The rest of the gathering went by in a blur. Books were presented, issues were discussed, but nothing important happened. The singing wasn't repeated, but Serali hardly noticed. Instead she kept remembering, over and over, the casual way that the red dragon had killed the bronze. She had asked Drevass about it and he had told her that punishing criminals, including killing child-slayers, was something that the dragon king was expected to do.
Still, Serali was glad that the course of the moot didn't bring them into contact again. Given the madness she'd seen in his eyes, and the way he had glared at her, she was certain that Drevass's earlier warning was well worth heeding.
At last it was over and the dragons left the area around the great bowl where the moot was held. Serali returned with the plains dragons to Dragon Stone. She had considered staying, learning more of mountain dragons, but... the red's bloodstained teeth were vivid in her mind, and she decided that it might be better to visit the mountains some other time. She had all the time in the word, after all. At the dragon stone she tried to put the red out of her mind. There were other things to occupy her now, hunting, tending Vulcnor's hatchlings, discussing draconic culture with Drevass, but still the image of the red dragon king kept running through her mind at the oddest times.
Eventually other things distracted her, and she began to forget the disturbing incident. One thing that helped her put it out of her mind was her growing friendship with Kethro. They explored odd caverns in dragon stone, they swam down the river, or flew out across the plains together. Serali even managed to teach Kethro to shapeshift.
She had offered to before, but he had refused, saying that he probably wouldn't be able to do it anyway. She stopped bothering him about it, but she still spent some time almost every day in human form practicing her lute and her singing. One day as she put away the lute, she noticed the tiny golden statue of her horse in the bottom of her pack. Impulsively she decided to go riding. A few minutes later she was standing on the plains outside of dragon stone.
She placed the statue on the ground and spoke the activating word. A swirl of golden mist flowed out of the statue. It congealed into the tall form of Orison. Serali picked up the statue, which was warm to the touch, and put it in her pocket. Then she looked at Orison. He tossed his head and whinnied. Serali stroked his smooth golden flank, and then in one smooth motion she grabbed a handful of mane and swung up onto his broad back. With a touch of her heel to his sides they were off.
Serali clung to his back as they raced across the plains. Suddenly a shadow crossed over them. Serali looked up to see Kethro soaring overhead. She waved at him as he passed. With a showy roll, he dipped low over her and then landed on a slight rise not far ahead. Serali raced Orison toward him, grateful again for the training that had removed all fear of dragons from the horse. She brought him to an abrupt rearing stop mere inches in front of Kethro's nose.
She slid off the horse's back onto the ground.
"Hi Kethro!"
"Hello Serali. What are you doing?" He looked curiously at Orison. "And where did that creature come from?"
"I've had him with me all along." She laughed at Kethro's puzzled look. "Here, I'll show you."
She took the statue out of her pocket and placed it on the ground. Then she spoke the activating word again and Orison dissolved into mist and swirled back into the statue.
"Amazing! How did you do that?"
"Actually, I didn't. The horse was my teacher's gift to me when I left. I'm a good mage, but not good enough to do that on my own!"
"What's it like to ride it?"
"I could show you if you'd just let me teach you how to shape-shift."
Kethro paused for a long moment before speaking again. "I'm not sure how I'd like being a human, but that creature was truly wonderful. The way it ran! Could you teach me that shape?"
"Humans call them 'horses.' I don't know the dragon word for them. Have you never seen one before?"
"I think I saw a few, but the humans that lived in the mountains didn't have many, and they only plodded along, I never saw one run like that!"
"Orison is certainly much faster than a farm horse, I suppose. But yes, I can probably teach you horse shape."
Kethro took a deep breath. "Go ahead."
Serali nodded and began. "First you need to become aware of the feel of the form you're wearing now…"
She spoke for several moments before directing Kethro to go ahead. He closed his eyes tightly. For several long moments there was no visible change, but then his form began to dissolve into a black and green mist. The mist shrunk rapidly down to horse-like proportions and then solidified into a large blood bay stallion. Serali grinned at Kethro and shifted into horse form herself. She shook her long golden mane and reared up dramatically. Then, with a challenging whinny, she raced off over the plains, Kethro close behind.
They played tag as horses for hours. Finally when the sun was setting, Serali stopped and shifted back to dragon shape. Kethro halted next to her. He closed his eyes tightly again and a few moments later he was his usual scaly green self. "That was fun!"
Serali grinned at him. "Yes it was. You see why I've been wanting you to try this?"
"I confess, I was wrong. But don't get carried away over this. You're not right all the time!"
"No, I'm just right almost all the time."
Kethro just laughed.
Serali and Kehtro tried out many other forms after that. They flew as hawks, they swam as fish, they even ran with the herdbeasts once. But Kethro loved horse form, and so they raced as horses nearly as often now as they spoke together as dragons.
Summer on the Ocean of Grass was not quite as hot as it was at Land's End, but the heat was enough to make most of the dragons at dragon stone operate on a nocturnal schedule, sleeping through the hottest parts of the day. The grass turned from green to golden and Drevass called the dragons together to remind them of the danger of fire. Cherval and a group of the younger dragons decided to make a firebreak around dragon stone.
Serali and Kethro pitched in, helping to dig trenches and clear bare areas. The immense project kept them busy for nearly a month and by the time they were done the weather was beginning to show hints of fall. The days were still sweltering, but nights were getting colder.
As the weather changed Serali was thinking more and more of her family. She was twenty-three now and it had been a full year since she had seen them last. Much had changed since then, but she still missed them. She wondered if Dentol had a baby yet, and how Papa and Mama were faring with the inn.
At last she made up her mind to return to Land's End. One by one she told Kethro, Cherval, Trillor, Drevass, and Vulcnor that she was leaving. She assured them all she would return. Each of them wished her well and said goodbye, except for Kethro who took the news with an uncharacteristic silence.
She was packing her few possessions for the trip when a soft noise made her look up. Standing in the entrance to her chambers was a young man. He was as tall as she, with broad shoulders and an athletic build. He was dressed all in green, and his hair was jet black.
He spoke haltingly in the draconic language and his voice was surprisingly deep. "S-Serali, I… I need to t-t-talk to you. I'm n-not sure how to say what I want to say to you." As he spoke he gained confidence. "I've t-tried to show you every way I could, but I should have known you would not notice. That's all right, it's not your f-fault. I understand about how you were raised. I finally figured out a way to make you see me the way I want you to see me."
"Kethro?" Serali suddenly recognized her friend. But what did he mean?
"Yes. I guess you couldn't think of a dragon the way I think of you. I remember what you told me about Galen and so I thought maybe… But that doesn't matter. What matters is what I've come to say to you. Serali, I love you. I've tried showing you all the ways that a dragon would show you, but I guess that didn't work. And I was afraid that if I said anything you would laugh at me. But I can't just let you leave. I couldn't let you leave me and not tell you, so I decided to show you the only way I could. I love you. I'm not sure how humans do things, but I want to have you as my mate, to live with forever. I'll do anything you ask me to, go anywhere you want me to, be anything you need me to. Please, Serali. Even if you don't want to be my mate, just please don't leave me." His rush of words halted and he looked at her pleadingly, his expression fearful and hopeful at once.
Serali felt a kind of shock as what he had said sank into her. And she suddenly thought of Galen, and the time she'd spent with him. They had, in a way, done all the same things that she and Kethro had done, but because he was human, and in some ways she was human too, she had seen him as a love, as a possible husband. And Kethro... She had thought of him as a friend, as her best friend even, but he was so much more. She had been willing enough to leave him for a little while so that she could see her family, but when she thought of leaving him and never coming back... no. She couldn't do it. And her words to Galen, all those years ago, floated through her mind. "Someday I'll find some dashing young dragon..." And here he was, everything she could ever want in a partner, a mate, a husband, and she had almost overlooked him entirely, just because of the shape he wore.
Kethro's face fell as her silence stretched out. "It's all right if you don't..." he started, but she interrupted.
"But I do. I never thought about it, you're right that I'm still too used to looking human to think of a dragon like that, but I should have. I thought of you as my best friend, but you're so much more than that. I love you too, Kethro." The she smiled. "My Mama always wanted me to marry someone and raise a family like my brother has. I think that she'll like you."
His eyes lit up and he stepped towards her. "Does that mean that you, that we... that we can be mates?"
"Yes it does. I can't think of anything I'd want more, in fact. Though... I hope you don't mind going through a human-style wedding first. My parents would never forgive me for marrying without having them present."
"I said I would do anything you needed. I meant it. I love you so much all I want is to be with you, however I can be." He put his arms around her then, and hugged her hard.
"All I want is to be with you too." Serali hugged him back and then kissed him. Kethro went still for a moment, surprised, before kissing back a bit awkwardly. Dragons kiss, but it is entirely different when you don't really have lips. I could get used to being human, he thought. It certainly has its good points. But even if it didn't, I would do it all the same, to be with Serali.
Two weeks later Serali and Kethro landed in a gully not far from Land's End. They shifted to human form and walked the last mile to the village through the cool twilight, hand in hand. The town was quiet and still. A few lights showed where some townsman was up late, but most of the windows were dark. The Land's End Inn however was bright with light.
Serali pointed it out to Kethro. "That's where I spent most of my time growing up. My parents and at least one of my brothers and sisters will be in there."
"Brothers and sisters? How many do you have?"
"Two of each."
Kethro blinked at her. "That many?"
Serali chuckled. "Humans have more children than dragons do, or they can anyway. I always liked being part of a large family, though it also has its down points. Especially since Ohlito and Dentol, my brothers, both loved to tease me. How many siblings do you have?"
"I was part of a clutch of three. But my brother died when he was very young, so only my sister remains."
"I'm sorry."
"It's all right. I hardly knew him, we couldn't have been more than three or four years old when he died. But we are nearly to your home now."
They had indeed arrived at the inn. Taking a deep breath, Serali stepped forward and opened the door. The room was not very crowded, only a half-dozen townsmen were seated at the various tables. Serali's sister Terla was threading her way between several tables with a tray of mugs balanced expertly. She looked up and nearly dropped the tray.
"Serali!"
"Terla! You've grown!"
She laughed. "But I'll never top you, sister." They hugged warmly.
Then Marilla and Falio came out from the kitchen at the back of the room and rushed to join their daughters. Carita, who was almost as tall as Terla now, hurried out from the back room after them. Serali was enveloped in a storm of questions and chatter as her family tried to inform her about everything that had happened while she was away. Serali laughed and chattered right back, asking about her neighbors. She looked like a golden eagle in a flock of chickens, the way she towered over her family.
Kethro stayed back at the door, almost overwhelmed by this enthusiastic display. At last as the chatter died down Marilla noticed him standing there. She looked from him to Serali and then turned to her.
"So Serali, who is this handsome young man that you've brought with you?"
Immediately the family's attention centered on Kethro. He hunted around for something to say. His human was decent, but not that good, and he was so nervous that he couldn't think of any words. Serali saved him by stepping in and introducing him.
"Mama, Papa, this is Kethro. He and I are engaged."
"Why that's wonderful!" Serali's mother fairly beamed. She had almost given up hope that her odd daughter would marry. At twenty-three she was starting to be a little old to still be single. "Where do you mean to have the wedding?"
"Here, of course! As if I would ever be married anywhere else." Serali had a brief moment of regret for Galen. If she had somehow been able to marry him her family would have had to come to Barona for the wedding. But that could never have happened.
Her father broke in. "Where has been settled, but I would like to know when!"
"As soon as possible," was Serali's quick reply. She smiled at Kethro. "I don't want to put it off a moment more than I have to."
Kethro grinned back at her. He was beginning to understand why she had insisted on marrying the human way. It was more for her family's sake than her own. If she wanted a swift wedding the dragon's ritual of mating could have been done the very day he first told her his love. But this family of hers! He hardly spoke to his parents any more. As if to make up for the coddling of their long childhood, dragons generally had little to do with family once they were grown, or at least that was the way it went among mountain dragons. But Serali's family were obviously very close, even though she had been adult in human terms for quite a few years. It was worth the wait if it would make them happy. Though he agreed that he didn't want to wait any more than he had to!
The wait proved to be a shorter one than Kethro had feared. There was no village priest, and the nearest priest was a full two week's travel away. When Serali told Kethro that, he envisioned a whole month while a messenger went and brought the priest. But the priest was of the pantheistic faith that followed Aldon as the king of the gods. The people of Serali's village worshiped the Creator, those of them who worshiped any god, at all and the nearest human priest of the Creator was more than a thousand miles away.
Instead Serali's parents officiated, reading a set of traditional questions which the couple had to answer. Serali and Kethro stood side by side before them, both dressed in white, and answered. It was the white clothing that had taken the longest.
There was not a dress in the entire village long enough to fit Serali, but her mother had taken the hem out of the longest one that could be found. It was still a bit short of the ankle length that tradition called for, but Serali looked dazzling in it regardless.
Kethro's white outfit had been almost impossible. Every pair of white pants in the town had been examined, but not a one was anywhere near long enough and none could be let out more than an inch or two. A white shirt had been found, donated by Breck, but his pants where still too short and hopelessly wide for Kethro's more slender build. When Serali had been informed that the wedding would have to wait on someone sewing Kethro a suitable pair of pants, she had decided to take extreme measures. She spent a night with her spell books and in the morning Kethro's formerly green pants were white.
Then there was the problem of the troth gifts. The couple were supposed to exchange gifts made with their own hands at the ceremony. Again, Serali managed to find a suitable gift, but Kethro hadn't ever made anything in his life. As he exclaimed to Serali in a moment of exasperation, "I'm a hunter, not a dragonsmith!" But after much pondering he at last managed to think of something. Much to Serali's annoyance he absolutely refused to give even a hint what it was.
At last all of the problems had been dealt with and the couple stood in front of Serali's parents as the whole village looked on. They answered all of the questions, they swore their vows, and then they exchanged their gifts. Serali presented Kethro with a bracelet made of natural crystals and twisted wire. She hadn't really needed much time to make it, but quite a few hours had been invested in several useful spells that she had placed on it.
He in turn gave her a green dragon's scale almost as wide as her hand with a delicate semi-abstract design featuring two dragons scratched into the surface. Afterward everyone wondered how on earth he had found a dragon's scale that large and how he had scratched the designs on it, since dragon scale is so hard, but he kept his mouth shut and smiled mysteriously. Serali grinned at their bafflement. The best way to carve dragon's scale is a with a dragon's talon.
Finally Falio pronounced them married and they kissed. When at last they parted, Kethro's opinion of kissing had improved a notch.
The ceremony traditionally began at noon, with a celebration and feast after. The crowd retired to the inn to eat, drink, and socialize. They congratulated the newly wedded couple and brought useful gifts. Serali thanked them all, though she wondered exactly what she was going to do with some of the gifts. After a few hours of this Serali and Kethro exchanged a glance. As soon as the parents of the bride weren't looking, they sneaked out of the festivities.
"I'm glad that's over and we're married! If we had to do just one more thing, I think I would have screamed!" Serali shook her head.
Kethro laughed. "Go ahead and scream then, because there is just one more thing."
She eyed him. "And what would that be?"
"We're married as humans now, but I want us to be mated as dragons also. We need to fly a mating flight," he said. Then he smiled. "I doubt you'll find it unpleasant."
She felt a nervous fluttering in her stomach. Unpleasant, perhaps not, but though she now felt to her core that she truly was a dragon, she was still keenly aware of having been raised as a human. And she didn't have the least idea of how a mating flight was supposed to go. She wasn't even entirely sure what constituted a mating flight. She knew what it sounded like, but... The butterflies grew stronger. She'd never made love in human form, nor in dragon form, and to do it for the first time on the wing...
He squeezed her hand reassuringly, sensing what was going through her mind. "It's all right. Nobody's taught me what to do either, though my father told me the words. But you don't need any words, and the instincts are there. I'll know, and you'll know too, when the time comes. So come on." He turned and ran, and she smiled and ran with him. The sun was setting as they raced through town and across the fields, as she had done so many times, to reach the shelter of the trees, though the stubby scrub oaks were no longer tall enough to hide her dragon form, let alone his. But there was no one to see as they changed there on the edge of the village and flew on into the gathering twilight as dragons.
They flew out over the edge of the world, above the desert sands below. Though the sun had set, the earth was still warm, and they caught a column of air that rose from the ground towards the heavens. Kethro spiraled up, and she spiraled up next to him, each of them on the same level but opposite the other. As they rose Serali began to feel... something. An urge, a compulsion, a kind of wordless knowledge, and she automatically adjusted her flight to keep her level with Kethro.
They rose together, circling endlessly up, until the air was thin and cold around them and the thermal had vanished. They began to beat their wings, still circling, still spiraling up in a double-stranded spiral, rising until the air was so thin that Serali could hardly breathe. But that was high enough. Kethro folded his wings for just an instant, and she did the same, and his hand reached out and caught hers as they began to fall. He pulled her to him, put his arms around her, and spread his wings again, though now she could not. But she felt no desire to, and no fear either.
They continued to fall, though slowly, Kethro's spread wings catching at the air, but she was hardly aware of it, for he pulled her closer, and his muzzle rubbed against hers and he said, intensely, "One heart, one mind, one soul, one body, joined to the end of time," and as he said it he pulled her tightly against him, joining them as one, and his tail twined with hers, and she felt something she had never felt before, incredible and intense.
"Yes!" she said joyously, knowing that this was the only response needed in words, though she felt her body responding in other ways. They fell for what seemed like forever, joined together, and the incredible feeling she had felt built up in her, grew until she thought that she would explode from it, and then it was almost as though she had, it swept through her like fire, like nothing she had ever felt in her life. For an instant she couldn't feel the air rushing around her, she couldn't feel anything else but that explosion of sensation, and she cried out, the sound a roar that echoed over the desert. She heard Kethro, her mate, her husband, her love, roar with her in the same instant and she knew, with a deep, wordless knowledge, that they were now one, bound together in every way.
And then the moment was over, and they were nearly level with the upper edge of the Great Escarpment, and there were only seconds remaining. She knew what to do as they broke apart and her wings snapped open. She wheeled around to the left even as Kethro was wheeling around to the right and they both flew on, together, wings nearly touching as they glided down to land gently on the warm desert sand.
She sat down next to him and leaned against his warm, scaled side. He nuzzled her, and she sighed blissfully. "You were right. About both things. I knew what to do, and I didn't find it unpleasant at all. Though... do dragons always mate on the wing like that?"
He laughed softly. "No love. The first, yes, always. And sometimes we may again, but the first mating is just that, a mating, to become mates. Mating to have eggs and dragonlings generally happens on the ground."
"Oh good. That was... very intense, but I'm not sure I'd want to do that all the time."
"But you would want to mate all the time, hmm?" His deep voice was amused.
She laughed. "Well, not all the time, but it is our wedding night. It's very traditional among humans to spend the first night without sleeping, or so I've heard tell."
"I think I rather like that tradition," he said, and nuzzled her again, pulling her close.
Serali twisted in midair in a corkscrew turn, Kethro close behind her, as they winged their way east toward the city of Barona. After spending nearly a month with her family and new husband, Serali had decided to visit Janus and give him the good news. It had been well over a year since she had last seen him, though she was sure nothing had changed in that time. Janus had been around forever and would be around forever.
The air was crisp and clear as they soared over a sea of trees in flaming fall colors. A few clouds dotted a brilliant blue sky, and a light breeze made flying just that much easier. Chasing each other, playing tag in mid-air, the two newlywed dragons flew towards a rising sun. Serali had never felt so good. After long years of feeling out of place, different, even unwanted, she now belonged completely and utterly, even if it was just to one person. It was wonderful. Looping and rolling exuberantly, she doubled back and chased Kethro's tail. They cavorted across the sky like a pair of hatchlings just learning how to fly.
As the day lengthened and they fled from the setting sun, Serali started looking for a place to land for the night. A bluff stood out above the irregular fire tinted carpet of trees not far ahead. Serali headed for it with Kethro following close behind. They spent and uneventful night in a cave at the base of the bluff and continued on in the morning.
They repeated that pattern, making their leisurely way along. After several days, Serali wasn't counting, they arrived. They both shifted into human form before approaching the city, since causing a panic wasn't a nice thing to do.
Janus greeted the pair with enthusiasm when they knocked on his door.
"Serali! I hadn't expected to see you again so soon!"
"More than a year is 'soon' to you?"
"Well, you're a journeyman now. Generally journeymen journey! And they don't usually return to their masters until they've reached the level to be tested for master themselves. But who's this?" He glanced curiously at Kethro. Then he shook his head. "Let's have our introductions inside." He motioned them both through the door.
Seated in comfortable chairs in the front parlor, they continued their conversation.
"Janus, this is Kethro, Kethro, Janus." Then she grinned. "We were married just last week."
"A pleasant surprise!" He rose and shook Kethro's hand. Then he turned to Serali with a slight frown. "But what about…" he hunted for the right way to say it. "What about the problem you had before? Does he know…?"
Serali laughed. "Yes he knows! He's a dragon himself."
Janus looked a bit startled. Then he chuckled. "I don't know why that surprises me. I suppose it's just because I watched you grow up as a human child and even though I know better, I still tend to think of you as human. I should know by now that you're something quite different, but it tends to not stick."
Serali was suddenly serious. "Humans and dragons aren't so different. There's so much animosity between them for no good reason at all." She shook her head. "I of all people should know that the two races can get along. They're just so used to the way things are now, nobody wants to change it." Then she sighed. "But I didn't come here to bother you about that. You of all people aren't guilty of racial prejudice."
Janus smiled. "No, I of all people am not!"
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.
"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."
"But how did you two meet?" asked Serali.
"It was actually more than a hundred years after Atlantis fell, long enough that humans were already forgetting. We happened to be in the same city. Of course people always noticed my appearance. Silver hair and purple eyes are hardly common. Some fellow told me that he'd seen a man that looked like me in the market that day. I was half curious and half scared silly. Humans might be beginning to forget Atlantis, but my mother's scare stories were still quite fresh in my mind. I'd never seen an Atlantean, and I was curious, but to meet someone who had terrified my mother so much was a horrible thought. At last my curiosity outweighed my fear and I went looking for him."
"Meanwhile," said Janus, "I'd been hearing things about a silver-haired girl and having similar thoughts, except that I knew what an Atlantean was like. So I decided to avoid this stranger at all costs."
Ariel grinned. "I had a hard time finding him, that's the truth. But he'd been living with elves too long. He didn't know the first thing about cities. I'd been a city girl for many years. So I managed to track him down. Sometimes I wonder why I put so much effort into hunting up somebody I was half terrified of, but I just couldn't let it go. When we both came face to face, I'm not sure who was the more scared. But it only took me a moment to notice that poor Janus was scared too. Surely an awful Atlantean wouldn't be terrified of me? So I introduced myself like a civilized being."
Janus shrugged his shoulders. "I was still a bit suspicious. Atlanteans were capable of all kind of tricks. But I knew that I was different, so I hoped that Ariel might be too. It took us both a long time to get used to each other, me more so than her I think. But we were both so curious we couldn't keep apart."
"Both of us were just there temporarily," explained Ariel, "so it wasn't long before we parted. But we kept meeting each other in the oddest places. Atlanteans are like dragons in that they live forever if nothing kills them, so neither of us was in any rush. Sometimes it was centuries between meetings."
The mention of time gave Serali a sudden realization. "Wait a minute. Earlier didn't you say that Atlantis fell during the age of Might? But that was something like two thousand years ago!"
"Yes, it was. Ariel and I have been around at least that long."
"I can hardly imagine that much time!"
Janus smiled. "Well, you may someday live out a longer span than that."
Serali shook her head. "I suppose I might, but right now that much time is hard to even imagine."
Ariel laughed again, that warm, silvery sound. "One year passes much like another does, no matter how many of them you pile up, really."
Something about the sound of that laugh seemed almost familiar to Serali. Serali couldn't place it, she certainly had never seen Ariel before, but the nagging familiarity refused to leave.
"Ariel, I know it's insane, but there's something vaguely familiar about you, and I can't place it."
Ariel looked rather startled. "You have a better ear than I thought," she said enigmatically, but suddenly it triggered Serali's memory.
"Ear, of course! I've heard your voice before. I heard... you singing! You were the silver dragon at the dragon's moot, the one that tried to sing out."
Ariel nodded. "Yes. I love the dragons. I've seen what Skrissish is doing to them and I don't like it. I've tried to do what I can, but he has gathered a great deal of power, so there isn't much I can do. I didn't actually think I'd succeed, but I wanted to remind some of the dragons what they are, what they should be. They are starting to forget, and what will happen if they do could be very bad. I wish I could do more to stop it, but if I tried to upset the way things are done now, he'd probably kill me. I was risking a great deal just to try and change the song."
Remembering the way that he's slain the brass dragon, Serali didn't doubt for a moment that Skrissish was capable of killing, but, "Ariel, I did change the song, and he didn't do anything worse than glare at me."
"You're different. For one thing I'm a fake and all the dragons know it. They tolerate me well enough, but I'm not really one of them. They know I'm more or less a human, and it's not considered a crime among dragons to kill a human, any more than it's a crime among humans to kill a dragon."
Serali sighed at that. She couldn't help but feel that it ought to be! But there was nothing she could do about it.
"It's more than that though," Ariel continued. "You're a royal gold. They have an immense amount of respect for you, and Skrissish could never kill you openly. You belong with the dragons, and they know it."
"I don't really feel that I belong. Not here, not with the dragons, and not back home."
"I know what it's like to be an outsider Serali, but there isn't anything I can do about it. You'll have to fight that battle yourself." She glanced at Janus and smiled enigmatically. "And if I'm any judge of things you may well someday manage to do more to fight it than anyone else."
Serali was a little puzzled, but she smiled. "I suppose compared to you I don't have much to worry about. I've one set of parents who loved me very much, and though I never met my dragon parents, I suspect they cared for me too."
"Yes you're very fortunate, in more ways than one."