With that she turned her horse and headed to the city wall. Galen followed, keeping his curiosity contained. They rode under the city wall, past Janus' tower, past the outlying homes of the nobles, past even the shacks that huddled at the edges of the city, until they were well into the country. Serali stopped her horse at a field, the same place she and Janus had come last year when she showed Janus her true form. Now, in the little field, protected from the road by a small hill and from other prying eyes by a few scraps of woodland, she dismounted and walked to the center of the open space.

She turned back to where Galen was dismounting. "Stay there and hold onto the horses, they might bolt."

Galen nodded, mystified by Serali's strange behavior, but willing to go along with her.

"You weren't who you said you were, I know. I don't mind, prince or peasant, you're still the same person. But I've been lying to you about what I am."

Galen couldn't hold his silence any longer. "What you are? What do you mean by that? You're Serali, the innkeeper's daughter, Janus's apprentice. And even if you aren't those things, you're no more a different person for that than I am for being a prince."

"I am those things, but they aren't all I am. You see, I've left out one thing. I'm the innkeeper's adopted daughter."

"And that means anything?"

"I'm not finished. Yes, that means something. Because I'm not human."

"What?"

"I'm not human," she repeated.

"Serali, that isn't funny. And of course you're human. You're not an elf or a dwarf or a gnome, you're very obviously a human woman."

"I'm not joking. But I don't expect you to believe me just because I say so, I'll show you. Hold on tight to your horse, he'll most likely try to bolt."

Then she closed her eyes and began the change. She heard a startled whinny and thunder of hooves. When she opened her eyes, she saw Galen's horse disappearing between the trees, Galen having dropped the reins in surprise. Galen looked at her, fear and disbelief battling on his face. Serali lowered her head until it was level with his and looked him in the eye.

Galen stared at her. Her eyes were different, slit like a cat's and as large as his outspread hand, but they were the same leaf green shade, and held the same gentle expression as Serali's always had. "Serali?"

"Yes, it's me." The voice was different too, but the intonation was the same.

He moved forward tentatively. Slowly he reached out a hand and touched Serali's face. The scales were warm and smooth beneath his hand. "It is you."

"Yes."

Galen shook his head in wonder. She's huge, he thought. Actually Serali was still fairly small for a mountain dragon, not quite thirty feet long, counting tail. But to a six-foot man, thirty feet, even when a third of it is tail, is very big. She wasn't joking, she really isn't human. Then the consequences of that thought occurred to him Oh no!

He sank to the ground, an expression of sudden bereavement on his face.

"Galen? What's wrong?"

He struggled to hold back the tears the were suddenly gathering in the corners of his eyes. "I... My family..."

Serali settled to the ground next to him and curled herself partly around him. "It's all right, take your time."

Galen got a hold of himself. "I'm a prince. Because I'm not the crown prince, I can marry for love. I don't need to have a political match. Of course marrying a common-born mage would have been a bit of a scandal, but I could have done it. But now, now..." He trailed off again.

"You can't marry a dragon, is that it?"

He nodded mutely, his misery showing clearly.

Serali felt a pang of loss shoot through her. This particular prince charming wouldn't give her a storybook happily ever after, it seemed. With an inner sigh she tucked her loss away to be dealt with later. Crying would only make Galen feel worse, and she still loved him, still wanted him to be happy. That was more important than her own hurt.

Galen looked up at her again. "Please understand, it isn't that I don't love you, or that I don't want you because of what you are, I would never leave you just for that. But my whole life I've been raised with my royal duty, and I can't just throw it away. I can't. I love my family too, and I love this kingdom."

"I understand," Serali said softly. "No matter what the songs say, you shouldn't throw away everything else because of love."

"That's what I'm trying to tell myself, but I don't think I believe it."

"It is true. Listen Galen, there is no such thing as a 'one true love.' I do love you, never think otherwise, and if I could I'd be with you all my life. But I'm not the only person in the world who can love you, nor am I the only person in the world that you can come to love. Someday you'll find a fair maiden that you can give you heart to without giving up your duty. And someday I'll find some dashing young dragon who'll give me the children that I doubt you and I could ever have. And maybe that is for the best. I think we could have been blissfully happy together, but a dragon lives forever, Galen, and humans don't. You would have grown old and died while I stayed young. Perhaps I could have lived with that, but it would break my heart worse to lose you after having you for years than it will right now."

"Maybe you're right, but right now I don't feel like I could love anyone else." He was struggling not to cry.

Serali tucked her tail around him, and nuzzled him gently. "That's all right too. There's nothing wrong with feelings." A shudder went through Galen and the tears started streaming down his cheeks. He put his arms around her neck and cried. She put an arm around him and held him as he sobbed. She stayed still while the dusk deepened into night. She shed a few quiet tears of her own as the full extent of what she was giving up hit her. At last, when she was all cried out, she looked down at Galen. He had fallen asleep, his emotional release after a long day draining him out.