A Mum's Love

Ryuu felt his face get considerably warmer as Azelea took him down the stairs to the main story of the Nook, where everyone was gathered for breakfast. All of the curious Wynglings, upon seeing them dash down the stairs, grouped up around them as a crowd, their eyes lit up in wonder and surprise. They were asking tons of questions, but all Ryuu could process… was how small they all seemed now. A Wyngling he had thought to be tall was now the smallest thing, and he was thoroughly creeped out by that sudden difference in height. A bunch of young kids then came up to him, asking all sorts of questions about how it was to be an adult and how it happened so quickly, but Ryuu suddenly felt very overwhelmed, making him back away into the stairs.

"Alright alright, what's going on here?," Alma came to the rescue, walking in from the kitchen to see the little crowd.

Azelea didn't waste time upon seeing her and immediately dashed through a few Wynglings to proudly pose in front of Alma, who gasped and appeared shocked by the sudden change. The elder gro quickly burst into a wide smile and happily hugged Azelea, congratulating her on growing up so fast. It was only a matter of time before Alma raised her head to him and noticed him, looking shocked once more.

"You grew up too!," she exclaimed, extending her arms to the side as if embracing the news. "Why am I not surprised, hahaha! You two are almost inseperable, it's only normal you'd grow together. Come on you two, you must be starving!"

Alma quickly shooed all the little Wynglings back into the dining room and went back into the kitchen, Azelea following close behind with a wide grin on her shining face. For a moment, Ryuu stayed on the last set of stairs; he exhaled a deep breath. He didn't know why he was so nervous… He didn't like being the center of attention, not one bit. Taking one last deep breath, he descended the stairs and walked in after everyone else into the dining room, quickly finding a seat in his usual corner of the table. He ate in complete silence; it was Azelea who was doing most of the talking and the answering of questions, blabbering on and on about how amazing the change was, despite how sudden it was. Ryuu wanted to disagree, but it seemed that not all gros had the same experience in growing up; that only proved that Azelea had felt no pain at all while growing, unlike him. He wondered why…

Time passed, and the dining room emptied rather quickly, everyone going outside to play; a fresh layer of snow had fallen the night before, and it was a beautiful cloudless day today. The weather was warming up, slowly but surely, and the Wynglings were growing more restless. Alma walked back in from the kitchen to gather the remaining plates to clean, but stopped when she noticed that only Ryuu was left; he remained sitting at his corner, staring off into nothingness. She had noticed that he often did that, but had never commented on it, thinking he was only lost in his daydreaming, but now… She felt something was off. Putting down the plates on the table, she walked over and took a seat next to him, seemingly pulling him out of his reverie. He looked at her, looking surprised, but quickly stared back down at his empty plate, mumbling a greeting, as he always did.

"You must be happy to have grown," Alma said with a warm smile. "You're one step closer to looking like that dragon you keep drawing."

Ryuu raised a blushing face, refusing to make eye contact with her, but couldn't help but chuckle awkwardly, scratching his neck with his huge new claws as he mumbled:

"Y-yeah, I suppose, hehe… Didn't know you were watching me draw…"

He stared back down, this time at the floor, nervously scratching his arm as he quickly lost the smirk he had. Now Alma was sure, something was definitely bothering him. She scooted closer to him and put a kind hand on his shoulder, but he didn't look up.

"Ryuu my dear, is something the matter?"

Ryuu didn't know what to answer; yes, something was wrong, but he didn't quite know how to put it into words. His head swayed from side to side, eyes darting back and forth across the room as he stuttered on a few words, munching through half-thought syllables before he could assemble them into a coherent sentence.

"I… I don't know. I think, yeah…"

He shuffled his claws, feeling a bit uncomfortable, and yet… her presence next to him calmed him, if only a little bit. He stared ahead, thinking his words out.

"I just… I just don't understand. A lot of things are happening to me all at once, and it's mostly, like… interior stuff. In my head. There's something… wrong, in my head, and I don't know what it is, but it's there. It's just… a feeling I got. I've been having a lot of nightmares lately, and I don't sleep well, if at all. And then there's this whole growing up business, and I don't know if I'm ready for it, I mean, it's a big change, and I feel a lot of new things, and it's, ugh… and I lost my scarf too… I just… mh…"

He ended up mumbling the rest of his sentence, feeling his heart accelerate as he spoke. He had never spoken to anyone about any of this, but it was the ultimate truth; he had known that for a little while now…

"I… see," he heard from Alma, making him look up at her.

For a short moment, she appeared to be thinking through this, and Ryuu couldn't look away from her. His eyes suddenly felt very tingly, and he felt his face warm up, but he didn't cry. His eyes were filled with misery, but he didn't cry. Finally, Alma made eye contact with him, and in her eyes, he could see all the warmth a mother figure could give, and in that warmth he basked, finding comfort and solace. She smiled, warmly.

"You know, Ryuu," she started, "Wyngrews are very sensitive creatures. Our own magic is affected by our feelings, our strengths and weaknesses, and if we aren't in tune with those feelings, everything might feel a bit… jumbled, you know what I mean?"

He nodded; he knew exactly what she meant, because it was exactly what was going on in his mind. Jumbled thoughts, jumbled words, jumbled visions; a jumbled brain.

"You mentioned that you've been having nightmares lately?," she asked, to which he nodded his head again. "Do you remember them at all?"

"Not really," he lightly shook his head. "What I remember is vague, and… terrifying, honestly. Feels like my dreams are filled with spites. Do you know a way to stop them?"

"Well, I do have something. I don't know if it'll stop you from dreaming, but it might help you understand those dreams better. Come with me, I'll give you something that should help."

She lightly tapped him on the back, standing up from her seat. He followed close behind, curious to know what she wanted to show him, and together they walked all the way over to her office, where Alma searched around the shelves of her library a moment, looking for something in particular.

"Ah, here," she said as she pulled out a book, hopping back over to him.

She handed it to him, and he took it in his claws, opening it; it was a rather thick, hardcover book, but the inside was completely blank.

"You can do what's called a dream journal," she explained. "It's a rather popular thing to do when you experience a lot of unusual dreams. I remember a few friends of mine doing this before."

"A dream journal?," he repeated. "How does it work?"

"It's quite simple, really. Every time you wake up from a dream, instead of going back to sleep, immediately write down what you can remember of the dream," she explained calmly. "Even if you don't remember much, if you keep writing things down, you'll have an easier time remembering them as time goes on. What do you think?"

He stared back down at the book; this… might work, actually. His dreams were what was bothering him the most lately, completely playing with his mind and depriving him of sleep. If he could understand them, maybe he could fight them… He looked back up at her, and offered her his first smile of the day.

"Yeah, I… I like the idea. I'll try it out. Thank you, Alma…"

She smiled at him again and did something he wasn't expecting; she scooted closer and grabbed him in a tight hug. Ryuu's face squished against her chest as she wrapped her warm and kind arms around his neck and head, and he felt her lower her head down to boop her nose on top of his head, making his heart skip a beat. He wasn't used to getting this sort of affection… and it felt rather nice. Very nice, even. His aching heart calmed, and he breathed in; she smelled of cookies.

"Never forget Ryuu," she said at this moment, "you're never alone. If you want to talk, don't lock yourself in. Alright?"

Once again, Ryuu felt his eyes tingle, but in a different way. His smile grew, and he closed his eyes, snuggling up against her shawl as he embraced her back.

"Alright. Thanks, mum…"

Moving on with Ryuu's plot once more! This happens after this:

https://celestiadragonknight.deviantart.com/art/Wyngro-The-Morning-After-728355975

From here on, most things will follow one another, mostly. I had a lot of fun working on this little piece, it was the first time I attempted drawing one of the NPCs of the group, and though Alma is hard to pull off, I'm rather happy with the result!