The Novice stares at you.
“You think me soft,” you note.
“I don’t know WHAT to make of you,” she sighs.
She leaves, but she leaves carrying the kobold. You sense… You’re not sure what. Disappointment? Confusion? Amazement? Ultimately, an utter lack of understanding. It’s… And unfamiliar feeling for you, when interacting with your people, and you often feel as if the gulf is only growing as you mature. Is it because you’re a dragon-in-the-making, or because you’re a mammal-in-part?
