Several days later, they were enthusiastically making a small hollow in the rock face of the bluff above Land's End large enough for a home. Dragon's talons made short work of the soft sandstone, and it only took a few hours to get a chamber large enough for the pair of them to curl up in. Serali decided that they would make several chambers and busied herself sketching out various plans. They decided to make a second, larger chamber off of the first one. Then they added a sloping tunnel that emerged near the top of the bluff. Next came a series of small chambers and storage areas off of the large chamber. Kethro proved to be quite adept as shaping square shelves in the rock. Serali promptly pulled a number of large books, both metal dragon-style and leather bound human ones out of nowhere to put on the shelves.

"Where did those come from?"

"It's magic of course! I noticed that when I shape-shift my clothes go somewhere, and when I change back to human form they come back from wherever it is. That was my final project before I became a journeyman, figuring out where they went and how they came back. Now I can put things into and out of that place anytime I like. Although where your clothes came from is another matter entirely, and I may get another project out of figuring that one out. But being able to stow things in thin air is a handy trick to know!"

"I can imagine." He grinned wryly. "Carrying around dragon books can be tiring work."

Less then a week after they started the lair was finished. The enormous heap of rough stone pieces scattered outside the entrance bore testament to the amount of work the two had done in that brief time.

Serali stood at the entrance with Kethro at her side and gazed out with a sense of accomplishment. "I think it's time to meet the neighbors."

"What?"

"I've told you that the humans here have seen me in dragon form. I've even spoken, if very briefly, to a few of them. I intend to go further, to test whether the two races can really coexist."

"So you're going to just walk into the middle of town and say hi?"

"Yes."

"You know they'll probably all scream and run away, don't you?"

"Kethro, I saved the town some years ago, and I did it in dragon form, and nobody ran away from me then but the bad guys."

"Humans have such short memories, are you sure they'll know you?"

"It hasn't been that long! Let's go."

"All right. I'm not so sure about this, but I'll go along with it. I suppose if we're going to live this close we might as well, really."

Serali lead the way as the two of them approached the town. She left him just out of sight, deciding that two dragons, one of them totally unfamiliar, would be a little bit too alarming. She walked down the road, slowly, letting everyone get a good look at her. As she neared the town, she could see people peering out of windows. She could also hear shouts of alarm and arguments. She passed between houses carefully, watching her tail and wings to avoid doing any damage. Some people ducked into the houses fearfully as she went by, but many came out and watched with awe and curiosity as she made her way to the town square.

She stopped in the middle of the square and waited. She tried not to watch too closely when her parents and her sisters came out of the inn to see what was going on. After quite a while Jerda, the mayor, pushed his way through the crowd. Serali had the sudden impulse to make some kind of sudden move and scare the life out of him. It would serve him right for the way he used to bully her when they were children! But the former bully had been much changed by inheriting his father's responsibilities a year or so ago when the old mayor had become ill and had decided to step down. He was a much better man now than he'd been as a boy.

He stopped in front of her, seemingly at a loss for words. Serali decided to take the initiative and bobbed her head in a polite bow. "Hello, lord Mayor."

He started a bit when she spoke, but recovered admirably. "Hello, Lord dragon." He was about to say more, but Serali broke in.

"Excuse me, I know you aren't at all familiar with dragons, but I would be 'Lady Dragon' if you were to give me any such title."

"Oh! I apologize."

"It's quite all right." He seemed to be at a loss again, so Serali continued. "I myself should apologize for intruding on you like this. I imagine I've given some of you a fright. But I'm living not far from here now and I want there to be peace between us. You have never done me any harm when I have visited here before, and I would like to think that I have been of some small service to the town in the past."

"Then you're the same dragon?"

"Yes, I am. I would have thought you'd recognize me."

"But, no offense, you're much bigger than you used to be."

Serali blinked. Yes, she'd been well short of twenty feet when she'd first turned into a dragon. And now she was more than forty feet long. She grinned, then realized that showing that many teeth wasn't very diplomatic. "I've grown a bit since then. It's been quite a few years."

"Why are you back then? It has been quite a few years."

"I've married since then, so I wanted to settle down somewhere. This is as good place as any."

The mayor blinked. "You mean there are two of you?"

"Yes." Serali smiled, trying not to show too many teeth. Then, moving slowly so as to seem less alarming, she stood upright and waved. From where Kethro was waiting he could clearly see her, towering above the single-story buildings. On that signal, he launched himself into the air and flew over the village. Trying to fit both of them in the town square would have made the square very crowded, and would probably have frightened the townsfolk a great deal.

Even though she'd moved slowly, quite a few people had fallen back from her and she'd heard several people yell in fright when she stood. She went back down to all fours and pointed overhead. Jerda looked up. The rest of the villagers looked too. Overhead Kethro looped and twisted through the air overhead. Showoff, thought Serali with a warm inner smile.

Some people ducked their heads in instinctive fear, others looked nervous, but many looked at the graceful shape of Kethro dancing through the air with wonder and awe. I think this may just work out.