Zan still isn’t moving.
I feel all around his dragon face and can’t find anything different even as my fingers tingle with the touch, and let out an exhale of relief.
Thank goodness. I was worried for a second there I’d broken his damn jaw.
But this leaves me at an impasse.
I can’t get the ice cream in his mouth unless he opens it. I thought he needed to get the energy in him first before he would wake up, but—
Maybe I’m going about this wrong.
I contemplate my fingers.
I consider Zan.
He was able to shift back into human form multiple times after his dragon transformation, which Iknowisn’t normal.
Zan has been reluctant to touch me but also clearly wants to.
Every time we touch, I feel something that isn’t just physical, but that sensation has... calmed, with exposure.
I’ve never heard of a dragon being able to feed off magical energy, but it sure as fuck seems like that’s what’s been happening.
And if so, maybe there’s another way I can wake him up.
I fall into another form and take a breath, letting clarity activate my wrath.
Zan may still be here physically, but he’s not really present. He can’t hear me to challenge me or laugh at my jokes. He can’t taste my ice cream. He can’t pick blackberries with me or hold me.
I am not losing getting to be reallywithhim without a fight.
This is a kata I learned long ago but have never needed to perform.
This is the kata for a beacon: a cry for help when all seems lost.
I’ve never needed it before. Never been outmatched.
But what it does is bring whatever magic I have left in me to the fore.
My aura emanates a brilliant, powerful magenta.
If the Order didn’t know about me before, they sure as fuck would now.
But I don’t care about them. This isn’taboutthem.
This is for Zan.
And for me, too.
I step forward, and touch my hand to Zan’s snout.
His ears twitch.
I dare to hope.
But... nothing else happens.
Furious, absolutely unwilling to have let all this be for nothing and following instincts as old as time, I seize his damn face in both hands and press a kiss against his face.
