Greyson still required a couple more days to recover full mobility in his limbs. Everything became stiff and weak after such a long time of rest. During these couple of days, Rosalie would continue to come and talk with him. She was not overly expressive, but she would still smile happily when they spoke. Greyson could feel that they were compatible and could find things to talk about easily. They both were not talkative, so sometimes they would just sit in peace doing their own things. She would read and he would keep exercising his body in order to recover. One of the days, Greyson was feeling especially happy so he took out Mesmer and began to play a relaxing tune. Beautiful flute notes carried through the breeze around the mountain and allowed unknowing bystanders to sit in and listen. Charmed by the beautiful music, Rosalie closed her eyes and savored the calming music as she sipped her tea. Eventually, the song finally ended and Greyson pulled the flute from his lips. There was a faint atmosphere of disappointment as everyone, including Rosalie, wished for the music to continue."You still play the flute? You said you originally learned from your teacher back in the Dalia Kingdom, right? What was his name again?" Opening her eyes again, Rosalie turned towards Greyson while questioning him.
"His name is Carlyle. Music is another conduit with which I can cast spells. I find that I really cannot give up this hobby, I still paint in my free time as well." Showing a small grin, Greyson felt himself reminiscing about his silly old teachers. Maybe he would be able to go back and visit them soon. He was sure that they would be really happy with his improvement.
"I also learned two side occupations." Rosalie suddenly mentioned.
"Really? Which ones?" His interest piqued, Greyson quickly concentrated his attention in his sister.
"Dancer and physician."
"Dance?" Greyson shot her a confused look. Physician, he could understand. Elves were normally highly talented in healing even without the light element, plus his sister had helped that one bandit heal his wounds before so he already a.s.sumed, she had skills in that area. Dancing, however, was a rare occupation that not many took up. Most people who learned were females and usually dancing held the connotation of being used by women to momentarily bewitch their viewers. The women who learned were usually similar to Ezra in demeanor: seductive and flirtatious. Glancing at the cold and emotionless expression on his sister"s face, he could not see her enjoying dancing at all.
"Hmph! Don"t think I don"t know what you"re thinking! Only you dirty men think of the occupation as only used for things like that. A lot of respectable dancers use this art to express. It also helps in fights because it trains my flexibility and balance."
"Well, we should put on a performance sometime then! I will play the music and you can dance. I would really like to witness how amazing your dancing abilities are." Letting loose a cheeky smile, Greyson put forward his idea.
"Performance? Hm, I have never danced in front of anyone except my teacher before. I could dance for you, but I don"t plan on letting anyone else watch... Who knows what kind of ideas those dimwits would get if they saw that I could dance?" At first Rosalie mused the idea with a smile on her face, but as a thought pa.s.sed through her mind, her expression once again turned dark. Greyson could not help but frown when he saw his sister"s troubled expression. He was about to ask her about it, but she spoke up before he could.
"Enough about this, tomorrow I will take you to see our grandparents, make sure to get up and make yourself look presentable." Her cold expression disappearing, Rosalie winked back at his mischievously before almost running out of the door. Greyson felt frustrated that she would not let him in on her struggles, but he was glad to see that she seemed to let her guard down around him. Whenever he saw her before the most she would show was a warm smile, this was the first time that she showed such a lively and childish expression.
...
Early the next morning, a light knock sounded from the door.
"Come in."
Rosalie heard the answer and slowly opened the door. What greeted her at first was Greyson"s back, however, he quickly turned around to greet her. When he swung his body around, Rosalie couldn"t help but stare a little. Greyson was sporting a new robe he received from the tribe that was white with purple lining. His long white hair was loosely tied back with a purple rope. His light purple eyes still showed signs of cute drowsiness as his long eyelashes fluttered to keep open. He was her brother, but even she had to admit that he was very good-looking. Simply someone that anyone would want to bring around to flaunt. Thinking if this, she smirked a little before hooking her arm around his.
"Alright, looks like you are ready. Let"s go." Pulling her slightly dazed brother, Rosalie quickly led them out of the room and onto the outside of the cave. The dragons all lived relatively close to each other and took up a large percentage of a mountain range. Right now, Greyson was staying on one of the mountains inhabited by the Snow Dragon tribe. All along the mountain are manmade caves for the tribe members to live in. While they were "caves", each one was exquisitely made with windows and beautiful interior. Greyson"s housing was slightly high up so he had a good view of the mountain from the window, however, seeing the surroundings up close made him gasp in admiration. The entire mountain range was blessed with high mana and element density, thus allowing beautiful and plentiful vegetation to continue to grow. Other than the very top of the mountain which was cold and snow covered, the rest of the mountain was filled to the brim with life. In the midst of his awe, Greyson suddenly stopped to look around after feeling multiple piercing glares. Noticing the owners of the glares were all men and they were all staring intently at where his sister"s arms were wrapped around his. Easily inferring the origin of their anger, Greyson wanted to cry but had no tears. Obviously, they were siblings, he was not their love rival. He could not help but feel unfairly wronged. Subtly, he tried to pull his arm away from hers so that he would not keep inviting unnecessary hate, but his attempts were all stopped by the vise grip of his sister.
"My sweet younger brother, should you not help your older sister discourage her suitors? The brother should learn to protect his pretty sister, right?" Keeping her voice low so only the two of them would hear, Rosalie explained her unwillingness to let go. Rolling his eyes, Greyson did not think much of her words.
"I think I"ll die under their murderous glares before I can protect you."
Rosalie did not respond and only shrugged her shoulders. They continued walking together arm-in-arm up the mountain. As they got higher and higher, Greyson could feel the temperature dropping and even felt that it was getting harder to breathe. He looked over and realized that Rosalie was not having any issues which surprised him. He was fine due to the physical strength that the dragon bloodline gave him, but the elf bloodline did not give him such physical advantages.
"Most of the dragons have such tough bodies that such a change does not affect them, just like you. I can only say that I am used to it now. At first, my body had a lot of difficulties, but I lived up on the top with our grandparents for a while so I ended up adapting to the environment." Seeing his confusion, Rosalie decided to explain. Greyson nodded in understanding. The rest of the walk up, they continued in silence. There were no awkward feelings, though, as the both of them just admired the view. Although the both of them could quickly use their magic to arrive at the top of the mountain, they tacitly agreed to slowly walk up. From an outsider"s view, they looked like a pair of immortals silently walking through the snow. Both garbed in clean white with their good-looking features. Others would feel that they would be intruding in a picturesque moment if they were to approach.
Eventually, Rosalie led Greyson to the front of a large cave entrance. Many times larger than his own entrance, Greyson felt dwarfed by the sheer size. Suddenly, he could not help but feel nervous and his hands started to sweat. He wondered whether his grandparents would really be glad to meet him. Most people were very disdainful towards mixed bloods. In his anxiousness, he completely forgot that they already treated his sister well, so they obviously showed they had no such bias. He wanted to pause his steps, but Rosalie was already dragging him into the cave. Making his way through the s.p.a.cious tunnel, they both arrived in a brightly lit s.p.a.ce at the end. At the front were two humongous white dragons. Both of them looked to be sleeping as their eyes were shut. Continuing to be pulled by his sister, Greyson arrived next to the two dragons" faces. He realized that he was not even as tall as their heads.
"Grandma... Grandpa..." Rosalie"s soft voice called out to the two dragons. The two eyes facing Greyson and Rosalie slowly began to crack open revealing two light purple eyes not too different from Greyson"s own eyes. One of the eyes glanced at both of them with humor and warmth while the other one barely glanced at Rosalie before glaring in Greyson"s direction. He could feel the immense pressure from the obviously unhappy second dragon. His back soon became drenched with sweat as he tried to continue standing upright. Gritting his teeth, Greyson did not want to allow himself to have to fall so easily. He thought this could possibly be a test, and he wanted to pa.s.s to give his grandparents a good impression.
"Hmph! Old man, what do you think you are doing?!" He heard an older woman"s voice echo in the room before the pressure he felt suddenly disappeared. Confused, Greyson thought that maybe things were not as simple as he believed.
"I heard our Rosie found a boy she liked, who knows where the Ancestor found such a pretty-looking pipsqueak. He thinks he is worthy of my granddaughter?!" Another older man"s voice responded. Instead of anger, though, one could say that he sounded petulant, like a child who just lost his favorite toy. It was at this point that Greyson finally understood, it seems his grandparents were not aware of his ident.i.ty yet. Looking over at Rosalie, he questioned her with his eyes. She looked helpless as she realized that she really had not told her grandparents about Greyson yet because she a.s.sumed the Ancestor would have told them like he told her. Although the Ancestor did not come right out and say that Greyson was her brother, he definitely hinted towards it. She just a.s.sumed that he would let her grandparents know of his suspicion. However, looks like the Ancestor was playing tricks again and wanted to surprise them. Inwardly shaking her head, Rosalie really wondered what she should do with such immature elders.
"Grandfather, you have misunderstood..." Rosalie"s tired voice began.
"Misunderstand?! What could I misunderstand? You have been taking care of this boy for almost a month now. You think I don"t know your personality well enough? How could you even spend this much time taking care of someone, a boy at that, if you did not like him? Touch your heart and ask yourself if you have ever treated anyone of the male species this well!" Quickly interrupting her, the old man did not allow Rosalie to finish explaining.
"Grandpa! Would you let me explain?!" Finally raising her voice in annoyance, Rosalie glared over to the dragon to the right. Greyson heard a cold snort in response and there was no longer anymore shouting. Seems his sister had more influence then he previously believed. He felt slightly amused to see such a large, dangerous looking dragon to listen to such a small girl"s orders.
"It is not what you think. I do not like him that way. Yes, I like him, but as family. He is my brother! Your son"s son! Do you now understand?" Crossing her arms, Rosalie finally was able to explain the situation.
"...My what?" After a long pause, the old voice finally spoke out again but this time in disbelief.
"Your. Grand. Son!" Enunciating each syllable correctly, Rosalie had to keep herself from chuckling at her silly grandfather"s response.
"Proof! I want proof!"
Hearing this, Rosalie glanced over at Greyson before approaching him. Seeing her look, Greyson felt some apprehension about what was happening. However, before he could back away, Rosalie grabbed onto his arm and cut his arm with a dagger that she pulled out suddenly. His blood spilled out a little, but his skin quickly healed itself. Giving his sister an accusatory glance, he could not understand what was going on yet. Rosalie did not look back at him, and instead walked over to her grandfather with the dagger still covered in Greyson"s blood. He still watched in utter shock as she took that dagger and stabbed it into their grandfather"s hand. The dagger stabbed cleanly through the scales.
"Ha!... HAHAHAHA! It is my grandson! Good boy, come over and let grandfather take a closer look at you!" Instead of anger, the dragon responded in great happiness. The other dragon also looked towards Greyson in excitement. The object of their pleasant surprise, however, was still trying to figure out what just happened.
"Only the blood of their kin can injure a dragon so easily. Granted, if you were much more powerful you could also stab through grandfather"s scales, however, you clearly are much weaker. Which can only mean that your blood causes his scales to weaken, thus allowing such a plain dagger to be able to stab him. A rather violent way to ensure relation, but easy and accurate nonetheless." Rosalie"s cold voice once again explained everything to him. Finally understanding, Greyson felt speechless. So, there was such a crazy way of determining relation in the dragons?
"Yes, yes, Rosie is correct! Hahaha, how did you end up here? Good grandson, come over and tell grandfather and grandmother all about you!" Hearing this request, Greyson suddenly had a feeling of déjà vu from when he woke up and saw Rosalie. Sighing to himself, he decided to just bite the bullet and explain his life story once again. Comfortably sitting down, Greyson began from the very beginning at the church orphanage...