"Serali, this is Ariel. Ariel, this is... my student Serali." Serali wondered at the little hesitation. What else had Janus considered calling her?

Ariel gave Serali a measuring look. Then she stood up and shook Serali's hand warmly. "Nice to meet you."

"Ariel is… well, an old friend, you might say."

Ariel laughed, a little silvery sound. "Very old. How much do you know about Janus's past?"

"Hardly any, to tell you the truth." Serali shrugged. "I've asked, but he's never really answered."

"I don't really like to talk about it much," said Janus. "It brings back too many difficult memories, and I never really know what to say about it anyhow. But I know you've been dying if curiosity, so perhaps Ariel would be willing to tell you a bit about it."

Ariel smiled. "I'm something of a bard and I've often made my way as a story teller. I'd be happy to give you a bit of my history."

She seated herself and motioned for Serali to do the same. When all three of them were comfortable, she began.

"Have you ever heard of the lost continent that men call Atlantis?" When Serali nodded she continued. "Not all the legends that men tell about it are true. Living short lives as they do, they forget history quickly, and Atlantis was never a place for men to begin with. It was raised from the bottom of the sea in the age of Glory, not long after the creation was done. It was raised by Vrisna, one of the Bright Ones." She shot Searli a grin then and said, "You no doubt know about the Bright Ones by now."

Serali blinked, surprised to find something from dragon theology being related as part of her teacher's personal history, but she nodded and kept silent.

Ariel continued. "Vrisna raised Atlantis as a home for her people. To understand about what later happened to Atlantis, you have to understand how the Atlanteans were made.

Her voice changed, falling into formal cadences. "Before the Creation began, Vrisna heard the song of the Creator. Heard she well all that song and heard she most of all that which spoke of humanity, and she found this song to be grand. Wished she then to be the one to bring that part of the great song to pass. With pride she judged she could better the Creator's song. So in the first days of the creation of intelligence she made the Atlanteans, like and yet unlike what the Creator had sung from the beginning. In form they were like humans, and each was fair to behold.

"Janus and I both bear Atlantean blood," she added in more normal tones, "and you can see much of their outward appearance in us. They all had silver hair and large eyes of unusual and bright colors. They were small in stature but great in strength for their size.

"They had great intelligence, and made many discoveries that have not been duplicated since. They even harnessed the powers of magic and did a thing that no one has so much as contemplated before or since. Vrisna raised the island continent above the sea, but her people raised it further. They tore it from the earth and set if afloat in the sky.

"They took after their creator in their pride. They thought themselves the highest form of life and all other races were hardly more than animals. But it is they who were less. For Vrisna, in trying to equal the Creator, failed. The Atlanteans were fair and wise, and mighty, but they had no souls. They treated each other only slightly better than the 'lesser' races. Even their children were given no love or affection, only taught stern duty and pride.

"My father was an Atlantean. I never knew him. My mother left him when I was born. She had thought she might change him, that he might grow to love, but she would not risk my life in his unloving hands. I'm grateful to her every day for that.

"Janus wasn't so lucky."

Serali glanced at her mentor. He nodded. His voice was uncharacteristically soft, and had a note of old pain in it as he spoke. "My mother was an Atlantean, my father a half-elf. He died when I was quite young, and I always half suspected my mother of killing him. She would have done it without a second thought if she believed it would be to her benefit. She certainly had no love for either him or me. She raised me because she thought having someone the elves revered would help her to gain power and wealth."

Serali broke in at that. "I don't understand. Of course the elves honor you now, but how could she know that would happen when you were just born?"

Ariel said, "You've read the passage in the Book of Truth about like being meant for like?"

"Yes," Serali nodded, wondering again how this woman knew so much about the dragon's religion.

"Most holy books have something like it, including the elves'. The different races interpret it differently. The dwarves, for instance, believe that this means half-breeds are an abomination. But elves think that this passage means that in order for a half breed to be born at all the Bright Ones or the Creator himself must make a special exception to the laws of nature. So they believe that all half breeds are destined to do something very important or they could not have been born."

"I see. So the elves would think Janus was doubly destined for greatness."

Janus nodded. "Yes. So I was raised without my father and without my mother's love. I used to wonder if I would become like her when I got older. The idea terrified me."

"But it would never have happened," said Ariel. "Because of his father, Janus has a soul. As do I because of my mother. But to continue the story, the people of Atlantis became more powerful and more proud all through the age of Glory. During the age of Might, after the Bright Ones had left the earth, the Atlanteans joined into the many wars that followed their departure with great enthusiasm. They came near to conquering the whole world during that time. But at last the mages of all the other factions and races joined together. They made a spell of great power, and the Atlanteans were forced to tap all the magic they could get to deflect it and save themselves.

"As you well know Serali, magical energy doesn't come from nowhere. It must be drawn from a source. So when the Atlanteans drew all their power to themselves, they drained it from every spell already cast on the floating isle. And that was their downfall, literally. They weakened the spell that held the island aloft to the point where the island's great weight could no longer be held up. It fell down back into the sea and none survived.

"Janus was already an adult and was off the island when it fell."

Janus nodded and took up his story again. "My mother had enough of a hold on me, so she'd sent me out to negotiate the surrender of a group of elves. Though negotiate is hardly the word, since they would be near slaves under the terms I was supposed to offer. I'd had thoughts of somehow joining with the elves, but there were enough spells on me that it would probably been suicide to attempt it. When she died, the spells all collapsed and I was free at last.

Ariel said, "Many poor ensorcelled people were freed when Atlantis fell. But I didn't even know it had happened until years later. My mother had moved us as far from where Atlantis usually lay as she could. Though no place was safe in those days. The Atlanteans could move the island wherever they wanted. It was a relief to the whole world to know that they would never again have to fear waking up to find their country shadowed by the floating island."