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Slayer or Layer 38

For Lorvianne

By Draconicon

Lorkos spent the next two days just teaching. Teaching, talking, and teaching some more, and he honestly forgot what the difference between the two were. The children that came to him were all eager to learn from their Lithia, and he knew that they were more than willing to give him whatever attention he asked if they could just spend time with him. Their minds were open, their eyes wide, and they listened to everything that he said as fact. Pure, simple fact that they would apply to the rest of their lives.

It was that, and that alone, that made him very careful about what he said. He knew that, unlike the wolves that grew up in the Pack, they would not question what he said. They looked at him as the egg-mother, as the one that laid them, as the one that cared for them and would bring them up. They believed that he knew what he said was right, and would not otherwise put it out there for them. It was...well, it was a lot of responsibility.

But he gave it the attention that it was due. He made sure that they learned the difference between fact and guesswork.

The hatchlings and children, all the way up to his first daughter Lia, had taken everything that he said and applied it. He watched as they left the cavern after the latest lesson, the bunch of them giving him time to recover from lecturing for so long. Lorkos groaned as they all left, giving in to the discomfort that had started growing in his guts while they were watching.

They're growing bigger and bigger, he thought, looking down at his stomach. I wonder how long until they'll be ready to hatch?

That was the question, and quite the question it was. Would he be able to deliver them well? He was around another dragon this time, one that doubtlessly would be more than willing to see the eggs be delivered properly, but what about all the others?

God, what if the curse hit again as soon as he had given birth?

Fuck...I'll have to leave quickly when the time comes, just in case...

And that was if the curse didn't mutate again, didn't suddenly go off the rails and become something different. It had already mutated twice, moving to turn him from a two-legged creature to a four-legged one, and then it had started affecting others just by having them come within a certain distance of him. That was bad enough. But what if it started doing other things?

He didn't know what other things it might do, but he knew that he didn't want to find out. He really, really, really didn't want to find out.

Lorkos tried to get comfortable, stretching his forelegs forward before pushing them under himself. The way that his swollen belly dangled down didn't make him happy, but he knew better than to try and suck it in. It would only make him feel worse, and the last time he tried it, it compressed his belly enough that he started throwing up.

No, better not to do something like that.

He forced himself to all fours, then leaned. Leaning was good. Leaning made his stomach feel a bit better.

As he tried to get comfortable, the other dragon approached. Yellow-scaled and annoyed as ever, the male poked his head into the chamber, shaking it from side to side.

"What?" Lorkos asked.

"I don't understand you."

"Hmmph. You mean why I teach them?"

"Oh, no, that's normal."

"Then what?"

"The wolf stuff."

The blue dragoness growled deep down in his throat, narrowing his eyes at the yellow dragon.

"Take care there."

"I'm just saying."

"You're just saying what?"

"Well, just that you're wasting your time."

It took effort, but Lorkos managed to pull himself away from the wall, keeping from sagging down in the middle through supreme effort of muscles in his back and sides. He took a step forward, the growl growing louder.

"You want to try and explain that to me?"

It was meant as a warning, but the yellow dragon took it as a genuine invitation. Lorkos's growl only grew as the male started yapping.

"Well, I understand that you started out as a wolf, but it's hardly something that you'll ever return to. Well, perhaps, but I don't know why you'd want to. And the hatchlings, your children? They will never be wolves. All you're going to do is confuse them with learning that will twist their heads."

"..."

"Just let them learn from me. That'll sort things out right - mmph!"

Lorkos might have been gravid, pregnant, but that didn't mean that he couldn't still move with a great deal of speed. That, and the male had been too close for his own good. They were right beside each other then, and his striking speed was better than most would have given him credit for. He held tight, his teeth digging into the yellow scales.

His growl was just enough of a verbalization to pass on the warning in his throat. Do not make sport of his teaching.

"Fine, fine. Let go!"

Lorkos held for another moment, then finally pulled his teeth back. The yellow dragon pulled back out of his reach almost immediately, darting for the tunnel that led to the cavern the blue dragoness had taken residence in.

"You know, I'm just telling you the truth."

"You will not make light of my history and culture."

"Yeah? What do you think you're doing with dragon culture?"

"They're part wolf. They will carry that."

"Not that anyone would know. And it's only mentally, if that. I doubt that you were very 'wolf' when you were giving birth to them."

Lorkos didn't answer that. He didn't know how wolfen they'd be, that was true, but that didn't mean that they couldn't learn about what else was out there in the world, what else might be there for them to experience. It was for the better that they learn that there were other species, that there were other ways of thinking.

For all that the dragons had a system that was interesting, it did put itself aside from the rest of the world. That meant that anytime that someone else was introduced to it, they had to go through the hard way of learning how to be part of it, how to do something with them. It meant that they had to prove that they were worth associating with.

And that wasn't something that everyone would be able to do. Most people would struggle, most would push and strive all their lives and never be able to do it. Whereas, if they had the idea of Pack...

It won't fix everything, but it will give Lia and the others a chance to live in the world rather than apart from it.

Lorkos snorted, putting his forelegs down again. The weight of his belly made everything difficult of late, and he looked forward to giving birth, getting rid of all the eggs that were swelling in there. At least it was progressing apace, rather than being intolerably slow. He would take that.

The male eventually left, leaving him alone with his discomfort. He leaned his head to the side, looking down at his belly, and slowly shook his head. Eventually, he would figure out a way to make this happen. Eventually, he would figure out a way past the curse, where he didn't have to deal with this anymore.

But for now, he needed to rest. For now, he needed to recover.

After an hour's sleep, Lia and the others returned to him. The blue dragoness groaned, pulling himself to his feet once more, only to find it a bit too difficult. Instead, he just lifted his upper body, resting back on his haunches. They seemed to like that more; it meant that they could all see the colored scales that had been attached to his chest, all the little things that they had brought him as gifts.

He settled in place, looking down at them. Lia sat in the back, keeping watch of the rest of the little hoard, while they were all just bouncing around and looking as happy as could be. He shook his head in amusement, looking back at Lia.

"Anything going on outside?" he asked.

"Just the rest of the females getting grumpy."

"Grumpy?"

"They didn't like the interruptions our play was causing."

"...Were they mean?"

"No, they just wanted quiet. They wanted to rest with their swollen bellies and all the eggs coming up."

He nodded, understanding that. It was not that surprising, when it came right down to it. Most of the females had been pregnant before, but he imagined that this was the first time that the entire settlement had been brought down to that state. They were probably still trying to sort through how to manage the whole thing, and if that meant that his children stayed in with him rather than running all over the place, he supposed that was the least he could offer them.

As he settled himself, he cleared his throat. The various hatchlings all stopped what they were doing, turning to stare at him.

"Ahem. Now. Let us talk about something new. Something a little bit different. We've talked about Pack, and how it is a way of including both those that you were born into and those that you learn to love. Now, why don't we talk about how to deal with those of a different Pack."

"Why do you deal with different packs?" one of the hatchlings asked.

"Why would you not want to?" he asked back.

"...Because..." The hatchling stammered a bit, eventually going quiet and blushing. The others looked up at Lorkos, too, waiting for an answer.

He smiled. There was none of the dragon arrogance, only the curiosity that came with being a child. The dragoness nodded his head.

"There's a lot of Packs in the world," he said, intentionally emphasizing the word in a way that the hatchling did not. "Eventually, you have to meet one of them. There's no getting around it. So it's important to know how to deal with them. Sometimes, you might find that they're cruel, or dangerous, and you'll have to fight them or run from them, but that should be rare.

"Instead, you should know how to deal with them, how to talk to them, and how to be around them. For while Packs are different, they are all...they are all Packs in their own right..."

There was a realization for him there, in a way, and it didn't sit comfortably. He had gone through many different realizations in his time as a dragoness, but this was the first time that it came together in a whole different way, particularly tying back around to his own culture. Lorkos hid the pain in his heart, keeping it from showing on his face.

We treated them like monsters, like animals. As long as they were animals, as long as they were dumb, they couldn't have a Pack. And now...

Now, he realized that they'd been making war on another Pack without ever doing it the right way. There had never been any talk between his people and theirs. There'd never been any declaration of war. It was merely a continued attempt at extermination, and neither side had budged. His, because they didn't know that they could, and theirs, because they were always being pushed further.

No wonder nothing ever changed.

"Lithia?"

That was Lia. He blinked, looking up.

"You trailed off there. Are you okay?"

"Yes, yes, I'm fine. I think...I think we need to stop the lessons there for the day. I'm feeling very tired."

"Can we stay with you tonight?"

Lorkos blinked at the question, finding himself hit with yet another thing that he hadn't expected. The rest of the hatchlings started parroting Lia's question, all of them wanting the same opportunity as the rest. They wanted to...

They wanted to be with him. And he had to admit, the feeling was mutual. The idea of bedding down with all his children, feeling them pressed up against his sides and legs like their scales pressed against his chest gave him a nice, warm feeling, one that he was happy enough to give in to.

"Alright. You may."

The children swarmed forward, helping to move him to the next. It wasn't so much help as it was being underfoot, but they tried, always grabbing at his legs and helping him move them, trying to push up at his swollen stomach from underneath. It wasn't that nice, but it was cute.

He bedded down in the middle of the room, in a small crater, lying on his side to keep from hurting the growing eggs. The children all jumped in beside him, nuzzling against his sides, some of them pulling his forelegs and hind legs against them for blankets.

It was Lia that laid against his neck, though, pressing against him from behind, and dragging one of his wings over for her blanket. She leaned down, nuzzling against him for a moment or two.

"Sleep well, Lithia."

Lorkos smiled. He was pretty sure he would with all of them around.

The End

Summary: Lorkos teaches the various children that have come to him what it means to have a pack, and has a realization.

Tags: No sex, fantasy, dragon, dragoness, anger, fight, children, lessons, pregnant, cuddling, love,