Metamorphosis Ch. 03

He made noise from his mouth and I cocked my head to the side. I reached out with my mind and established a Link with him. I felt his shock and horror at the intrusion.

"I cannot understand you," I said softly. "Please, speak with me like this. All you have to do is think and I will get your message."

"Like this?" he asked tentatively. His voice was deep and strong, although not as much so as the dragons' were.

"Yes," replied Intra-elda, entering into our Link. "We have a Changeling. Xayna here is a dragon that turned into a human just today. We are unable to care for her and would like your assistance. As a dragon, she is strong and good-natured. I am certain she will not cause trouble." I felt pride at Intra-elda's compliments.

The humans again made noise with their mouths. They became louder and more excited as they continued. I listened with interest at their means of communication. Suddenly, my knees gave out and I crumpled to the ground. I was too weak to stand on my own and I felt very, very dizzy.

"I don't feel well," I said to them, my head spinning. They quieted immediately. The leader shouted out something and another human ran forward from behind a building. She was wearing protection over her whole body and seemed to have the globes of flesh on her chest like me. Her strands were dark brown, but they were longer than the male's and they made strange circles. She rushed forward and started patting my face, muttering in her strange language.

I established a Link with her and asked her what she was doing. She jumped away from me, screaming audibly. "Hush, hush. It's okay," I said tiredly. "This is how I communicate. I cannot speak your language. Please, think your words to me."

She eyed me nervously before bending down again. "When did you last eat?"

"Well, yesterday," I said. "But that was before I Changed. I haven't eaten since."

She tutted with her mouth and threw up her hands. "No wonder! Come on, I'll see to you. Do you need to say goodbye to..."

"Intra-elda," I supplied, turning my face to my dragon companion. "Thank you, Intra-elda. I believe they are going to feed me now."

"Someone will come back every turn of the moon to make sure that you are cared well for." She touched her snout to my forehead. "Go in peace, Xayna."

"And you as well," I replied, touching my forefoot to my nose. "Let's go," I said to the female who was helping me.

"Can you stand?" she asked. I attempted to push my legs up, but I collapsed again. "Looks like a no. Come, put your arm around my shoulders." I sat there for a moment, not comprehending. Then, she grabbed one of my legs and hoisted me up onto my feet. "Now, walk."

I did as I was told, but it took a lot of energy. She guided me through town and I noticed that humans lined the pathways, staring at me. I was too tired to care; I ignored them and focused on keeping my feet moving. We finally reached a building made of dark wood. There was no entrance that I could see, but she pushed on a piece of wood and led me in. To our left was a room with odd decorations in it. She moved me to one that was directly on the floor. It was long and seemed to have some sort of padding on it. She set me down so I was laying on it. It was soft and comfortable. I sighed in contentment and closed my eyes.

"Thank you," I said. "This feels very nice." I opened one eye and peered at her. "What is your name?"

"You can call me Patra. Yours is Xayna, is it not?" She looked at me with a warm expression.

"Yes, it is, Patra-elda," I replied.

She crinkled her brow. "Why did you add –elda to the end of my name?"

"It shows respect," I replied. "It is what I call all of those who are older than me."

She made a strange movement with her head. "No –elda for me. Just call me Patra."

"Okay, Patra," I said, testing out her name.

"Now, you just lay here and rest while I go scare up some food," she commanded. "I'll be back soon and don't try to move."

She left the room and returned several minutes later with a wooden slab that had several oddly shaped objects with steam coming off of them. She set it in front of me and I stared at the food mutely.

"Well, dig in!" she said expectantly. I looked back and forth between the food and her face. There was a rounded piece of wood with liquid in it, an oblong piece of something golden brown, and another wooden slab with a chunk of meat that had been put in a fire. There were also three oddly shaped items that didn't look edible. The food smelled good and made my stomach ache even more, but it didn't look like anything I'd ever eaten. "Like this," she said, and took a shiny, silver thing and scooped up some of the liquid. She brought it to her face and blew on it before putting it into her mouth. When the object came back out, it had no liquid in it.

"What is that?" I asked.

"A spoon," she replied. She went around and listed off a bowl, plate, tray, bread, venison, soup, fork, and knife. I took the spoon from her and dipped it into the soup but when I tried to bring it to my mouth, I spilled it down my front. "Ah!" I said out loud. It burned my sensitive skin. She took something soft and wiped up the juice.

"You've never eaten with utensils before, have you? Oh, my. Here, let me help." She took the spoon from me and proceeded to dip it into the soup and bring it to my lips. "Blow." I did as she said and then opened my mouth. She guided the spoon in and pulled it out quickly. The soft pouches of skin around my mouth kept the soup inside while the spoon left. It was warm and tasted unbelievable. After the soup was gone, she reached for the fork and knife. She stabbed the meat with the fork and cut it into little pieces with the knife. Then, she fed me again. The meat tasted much different than what I regularly ate. I was unsure of whether it was because the meat was put in a fire or because I was human. Finally, she got to the bread. She tore it into pieces and put them on the plate. "You can put these in your mouth by yourself," she said. I tentatively stuck one inside my mouth and chewed. I decided that I liked it and finished the rest with gusto.

After I had finished my meal, the pain in my legs came to the front of my mind. I winced as they rubbed together and saw that the insides of my thighs were bright red and a little bloody. Patra made the tutting noise with her mouth again and rushed out of the room. "You just wait right here," she said with her back turned to me.

I sighed. Like I really was going to go anywhere in this strange, new world. I laid back and closed my eyes, attempting to will the pain away and failing. After a few moments of peace, I heard a cough and opened my eyes. Before me stood another human female. She was about my height with shoulder-length red strands. She had large eyes and skin that was several shades darker than mine. She was wearing protection of the same type that the other female was wearing. She looked different, though. Her skin was tighter and didn't have nearly so many lines in it.

She began mumbling with her mouth and I created a Link between us. "I'm sorry," I said tiredly. "I don't mean to be rude and barge into your thoughts, but this is how I communicate and I can't understand your sounds."

She made a funny down-up movement with her head and replied firmly. "I'm Kira. I was just wondering if you were okay. Are you comfortable?"

"Yes," I replied, the corners of my mouth moving upward involuntarily. "Whatever it is that I'm on is the most comfortable thing I've ever had the pleasure of laying on. Even as a dragon, nothing was this comfortable. I sat up and pressed down on the soft padding. "What is this thing called?" I asked. I uncontrollably inhaled a large amount of air. "And what did I just do? I've never done that before. Is that normal? I should be able to control my breath all the time, shouldn't I?"

The girl made a noise that was akin to a cough, except less harsh. "What you're lying on is a couch," she said. "And what you just did is yawn. It means that you're tired, that's all. What happened to your legs?"

"I rode on Intra-elda and it rubbed my skin raw. You humans have very breakable and unprotected skin." I reached down and gently touched the red area. I pulled my hand back immediately, my breath hissing through my teeth.

"You shouldn't touch that. Mom will be back in a few moments with a salve to put on there that will help it hurt less." She paused. "You're a human now. You have a human body just like everyone else in our village." I looked up at Kira and noticed that she wouldn't look directly at me.

I scrunched up my face in concern. "Is there something wrong with me? Am I ugly by human standards?" I reached up and felt my face. I found nothing that felt much different from human faces, but I didn't know what constituted beauty in their eyes. "Why can't you look at me?"

Kira made the barking sound again and looked into my eyes. I noticed that hers were a deep blue color, even darker than Taldon's scales. "You're naked," she replied simply, as if that made everything clear.

"Naked? What is that? And what is that noise you keep making? Why are you making it?" I paused for a moment. "I'm sorry, my manners are very poor at the moment. If you don't mind, I have a lot of questions. Everything is so new to me."

"I'm laughing. It means that I'm amused." She laughed again. "Naked means you aren't wearing any clothes. These are clothes." She pulled on the material that covered her chest and her legs. "Humans wear clothes. It's awkward if we don't. We don't usually like to see each other naked."

"Oh," I said. "What are you doing when the large pieces of skin around your mouth move upward? And what is a salve?"

"These are lips," she said, pointing at her mouth. "And this is a smile." She demonstrated smiling and I had to admit, her face looked much nicer when she did so. I smiled back at her.

"Like this?" She laughed again.

"Yes, like that. You smile to show that you're happy."

"So what is all of this stuff called? Where are we at? We're obviously not in a cave. What is this structure that you humans have created?"

"We're in a house," Kira told me. "The house is divided into rooms and floors. Floors are at different heights. You can get to another floor by stairs." She indicated what I assumed were stairs that led up into a space that I couldn't see from my seat on the couch. Kira then proceeded to rattle off the names of various objects in the room. I knew that I wouldn't remember them all, but I tried to soak up as much as I could and store it in my mind.

Finally, Patra strode into the room with a small, see-through container that held a nasty looking yellow substance. I scrunched up my nose when she took off the top; it smelled horrible.

"What is that?" I wasn't sure I wanted that anywhere near my body.

"It will help your legs hurt less and heal more quickly," Patra replied gently. She scooped out a bit and began to massage it into my legs.

"That really does feel much better." I sighed, looking at Kira who had again averted her eyes. "May I get some clothes so that I am not naked?"

Patra looked me up and down before saying to Kira, "Go get some of your old clothes. I'm sure she'll be able to fit into them and she can wear them until we get her some of her own." Kira made the up-down movement with her head again and walked off, climbing the stairs quickly.

"What does that mean?" I asked. "The down-up movement with her head. She's done it several times."

"That, my dear, is called a nod. It's used to say 'yes' or 'okay.' There will be a lot of gestures you don't understand, but you'll be with either Kira or I all the time, so feel free to ask." I nodded, confirming that I understood. "Yes, just like that. You'll get along just fine, I know it."

She stood up, putting the top back on the salve. "What is that?" I asked. "The thing that is holding the salve."

"This is a jar. It's made of glass and this is a lid. It is made out of metal." I nodded again. Nodding was an extremely effective way to get my point across without having to speak. I wondered how many other gestures humans had to make communication easier.

Kira came back down the stairs with a bundle of clothes in her hands. "Here," she said, giving them to me. "Oh, wait. You don't know how to put these on. Okay." She showed me how each piece of clothing was put on and what it was called. I smiled when I had all the clothes on properly.

"Now you can look at me!" I exclaimed. Both Patra and Kira laughed. I yawned again and Patra tutted.

"You must be very tired. You can take a nap in the spare bed, and when you wake up, I'll walk you around the house and tell you a little about being a human."

"What's a bed?" I inquired tiredly. "Can't I just sleep on the couch? It seems comfortable enough to me."

The two females chuckled. "No, beds are better for sleeping," Kira informed me. "Come on, I'll show you." She took me by the forefoot and led me up the stairs and into a room with a longer, wider version of a couch with no padding on the back of it.

"Why did you pull on my forefoot?" I asked confusedly when she let go. "If you would have walked, I would have followed."

Kira turned to me with her brow furrowed. She stood still for a moment, before her face cleared and she laughed again. "That is called a hand," she said. She picked up my hand and showed it to me. "And these are fingers," she continued, indicating the toes on my forefoot. "And on them are fingernails. They grow to be long, so you'll need to trim them, but don't worry about that yet." She stroked my foreleg gently. My skin tingled where she touched me and I suppressed a shiver that threatened to travel down my spine. "And this is an arm. You've already noticed, but it's much different than your leg." She reached down and lightly caressed my leg. "They're used for completely different things."

I nodded at her and yawned again. "I think I need to sleep."

"That's a good idea," Kira said, backing away from me. She showed me how to lay in the bed and told me about the blankets and pillow. "Okay, I'm going to go back downstairs. When you wake up, just come find one of us."

I nodded again and she walked to the door. "Thank you," I said when she was almost out of the room. "For everything." I closed my eyes and before I knew it, I was asleep.