Somehow Serali managed to make it through the rest of the evening without giving way to panic, but when finally her father gave her permission to leave she raced home, her heart pounding, and shut herself in her room. I have to think, she told herself. I can't let my imagination run away with me. She sat on the bed, breathing deeply, until her heart had stilled. Now, calmly, I need to run over this. So he's a dragon slayer, so what? He doesn't know I'm the dragon. From now on I'll just have to go further before I change and go flying. Yes, I'll only change... then she realized how futile her panic had been, and almost laughed out loud. Serali, you are a fool. There's no reason for him to ever see you at all. Just stay in human shape 'til he gives up and goes away. You can give up flying for a few weeks if it saves your life. And maybe... an idea hit her then, a marvelous prank. With a chuckle she lay back on the bed and began to formulate a plan.

The next night Donovan and the small band of villagers who had enough courage or bravado to want to join in his efforts gathered at the inn. They sat at one of the tables in the back and they all looked very serious, but also very excited, as they discussed the plans for the coming hunt.

Serali was quite attentive, making sure that no one had to call her when they wanted a fresh drink. She expressed much admiration for their endeavor, and much curiosity too.

"Well, the first thing to do is to find the lair," said Donovan confidently. "You don't want to go in right away, mind, but you need to know where it is. Now this dragon hasn't burned any property or killed anyone yet, so we don't want to go charging in and get it angry. We need to find its habits, study it, figure out what it does and judge how dangerous it is."

"Why don't we just go in and kill it?" asked one of the men.

"Firstly because if it escapes, and it wasn't angry before, it will be after, and it might do a lot of damage before we bring it down. And second, because even though it is a monster, it's still a sentient. Sometimes you can reason with dragons, and it's easier than trying to fight them."

Serali was a little heartened to hear that this man didn't want to slaughter her right away, but she was a little angry that he'd called her a monster! Whether she was a human who could turn into a dragon, or a dragon who could turn into a human, she was a person, just like anybody else! But she kept that locked inside and just continued to keep the ale coming.

The men made their plans to search for the dragon's lair. Serali had a hard time keeping from grinning, knowing that this dragon "laired" right in the village. But Donovan had asked about the country around, and had determined that the bluff above was the place to start looking, so the next day they would be heading to the north and scouting along the cliffs there, looking for the signs of a dragon's den.