Holly: Ascension 13

"I know that I love your daughter."  Thomas answers looking directly into the stone cold grey eyes of my mother.  "I will protect her, bring happiness and light into her life as she brings into mine.  I will carry her through dark times and celebrate with her in the good.  I will care for her in illness, learning and laughing at anything life brings our way."

"That's sweet," she says with a half smile.  "So you've half thought it through."

"Half thought it through?" my dad and I both ask.

Mother drops her head to her chest for a moment as she sighs, but the hand holding the boulder remains in place, "Do you understand what I'm speaking of Thomas?"

"The family truth?" his voice clearly showing he's uncertain if that is what she's referring to.

"You're on the right train of thought," she turns to my dad.  "Can you get this?  It's starting to hurt."

"I got it," Thomas stands up and takes the boulder from my mother's hand.

"Thanks sweetie," she gives him a genuine smile as she shakes the sore from her wrist.  "Just think about it, alright?  Don't let it sneak up and catch you off guard.  Though I think you'd be perfect for the position."

Holly: Ascension 12

I can't help but to jump back startled by their sudden appearance.  Thomas turns to see what startled me and falls back into me just missing my father's sword come thundering down between Thomas' legs.  I wrap my arms protectively around Thomas.

"Daddy!" I cry angrily, "Stop!"

"But," my dad starts to pout. "All the other dads get to."

"Really?" my mother sighs as flexes the fingers of her right hand.  

She reaches out, grabbing Thomas by the shoulder and throws him over her head.  He lands lightly on the floor, back pressed against the wall; pretty sure my mom used a spell to do make that happen because she isn't that strong.  My dad is extraordinarily strong but my mom is more brutal.  

"Boulder," she says coldly placing her right hand just above Thomas' head.

Her spell of strength catches the large boulder as it drops into the palm of her hand.  I honestly can't read if she'll harm him or not.  

"Do you really, truly, and fully understand what you are opening yourself to by making the choice?" there's a clicking sound as she speaks, clearly a sign that she's building electricity within her mouth that could be released with a single motion.  "You have always been loyal, trusting, and true throughout the years I have known you, but do you honestly understand everything it means?"

Holly: Ascension 11

Before my eyes is not Molly my twin and best friend, but Molly as I first met her.  Molly, the eight-year old that I modeled myself to match after leaving my hatchling stage.  My legs can't keep me standing anymore,

I fall to the floor as Thomas places a comforting hand on my shoulder.

"Why?" the words choke in my throat.

"You don't need me as your sister and best friend anymore," the youthfulness of her voice shatters my heart.  "It was fun but we couldn't share a life forever.  You've got someone else to share your life with now.  I'll always be near when you need me, but I can't grow up with you forever."

"I'm never ready to lose you as a best friend," I whisper.

"Your grandfather spent most of his life with me, your mother spent most of her years with me, and so have you," she tells me with a smile.  "I can't keep this family to myself forever.  It's not fair."

"Please don't go," I plead. 

"I'm not leaving, but I'm not going to hold you back," she explains. "You've been needing to branch out and blossom for some time now.  You'll be alright, Sir Thomas-"

"Just Thomas now," he interrupts.

"Just Thomas now," she smiles brightly.  "He'll take care of you but you two should probably go ahead and talk to your parents."

"I don't think I've ever met your parents," I turn to address Thomas to see the silhouettes of my parents behind him on each side.  

Holly: Ascension 10

Suddenly I feel his lips on mine as his arms wrap tightly around me.  I open my eyes, confused and happy all at the same time.  I want to enjoy the moment but the confusion in my mind won't let me.  As he pulls away, the confusion on my face must read loud and clear.  He pulls me into his chest, running his fingers in my hair.

"I told you before, I couldn't say.  Now that I'm relieved of my duties, I love you.  Duties, loyalties, honor; I'll protect and stand by your side for as long as you'll keep me there regardless if I have to or not.  It's not simply about keeping you safe, but happy and comfortable.  Now not as your guardian by duty, but as my beloved."

I jump into him, wrapping my arms around his neck to pull myself into him for a kiss.  I push myself back down.

"We might need to tell Molly," I suggest.  "I think she might still be pissed at you."

I grab him by the hand, racing out of my room to find Molly.  I don't see her at first glance of the town square and run across the way to her lodging.  

"Molly!  Guess what!" I sing as I pull back the curtain then come to a halting stop, tears welling up in my eyes.

Holly: Ascension 9

Suddenly Sir Thomas barrels through the curtained door into the room and just as suddenly, I can't see myself.  

"Where's Holly?" he pants.  I can see the beads of sweat rolling down his face from running all the way here.

"I don't want to see you right now," Molly snorts haughtily, folding her arms over her chest and turning her cheek to him.

"I can tell the difference between the two of you," he says simply to her.

In a snap of his fingers, I'm visible in the room again but the delay has given me enough time to regain my composure well enough.  Molly turns to me, eyes asking if it's okay.  I quietly nod, I was foolish and must repair my foolishness.  As soon as she has left the room, Sir Thomas begins talking before I get a chance to take a breath in.

"I'm sorry, it was not my intention to upset you.  I am supposed to protect you but I don't even know how to begin protecting you from romance," his words come out so earnest and heartfelt.

I take in a deep breath and close my eyes to hold on to my conviction, "Sir Thomas, you are relieved of your duties as my guardian and protector."

Holly: Ascension 8

"Now that I am not sure, I have made it my life to guard you, but at the same time I was a young dragon when I was knighted by your father," he responds in an exhale of breath.

I bite my lower lip tightly and refuse to look up.  I've gone and messed everything up by asking that.  I should have ignored my feelings and never said anything at all.  I shouldn't have allowed myself to love him.  

"See it is a hard choice," oh please, don't twist the knife further.  "I believe that I truly love you girls but in what way, I couldn't say."

I can't take to be there another moment, I push myself from him and run back to my room in this village.  I stumble over my shame, my guilt bumps me into people, Molly grabs my shoulders to stop the world from running away from me.

"I can't find Sir-" 

"To my room!" I wail.

She protectively hugs me and I no longer feel the snow beneath my feet but the fabric of the bed I've been laying in.  I can't find the words, the choking hold of the sobs in my throat are preventing any words from being spoken.  I feel like such an idiot, I can't bear the thought of having to face Sir Thomas again after this.  

Molly doesn't say a word, just quietly runs her hands through my hair in a quiet demonstration of calming.  She could reset the events even though she doesn't know exactly what they are.  She could change things to have him say something different but that would only have delayed this heartache.  You can change a moment but you can't change a heart.

Holly: Ascension 7

"It's alright, you know it's not the first time someone had done this but I just froze and Molly handled it for me."

"What'd she tell her?"

"You're seriously going to ask me all of this when I know you can hear the conversations Molly and I have with people?!" 

"I didn't hear this one," he says calmingly as he rests his hands on my shoulders. "Someone had thrown up a block so that I couldn't.  That's why I came to check on you."

"Molly," I suspect aloud.

"That's what I thought too but I thought it best to check on you.  I'd rather be safe than sorry."

The fiery warmth of his hands start to melt the ice skin that was cast over me and I begin to shiver.  I'd cast warmth over me but I'm kind of stuck out and vulnerable until the hour is up.  He pulls me close and wraps his arms around my body, it's his only option to warm me.  The fiery warmth of being a red dragon doesn't leave him the need to wear many layers.  I bury myself into his chest, maybe it'll be easier to say if I don't have to look in his amber eyes.

"What would you say if I told you I love you?" I murmur into his chest.

I can feel him take in a deep breath and hold it in.  He stands there stiffly without moving a muscle and I feel like I could vomit.  A response taking this long to form must be rejection. 

Holly: Ascension 6

"Ehhh," I start digging my toes into the dirt. 

"No!" Her face begins to twist into an angry pout. "You're not putting this off again.  Get it out there and move on.  You can't keep hiding how you feel or I'M going to implode!"

"Oh don't be so dramatic.."

"Dramatic? Shut up and get this done," she groans and pushes me towards the edge of the courtyard.  "I'm sending him over," she starts to run off before turning around to yell; "Oh, and don't think about using any spells to get out of this!  I've sealed your magick for the next hour!"

I stare down at my feet and twist my fingers in nervous wait.  I wish I felt more confidence about this.  I worry about how knowledge of my affections will change our interactions if he doesn't return my feelings.  Maybe it would be better if I didn't say anything about it at all.

"Are you alright Holly?" I try to shake away my emotions as Sir Thomas begins speaking to me, his voice a perfect balance of youthful optimism and protective concern. "Are you cold? Did that lady upset you girls?"

"No, no," I wipe a tear away as I turn to face him.  "The ice skin that was placed upon me during cleansing protects me from freezing."

"Did that lady upset you girls?" his upset is starting to show as the words escape his mouth in a growl.

"No, no, no, she just asked me to marry his son."

"Oh," his body begins to bristle up defensively.

Holly: Ascension 5

Molly and I are shared around the town.  Hugs, dances, conversation with so many people that we have come to know in our stay.  I've spotted Sir Thomas a few times, not fully involved in the celebration but I see his foot tapping to the music.  Were we still young, we'd have him running around playing hide and seek in the crowd.  It was fun to think that we could ever hide from him even if he always knew exactly where we were.  Even now, he might not be staring right at us but he could tell exactly who we're talking to and what was said.  He turns his face towards me and I jerk away to hide myself from his gaze, feeling the warmth of blood rising to the tips of my ears in embarrassment.

Why did I turn away like that?  I'm such a nervous idiot.  I could have just smiled or waved like I always have.  I might as well have thrown up a sign reading "I love you!"

I look up to realize that someone has been talking to me.  They're staring at me and I can tell they're waiting for an answer but I didn't hear the question.  I can't gather my thoughts enough to find a graceful response and just simply stare confused with my mouth half open until I hear Molly's familiar voice beside me.

"She's obviously quite flattered by your proposal but her heart is held captive by another," Molly answers for me as she locks her arm in mine.

The older woman gives us an odd look and walks away.  I turn myself to Molly tearing my arm from her grip.

"What was that about?" I ask questioningly.

"She asked you to marry her son, and obviously that's not the man you're going to discuss romance with tonight."

Holly: Ascension 4

The maidens are silent but their motions are incredibly smooth and fluid.  They gently move me up from the bed, remove my nighttime frock and brush my hair.  I can feel a gentle mist cleansing my body as the shorter maiden is blowing across her hand causing a mist to spray on my body.  The girl in my hair is nesting lotus flowers in the braided bun she has created as the misting girl is now only using her breath to crystallize the small beads of water to my body using her breath.  From my hair, she now adorns my neck, wrists, and ears with larimar jewelry.  Finally, they both begin to pull a silver iridescent slip up my body before draping the sheer cornflower blue fabric across my arms.  

They turn me to the door without word or sound indicating they were finished.  I push past the curtain into the town square.  Snow flurries slowly dance through the air and I spot Molly standing across from me dressed exactly the same as me. 

We smile at one another and mirror our movements as we walk together to the edge of town to the waterfall.  Molly raises her right hand above her head, slowly pulling it to the right in a very dramatic motion pulling the right half of the waterfall open in a curtain.  I mirror this movement and effect, those the dramatic movements are unnecessary I'm quite sure it looks majestic to those watching.  We shift into serpentine forms, wisping through the opening before closing the water behind us.  Molly creates an artifact of the blue dragon clan and tosses it to me.  I blow across my hand, just as my dresser had done to Molly and me, lightly wetting the egg before us.  I lightly tap the egg and whisper the name.

Zoice.

The egg crystallized before shattering and releasing the tiny hatchling into the world.  Molly and I grabbed each other as we ran from the cavern, diving into the waterfall, and ascending before we fall to the pool in our dragon forms, dancing through the air.  Two dragons and a tiny hatchling.  After our celebratory arial display, we land back in the town square as the clan breaks into celebration at the birth of a new member.  We have returned into our human shapes to celebrate among our brethren.  The celebration is an incredible one, no celebration has been the same yet.  The drink lightens the heart, the music soothes the mind, and the dance excites the soul.  

Holly: Ascension 3

After traveling this past year, spending weeks living in clans of various dragon types before and after the hatching rituals, absorbing the cultures with my best friend and my guardian knight have been wonderful.  I can see now why my mother was always running out the door.  The world carries so many wonders to see.  

"Holly, get up!" Molly is shaking me awake.

Holly is my informal name.  Only me, my mother, and my father know my true name though sometimes I think my father has forgotten it.  Today is the day of another hatching.  A blue dragon shall be born today and after, I will tell Sir Thomas what has been weighing on my mind.  

"So, I say wait until close to dusk." Molly whispers sitting cross-legged on my bed now. "The nice hues from the sun setting combined with the evening stars shining through. Oh, and take him close to the waterfall. Close enough to feel the mist spraying you."

I pull the covers back over my head and trying to dissolve into the mattress.  Dissolving is an interesting trick that I learned from observing the shadow dragons.  I blink and suddenly I'm back to sitting up out of the covers.

"You reset!" I screech at her.

"Yeah, well dissolving isn't going to push it off this day.  You're telling him." She pushes off the bed and walks out of the room.

As soon as the curtain falls behind her it immediately is pulled back open as two blonde maidens walk in the room.  I jerk the sheets up in reflex even though I had already known that they would be coming.  In spending time with the communities before hatching, some have adopted adoring Molly and myself with pampering and dressing before performing the hatching.  My mom probably would have experienced this herself if she could have stayed in one place long enough to learn it.

Holly: Ascension 2

Most people would think that Molly and I were twins.  Those people are fools.  As I said before, I was born a dragon hatchling.  Not long after, I selected a human form to shape and I chose to look like her.  She is truly my best friend.  My mother raised and loved Molly as though we were sisters, strengthening our bond greater than anyone will ever understand.  She's The Artificer, now my partner as I have now become The Hatcher.  She's never aged once at all over the years until I just chose to when becoming The Hatcher.  Of course, like only my best friend can, she donned the look of a mature age as well.
Now both looking the age of 19 rather than looking the age of 8 as we have all of these years now.  Our frizzy dirty blonde hair that my mother always enjoyed braiding in various stylings whenever she was home; now we've both darkened in solid brunettes of elbow-length hair. Sometimes we like to braid our hair together and pretend we're conjoined to frighten some of the guests away. We've got our parents' height, standing at a solid six foot tall, still not taller than Sir Thomas.
Sir Thomas was selected by my mother to guard and protect me.  He was a member of the royal guard assembled to guard my father.  He's illusioned the events for Molly and me countless times.  Our father protected Sir Thomas to his detriment.  Our father was stolen away as the rest of the guard stood idly by.  My mother, in one of her more calm moments of rage, sent the rest of the guard to their fate by the task of telling the King and Queen of the red dragons that they allowed him to be stolen away.  My Thomas guided my mother and her allies to save my father which began the events leading my mother becoming The Hatcher and my hatching.
After my hatching, there has never been a moment of my life spent unwatched or without him keeping us safe from harm.  He's a knight, a gentleman, of gentle heart and earnest care.  Any suitor coming to call has a high bar to surpass, I don't think I honestly could love any other the way I admire Sir Thomas.  But how do you begin to tell the man that played tea party with you for years that you adore him?
He and Molly are also carriers of my truth.  My father was raised in believing that he was the royal heir of the red dragon clan.  Years ago he uncovered the truth.  A truth my mother kept silent for years in attempt to keep myself and my father safe.  My father and mother are actually the king and queen of the  crystal dragon clan.  We haven't opened up the truth to the red dragon clan as they have no other heirs.  We continue to play the part of the red dragon royal family and though Sir Thomas knows, he continues to stand vigil.  He holds no allegiance to us or myself with the knowledge he holds but continues keeping me safe. He could unveil our truth, we could have to pay the price of our deceit.  Yet he stays faithful, even helping guise my true identity as I face the challenge of each royal test.

Holly: Ascension 1

I've been a princess ever since I was born.  I was surrounded in magical warmth, my tomb broken by the symbol I would later learn, and the world finally became clear to me at the breath of my name escaping my mother's lips.

Celæno.

I burst forth in a glorious red form; circling my mother, flitting past my father, rubbing against my grandmother, and coming to rest on my grandfather.  I rested there until my mother asked to meet my parents.  I flew back to her as her eyes began to widen to the sudden understanding that I was her child.  

My daddy was the prince of the red dragon clan, and he still is.  He didn't like to actually stay with the clan.  He loved the thrill and adventure that my mother lived for.  She was never really a dragon, she actually was born a biomancer turning dragonkin by the strengths and bonds of her and my father's love.  Before she married the red dragon prince, she was a powerful member of an assassins' guild.   I was her first dragon hatchling after she was blessed with the title of The Hatcher.

Which is now what I am today.  My mother has bowed down from her role to slow down her life she says.  Ever since I was born she has been always on the go, I know she loves me but she's always running around doing something.  I guess after connecting with my dad's true parents, she finally realized her mortality after facing against the crystal dragon hunter.  I know that my dad truly loves me, but I have two people that have always been constant in my life. 

Molly and Sir Thomas.