Ch 13- Ryien

The suns had already set by the time Neal finally pardoned Casey. Casey's whole body was aching and he had little strength left. As the two exited the room Casey trudged his way to his chair and sullenly ate dinner.

As casey walked back to his room Mac called out to him. "Hey! Did you forget? From tonight on, we sleep in the same room. Your ruby is already lying on the bed, you go lay down first and I'll see Neal out the door".

Mac stared at Casey's hazy eyes and nodding head then sighed; he picked him up and set him down on the bed before heading back to Neal.

"How did his training go today?".

Neal sighed in exasperation. "He really is amazing, so much internal power and he can't get any sort of feel for it. I tried all the methods with him; trying to get him to understand what his spiritual power felt like. But no safe methods resonated with him even remotely". Neal paused and sighed again before continuing.

"Eventually I tried an aggressive way to force him to use spiritual power. This method worked, but after he caught the initial feeling I tried switching him to using normal training methods. It helped but not enough, I think Casey might need more of a hands-on high-risk approach to training. And unfortunately, I cannot give it to him, and his location isn't conducive to that style either. I'll try to watch over him until his permanent teacher comes, but as things stand right now; we can barely scrape the surface".

"Would you like to stay in our guest room then? Until the other teacher arrives?". Mac couldn't help feeling nervous especially after hearing that Casey needs "extreme measures" so to speak. So after hearing the rundown of Casey's training Mac eagerly convinced Neal to stay the next few days for safety's sake.

As the next two days passed Mac watched as Casey became more and more exhausted. He was very worried, because of Casey's coma before he put off working on the communication satellite and he figured now while Casey was going through intensive training was the best time to continue his work. But Mac felt that he just couldn't focus; he sat in his study and gently set down the parts in his hand before raising his arm to cover his eyes.

"I need to see Casey through and make sure he's safe". Mac figured since he was too worried to focus he should instead pay more attention to Casey during this time. Mac determined himself to become his best pillar of support; and decided to push his project time back a bit.

Casey on the other hand had been drained he felt like his soul has separated from his body and beaten blue. He didn't think spiritual training would be this intense. After today's session ended and dinner was finished Casey Essentially crawled into Mac's arms like a spineless jellyfish. He repeatedly rubbed his head against Mac.

"Mac can you help me with going to bed tonight?". Mac looked at Casey tenderly "of course I can".

Without another word he held Casey and walked back to their room, he was about to set Casey on the bed when he recalled something. "Have you had a bath these two days?". Casey snapped his head up and realized he really hadn't! He hopped from Mac's arms "I'm sorry! I'll get you dirty". Mac smirked seeing his reaction and he knelt down to Casey, "well since we're both dirty how about we bathe together? I can help wash areas that are normally difficult for you to reach".

Casey felt a bit shy but he was really tired and washing himself was normally a very challenging thing for his inflexible body. So he hesitantly nodded; receiving his affirmation Mac picked him back up and took him to the bath. Mac got the water running and made sure it was suitable before he gently lowered Casey in. Then Mac turned and started to strip himself down, Casey happened to turn his eyes to Mac and stopped.

He saw shimmering blue skin and tight, lean muscles. Mac slowly turned to face him and displayed his defined abdominal muscles which led down to a slick v-line after following that line Casey's view was blocked by a towel; all he felt was jealousy. He was a weak chicken before and was skinny with no extra fat or muscle, seeing Mac's naked glory he hoped that when he could shift that his humanoid form as a dragon would be more manly looking.

Mac caught Casey's dazed face as he stared at his body with envy and he raised a fist to hide his smile. "Ya know if you stare at a person like that they'll think you're a pervert Casey".

"Ah…."

Mac chuckled hearing his absent-minded response and stepped into the tub to join him. He gently started to rub soap bubbles all over the silver dragon and made sure he got into the crevices Casey normally had a hard time reaching.

Casey started happily enjoying his massage and slowly melted into Mac's embrace. Mac enjoyed the feeling of gliding over Casey's smooth scales; as he rubbed he was caught off guard when his hands swiped something soft. Mac was confused and tried feeling around for what he just felt. Then he grasped and squeezed what he caught with his hands.

"Ahhh". Casey screeched and flailed at Mac's actions; he pushed him away and darted out of the bathroom.

Mac sat in a daze not too sure what happened and recounted what he just did. As he started to think he realized he'd never seen that part on Casey even though he doesn't wear any clothes or covering…

Mac lowered his head and stared at his hand and realized what he must have grabbed just then. Mac buried his face in his hands; his ears turned bright red "so squishy" he thought.

Mac quickly got up and out of the tub, dried himself, and searched for Casey. As soon as he stepped out of the bathroom he looked and saw a ball trembling under the covers on the bed. He walked over and cautiously touched the ball, which started to shake vigorously after perceiving his touch.

"Casey are you okay? I didn't know… or well it wasn't intentional… sorry".

Both Mac and Casey had fuming red faces Casey poked his head out to stare at Mac then lowered it in shame and spoke softly. "Can you forget what just happened please?". Mac stared at Casey who looked like he had just been bullied, he touched his head in comfort. "What just happened? I can't seem to recall?".

Mac smiled at Casey and Casey nodded and buried himself under the blanket only leaving a quiet goodnight. Mac sighed and gently laid down beside Casey and without any more exchanges to two fell asleep like this.

The next morning the two of them tacitly didn't mention last night's embarrassment as they went to get started on another day's work. Around noon there was a knock at the front door, Mac opened it and saw the Previous Nova elder who left. Mac swept his eyes over and saw another young nova behind him.

Mac felt intimidated just looking at this Nova, he was about 6"2 broad-shouldered and ripped. He had a stern-looking face and Mac thought he could probably beat everyone in this village into next week with his bare hands.

The elder spoke first "this is Ryien, he is the teacher that the tribe elders agreed on for the dragon". Although Mac knew this was the case the moment he saw Ryien he couldn't help feeling threatened and apprehensive.

"Welcome, Casey and Neal are training right now. Why don't you both come in and sit down and chat while we wait for them?".

The elder nodded and Ryien just stood still as a mountain glaring at Mac for a moment before following him in. The three sat at the table in awkward silence, Ryien kept glaring at Mac; making him feel very uncomfortable. Mac kept telling himself that this person is Casey's teacher and they have to get along but it was hard when he saw his murderous-looking face.

Ryien finally opened his mouth to speak, and a harsh, rough sound came out.

"So you're the "guardian" who neglected a dragon bad enough to fall into a coma?".

Mac was stunned to hear such accusing words from a stranger and he subconsciously retorted. "He wasn't neglected, we just didn't understand him well enough. This was an accident that no one can be blamed for".

Ryien sneered at Mac "that's what you think, if it weren't for considering the dragon's feelings our tribe would take him away and never let him come back". At the moment Ryien said those words a small but fierce voice yelled back. "You have no right to say that to my family". Ryien fiercely whipped his head over and was about to retort; until he saw who spoke those words. Then his eyes lit up, he stood up with so much force that the chair flew and hit the wall.

"Hello, dragon! I'm the official teacher that will be living with you from now on!". Ryien's face changed 180 degrees upon seeing Casey, he completely forgot about Mac who was staring straight at him.

"Apologize to Mac! Or I don't need you as a teacher". Ryien showed a heartbroken expression "but I didn't say anything wrong, if they properly took care of you, you wouldn't have been hurt. Our tribe is also a more suitable place for you to learn; these are facts. So why should I apologize?".

Ryien showed a blank and innocent expression which didn't fit his appearance very much. Casey sighed at this stubborn figure in front of him but kept putting up a fierce facade. "Apologize, or leave our home". Ryiens antennas dropped and he sullenly looked at Mac and spit out harshly "sorry". Casey nodded at his attempt and introduced himself.

"Hello teacher my name is Casey, and this is my good brother Mac. Please treat Both of us kindly while you're here".

Ryien stepped forward and held Casey's claws and shook them repeatedly. "Hello Casey you can call me Ryien or Rye. I look forward to getting to know and spend time with you".

"If this guy was a dog his tail would be wagging towards the sky right now". Casey was a bit surprised the more he watched Ryien, the more he found him like a dog. He obviously looked fierce and terrifying… his personality, however… was quite unexpected. Casey felt a bit amused and smiled at Ryien. "Well, I'll be in your care then Rye".

Ryiens face flushed red, he covered his mouth with the back of his hand and turned and sat back at the table.

After everyone sat down Mac addressed the elders and asked when they planned to head back. They said they planned to head out first thing tomorrow, mac said they didn't have the space and would take them to his grandfather's house to stay the night.

Mac stood up to take everyone over, as Casey got up to follow, Ryien called out to him.

"Casey, can you show me to my room so I can unpack and get settled?". Casey looked at Mac and thought for a moment "Mac you can take them to Tala's yourself I'll stay here and help Rye get settled in". Mac wanted to argue against it as he really didn't like Ryien, but he just sighed and said alright before turning and leaving.

Casey guided Ryien on a short tour of the house and introduced the rooms. He then led him into his room. Ryien looked around and pondered for a moment before speaking what was on his mind.

"Where's your room Casey?".

"Ahh we didn't have enough space for a guest so I moved into Mac's room; this room is my old one".

Ryien face turned black hearing those words. "Since this was your room why don't you share a room with me instead? It would also be easier for me to soothe your spiritual power if it drifts off in your dreams again".

Casey felt that Rye may have a good point.

"Let's wait until Mac gets home and talk about it together". Hearing Casey's response Ryien sulked and nodded in reluctance. "Whatever you say, Casey, I'll listen to you". Casey grinned and felt like he had become the master of a big lap dog. After putting such silly thoughts away Casey got to work with Ryien to organize the room.