The Koi Becomes the Dragon
The koi fluttered its fins, watching the strange creatures dart and swim about it, watching as they leapt far into the air above the water, vanishing into the sky, never returning.
Well, some did. Cycling about more, swimming, swimming, far down into the depths of the river, to rise up once more and leap into the sky. Some returned. Some did not.
The koi could not count, could not reason. All it knew was the creatures that appeared every sun cycle, as the light dimmed and faded. Sometimes there were many, sometimes few. Sometimes the water was thick with flashing bodies and rippling fins, sometimes empty of all but the barest hint of rippling fins. All it knew was that these creatures were strange. Wonderful. Magical.
It watched them, every sun cycle. It fluttered its fins on the edge of the creatures' dance, watching, watching. Some cycles the dance went on so long the koi was forced to swim downstream to find food, but it always returned as swiftly as it could. It was curious.
It began to wonder at what these creatures were, what they were doing. It began to cycle about with them, listening, watching, learning. For it could suddenly learn. It knew it was a koi, knew it was a male, a he, like some of the creatures that swam about and leapt into the sky.
He flicked his tail, gathering speed, leaping into the sky above the water. Flying, flying...
And splashing back into the water, to continue cycling with the other creatures, with their rippling bodies and flashing fins, their glittering scales and glowing eyes. He knew how he stood out among them.
You'll need to leap higher than that to fly, little one! One of the creatures spoke, as she wove her body about his. Higher, higher, to become a dragon, to fly freely upon the winds. But to do so, you must first jump higher. The greatest of us begin with a single flick above the waters.
He tried to respond, could not, did not know how. She swam off with a parting flick of her tail, powering to the surface, leaping. Soaring. Never falling, never returning. She was gone.
The koi wondered at himself. Wondered at the changes in him. Why would he wish to fly? To become a dragon, as these strange creatures seemed to wish? Were they koi as well, or something else, something Other?
Yet he gathered himself once more, striving towards the surface, towards the light, the sky, the freedom promised by the strange she who'd spoken to him.
Sun cycle after sun cycle he strove, reaching, searching. He rose higher, flew longer, grew stronger. Until one day...
He rose, rose, flew, never came back down. He twisted through the air, laughing at his freedom, at his new found strength, at his fortune. He twisted, turned, flew, flew...
And never came back.
A Dragon Who Desires Freedom
Yue Yerasai pulled his robes about his body, tying them shut with a length of cord he'd made out of sea grass the first time he'd changed to human form. A fisherman had found him, had taught him to walk, to craft simple things such as the length of cord, to speak. He would always carry the flavour of the sea in his speach, no matter how many centuries passed.
And centuries would pass, he knew now. The fisherman hadn't known what he was, thought him merely a man lost to the sea, who had forgotten all that it was to be a man. The fisherman had suggested that he might be a royal, someone lost in a sea accident year ago, lost and forgotten to both commoners and royalty alike.
There were many such tales, the fisherman had told him, and many others beside. And had proceeded to teach him the tales, the legends and myths and folklore, had repeated them until Yerasai could recite them himself.
The legends had taught him one thing about himself, Yerasai had found. They spoke of the great lung, the dragons of sea and storm, of river and lake. He was one of those dragons, he knew, after changing himself back to his non-human form one dark night. The moon had lit his reflection on the still tidal pools that littered the beach. A creature out of myth had stared back at him, whiskers twitching in the breeze, fins rippling and twitching as the air carressed them.
He judged himself beautiful, in his own way. He judged himself graceful, by any standard. He judged himself lacking, by other standards.
He was merely a koi, who'd reached beyond his little world and achieved more than most dreamed possible. He knew nothing of the world he now existed in, nothing of the powers he weilded or the bodies he could walk in. There was so much more he needed to discover.
He could not leave, though, until he could assure himself that the fisherman would be repaid for his kindness. All the other dragons in the stories did so, he saw no reason why he should not as well. That night, he went to work.
The next day he had said goodbye to the fisherman, thanking the man for his help, for his shelter and care. He left with the knowledge that fishing would always be bountiful for the fisherman, that he'd never lack for harvest. He left with a calm mind and a light soul.
He left with directions to the capitol in his mind, given to him by the fisherman. It was there that he was headed, to learn, to discover...
To become free.