He chuckled. "I suppose I should start with the different kinds then. There are four different sorts of dragons, or possibly five depending on how you divide them up. The ones I know the least about are the sea dragons. They live under water and have almost no dealings with other races at all. I know a little more about eastern dragons. I know they nearly lack wings entirely, and fly by magic. They have water magic as much as they have fire magic. Their scales are iridescent, like the wings of some butterflies, or like certain beetles. I've never seen one, but I've been told they're very beautiful. And I know that in those lands they are regarded generally as benevolent, where here of course most people think 'ravenous monster' when they think 'dragon.' But they don't deal with humans in those lands any more than they do here. Then there are the plains dragons. They live, as I've said, on the plains, the Ocean of Grass to the west and north of here. They live in one great community, several hundred of them together. There are also other, smaller communities of plains dragons scattered around the western lands. They have pearlescent scales, and are the smallest dragons. They're born small and they grow slowly.

"But the dragons I know the most about are the mountain dragons. They're the most aggressive, and thus they're the ones that most often do attack humans. But they're also among the most intelligent and inquisitive, so they are also the ones who most often talk to humans. Plains dragons are much more shy, and I've never heard of one deliberately venturing near human settlements, but mountain dragons do it fairly regularly. Regularly enough to keep the tales of them alive, at least.

"Mountain dragons actually come in two types. The regular sort, which have scales that are glossy, like lacquer, and which are larger than plains dragons, and very large indeed on human terms, but are not the largest dragons. That title goes to the royal dragons. They are mountain dragons too, but their scales are metallic, gold, silver, bronze, brass, and copper are the ones I've heard named. They are the nobility of dragons, as much as dragons have nobility. And the gold dragons are usually the kings and queens."

Serali felt a flash of bright interest go through that last. Kings and Queens! She remembered her old fantasies about being a lost princess, about ruling a kingdom. She had dismissed them when she'd discovered she was a dragon, but now they flooded back. She might be a dragon princess!

"Though being a king or queen among dragons doesn't mean as much as it does here among humans," he added.

"Why not?" asked Serali, unbearably curious.

"A human king has authority, and it's backed by soldiers, and other nobles, and a long history of government and law. When a human king gives an order, it must be obeyed. A dragon king, on the other hand, is backed by no one but himself. The dragons may all respect him, but he has no way of making them obey him, other than fighting them one by one. As I gather the golds are the largest of the dragons, and so the king usually has an advantage in a fight, but it's still not quite the same. Some dragon rulers have had quite a bit of power, but most do very little, as far as I know."

"What else do you know?"

"Well, being a mage I know a bit about dragon magic. All dragons have a little touch of natural magic, it's what lets them fly. They're too large to do it on wing power alone, and as I said earlier, the eastern dragons don't have wings at all. Some dragons have a little more than just a touch of magic, and they are elemental mages, though very different from the human sort. Humans use words combined with will, or components and diagrams, orderly things, to direct the elements. Dragons control them directly, by sheer willpower. They are good at fire magic, of course, and at air magic. Some can work earth, but I don't think any can work with water, unless some of the sea dragons are also mages. Some dragons are also natural shape-shifters. The ability is particularly strong in the royal dragons."