Everyone in this world has powers

“What's wrong?” asked Tatsuya as the memory ended.

He was a couple of steps ahead, clearly having turned back to look at me, but the latest revealed stole my voice for a few seconds.

Shizuka was a shape-shifter? I thought she was a psychic-warrior or something that sounded similar to it. Was it possible to be both or had she lost her healing ability before that particular memory.

“Did you remember something else?” He walked back towards me, one hand outstretched as if he expected me to pass out.

The question danced on the tip of my tongue but another voice inside my head seemed to freeze it in place, warning me that those words were a confession too. One that was too dangerous to share. I wasn't sure whether that voice was mine or Shizuka's, but I didn't challenge its intentions and changed my enquiry either way.

“I just realised again how much I can't remember about you all, and this place,” I said, falling into step with him so he wouldn't realise I'd ignored his hand. “I know I'm a psychic-warrior who can heal people and you're a shape-shifter who can turn into a dragon. I know Ko is an elemental-wielder who uses metal, I think? And Toshi can run really fast but I don't know what category that falls under. Or if everyone in this world has powers.”

“Most of us do,” he replied. “Very few are born without any at all, and sometimes we have those who suffer from power-related problems, usually from birth.”

“You mean like shifted ones?” I asked.

“Yes, that can happen when someone's shape-shifting abilities manifest too early.” His eyes narrowed in pain as if he were face to face with someone suffering from it. “Sometimes they stay stuck in a semi-shifted state and sometimes they become unable to control it, no matter how much they train.”

“Is that what happened to Kohaku's friend?”

He nodded and his empathy was so strong I could almost see her too.

“Her powers bloomed as soon as she was born,” he said. “She said her parents have never seen her real face.”

“That must be difficult for her,” I murmured.

“She's manages it a lot better now,” he said. “Probably because Aoto convinced her that her current face is her real one.”

“Aoto?” Now there's a name I hadn't expected to hear in this conversation.

“He's known Kohaku and some of her friends since they were all children,” he replied. “I think he told her that since she was born with that face, it was hers. Or something of the sort.”

“That's nice of him. I think.”

I remembered the other humans with animal features I had seen on my way past the village and wondered if all of them where shifted ones or if some of them had half transformed on purpose. Now I knew why he had seemed so ticked off when I called them animals in front of him.

“Ready to go?” asked Kohaku as we reached her.

The drion scraped at the earth with its claws and tossed its semi-feathered head, occasionally looking back at us over its shoulder as if wondering why we were just standing around. The setting sun reflected off its sparse scales, almost making it seem like it had been wounded in a explosion except the blood stains were beautiful instead of painful to look at. It didn't seem restless or hungry but I stuck close to the other two just in case it decided it wanted a human twig for dinner.

“As soon as Washi brings Yua out,” said Tatsuya as she took the bundle from him and placed it into the wagon.

His brother popped out from behind the other end of the wagon as if to confirmed whether or not he has been summoned before heading towards the house, dusting off his clothes as he passed us.

“We'll be out in a moment then,” he said. “Is Uchi coming with us?”

“No,” replied Tatsuya. “She has to stay and look after her plants.”

Washi nodded and jogged back up the path towards the front the door, moving as easily as his brother did. Was he a shape-shifter too? Did people from the same family have completely different types of power? Or could he change into a dragon as well?

“I was thinking,” said Kohaku.

“Please don't,” said Tatsuya. “Sometimes it's better to stick to what you know.”

“You think I won't hit you just because Shizuka's here?” she growled.

“Why are you saying that like it ever made a difference to you?” He rubbed a phantom bruise on his left upper arm.

“Because you seem to have forgotten just that.” She smirked, turning to me so suddenly that I wanted to cover my face in case my expression wasn't decent. “Anyway, I was just thinking that it'd be a good idea for the wagon to carry less weight on the way back.”

“I thought you said it was good to go?” asked Tatsuya.

“It is but the less pressure we can put on its frame, the better it'll be when we have to repair it later,” she explained. “So why don't you and Shizuka fly on ahead, and let Aoto know what's going on. It will save us time and we can discuss everything as soon as we catch up with you.”

Fly? Did she know Shizuka could turn into a phoenix? My heartbeat seemed to originate from the centre of my palms. Did they all know? Was it safe to bring up that memory now?

“Wouldn't it make more sense for me to fly back with Tatsu?” asked Washi. He walked past us with Yua in his arms, pausing only to smile apologetically at me and then climbing into the wagon to help her sit down.

“Why would it?” asked Kohaku with a faint frown.

“It's not like Shizuka can shape-shift into something with wings, can she?” he said, leaning out of the front once Yua was seated. “Tatsu would have to carry her all the way back –”

“I don't mind,” said his brother instantly.

“Um – I might mind,” I said just as fast, holding up a hand.

As much as I was afraid of being assassinated by the wagon, it seemed much better than the thought of being pressed up against a dragon the whole way back. Especially one that already had a thing for me.

“It won't be like before,” he said, pressing a fist to his chest. “You can ride on my back this time and you can wear this so you won't get cold.”

He took off his haori and held it out to me, a sweet and hopeful offer.

“Okay,” I said. “But if I slip off, don't bother saving me this time.”

“Please don't joke about that,” He fought a grimace and lost, but the expression was soon replaced by a smile as I wrapped his clothing around my shoulders. “It is warm enough?”

“I guess I'll find out once I'm up in the clouds,” I said, watching a clearly disappointed Washi climb back into the wagon.

It wouldn't have been appropriate to tell him that it smelt good enough, for sure. I couldn't stand people who gave off mixed signals like that.

“Make sure you talk to her so she doesn't fall asleep, okay?” said Kohaku as she pulled herself up onto the drivers seat. “She's had a long day, we all have, but she's the only one that's died and come back to life today.”

“I appreciate you saying that,” I said as Tatsuya's shoulders rose abruptly. “Wait, you can talk when you're a dragon?”

His cheeks matched the deep pink skies across the horizon and he transformed on the spot, moving back so as not to squash anything or anyone.

“I didn't want to scare you even more,” he said, his voice slightly more gravelly than usual. “Some people say I sound like a beast.”

“You really thought I'd be less scared if I got caught by a creature I can't talk to?” I demanded.

His big mouth opened but he faltered before speaking. “I'm sorry.”

“It's okay,” I replied, circling to his right and examining his scaly shoulder for an inbuilt ladder. “At least now you can tell me how to get up there yourself.”

“Race you back home,” said Kohaku. She snapped the reins against the drion's rump and it started trotting around the periphery of Uchi's hill. “Feel free to let me win.”

“Never,” rumbled Tatsuya, lowering his head until it lay flat on the ground at my feet. “It's easiest if you climb up this way.”

The ridges on his long neck formed a stairway of sorts leading to his great back and I tried not to think about the fact that I was stepping on his face as I climbed them, holding onto his curved horns and the armour-like plates that lined either side his neck.

Kohaku drove the wagon around the hill one more time and then took off, waving down at us as the drion flapped its wings hard. I waved back and sat down in the safest-looking spot I could find amongst the mostly symmetrical protrusions on his back, patting one of them as soon as I had slipped my arms into the sleeves of his haori. I felt ten times cooler already and made a note to ask him where he had gotten his from.

“We can go now,” I said.

He grunted and stood up, waiting until I was holding onto him tightly before running off the edge of the hill. A single beat of his wings took us higher than I imaged and I braced my foot against his scales until his body levelled out again in mid air. Uchi stood just outside her house, the way she had when I arrived. Only this time she raised a hand in farewell and a brief glimpse of her face revealed features that were surprisingly soft as I raised my own in return.

 Maybe she hadn't been the one to attack the wagon after all.