Going for a Nice Summer Swim

saphira-2-piece-swimsuitHaving such a close relationship with my own dragon, Dragula, and having read countless books and old texts about these majestical creatures I can really relate to my capricious, energetic, and loving granddaughter, Saphira. You see, she’s part dragon. Now Dragula has never manifested into his mortal form, although I know he has one.  He feels like he has no use for it, for he’s accepted in his true form as in all his glory.  Not all dragons feel that way however.

While most seem to cling to a solitary life, in truth they seek companionship just like any other creature.  Oftentimes, they develop real human connections, which turn romantic.  That’s how Saphira came to be.  Her mother, a mortal, fell in love with what she believed was a wonderful man.  For years, they lived together and he would travel a lot but would return often.  Then when she became pregnant, he had no choice to tell her his secret.  The pregnancy was not unlike a mortal’s pregnancy with the exception of the birth.  What Saphira’s mother delivered was a leathery sac that formed into a dragon’s egg shortly after.  It is as if there are two gestational periods for dragonkin.  After the first, the second takes only a short few months at which time the egg hatches and what seems to be a mortal baby is delivered.  How they grow and develop from there has varied differently from type to type in my experience.

But I am not about to write an entire dissertation on dragonkin,  no.  This is about spending some quality time with my granddaughter. Saphira is a curious young girl who is eager to learn more about herself, about her powers, and about magic in general.  But where we are failing is teaching her what her limitations are and that with great power comes even greater responsibility. So I have devised a way to start my grandchildren in that path.  First, we will create a very beautiful aquarium, with all types of fishes, and I will task them to upkeep them. For every fish that survives they will get 50 gold a week, something Saphira will appreciate more than most.

But first, we must catch some fish we want!  Soooooo one of my last trips to Earth, I bought Saphi a cute little two piece swimsuit — aqua blue of course — that was age appropriate.  I know Armand’s having this big to-do about two pieces, but he doesn’t understand that for her to stay in her mortal form and be able to breathe underwater for longer than a mortal, she must have as much of her skin exposed to the water as she can.  And I know she’s been practicing those skills in the bathtub. Armand is also still just now slowly accepting that his daughter is special.  Hopefully I can allow Saphi some freedom to just be herself.

I showed her the swimsuit and told her to keep it a Nana’s house only and her face lit up.  I helped her into it, changed into my own, and then I told her that if she ever wants to change into her other form that all she has to do is pull on the strings and she won’t break her new swimsuit.  She hugged me.  And then off we went to Moonglow Docks, of course Mateo — Saphi’s Praetorian — followed us.  And into the water we went.  We spent a lot of the time just exploring, having a bunch of fun looking at all the underwater life.  Saphi beamed with happiness. We saw a pool of Minoc Blue Fish and I thought, “Perfect! They are her favorite color too!”  I pointed to them and we laid out our nets to capture them.  We got about 7 or 8 and then deposited them into our fishbowls that had secure tops to them.  Once we had our fun, we came up finally.  Mateo was none too pleased that we had sort of wandered out of sight. But he can get over it!  It was Nana/Saphi time!

We went back to Monticello and we carefully placed our new fish into the aquarium and I taught Saphi how to feed them and how to add fresh water and how to clean the tank.  She was so engaged and loved that I had was teaching her something new.  She just absorbs everything and I love that about her.  In all, we had such a great afternoon.  I will be sure to bring Naomi next!  I’ll probably take her to the Zento docks, see if we can some of those fish for our aquarium. Can’t wait!

~ Cher

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