Ch.12
I made the two girls sit on the ground and meditate while trying to sense the mana inside them. I first sent a wave of mana to each of their bodies to stimulate their mana so they could know what it feels like. Then it was up to them to learn to feel this mana on their own. Like that, we spent the next two months with them meditating every morning, then Relaesys was the first to understand how to bring out her mana. With Aenela learned it a few days later, once they both had that down. I began teaching them the importance of using the correct words and hand gestures, as one mistake can cause the spell to backfire.
In the mornings I would have them meditate until they could instinctually bring forth their mana, as dragons are born with that ability, while every other race must learn it. Then in the afternoons, I would teach them the words and hand gestures used in most spells. In between the two lessons their mother had them learn whatever it is a noble learns. Then one afternoon as I was in the middle of lecturing the girls on their mistakes in this lesson with their verbal commands and hand gestures. We hear a roar of a few wyverns coming our way and then a slave walked in disrupting the lesson. The family like all nobles in this city has wyverns in their house, the Targaryens have five in total. Three are for the men and the other two are the females for breeding.
"I apologize M'Lord Valtaris, M'Lady Aenela, and M'Lady Relaesys. But M'Lady Vaehna asks you all come to back inside, as the M'Lords have returned," the slave says with a bowed head and the two girls share a happy look.
Relaesys runs inside to see her father and brothers, while Aenela calmly follows after her with a complicated look on her face. I follow behind the two with a neutral expression, as Aenela has taught me pretty much everything it means to act like a Noble, while Jaela has taught me the ins and outs of the culture. As I enter inside I see a middle-aged man close to Aenela's mother's age, who I assume is the father. The two parents share very similar looks, seems they are very close cousins as apparently, nobles believe in blood purity. Meaning only nobles can marry each other, which means that many nobles are more related to each other than they realize.
The two younger men are brothers, just like everyone in this family, and nobles in the city. They all have stark white hair, silvery in contrast, and purple eyes. Though I can sense faint magic coming from the swords each man carries, seems these are the same make as Aenela's sword. The three men still appear to be wearing full very fine suits of armor. Once the family has finished all their greetings, even though Aenela seems stiff in her movements. The three men turn to me and eye me up with a scrutinizing gaze, just as Lady Vaehna did on my first day here.
"So you must be the Lord Valtaris, I kept hearing about in the letters from my daughters and wife. I'm Lord Rahaelor Targaryen, this is my son and heir Balaevar. This is my second son Tahaelar," Rahaelor says to me while introducing himself and his sons.
"A pleasure to meet you all, as you know I'm Lord Valtaris," I say to them and offer the same greeting back.
"My sister says you are a Mage, is that true?" Tahaelar says to me with a smirk on his face. While the two other men give him side glances.
"Very much so," I say while snapping my fingers and casting Prestidigitation on all three of the men, cleaning the little dirt they still had on them. While also giving them a fresh scent. The three men give me the same surprised expressions every other human has seeing magic, even the most basic magic.
"Seems everything we heard is true then. Do you think you could teach my sons any magic?" Lord Rahaelor says to me with a curious look. While I inspect the three men for any magical traces. Though each is not skilled in magic, they do have some mana like every other creature, but nothing to waste time on teaching.
"None of you appear to have enough mana inside you to learn anything useful," I say to them and Lord Rahaelor nods his head in understanding. Though Daenera seems happy she is not the only one who couldn't learn magic.
"Understandable, either way, I am thankful for you teaching my daughters. As my wife said you are our guest for as long as it takes to teach them. Plus you will always have our family's goodwill for this," Lord Rahaelor says to me with a small bow of his head in thanks.
"No problem, I did promise to teach them. Though I appreciate the sentiment," I say to him bowing my head back in thanks.
"Well, can my daughters skip the rest of the lesson today? I would like to see them all after having been gone for over a year now," Lord Rahaelor says to me.
"There is no issue with that, I have a lot of time," I say to him as I will outlive the rest of these humans for several dozen generations and longer.
He nods his head in appreciation, while his family follows behind him and his sons. The two youngest daughters ask their father and brothers question after question. Seeing them leave I make my to the library to read more books. I've read maybe ten percent of the library, though by the time I finish teaching the girls I should be able to finish reading it all. The library holds thousands of books, as it appears to be holding all the books the Targaryen family has written about themselves or collected over the years. After a few hours of reading, Jaela comes to find me to bring me to the dining hall for dinner.
Walking in I see the last of the family taking their seats as I sit down next to Aenela and across from Balaevar. The slaves then bring out a huge meal consisting of all sorts of food. Even a whole pig was brought out to the table, and I found this animal along with cows is my favorite as both are extremely fatty and flavorful. The meal is not in silence as the younger girls are still pestering their father and brothers about the war they were a part of. The brothers answered most of the questions, as Lord Rahaelor seemed mentally tired from the war probably having more responsibility than the brothers.
"Lord Valtaris, my wife told me you are not from around here. Can I ask what brought you to Valyria?" Lord Rahaelor says to me stopping the other conversation in the room as the brothers are interested in this too.
"Experiencing new things and learning brought me here. As I know very little about the Valyrian culture or what life was like outside my home," I say to him and he nods his head listening to me.
"So you must have traveled far since the place you hail from is nothing I'm familiar with," Lord Rahaelor says to me, and just as his wife seems to not believe my story, which is not completely true.
"I traveled very far, as I left behind my only family. They are most likely dead now, as it has been a long time since I last saw them," I say with some genuine sadness in my voice remembering my mother and Rok who died a very long time ago.
"I apologize for bringing back some back memories, that was not my intention," Lord Rahaelor says with an apologetic look.
"It is fine, like I said it's all in the past now," I say with a small sigh pushing my sadness away. Lord Rahaelor nods his head in understanding.
"Where did you learn your magic?" Balaevar asks me with a curious look.
"My family is a long line of very strong magic users. We are each born with high capabilities and learn to use them as we grow older," I say to him and technically I'm not lying.
"Makes sense. I'm sure your family has chosen its members well," Balaevar says nodding his head suggesting that like the Nobles of this city, my family has only bred with family. I just ignore the statement as nothing I say will be good.
"What kind of magic can you do?" Tahaelar asks me breaking the silence that took over the room for a few seconds.
"All sorts of spells, from common everyday spells to very destructive spells. Even a few that can heal others," I say trying to sum up some of my abilities.
"Damn! I wish I could learn some magic," Tahaelar says with some jealousy in his voice. Then the room falls silent as everyone is full of food and happy. Though before we all leave for our separate ways, I was curious if the family would teach me swordplay. As even though it is over useless to me, I wanted to learn to pass the time I was not teaching the girls.
"I have a small request Lord Rahaelor, if possible would someone be able to teach me to wield a sword? You see my family are all very capable magic users and do not place much faith in the use of a sword, but I'm curious on how to use one," I ask the Lord of the house. He stops and contemplates it for a few seconds, then nods his head in affirmation.
"I see no issue in that, you are teaching my daughters magic. My son Balaevar is the best swordsman of the family, he can teach you in between your lessons with my daughters if that works for you," Lord Rahaelor says to me gesturing to his oldest son who gives me a look over judging my body.
"I appreciate that, then I will be in your care Lord Balaevar," I say thanking Lord Rahaelor, and I turn to Balaevar who nods his head to me.
As the next morning comes, I watch the girls meditate to see if they finally learn to passively channel their mana. The time comes for my first lesson with Balaevar, who is wearing fine leather armor and had me put on the same leather armor. He then hands me a blunted metal sword which was heavier than I thought. But since I can use the real strength of my true form that took me years to control in my human form, this sword weighs nothing to me.
"First I will show you the proper stances and footwork need in a fight between swordsmen. Then once I feel you have gotten it down, we will move on to the proper way to wield a sword. Once I feel you have learned that to an appropriate degree, we will move on to sparing to refine your skills. Though no matter how much one spars, there is nothing like real fighting as that is where one learns the most," Balaevar says to me and then begins showing me how to stand and move with a sword.
As a dragon, we can learn new languages, abilities, spells, and weapon training, faster than any other creature. What would take a human years of training and learning how to properly use a sword took me a few weeks. My quick learning surprised Balaevar and the others as they said I appear to be a protege in the art of sword fighting. Over the next year, I finished learning everything I could about using the sword from Balaevar. The two girls have finally learned to naturally call upon their mana and use it for the spells they are trying to cast.
The only thing left now is for me to teach them some of the spells I know, which could take a few more years since the stronger the spell the harder it is to use. So the first spells I began teaching them were cantrips, like Prestidigitation, Mage Hand, Dancing Lights, Mending, and Fire Bolt. So far they are just beginning to understand how to cast Prestidigitation.