Looking down at her now human hands Serali pulled herself away from the past. She had not practiced her lute since leaving Barona. If she left it too much longer her fingers would start to forget the music. She opened the clasps and took out her lute. It was a bit scuffed and battered, and it had never been the highest quality to begin with, but the tone was still true and sweet. Serali spent a few moments adjusting the pegs so that the notes would be perfectly in tune. Then she strummed her hand across the instrument, idly picking out notes and chords without much thought. Gradually she settled down into one key and found herself thinking of a song that she had heard her mother sing when she was very young.

She sang along as she plucked out the melody once, and then she began to play with it, adding harmony first, then a counterpoint, and then a series of flourishes and embellishments, while her voice still carried the original tune. When she'd elaborated all she could on the first song she simply let her fingers wander and her mind wandered after them.

She was snapped back to reality by an inquisitive voice by the door. "Hello?"

She looked up to see Kethro standing in the doorway. "Oh, hi Kethro."

He jerked back, startled, and bared his teeth involuntarily. "Who are you? How do you know my name?"

Serali was suddenly aware of how very small she was and how large Kethro was. Each of his bared fangs was nearly as long as her forearm. She'd never been near another dragon while in human form before. "I'm Serali."

"What?"

Serali set the lute aside and shifted back to dragon form. "See, I'm Serali."

"How did you do that?" Kethro asked, startled.

"I told you I was raised by humans. It wasn't a case of humans raising a hatching, I was raised in human form. I didn't even know I was a dragon until I changed for the first time, and even then it was a while before I was sure."

"If you didn't know you were a dragon, how did you change into one then?"

"It's kind of a long story," she said.

"Well, I don't have anything better to do just now than listen." He smiled at her.

Serali paused and considered. It had long since stopped being painful to think about, but it still wasn't something she had talked about with anyone but Janus. But somehow the idea of discussing it with Kethro didn't bother her. "Sure. Come in and have a seat." She patted a spot on the "bed" next to her. There wasn't anything like a chair or a couch in the room, so the padded depression in the floor was the only place to sit besides the bare floor itself. Kethro came in and made himself comfortable. Serali started talking, finding a kind of release in telling the story again. Kethro was fascinated, and also horrified when she explained what Patren had meant to do to her.

"I've never even heard of a dragon doing such a thing!"

"I don't think it's exactly common among humans," said Serali. "But he never actually hurt me, and he got what he deserved for it." Then she kept talking, telling him about her childhood, about her mage training, about Galen, and about anything else that crossed her mind. When Sleeah came to tell Serali that it was time to go to Drevass' chambers for dinner, she was still talking.

"Perhaps we can talk again tomorrow," she said as she headed for the door.

"Drevass has asked Kethro to come and eat as well," piped up Sleeah. "You can finish talking there."

Serali glanced at Kethro, suddenly aware of how long she'd been speaking. He'd been very patient to put up with her chattering so far, but she doubted he wanted to hear any more of it.

But if Kethro was bored at the thought of more talk, he didn't show it. He only smiled and told Sleeah that he was delighted to come.

The three of them made their way through the spacious halls of the dragon stone to Drevass's chambers together. Drevass was, as usual, lounging on the raised dais at the end of the room. A dark heap beside him proved to be the almost whole carcass of one of the shaggy creatures that Serali had killed earlier that day.

They all made themselves comfortable on the floor. Drevass cut the meat up with his diamond hard talons and served each of the others a portion.

Dragons had impeccable table manners, though "table manners" might not be the right term, as they didn't use tables. Of course to a human being, used to plates and knives, their dining habits might seem a bit uncivilized, but there wasn't really any point to forks and knives when your own claws would do much better. The four of them devoured the food neatly, without any mess. They spoke of little things at they ate, indulging in small talk that was not much different from that heard around human tables. After they had eaten Drevass asked Serali about what she had read that day.

"Not much. Just one passage, something about First Father calling a meeting of dragons."

"Ah, the dragon's moot. There is one due next spring, did you know?"

"I don't even know what a dragon's moot is. I just read a line or two in the book."

"It's a meeting of all the dragons in the world," said Kethro. "Held on the spring equinox every ten years."

Not all dragons," interjected Drevass. "There are always some that will not or can not come."

"True. But still, it is the largest gathering of dragons anywhere. There will be thousands of dragons there."

Serali tried to imagine it. Thousands of dragons…