Adjusting

[Wren Watson]

Dated December 2nd, 1883

Well that had gone well. So well that while they still talked and debated and even marveled over the idea that their oldest and most ornery dragon had actually just been a cursed woman Wren had excused herself walked out. It had been so much talking and so many people, all talking about her, and she just couldn’t anymore. Her determined paced slowed to a meander as the voices faded away, her hand drawing along the stone walls.

She had waited so long to be human again and now… she wasn't entirely sure it was all it was cracked up to be. There was so much talking and not enough flying. She had to deal with things instead of setting them on fire and leaving. Her days were no longer filled with simple things like catch-the-owl or picking out which cow she wanted for dinner… now she had to figure out what to do with the rest of her life. And who knew how long that would be because by her count she was at least 100 years old now.

Math was something she could do. It helped give her a solid way to measure the things she had trouble grasping. She was over 100, which meant her mother would also be over 140 years old. Her father would be over 150. If there was any hope in any of her family being alive it would in her sister, who would be old and feeble

She was thoroughly lost but it didn't matter. Everywhere she went, besides Gus’ house, she was lost. Even her own territory was foreign to her because she’d always seen it from an aerial view. She found a staircase and went up as far as she could, as if it could even remotely satisfy her desire to be in the sky again. She tried one door and found it locked but the next was open and she pushed it open without hesitation and headed straight for the first window and pushed it open.

  

[Abigail MacFusty]

Abigail had definitely been surprised when Gus had told her about the sudden surprise of the dragon that turned out to be a human. She did not wanted to make it harder for the young lady, well she looked young, but truthfully then she was probably older than Abigail herself. She had heard of the dragon for as long as she could remember. But Abigail had noticed how the woman had worn unsuitable clothes, probably some of Gus old.

Deciding to leave the rest of the family alone, Abigail decided to go to her own rooms so she could relax. On her way to her rooms, she saw the young lady stand near a window. "How are you? I can understand if you are very confused. I would probably be the same." she said softly and looked at the young lady.

Abigail would not mind to welcome her into the family, in a way she had been for a long time, and if Abigail's feeling were right, then she might need the help.

  

[Wren Watson]

Wren sighed as the open window let the cold air in to brush across her face. It was invigorating and she leaned out as far as she could trying to get the castle out of her peripheral vision to see only sky. She stayed like that for a while, pitting her balance and desire for open sky against her steadily growing human instincts that reminded her she couldn't defy gravity any more.

It was a futile effort that only left her with numb fingers tips and rosy cheeks from the cold. Something picked at the back of her neck and before she could consciously process anything she'd yanked herself back in the room, spun around, and fallen into a crouch. Realizing what had triggered the reflex was one of the people Gus had brought her to meet she straightened herself out with as much dignity as she could muster.

Wren had been too distracted to hear the woman approach and her unexpected words had startled her subconscious into a long standing habit. Dragons were territorial and had a decently significant blind-spot. She'd learned the hard way that you never left your backside exposed to attack. But she wasn't a dragon and she wasn't exposed to attack; she was a woman acting foolishly in a foreign land.

Embarrassment was one of the emotions she was getting reacquainted with. There's little to prove to any one when you are a dragon with a well guarded territory. She played with one of the sleeves of the robes she was wearing. It had been scavenged from Gus' closet and after a few tries with his wand she'd managed to shrink it down in a haphazard way. She still couldn't remember the words to any spells but she'd only set it on fire in two places while trying.

"He said I could stay with him." She said softly. For all that she had grumbled, shouted, and even beat on Gus... that had been Gus in a place she knew. This was unfamiliar territory where all the men seemed to be giants and this woman was different. Wren knew she was important because everyone seemed to look to or listen to her. She was an elder. The big dragon in town.

  

[Abigail MacFusty]

"I apologize if I surprised you, it was not my intention." she quickly said with a smile as she looked at the young lady. Abigail had always felt safe in the castle, it was her home and had been for decades. Basically since she married her husband, and that was almost forty years ago. She sighed when she remembered just how long she had been a MacFusty.

"It is the least he could do. And should he not behave, then you can always come to me, then I will talk with him." she said with a smile. Everyone knew how impossible the MacFusty men could be, and Abigail had to admit thagt she was one of the few who could control them. "Do you need anything?" she asked with a smile, wanting to help the young lady get used to being a human once again.

  

[Wren Watson]

Wren just shook her head. It was the most fitting response she could come up with. Gus had largely left her alone in the week she'd been human. It helped that she'd been sleeping a lot and avoiding him when she wasn't sleeping. She supposed a transformation like that would be exhausting but she knew it was also an easy way to avoid thinking.

Shaking her head was also a fitting response to her question about needing anything. That would have required her knowing what was supposed to happen. She'd been so independent, living day by day and now she was nauseatingly dependent on Gus and worried about her future. Women of her time were married or worked as maids and as far as she could gather, they still did. And while that was concerning in the long run she had other, more pressing concerns.

"Ahm old." She started slowly, trying to put the right words to what she was thinking. "But my ... body isnae." She'd checked this the moment she'd found a mirror at Gus' house. She had not completely recognized her own face but it did not reflect the 100 years she knew she had. "I dunnae know how long... Ah will live." It would probably be better for everyone in the long run if her halted ageing caught up with her, withering her away to nothing but it did not take the bite of fear away from the idea of death.

  

[Abigail MacFusty]

Grams just smiled softly to her, and sat down to talk with the girl. She was happy to help her in any way she could - she looked forward to helping the young girl, but of course it was depending on whether or not Wren would want her help. "Dragons do age differently than humans, so maybe the transformation left you in the age your dragon-age would have been." she suggested. It was not easy to understand magic, and not even Abigail, who had known about magic all her life, did not understand it completely.

"I hope for you that you will have a full human life, you deserve it after everything you have been through." she said with a smile. "And should you ever need to talk with someone that is a female, or need help with anything, then you can always come to me." she said with a warm smile.

  

[Wren Watson]

A full human life seemed like they were asking a lot. Some wordless part of her subconscious felt like it was a sentence of exile rather than a blessing. The expansive unknown stretched before her, excerpting the abstract processes of her brain that she had not needed in a while. What was life and time and future to a dragon?

She felt more at ease when the older woman sat. She was still unquestionably the alpha in this situation but it was a clear sign of truce and good will leaving Wren to let her guard down enough to pace. She traced a small circle in front of the window, casting glances out the window at the sky now and then. "Its just... a lot" Words were not her favorite thing. Words that were meant to convey complex emotions were even worse. Brevity was her friend.

  

[Abigail MacFusty]

To Abigail there was not a doubt that the young lady would have a full life. Dragons had a long life, and if anything was to by, then the young lady in front of her had several years before her. "You have a lot to get used to - just like I am sure it took you a while to get used to being a dragon." she said with a smile.

"Take the time you need, and just know that whenever you need to talk, you can always come here and talk with me." she offered with a smile.

  

[Wren Watson]

"Oh aye." Wren agreed quickly. Part of her was a bit too eager to think about dragon life again. It was strange how her early years were not that much more recent than her first human life but she remembered them more readily. Perhaps because her senses had been sharper which meant she had more information stored. Perhaps it was because at the time it had been traumatic and more strongly burned into her brain than something trivial... like her sister's name.

"They spent a couple of..." what unit of time did she have? seasons, years, it was a blur "A very long time trying to rip my tail spikes off." She spoke almost nostalgically as she remembered her narrow escapes from what she now knew to be adolescent dragons. It was easy to remember back like that, having had decades of experience successfully fending off intruders in her territory. There was no better feeling than holding your own and being more fearsome than your foe.

  

[Abigail MacFusty]

Abigail just looked at the woman without a worry in her eyes. "I am not surprised, but you seemed to have done quite well in looking out for yourself." she said with a smile. She could not help but fel slightly proud of the young woman. There was not many that could handle being turned into a dragon and then survive for as long as the woman had.

"Should you have need for anything, money for dresses or anything, then if the boys chooses not to give you anything, then you can just tell them that I told them to help you. And should that not help, just come to see me, though I am sure you can handle them all on your own if you have to." she said with a smile.

  

[Wren Watson]

Her early life as a dragon had been filled with encounters but as she'd aged she'd become far more solitary. Even other dragons had learned to keep their distance. Once in a while she had to fend off an overly interested male or squash a challenge over her territory but more often than not she only saw them at a wary distance.

Mention of money yanked her thoughts away from her old life, pinned them on human ways, sending them off away in a web so splintered she couldn't follow it. She shook her head as if to rid her mind of them like shaking off a pest. It didn't help. She merely looked at the woman wishing she could be so certain that things would turn out.