“Excuse me?”  Marilyn’s voice rose as she finally found her tongue again.  “An innocent?  You are by no means innocent and how dare you curse this town?”

“I didn’t,” I responded coldly, arms crossed.  “I can’t cast something that big, don’t pretend I can, you know I don’t have that kind of magic.  But,” I added with a slight smile, “I am an innocent.  You see, I never participated in your stupid feud.  Never once used magic against anyone.”

Marilyn rolled her eyes.  “So what?  Who cares?  You’re a kapra, you’re born into this fight!  You’re just as much a part of it as any of the rest of us!”

“Actually,” I drew out the word a bit, fully aware that all eyes in the room were on me, “I’m not.”

Utter silence for a long moment, before I continued.

“I’m not a kapra.  I never was.  Everyone simply assumed I was because Dad is and I was left with him to grow up by the water.  But I’m not actually a kapra.  My mother gave me this,” I tapped my necklace, “to help hide what I truly was, and truth is, I could grow up by the water or anywhere, but what I really needed was just somewhere safe to live until I was an adult and had my full form.”

I should have gotten it before now, but Mother thought that it was delayed because of all the stress I lived under constantly.  I’d never actually shifted into my full form, but right now, I could feel the urge to do so.  An urge I hadn’t felt yet in my entire life, but maybe it was the touch of Mother’s magic around me, the feeling of invincibility after realizing what her curse meant, or even the traumatic losses I’d been through lately.

But it was time.  It was finally time for me to claim who I really was.

Marilyn, unaware of how my magic was starting to swirl around me, scoffed openly.  “You’re not a kapra?  I don’t think so, I’ve seen you do water and air magic.  You’re definitely a kapra.”

“No,” I said quietly.  “I’m not.  I am the firstborn child of the water dragon Daphne.  And I am a storm dragon.”

For the first time in my life, I released my true form.  I let magic fill me and take over, let myself become what I truly was – a storm.

There was a reason I needed to keep my emotions under control growing up.  Too much emotions would mean I might use lightning magic and alert everyone around me that I wasn’t actually a kapra.  Mother had taught me to only use water and air magic, something that kapras could use, while waiting for my full dragon form to arrive.  I had to hide it growing up in case someone realized what I was and tried to force me into their fight for real, and Mother, since she was dying, wasn’t able to protect me while I was waiting for my full dragon form, which came with almost invulnerability in combat and a whole lot more magic.

But now that I had it, I was not going to be an easy target anymore.  Dragon magic was different from kapra magic, and I would only get stronger from here, while kapras like Marilyn reached their full magic potential by puberty.  Already my magic had been growing steadily for years – though I hid it – and now as I shifted into dragon form, I released a torrent of lightning magic that scattered around me without touching anyone, but made them jump back in surprise.

In dragon form, and now practically unkillable – even though I was relatively small, about the size of a van, given my young age – I surveyed the stunned kapras and hydras.

“This town has been cursed, and the feud is ended whether you like it or not,” I stated firmly.  “By a dragon far older and more powerful than anything you could hope to face.  You cannot break the curse by force, the only way out is the way the curse gave you – earn forgiveness.  I am not staying here, however,” I added, because there was no way I was sticking it here in this miserable excuse for a town, “but I’ll come back every so often, to see if things have really changed.  Until next time, enjoy life without magic or violence – and I hope you all change for the better before I see you again.”

This time when I swished around to leave, no one stopped me, everyone just standing there, shocked by this turn of events.

Still in my dragon form, I grabbed my duffel bag with one foot and marched past my astonished cousin, who was standing in the hallway and had apparently overheard the entire thing, shoved the door open, and furled my wings for the first time before taking off.  As I did, dark clouds began to form in the sky, hiding my movements from those below.  Not that I was worried about the kapras and hydras now – not now that their magic had been nerfed.  They couldn’t stop me even if they wanted.

They might not like it, but the feud was over.  I only hoped they’d embrace the curse for what it truly was – a gift of peace.

~~~~~

I looked doubtfully at the buildings below me, not sure at all that this was really where I was supposed to be going, but nevertheless started to descend.  I caught several eyes on me as I did, but everyone here was supposed to be supernaturals, so it should be fine, right?  They shouldn’t care if a young dragon just flew into their area without, um, permission?  Did I need permission to enter?  None of them were trying to stop me, just kind of raised their eyebrows and continued along with what they were doing, but now that I had landed, it dawned on me that this whole place was a lot bigger than I expected and I had no idea where I was going.

“Um, excuse me?”  I asked one of the people, who paused with what she was doing, balancing some books as she waited for me to continue.  “Do you know where I can find Diana?”

I was about to add her last name, since I had no idea whether there was more than one Diana, but she nodded and pointed up the hill.

“There’s a little building up there, she should be in there with Cenric and Adah.  They stay there mostly, unless she has reason to deal with other aspects of the library.  If she’s not there, you can wait, she’ll reappear soon.”  The woman started to walk off, then turned back to call over her shoulder.  “And you should probably shift back!  If you get books wet, Diana will be very put out.”

To be honest, I was a little nervous about shifting back.  I didn’t really know what was going to happen to me, but I did know that dragon form was safer, especially when I was a younger dragon with less magic.

I half hopped, half flew up to the door of the small building the woman had pointed out, but before I could figure out whether or not to shift back, the door opened and a man, who’d started to walk out, paused and looked at me, almost as startled as I was that he’d just opened the door.

“Diana?”  He called over his shoulder.  “I think someone’s here for you.”  Then he gave me a polite nod and smile.  “Mind if I get past you?”

I obediently scooted back a couple of steps to let him by, then turned to look as a woman appeared in the doorway.

She surveyed me for a moment.  “I wasn’t aware I was expecting any young dragons,” she mused quietly.  “Who might you be, young one?”

“Winter,” I managed.  I was about to explain more, when her eyes got sad.

“Ah.  You must be Daphne’s daughter.  She told me about you, once, when she also told me she was dying but wanted to be near you.  She had planned to come here to spend her final years, until you were born.  Then, understandably, she wanted to be near you.”  She pushed open the door and kind of motioned me inside.  “Come inside, you can stay in dragon form if you want, or shift back, either is fine.”

There was something in her voice and eyes that made me think this would be okay and I’d be safe here, even in human form.  Something about her reminded me of Mother, actually.  And Mother had been the one who sent me to her, after all.  Indirectly, at least.  She’d wistfully mentioned a Diana at Rosen Library as someone she’d wanted to see once more a few weeks before her death.

I did switch back to human form, looking around a little skittishly as I took in the small room.

“Do you know who I am?”  Diana asked softly.  When I shook my head, she smiled sadly.  “I’m your aunt, your mother’s older sister.  I, too, am a dragon, but an ice dragon instead of water like Daphne.  And yes, I am older than your mother, but I have not yet reached the point of being tired of life.  I think that may be due to certain influences on my life, but I cannot say for sure.  It is different for every dragon.”

While I tried – unsuccessfully – to hide my astonishment that I had a dragon aunt I didn’t know about, she offered me a cup of hot tea, which I accepted automatically.

“Daphne passed away, didn’t she?”  She asked softly.  “I knew her time was soon, but I couldn’t be sure exactly when.  We had given each other rocks imbued with our magic.”  She pointed to the mantle over the fireplace, where a small rock a few inches tall sat.  “Hers went out a few days ago.  I assumed that meant she died.”

I opened my bag and found some of the mementos Mother had given me, one of which was a matching rock that was slightly glowing with white magic.  Ice magic, I now realized.  “That’s how you let each other know if you were still alive?”  I asked wonderingly.

“Methods of communication are much faster than they were a few centuries ago, but sometimes something like this is faster still.  Particularly for us dragons in our later years, when holding human form becomes harder for us.  Communicating via written form is nearly impossible and I imagine she couldn’t have flown easily to visit.”  She sighed deeply.  “We made our peace with it when we last saw each other, knowing that we wouldn’t get to see each other again, most likely.  Still, though, to get confirmation that my sister has passed – one of the few people who has been a nearly constant existence in my long life – it is no small thing.”  She looked grieved again, but then offered me a gentle smile anyway.

“And I suppose it is even worse for you, having lost your mother.  I don’t know much about the rest of your family, just that Daphne was not convinced that staying with them would be good for herself, and she hoped they could at least protect you until you got your dragon form.  I presume that worked?”

I took a deep breath, then started from the beginning.

It took quite some time to get through the entire story, about the feud, my kapra family, how Mother helped hide what I was, how I visited Mother secretly, about Mark, about Marilyn, about the curse – everything up until I’d left town and decided to fly here because I had no real plan for the future.

“I don’t have any interests or hobbies,” I admitted as I wrapped up, Diana frowning slightly at my story.  “Mark, he had a goal.  He wanted to at least work as close to astronauts as he could.  But I didn’t.  I don’t – I don’t know what to do with myself now.”  I tried not to sound as forlorn as I felt.  I’d left town because I wanted to, but not knowing anyone outside of town, having almost no money, and having no plans for the future left me a little lost.  I wasn’t even sure why I’d chosen to come see Diana first, or what I hoped she’d do about it, but I could really use some guidance right now and knowing that she was my aunt and the closest thing to my mother that I had, some part of me was desperately hoping she would offer me some sort of wisdom to help me figure out what to do from here.

“I think that’s normal,” Diana said, much to my surprise.  “In many ways, you’ve been living on a battleground for your entire life.  You’ve had to hide what you truly were and try to control your emotions, and just try to survive, for the most part.  You never had the chance to really discover what you wanted to do with yourself and your life.  I think it’s actually not surprising at all that you might struggle now.  However,” she leaned back a bit in her seat, “I think this is the perfect place to change that.  Why don’t you stay here with me for a while?  I can teach you how to use dragon magic in different ways, and you can learn here at the library.  This is, after all, the biggest and most thorough collection of books by and about supernaturals in the world.  You said your education is lacking.  Well, that’s something we can remedy.  This place functions much like a town,” she explained.  “We have people who teach our young until they are ready to go to college, though some end up staying and basically getting a college degree through independent studies.  I can have some of the tutors check in with you, see where you actually are in terms of an average high school education, and remedy anything lacking.  You would also have access to the entire library and a chance to explore anything you think might be of interest – see if we can’t find you some hobbies and interests now that you have the freedom to think about that.  I’m fairly confident that we can make up for your education and find you something to do in the future, plus make sure you feel more confident in using your magic to defend yourself.  If you want to stay, that is,” she tacked on.  “For a few years, at least.  You don’t have to make a long-term commitment.  You can even stay for a couple of weeks, or however short or long you prefer.”  She gave me a smile when she noticed my astonishment.  “You’re family, Winter, and the daughter my sister cared deeply about.  I will help you any way I can.  If you’ll let me.”

I felt a little choked up, to be honest.  This was what I’d secretly wished my family had been like, just accepting me and trying to support me regardless.  Diana had only known me for a few hours, but she was willing to help and give me what I’d always wanted.

A home.  A home with peace and safety where I no longer had to be worried about people discovering I was a dragon.  Yes, Mother had loved me and given me all she could, and I was forever grateful for that, but I’d always wished that we could have lived together, away from the stupid town and stupid feud.

And now I had that chance.

“Yes,” I said when I finally found my voice again.  “I would like that very much.”

Diana smiled, looking a bit relieved.  “Then welcome to Rosen Library, Winter.  Welcome home.”