Ty thought for a moment and suddenly beamed a wide smile. “Well, if anything’s possible then anything it is! I have a few ideas. Wanna hear them?”
“Of course!” Seera said cheerfully, pleased at the boy’s enthusiasm.
“Well!” Ty began, rubbing his hands together to Seera’s amusement. “The problem is to hide you, right?”
The dragoness nodded gently, still smiling.
Ty shifted excitedly, as if discovering the answer to a particularly hard math problem. “It would be simple enough to just make it so that only I can see and hear you, right?”
Seera beamed with pride, her tail wagging happily. “Indeed it would be! Your sorcerer’s instincts have served you well.” The large reptile shifted on her haunches and placed a paw on Ty’s shoulder, stroking it gently with her gentle claws. “I wasn’t looking for a right answer, but you’ve given me the simplest one! If you were to render me all but invisible to everyone but you, I can always be by your side as I should be, eat with you, live with you, speak with you, and there will be no need to hide me or risk my discovery.”
Ty himself was quite happy with his first success. He wanted to please Seera and make her proud. “Great! Teach me that!”
“Ah!” Seera drew her paw back, and raised one digit in the air. “But I am still too big to get out of your room.”
Ty took a deep breath and nodded. “Can we take this one thing at a time? I’m overwhelmed enough as it is.”
Seera placed her paw in front of her and nodded, with a profound and slow movement of her head. “As you wish. I forget how much this is for you to absorb.”
“Okay!” Ty exhaled. “I’m ready.”
Seera nodded again. “Very well! Let’s begin.” She pointed to the wall beside her and seemed suddenly thoughtful. “These are some nice clean white walls you have. You made them that way. How did you do it?”
Ty blinked. “I… willed it. I wanted it to happen and it did.”
“Yes, but did you speak any magical incantations? Did you say magic words?” The dragon raised an eye ridge quizzically, a playful smirk on her muzzle.
Ty shook his head. “I said what I wanted to happen, but I know that the words aren't as important as the feeling. I think! It was… well, just right. I knew whatever was working.”
Seera nodded her approval with an affectionate rumble. “Exactly. The words aren’t important. The power of change comes from within you, a limitless supply of energy granted to you at birth. Your instinct has served you again. Now, close your eyes.”
Ty did as the dragoness asked, closing his eyes gently and staying still.
“Good.” Seera said. “Relax, take a deep breath, and clear your mind of all thought. Picture a blank piece of paper, a clean slate. Nothing. Now picture me in your mind, and concentrate on only me. Shape me in your mind’s eye, picture my shape, my voice.”
Ty did just that, trying his best to concentrate on just Seera and nothing else. Relaxing, he managed to imagine the beautiful dragoness before him.
“Yes.” Seera smiled, closing her own eyes, tuning into the boy’s thoughts. “Perfect. Now reach deep down within yourself, focus on the energy you felt before, and have it ready. It’s there and waiting to be used, it wants to be used. Don't be afraid to draw it up, it won't do anything without your guidance. Call it to your command, your desires, make it work for you once again.”
Ty gulped softly, and turned his thoughts inward. He remembered the sharp tingle that came from within him, the butterflies-in-his-stomach sensation that accompanied the walls turning white. This time it flared, the feeling engulfing his body, causing it to shiver. The feeling of power was incredible, intoxicating. Ty realized Seera was really guiding him! This was amazing!
“Excellent.” Seera praised. “Now return to me, picture me again in your mind, and concentrate on only me.” She waited and continued. “Concentrate on me, and will your power to work as you order it. It will serve whatever you ask of it. Alter only me and nothing else.”
Ty gasped as the entire world shut out from him. Nothing but the dragoness was his concern. This was actually the sensation of changing only Seera, and nothing but Seera.
“Excellent.” Seera prasied again, feeling the boy’s deep concentration. “Now imagine I am visible only to your eyes. Let my voice reach only your ears. Imagine that I am complete and whole, that I exist as a real living creature as I do now, but no one else but you will be able to see me or sense me for all time. I will be ignored, dismissed, and rendered invisible only as you have defined.”
Ty concentrated as hard as he could, feeling the power inside of him grow hot, bend to his will, and work to his exact wishes, to exactly the words Seera had spoken. Sweat beaded down his brow, the 15 year old winced, gasped, and then there was nothing. The feeling passed.
“Open your eyes, Ty.”
Ty found himself staring at the dragoness, who was almost teary with joy, her front paws held to her chest in an expression of delight and happiness for her master. “Though there is no way to tell, it worked. You followed my instructions to the letter, and you have successfully worked true sorcery.”
“A-Are you sure?” Ty asked hesitantly, wiping away the sweat.
“I am certain! I can feel magic, and I can especially feel it from you. What’s more, the sensation for me was a pleasant tickle for just a briefest moment.” The dragoness leaned forward, cramped as she was, and offered the boy a tight hug.
“You felt the difference this time. You ordered the power to work, made it work the way you wanted it to, and it did.”
Ty wrapped his arms around the dragon’s neck and nuzzled her smooth scales, smiling. “I felt the difference! Thank you, Seera!”
The dragon held Ty with as much affection as she could and whispered in his ear. “This is the start of a brand new life for both of us. It’s my pleasure and purpose to serve you as totally as I can, for I love you. Remember that always.”
Ty drew away, looking into the eyes of his new mentor, and simply smiled while blushing a deep red. Did the beautiful animal sense his... other excitement? Did she know that her beautiful words and powerful draconic embrace had aroused him? That she had given him all the happiness he had ever longed for? The friend he had begged for and imagined night after night after being alone for so long? Ty gulped and tried to suppress the feelings, but they were incredibly powerful.
“As a final note, know that you are always in control of the power, but it doesn’t always know how to behave. Here we have the unpredictability of magic. It does not know you wanted to make me visible only to you. Had you simply asked it to make me invisible, I might very well have turned transparent.”
“I understand!” Ty nodded, shaking, sweating, incredibly distracted by something else, but listening to the dragoness's words and taking them in. “I’ll be careful.”
“Good!” Seera snorted. “Then you’ve learned your first lesson well!” Ty swore the dragoness gave him a sidelong glance that seemed to match his own distracted thoughts. She winked and chuckled to herself, which nearly drove the boy mad.
Little did he know the dragon could literally read his thoughts. And she was appreciative of his lust towards her. Theirs would be a long and joyful partnership. Just as it had been with his father, Seera mused, but let it pass. Now was not the time for that... yet.
The tense moment passed, and Ty began to relax, shaking off his odd thoughts as nothing more than boyish horniness. His own dragon, his own power, a new life. Yes, that had been making him excited. Nothing wrong with that. He *CERTAINLY* didn't want to kiss Seera on the front of her elegant muzzle, scratch her under the chin tenderly, and see the great creature's reaction. Not at all.
Seera let an inward giggle pass and almost wished Ty would kiss her, but there were other matters to attend to. "Now then!" She smiled, staying ever calm. "Your second task of the day is to bring me down to your own scale. I'm a bit cramped, and my back legs have gotten numb."