Just as the sun began to touch the peaks in the ridgeline of the mountains far behind us, the dragon stepped into a clearing and paused. I looked up and glanced around, bleary-eyed and numb from hours of dangling while the dragon stalked through the forest. There was a cliff directly ahead, about a hundred feet from the tree line. It stretched a fair distance to either side and it looked at least fifty feet high. The cliff-face was jagged, with multiple recesses and outcroppings in sight.
Here, the dragon growled. My gut dropped. Its growling had become much easier to understand since it first spoke several hours ago. It had tried to talk to me several times after it destroyed my radio, but until that moment, I'd studiously ignored it.
"What's here?" I asked, responding to it for the first time in hours.
It snorted, surprised. Home.
It stepped forward without further words, walking along the tree line. After just a few minutes, it turned and walked straight toward the cliff. I squinted and spied a cave opening hidden in the shadows of a deep crevice. Even though it was large enough for the dragon to fit into, I would never have noticed it if it wasn't right in front of me. The dragon stalked into the cave, lowering its head to make sure there was plenty of room between my own head and the jagged ceiling.
It was very dark inside, but as my eyes adjusted I made out some dim light coming from up ahead. The air was warm and somewhat stale and carried a thick scent of smoke. Unsurprising, considering what lived here. The light grew brighter, and the dragon rounded one final corner in the passage to arrive in a large chamber. Quickly glancing around, I saw several other passages leading off, a small pool of water, a light coming from the roof, and a bed of embers smoldering in the corner.
The dragon stepped into the room and set me down next to a wall opposite the dying fire. I groaned through clenched teeth when my feet touched the ground, forced to put weight on my legs until I managed to lay down. The dragon settled down in the middle of the chamber while I propped myself up against the wall in a decently comfortable sitting position. I looked straight up, curious as to where the light from above was coming from, and saw a rough, soot-stained hole in the roof illuminated by the fading daylight. It seemed to serve as both a chimney and skylight. Clever.
The dragon stopped me from surveying any more of the chamber when it growled to get my attention. Reluctantly, I looked down and found my gaze captured by the dragon's again. You, it 'said,' Stay away. It finished its command by flicking the tip of its tail toward the bed of coals behind it.
"You want me to keep away from your fire-pit?" I asked to clarify. The dragon grunted a definite affirmative. I was a little confused. "You know, I'm not exactly unfamiliar with fire. I know how to warm up near it without getting burned." The dragon lunged forward without warning, snapping its teeth only a foot away from me!
Stay away! Kill you! It snarled, still baring its teeth!
"OK! I won't go near it!" Too tired to drag my broken ass over there even if I wanted. The dragon relaxed and laid back down as soon as I agreed to do as it said. I watched it for several long moments, trying to make up my mind. Even after the threat, I still didn't think it wanted to kill me. It could have done that without dragging me all the way here. I decided to just ask. "So, what now?" Maybe I could get it to just tell me what it wanted with me.
Questions. It replied.
"What kind of questions?" It growled something lengthy in response, but I didn't understand any of it. "What?"
Not ready. Soon.
"Can't you explain any better than that?"
No.
"Why not?" I retorted, exasperated.
You not ready. It responded. I suddenly got what it was trying to tell me.
"You mean that I'll be able to understand what you're saying even better later?" I asked, testing my theory.
Yes.
"But you can obviously understand me just fine right now." It was not a question, and the dragon didn't answer. "You're doing something to me, aren't you? To make me able to understand what you're saying?"
Yes. It growled with obvious pride.
"I guess there's no point in asking you to explain what you're doing or how you're doing it," I muttered.
Magic. I gave the dragon a withering look.
"There is no such thing. That's just a word that means 'What I'm doing is far too complicated to explain to your poor little mind.'" I might have gone on, but the dragon interrupted me.
No. Magic. It insisted.
"It doesn't exist," I replied, silently daring the dragon to try and prove me wrong. From the way it narrowed its eyes, it seemed ready to do just that. It looked up and focused on the ceiling right above it. After a few moments, a swirling ball of dust gathered there. Then the ball began to glow. It went from red to orange to a brilliant yellow before settling into a soft white glow. The dragon looked back down, but the glowing orb remained, lighting up the cavern that had just begun to slip into darkness.
Light. Magic. I couldn't explain what the dragon just did. Light from nowhere was a pretty convincing argument. But there had to be something else going on. I wrestled with what I just saw for a few more seconds, then decided it wasn't as important as figuring out what else the dragon planned to do with me.
"Fine, maybe it is magic. But what I really want to know is what's going to happen to me after you ask whatever you think is so important. Are you..." I paused for a second to gather my courage before asking the question I'd had since I first saw this dragon. I thought I already knew the answer, but I had to ask anyway. "Are you going to kill me?" I held my breath while I waited for the answer.
The dragon took an uncomfortably long time to respond. No. I breathed a sigh of relief.
"So, you'll let me go?" I asked, hopefully.
No. It growled with some uncertainty.
It doesn't want to kill me or let me go. What other option is there? "So you're just going to keep me here, what, for the rest of my life?" It didn't answer. "If that's your plan, it's not much better than dying. Look at me, I'm broken. I'm in pain. My bones will never heal right on their own. My wounds could easily get infected. I might not ever walk again. I don't want to die, but don't think you're doing me any favors by kidnapping me and keeping me away from the people who can help me."
Helping. The dragon growled. Was it trying to reassure me?
"Ha, ha..." I mocked without mirth. "Yeah, that's funny. I'm positive you don't know a thing about human medicine. And what I need for my leg is expert treatment, maybe even surgery."
The dragon looked a bit disturbed by my mention of surgery. Cutting? It asked.
"Yes, there's often cutting involved in surgery." The dragon stood up and took a few steps forward so it could reach me with its muzzle. It took several long sniffs of my legs while I tensed up more and more the longer its teeth were in such close proximity.
No cutting. It growled firmly when it finally retracted its head and gave my personal space back to me. Helping. Magic.
I shook my head. "Look," I sighed, "Not that I don't appreciate your concern, but going under the knife for a few hours is a small price to pay if it means my legs heal properly. I don't know how you think you can help with your 'magic,' but there's a big difference between that light trick and setting broken bones."
The dragon stared at me for a few seconds without replying, then gave a frustrated snort. Talk useless. Not ready. It laid back down between me and the fire. Come. It commanded, looking at me expectantly.
I felt somewhat inclined to do as it said, but couldn't figure out why. "No, thanks," I replied, distrustful of this inexplicable urge. "I'm fine right here." The dragon growled something I didn't catch in response to that. It sounded frustrated to me.
Come. It commanded again, its golden eyes flashing slightly and its lips curling into the beginning of a snarl. Sleep. Even as my gaze was drawn into the depths of the dragon's eyes once more, the first glint of its teeth reminded me that there was nothing I could do to resist this creature. It could and would force me to do what it wanted if I didn't do it myself. So, I grudgingly dragged myself over to the dragon.
Once I got close enough, it curled its head and tail around, encircling me with its body. Oh, wait. Maybe this is the point. It's smart enough to worry that I might sneak off while it sleeps, so maybe it's making sure I can't go anywhere without alerting it. As it settled into place, it looked up at the floating light on the ceiling. A second later, the light vanished, plunging the cave into darkness.
After the cave was dark, I laid down and focused on my breathing until I was taking slow, regular breaths like a sleeping person. But I had no intention of going right to sleep. Instead, I listened to the dragon's breathing and bided my time until it fell asleep. I needed to take care of a few things, and I figured I'd be able to focus better if I didn't have the creature suspiciously watching every move I made. After several minutes, the dragon shifted a little, and its breathing became more regular. It was asleep. I waited for another count of one hundred, then coughed a few times on purpose. The dragon didn't react at all. I took that to mean I was free to move around a little without disturbing it.
I sat up and looked around at the cave again. There was still a little light from the evening sky filtering in through the opening in the ceiling. There was also some light coming from the smoldering coals behind the silhouette of the sleeping dragon. I paused for a few moments when it suddenly struck me again just how huge the dragon was.
It was curled up around me, but it wasn't actually touching me. One of its forelegs was nearby, and it alone looked to be bigger than I was, about as thick as my chest around the forearm and extending roughly eight feet from the torso. From what I could see of where the limb attached, that had to put the dragon between ten and eleven feet tall at the shoulder when it was standing. Just a freaking huge animal, even before you considered its length. I hadn't gotten a great look at its whole body, but I guessed it was fifty to sixty feet from snout to tail tip. Perhaps even longer. I wondered how big its wings were unfurled. Even though I was still very apprehensive about this dragon and its intentions for me, I had to admit to myself that it was an awe inspiring creature.
I sighed and shook my head, trying to clear away these thoughts. Got to stay focused. It said it's not planning on letting me go. That puts us at odds. I can't just stay here and wait for it to get bored with me. Especially with the war on back in the real world. I had to do everything I could to keep myself alive and on the mend so that when an opportunity to escape presented itself, I'd be able to take it. At present, that meant figuring out everything I could about my surroundings, my captor, and its plans for me. I'd only be able to do anything about what was happening to me if... well, if I could figure out exactly what was happening to me.
I squinted into the darkness and tried to make out the details of the cavern. Unfortunately, the chimney above and the coals didn't really provide much light. There was only enough illumination for me to see the dragon, my own stuff, and the general features of the cave. The only useful information I could glean was a rough guess of the chamber's size: at least a hundred feet across and over twenty five feet to the ceiling, and a general sense that it wasn't entirely natural. Even with the low light and the dragon's bulk obstructing my view, I could see there weren't any limestone formations or piles of rubble to indicate they had been knocked down. I was no geologist, but to my untrained eyes the cave just seemed a little too smooth and a little too large to simply be a gift from nature. There wasn't enough light to reveal anything else about the cave, so I abandoned my survey and turned my attention to myself.
I was feeling very hungry and thirsty since I hadn't eaten or drank all day. I dug out about half of my remaining rations and downed the rest of the water in my canteen. Then while I ate, I thought through everything the dragon had said tonight, straining my memory for any details that might have slipped my attention.
Well first, it had questions for me. They had to be really important for it to go through the trouble of bringing me all the way back here and doing... whatever it was doing to let me understand it. What could it possibly want to know? And why take me, of all people? Just convenience, because I was easy to catch? Or maybe because of the uniform? Whatever it wanted, I just hoped I'd be able to give good answers. I didn't like the thought of what might happen if I couldn't satisfy the dragon's curiosity.
Second up, the dragon claimed to be able to use magic. Now, I considered myself to be a pretty rational person. I normally would have dismissed that kind of claim out of hand, but there was nothing normal about what I'd been through over the last few days. It was a dragon making the claim, and it had definitely done something I couldn't account for to make that light appear. I couldn't just ignore that kind of evidence. There was probably some other explanation but... I allowed myself to speculate. If it really could use magic, then it was almost certainly using it on me. That could explain how it was giving me the ability to understand it. Maybe it also had something to do with those eyes that seemed to physically draw in my gaze whenever I looked directly into them. That does NOT feel normal. And it also said something about helping my injuries with magic. Could it be possible?
A small smile found my lips, and I chuckled softly. Who was I to try and decide what was possible? I glanced at the sleeping dragon curled around me once more, and some of the wonder that had been lingering around the fringes of my mind surfaced again. It was a real life, honest to god dragon! A week ago, hell, two days ago, if someone had told me dragons existed, I'd have laughed in his face. But now, I'd stumbled onto one here in the States of all places, pretty much in my own backyard. It had to be the discovery of the century! My smile faded after a few seconds. Yeah it was amazing, but so was a pride of lions on TV or in a zoo. Everyone thought they were incredible and majestic, but no sane person would want to meet a lion on its own terms out in nature. As I swallowed the last bite of my government-issued dinner, not quite satisfying my hunger but at least taking most of the edge off, I decided to shed my gear and thoroughly check out my injuries. I started by untying my field dressings.
I took my makeshift sling off first, then I gingerly removed the splints on my legs. After they were off, I paused for a moment to just breathe. Even touching the areas around my injuries to untie a few knots turned the deep aches into fresh, sharp pain. I waited until the throbbing subsided a bit before I began again.
The next piece I removed was my flight vest. It was heavy and awkward, weighed down with all the different equipment and supplies I'd been relying on to keep me alive up until then. There was no way I could extricate myself from it with any semblance of comfort, and I had to stop a few times while slipping it down my left arm to bite my collar and quietly curse the pain away. But once it was off, my battered ribs actually felt a lot better without the extra weight pressing on them. Now for the bad part.
I looked down at my boots with distaste. Getting them off was going to hurt a lot. It would probably even exacerbate whatever was wrong with my legs. But leaving those boots on wasn't an option either. Having them on twenty four hours a day had to be bad for my circulation, and it was only a matter of time before my feet started rotting in the filth trapped down there. Nope, no way around this. They've got to come off. Now.
Untying them didn't cause any issues, but I waited to do anything else until I'd gathered another mouthful of my flight suit's fabric between my teeth. Then I took a deep breath and carefully loosened the sides of my right boot. I groaned and chomped into my improvised gag while my ankle burned like someone was driving a red hot knife into it. Once I got the boot as loose as I could, I tried to pull it off very gently. But the first twinge from my ankle made me flinch and jerk the boot right off. It flew out of my hands while I fell onto my back, on the verge of passing out. Ohhhh yeah, that hurt like shit, alright. Don't think my foot is supposed to click like that either. Well... just one more to go.
After a few more moments laying there, hoping the throbbing in my right foot would stop, I sat up and got to work on the other boot. Thankfully, my left ankle wasn't hurt anywhere near as bad as the right. I just made sure to not touch or move my shin and the left boot came off with no major problems. I leaned back and let loose a sigh of relief. Then I noticed the dragon's golden eye was open.
Even in the darkness of the cave, I could see it clearly, almost like the eye was emitting a dim glow of its own. The dragon was just lying there, silently watching me. I guessed I'd been louder than I thought. After a few seconds, it raised its head and brought its muzzle close to my legs. It sniffed each of my legs a few times while I sat perfectly still, holding my breath. It looked me in the eye again and growled something to the effect of 'Sorry for your pain.' Then it gave my left leg a quick lick before laying back down. Sleep, it said, closing its eyes once more. I laid down and did the same. But I still didn't fall asleep right away. I was too scared. And this time it wasn't the dragon I was worried about.
It was back. For just a few seconds, in a corner above and behind the dragon's head, I saw a shadow blacker than midnight hovering, watching me. Hunting me. I hadn't seen it while I was awake since it first appeared, right after the crash. Its reappearance could only mean one thing: I was still in terrible danger. I opened my eyes to take one final look at the dragon before closing them again. As if I needed another reminder.
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
"Wake up."
My eyes shot open while I sat up. I looked around for the speaker, wondering how she managed to find me. But I didn't see anyone besides the dragon. "What are you looking for?" the voice asked, sounding puzzled.
"Um, you," I replied, equally perplexed. "Where the hell are you?"
"Wait, you can't see me anymore?" I looked all around again, but there was still no one here but me and the dragon.
"What do you mean 'anymore'? I still haven't seen you. Where are you?"
"Oh! I get it. You think another human found its way in here," the voice said with a chuckle. I gulped and returned my attention to the dragon still coiled part way around me. "Yes, that's right. You're finally hearing my real voice. Maybe now I'll get some answers out of you." My jaw dropped. Somehow, I wasn't hearing growling at all anymore. It... She sounded just like a person speaking English. "Oh, come on, don't act so surprised. You've known I can talk since yesterday." She paused a moment while I continued to gawk. "Well, are you just going to sit there all day with your mouth hanging open? I brought you here to talk, so say something."
I closed my mouth and swallowed nervously, then stammered, "Um, yeah, I uh... I guess..." I shut up and took a breath, then started again. "I knew you could communicate with me, but I wasn't expecting you to start just speaking English out of nowhere. Excuse me for being surprised."
The dragon thumped her tail on the ground beside me and let out a short laugh. "So I sound just like a human to you right now? Then I performed the spell right after all." The dragon seemed quite pleased with herself. "Now," she said, calming down, "I've got some questions for you. And don't try deceiving me, because I can tell if you're lying." I couldn't decide whether to take her word on that or not. I was still bewildered that this creature was talking like a person. "Alright, first I want to know how you are able to see me."
"What do you mean?" I asked, caught off guard by the question. "Why shouldn't I be able to see you?"
"Because you shouldn't. The Veil should be hiding me," she replied definitively, as if that should be obvious. "No human is supposed to be able to see a dragon anymore. So how can you?"
"I have no idea what you're talking about."
"Were you sent here to find me or another dragon?"
"No, I wasn't sent here at all. If you really can tell if I'm lying, then my word should be enough proof for you," I challenged, already tired of these ridiculous questions.
The dragon narrowed her eyes with suspicion. "You don't sound like you're lying, but humans are said to be extremely crafty and clever. Maybe you know how to lie to a dragon."
"No, no," I interrupted. She's definitely bluffing about the lie-detector thing. "I'm not good at lying. Don't even try it that often. Besides, does it make any sense that I was trying to find you when I'm hurt this bad? I can't even walk right now, never mind trying to fight something like you."
"Calm down," she said, some exasperation creeping into her voice. "No, I don't really think you're lying to me; I was just thinking out loud. But your ignorance doesn't help either of us. I need to know how you are able to see me. And you are not leaving until I get my answer."
I flopped back down, wincing as the sudden move strained my ribs, and stared at the ceiling. Yeah, that seems real fair. You won't let me go until you get an answer I can't fucking give. "Well," I spat sarcastically, "I hope I don't drop dead while you're figuring this out. I told you last night, I'll never heal right without help from doctors."
"You know," she returned with a hint of irritation, "there are a lot of dragons who would take offense at that kind of tone. And others who would have killed you as soon as they realized you could see them." I sat up and snapped my eyes onto the dragon's at that. "There's been enough bad blood between humans and dragons throughout the ages to fill an ocean, and many dragons still hold a grudge against your entire race. You're lucky I'm not one of them." She paused a moment to let that sink in. "I'm keeping you here because I need to know why the Veil doesn't affect you. I also need to be sure that you won't tell any other humans about dragons before I let you leave. But I am not cruel. I won't leave you suffering. I told you last night that I'm using magic to help your body heal much faster than it normally would. I meant what I said. Overall, I think you were rather fortunate to run into me. A little gratitude wouldn't go amiss."
OK. New plan. Mollify. Word of the day until I get back to reality. Just keep the giant fire-breathing lizard from getting upset so it doesn't roast, squash, or eat me. "Alright. I guess I'll give you that one. Definitely better that I ran into such a level-headed dragon instead of an angry one or a bear." I paused as I noticed a circular injury on the dragon's neck. A few of the dark green scales were missing, and the lighter green skin beneath looked swollen and angry. The events of our meeting played themselves over in my head as I recognized the bullet wound. I quickly scanned the rest of the dragon's body, counting about half a dozen similar injuries scattered across her forest green hide, and an unexpected sense of genuine gratefulness sparked up in me. "And thank you for not killing me after I shot you. That was more mercy than a lot of people would have shown."
The dragon blinked to acknowledge my thanks before replying. "Well, I won't say I wasn't thinking about it." She gestured toward one of her wounds. "These aren't serious, but do you have any idea how hard it is for most creatures to even leave a mark on a full-grown dragon? I'll put it this way; you certainly proved how dangerous a human can be, even an injured one. But as soon as I saw you, I could tell you were just scared. And I didn't think you deserved to die for reacting like any creature does to being trapped."
"Woah, um... OK," I muttered, surprised that the enormous, dangerous, and obviously predatory creature that had kidnapped me was capable of that level of empathy. "So, it wasn't because of your questions: finding out why I can see you?"
"No, that's why I brought you here. If I had sensed that you were attacking me out of malice instead of fear, I wouldn't have been so restrained." She took a look behind herself before continuing. "Alright, we aren't anywhere near done talking yet, but there is something important I have to do now. And there are two things I want to address before I leave. First, rules. I only have two for you right now. Follow them, and I swear you'll be safe with me. First rule: do not run away from me. I've got your scent; you won't get far if you try to escape, and it's dangerous out there for you in your condition without someone looking out for you. Do you understand?" I nodded. "Say it."
"I understand." The dragon snorted and rolled her eyes.
"Of course you understand. But you have no intention of following that rule, do you?" What else could she possibly expect from me? Regardless of her decision to spare me, she was still planning to keep me here whether I liked it or not.
"Would you just agree to that kind of demand? Of course I'm not gonna just let you keep me here as long as you please. But," I added, quickly coming up with a compromise, "as long as you're serious about making me heal faster, I can promise you that I won't try to escape until I'm better." Yeah, great idea, Adrian. First question the dragon's good nature, then argue about her rules. So much for 'mollify.'
The dragon considered my offer with narrowed eyes. "Fine," she said after a few tense moments. "That will do for the time being. But don't think I'm done with this just because I'm letting it rest." Her voice went very soft next and she lowered her head so that she was looking me right in the eyes. "My second rule is that you are not allowed to go near the fire-bed. I'm not worried about your safety; I'm aware humans are well acquainted with fire. This rule is for my own reasons which are none of your business." The dragon's voice picked up an edge and steadily progressed into a snarl. "But I have one reason you should follow this rule that I think you'll appreciate. Seeing or scenting you near that fire is one of the few things you could do right now to make me angry enough to kill you." Her golden eyes were as hard as diamonds, and her lips were curled just enough to reveal a tiny glint of white. I had no trouble whatsoever taking her threat seriously.
"OK. I won't go near that fire. I swear." And I meant it.
"Good," she replied, visibly relaxing. Strange. What was so important about that fire pit? "Then there's just one more thing I'd like to know," she continued, her voice taking a much more light-hearted tone. "What is your name? We haven't introduced ourselves yet and that seems rather rude, regardless of our circumstances." From threatening me to exchanging niceties in the span of one sentence. Reminds me of the Academy.
"I'm Adrian. 1st Lieutenant Adrian Johnson."
"I am Heyshaan-Aneaserrah. You can call me Anea."
***** ***** ***** ***** *****
Anea was only gone for a little over an hour, but that gave me plenty of time for a thorough check of my injuries. I found evidence that she was telling the truth when she said she would help my wounds heal. My cuts and scrapes looked over a week old instead of just a few days; some of the smaller ones had disappeared completely, not even leaving scars. And while I couldn't tell whether my broken bones were getting any better yet, what I'd seen with my less serious injuries had given me reason to hope. I thought I might even heal better under this dragon's care than I would among human doctors. But that could have been hoping for too much. After all, it was still a miracle I had even survived my crash in the first place.
Anyway, after checking my wounds, I refilled my canteen from the pool of water tucked away in a corner on the back wall of the cavern. I made sure to keep well clear of the fire pit while dragging myself around, and again added disinfectant to the water before drinking. I eyed the bottle, trying to estimate how long my supply would last. Probably a month, plus or minus a week. I only needed a few drops for each canteen, but the bottle was pretty small in the first place. I had to hope it would last until I got back to civilization because I did not like the idea of risking dysentery every time I took a drink. Then, while waiting for the disinfectant to do its job, I gathered up all of my stuff and arranged it in a single pile against the wall opposite the fire. That took long enough that when I sat up beside the pile my water was ready. I decided to split what was left of my rations into two meals; one for right then and the other for later that day. I had just started eating when I heard the dragon returning.
Anea made quite a racket on the way through the tunnel. I looked up and was surprised to see her emerging from the tunnel tail first. I watched with a calm curiosity that defied my usual apprehension at being so close to the giant predator. She backed into the main cavern one plodding step at a time until her head came into view, jaws clamped around the trunk of an uprooted tree. Ah. So that's what was making all that noise. The dragon pulled the tree into the center of the chamber, then released the trunk and ripped off a few of the limbs with her claws and teeth. She tossed them onto the fire pit, then proceeded to break up the rest of the tree and pile the pieces in a corner.
I kept watching for a few minutes and soon found myself brimming with questions. Now that I knew this dragon could talk, and I was fairly sure she wasn't interested in hurting me, I hoped she might explain a few things to me. Whether she knew it or not, she'd called everything I thought I knew about the world into question with her appearance and her outlandish abilities. I felt desperate to start making sense of these things and figuring out how they fit into the world I knew, but how to broach such a conversation? "You know," I began casually, "I'd have thought that a creature that can breathe fire wouldn't have much use for a fireplace. It's a lot of work to keep a fire going for a long time."
The dragon glanced up at me and dryly replied, "If you expect me to explain my actions, you'll have to actually convince me to do it. Don't even try to use tricks to get information. You are not good at it." She went back to work, and I shrugged and took another bite of my rations.
"Fine," I huffed to myself through my food. "Didn't really expect that to work anyway." I swallowed, listening to the fresh wood hiss and crack as its sap boiled in the heat of the embers. Of course, she had brought me here to answer her questions, not the other way around. She had no reason to tell me about herself and whatever world she came from. But then, she hadn't told me not to ask about such things. Perhaps it was just the strange fire pit she didn't want to discuss. "I've got another question. It's been driving me nuts since I first laid eyes on you. How do you exist?"
"What do you mean, how do I exist?" she countered, not looking up.
"I mean, I know a little about dragons. I knew what I was facing the second I saw you. But dragons are supposed to be myths. Only real in stories and legends. And you say you aren't the only one. Have you been hiding out in the wilds for centuries, or did you go somewhere and just come back? It doesn't make sense that more people don't know about you if dragons really exist."
The dragon glanced between me and what was left of the tree a few times, then sighed and dragged the whole thing off to the side. "So, that's all we are to humans now?" she asked as she returned to the center of the cave and settled down in front of me. "Legends? Myths? I suppose that was the point, but it still seems wrong." She stared down at me and crossed her forepaws. "I guess it's time for that talk I promised you. I'm sure you have plenty of questions you want to ask me, so I'll propose a deal. You answer my questions as fully as you can and I'll do the same for yours, as long as I don't think sharing the knowledge would be dangerous. Agreed?" Answers for answers. Sounds fair.
"Agreed."