Excerpt: SilverStar: Heritage

"There were times we were afraid that any given tantrum would be the one to trigger something and you would change. It was one of the reasons I was so nervous to let you train in combat."
"If I got angry and went all dragon, I'd eat somebody." Aislyn wasn't even looking at Wessely anymore, but at something distant and unseen. She was not angry and unreasonable as Wessely had feared she would be. Instead she seemed excited and fairly accepting of this life changing information. "Cailin knew how to shift from when she was a baby," Aislyn continued. "No one told her how to or that she could...no one taught her anything but how to stop herself from shifting if her emotions got to strong." Her eyes narrowed slightly. "If my mother was Gaelic dragon, then it should have passed on to me. Nadie and I should have known what we were without being told, and we should know how to use it by now." She looked at Wessely again. "Right?"
"There is more to the story, Aislyn." Wessely pulled yet another book from his vast collection. With no bookmark to guide him, he had to thumb through the pages to find what he was looking for. "It has been written that there was once, before humans ever inhabited the land, a world where many living beings did not exist. Only seven dragons with abilities unmeasured. One dragon for every element..."
As the page was turned, Aislyn's fingers moved in silent calculation. "Wait...Earth, Water, Air, Fire, Light, and Dark. What was the seventh dragon?"
"The seventh was the one to create them all." Wessely looked at his daughter, giving her a moment to figure out his cryptic answer for herself.
"Create them? But I thought the Giver was the only one who could create life like that?" Wessely didn't answer and Aislyn blinked. "You're telling me the Giver was a dragon? If I had known that from the beginning I might have had a little bit more interest in my theology lessons."
"Not always a dragon, no," Wessely smirked. "The Giver is a being capable of appearing to anyone in any shape or form they seek him in. He started out as a dragon because the six He created were dragons and it was the only thing they knew. They did not know what to look for but another of their own kind."
Aislyn's brow furrowed. "So you're telling me that if I looked for the Giver in, say...this candle..." She nodded to the candle she'd used to examine her hand. "I could find Him in the flame? Or the wax dripping down the side?"
"It is a little more complictaed than that," Wessely answered with a shake of his head.
"Okay, well what do these six elemental dragons have to do with me or my mother?"
Wessely turned his eyes back to the book in his hands for a moment. "The dragon of Water was low to the ground and long in body. No wings did it have for no wings would it need. He would be quick in wit, easy to tame, and loyal like no other. Only through its' own element could it travel.
"Fire was blood red, with teeth as sharp as iron. She could withstand the most brutal of attacks and her scales would burn to the touch. Her temperament was the most unpredictable, and therefore more dangerous than the others.
"Air was gentle, never to harm those he could spare. His breath was cool and fresh, and his glorious body the color of clouds. He was gentle and kind, bringing storms and dark skies when enraged. His counterpart Earth had scales of gold.. She had a temper that was contained on the good days and deadly on the bad. Like the others, these dragons could travel with the most ease through their own element."
"Wait a minute..."
"Light and Shadow were hardest to control," continued Wessely, ignoring the interruption. "Both thought they were the best of the pride, both vain in their looks and their gifts. All six were able to change their form later on in their lives, taking on the shape of humans and other evolved beings."
"Papa!" Wessely stopped and looked at Aislyn. "Are you trying to tell me that my mother was one of them, one of the Elemental dragons? Are you telling me she was Earth?" Her tone no longer held that new excitement, but was low and quiet as he'd first expected it to be at the first revelation. "How much of this did you actually think I would believe?" Reaching over the table, she grabbed the book from Wessely's hands and closed it. She closed the other book as well and left them atop the scroll with the ancient language. "You actually had me convinced for a little while, but then you went just a little too far with this last part." Wessely's pursed lips parted as he started to speak, but Aislyn stood up, disappointment in her expression. "If you wanted to make me think that my magic comes from a dead bloodline so I'd stop asking questions and searching on my own, it didn't work. Now I'm just going to work harder, and I'm going to do it alone."
There was nothing Wessely could say to stop her or reason with her and Wessely recognized this as she moved away from the table. The hardened expression on her face was what left him feeling stung. Aislyn brushed past him and pushed open the door. Within moments of her exit, the candles went out and Wessely was left alone in the darkness of his secret room.