Pride and Fear


The next day found Beorn, Ranma, Alana, and Sylie standing in what
appeared to be a large gymnasium, within a castle mostly hidden within
the granite of the mountain.

"I want you to demonstrate your speed for me, Ranma," the Lady Sylie
said. "I need to see if you are fast enough to do this the swiftest way,
or if I shall have to seek slower means."

"Very well, Lady," Ranma replied, and moving to a clear area, he began
his kata. At first Sylie was shocked at how slow he was moving. Then she
realized that he was merely starting slow, and was steadily speeding up.
She allowed the eyes of her human form to relax into dragon eyes. Her
dragon eyes were very sharp, not only able to perceive small things at
great distances, but able to perceive the very movements of air itself,
to see the little eddies and crosscurrents thrown off by Ranma's
movements. 

This was an adaptation that aided the dragon in finding those rising
columns of hot air that could lift one higher into the air without
expending great effort, and to avoid those sudden temperature inversions
that could cause a column of air to move downward with sudden force, so
dangerous at low altitudes.

As he continued to speed up, she grew steadily more impressed, as she
could see the air being compressed by each blow, sending shock waves
rippling from him. When he finally managed to move fast enough to punch
_through_ one of those pressure formed shock waves, causing a sharp
crack to echo through the room, she was astounded. He had not yet begun
to fill his body with ki, to enhance speed and stamina. This was natural
speed. "He can move faster than air itself," she gasped in quiet awe.
The Lady Alana just smiled in pride. "Faster!" Sylie said aloud.

Ranma sighed, and focusing within, found his center, and let his ki flow
out from it to fill his limbs, strengthening them against the strain of
cracking the air, and increasing their speed. Within moments, the room
was filled with the sound of rolling thunder from the hundreds of sharp
cracks as Ranma's movements shattered the very air. He was moving so
fast, even Sylie's dragon eyes were hard-pressed to track his flying
fists. 

It didn't help that the air around him was becoming steadily more 
distorted. His every movement would send a shockwave of air traveling
outward, decreasing the air pressure around his body, and increasing
that of the air just beyond it. As it did so, his body met steadily less
resistance, and was able to move faster. Soon he found that he could not
catch his breath, and stopped. The high pressure air around him fell
suddenly into the low-pressure rarefied air around him, and Ranma found
himself dead center of a single thunderclap that shook the walls.

Beorn was the only one not deafened, as he had found the rolling
thunder unbearable early on, and stuffed his fingers in his ears. The
Lady Alana just rubbed her ears thoughtfully, smiling proudly at Ranma.
Ranma, for his part, was gasping for breath. Ordinarily, he could have
gone far longer without even breathing hard. But he had significantly
reduced the amount of oxygen in the air about him. It had been like
exercising vigorously on a mountain peak. Sylie for her part was
shaking, her head ringing, her mouth hanging open in shock. It was
several minutes before anyone was able to speak.

"Well, I guess you're fast enough, anyway." Sylie said, laughing weakly.
"Catch your breath, and then we'll begin."

---

Sylie had him sit lotus style, and focus on his emotional center. Then
she lightly laid a hand on his temple, and reached into his mind. She
spent some time getting familiar with it, so that she would be able to
reach him at a distance. She felt around the edges of the jagged wound
in his mind, the darkness where he fled to escape the cats, and realized
with startlement, that this darkness was not related to the cat that
appeared when he fled into it. The cat was elsewhere in his mind...
playing with a young girl? What on earth was going on in this poor boy's
mind? Who had done this to him? 

Sylie decided not to mention to Alana that the girl was awake in his
mind. She would want to do something about it immediately, and Sylie
knew it was too early. He needed to heal first, or he would retreat into
the darkness to hide from the pain, and might never come out. Even after
Sylie finished with him, the darkness would be there. It would be a long
time in healing, if it ever truly did.

Once she was confident of her connection to his mind, she pressed a
tight suppression on his fear, holding it back. Then she roused him, and
led him deeper into the castle, to a room where the Lady and Beorn
waited. And she showed him the large window, and the huge room it looked
out on. He looked on with interest, displaying no fear, no qualms at the
sight of the pack of lions. He looked at her with surprise and delight.
"I'm cured? Already? I don't feel afraid!"

She smiled sadly down at him. "No, child, you are not yet cured. I am
simply preventing you from feeling your fear. I am going to let you
fight it, slowly. You are going to go out there, and play with them. Get 
used to the idea that they aren't fast enough to touch you, if you
don't want them to. Then, when you are at ease with them, I will loosen
my grip on your fear, just a bit. And then we will see."

"Oh," he said, sighing. "Alright. I should go in there now?" 

"Yes, child."

He leapt lightly from the window, landing on the dirt covered floor
nearly twenty feet below. The dirt was deep. He couldn't see the real
floor anywhere, and in places the dirt made dunes, five or six feet
above the level he stood on now. He leapt to the top of one, and looked
over at the lions, resting on large rocks, panting in the heat. He
glanced up, and was surprised to see the sun, hanging high overhead in a
deep blue sky, with no clouds.

Alana looked at Sylie. "Sylie, dear. Why did you have this room ready?
Have you known we were coming, and why, for so long?"

"No, love. I was trying to see if I could adapt them to a desert
environment. Out that window, that isn't really in the castle, anymore.
That's a window to a desert some three hundred miles from here. They
hunt these lizard things that burrow in the sand. They're one of my more
successful experiments. It seemed an appropriate method."

"Thank you, Sylie."

Ranma moved slowly towards them, but the lions did not seem inclined to
attack him. They just looked at him, panting. One of the large males,
with a heavy dark brown mane, yawned suddenly, mouth gaping open,
exposing long sharp teeth and a rough tongue, then shutting with a
sudden snap.

"Play with them, huh?," he muttered to himself. He moved slowly down the
slope towards them, and approached. As he got closer, he could see that
behind one of the rocks, several cubs were engaged in a tug of war over
a dried bone. "Sure. I'll play with the kids, and see how the parent's
react." 

He grinned, and shifted forward suddenly, blurring between the larger
cats, who snarled in surprise, and he grabbed the bone, placing his hand
in dangerous proximity to three jaws, teeth flashing as they snarled at
one another, then snarled at him. He pulled lightly on the bone. One of
the resting females leapt down, as soon as he appeared by the cubs. 

To the lions, he appeared to be a large male baboon. While lion cubs are
actually in the gravest danger when near an adult male lion, baboons are
a constant threat to any young animal. Large male baboons are noisy,
agressive beasts, and will kill and eat almost any young animal, even a
lion cub, if they can get at it away from its parents. For a baboon to
attack cubs near adult lions was tantamount to suicide, and not
something any of the lionesses had ever experienced, but their instincts
on how to deal with baboons near their young were unequivocal.

She loped towards him, then stopped, and gave a deep, full-bodied roar,
mouth wide and gaping, hackles raised, ears pointing straight up, tail
lashing back and forth. Baboons, while agressive, prefer to attack the
weak or injured, and will generally give way before any animal in its
prime, other than another large baboon.

This baboon reacted strangely. It seemed not the least put out by her
roar, and in fact, reached into her jaws to grab a scrap of meat caught
between her teeth, and toss it to one of the cubs, who caught it
happily, before being pounced upon by the other two. She growled at it,
and sniffed. Unfamiliar scent. Looks like a baboon, but acts different.
She was wary now. Anything that doesn't behave like it should is a
potential threat, and an unknown. She snorted at it, and growled, then
turned and nudged the cubs away from the dangerous unknown.

Sylie collapsed with laughter when Ranma grabbed the piece of meat from
the lion's jaws in mid-roar. "Wow! I didn't expect him to be at his ease
nearly so swiftly. Alana, are you sure we should remove his fear? If 
he's afraid of nothing, he might be well-nigh unstoppable."

Alana just nodded. Sylie finally managed to suppress her laughter, and
drag herself back to her feet. She reached out, and eased her hold on
his fear, just a little bit. 

The lioness turned, smelling suddenly the acrid scent of fear on the
baboon. She roared at it again, and the scent strengthened. Now her
instincts knew what to do, and she crouched as if to pounce, raised her
hackles, and gave another roar, trying to look as threatening as she
could.

Ranma could taste the fear in his mouth, but it was a manageable fear.
He grew angry, angry at himself for being weak enough to be afraid,
angry at the lioness for trying to make him afraid. And he reached
out... but not for the darkness. He reached out for the Neko-ken, and
gathered it to him, and dropping to all fours, he answered her with a
roar of his own. Even using the Neko-ken, he still felt the fear, but
his anger was stronger. 

The lioness paused, puzzled. The baboon was gone, vanished, and now a
male lion was challenging the pack. Where had he come from? She hadn't
smelled his scent before. She tasted the fear in his scent, and knew him
for a loner, desperate to earn a place in a pack.

The massive male leapt to his feet at Ranma's challenging roar. An
outsider male was challenging him for dominance. He turned to face the
beast, and gave an answering roar, a deep full-throated roar that shook
the sand, a roar that Ranma felt shake his bones.

Ranma was furious now. They were playing on his fear, trying to
strengthen it, to drive him mad, just like the cats in the pit. They
weren't going to. Not this time. This time, he would win. He roared
back, and this time his ki was in his voice, and the roar caused the
sand to swirl, dust devils forming and spinning away, and the watchers
in the high room held their ears, and felt their bones shaking within
them, and the stones quivering and shifting around them.

The big lion leapt from his perch, and loped towards the outsider. He
stopped, a few meters away, and crouched. Ranma followed his lead. The
big lion leaped, reaching for the neck, the jugular, to end this
quickly. He knew that if he was too injured in this bout, one of the
lesser males in his own pack would challenge him, and kill him.

The smaller challenger twisted away from his attack, moving with
blinding speed between his claws, past his jaws, to rake sharp claws
along his belly. So quickly, it was over. The big lion knew he had lost.
Opened as he was, he would be swiftly set upon by the other males. Ranma
roared his dominance, and the other males cringed at the strength of it. 

Ranma felt sudden shame, as in her shock, Sylie gripped tighter, 
banishing his fear. The big male had not been trying to drive him
insane. He had been protecting his pack. Ranma padded over to him, and
licked the long gashes in the huge lion's belly. He didn't know much
about healing... but he focused his ki, and traced the wounds, and tried
to urge the severed edges of flesh to come together again. Licking at
the wound again, he watched with delight as his will overcame the
wounds, and the flesh knit itself back together. Soon, he was licking
what looked like old scars. The big lion stumbled to his feet. He was
confused, and tired, but alive, and he knew he had been beaten. He
crouched before Ranma, tail slung between his legs, acknowledging
Ranma's dominance of the pride.

Sylie gasped, and turned to Alana. "Damn, only seven and already the
boy's got a harem." Alana flushed red. "Seriously, Alana. Have you
taught him healing magic yet? Of any sort?"

"No, I hadn't gotten around to it. He doesn't need it, you know. Fey's
clothing includes powerful healing spells, and he heals unnaturally fast
anyway."

"So he just successfully healed that lion of a life threatening wound,
without ever using healing magic before? That's... hard to believe, I
mean... wow."

One by one, the other males, and then the females, came to Ranma, and
acknowledged the dominance of the small male. The lioness who had pushed
the cubs away watched him lope to them with sad eyes. As every
challenger before him had, she knew that the new dominant male would
kill all the cubs, and might drive off one of the younger males, to
ensure that his would be the blood that continued. 

She was understandably confused when Ranma returned to playing with
them, trying to steal their bone. Not only should he have killed them,
but ordinarily, if a cub got between a male and its meal, it would be
killed out of hand. Yet he just tussled with them, almost as if he were
a cub himself. If he were a cub, then why challenge for dominance?
Confusion reined among the adults, as Ranma and the cubs played. 

For nearly a month, Ranma lived with the lions, in a constant state of
Neko-ken. A few times, one of the lionesses attempted to entice him to
mate, lured by the thought of his strong blood, but he didn't understand
and didn't respond. When he didn't challenge the big male again, nor
shove him aside for the first of the hunt, the older lions started
thinking of him as a cub, a young male. He had earned a place within the
pack, wherever he chose to take it.

He hunted with them, and as he spent more time in the Neko-ken, it
changed as well. Gradually, his aura became constantly visible, and by
the fourth day in it, his arms and legs were no longer reaching the
ground. He moved about, suspended in his aura, which seemed to have a
physical presence. Shortly thereafter, the watchers observed him
dragging a dead lizard back to the rest of the pride. His teeth were
clamped about the throat... except they weren't really very near it.
Instead, it seemed to dangle from the glowing blue teeth of his aura. 

His aura steadily sharpened, shifting from a blue glow that surrounded
him, to the well-defined shape of a large male lion, which he seemed
shrouded within. It reached the point where the aura seemed to have
real fur. At times the watchers observed the other lion's rubbing
against his aura, and it seemed to support them as if he were a real
lion, and at times, the aura's hackles would be raised. When he lay
on a rock, panting in the heat, and a cub leapt on him, it landed on the
blue aura, and went no deeper.

Sylie would have worried about the effect of the constant cat-state on
his young mind, and indeed, Alana was nearly frantic about it at times.
But Sylie's connection to him allowed her to see that his human mind was
working the whole time, seeing it as an exercise in strengthening his
Neko-ken, and analyzing the behavior of the other lions, to better fit
himself in the pack. When Alana became too concerned, Sylie would stand
by her, and vocalize his thoughts, letting her hear how human he
sounded, as he pondered the intricacies of his pack's behavior.

At least once a day, Sylie would come, and release a little of his
fear, and he would fight it. At those times, he seemed even more like a
member of the pack, as he became ruled by his emotions. He grew steadily
stronger, and slowly became able to stand more and more of the fear.
Just after the first month ended, Sylie finally released her hold on his
fear completely. She left him feeling the full effects of the fear for
the next whole day, and when by the end of it, he was still responding
playfully to the cubs, she decided it was done. His fear was still
there, he still felt it, but it no longer held any power over him.

She called out to him, then, and he loped across the sands towards the
high wall, and when he reached it, he banished the Neko-ken easily, and
leapt the twenty feet to land lightly on the balls of his feet on the
stone windowsill. He jumped lightly down, and ran to Sylie, hugging her
tightly, crying tears of joy as he sobbed his thanks. She smiled down at
him, finally beginning to understand what Alana saw in the boy.

She flew them back, in full dragon form, the three riding lightly on her
back. Beorn was quite nervous about it, especially since there were no
ropes, but Ranma had centered himself and them, and showed no fear.
Beorn nearly fainted when Sylie performed the first barrel roll, but
when he realized that he hadn't fallen off even when hanging upside
down, attached by nothing at all, he finally managed to relax, and enjoy
the ride. 

Sylie made a beautiful dragon, long and slender, with glittering dark
blue scales. She was wingless, and curled through the air as if pushing
against it the way a snake pushes against the ground. The journey was
surpassingly swift, reaching Fey Castle in only five hours.