Serali and Kethro set off several days later from Barona. They flew in a general westward direction, headed toward Land's End, but they were looking for a good place to live. A large dry cave would be perfect, but with their diamond hard talons, it would be easy enough to dig out a new cave if they could find a suitable spot. They were looking mostly idly, neither one had any unbearable need to settle down, but the idea was there, and if they should happen across a nice cave, why not?
They were several days out of Barona when Serali remembered the cave they'd stopped at on their way to visit Janus. They reached the spot a few days later, but the cave had changed. Outside of the cavern's mouth there was a heap of oddly shaped rocks ranging from gravel to stones the size of a human. They descended curiously, wondering what was going on. As they landed, and rock came hurling out of the cave and crashed into the pile outside. It was followed swiftly by several more and then by a dragon, carrying a particularly large rock.
He was azure blue with paler silver-blue plated undersides. His head was crowned with the spikes and horns of a mountain dragon, though he was much lighter in color than mountain dragons usually are, and he had external ears, like a plains dragon. He was also rather young looking, and smaller than either Kethro or Serali. He looked rather embarrassed as he dropped the rock he was carrying with a thud.
"Oh! I'm sorry, I didn't think this belonged to anyone. I shouldn't have started digging out someone else's lair like this. I apologize!"
"No need for apologies," said Serali. "We don't live here, we're just passing through."
An expression of relief crossed his face, to be immediately replaced by curiosity. "I think I've seen you before, haven't I? You're that gold dragon that made such a stir at the last dragon's moot."
Serali nodded.
"I don't know your mate though. He is your mate, isn't he? There I go assuming things again."
Serali smiled. "Yes, he's my mate. I'm Serali, and this is Kethro. What's your name?"
"I'm Doran. It's nice to meet you." He inclined his head and dipped his wings is a kind of bow.
"But why are you moving in here?" asked Kethro. "It's rather near a number of human settlements."
"I'd rather live with humans than Skrissish right now. I think he's gone totally mad."
"What do you mean?" Kethro seemed puzzled, though Serali remembered the way Skrissish had acted at the moot and wasn't very surprised.
"It started harmlessly enough of course. He began to rule for trial by combat more often than usual. You know that the Dragon King is supposed to judge disputes that dragons can't settle themselves, and when he can't settle it they either drop it all together or fight it out. I didn't like that much, but there wasn't really any harm in it. But then some of the more quarrelsome dragons started deliberately bringing things to him so that he'd tell them to fight.
"I really didn't like that, and a lot of other dragons agreed with me, but it didn't seem to affect us, so we ignored it. But after the moot he seemed to be almost insane. He would rage at everyone, and he even got into fights with anybody who tried to disagree with whatever he was talking about. Mostly what he talked about was you, actually. He thought you'd gone and sung at the moot so you could start taking the rulership from him. Of course nobody else thought so but a few bullies that agree with anything he says because he lets them fight.
"Even that the rest of us that lived in those mountains could live with. What happened next though…" The azure dragon shook his head. "Well, one of his bullies had picked a fight with a smaller dragon, hardly out of childhood. And of course when they took it to Skrissish he judged they should fight. A lot of us didn't like that. The poor little thing was half the bigger dragon's size. But nobody gets seriously hurt in these things, so we all let it go ahead. Would that we had stopped it then.
"When they fought, the little dragon did better than anybody thought she would. She moved fast, used her small size as an advantage. The big fellow looked like an idiot a dozen times over as she escaped him. But at last he caught her. She'd worked him into a rage, and he wasn't very stable to begin with. Nobody realized exactly what was happening till it was too late and he'd broken her neck. He killed her! All of us were terribly upset, and we took the whole mess before Skrissish. It's become too much of a habit to go to him for justice, even now. But he doesn't even know the meaning of the word. He said something about a 'regrettable accident' and let that murder off without any punishment at all!
"Well, there was some talk of overthrowing him and putting somebody else in his place. Your name was mentioned a few times," he nodded to Serali, "since you're a royal gold, and they've been leaders since dragons started, but nobody knows anything about you, you could be just as bad, no offense, and in the end nobody could agree on anything. But I, and a few others, decided that we should just leave the mountains and get away from that lunatic and his bullies. I imagine that there are going to be more following us before long, if things don't improve. So I guess humans may have to get used to us, because there's nowhere else but human lands for us to go, really."
"Why not go in groups?" asked Serali.
"Dragons don't live in groups!"
"Plains dragons do."
"No offense to plains dragons, I mean my mother was one, so none at all, but mountain dragons just don't live like that. I don't think I could be happy, all crammed in with other dragons like that. And some mountain dragons think of plains dragons as some lesser creature, like a smart drake or wyvern. Though most don't. I sure wouldn't! But still... most mountain dragons really get upset if you even suggest living like a plains dragon."
"That's kind of sad."
Doran nodded. "It is. Dragons are dragons, no matter what kind."
There was a moment of silence, but then Serali shook herself land said, "Enough of gloom and depression. We really should get going. We're looking for a good lair spot, but there really aren't very many here. I have half a mind to go dig a cave in the bluff above Land's End village. They're somewhat used to having a dragon hanging around."
Doran shrugged. "To each his own, I suppose. This is as close to a human settlement as I want to go. I'm not sure I could get used to humans, even if they got used to me."
Kethro grinned at him. "If you ever want to find out, you can come visit." He turned to Serali and added, "I think that living near Land's End is a good idea. I'm quite curious about this human family of yours."
"Maybe I will someday." Doran smiled. "It would be interesting to see how many of the stories I've heard are true."
"You'd be welcome anytime, but you should probably wait a few months at least, since the home that we're so graciously inviting you to doesn't even exist yet."
They all laughed at that. Then Serali and Kethro made their farewells and flew off toward Land's End and their new home.
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.
Although there were a few rough moments, particularly at first, things went well between the dragons and the humans. Serali and Kethro began venturing into town to help the villagers out. If a new house was being built, they would haul timbers and blocks of stone. Before a complicated system of pulleys had been used to put up a heavy roof beam but now Serali and Kethro could simply pick one up and set it in place.
A few problems intruded from time to time. The first major obstacle came when Serali realized that they were beginning to hunt out the area around Land's End of large game. Kethro jokingly said that they could just eat all those fat cows in the fields.
"Hmm… Not a bad idea, actually."
"What!"
"Calm down Keth. I of all people should know that humans don't like having their animals eaten. But they do like having money. Do you know how much dragon scale is worth to a human?"
"Dragon scale? Why should that be worth anything?"
"Because it's harder than steel, and lighter too. They use it for weapons and for jewelry. A single dragon's scale could probably buy you an entire cow."
Kethro blinked. "Really?"
"Really." Serali grinned. "Of course there aren't enough cows in Land's End to keep us fed, but I'm sure we can find somebody who has a lot of them. I'll ask Jerda next time I'm in town."
Jerda was duly consulted, and told Serali that the people with the most cattle were the plainsmen. "Barbarians, really. But their herds are said to cover the ground. I imagine they'd be willing to sell you enough to keep you fed for life. A few of my own best stock were bought from them, though not directly."
They made plans for a trip to the Ocean of Grass. They would head out in search of plainsmen the next week. Serali wondered that in all her time there she'd never seen a plainsman, but Kethro said that they probably avoided Dragon Stone, since most humans fear dragons. They were basking in front of their lair, discussing possible ways to approach the plainsmen when Kethro pointed up at the sky.
"What's that?"
Serali followed his line of sight and spotted a winged speck overhead. It was circling lower. "I think it's a dragon!"
A few moments later Serali was proven right. They could make out the unmistakable outline of a dragon. As it approached, they could see it was light blue in color, and then at last the recognized it. "Doran!" called Serali as the dragon landed on the flat area in front of the lair.
"Hello Serali, Kethro. I thought I'd take you up on your invitation."
"Wonderful!" Serali smiled at him.
"I couldn't help but notice how close you are to that human village back there. Aren't you worried you'll upset them?"
"They know we're here. We get along just fine. We've gone into the village on several occasions."
"Truly? I would like to see that."
"Come with us then. Breck the smith is adding a new wing to his smithy, and we're hauling timber for him. You could help out."
"I think I will."
They set off toward the town, Serali flying in front with Kethro and Doran behind her in a small wedge formation. They arrived at the smithy to find Breck already directing a group of men who were nailing boards and sawing logs. Serali introduced Doran, though she had to translate for him as he didn't speak human, and the three of them immediately set to manhandling big logs around so that the men could saw them into usable pieces. When the boards were ready, Serali would hold one in place while one of the men nailed it down. Then they'd pick up the next. Working together, the new smithy was nearly finished by the time the sun began to sink low on the horizon.
"That was kind of fun," said Doran as they flew back toward the lair. "The humans aren't as strange as I thought they would be, really. Though they have very strange lairs."
"Yes, but there aren't enough caves in the world for all the humans to live in. They have to build their own," explained Kethro.
"I can't imagine living in a lair like that. But I think I could get to like these humans. I should start learning their language. I'd like to be able to talk to them."
"I'd be happy to help teach you," said Serali. She smiled. It was heartening to see a dragon learn that humans weren't so bad, and heartening also to see the humans learn the same about dragons. She had so often felt torn between the two worlds, hearing the misunderstanding, distrust and even hatred that so often lay between the two races. But she knew, really and truly knew, that they weren't all that different. Perhaps I can do something to change the way humans and dragons feel about each other, she thought. I'm not sure exactly what, but... I suppose what I'm doing here is a good start. Hopefully I'll find some way to build from there.
The next day the trio set off in search of the plainsmen. Doran said he was still curious about humans, and tagged along with Serali and Kethro. A few days of steady flying brought them through the wild lands west of Land's End and out onto the Ocean of Grass. Serali turned north, avoiding Dragon Stone, since the plainsmen were not likely to be found there.
The bite of winter was in the air as they flew over the unending expanse of brown grass. No snow lay on the ground yet, but it was only a matter of time. The wind blew into their faces, carrying the scent of snow. They talked as they flew, the conversation drifting in among topics. The subject of families came up, and Serali speculated a moment on her own possible future family.
"How long does it take for a pair of dragons to have eggs?" she asked. She still sometimes felt horribly ignorant about dragon life.
"Depends, really," said Kethro. "It can happen right away, though it will be at least a few years for us yet."
She looked over at him as they flew. "Why do you say that?"
"Because you're still too small," he said with a grin. "A mother has to have reached her full adult size before she can clutch. I've seen an adult royal gold, love. You ought to be much larger than I, and you're still a good bit smaller, though you're growing fast."
Serali blinked. "Oh."
"I saw the old queen, in fact. At my first moot after I reached adult size myself. Though she wasn't the queen then, this was after Skrissish took over."
"After?" Serali was puzzled. "I thought he'd chased them out when he took over. I guess I don't know the story. Tell me what happened."
"Well, the old king and queen hadn't actually ruled that long. A century or so at most. The old queen's mother, who was the daughter of Brethor, that's the old gold scribe you saw at the moot, was the queen before them, but she died. It was a freak accident, a cave-in somewhere that really ought to have been stable. But after she died there really wasn't any question of who would rule next. The king and queen had just mated, and they were the first gold with gold pairing in thousands of years, I think there's only been two others since Arvass and Alora.
"Everybody liked them pretty well, I know my parents thought very highly of them. But they were both peaceful sorts, not at all aggressive. Sirissish though, he was very aggressive, as you well know. He kept pushing at the king, finding every excuse to try and pick a fight, and eventually he just outright challenged the king. Well, you can guess how that turned out. So Skrissish took over. And really it didn't make much difference for a long time. The king doesn't do all that much. But eventually people started getting dissatisfied anyway. Particularly when he began changing the singing at the moots. There was some muttering about asking the old king and queen to take back the rulership. Skrissish chased them out of the mountains not long after that. We all thought they'd just gone somewhere else for a while and they would come back, but they never did. There are rumors that Skrissish killed them, which I didn't give much credit to until recently, but after how he's been acting of late, I could believe it."
"I wish I knew..." Serali sighed. "I'm almost certain they were my parents, the timing is right. But I can't be sure. My human parents only saw my dragon parents in human form, so there's no way to be certain. Though I guess if they were the only gold dragons in the world at the time, it's pretty likely."
"Well, it's possible for two parents to have a gold even when they're not gold themselves, if they both have gold in their line. Neither of my parents were green, my mother was a red and my father a copper, actually. But both my grandfathers were greens, so here I am." He smiled at her. "Though I think you're probably right. Which means we could have greens, or golds, or reds ourselves, there's red in both our lines. If there wasn't red in yours Skrissish wouldn't be around."
Serali blinked. "Wait. Skrissish is in my line?"
"I thought you knew," said Kethro. "Yes. He's the old queen's brother. Their parents were a gold, the queen before her, and a red. That's why he's a royal red. And if we had a green or a red, they'd be royal as well, the gold always comes through."
Serali was stunned. "My uncle. But wait... if he did kill my parents, that would mean that he killed his own sister!"
Doran broke in. "I'm confused. You both keep talking like Serali is the daughter of the old king and queen, but she can't possibly be, they vanished less than thirty years ago and they didn't have any children at the time."
Serali chucked. "And I'm less than thirty myself. I had to grow up fast, as an orphan."
"You're less than thirty?" He eyed her with disbelief. "If you say so! But you look like you must be nearly a century old."
She shrugged. "I'm twenty-three, actually. I know that sounds very young, but in human terms I've been an adult since I was sixteen." Doran shook his head in amazement.
"It's probably for the best that you look much older than you are," said Kethro. "If everyone knew that you were the daughter of the old king and queen, I think there would be a lot more trouble. There's enough dislike between you and Skrissish as it is."
Serali nodded. "Perhaps. But I think someday there's going to be trouble no matter what I do."
They soared over the plains for another day before they saw any signs of life. It was Kethro who spotted it first. "Look!" He pointed, and Serali twisted her head around to see a thin line of smoke in the distance. The three wheeled and flew towards it. Soon their keen eyes could see what had to be a human settlement.
They landed some distance away, not wanting to alarm the humans by flying in. "I think I should go in human form, so I can bargain with them," said Serali. "Kethro too, I suppose. Though..." she considered. She knew that among most humans, men were assumed to be the leaders. The plainsmen might want to talk to Kethro instead, and while his command of the human language was steadily improving, his bargaining skills were nonexistent. "Actually it might be best if you took some other form," she said. "If you're human they may insist on talking to you, I know some humans tend to be patriarchal. And no offense, but you've no experience at all with bargaining."
"None taken. How about a hawk. Humans keep hawks, don't they? I could sit on your shoulder and pretend to be a pet."
"Sounds good to me," said Serali.
"But I can't shape-shift at all," said Doran, looking worried.
Serali smiled at him. "That's just fine. I think it would be a bit too much to ask them to sit down and bargain with a dragon, and it would definitely be too much for three dragons to just stroll in among them, but one dragon ought to be all right. Humans can get used to dragons, I've shown that before." And as far as Serali was concerned the more peaceful dealings dragons and humans had together, the better.
Doran nodded. "So I guess I'll go with you. Should we walk in?"
"I think so. Though I'll have a time keeping up with you in human form, even on the ground. Would you mind carrying me?"
"No, I wouldn't mind," he said.
"Then we have a plan!" said Serali with a grin.
A few minutes later they were on their way, Serali perched between two of Doran's back spines, and being very grateful that they were fairly flexible, because there really wasn't enough room there for her. Kethro was in the form of a red-tailed hawk, perched carefully on her shoulder.
As they drew closer to the human settlement they could soon make out details. It was unlike any human town she'd ever seen. There were no houses, instead there were tents. They seemed to be dug into the ground so that they were halfway permanent, but they could obviously moved at need. A few humans and animals wandered around among them. A bit further on a great herd of cattle was grazing on the brown grass. Men on horses rode here and there on the edges of the herd, and every now and then a lean dog would dart out at a man's command and chase strays back into the main herd.
The men were different from the humans Serali had known as well. They were dark, like the people of Land's End, but they were tall, a few were taller even than Serali was. They seemed to dress almost entirely in leather, some dressed plainly and others with their leather tunics covered in bright designs. As the unusual trio approached, the plainsmen poured out of their tents. The grabbed up spears and swords and ran towards the approaching dragon. Doran halted when he was still quite a few yards away from the nearest tent and settled to the ground. Serali dismounted. She stepped away from Doran's side and held her hands out in a gesture of peace. Kethro shifted nervously on her shoulder as the armed plainsmen formed a half circle in front of her, staying as far from Doran as possible.
One of the plainsmen, plainly dressed and looking no different from the one next to him, stepped forward and addressed Serali. His speech was oddly formal.
"Why do you come here, and how is it that you ride that creature? I had not known dragons could be tamed."
"They can't. Doran is my friend, and only carries me because he wants to. And I have come to bargain for cattle. I have been told that you have the finest in the world."
"We do." There was pride and assurance in that simple statement. "Why do you want our cattle?"
"I want cattle to feed my large friend here." She motioned to Doran.
"And what do you have to offer for the pride of the plains? We do not give up our cattle to be eaten by strangers lightly."
"Why should it make any difference who eats them?"
"Our cattle are our wealth and our responsibility. We would not be plainsmen if we treated them like other men do."
"You care that much about cows?"
"Yes. They are not our brothers, as the horses are, but without them we do not live."
Serali blinked. "Your horses are your brothers?"
"Yes. They are the children of the wind, as we are children of the earth, and they bear us only because they choose to." Then he smiled. "Perhaps it is somewhat like this dragon that you say is your friend. But that is not important right now. I asked you what you offer for our cattle."
Serali took a pouch out of her pocket and opened it. She poured a pile of dragon scales of several sizes and colors onto her palm. Her own small gold ones, Kethro's much larger green, and a few of Doran's large thick blue ones. She had been carefully saving every shed scale she found, and there were a fair number of them.
"Ah. I should have guessed what payment you would have, dragon rider. Yes, that will be sufficient to buy a great many cattle."
"I would buy something else as well. I know nothing of cattle and their needs, but I must get the cattle I buy safely to Land's End in Barona Kingdom. As the dragon flies it isn't far, but the road is longer. Could you send men and horses with the herd to bring it to Land's End?"
"Now you ask much. The trip is long and there are few men who can leave their families long enough to make it. We must discuss this." He motioned to the plainsmen around him. They scattered. One returned with a woven rug and the plainsman leader motioned for Serali to sit. Serali smiled and seated herself. She knew now that she would get what she wanted. It was only a matter of bargaining.
A half hour later she got up and shook hands with the plainsman. He summoned several of his people and gave them lengthy instructions. A few minutes after that they were on horseback and cutting three score cows and one good bull from the huge herd. Most of the cows would end up eaten over the next few months, but some wouldn't, and Serali hoped to actually breed and raise cows. She was sure, and had told the plainsman leader so, that she would be back to buy more cows, but she hoped eventually that there would be enough to feed them without needing to buy more regularly.
The little group set out, with Doran flying ahead to show the way. Kethro got bored with being a hawk and changed back to dragon form to fly with him for a while. The plainsmen seemed unbothered by the appearance of a second dragon. Serali, though, had decided to ride with them. She was curious about them, and she hadn't ridden in some time. She summoned Orison, and swung up easily onto his bare back.
"I am Kesego," said the plainsman, with a kind of half bow. "That is a very fine horse. But how is it that you could make him appear out of nowhere?"
"It's magic. The horse was a gift from a very good friend, and the magic a gift from my teacher. The horse is a spirit that moves between the worlds," she said. "Magic lets me summon him here."
"Ah. They say that the first ancestor of our horses was such, but not only a spirit, she was also a wind goddess, so our horses are the wind's kindred."
Serali smiled. "Orison is no god. But he is a very fine horse."
She enjoyed talking with the handful of plainsmen who were herding the cattle. And watching them work with their horses was a pleasure, it was like watching some kind of dance, or moving artwork. The horses were some of the most graceful she'd ever seen, and the men rode them without spurs or bits. They had saddles, and halters, but they directed the horses with only the gentlest of nudges. Orison had been trained to leg commands, so she rode him easily enough bareback, but she didn't think she could ever equal the natural grace of the plainsmen.
Serali had forgotten how Kethro felt about horses. She was reminded on the very first afternoon, when she saw Kethro dive down to land ahead of them and then vanish. Moments later a large blood bay stallion came racing across the grass. Serali laughed and turned Orison to race with him, but with the burden of his rider the palomino couldn't keep up and she soon fell behind. She pulled Orioson back to a canter and grinned after the still-running Kethro. The she heard hoof beats behind her and Kesego came flying past her. He was riding a spotted mare, and she ran like she really was kindred to the wind. They caught up with Kethro, despite the weight of the rider, and started to pass him. He whinnied and ran faster. They raced neck and neck for some time. Kesego shifted his mare to crowd against Kethro's side and turned him, bringing them around in a long arc back towards where the others were still guarding the cattle. Kethro skidded to a halt a hundred yards or so before reaching the herd. The mare halted next to him. He whinnied and shimmered into human form, the whinny shifting to a laugh as he did.
"That was a very fine race!" he said to the startled plainsman. "Your horse is wonderful!"
Serali came trotting up on Orison's back. As she halted next to the mare she suddenly realized something. None of the plainsmen's horses had startled at her presence. The mare ought to have been unwilling to run by Kethro's side, whatever he happened to look like. "I think you all must have very wonderful horses indeed," she said with some surprise. "We all smell of dragon, they ought to be panicked, but they're not."
"My wind-sister trusts me," said Kesego. "If I show no fear, she will not be afraid either. All our horses are thus. But you," he looked at Kethro. "You were a horse, and now you are a man, and I think before that you were a dragon. What are you truly then?"
"Truly I am a dragon," he said. "But I love horses. They are amazing. I could almost wish to have a horse I could ride myself. Serali has told me that it is unlikely, as horses fear dragons. But if yours do not..."
"We do not sell our brothers and sisters," said the plainsman.
"Ah. That is a shame," said Kethro. "But ah well. I shall merely have to enjoy running as a horse myself."
"I could wish I might learn the trick of becoming a horse. Perhaps as much as you wish you could ride a horse. Perhaps more."
"I'm not sure if humans can learn it," said Kethro. He looked up at Serali.
She shook her head. "I have no idea. I know human mages have spells to do it, but they require years of training, and none of those spells can be cast quickly. Though..." she remembered Ariel and how easily she'd changed from raven to human. And she had been a dragon too. "I have known one human, or rather half human, who could, so it may be possible. Or it may not, I don't know if the gift came from her non-human blood or not."
"I see," said the plainsman. Then he gestured at where the herd was still moving along. "We should go and catch up with the rest."
"Yes." Serali turned Orison and started to trot after the herd. Kethro blurred back into equine form and trotted after her.
The trip they'd made on the wing in only a few days took nearly a month to complete on foot at the slow pace of cows, but at last the cattle reached Land's End. The lower plateau that the village itself stood on was already being grazed by the villager's cows, but the bluffs where Serali and Kethro had dug their lair were actually the side of a higher plateau above the first. It was smaller, but the grazing there might actually be a little better. The trail between it and the lower plateau was narrow and winding, but it wasn't too steep for the cows, and though it took quite a while they eventually got the whole herd to the top. Serali perched on the edge of the bluffs in dragon form and looked out over the mesa plain. She smiled. It was a start.
"Thank you," she said to the Kesego.
"You are most welcome," he replied.
The other plainsmen turned their horses and began to pick their way down to the lower plateau. Kesego, however, didn't move to leave with them.
"Shouldn't you go?" said Serali.
He looked up at her. "If you would allow it," he said, "I wish to stay. I wish to try and learn to change forms. And even if I cannot learn that, this thing, that dragons and humans should live together, is a strange thing, and I wish to see it with my own eyes. We do not venture near the places where the plains dragons are. But perhaps we might someday, if it were possible for us to make a peace treaty with them. This would be a good thing."
"I..." Serali looked at him. She had been about to say that as far as she was concerned he was welcome. But he knew her as Serali the human, and as the golden dragon. If he stayed, he might well give away her secret. She sighed. "I would welcome you. Peace between humans and dragons is something that I want very much. But... the people here, they know me as two different people, the human Serali and the golden dragon. They... I don't know if I want them to know they're one and the same, and if I do, I should be the one to tell them, not a stranger."
"Ah." His solemn dark eyes regarded her and he nodded. "But surely if they are willing to let you, the golden dragon, live among them, they will be all the more willing, and happy, to know that you are their human friend also?"
"I... I suppose you might be right." She refolded her wings a bit nervously. "But I'm not sure. I haven't been living here as a dragon very long, and I don't want to risk losing all my friends, and my family, if they decide they don't like dragons after all. I've heard too many humans call me a monster. Maybe in time... but not now."
He nodded again. "Your secret is yours to keep, and I shall not tell it for you. But the shape changing...?"
She smiled. "I don't know if you can learn it, but I will do my best to teach you."
"Thank you," he said simply, and with that he turned his horse to the trail that lead down to the lower plateau. Serali wondered what the villagers would think of him. But if they could get used to a pair of dragons, they surely could get used to one outlander, however odd. And surely they can get used to dragons, she thought, the thought almost a prayer. Surely. Kesego is right. I shouldn't have to hide who I am from them, but I just don't dare tell them yet. But I hope, someday...
She sighed again, and spread her wings to glide down to the base of the bluffs and to her home, her heart full of worries and hopes tangled together.