TTotBD Chapter 1-3
"You really think we should be bringing him there?" Ausor whispered to Ister while they walked their son through the streets. "I mean, I know he's begun to enjoy reading and all, but will he find anything he can read while he's there?"
"What about me reading?" Auron asked excitedly.
"Nothing, Auron," Ister calmly said, rubbing her son's head. She turned back to Ausor and whispered in his ear lower than Auron could hear. "He'll be fine; after yesterday's incident, I think this'll be good for him."
"What? What?" Auron repeatedly asked. "What are you talking about?"
Ausor chuckled and shook his head. "I don't think we're going to hide much by whispering."
Ister smiled in amusement, looking ahead to see they were already almost there. "Say, Auron, you've grown to like reading, right?"
"Mmhmm!" Auron replied, nodding excitedly. "I mean, I haven't done it for long, but I want to read more!"
"Then you'll like where we're taking you," she said, smiling brightly.
It didn't take long for them to arrive. Ausor pushed one of the two wooden doors open and held it open for Auron and Ister to come inside. Once in the building, Auron looked around in awe, his mouth hanging open and his eyes wide.
Throughout the entire building were rows of shelves stuffed with nothing but books and scrolls. In the open spaces lay a few tables with dragons sitting by them, reading whatever they had picked up.
"This is the library, Auron," Ister said, bringing her head beside his. "Here, we've stored all sorts of literature we have and all are accessible to you."
"So I can read anything from here?" Auron asked, his eyes almost sparkling.
Ister nodded. "Just don't break anything or bring them out of here."
Auron squealed with happiness and hugged both of his parents tightly. "Thanks, mom and dad!" Before they had a chance to respond, he darted off, looking for anything he could possibly read.
"Well, he's certainly happy," Ausor said, chuckling again.
"I told you," Ister said, nudging him playfully.
The two found a table and sat by it, waiting for their son to return with whatever books or scrolls he found interest in. Ausor's claws drummed on the wooden table, his thoughts beginning to wander for several minutes until Ister spoke up.
"Something wrong?"
Ausor looked up curiously, unaware he had assumed a grim expression. "Oh, no, nothing's wrong," Ausor replied, shaking his head. "It's just...do you really think Auron will be safe here?"
Ister tilted her head questioningly. "What makes you ask this?"
"I've been hearing that Asmodeus is mobilizing again," he said. "The Reformation's been stepping its activity up as of late and I'm starting to get worried the fighting may spread even to here."
"But why would it?" Ister asked. "We're in a backwater town. There'd be no reason for them to come here."
"I know, I know." Ausor shook his head, gripping his head in his paws. "I'm just worried about Asmodeus. I mean, he's in the province right next to us. Who knows what he'll plan to do?"
"I know, Ausor," Ister cooed, wrapping a wing around him. "You'll be fine, Auron will be fine, we're all going to be fine. The war's not going to follow us here."
"What war?"
The two parents jumped as Auron's voice suddenly sounded, both unaware that he had already come back.
"Auron, my dear," Ister said, smiling at him. "Did you find something?"
Auron nodded excitedly and laid a few scrolls and a book onto the table. "So, what war is going on?"
Ausor flinched, not expecting his son to stay on the subject. "Ah, that's not exactly something we should be telling you."
"Aww, come on!" Auron whined, plopping his head onto the table. "Tell me!"
"Shh, lower your voice a little!" Ister hissed. "You need to be quiet in the library."
"Oh." Auron giggled and made a shush sound before speaking softer. "Come on, tell me," he repeated.
Ausor gave a defeated sigh and turned to Ister, giving a face that asked if it was okay to tell him. She looked back and nodded.
"Oh, alright," Ausor said, sighing again. He propped his arms on the table and looked intently at his son. "Do you know what a civil war is, Auron?"
Auron shook his head. "No. What is it?"
"It's when a country is at war with itself," he said. "That's what Cinum, our country, is in right now."
"We're fighting ourselves?" Auron asked, cocking his head. "How?"
"Well, not necessarily fighting ourselves, but fighting others who live here," Ausor continued. "You see, for generations now the ruling power has been run the exact same way. We would have a single, absolute ruler who would then be succeeded by his or her son and daughter when they were no longer able to rule. The provinces our country is divided into would have their own ruler, but they would act more as figureheads and simply take part in keeping their province in order. But since very recently, people have grown to dislike the idea of having just one ruler while the province rulers barely have any power.
"So, the people who wanted the government to change banded together and created the Reformation, once a small rebellion that has now grown into a full military force fighting to reform the ruling power. In response, various southern provinces have joined together to form the Conservation, who are trying to keep the current ruling power as it always has been."
Auron kept his ears perked up, listening intently to what his father was saying. Even though most of it made sense to him, he still wondered why they decided to fight over it. "But if they wanted it so bad, why didn't they just talk about it?"
"They already have," Ausor said, tilting his head down. "They've tried talking about it many times in the past and it didn't work out. We just went back to fighting again."
"That's stupid," Auron said, pouting.
"Oh, enough about this talk of war," Ister interrupted, turning back to her son. "So, Auron, what did you pick out to read?"
"Oh, I already read a few of these," Auron said, laying some of the scrolls out as he began to name them. "Celestial Beings, Summer Rose, the Midnight Odyssey..."
Both parents cocked their head at the mention of some of the names. Some of those are quite advanced for him, Ausor thought. How could Auron have even read those?
"...Starlight Oblivion, the Tale of the Black Dragon-"
"Wait, let me see that!"
Ausor suddenly grabbed the scroll Auron had pointed to and opened it. Sure enough, at the top was the calligraphy titling the work as "The Tale of the Black Dragon." Ister looked over at the scroll curiously, wanting to confirm it for herself as well. Ausor put the scroll down and looked at Auron with a raised eyebrow.
"Were you really able to read this?" he asked.
Auron nodded. "It was a little difficult, but I managed to make sense of it."
Both Ausor and Ister looked at each other in stunned silence. The Tale of the Black Dragon was a very well-known Cinumian fable, but it was something someone Auron's age shouldn't have even been able to read. They both turned back to Auron, who was looking nervously at the two of them.
"What?" he asked innocently.
Ister gave a soft smile and handed the scroll back to him. "Very good, Auron. Would you mind telling us a little about it?"
Auron beamed and nodded excitedly. He opened the scroll and quickly looked through it as though refreshing his memory.
"So apparently there was a black dragon who lived alone in the mountains somewhere," he began. "He lived with his mate and children and they were all happy. But some people didn't like him, so they came and killed him and his family and burned their home down."
Ausor flinched as he recalled that detail. A bit morbid for someone his age to read, but he doesn't seem bothered by it.
"Then as the four people were enjoying themselves after they won," Auron continued, "the black dragon's ghost came back and began to haunt all four of them before killing them as well."
Ister purred and nuzzled her son's cheek. "Nicely told, Auron."
Auron warbled happily and nuzzled her back. "Thanks!"
"It's not a very easy piece to read," she said. "The fact that you could piece together its story says a lot about your reading ability already."
"Yeah, I suppose this won't be any difficulty for him, then," Ausor said, picking up the book Auron had gotten as he noticed the title. "Stories of the Astral Realm" was printed on the cover. "Though it may take him a while to get through all this." He looked down at his son and smiled. "Tell you what, how about I check this out for you and you can take it home for a while?"
"Really?!" Auron squeaked.
Ausor nodded and rubbed his son's head. "Just hold on a minute." He left Auron and Ister and made for the checkout counter, paying the dragoness the necessary number of pentas before coming back over to them. "Alright, it's yours for the week now!"
Auron squeaked happily and hugged the book tightly. "Thanks, dad!"
"Gotta leave these scrolls here, though," Ausor said. Auron didn't seem to mind, though; he was too busy happily holding the book in his arms.