Chapter Text
KAI POV
The morning started like many others, and Kai savored the simplicity of it. He lifted himself off the floor and shook his sister into semi-awareness before making his way downstairs to get started on breakfast. A little shock jolted him awake a bit more when he found Cole, Zane and Jay piled onto the floor in front of the forge. Wu was sitting at the small 'dining' table with a tea cup in hand.
Keeping his voice low, Kai made a point to ask, [would you like anything for breakfast, Wu?]
[Do not mind me, Vo'kalyth, I'll just have whatever you make for the others.]
[Then I hope ya like goose egg omelets.] Kai shrugged back with a soft smile. He carefully walked around the cluttered floor, avoiding stepping on the other three as he made his way to the storefront. Why they chose to sleep there was beyond him, especially since they had been piling onto the tatami mats in the corner last night.
Once outside, Kai took in a deep breath and enjoyed the dew scented morning. He lazily walked around, making his way towards the coop and watching the geese and ducks mosey around with their hatchlings. It had been about a week since Monty had wandered into another realm, which had been explained to him several times by the others. Didn't help that Kai had a mild concussion and kept forgetting about they told him by the next morning. Now his concussion was gone, his ankle felt a lot better, and the stitched up wound on his chest was healing pretty well.
What was it, again? Three mornings ago when he first woke up and found Nya's room empty, the first thing he did was run carefully stumble to the bathroom and look at himself in the mirror. He looked like shit, but the flowers braided into his long hair was cute. Man could he rock that look. Though it also kinda made him look like a hippie, but he would need brighter colors and a bandana to really sell that idea. Then he'd totally rock the look.
He snorted at himself again, startling a duck that was grazing by his feet. Offering a soft coo to the duckie, Kai crouched down and offered his hand, letting the bird approach at its own discretion before he gave them a pat. He definitely preferred the ducks over the geese, they were much more mellow and would make silly quacks, not the startling honks the other ones made. A smile spread across Kai's face as he wondered if Zane would think the same, or if he'd be silly and like the geese better.
Oh right, eggs for breakfast! Kai gave the duck by him one last pet before he slowly stood up and made his way to the coop. Maybe he'll get away scott free if he was in his human form, as the sources knew he nearly gets his eyes pecked out by the geese every time he grabs an egg in his dragon form. It also wasn't ideal to be shifting form with stitches in his body, he knew from past experience that it only made things worse (the scar on his back proved so, he of course couldn't see if often but it was a wide scar that had been torn open when he shifted from a human to a dragon once, ages ago). For now though, Kai was glad he had an old t-shirt on, able to pull the hem of it up as a makeshift basket as he settled a few eggs into the fabric. Goose eggs were rather large, so hopefully five should do the trick, for himself however he was craving fish. To spare everyone's senses though he'll catch and cook it up once everyone's out of the house, then he'll forge so the metal and coal covers the fish smell.
Why was this the easiest time he's ever gotten eggs? The geese paid him no mind as he wandered away with his breakfast clutch. A couple even followed him curiously as if he had scraps to give them. Maybe he should get eggs as a human more often if it was going to go this smooth. Regardless, Kai shook the thought away as he wandered back home, still finding the ninja to be—oh wait, scratch that it was only Jay and Cole who were still asleep. Zane sat at the table with Wu, both of them enjoying some tea.
Thankfully with Zane out of his spot on the floor, it gave Kai more standing room by the forge, and less of a chance to step on anyone's arms or chest. He gave Zane a nod as he passed by, taking the cast iron pan from off its dedicated hook on the wall and settled it on the forge's hearth. He placed the eggs from his shirt into the pan for safe keeping, not wanting them to roll away and crack open prematurely. Breakfast was always made at the forge, around the time Kai first lit it up so that the flames wouldn't char the eggs immediately, the normal kitchen (where the oven was, that siphoned heat from the rear of the forge) was reserved for more complicated meals and things Kai did not want anything getting into (like soup. No one wants metal scrap in their soup… Unless you're Rocky, Rocky don't care. Cole do care tho, very much). Two things Kai did need to fetch from the kitchen was the butter bell and wooden spatula.
Oh, the butter bell was full. Last time Kai had checked it the thing only had a couple scrapes of butter left. Who'd refilled it? What else was stocked? Kai held the butter bell and spatula in the same hand as he started looking through cabinets. The Bread box had fresh rye bread and a few rice cakes, and the pantry was restocked—Oh! Garlic, onions, potatoes, chives, and a small wheel of cheese greeted him first. He leaned back to gaze at Zane and Wu at the table, only to join them and set the butter bell and spatula down in front of them.
"Watch these for me?" Kai whispered before slinking back to the pantry, grabbing one whole onion, two large potatoes, one entire bulb of garlic, two chive stems, and the cheese wheel. Making it back to the table and carefully piled the rest of the goodies down before returning to the kitchen, getting a cutting board, some plates, and the grater.
"Would you like some assistance with the preparation?" Zane offered when Kai returned with the tools.
"C'n ya cut th' 'tatoes fer me? Dice 'em up real nice, I wanna make a hash." Kai waited for Zane to lift his tea mug before setting the cutting board down in front of him, then Kai turned back to the forge and—wait no the kitchen knives are in the kitchen. He scurried away before returning and holding the blade carefully, offering Zane the handle. "Wu, d'ya need more tea?"
"No thank you, Kai, we've plenty for now."
With a nod Kai returned to the forge and took in a deep breath. There was still some unburnt wood within, and when Kai brought up a fraction of his hearthflame, he spit it out into the wood, feeling it sink in and crackle with delight. Next he took in deep breaths, exhaling into the flame to help it grow, fostering it with care until it was a steady blaze. He grabbed the iron poker and dragged more of the unburnt wood closer to his flame, helping feed it to bring the forge up to temp. Of course when he would be forging he'd need to give it stronger fuel, coal, but in the mornings and evenings he let the fire burn through some logs instead. The charcoal helped make a rudimentary alloy after all, making Ignacia's 'iron' tools a form of steel instead.
It was a little trade secret of his, helping make the tools stronger for the village that helped raise Nya. And him in some respect. Either way, right now it was breakfast time! Kai plucked the butter bell and spatula off the table and used the end of the spatula to scoop some butter out. He took some forge tools off the wall and made a small square shape to keep the eggs from rolling, taking them out of the pan so he could coat it with butter. Once he pushed the pan back into the forge close to the flame, he grabbed the cheese and grater from off the table. First he used a knife to cut the cheese wheel in two, then peeled back some of the waxy rind on one half, grating it to get some wide slices for the inside of the omelets. He had guests after all, might as well go all out.
Everything started to fall into a rhythm, and Kai stopped following along what he was doing. Instead he started humming along to a song he knew, swaying to the music in his heart. As he made the goose egg omelets (stuffed with cheese, caramelized onions and seared garlic), Kai began singing in a low voice. "Come along ca'ch a heffalump, sit wit' me on a muddy clump, We'll sing a song o' days gon' by~"
Sometime between the first and second omelets was when Cole and Jay awoke (to which Jay asked what was going on and nearly gave Kai a heart attack) ((Jay was so lucky Kai caught the egg and didn't let it crack open on his face, though Kai would've laughed his ass off)), moving to the table with Wu and Zane. The tea pot was handed to Kai and he took a moment to refill it with more water before popping it on the forge. Once Zane was finished dicing the rest of the onion and both potatoes, Kai got another pan off the wall and began making the hash, first letting the potatoes simmer before adding the rest of the onions in.
"Run away fr'm th' hum-drum, we'll go ta a place tha's free fr'm greed, anger an' boredom~" Kai lost track of time as he sang along to the folk song, finishing up the last omelet and plating it. The company was a welcome change, though they oddly kept quiet as Kai sang, focusing on eating their served portions.
Nya had come downstairs, already dressed and ready to work at the forge. Though as Kai caught sight of her, she smiled back to him and took his left hand, joining him in dance and song. He turned away from the forge for a moment as Nya joined him in the tune, "There's no such thin' as time ta kill, nor time ta throw away!"
"So Once fer th' Bright Sky, twice fer th' Pig Sty, Thrice fer anoth'r Day!" The siblings sang together, hands joined, foot work sloppy and more for fun than a real dance. It was in the usual part of the song that it grew louder into a clamor, voices held high and with a renewed vigor. Kai jumped right into loosing himself to the dance, letting Nya take over the singing from there.
Why did he smell burni—FUCK! THE POTATOES!
Kai abandoned the song and dance and turned back to cooking, stirring the hash around so it wouldn't char too much. His fire must've crackled stronger with his burst of energy. Behind him, he heard Nya snickering at his plight.
"Oh, don' star' with me righ' now, 'r yer gettin' all th' burnt bits." Kai teased a he shot her a look over his shoulder.
"Wouldn' dream o' it, wolf."
Kai snorted out a plume of smoke from his nose, "weasel."
Ignoring him, Nya sat down and had breakfast with the others at the table. Technically it could fit six if he pulled it away from the wall, but with one of the chairs busted thanks to Nya tackling him the other day, Kai instead made space to sit on the hearth. Of course he only had space to sit after handing the tea pot to Wu and setting the pan of potato hash in the center of the table, for whoever wanted it. The spring breeze that rolled in through the open doorway was welcome, and Kai tilted his head back to breathe in as much air as he could manage. He continued the song on his own, humming along to it now until he fully closed out the tune. It felt wrong to just break it off halfway.
"Aren't you gonna eat somethin'?" Cole had waited patiently for the song to come to its natural close before asking. He was the closest to being finished already, despite having woken up last.
"Mm in'a bit. Cravin' fish, so I'mma go catch one while yall 'r outta 'ere so ya don' gotta smell fish cookin'," Kai replied. He gave Cole a warm smile before turning his attention back outside. "Lovely day out, be a shame ta not enjoy it… Migh' ev'n take a break fr'm forgin' ta go… foragin'."
"Is there anything you can't do?" Jay asked, the exasperation apparent in his voice.
"Can ya chew wit' yer mouth closed?" Nya kicked the blue ninja under the table. Jay grunted and shuffled his feet back, lowering his head down as he continued to eat.
"Uh, yeah, don' trust m' judgmen' on mushrooms. I've poison'd m'self plenty on pickin' th' wrong ones." Kai chuckled, remembering the first time he tried foraging mushrooms, making sure to not share anything with Nya and it was a great thing he didn't. He was stuck in the bathroom barfing for a whole afternoon and decided he'd never again try his luck in that regard. "Now fruit on th' oth'r 'and? You'll nev'r pick th' perfect ripeness like I c'n."
"I'm not sure 'ow 'e does it eith'r." Nya grinned, "Though I bet it's cuz 'o his sharp nose."
Zane peeked up at this, tilting his head before stating, "Ah that is correct, Kai is able to sniff out our elements. I find that a very curious ability."
"Well ev'ryone's got a natural smell to 'em, but elemental mast'rs… that's where smells can get specific. Jay smells like an oncomin' thund'r storm, all petri'ich'r an' o-zone, Cole's like sunbaked clay 'r fresh turned dirt, Zane yer like tha' su'ttle smell 'o 'cold', like th' puff o' cold steam fr'm a freez'r. Nya's all sea spray an' salty air, and Wu… I dunno 'ow it werks but Wu smells like sunshine." Kai's eyes flicked over each one of them as he described their elemental scents, watching as a couple (Cole and Jay) of them blushed. Nya only rolled her eyes back at him, having heard it a thousand times already.
Cole cleared his throat after finishing his last bite of food. He was quite for a moment, everyone turning to him knowing he had something to say. Finally he worked up the courage to ask, "So then, what does fire smell like?"
That… honestly was a head scratcher. How does someone know what they smell like? With a stupid thought Kai gave his shoulder a sniff, but other than his brain telling him 'yeah that's what my skin smells like' he didn't come up with any association. Like, you're kinda used to your own smell your whole life, so it was kinda hard to describe it because it just sorta smelt like nothing for the most part? He shrugged back at Cole before remembering the bucket of his shed scales. Jumping up from his seat on the hearth, Kai crossed the room and pulled the bucket out from under the tool trough, picking up a palm sized scale and sniffing it.
There was an undercurrent of charcoal and what only came to mind as a general 'spice' smell. Sharp but a broad range of things; spicy, sweet and maybe even a bit nutty in some strange aspect. He repeated his train of thought aloud to the others before turning the scale over in his hand. Words faded away as he stared at the crimson diamond, turning it over in his hand a few times before turning back to the forge and picking up a chisel.
Without another word to the others he focused in on his idea. Meticulous care went into the details, marking out an outline that he would later break into and pry away from the rest of the scale. Once he had a general shape (a dragon) carved out he turned to the table—his heart suddenly thumped hard against his ribs when he found five sets of eyes watching him intently. Shaking the odd feeling off, Kai locked eyes with Cole and drew closer. "Could ya turn m' way fer a momen'? I wanna see if I shoul' grab a bigg'r scale fer ya."
"Oh, sure," Cole pushed the chair away from the table and turned himself to face Kai. He puffed out his chest as Kai pinched a bit of his shirt fabric and pulled it up just a fraction. Taking the sharp end of the scale that he fashioned into a point, he stabbed it through the pinched fabric before letting go.
Kai took a couple steps back and rested his hand to his chin, the other lingering on his hip as he tried to envision the final brooch. He then imagined Cole wearing it on his gi, or other outfits. It looked, rather small on Cole's broad chest, so Kai approached him again and took the scale pin out, only to pause and ask, "I c'n touch yer 'air fer a momen', yeah?"
"Go for it."
Kai made sure to be gentle with Cole's dreads, only to carefully hook the vague wing shapes around one of Cole's dreads before he stepped away again. This time however Kai crossed an arm over his chest as he covered his mouth with his hand, trying to hide the wild smile that pulled at his lips. Ok, why did Cole look so damn cute with a little red dragon scale—his scale—in those lovely dreads of his? No no, that felt too much like a 'you belong under my wing' sort of claim, too much like a proclamation of love. Kai felt his cheeks heat so he quickly re-approached Cole and carefully took the scale out of his hair. He spun around quite fast and returned to the bucket of scales to pull out some more, "Okay, I thin' I got it now."
"So ah, what are you making?"
"A secret." Kai didn't fight the giggle as he picked through the scales. He needed full scales, not any of the chipped or broken ones, but they tended to always work their way to the bottom. Maybe he'll wait until the others are out of the house before he goes pouring the bucket onto the floor to sift through better.
"It looked like a brooch to me." Zane offered.
"Shhh, secret!" Kai stuck his tongue out at the blonde.
"I think that's yer cue ta go then," Nya pushed her chair out from the table and started gathering the empty plates. "He's gonna get spicy if ya keep askin' 'im 'bout it."
"Oh, alright." Jay looked rather dour at this. "So what should we do then? I think we've already helped out as much as we can here."
Kai flicked his ear, "Dontchya got some games ta fix up?"
"Yeah, back at the monastery."
"Th'n why not 'ead back? I'm sure Wisp n' th' oth'rs woul' love ta stretch their wings aga'n."
"Oh true! But wait, if we take all the dragons, how will you guys get back?"
Kai's ear flicked again. He paused in his scale pail digging, hand hovering in the air. Of course he could just, shift shape and fly back with Nya on his shoulders, but how would he explain that to the others? He couldn't exactly go 'oh hey by the way I'm a dragon, have been this whole time actually' and not have them freak out. Especially Jay, he seemed like the type who would scream and faint. Cole? Cole was terrified of dragons, and maybe still is to some degree, Kai did not wanna ruin that. Shaking his head he stood up and walked to the wall where he and Nya kept the whistle. He turned it over in his hands for a moment before walking outside under the shop sign.
Blowing a sharp rising note from the whistle, Kai waited a moment before doing the familiar two toned 'come here' call. He spotted Flame lifting up over the tree line before landing in front of the shop, tilting his head down at Kai.
[Oh, ya do remember.]
Flame snorted a plume of smoke from his nostrils, [Of course I remember!] He growled.
"Woah! Neat, but how far away can you call them from?" Jay marveled at the sight.
"Not as far as th' monastery, but far 'nuff." Kai shrugged his shoulder back before hanging the whistle up where it belonged. "Sorry fer callin' ya ov'r fer no reason, Flame. But ah, would ya wanna stay wit' me an' Nya fer a bit, 'r do ya wanna join yer broth'rs at th' monastery?"
The wyvern looked out towards the rolling hills, staring out towards the red rocky pillars that rose in the distance. [I should stay here for a little while long'r… Jus' ta make sure yer the right hands for takin' care o' th' raincloud.]
"I—?" [Well fuck you too?!] Kai snorted out smoke as he gave the dragon's snout a smack. He broke into laughter though and shook his head, turning back to the others. "Looks like Flame'll stay 'ere with us fer a bit." Flame chuckled before backing away from the door, letting the sunlight pour back in.
"Oh good," Jay beamed.
"At least you'll have a way to reach us faster than walking." Cole added with a nod.
"Yeah, yeah," Like I can't just fly there myself. Kai let out a sigh as he turned back to the bucket of scales.
"Hey, and uh, make sure to visit soon, okay?" Jay fidgeted with his gi sleeve.
"O' course, I'll jus' 'av'ta see when I get time next."
"I'll try an' make sure it's soon," Nya gave Jay a pat on the shoulder. "I wanna see th' place y'all train at!"
"Yea-yea-yeah!" Kai plucked out a few more full scales from the bucket, standing up and making his way to the forge. He tossed the scales onto the hearth before turning to the ruined farm tools that was his current queue of work. "If yall wanna spare yer ears, I'd suggest 'eadin' 'ome! Gonna be clankin' away in 'ere 'til nigh'fall!"
"Kicking us out so soon?" Cole scoffed.
"Mhm! Now shoo—" Kai spun to face the ninja, a hand on his hip, the other hand 'sweeping them out' towards the door. Nya was quick to smack him on the back of the head, glaring daggers at him. "WHAT!? 's far as I know they've nev'r been 'round no forge, an' I don' wan' 'em gettin' hurt! Yaknow damn well 'ow I werk in 'ere!" He very pointedly gestured to the ceiling, where a few cuts and divots marred the wood.
Everyone looked up at the ceiling and Nya sniffled a laugh. Nodding along, she left her brother be and turned to the ninja, escorting them out. "On secon' though he's righ', yall shoul' 'ead out so ya don' turn out like th' ceilin'."
"Okay, okay! Just. Neither of you be strangers, okay?" Cole took the brunt of the shoving.
"I'll b' sure ta write—" Kai replied automatically before freezing stiff. Before his sister could correct her he fixed words, "Nev'r min' can't write… But we'll swing by som'time whene'er we can, alrigh'?"
"Yeah! And feel free ta swing by if ya guys 'r slow!" Nya beamed back at them, waving the ninja and their teacher off.
Once it was just the two of them again, Nya spun on her heels towards Kai and with a sharp tongue hissed out, "So, why ya really throwin' 'em out so fast?"
"Cuz m' scales itch," Kai scoffed as he took off his bracelet, the human form falling away as red scales took form, but instead of hanging it up he put it around his tail. Something with the magic of the bracelet only makes the guise work if its on either of his wrists, a quirk that makes carrying it in either form quite easy. Shaking out his neck and head, Kai turned back to the forge and stoked the flames with his breath, "B'sides, 'm supposed ta keep it a secret."
"Wait, they… They don' know yer a dragon?"
"Nope! Wu tol' me not ta tell 'em."
"That's stupid!"
Kai shrugged his wings back at her, he faced the flames and didn't bother looking back at her. "Pro'ly fer th' best… Dunno who'll come lookin' fer my scales, 'r my fire. I'd like ta stay free fer a lil long'r, yaknow?"
"Is tha' why yer not goin' back t' th' monastery with 'em?" Nya's hand grazed his right wing, tucking it closer to his body so she could join him by the hearth.
"Wha? Can't 'ave time wit' m' fav'rite sist'r aft'r survivin' all'a tha'?" Kai used his wing to tuck Nya close to his side.
She stayed quiet for awhile, breathing into their silence. This is home. Something Kai never wanted to lose again. At some point Kai shut his eyes and dipped his head forward. Nya lifted her hand up and ran it along the side of his neck, pulling him into resting his cheek against her hair. "yaknow," She spoke up, "We really shoul' cut yer hair. It's gotten long aga'n."
"Wanna do i' now 'fore I get lost in doin' work?"
"Sure! C'mon, I'll get th' chair ready!" Nya pulled away, knocking Kai's wing out of her way as she pulled a chair from the 'dining' table. As she did that, Kai put his bracelet back on before sitting down in the chair. Her hands were nimble as always, first combing through Kai's hair and parting it various ways.
Once Kai could hardly see anything in front of him, he heard Nya scamper off upstairs before running back down to him. "Ya bett'r not be runnin' with th' sciss'rs, Nee!"
Her laugh trailed around him before her hands were back to his hair. "Me, nev'r! Now 'old still!" Snip, snip, snip. Quick chops to his hair, but as the chunks fell away they shifted back into scales. Fragments of red clacking against the floor.
There were some odd quirks with his guise, this was one of the many. Over the years of 'haircuts' and Kai's normal preening routine, they amassed a decent 'hoard' of the scales and scraps, which is how they ended up with the large bucket. Nya was rather crafty with them too, finding that they had high heat resistant properties and made for great armor. Seeing her fiddling with his scales in such creative ways then spurred him into making the darts, helping arm himself and his sister with disposable weapons. He should make more soon, just to be sure Nya had a new arsenal if she ever needed it. No, actually, she Will need it.
"Hey, Nya." Kai tipped his head up a bit, finding that she was already more than halfway done with the trim. By the Firstbourne, his head felt so much lighter already.
"Yea?"
"I'll train ya a bit… So don' go runnin' off t' th' monastery without me, alright? B'fore we go back, I wanna make sure ya c'n wipe th' floor with 'em."
"Can we star' trainin' ta'morrow?"
"Sure."
Snip snip snip-snip!
"Oi! Watch m' ears!" Kai felt the cool scissors move a bit too close to his left ear for his liking, making him flick it down. Nya's giggling warmed his heart, but she was careful with the scissors from then on.