Nathan glanced over his shoulder.

The dragon—Iridescent Whisper—was still behind him, plodding along slowly, her mood a lot more reserved than it had been moments before. Her head hung low and her tail dragged along behind her. He turned to look back at the path ahead of him. In all honesty, he probably would have been feeling the same if he had just been told that humans didn't exist in the confusing new place in which he had suddenly appeared.

He supposed it was lucky that he had been the one that found her when she arrived. If she were alone, someone else might have found her and hauled her away, or she could have possibly bled out before she could go anywhere. The wound on her side made him wonder. He glanced back at her to look at the bandage that stood stark against her scales.

Scales. Copper-colored scales that shone with an Iridescence that made part of her title very true. Greens, reds, and purples shimmered across the surface of her scales even in the moonlight that filtered through the leaves of the trees. He shook his head as he chuckled lightly under his breath.

A dragon. A living, breathing dragon had fallen out of the sky and landed in front of him. Him, of all people. She wasn't one of those savage dragons from some stories; no, she had eyes full of intelligence and she could speak. What a relief that she was able to speak the same language. Nathan frowned. That was a thought that hadn't occurred to him. Could he really be imagining all of this? Had he finally gone crazy? He turned his head to look back at her.

He found himself mere inches away from her face.

It was only after Nathan shrieked, stumbled backwards, and fell to the ground that he realized how the second part of her title came to be. She was very quiet. A flash of amusement flickered in her eyes before it was replaced with irritation. She glared down at him with a low growl in her throat.

“I do not appreciate being stared at."

Nathan's face throbbed painfully as the bruise made itself known again. “Staring?"

Iridescent Whisper snorted. “Yes, staring. You walk along, slow down, then look over your shoulder to gawk at me. You've been doing it since we left the clearing, and it's getting tiring."

Nathan pulled himself off the ground. “I'm sorry," he started. “It's...it's been a lot to take in. Is there anyway I could make up for it?"

Whisper opened her mouth and snapped it shut with a click. Pain flashed in her eyes before she lowered her head. “Walk with me?"

Nathan nodded. Again they started walking. This time, Nathan was shoulder to shoulder with the dragon, or at least, shoulder to head. Nathan had always considered himself taller than average, and still, Whisper's shoulder was at eye height. If he had to guess, he figured she was about as tall as a draft horse. Probably twice as long as one, though, given the tail and—

“You're staring again." A statement with a hint of amusement in it.

Nathan smiled. “So I am." He turned his gaze back to the path and they walked in silence for a few minutes. “Dragons are a lot smaller than I expected them to be."

“Oh?" Whisper raised her head as she looked at Nathan. “I thought you've never seen a dragon until me. Wouldn't it be inaccurate to base an assumption of my entire species on only me?"

Nathan frowned. “Perhaps, but I figured you would say something if I said something wrong. Not to mention, there's no nice way to say something about an individual's size."

“So...you're talking in roundabout ways to get me to admit to subjects that you say would have offended me had you been more direct in your questioning?" Whisper snorted. “That's stupid."

“So are you smaller than other dragons, then, or—"

A growl cut him off as Whisper stopped walking to glare at him. “That is none of…" She trailed off into silence as she seemed to realize what he did. “Oh, you bastard." She punctuated the word with a shove that sent Nathan to the ground with a shout for a second time that night.

Chuckling, Nathan pulled himself to his feet and dusted himself off. He saw the humor in her eyes before she knocked him over. “Told you." He shrugged. “Whatever it is, it's better that you're the size you are. It makes housing you much easier than if you were larger." He smiled at the dragon. “As long as you're here and until we figure out what happened: mi casa su casa."

Whisper tilted her head to the side. “Me ka—What was that? Did hitting you with my tail make your brain bleed?"

“My home is yours." He shrugged. “It's a saying I don't end up saying too much, so I tend to use it when I can." They had arrived at the fence that marked his property line. Nathan approached the gate and swung it open. He gestured towards the path and play bowed at Whisper. “Ladies first."

Whisper snorted as she walked past the gate. “I'm no lady," she said. “I'm a dragon." She paused as Nathan shut the gate, resuming walking as he caught up to her.

“So that saying. That's another language?"

“Mmhm. Spanish. It's a fun language. Never took the time to learn it, just some phrases here and there to sprinkle into my vocabulary every now and then. Speaking of languages, it's so nice that you're speaking English; if that hadn't been the case, communication between the two of us would have been a bit more difficult."

Whisper's face scrunched up and she shook her head, but she said nothing. They walked together in silence.

“You said dragons were creatures of fantasy, right?"

Nathan nodded. “Yes."

“Which means you've never seen anything like me before."

Nathan stopped walking and looked at her. She had lowered her head to his level and was smirking . “...yes."

“So what makes you so sure that I'm female?|"

Nathan felt his face heat up. “Wha...what?"

“You heard me. You called me a lady when you opened the gate for me. Why?"

“I...uh…" Nathan chuckled nervously.

“You didn't decide to do a thorough examination before you patched me up, did you?"

“No!" Nathan said in a panic as he threw his hands up with his palms out. “No, I didn't...I would never—"

“Relax, I'm just messing with you." Whisper grinned, or at least, Nathan hoped that was a grin; those very sharp teeth reflecting in the moonlight worried him. She snorted in amusement. “You're just like Ash—" She stopped dead in her tracks.

“Oh, Ash." The words came out in a strangled cry and a growl as she swayed slightly and collapsed to the ground, shoulders heaving.

Without a word, Nathan walked over to Whisper and sat down by her head. He reached out, hesitating for a second before resting his hand on her neck. He stroked the side of her neck as she lay shuddering on the ground.

Her scales were warm to the touch. Nathan chided himself for that thought. Whisper was having a breakdown and here he was amazed by the warmth under his hand.

“Why?"

Nathan looked up. Whisper was staring at him, her eyes glistening. “What?" he asked.

“You've been so kind to me since I got here. Why? I don't understand."

Nathan fronwed. The answer was obvious. “Why wouldn't I?"

Whisper blinked and drew her head back “What?"

“Why wouldn't I help someone who needs it?" Nathan asked. “It's the right thing to do."

Whisper snorted. “'Right thing to do.' There are so many different opinions on what is the 'right' thing to do." Whisper pushed herself off the ground, and Nathan stood with her. “Many, many years ago, the 'right' thing to do for humans was to slay dragons. Though that is not to say that dragons didn't hunt humans." Whisper motioned for Nathan to continue walking.

“Then what happened?" Nathan asked as walked.

“Then there was a peace treaty. The prince of the Kingdom and the son of the Dragon Chief went missing. Both sides thought the other had taken their children, but then they returned together in the middle of the last battlefield, days after the last battle."

“Battle? Dragons and humans were at war, then?"

Whisper nodded. “But that was several hundred years ago, now."

“Several hundred...were you part of the war?"

“Me?" Whisper laughed. “Gods above, no. I'm not sure if I should be insulted by that comment." She leveled her gaze at him. “Should I?"

Nathan felt his face heat up. “Uhh...can we forget I made that comment altogether?"

Whisper nodded slowly. "Good answer. And...thanks, for helping me through all of this. It's good to have an ally when I can't make sense of the world."

Nathan smiled. “Thank you for considering me an ally."

“You're welcome."

Silence settled around them as they walked. The brisk temperature of the night felt good against Nathan's bruise. Whisper's face was scrunched up in thought. Nathan had noticed her open her mouth to say something, but she closed it quickly. This continued several times.

“Nathan."

“Hmm?"

“My name is Dazinara."

“That's a nice name."

****

Thomas woke in a cold sweat. The back of his mind buzzed with a nearly forgotten urgency. He frowned into the darkness as the cobwebs cleared from his head. Flashes of copper and green were all that he could remember from the strange dream that woke him up. He rose from his bed and walked to the washroom.

The cold from the water he splashed on his face shocked his mind into focus. A bad dream. That's all it was. Nothing more. They had plagued him since he had arrived in this place. But after a few years, they became fewer and fewer until, after a decade of life here, and a happy family, they were gone. Then he was reminded of why he came here, and the dreams returned.

“Damn dragon," he muttered as he towelled his face off. His fists clenched around the towel as anger swelled in his chest. “Damn curse." There wasn't a chance in any of the hells he was going to get to sleep again. “It was her damned spawn that started this." Thomas looked into the mirror and rubbed the stubble forming on his face. Perhaps he should—

A flash of light behind him caught his attention. The fist-sized geode on the shelf behind him was glowing faintly.

“No." Thomas's gut twisted as he waved his hand over the geode. The glow faded and the buzzing in the back of his mind stopped. He turned back to the mirror. “No."

He raked his fingers across the reflective surface of the mirror.

“Nefier," Thomas growled under his breath. The geode flashed brightly behind him as he felt a tug in his chest. His reflection rippled away and the mirror showed the image of a forest. It was dark, but he could still see and understand what the silhouette in the center of the image was. It stopped walking, raised its head up and looked in his direction.

It was a dragon.

Thomas punched the mirror. As it cracked, the last image he saw was violet eyes glowing in the dark before it was replaced with his own reflection, his face curled up in a snarl.

He punched the mirror again.

And again.

And when the mirror shattered, he kept punching until his knuckles were raw, bloody, and broken. Thomas' body trembled as he glared at the stain of blood that slowly trailed down the mirror frame.

His eyes drifted to his hand. It throbbed painfully as if the attention were all it needed before it started to hurt even more. Blood trickled down his fingertips and onto the floor. He drew in a deep breath and held it as he concentrated on his hand. The gashes knitted back together slowly, and with a series of pops and some blinding pain, his knuckles had been reset and mended.

Turning his attention to the broken mirror, Thomas waved his now fixed hand and spoke a phrase.

“Zrrat grrandall"

Within seconds, the mirror became whole again. Blood still stained it, but that could be cleaned off. Thomas swayed as a fatigue washed over him. He looked back at the geode on the shelf behind him to find that it had turned to dust. With a weary sigh, Thomas made his way back to his bedroom. Perhaps he had pushed himself too far. As he lay back down, sleep took over him quickly.

His last thoughts were of amusement at the situation the dragon was in. He doubted it understood the constraints of this place. Perhaps it would overexert itself and die from the inability to draw from the aether as quickly as back on Myria. It would save him the journey.