Chapter 10 - Starting school and meeting a bunny (past)

---6 year old Nana---

 

I was anxious as we walked along the canal on the street. 

My dad was walking with me holding my hand. 

Kiwi sat on my shoulder. 

It was a warm morning, no clouds covering the beautiful shining sun. 

I was wearing a white sundress that was tightened in the waist with a ribbon tied like a bow.

Then I had knee high black socks with a white fluffy line by the knee. 

Also had a ribbon in my hair, to keep it in place.

 

"How long do I have to stay there dad?" I said in a grumpy tone. 

"It's just a few hours this first day sweety, then mom will pick you up!" he smiled at me. 

"It's normal to start studying when you turn 6" he added. 

I looked at him. 

Then looked at my feet and said 

"okay" then, sighing in acceptance. 

 

I'd never played with other kids my own age, or other kids for that matter. 

I only ever played with Daeron this last year when he wasn't doing alchemy with my dad.

They were working on some sort of stone, I dunno, seems boring to me. 

So we usually play in the evenings. 

Hide and seek can get intense.

I use invisibility, he uses dispel bombs he’s created and tries to chase me down.

So it’s kinda like tag plus hide and seek in one.

Cause he has created a bracelet that makes him able to sense if anything invisible is near him, which evens the odds out a bit.

Doesn’t seem to be a limit on what dad can teach him in alchemy.

I had no idea you could craft items and infuse them with skills that way.

 

I also practiced different sorts of magic with mom or helped her.

She taught me tons of skills and even just infused the knowledge somehow in me magically.

She is one of the most powerful sorceresses there are in the world people say.

I hear how they talk around town, since I can listen anywhere within about a 15km radius if I want to.

It’s a skill called Farsight, which sort of views a place far away.

I took that skill and tweeked it so it also transmits all sounds at the place I use it.

I fiddle with skills a lot too.

 

aaand otherwise I played with Kiwi or did something alone. 

Wonder if they think i'm weird.. 

I looked up at the sky, watched a few birds fly by. 

I know some people think I’m weird.

“The Elfwolf” is a nickname i’d gotten in the neighbourhood, since my foxtail and very pointy elf looking fox ears, then human appearance otherwise that people seem to think is waaay to beautiful and cute looking to be normal.

 

I pointed up 

"look, a small dragon flying" I yelled out in excitement. 

my dad looked up, covering his eyes with one hand from the sun. 

He chuckled. 

"yes, it's a smaller energy dragon dear" he looked at me, looking happy as he explained. 

 

"it's a dragon that's full of magical power or actually made of it, it's usually either coloured either yellow, light blue or pink. 

Sometimes it can shift colour. 

And in rare cases people have observed red and green ones too." he looked up at it again. 

 

It was a majestic creature, leaving trails of magical energy sparkling behind it as it flew across the sunny sky.

 

"This one is yellow, so it's probably going to be quite powerful and big." as we walked north along the canal, we were passing people, carts and animals on the way which I observed while listening to dad. 

"These dragons don't reproduce normally, they just lay an egg or two made of magical power they've gathered during their lifetime, sometimes disappearing in the process. 

Then the egg hatches almost immediately, causing an explosion of light that fills the area.." he paused. 

Stared at the dragon. 

Seemed like he kept on thinking but forgot to speak. 

The houses were a bit prettier the closer we came to the center of the 4 blocks, plus the castle in the middle seemed way more impressive the closer we got. 

I looked at my dad as we walked and he stared at the dragon as it disappeared in the horizon. He accidentally bumped into a person with his shoulder. 

 

"oh, sorry, you okay?" the other guy staggered backwards a bit before finding his balance again. 

My dad was a stable guy, big, well trained. 

He'd bumped into a human, wearing a black coat, looking overall well off. 

"watch where you're going, damn beasts.." he muttered and waved as if to hint at, go away from me, as he just hurried to move along. 

My dad just stared at him and stayed silent. 

Then he said 

"don't ever listen to those kinds of people Nana" as he watched the guy disappear in the crowd. 

We'd stopped, I leaned my head to the left and looked at dad. 

We were pretty close to the school now. 

Almost at the Northwest end of block 4.

 

He kneeled down, so his face was at my height sort of. 

"there will be people who hate you just because you're not like them. 

Don't listen or hang around those kinds of people, okay Nana?" he said, sounding serious as he grabbed my shoulders. 

"okay daddy. I know. I hate bullies." I said it like it was obvious. 

He laughed and hugged me. 

"some humans just hate anyone that ain't fully human or normal in all ways." he let me go, stood up and held my hand again and we started moving. 

 

"What about the dragon?" I said, a bit annoyed and tugged at his sleeve. 

"oh, yes.. Well, one person observed one of these dragons while it made its egg. 

He wrote a story about it that was published in a paper I read, and actually I also helped publish it." he said that last part with pride in his voice, looking at me expecting an impressed response. 

 

I was enchanted by the story already, so he seemed happy with seeing me glaring at him with huge eccentric puppy eyes as he kept going. 

 

"It was a researcher from the town above ours. Daddy is part of a club sort of, we're all researching different fields and trying to push the limits or find out all the whys and hows. Daddy is researching alchemy a lot for example." he said, Smiling at me. 

 

We were crossing the bridge between block 4 and 3 in the northwest corner of block 4. You could see the castle pretty clearly here, well. Mostly the towering wall rising up toward the sky so it wasn't anything I was interested in looking at. 

There was a see-through wall as a railing so I looked down into the water as we passed, it was crystal clear, like a mirror. 

 

We were at the school now, it was a quite huge building placed in the northeast corner of block 3 and named quite unimaginatively Central Academy. 

It was 4 stories tall at least with a big yard with things to do in it, grass planted, sandboxes, swings and a magical duel zone beyond the yard with spectator seats. 

There was a tall fence around the whole yard, and the duelzone was covered in a dome of some kind. 

 

"well, time for scho-" Dad said as I interrupted him, 

"no, finish the story daddy!" I said with as cute a voice as I could. 

"but." dad said.

"pretty pleeasee daddy" I said and blinked, putting on my saddest cutesy face I could and holding my hands together in front of me in a begging gesture. 

"All right, but then you go in." I nodded and smiled. 

He patted me on my head and we sat down on a bench by the entrance. 

 

"Well, this researcher was in the field of magic of course, specifically spirits, summons, magical creatures. 

And anyhow, he'd befriended this dragon. 

Dragons are very smart beings you see and they can talk and converse just like you and me. 

Well, eventually the dragon informed him it was going to lay an egg, that it was time. 

So, he asked if he could join him to watch as it happened. 

The dragon agreed. 

This one made only one egg, then it vanished at the same time as the egg took shape. 

The egg hatched 5 seconds after, and out came a baby energy dragon, but this one had a body with more potential than the one before it." he paused and looked to the sky. 

 

I was looking at the grass below my feet that was planted under the bench as my dad went on, it went along the outer edge of the school all around. 

 

"he spoke with the newly created dragon and it had all the same memories as the one that vanished, greeting him as it had gotten out of its egg. 

So his theory was that they gather up magical energy during their life, and when they have enough they can hatch into a new body that is capable of getting way more powerful than the previous body, so they constantly raise their potential level and live in that cycle. 

So they're at their most vulnerable when they hatch I assume, but they're still beings made of pure magical energy, and start at a very high rank." he explained and sighed. 

 

"But they don't want babies then? Or they can't?" I said, looking quite worried. 

He Looked at me. 

"There've been cases where there've been two eggs sighted when the dragon vanished. From credible sources but we've gotten no proof. 

And claims throughout the years that people have seen just one egg where the dragon did not vanish. Its never been confirmed though. 

So sometimes I guess they create a life partner, or a child. 

Not sure how to put it." he laughed. 

"Buuuut enough is enough, in you go now! We can talk more after school," he said and stood up and held out his hand in front of me.

"aw okay.. But daddy, do I have a rank in magic?" I said.

"Yes, and you're at a very very high rank for your age, so be careful among the other children." he smiled and patted my head. 

"The researcher I talked about, he found out a way to tell what level a person or creature is and how to check the potential rank in different skills by reading you magic somehow. 

You have a total rank or level, then you have a rank in say, magic summoning, fire magic and so on." he explained as we went to the door.

"They'll probably show you and explain it in school better than I can, and we can talk about it more at home, now in you go" he said, hugged me, and walked off waving at me. 

I waved back a while, then walked in through the doors. 

 

I entered into a hall filled with lockers and kids of all ages and races running around and chatting. 

New curious students trying to establish friendships. 

Older students showing people around. Is this what normal looks like? I shuddered as I thought I'll never make a friend. 

“Hello there” I heard, then got a poke on my shoulder. 

I looked at the one poking me, It was a rabbit girl. not that tall, about 150 maybe. 

white furry bunny, tail, ears, nose and all. 

Super long black and white hair, not longer than mine which reached my butt, but hers was down to her waist. Sort of cool with the black and white mix in the hair. 

She had quite big boobs for her age which I couldn't help but stare at since they were kinda at the height of my eyes, and I couldn’t help but feel a bit jealous. 

She was wearing a sundress too, white, slim in the waist like mine, but super deep in the front showing a lot. 

She also had the same kind of knee socks I was wearing. She was cute. 

I was jealous.

“Hey” I said in a shy voice. 

“My name is Yuna! I’m supposed to show new people around, and you looked the cutest by far!” She said and grabbed my hand.

“Let me show you the yard and dueling-zone, or arena, first, that’s the fun places!” she said energetic and smiled while dragging me towards the door leading to the yard as she spoke. 

“Oh, Yuna’s found a new obsession” 

“Seems like Yuna found her a new cuddlebuddy” 

“Aw, Yuna found a cute foxgirl” 

 

I heard people whisper all sorts of things as we passed by.
“Umh, why do people whisper abou-” I said quietly but loud enough so she heard me as she interrupted me 

“They're jealous I don’t give them attention, don’t listen to them” she giggled, she was sounding confident in every word.. 

“what’s your name by the way?” She asked as she kept dragging me along. 

She was pushy and clingy, but seemed nice. 

“Nana, my name is Nana,” I leaned my head to the side. Trying to see. 

As she opened the door to the yard she yelled 

“Here it is Nana!” And raised both her hands into the air, not letting go of me first of course. Gah. 

“o-okay” I said and laughed.