A Marriage Of A Dragon

Tara'li

As we land on a ledge at the top of the valley Trashkanir motions inside. I see he had a cave system all for himself, though it does feel sparse. As I look around I don't see anything remotely saying this cave is inhabited. That is until I see him spit fire at the center of the first room and a small fire is lit. 'Welcome to my house, my queen. It is not much but it is home.'

I see a single tunnel at the back of the room, though it is dark. The cave itself is worn smooth by something or other and slightly tilted towards the back, I don't know why. I sit down with slumped wings on the floor. 'We could not have arrived any sooner. My wing muscles hurt...'

He walks towards my back. 'Please remove your armor. I'll try to help you out a bit.'

With some hesitation I take off my chest piece. With full access to my back Trashkanir starts rubbing the back of his claws against my back, working around the small bone spikes to not snap them off. While he rubs against my back I feel the bone armor is not fully healed yet, though it is one piece. When he is finished with the muscles on my back he pulls my wings slightly towards him and works my chest muscles the same way. Then he steps over to me. 'Better, my queen?'

I nod. 'At least they don't ache and hurt at the same time. Now it just is hurt. Well, as far as it isn't my bone armor that hasn't healed fully yet...'

He nods. 'Now, are you ready to see the rest of the ca...'

He gets interrupted by another dragon rushing into the cave. 'King Trashkanir! The Riders are here with their fake dragons! What should... THERE IS ONE HERE?!'

As I get up and turn to the dragon I see it is one who is hostile towards us. I put my hand on my sword and grab my shield though I don't draw either yet to not provoke anything. The king takes over. 'This is queen Tara'li of the Elves. She is my bride. Her squad followed us to attend our wedding...'

The dragon, a white one with some small golden accents, spits a flame at me. Quite quickly I raise my shield to protect myself from it though the flame doesn't reach my shield. Then he speaks in disgust. 'You cannot be serious, king Trashkanir. The Riders are frauds and to take... an ELF as your bride? Why would you do that?'

Trashkanir grabs the dragon by its throat. 'Many reasons, one among which is she killed the master of arms in ceremonial combat. Now go before I let her give you the same favor. I'll deal with this issue myself.'

The white dragon, when let lose, runs out the cave like a beaten dog. Then Trashkanir walks to the entrance. 'Please take a moment to rest. I'm going to make sure your squad will be treated well.'

It is a little while before he returns. He carries some meat with him and sighs. 'Sometimes I wonder why I even try to lead the dragons. Some are so stupid... your Rashter got challenged to ceremonial combat.'

I get up. 'Please tell me he didn't accept the challenge. He may be a real dragon but he hasn't fought properly in a very long time.'

Trashkanir rolls his eyes. 'He accepted and won, but his armor got beaten up good. Luckily that is the worst of it. However as it seems like the Elves forged that armor... you may have some issues replacing it.'

I grumble. 'Yeah. That armor cost the royal treasuries quite the coin. I can't explain this to the High Elves without getting scolded quite hard for it.'

I check on Rashter now, through whom I learned he actually accepted the challenge for one of the other dragons. He got some scratches but the armor is gone. So is one of the Wild Dragons. I sigh loudly. 'To think I so far thought I got some sense into that thick head of Rashter. Why does he do this to me...'

Trashkanir puts the piece of meat above the fire. 'I don't know, but I had to cool down for a moment. So I went hunting. I hope you are hungry for mountain goat.'

I put my armor on. 'I'm more hungry for beating up Rashter for ruining a unique armor set made specifically for him. I got him that because he was reckless in battle and then he does this.'

He grabs my left hand and hops a bit pulling me with him. We go deeper into the cave, where a second cavern sits. There are two paths leading from this one, one going straight ahead and deeper again, the other going to the right. He leads me into the right one. At the end of the tunnel I gasp. A massive treasury lays in front of me. Piles upon piles of gold and gems, some just raw and uncut gems, others worked into fine jewelry even the Dwarves would be jealous about. The king lets go of my hand and motions into the room. 'I think we got enough coin here to pay for a replacement, right?'

I nod breathlessly. Then Trashkanir turns to me. 'After our marriage, this treasure is of both of us. If you don't go to crazy I won't mind you grabbing some treasure yourself and doing whatever you need with it.'

The next day Trashkanir is up early. 'I'm off to get our ceremony planned out, my beauty in gold. Feel free to explore my home or go out in the valley. I'll return in the evening.'

He walks out seemingly happy. Meanwhile I'm left in the cave alone and decide to walk through the cave a bit, not feeling secure enough to go out in the valley yet. I find a cavern with a hot spring and then another cavern which to me seems like a place to meet people. After having gone through it all I return to the hot spring and undress, lowering myself into the hot water. It feels great. After a while I do get bored and get out again, waiting first until I'm mostly dry before getting dressed again and then go to the treasure cavern where I just find a pile that doesn't have to many edges and lay against that, closing my eyes. Really comfortable with my sensitive wings pressed against some gold it isn't but it is peaceful.

I'm still laying there when I hear Trashkanir yell my name. 'My queen Tara'li?! Where are you?'

Before I can respond I hear him run into the treasure room and as I open my eyes he walks over. 'Oh here you are, my beauty. Have you already started sleeping without me?'

I get up and stretch a bit. 'Not really. I found the hot spring and took a bath before going here to loosen up a bit. Comfortable is another thing but it is peaceful.'

He grabs my hand to help me up. 'It surprises me you didn't even grab any of it. All you do is lay on a small pile.'

I let my hand go through the pile to slightly disturb it. 'It isn't mine. Nor do I wish for treasure to be mine in the first place. Even though a fraction of what is here could solve the... coin issue my people have, it isn't mine to take. I shouldn't even be laying on it in the first place.'

He strokes my hair. 'But you should. It is as much mine as it is yours. You looked glorious on there. I can already see you as a dragon now. Come, lets eat dinner. We have a couple of things to discuss.'

Together we walk back to the main cavern and he lights the fire again. Then he puts what I guess is another piece of mountain goat above it and lays down. As I already discovered there is nothing to sit against in this cavern I sit against his belly. Then he speaks. 'The ceremony will be tomorrow. I guess you barely know anything about getting married?'

I sigh loudly. 'Well, this isn't exactly a second or third time I get married no. I barely even know the tradition of the humans or Elves.'

He stares into the fire. 'So today is the day you choose a gem type which you will wear tomorrow. Then tomorrow you will wear that gem in jewelry. Now usually this jewelry comes from the bride and grooms own hoards, but as you don't have one I'll let you wear from mine. Now during the ceremony one thing is important. It is to wear one bracelet with the chosen gem type on your right arm. One with a specific type of latch. The latch can only be opened by two people, you and one who truly loves you. This is because you offer the bracelet as a symbol of your love to me, as I do with my own bracelet. It is like humans do with a wedding ring. When you unlocked it, hold it in your left hand until I unlocked yours. Once we got each others bracelets, we put the others bracelet on our own arm to wear it... forever.'

I look at my wings. 'I guess because I'm golden that I have to pick opal, even though I don't like it that much...'

Trashkanir turns his head to me. 'No. The gem you choose has to be one that is either close to you or one you truly like. There is no "will do" with your chosen gem in a marriage.'

I nod and stare into the fire myself. At first I want to say Emerald but that isn't one I truly like. I remember now once seeing a Ruby. The deep red doesn't look dark but it has a fiery tone to it. 'I choose Ruby then. I think Rubies represent me best.'

Trashkanir grabs my right hand now. 'Mine will be Sapphire. Now... tomorrow morning the ceremony master and I will put together something to wear for you during the ceremony. After the marriage, all but the ceremony master and we will leave, to make you a true dragon queen.'

I tap my armor. 'Why can't I wear this? This armor has served me for a long time now.'

He turns his head to his big body. 'Depending on where it is on your body and what it is made of, what you wear during the ascension will either be shattered as you grow to large for it or it will grow into your skin to form the new scales. Your armor would get lost forever if you wear it tomorrow.'

I lower myself into the hot water and start cleaning myself. Well, it isn't cleaning as I have no soap with me, but rubbing all the dirt from me. When I'm done I pull myself on the edge and get up. Right then Trashkanir enters the bathing room. I notice him and get somewhat startled, rapidly wrapping my wings around my body. Why am I doing this? He is about to be my husband... he to notices I'm not wearing anything. He puts down a bag of stuff and then softly pushes me over to him with his tail. 'Come, I have the stuff for you to wear during the ceremony. I probably need to help you put most of it on as some of it got forged for you overnight. It may need to be adjusted.'

He tips the bag over and for a moment I think he is mad. Only one item looks like a piece of clothing and that is a belt with two pieces of cloth attached to it. At first he lifts up a necklace that has two what seems to be dragon wings attached to the big ruby pendant. He puts it on and then pushes my wings aside to press the carved golden wings against my chest. They do cover up my breasts but they dangle a bit. Then he breaths fire onto one of his paws and pushes the wings more to the side, the wings now wrapping around my chest until they almost touch my real wings. Next he brings over the ruby encrusted belt. As he puts it around my waste we both see the latch on the left won't close. It is slightly to small. Trashkanir removes it and softly kneads the belt to stretch it before trying it again. Now it fits perfectly. Next he lifts up a bracelet that would cover half my arm. 'This is the one you have to do yourself. The love bracelet.'

I take the bracelet from him and lower it on my right arm. Then I push the ends towards each other and hear a loud click. As Trashkanir grabs the next thing he slightly pushes my right leg up, making the broad cloth hanging from the belt pushed inwards but still covering me. Then he puts some kind of thin ruby studded bracelet around my right thigh which sits like it is molded for it. Then he puts two large anklets on my legs, both studded with rubies and covering up most of my lower legs. Then he hands me over something else. A large bracelet with four very finely forged chains, each going to a separate ring as if it is a glove. I slide it on and put one of the rings around each of my fingers, feeling the rings do stop me from fully bending my hand inwards and closing my hand, but otherwise do feel fine.

With only three items remaining he grabs some kind of hairnet that sits on my head, with white crystal like gems shining at every angle. The net doesn't contain all my hair, instead it somewhat sits between it and only shows the crystals between my hair. He puts a crown on my head now, which looks similar to my own but sits a lot lower and has been fully shaped to look like dragon horns. The top of my head does stick out above the crown but as it shows the glittering crystals it just makes me look more royal. Then Trashkanir grabs the last item. It seems like some kind of shroud but is way to fine for that. As he holds it up he speaks softly. 'This is spider silk. The ceremony master has had this woven for you by enchanting every spider in the valley for it. Not many of these cloths have ever been made. This one is made for you.'

He pulls it over my wings and then attaches it to the weird wing bra's. Then I look at myself. I do feel a bit vulnerable and would wish for more clothing but on the other hand, with my scales I do have the most important areas covered. As I twist my body the spider silk cloth flows behind me, looking royal. I see Trashkanir look in the bag once more and then take two more bracelets out. 'I knew you were missing something. Here we go.'

He puts them both on my upper arms. Now he nods approvingly to me. 'You are ready. You look royal without to much to get lost when you become my true queen. Now I have to go myself and get ready, my queen. I will get you once I'm ready to. Seeing you like this... it makes me wonder what you will look like when you are done.'

After a short flight with Trashkanir to the ceremonial place I look around. My entire squad is here, all in their normal armor, next to a whole bunch of dragons. A single grey dragon with a large necklace around his neck stands behind an arch covered in vines. When Trashkanir walks towards the arch I walk next to him, getting an image pushed into my mind from Rashter on how I look. Where I feared I would look naked with so little clothing, I actually look more like royalty. It ends up that with scales that cover my entire chest and stomach and the wings on my back I really don't need anything. The wing necklace does add texture but really only is needed for that, though the belt is truly needed. The cloths move with every step, hiding most of the features below my waste except for the outsides of my legs and the gold and Rubies that are shown there.

I return to the now as Trashkanir stops. The silver dragon in front of us speaks with a sober voice. 'Today we are here in front of our ancestors to form a union between king Trashkanir of the dragons and queen Tara'li of the Elves. Now as is tradition, the union will be done with the exchanging of the love bracelets. King Trashkanir, please hold out your love bracelet.'

Both of us turn to face each other. He lifts up his right paw, which has several Sapphire studded bracelets around it. I first put a tender hand against his jaw and then put both my hands on the biggest bracelet, the love bracelet. Then he speaks. 'Queen Tara'li, my love. I offer you my love bracelet in my sapphires, as a sign of my love for you. Please accept it with my love, so we can be together until the end.'

I tenderly pull on the bracelet and hear a loud click. The Wild Dragons gasp as I lift the love bracelet from Trashkanir's leg. As he told me I hold the big and heavy bracelet in my left hand, though with some effort. The silver dragon then speaks to me. 'Queen Tara'li, please hold out your own love bracelet.'

I lift up my right arm and hold it out to him. Trashkanir softly brushes my right cheek before putting both front legs on my love bracelet. Then I repeat the words I just heard. 'King Trashkanir, love of my life. I offer you my love bracelet studded with my Rubies, as a sign of my love for you. Please accept it with my love so we can be together until the end.'

The loud click is heard as my love bracelet unlocks to his touch. It is true. We both fell in love with each other. My heart jumps in my chest as I feel Trashkanir's bracelet become lighter in my arm. Now the grey dragon speaks a bit louder. 'As the bracelets have been exchanged, let the newly weds put them on their arms to forever more become married.'

As if we are mirroring each other we both lift each others bracelet up and put it around our right arms, surprising me that mine has grown in Trashkanir's claw while his has shrunk in my hand. Both clicks echo through the ceremonial place before Tresh'ta gets up and starts clapping. The other Riders start clapping as well, before their dragons growl approvingly. Finally the Wild Dragons give their own approving growls. I lift my right arm and put my hand against his cheek. 'It is done. We are now married, my love.'

He returns the gesture. 'There is but one thing left to do, my love. To make you a dragon queen none will dare defy.'

The grey dragon starts sending the crowd away. Then I ask one question that has been bothering me. 'If I become a dragon, does that mean my Glider goes free?'

He seems sad. 'No, she will grow more into you, become even more a part of you. As you stand before me now, you are an Elf with a Glider. After today, this form is you as a half dragon Elf. As she has sacrificed her freedom, so will she sacrifice her individuality so you both become a dragon together.'

I close my eyes and contact her one last time. As well as I can I explain what is about to happen to us. As she finally seems to understand she doesn't respond with images but with a feeling. At first I feel troubled but then I understand. It is sadness, joy and love. We embrace each other for a last time before I pull back and open my eyes. Around me everyone has left, leaving just Trashkanir, the silver dragon and me. With a couple of tears in my eyes I speak softly. 'She is happy for me. I'm ready. Ready to do it.'

The grey dragon stands below the arch and turns to me. 'You are about to become a dragon. The first week you will be stuck as a dragon, as the magic truly takes root. After that you can use your own magic occasionally to switch between this form and the dragon form, though you will be stuck as one at least a week at the time, as will you not be able to change forms when you are pregnant. Otherwise you will be free to shift. Do know you can only shift from Elf to dragon if you don't wear anything. One other thing: you will need to relearn your body as well the first time.'

I nod. 'Lets just get used to the body first and then look at the future. I don't want to much on my mind right now.'

The grey dragon gets on his rear legs, which he does need to stabilize himself on, to then reach out towards me with both paws. 'Grab my paws and let yourself flow. Let my magic knead you into a new form and feel how your body is shaped into its new form...'

As I lay my hands on his paws he closes them holding my hands in place. Almost straight away I feel bones crack in my feet and I open my mouth in a voiceless scream. My feet shift into a digitigrade stance, followed by all the golden bands around my legs fusing with my skin turning into hardened scales. As it spreads I feel a tugging on my spine which I see is my tail coming in, at first just a stub but then with a loud cracking and popping increasing in length and girth. As it happens my hips start changing to, another loud cracking reaching my ears as I feel my hips snap and reform. With my size increasing the belt shatters into many pieces, though it doesn't reveal anything but a continuous overlap of plates between my golden scales.

The change spreads quickly up my chest, where the wings sink into my scales forming spread out plates as my chest flattens and widens. Even more cracking sounds spread as my entire chest and wings creak and snap to then grow back into new shapes, though the bones in my wings completely regrow thicker. Now the changes spread to my arms and neck. My shoulders crack and get drawn to the sides, now more suitable for quadruped stance than bipedal, again with snapping as bones take on new shapes they never were meant to take on originally. All the bracelets, including Trashkanir's love bracelet, get drawn into my skin and turn into fine scales, though at my elbows I do grow spikes as well.

At the same time my neck is cracking and growing, throwing my balance off even more which makes it harder to stay standing on my rear legs. My heart crystal as well as the necklace the wing and big ruby were hanging from fully grow into my skin, both gems getting framed by my plates. As my neck elongates and small spikes slowly start growing from my spine straight up my hair gets partially pulled into my neck as well, becoming like a white blonde mane near my head. The hair that doesn't get drawn into the neck starts weaving and floating on some ethereal wind and wraps around the crowns horns, which slowly becomes one with my head. With several loud cracks my skull starts reforming, the crown turning into ivory and golden horns and scales. I feel the hair net also being pulled into my head as my jaws elongate and my eyes fully closed move to the sides of my head. Then the memories flow in. Her memories.

It is a while before my senses are finally fully back. I didn't notice the grey dragon had let go of my paws, nor did I notice the changes have stopped. As I slowly take deep breaths it is some time before I open my eyes, noticing my way wider vision. I'm... bigger than the grey dragon. More rounded as well. As I slowly get the hang of my longer neck I turn it to look at my body. I see I'm a golden dragon now. Wherever I wore the anklets or bracelets I have spots where instead of scales I have Rubies growing from my skin. Exactly where the Rubies used to be. I seem to be more curved than the two male dragons, though I also have more muscle mass. my wings are folded on my back, not fully responding yet. I guess the new bones aren't ready to move yet.

Then my front legs it is the same story with Rubies embedded between golden scales, though where Trashkanir's love bracelet sat it is Sapphires. We truly are married for life now. Finally I notice the ivory golden claws sticking out of each finger and toe, as well as small spikes coming from my elbows. I see the spikes on my back to, from where my mane stops all the way to the tip of my tail. I'm still the warrior queen.

The next morning I wake up beneath Trashkanir's wing again, though this time I'm way larger and don't fit under it. Bot of us are equal sizes now, though I feel slightly stronger. Slowly I roll onto my legs and start walking towards the bath cavern. I feel I'm still not super stable when walking, mostly because of me having to get used to walking quadruped, but its going way better than yesterday. As I stand before the hot water I look at the dragon head shown in the water. My dragon head. All around my horns and the top of my head shiny white gems reflect every bit of light, creating almost a halo of light around my head. My silver blue eyes look back from the reflection, both serious and showing a curious edge. Razor sharp teeth show themselves in my maw, ready to tear anything apart with a single bite. I'm a real dragon.

I lower myself into the hot water and just lay there for a moment, feeling the heat move through my body and enjoying that. As I lay my head on the stone edge a couple of flames exit my maw, purely from contempt. In the back of my mind I feel Rashter is watching me, slightly jealous of me being in the hot water. Not long after that Trashkanir walks into the room and softly speaks. 'My beauty in gold and red, it is time to reveal you to the dragons. To reveal what has become of you.'

I sigh which causes some more small flames to exit my maw. 'Fine... I'm coming already...'

I get up, the water sloshing slightly over the sides and dripping from my large form. After climbing on the stone edge and dripping out a bit I start walking towards the cave entrance. Trashkanir quickly overtakes me and steps out before me. I hear him talk to I guess a gathering of dragons. 'As many of you know, I have married the queen of the Elves and helped her join us. Today we are ready to reveal her. This is the new queen of the dragons, Tara'li.'

I step onto the ledge, right in the sunshine that reflects off of my scales like I'm a disco ball. Not a single dragon below speaks as they see me in all my glory. Rashter does share his perspective of me standing high above him, shining like a golden jewel with the occasional red and blue gem replacing the gold. I close my eyes and spit a flame from joy. None will dare call me a fake now. Then Trashkanir nudges me with his tail. 'Want to give flying a go? To feel your wings for the first time as a dragon and learn how to use your tail?'

I don't answer in words, instead deciding to jump off the ledge and spreading my wings as an answer. It takes a moment for my wings to spread with a loud crack but as I feel the lift pushing me up I flap them a couple of times, flying low over the crowd before going for height. It takes a moment before Trashkanir joins me in the sky. 'You are so noble and magnificent, my golden queen. I made the right choice bringing you here as I'm so in love with you.'

With quite a bit of effort I manage to steer closer to him with my tail and turn my head to him. 'And I'm so in love with you, my gemstone king.'