Chapter 349: Parenting

Mo caught her knives one at a time and put them away. "That thing you asked about. My family is on the way here. They'll start in the morning."

'The investigation of empire spies…' "That's good." I groaned, my legs slowly taking me to my bed.

"You look like you had a fun day…" Isy remarked.

I didn't bother answering, just let myself slowly fall down and close my eyes, letting my feet dangle off the end so as not to put my boots on the clean sheets. "Can someone… Turn the lights off…"

"You're not taking a shower first?"

"Don't feel like it…"

"Siya… No matter how tired you are, you still have to clean yourself up before you go to sleep. Otherwise, you won't get proper rest, and you'll only be more tired tomorrow."

I groaned, rolling from my face to my side and looking over to Mo who was just about to turn off the lights.

She stayed paused as if asking if I still wanted the lights out. "I agree. When in the field things can be messy, but when at home everything should stay clean." 

"What's the point… I don't sweat in this form anyway since I don't need to disperse heat. I'm hardly dirty…"

Rune slowly climbed up onto the bed next to me. "That's not true, You're still dirty, you smell like outside."

'That's… Not a bad thing though… Right? She's smiling…'

"Yeah, you'll stink up the whole room if you make a habit of this."

I growled, snarling at Isy unconsciously, and holding back once she flinched. "I won't stink up the room from going a day without a shower…" I muttered.

She chuckled nervously. "Ok, then think about Rune? I mean you share a bed with her, so you should at least be considerate about that."

Rune was sitting down next to me, her legs tucked underneath her as if she was unsure what to do. "Y-you don't smell bad… I'm fine…"

I sighed again, covering my face by leaning into one of my hands and rubbing my eyes. 'I should probably at least try to set a decent example though, right? At this point, it's more about how it looks than anything else…' "It's fine…" I groaned. "I'll take a shower…"

I was so exhausted I could hardly stand through it, and my dreary eyes ended up opening, suddenly waking up my mind as I saw my own body… But at that point, I was really just more exasperated than anything, and mentally torn down. I suddenly felt the urge to cry, but my body wouldn't even let me. 

Feeling somewhat overwhelmed the only thing left for me to do was breathe fire as hard and long as I could, turning the entire bathroom into a massive sauna that was so thick with steam you couldn't even see across it. I don't know how long I was in there in the end… I just faintly remembered Mo coming in at one point and helping me get dressed… Turns out breathing fire, while comforting… Is also exhausting…

I felt like a doll that she had to take care of… I don't even know how she could tell something was wrong… But after she helped me to my bed I finally started to feel better. Rune tried to sleep on the floor… But there was no way I'd let that happen, and with her next to me I was once again reminded that I wasn't the same little girl anymore. Of course, I had changed in just about every sense of the word, but I wasn't alone anymore either.

…

By the time the sun had risen, I finally felt stable again. Unlike the day before I was the one that woke up first. Because I was in my dragon form my body was practically smoldering, but instead of burning up, Rune took to me like a cat to a space heater or a warm ray of sunlight. Because I had grown so much, her part of the bed had shrunk significantly when I spread out, so… She ended up just using me as a bed, bunching up my clothes and sinking her face into my chest.

'This is starting to go a bit far…' Somehow this feels lewd too… Is it because of this body? 'Mr Dragon… You aren't attracted to kids are you–' A sudden sharp spike ran through my head from one ear to another making everything above my shoulders go numb for a moment.

'I'll only let this slide once… Both because you're ignorant… And because I'm aware of how you are in the morning…'

'S-sorry… But then what am I feeling right now?'

He groaned. 'For once your apology is justified…' After another short silence, he continued. 'To put it plainly, she is adorable. It makes one want to have a child… Which isn't completely unrelated to the methods of producing one… As for any other feelings. Dragon cubs are incapable of creating nearly as much heat as they are used to when in the womb, so they tend to rely on their parents' body heat when sleeping. It isn't necessary for survival… But it does explain why she is so clingy. Her excessive manna is a symbol of her dragon's lineage, though distant it may be.'

'So… This is what… Maternal instinct? That's why I'm so hot right now?'

'More… Parental. It isn't specifically the mother, both parents produce enough heat to properly warm a pup… Most likely, we are resonating. Which is why you feel embarrassed right now, instead of turned on by you're own massive–"

'THAT'S… Enough… You can stop there, I think I get it.' I sighed. 'So… Should I wake her up? Will she wake up naturally, or is this more of a hibernation thing…'

'You do realize she isn't actually a dragon right…'

'Well yeah I know that…'

He sighed. 'I would be too heartbroken to wake her up… But… If you intend on going to class, I suggest you do so… Dragons pups sleep incredibly deeply when their body has been deeply heated like this, it's a time for them to grow and develop, and so they tend to sleep until woken by hunger. It's quite literally all they do if they are allowed to.'

'Is that why she's so small? Well… Won't she get hungry soon anyway though?'

'That's just another reason to get up… Assuming she actually has been growing her stomach will be cramping from emptiness, and seeing as how you aren't nursing the child, it would–'

'Ok, ok… I get it… She's not an infant you know… Dealing with you in the morning is almost too much…'

Her ear started twitching and she groaned, shifting her weight.

'This is really uncomfortable…'

'She may not be an infant, but she grew up on the streets, right? That likely means that she was forced to sleep in the cold… It would explain her size… And her mental age as well is rather young, although mature. Then she spent years bedridden… Dragons do not measure age in years… And to our kind, she would indeed be considered an infant.'

'If you suggest something weird I'm blasting you with dark magic…'

Another long silence followed. 'Meat should be fine…'

'That's it?'

'Yes… But either wake her up or take her with you, even being woken up by force is far better than waking up because the child is cold and alone.'

'Well… When you say it like that…' I sighed petting her fluffy hair and standing up, tucking her in while I changed out of my drool-covered pajamas, before picking her up like a toddler and hugging her close as I went out and bought some food. It felt weird taking parenting advice from a bloodthirsty dragon that tried to kill me… But not as weird as it did to be in a situation where I genuinely needed parenting advice… Much less a situation where I was carrying a kid around on my hip… Sure, she was an adorable little thing, but that was the first time I ever actually felt like I was acting in the stead of her mother.

'Mr Dragon… I was kind of checked out yesterday… Do I have today off or what?'

'No days off for a while, same drill, meet in the war room just past noon.'

I suddenly stopped still, looking down at the tiny child and thinking about how I must look to all the giants when I was just as small. 'Mr Dragon… Do you see me as a child too? One you would want to keep sleeping peacefully…'

'More like an annoying brat that grew up too quickly and refused to leave the den…'

'Eh… I'm still a part of the family and not a child in this scenario, so I'll take it. Hey, I could use a new dad if you want the job.'

'Of the admittedly few humans I can remember… You are by far the strangest…'

I chuckled as I walked back to the dorm room. 'I guess I'm just a bit jealous of your kids from your past life… I'd rather have someone like you as a dad for a short while, than someone like mine… I bet you were a great dad.'

'I wouldn't know… And I'm not the dragon you are referring to either… I share more memories with you than I do my imprint from the soul I was derived from… But… I hope you are right…'

I sat down and patted Rune's head, leaning her back slightly. "Hey, it's time to wake up now. Rune…"