~Blu's P.O.V~

I let out a soft yawn, snapping my mouth shut and shaking my head. The conversation before me was beginning to be a bore. The people sitting around the large round table had been discussing things that were already mostly common knowledge. A herd of wild deer to the west, more numbers of broken down homes around the outskirts and the beginning of the clean up, as in the moving of the many dragon skeletons so that they could be given a proper burial per our customs.

Aaron sat at the other end, looking as bored as I did, and seemed to be gazing off into nowhere. He had probably gone over all these before the meeting. There were about ten of us, including Tyron and Kingston, listening to the other officials describe what was happening throughout the settlement. The house chosen to hold our meeting was one of the manors closer to the castle. It had a massive room with a mostly intact oval table. We had managed to find some chairs to put around it that were of human size, and at Kingston's allowance, we had cut down the table to be a little lower to the ground.

The old green dragon was in his humanoid form, regarding each member that spoke with a rather daunting gaze that they tried to ignore. Tyron sat next to me, and when I yawned he gave me a quick look and a grin. I lay my head against his shoulder with a soft sigh and he put a wing around me. I had had far less energy than I usually did lately. With my pregnancy getting more and more noticable I wasn't surprised. Kingston had said that it often became a little difficult for a dragon to even have the energy to move in the last weeks before laying. My body was trying to feed multiple dragons at once after all.

"You are starting to show honey. The hatchlings are growing strong." Tyron said to my ear.

I responded with a soft purr before turning my attention back to the council.

"...And now moving on the situation of the Castle. Has Prince Aaron and Blu decided on a course of action how we should proceed?" stated one of the council members.

"That's his royal highness Blu," grunted Kingston in response.

"Err...right... your highness," the councilman corrected himself quickly, looking toward me, "Have you come upon a decision."

I shuffled my wings a little awkwardly, sitting up straight, "Well... now that we have more or less settled into the city, we were thinking it would be good to begin to attempt repairs on a number of areas, including the castle. If we can get it back to working order than it would be far easier to defend ourselves if Garagain decides he wants to attack us again."

Aaron nodded his head in agreement, "Yes, the castle is the strongest building in the empire's realm. Whoever designed it in the first place designed it to survive even the worst of Invasions. Major cisterns below ground provided the city with 2 years worth of water, and the fertility of the soil in the gardens allowed them to grow crops to feed the populace. They really designed the place to persevere."

Kingston nodded his head in agreement, "That's exactly what it was designed to do. If we can get it back to at least half its former glory then it will be able to ward off most of Garagain's attempted attacks."

"If it's so strong than how was it taken?" asked one of the more skeptical leaders.

"We were taken by surprise," growled Kingston in a tone that begged no argument.

"Our reports show that a scouting regime found a mountain pass far from the city. There was a wall there but something massive blasted right through. It seemed that Garagain attacked the empire in its only weak spot with everything he had." Aaron told everyone, reinforcing Kingston's statement.

The green dragon grunted an affirmative.

"I think it would be best to give the people some time to rest," said Tabitha, who had also made her way inside the room, "Maybe we could start on the castle in a couple of days from now?"

Aaron nodded, "And I'll increase patrols at the pass. We're gonna make sure nothing gets in or out."

I nodded my head and yawned again.

"Now, there was something else I wanted to talk about," the mage prince continued, sitting forward in his chair, "As far as we know Garagain has wiped out most if not all of the surrounding civilizations of Teleran. But, there are likely survivors wandering the wilderness as we speaks. I would like to propose we start sending out search parties for these survivors, and also - "

"Get information about the state of the outside world." I finished.

Aaron nodded and smiled, "If we can find any other surviving empires we may have a chance to fight back."

"I'll look for volunteers," said Tabitha, "I'll be glad to lead a group myself."

I looked at Tabitha with worry and concern. She caught my gaze and gave a slight comforting smile. Aaron seemed a little worried as well, though he hid it well. Instead he nodded his head. It would be stupid not to recognise her skill. Despite her young age, she had spent many years traveling through both forest and mountain paths. She was one of the best scouts we had, not to mention probably the best with a bow.

"Alright, if that is everything, the council is dismissed," Aaron said with a wave of his hands.

~Tyron's P.O.V.~

Blu and I launched ourselves into the air from the balcony of the manor. My mate lagged behind somewhat, his wing beats sloppy and tired. It worried me a little to see him this way, he was usually such a graceful flyer, but Kingston had assured me it was quite normal for a pregnant dragon, so I forced myself to accept it.

I slowed my pace a little so he could catch up and we steadily made our way over to the grassy fields outside the city. Kingston had said he would meet us there after the meeting and teach us some more dragony things we had yet to learn. I would be lying if I said I wasn't excited about it. The thing I was most curious about was the transformation from dragon to humanoid. As much as I had grown to love my new form I couldn't help but miss having hands.

"You should go with them you know," Blu said as he drew up alongside me.

I glanced at him in confusion, "What do you mean?"

"The scouts," he replied, "You should go with."

"Why?" I questioned.

"Having a dragon in the sky would be of great use to them. You would be able to find a lot more people that way and... I don't want you feeling like you're trapped cause of me."

I snorted, "I'm not trapped, I want to be with you, especially as you are now."

"I know... and I want to be with you," he shifted a little in the air, "But... we can't afford to be selfish right now. We need everyone to be doing as much as they can... and I think that you would be able to find and save much more people than a hundred humans on foot."

"What about the eggs? I can't miss out on that!"

"They are still months away Tyron... love. You won't miss anything," he smiled sweetly at me.

I let out a huff, knowing he had a good point, but really not wanting to agree. An odd thought suddenly washed through my mind. Was he trying to get rid of me? I growled to myself and quickly shook it away before it could stick. Where had that come from? With a soft sigh I resigned myself to Blu's judgement.

"Alright... fine, I'll go. But only for short periods of time. No longer than a week," I said.

He brushed a wing against mine, "Thank you."

I smiled slightly before pulling in front and descending down to a rather flat area near the sparkling mountain river. Blu landed beside me and we lay down, talking about meaningless things as we waited for Kingston to arrive. Eventually a large shadow fell upon us and we turned our eyes to meet the green dragon. He was in his large form, taking the opportunity to spread his wings away from the now bustling city. His large form landed with an enormous thud, shaking the earth, before he gave a slight bow.

"Your highness," he said to Blu, before nodding a greeting to me.

Blu struggled to his feet, flapping his wings a little to steady himself, "Thanks for coming out here Kingston."

"It is an honour your highness," he said, "I am glad to teach you all that you want to know about our race. Where would you like to get started?"

We glanced at each other with a slight smile. We both knew what ability we would like to learn next, and had talked about it profusely ever since we figured out it was possible.

"How do you transform?" I asked, unable to help myself.

Blu nodded his head in agreement. The large green dragon hesitated a moment, seeming to think for a moment, before nodding his head.

"I suppose I should teach you, though there are very limited uses for it at your size. But I'm afraid that while I can teach you, Tyron, I would beg that your highness refrain from learning this skill at the moment, considering your... pregnancy."

Blu's wings dropped slightly, upset, "Why?"

"The transformation is only possible with yourself and nothing else and if you tried to transform now your body would grow smaller... but the eggs inside you would not. Trying to do so can lead to grave injury and even death if you attempted it later on."

He grimaced, before letting out a huff. I was a little disappointed as well. I had wanted to see him as a smaller blue scaled human looking figure. The only time I had seen him as a human was at the battle where he had been knocked out and Garagain had tried to infect his mind, and that was only a mental projection of his human form.

"We can try something else," I told him.

He shook his head with a smile, "No, you should learn this. It'll be good."

I rolled my eyes before grinning in thanks and turning my head to Kingston, "So... how does this work?"

Kingston shook his wings and slowly his form began to shrink and shrivel until he was once again standing in front of us in his humanoid form, "The proper term for this form is anthropomorphic, or anthro for short. It is usually a way for us dragons to be able to fit in with the smaller races and it allows us to do things like write and grab objects that we usually wouldn't be able to do in our normal forms."

I nodded my head, hoping he wouldn't take too long in the explanation.

"You begin by..." he scrunched his snout in thought, "Picturing? Yes, picturing yourself shrinking and... falling I guess. Imagine you are trying to stuff yourself into the smallest possible space."

Blu took a step to the side and lay down, watching me. I sat down on my haunches and closed my eyes, trying to do as Kingston told me. Before long I felt an uncomfortable tingling along my back and wings that became quite distracting. I mentioned it to Kingston and he simply nodded his head.

"Yes, that is good. I means it's working," he said, "Now, what I want you to do is grab ahold of that tingling and let it spread through your entire body."

"That sounds rather... uncomfortable," I muttered.

"It is," He stated flatly, "Trying to shift your entire body structure does get incredibly uncomfortable."

I snorted and glanced at Blu, who smiled encouragingly. Shaking my wings I closed my eyes and tried to focus again, trying to imagine folding myself up into a wooden box and trying to imagine what it would feel like. Before long the tingling came back, but instead of letting it distract me I embraced it, almost pulling the feeling over my entire body until I felt as though every part of me was covered in pins and needles.

I gritted my teeth, trying to get past this strangeness, when suddenly another startling occurrence happened. I began to... fall. With a yelp my eyes snapped open and almost instantly the transformation reverted back to my dragon form.

"No! You almost had it!" exclaimed Kingston with a sigh.

I stood up and shook my whole body, trying to get rid of that horrid numbing feeling over my entire body, "Aargh, it's difficult to focus."

"I know, but you are doing remarkably well considering you haven't done it before. Try again, this time don't lose focus."

"You can do it Tyron!" Blu grinned.

I closed my eyes and started my third try. As the tingling feeling began to work its way back into my wings a familiar voice echoed through my head.

'Here, let me help,' said Thenos.

'Oh, do you know how to?"

'Of course! I've known since I was just a hatchling. Just think of a tickling warmth and let it spread through you.'

"It's hardly a tickling warmth," I muttered to myself, but took his advice and focused again.

"That's cause you're doing Kingston's way. Each dragon has their own unique way of transforming. Here, let me help you.'

Almost instantly I felt a far more comfortable warmth begin to spread through me. In the back of my mind I noticed that Thenos was semi controlling what was happening, but I let him. Slowly I began to fall again. I nearly lost my concentration, but Thenos kept me focused. After only a couple more moments it all stopped, and I let out the breath I hadn't realised I had been holding.

I slowly opened my eyes and saw Blu looking... down at me? I blinked and took a step forward, quickly realising that instead of the four feet I had grown used to I only had two. With a grunt I tripped and fell face first into the ground.

"I'm actually liking being the taller one now." Blu giggled, extending a claw out to help me up.

I grabbed it with my newly formed opposable clawed hands. Once I was steady on my feet I let out a laugh as I looked at my newly transformed body. I still had a yellow underbelly and ruby red scales over my back, arms and legs. Much to my surprise I had abs, I hadn't been expecting that, and reasonable arms as well, proportionate to what I used to have as a monster hunter. My wings were a little awkward, as they sprouted out from my back and seemed to refuse to fold as tightly as they did in my normal form. My tail whipped around behind me as well, and I could feel my horns on the top of my head. As far as I could tell, my snout was still somewhat pointed as well, though not as much as it usually was.

Blu looked over me and blushed, "E..even in that form y...you're still big."

I tilted my head in confusion then I looked down and noticed I was nude. I yelped and with my tail and hands I covered my privates.

Kingston chuckled, "Note that for our biology, if you impregnated his highness in anthro form, you would have what resembles a human pregnancy. But since you did it in the traditional way of conception, you'll have a traditional draconic birth. I'll be more than happy to show you the way to the royal hatchery, where all royal hatchlings came into being."

I nodded my head, recovering quickly from my embarrassment. I calmed down a little and thankfully, much like in dragon form, that part of my anatomy quickly became hidden once again underneath a thin layer of scales.

"Take some time to get used to your new form," Kingston said, "But realise that you are far weaker in this state than you are as a dragon. Your physical strength is less, you are slower in the air, your fire isn't as strong, and even your senses are somewhat dulled. As I said, there are uses for it, but it shouldn't be what you turn to."

I nodded my head, flapping my wings slightly, "How do I turn back?"

"That's far easier. You will notice a slight strain, all you need to do is relax," stated the green dragon.

"Just think of yourself getting out of the box." Thenos said

Once again I closed my eyes, and much like Kingston had promised, before long I found the warmth slowly spreading through my body again and I grew up into the air until I was my normal size again. Thenos didn't even need to help me for that one. I shook myself out and grinned at the other two dragons, feeling oddly proud.

"That was fun."

The green dragon laughed, "As I said, continue getting used to the form over the next couple days, and get used to transforming as well. Some dragons were able to use the transformation to great use, such as shape shifting in the middle of battle to avoid a usually unavoidable strike, or landing blows of their own when their opponents least expect it."

"Cool," I said flexing my claws.

I felt Blu nudge his head against my neck and I nuzzled him back.

"I'm hungry," he said, "Let's go back and get some food."

I nodded my head and we took off into the air, the large form of Kingston not far behind.