Serali and Kethro stayed at Janus' tower for several days. Serali spent a bit of time with Janus brushing up on her magic theory, but mostly she and Kethro explored the city. He'd never seen so many people in one place before. He'd hardly seen a dozen humans in his entire life, and suddenly they surrounded him. He found them fascinating. That so many beings should chose to live so close together, and behave in such strange ways was totally new to him.

Janus occasionally accompanied them as well, strolling the city streets, visiting the shops and restaurants, or walking in the parks with them. They would talk about this and that, nothing related to magic, but just everyday things, or philosophy, or religion. Once Serali asked Janus about his childhood, but he avoided the question, and Serali didn't ask again.

One day the three of them were walking through the center of one of the largest city parks. This particular park was not planted in regular flower beds with neat rows of trees, rather the trees were irregularly space and the grass and flowers around them grew almost wild. You could almost believe that you weren't in a city at all. There was no one else on the path, and Serali felt an odd feeling of isolation. Hundreds of humans were only a few hundred yards or so away, but from the path the three of them could have been the last people on earth.

Serali mentioned this the Janus.

"But if we were, Serali, humanity would be in trouble, for none of us are really human."

Serali smiled and started to reply, when he glanced up. Complete surprise, joy, and a kind of agonized hope flashed across his face one after another. She followed his line of sight and saw a bird. It looked like a raven, but it was silver all over, not a spot of black to be seen.

Janus let out a cry that was part hopeless longing, part joy. "Ariel!"

The silver raven nearly fell out of the sky. It recovered and circled back on its path till it was over the three of them. Janus called "Ariel," again, and raised his arm like a falconer would for his falcon to land on. His face held hope and fear at the same time.

The silver raven circled again, then dropped. It landed on Janus' forearm. It walked up his arm and perched on his shoulder. Janus reached up and stroked it tentatively, as if he was afraid it wouldn't be real. The bird nibbled at his ear gently and Janus looked as if he might actually cry. Without a word he turned around and headed back for his tower, reaching up to stroke the bird occasionally as if to assure himself it was really there.

Serali and Kethro exchanged puzzled glances, then followed after the mage.

They walked all the way back to the tower without a word. Janus opened the courtyard gate and went inside. He crossed the courtyard, opened the door to the tower, and went in. Serali and Kethro followed. Inside he carefully closed the door after they had entered. She watched, still mystified as he sat down slowly and carefully. Then he put the silver raven on the floor. It looked at him with one beady eye, which was, surprisingly, a dark purple instead of the usual black.

Then the bird shimmered oddly. It seemed to expand in a cloud if silvery haze that cleared to show a slender silver-haired girl. No, not a girl, thought Serali. She was like Janus, ageless. She could have been twenty, or two hundred. She smiled at Janus. "I hadn't thought to meet you again so soon."

Janus was almost agonized as he responded. "Soon? Almost half a century and you call it soon?"

Serali sensed a private moment between the two. She quietly got up and tugged on Kethro's hand, and together they left the room. Her curiosity didn't allow her to go far though. She paused just out of sight down the hall and listened. Kethro gave her a look, then rolled his eyes and continued on up to their room. He was a little curious, but not so much that he wanted to listen at keyholes, and Serali would no doubt tell him what was going on later.

The pair continued their conversation, not seeming to even notice that the two dragons had left. "Yes I do. When we parted I thought it would be another hundred years at least before your task even began."

"But I have begun it now! I've more than begun it. Ariel, this task of mine is so near completion! Can you not stay with me for the few years left?"

"You want it to be so, and you hope, but it may yet be a century or more before it is done. I will not be tied to one place, one task, for a hundred years."

"Please Ariel. I know I can finish what needs doing before then."

"I doubt you can."

"Very well, perhaps I can't. But the part of my task that binds me to this tower is done. If you will not stay here, let me follow you."

"And have you leave the moment your task calls you again?"

"And come with me when I go! You said you wanted adventure, well now you can have it! This will change the world when it's done!"

"And it changes you, Janus."

Yes, it does. Did you want me to remain the same while you went out and changed? Did you think I would simply wait for you and do nothing? Task or no task, I cannot remain the same over half a century unless I cease to live."

"Yes… I see that." She sighed. "Janus, I care for you, but I will not change who I am for you. If you want to be with me then leave your task, let fate care for her own."

His voice was agonized, heartbroken. "I love you Ariel, I would do anything for you but the one thing you ask. I cannot. You know I cannot."

There was a pause. "Perhaps I have wronged you Janus. If you would truly come with me, then come. I will even follow you when your task comes calling." There was a much longer pause, interrupted by a faint rustle of cloth. Serali imagined them embracing. Then, "I think fate was conspiring against us. Can you imagine the odds against your glancing up just when I happened to be passing over?"

"No, fate isn't conspiring against us, it's conspiring for us."

There was more silence.

After a few more moments Janus called out, "Serali, I'm sure you're lurking in the hallway, why don't you come in?"

Somewhat sheepishly, Serali went back into the room.