Upon finishing the rolls, I unfurl my wings, energy surging through me as I take off, heading for the Arena. Aurexiar is waiting when I arrive.

  “Ah, good. I was worried that you wouldn’t be up so early. I thought about collecting you, but... I am relieved to see that you didn’t need that. Anyway, are you ready to learn how to harness and control your power? Our current Deathcw, Jekk Ironhide, will be teaching you. He’s old and hardy enough that you won’t need to hold back. And Skadi is here as well. I understand that the two of you have begun bonding, yes?”

  I nod. “Yeah. I think we’ll be good friends. She’s nice, once you get to know her.”

  Aurexiar nods thoughtfully. “I see. Well, I wish you luck in your training, and your friendship with Skadi.”

  I slowly enter the Arena, where Skadi is performing some incredibly fast-paced workout that involves combining high speed and unching her tail-spikes like arrows at various moving targets. An old man, wiry and lean, wearing simple leather pants and a sleeveless jerkin, is watching her, snapping criticisms and the occasional bit of praise. His hair is salt-and-peppered, and his skin is weathered with a network of criss-crossing scars. His eyes are dark, and he turns to me.

  “Ah. You are the new trainee? Good. I am Jekk. Take your human form.”

  I blink, but do as he commands. He points at his face.

  “Hit me. Use your full strength.”

  I draw my right fist back, and swing as hard as I can. He catches my fist effortlessly.

  “Weak. Again.”

  I frown and swing again. He sps my hand away, and I stumble.

  “Sloppy. Again.”

  I swing again, this time jabbing with my left and then, as he swats my hand away, I sh out with a right hook. He knocks my hand away with the back of his right hand. He’s only used his right, I notice, and I can feel myself starting to get annoyed.

  Jekk’s face is impassive, and he gestures. “Again.”

  This time, I start punching rapidly, swinging over and over again, faster and faster, harder and harder, but… No good. Jekk just bats each blow away, standing immobile and using only his right hand. Minutes turn into over an hour and a half, as he needles me constantly.

  “Weak. Sloppy. Pathetic. This is the best you can do? You should go home. You cannot hope to master what I can teach you. Ineffectual. Give up. You are hopeless. Your win against Skadi was a fluke.”

  I can feel the frosted rage building in my core. And, as he berates, belittles, derides, and mocks me, I lose control. My cws snap out and I roar in frustration as Jekk… crosses both arms in front of his head. The force of my blow causes him to skid back a handful of feet, and he lowers his arms… and smiles.

  “Good. You have a reasonable grip on your temper. I can train you.”

  I blink. “Huh?”

  Skadi pants, “Jekk… did the same to me… when I started. He… riles you up to see how… far you can be pushed before… you lose your temper.”

  Jekk nods. “Just so. And you, despite being human… have good control. It took much to make you slip.”

  I blush and transform back. “Ah… sorry, sir…”

  I wince at the bruises I’d inflicted on Jekk’s arms. He shrugs. “These are nothing. Now… bring out your scales. I will hit you now. You must protect yourself.”

  As he slips into a loose fighting stance, I focus, calling on my natural armour. Bands of white scales ripple out through my skin like the worst itch ever, but when Jekk’s fist crashes into my shoulder, I can’t feel it nearly as bad as I thought. He nods approvingly.

  “Your hide is tough. Now. I come again!”

  His fists crash into my body, and it’s all I can do to weather the furious assault. Jekk’s blows are terrifyingly strong, and I can feel the impacts, even through my scales. Then, his hand grabs my ankle and he flings me across the Arena in an arc. I roll and tumble, flipping to dig my cws into the ground and halt myself, looking up in time to see Jekk’s knee as he sms it into my face.

  I snap backwards, my tail struggling to keep my bance. Then, I realize something. Jekk’s… stopped hitting me. He’s standing there, calmly watching.

  “Good. You managed to stay conscious. You have potential. I will teach you. To fight, to control your power. You must not let your abilities rule you. You must be the ruler of them.”

  He turns and barks something at Skadi, and she nods, approaching me.

  “You need to copy me. I’ll have to train my own apprentice one day, so Jekk wants to see me try and show you the basics. It is good practice, he said.”

  I nod and wipe the pink blood from my chin and upper lip.

  “Teach me, Miss Skadi!”

  Skadi begins to run me through a workout routine, showing me three or four times until I’ve got it down, and then I get told to do it faster, and faster, until I’m pulling the whole routine off in a handful of minutes. She nods. “Great, now you’ll need to do this every day for an hour.”

  I nod, already restarting the routine without a word. Skadi smiles in approval. Then, once I’ve done, we spar, and Jekk watches, offering pointers occasionally, but otherwise remaining silent. His dark eyes don’t miss a thing, and I have to admit that, if Skadi had been allowed to use her Deathcw training, I’d have lost the Trial of Blood Judgment she’d thrown my way.

  It’s not even close, either. She’s easily as fast as me, but her strength is utterly out of my league. Her reflexes are top-notch, too, and, when combined, there’s not a crack in her defences. My cws, tail, feet, or breath attack, nothing gets through. By the time the sun has dipped over the zenith, I’m drenched in sweat, as well as a fair amount of my own blood, from cuts and scrapes. However, sparring with Skadi is… fun, when I’m not actually at risk of being murdered by the dark dragonel.

  Eventually, Jekk raises a fist. “Enough. That is all for today. You.”

  He points at me. I swallow.

  “You did well for your first time training with us. You will do better tomorrow. Be here as the sun rises, and we will begin again.”

  He turns and stalks away, and Skadi nudges me, a small grin on her face.

  “You must have impressed him, Rika. Jekk doesn’t give out compliments easily!”

  I giggle, looking down at my almost-destroyed clothing. There are blood- and sweat-stains, rips and tears, and smears of dirt all over them. I sigh. “Well, good thing I brought some extra clothing for this whole mess… but, if it only takes a single day’s training, I’ll run out in less than a week…”

  Skadi frowns. “Would… would you like to go and get some suitable training wear? I’d offer to lend you some of mine, but… they won’t fit you.”

  I look at her, then down at myself. “Yeah, I AM a good bit taller than you are. But yes, I’d really appreciate you showing me where to get some good workout clothing.”

  I can almost hear what she mumbles back, but not quite. Then, she pushes herself upright, and her wings snap out of her back. She shakes, her tail rattling as the tail-spikes at the tip clonk and thud against each other. Then she takes off. I imitate her, my own white-and-blue wings spreading and catching the air as I power upwards. I’m getting the hang of flying pces!

  Wings beating, Skadi leads me towards the Bzeheart isnd, the fiery volcano smoking steadily, as we soar above the gulf between the Arena and our destination. Touching down, I can already feel the heat emanating from EVERYTHING. The buildings, the streets, the air itself seems one errant spark away from catching fire!

  Skadi nods sympathetically.

  “I know… it’s too hot to breathe, isn’t it? I can handle it better since I’m an Onyxblood by parentage, but you’re a Winterwing. This has to be utterly unbearable… let’s make this quick!”

  She guides me along the streets as quickly as she can, her wings beating to try and create a breeze, but it’s too hot for even that to work. I resort to breathing thick yers of hoarfrost over myself. It melts almost immediately, but at least it provides SOME relief from the God-awful HEAT.

  Skadi ducks into one of the shops, and I almost keep walking, the heat so all-consuming that I forget what I’m here for, before the Onyxblood dragonel leans back out of the doorway and grabs my arm, pulling me into the store. Mercifully, it’s a bit cooler inside, and I let Skadi drag me over to the clothes. They’re all in varying styles and colours, and I feel weirdly like I’m back on Earth, with Philippa picking out my feminine wardrobe for me. I submit to Skadi’s ministrations, and soon, I’ve been outfitted with… outfits. Five sets of hard-wearing, simple training garb. I pay, counting out the gemstone coins, and we quickly leave, not wishing to become living barbeque. The air cools down quickly as we leave the Bzeheart isnd, and Skadi pauses in midair, her wings beating steadily.

  “So, um… what do you want to do with the rest of your day? I… don’t have any pns…”

  I smile at her. “Well, I DID get a bikini before I left Earth to come here for my training. Maybe we could go swimming? After Jekk’s training and visiting Lava-Land, I’m sweaty in pces I didn’t know existed until now!”

  Skadi blinks, then nods. “Yeah, okay. But, um… you could just use your scales to make a scalesuit, you know? Wait, maybe you haven’t learned that yet. Uh… I guess I can teach you?”

  I blink. “Wait, that’s a thing? I didn’t know that was possible! I just go… scaly when I want to. I’m always sort-of half-transformed, anyway.”

  Skadi tilts her head, rotating in the sky to fly backwards, her eyes questioning. “Half-transformed? Why?”

  I shrug. “Have you ever known anyone who was born one gender, but felt that they were supposed to be the other?”

  Skadi nods almost immediately. “Yes. It’s not that uncommon. Some drakes change their genders and become dragonels, and some dragonels switch and become drakes.”

  I stare at her. “You mean you know others like me?!”

  She raises her eyebrows, then nods. “I guess? If you were born as a drake and then chose to become a dragonel, then yes, I do know of others like you.”

  I let out a shuddering sigh of relief. Then, I frown. “Wait… how does the transgender thing work here? Back in my world, you need approval from like, three different doctors and then get put on a waiting list for years before you’re given medicines to take for the rest of your life. Is it like that here?”

  Skadi stares, aghast. “What?! NO! That’s barbaric! You just have to go and inform the Council of your new name, then book an appointment with a Shaper!”

  I tilt my head. “What’s a Shaper???”

  Skadi expins, “Dragons who specialize in magic. They can rewrite your body so you’re the right gender. It’s slow, like… a few hours, but it’s painless.”

  I frown. “And… how much does it cost? If it’s anything like Earth, it’ll be very expensive…”

  Skadi’s jaw drops. “IT COSTS MONEY ON EARTH?!?! Human culture is messed UP! You don’t have to pay for the Shaper, they’re free! Healing magic is a gift they share with the rest of us!”

  I wobble in the air, and Skadi darts forward to support me. I murmur, “All this time, I thought I’d have to wait till I moved out of my parents’ house before I could get gender-affirming treatment and finding some way to make enough money to pay for it… then I got my powers and had the body I should have had…. And now finding out that dragon magic HRT is way better than Earth could even hope for…”

  Skadi awkwardly pats my back as I wrap my arms around her.

  “Um… there, there?” she tries.