The winter was full of things to do. Serali hunted, slept, sunned herself, discussed the Book of Truth with Drevass and, much to her delight, tended Vulcnor's hatchlings. They were growing rapidly. A month after they were hatched they were three times the size they'd been and had shed their egg skins. One of them was orange-amber like its father, another was yellow-green like its mother, but the little one that had hatched last was a vivid yellow. They could crawl almost from the day they hatched and would quickly escape from their cave given half an opportunity.

By the time three months had passed, they were beginning to stand up to walk and had discovered that Serali was a wonderful toy to climb all over. They were quite a handful, as her mother would have said. Wonder what the dragon's word for that is?

So occupied, the time passed swiftly for Serali and before she knew it, spring was coming. The herd had begun its migration north, and the dragons were preparing to follow.

"This year isn't like most years," said Cherval with evident excitement as the first wing of dragons took off into the air. "This year only a few, those with hatchlings mostly, will stop at dragon stone. The rest of us will continue north until we reach the dragons' moot."

"I remember Drevass mentioned it. When does it begin, and how long will it last?"

"The moot itself begins on sundown of the spring equinox, and will be over by sunrise, but the gathering will have started before we get there and may well go on for weeks after the moot itself is over."

"Weeks? What do they do there?"

"They discuss a great many things. Young dragons, of course, look for other young dragons for mates. Older dragons socialize. And the scribe takes down anything presented in the Book of Thoughts. Sometimes someone will present an entry for the Book of Knowledge. That can take a long time because every dragon that chooses to join those discussions needs to either agree that it is a fact, or choose to abstain from giving an opinion. You can imagine some of the arguments that causes.

"And very rarely there will be an addition for the Book of Truth presented. That almost never happens. To be added to the Book of Truth, it must be inspired by the Creator himself. Not many dragons would claim to be so inspired, and of those that do, many are mad, one way or another. I think the humans' word for it is 'prophet.'"

"Yes. I've heard prophets spoken of. I gather that self-proclaimed prophets are not uncommon, but as for true prophets, I don't know. I'm not sure I could judge."

"I doubt there will be a prophet this decade, but you never know." He grinned. "You'll just have to go and see for yourself."

"I'm going to."