Valerian, The Legendary

Every woman was conscious of their appearance. Especially those who looked beautiful like Lilian. She had sensed that all the people who saw the real face hidden behind the veil, will have some reaction, however, this child in front of her was simply looking back at her with his eyes clear like a gem.

Valerian shook his head and said, “Everyone has a flaw of their own, and you do not get worried by this mark yourself, why would you be bothered by what the other people think?”

Lilian smiled and which made the scar twist a little, but it did not diminish the charm she had. She said, “You can see through my mind, which means you have flaws of your own. Well, since we two are similar, then you tell me your flaw and I will accept you as my apprentice.”

Valerian thought for a bit and said, “I have a lot of flaws, but since you have one, I will reveal one to you as well. I am unable to cry, no matter how sad I feel. Even if my heart is torn to shreds, I cannot get myself to cry. In my life, I have only cried twice, that day I shed tears of blood.”

Lilian was shocked, she did not expect this boy to come and say something so heavy. It was like a mountain suppressing her heart. His tone was calm yet the helplessness his eyes revealed was something that even she could not express in words. If she said that She could understand him, then it would be nothing but a lie.

She was empathetic to him but she could not relate to that sort of pain that came from not being able to express your emotions. She was a musician, capable of putting her words into songs, whether it was musical or lyrical. However, this child did not know how to express, how much must be hidden in his heart.

This thought made her shiver. She sighed and nodded, “Fine, I accept you as my apprentice. I will teach you all that I know about music and instruments. How much you can learn and how far you can go is up to your dedication.”

Valerian nodded but was surprised and could not help but ask, “Teacher, why did you say that one needs to be dedication and not talent?”

.....

Lilian smiled and said, “In the world of the gifted, everything is decided by talents, but in the world of normal humans, dedication to your goal and hard work are the deterrent factors. Understood?”

Valerian nodded, he learned something new, and with that began his classes. He would come to the art pavilion in the early hours and only leave at night when the curfew was about to kick in.

On the seventh day, he woke up and was about to raise up when he found a silver dragon crawling on his chest. He could sense that the weight of the dragon princess was higher than before and the limbs were not as bony as before. He smiled and said, “Good morning, Fortuna.”

The dragon let out a gentle coo-in sound. Valerian was surprised, he quickly smiled and raised his hand to caress the head of the little one. He said, “So, Fortuna can not respond better. This is a piece of good news.”

As if she was able to understand his words, she rubbed her head against his chest. This action was very intimate, coming from a beast that looked down on the whole world. Valerian teased and played with her for a few minutes, before he stood up and said, “I will come back in a bit after cleaning up. Then we will go out, okay?”

Fortuna looked at him with a tilted head and Valerian left the hall with a smile on his face. He took a bath and came back, only to find Fortuna sitting in front of the main door. He smiled, and said, “Did you smell the breakfast? Come here, I will get it for you.”

Fortuna quickly moved aside and Valerian opened the door. He found two plates filled with a good amount of meat and fruits. He decisively placed the meat plate in front of the dragon and ate his fruits silently.

Fortuna dug in and kept eating, after fifteen minutes when her plate was not empty Valerian understood that it was a magic plate and will keep on producing food infinitely. This must be an artifact sent by Fallax knowing that the dragon could get hungry and normal servings will not be able to satiate her.

After half an hour, Fortuna sat down with a slightly bloated belly. Valerian smiled at her and asked, “Little one, don’t you have a tunnel hiding inside you?”

Fortuna did not understand him and tilted her head, Valerian could not help himself but rub the chin and neck of the dragon with his slender fingers. Even though Fortuna had grown up in size a bit, she did not grow more than a finger. The changes were not so obvious.

Valerian then said, “Fortuna, time to change and go out.”

The dragon shifted her shape and became a cat. Then she climbed on top of his head, as the two left the battle mage tower. Fallax had forbade the boy from practicing inside the building till he calms down. The old man was worried that if the boy started practicing, this child will not know when to stop. This will be troublesome.

After all, Valerian was a little training addict. As the two people left the tower and walked through the academy, a lot of people saw them, the image of this silver-haired boy with a silver cat sitting on his head was too adorable and unique to avoid.

Fortuna was not interested in sleeping anymore she was looking around with great interest. The girls liked her appearance a lot, which made the kitten turn her head away from them. She innately hated these sorts of people. However, her arrogance was very adorable to the ignorant bunch.

Soon they reached the art pavilion, however, today they met another person at the doors, Valerian did not have any interest in interacting with this lady, and walked inside.

It was none other than princess Ashlyn. She grits her teeth when she saw his indifference. She had come here to learn dance from the teachers. The mages and the warriors did not have much time to learn these mundane skills and pass them to the next generation so this line of work was left to normal humans to tend to.

Valerian came to find Lilian, but the room was empty at this moment. He frowned, thinking that Lilian was late, he sat down in front of a wooden board and began to tune the music. After a week of hard training, he was now able to recognize notes by ear.

After turning the board, he asked, “Fortuna, come down, I will move my head and you will fall.”

His tone was very gentle. The kitten meowed but still came down. She sat down beside him with her head leaning against Valerian. The boy had no option and rolled his eyes at her. Then he began to practice the piece from before. He had memorized all the notes from the score yesterday.

His fingers plucked the strings and clear musical notes began to erupt from the instrument. As time passed, he became proficient in this music. As he was lost in the score, his fingers moved as if he has practiced this song a million times.

The essence of this song was simple, however, just when he finished the song and smiled, his head was hit from behind. He frowned and was about to look behind when a scolding voice sounded in his ears, “Did you feel that you did a good job just now? You were merely imitating my tone. Imitation is not hard, and music is not so easy to understand. Understood? Learning is easy, understanding is difficult.”

Valerian asked, “Teacher, did I not understand your mood when you played this song, is there anything I am missing.”

Lilian looked at his innocent eyes and sat down in front of him. She said, “Valerian, you are missing the point here. You do not have to understand my mood, but yours. A song will be called your own, only when you can project what you feel while playing it.

Since you sit down in front of it, playing a song, then why must the people or anyone hear my mood and not yours? Tell me. Do you understand what I said just now?”

Valerian pondered over her words and nodded. Then he asked, “Then can a person play any song the way they like?”

Lilian smiled and said, “Indeed, it is just a little tweaking with the notes that can change the mood entirely. However, the aspect of your note and tone, all are yours to discover.”

Valerian nodded silently. Just when he was about to start again, a scoff sounded from the door followed by a comment, “Humph, so you think that by learning the music you can be any better than a wild man, you should stop dreaming.”

Ashlyn was pointing at Valerian, watching that the other person was not responding, she targeted her anger at Lilian and said, “Did you forget the lesson they taught you last year? Do you wish to have more scars on your face?”

Lilian trembled, but the next scene shocked her. Valerian stood in front of Ashlyn and a knife was resting on her fair cheek, Lilian and the princess both were shocked. They heard the boy say, “How about I leave a scar on your face, and then you might be able to understand what it feels like? what do you say, Princess?”