— ZORYN —
I wake up at dawn to the sound of drums.
Wardrums.
Today, I'll be participating in the sickest part of the entire festival: the Combat Tournament. During the last Moonfall Gathering, when I was still a guy, I won two out of three of my matches. I lost in the finals against a super jacked leopard-kin. I think his name was Vrey—or something similar. It's been three years, after all, so I can't quite remember.
Anyway, he was badass. It was the most thrilling spar I've ever had, and my muscles are aching to feel that adrenaline again—to be evenly matched in a fight.
Don't get me wrong, back home in the Bear Clan, we have some strong warriors… but they practice more defensive combat rather than offensive. It makes me win far too easily.
I sit up from my cot, glancing sideways at the entrance to my tent. The soft orange and purple light of dawn is filtering through the small gap, giving me just enough light to function without using my lantern.
As soon as my bare feet touch the ground, an excited shiver runs up my spine. Each deep beat of the drum outside is vibrating the earth, and I can feel it beneath my toes.
I have a good feeling about today—even if there is a bunch of bullshit I have to deal with because I'm a beastwoman now, I can handle it.
I'm going to fucking WIN.
Just as I'm rubbing the sleep from my eyes, I hear Dad outside my tent. "Ryn? Can I enter?"
"Sure," I answer with a yawn.
When he ducks through the short entry, his impeccable outfit is revealed. Man, does he always have to dress so nicely? He puts me to shame!
"How do you even find the time to get dressed so fancy every day? Doesn't wearing your silk vestments and velvet capes get tedious?" I ask with a sigh.
Dad raises a questioning brow at me, "Certainly not. A gentleman dresses his best all the time—even without a special occasion."
I roll my eyes, "Still… it seems like a hassle."
He just shakes his head, and a very faint smile graces his lips, "If you want to know the real reason, it's because your mother loved it when I wore these kinds of clothes. I think of her every time I get dressed, and remembering her is the highlight of my day every day."
I was going to keep teasing him for it, but when he says something like that… how am I supposed to bully him? That's so romantic, it makes me sick.
Ugh, no fun.
If anyone else on the planet were to hear my dad, the stoic Dragon Lord Daeleon, say something so emotional, they'd think that hell had frozen over. I have no idea how my mother, a human, managed to put such a spell on him—but she did.
She must have been a really fucking amazing woman.
"…Oh,um…" I end up saying, a bit awkwardly—but it made me a little happy, too. I like hearing about Mom sometimes. "That's very sweet."
Dad shrugs and tosses a bundle into my lap, "I had these tailored for you yesterday. It's clothing optimized for combat; all of the materials used are stretchy, so your range of motion will be uninhibited during fights."
"Thanks, Dad." I look down at the clothes in my hand when a question pops into my head, "Wait, are they like… fitted for a girl or whatever? To fit these-" I motion toward my chest- "inconvenient things without having to bind?"
Dad nods, "Indeed. That's why I had them made yesterday."
"…Where did you even go to get them tailored on such short notice?" I can't help but wonder.
"I flew to Renleyton," he answers.
My eyes widen, and I echo, "…Renleyton, like, the human city over a hundred miles west of here?"
He nods once. "Indeed."
"Why would you do that?" I deadpan. Couldn't any tailor do it? There are several attending the festival, actually… so why?
"A seamstress there owes me a favor," he answers simply before elaborating, "I felt that having a human make the clothes would be best. Women in the human world dress differently, and are… shaped differently, than the beastwomen we're familiar with here."
"Oh."
He really thought it all through—damn, being an ancient dragon really comes with its perks, having connections in weird places and knowing so much stuff.
I wonder if I'll be that wise when I'm a thousand years old?
…Somehow, I doubt it.
"Get dressed, the open bracket starts in around forty-five minutes," he says to me curtly before exiting as quickly as he came.
I'm not a participant in the open bracket, but I love watching the others spar—there's so much to learn.
There are two brackets in the Moonfall Combat Tournament: the open bracket, which any qualified warrior is allowed to participate in, and the champion bracket (the one I'll fight in), which is for elite fighters, head warriors, and various other nobility.
Then, on the fourth day (tomorrow), the final duel is held, showcasing the best talents from each bracket and determining a first-place winner from each.
The open bracket is held in the morning, followed by a long four-hour break for eating, small performances, and vendors. The champion bracket then starts in the late afternoon and usually finishes just before midnight.
Exciting.
Not wanting to be late for the first fight, I force myself to my feet and wash up in the water-basin beside my cot. Once my face is clean, I shimmy out of my nightclothes and lay my new outfit on the cot for further inspection.
…Hm.
The style is certainly different than anything I've seen before, on both men and women—but it looks comfortable. It is a tank top, which may seem strange since it leaves my arms unprotected, but when I use my partial shift, the dragonskin and scales on my arms are as strong as most leather armors.
The fabric of the shirt is soft and stretchy, as he said, but it features leather padding over the breasts and abdomen. That makes it easier for me since partial-shifting takes a lot of effort, and I'm not able to change more than a few things on my body at a time.
Dad says it's because dragon shifters mature more slowly and because my mother was human, but who knows? Things change.
Besides, maybe I'm built different now that all my womanly charm is awakened—perhaps I'll fight and find out I've developed elite powers, too. That'd be pretty badass.
"Practical. I like it," I say to myself.
The pants are made of simple leather, and I'll just pair them with the combat boots I always wear to complete the ensemble.
Once I'm all dressed, I tie my hair into a ponytail and step out of my tent.
Yeah, today's going to be a good day. I'm going to beat the shit out of some beastmen, and I'm going to have a blast.