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Deep in her lair, Cill lay on her blanket, ignoring her mother's attempts to call her.

She felt a sort of icy calm descend on her as she thought about what she was going to do, she had to face it, and she felt ... something towards this human and her mother's words had burned into her mind and she could not escape the force of them

Looking down at herself, she felt her jaw muscles clench as she recalled how he had felt pressed against her chest... She had felt something too.

Her father had probably warned James off and threatened him with dismemberment if he ever went back near her again. Dashing a tear from her snout angrily she stalked to the door of her lair, was she even allowed to choose her friends? Let alone her mates! That thought stopped her in her tracks ... was there someone else she could ask for advice? Someone neutral, who would not perhaps be so quick to judge or condemn her?

She tapped her teeth with a talon; her father wasn't the only one who knew the elders. Stepping to the corner of the cave she quickly scratched her travel runes and thought of the one old dragon she could trust., there was a small flash and silently she vanished leaving only a small swirl of dust on the floor.

Marre sat in his lair, the ancient dragon gently tapping an alembic as it sat above a violet flame before returning to his scroll.

He felt the travel spell form within the circle moments before it completed and nodded to himself in satisfaction.

"Hello, Cill... I've been expecting you..." walking over he looked at the depressed dragoness and took her into a hug. "There now, I hear you've been giving your parents cause for grief again".

Cill looked up at him and nodded, hugging him back "What did mama tell you?" she asked while looking round the familiar dusty room with its racks of scrolls and mysterious jars and bottles.

"That you had chosen to totally embarrass all dragon-kind and willfully ignore her advice as well as confuse a poor human so completely he is even now being forced to listen to your father drone at him", said Marre, holding out a large steaming mug "Have a drink"

Cill took the mug and sniffed at it "What is it?" She asked suspiciously, knowing the elders penchant for herbal experimentation.

"Merely a kind of tea, I find it calming, now... Come and tell me what has been going on", he strode slowly to an anteroom, laying himself out on a long contoured lounger and waited until she had done the same.

"Did your mother tell you what the council had decided?" asked Marre, sipping his cup of tea and watching her closely.

Cill took a nervous slurp of her tea and shook her head "I got angry and told her to leave us alone", she mumbled, a little ashamed of her outburst, hatchlings being brought up to respect their parents.

Marre nodded and idly tapped a talon on the lounger, "So you didn't hear her say the council had decided to let you keep seeing this human then", he murmured, his eyes glittering as he watched her closely, seeing the uncertainly ripple across her silvery hide.

Cill's head jerked up swiftly, the young dragoness not having learnt how to hide her reactions. "They what?" she gaped at him... "But..." unable to complete the sentence her mouth closed with a snap.

"Yes...it seems the elders in their wisdom...some of them anyway, saw the truth in his heart and that he not only is strongly attracted to you but has managed to give you the same feelings about him.. Is that right?"

Her cheekruffs hot, Cill nodded, sipping the tea again. "But it's so silly", she mumbled, "Mama can't stand the idea, she almost spoilt everything"

Marre nodded "That is the nature of mothers; she does not want to see you hurt, either physically or emotionally. She rushes to her hatchlings side to see the male she boasts of and instead finds a nasty sticky human. Hardly what she was expecting, I think she was rather restrained actually considering she could have toasted him on the spot"

Cill blinked, listening as Marre continued, "She will do what Nokala says, he is a sensible drake and even though I think he is unsure he knows you are strong enough to handle a human. At least physically..."

He leaned his head closer to hers "Emotionally however, you are immature in your dealings with males... he may amuse you for a time, then you tire of him... He makes a nuisance of himself and you hurt him... and you can oh so easily rend him... can you heal him?... can you handle holding in your instincts to claw him when he annoys you?"

Marre sipped and put his mug down with a soft clink on the table, "Dragons get very physical in their relationships, especially during mating. I am sure you have heard your parents at times. Your human cannot do this, this is why they cover themselves in fake scales and make talons of steel for their inadequate paws",

Cill listened wide-eyed, surely she would never harm James, and then she remembered how easily she had picked him up and how fragile he had felt against her.

"Then I shall help protect him", she declared, "I do not see him as a...a diversion... but something more..."

She ached to tell the elder that she wanted to grab James and carry him back to her lair and couple with him until they both could not move anymore. She suspected the wily old elder could sense this though.

Marre's talons lightly tapped on the mug, "And of course there's your magic... weak as yet, but growing all the time... you'll need training and more scrolls if you are to control it"

Cill nodded and finished her tea, feeling more relaxed than she had for some time.

"Have you been learning your runes?' Marre asked. Cill nodded eagerly.

"So what is the next spell you would master then?', he asked with a grin, half knowing the answer already.

"The spell of invisibility Master", she said, grinning widely.

"Difficult... but with practice... you should be able to use it in few days"

Marre tried to keep from grinning back. Ahh, he thought, life was surely going to be very interesting for the poor unsuspecting human in the future. Taking a deeper look at Cill, he could see she was coming into season, it was only a week or so away, by which time both the human and dragoness would be frantic, oh yes he laughed silently to himself, this was going to be fun!

James found it difficult to concentrate on his training the next day. His head was spinning with questions and his situation as a small part of him cursed his bad luck of getting involved with a dragoness, while the other larger and noisier part more often than not shouted it down and kept whispering in his ear about her sleek shape, her elegant head, her warm breasts...

"Damn!" He exclaimed as he tripped on a cobblestone and fell backwards landing painfully on his rump while trying to avoid a blow from his opponent. He flushed as the others laughed at him as he stood up, rubbing his backside with a rueful grin.

"I'm sure battles aren't all fought in tidy courtyards with only small stones to trip on" he commented to Joe who grinned back at him.

"Well your right there lad. But soil is usually softer to land on"

His face suddenly turned serious and he beckoned James over.

"Now lad", he murmured, "Ya've lost all concentration, ya as clumsy as hell and ya keep lookin' round as if the de'il himself were chasing ya"

He gave the novice a poke on the shoulder 'Come an' tell me wha' that deaths-head man who spoke to ya last nigh' was on about.. Have ya been a'diddlin' his daughter? The talk of it's all round the Keep"

James let his breath out in a whoosh "Ok... I'll tell you what I think it's safe to tell you."

Joe's eyebrow rose a little, odd way of putting it he thought to himself.

"No, I haven't been out tupping his daughter, he... actually came to tell me it was alright to keep seeing her though"

Joe frowned "A man like that doesn't seem one to be crossed easily"

James nodded "You should see his wife"

Folding his arms, Joe leant against the wall. "So now... when did you meet this lass then?" he asked.

James hesitated - he did not want everyone to know about Cill's lake.

"Remember the night of the party, how I shared those geese with a traveler?" he said carefully.

Joe thought 'Ahh- a wandering lass...' he shook his head slowly "Well, remember Sir Tarrant's rules lad, you don't want to be riskin' your health diddlin' some woman with who knows wha' in her crotch"

He blinked as James threw back his head and laughed, "Oh it's unlikely I'll ever get that chance... But one day, I think you should meet her, and then you'll understand"

He flourished his sword in a cavalier fashion and went back to join the training again leaving Joe with a bemused smiled on his face.

Cill arrived back at her lair with a scroll tucked under her arm, trying not to tremble she unrolled it on her small table and tried to read the runes.

Tracing them with a talon, she murmured to herself. "Nauthiz...Jera...Hagalaz"

Feeling a tingle in her paw, she felt her magic gather. Carefully she lifted her talon, not wanting to risk activating the spell, she practiced the final component in her mind "Rash'e muul^o kashka" until she felt she had it down perfectly, unrolling the scroll she found the deactivating phrase and repeated it to herself silently until she had it burned into her brain.

It would take some time for her to gather the energy required to attempt the spell properly without exhausting herself in the process,but she felt she had gained a powerful aid in her plans for her human, grinning she rolled the scroll back up and went to wrap herself in her blanket and sleep.

James ate his dinner slowly; he knew Nokala would be waiting for him on the battlements and he wanted to get his mind in order before speaking to him. He did not think the human-dragon would suddenly rip him to shreds if he asked nicely. Then he suddenly thought of something, if her father could appear as a human... Could Cill do the same?

It would certainly be easier yet he also realized she knew little of humans; her father seemed to be more knowledgeable, even riding a horse. He scratched his chin slowly, rubbing the stubble there as he thought.

Looking over at the other table, he saw the other novitiates had their heads down and were muttering amongst themselves.

They caught his glance and grew silent...some throwing a resentful glance his way, he did not know why; after all, he was the one in trouble here.

Nokala waited patiently on the battlement. He knew the turmoil the human was going through and could sense it partially; Dragons only invaded the minds of sentients' rarely as it was considered the height of bad manners amidst dragon kind. Some thoughts should not be known.

Nokala grinned; he would love to know what the human was really thinking. The hints he had picked up indicated the decision to keep visiting Cill had already been made, no matter the consequences.

Tugging his cloak around him in the cool air he saw James make his way from the mess and slowly walk up the steps to the battlements, time to appear the sullen father again, Nokala thought, have to make sure this boys got the guts for when he realizes he's really in trouble.

James coughed lightly as he approached.

"Well?" said Nokala, folding his arms slowly "What do you want to know?"

James shuffled his feet slowly, suddenly embarrassed as it reminded him of his own father's expression when he had done something stupid.

"Cill is young isn't she?" he asked tentatively.

Nokala nodded, "She is about fifty human years old"

James blinked..."Fifty?" he said, trying to keep the surprise from his voice.

"That's about the equivalent of eighteen human years to dragons," stated Nokala calmly.

James nodded again; "Can she turn into a human like you?" he asked while trying to keep the eagerness out of his voice.

"No, not yet, as she is young her magic is weak, but growing stronger every day", Nokala stated flatly

"She can do magic? Has... has she used any on me?" he asked, wondering if some spell had been cast upon him that was causing him to think what he had been thinking in the depths of the night.

Grinning Nokala shook his head "No, and if she had I'd have spanked her so hard her tail would glow, she doesn't have the power to do that ... yet" he finished.

James tried to find a delicate way to phrase the question that preyed on him most "What could happen if she and I um . . . found a way... To... er..." he stammered and flushed.

Nokala leaned down closer "We don't know... that is something you will have to find out for yourselves," He murmured with a predatory grin. "You don't have fireproof armor do you"

James paled but managed to pull himself together enough to stand up fully. "No, why would I need it?" he asked cautiously.

"Because if you do manage to mate with her, you become part of our Clan and her mothers... that will cause friction". The dragon-human's grin could not grow any wider, though his teeth seemed to be unusually pointy.

James nodded and gulped, but in seeing the grin suddenly felt better, despite his fears he realized he had a friend in this being, or at least a neutral observer.

Standing up straight, he took a deep breath. "I should like to meet your family properly sometime, If only to reassure your mate I have no intention of hurting her daughter, I feel a strong bond with her and though I don't know how she feels about me in certain regards I'd like to keep seeing her".

He let out his breath and looked at Nokala who nodded approvingly and spoke. "There is one other I would like you to meet soon, an elder of the dragon council"

James blinked "You have a council?" he asked then realized how foolish he sounded.

"Oh yes" came the amused reply, "A council, a judiciary, and law keepers, I would not put you in front of the council yet. Many of them are furious at what they perceive as an affront to the race of dragons. There hasn't been a dragon killed by a human for several centuries now since we learnt how to protect ourselves through magic, but Cill's mother still remembers those times as do many others"

He gave James a cheerful slap on the shoulder "Oh, Cill was most impressed with the gold. We dragons are very acquisitive and if you can provide the odd gift of precious metal or jewel, it'll mean a lot to her "

James nodded "My father provides me with a regular stipend while I am training here so I'll find something nice for her" Then he remembered something else, "She said she had a lair and that it was looking empty, Ill try and find some nice things for it too"

Nokala blinked, he didn't say that helping build and furnish the nest was one of the final things a drake did before claiming and mating with their chosen female, at least when they were able to.

"That's a good idea son", he chuckled softly, liking this young human even more. It was almost if he was a dragon stuck in a human's body. He could not wait to see how Marre reacted to him.

James thanked Nokala for his advice and asked. "Shall I see you again?"

"Oh I shall be around, though likely not in this form. I find it uncomfortable and constraining"

Nokala flexed his arms as though he had wings, "If you need me... in an emergency or for advice, blow on this" and reaching into his black leather jerkin he pulled out a small silver whistle. "Humans can't hear it, but dragons can and this one is tuned to me personally," he offered the whistle to James who took it with awe.

"Oh, and I look a lot like Cill in my own form ...Only a lot larger"

James offered his hand in farewell. "Thank you Nokala, I hope we can be friends and that I don't disappoint you or Cill"

Nokala gravely shook his hand "We shall see, we are all taking a big chance on the pair of you"

James nodded and turned back to the stairs, his head full and his heart elated, now all he had to do was find some way to get the time to go back to the lake!

Nokala watched him walk from the battlements and sighed, he would make a good son-in-law he thought, if he was able to survive mating, Carlina, and those dragons who would toast him alive if they got the chance.

Wandering back down to the stables he saddled his horse, who rolled a white-rimmed eyeball at him.

"Are you done yet" it complained forcefully, "I'm sick of carrots dammit"

Nokala laughed and patted his friend on the snout "But your so cute as a horse Moona"

The horse snorted derisively "Next time you get to be the horse moron. I have heard some interesting tidbits of gossip while you've been cooing over your future son in law. He hasn't got a good reputation you know, flighty, irresponsible and he apparently has a human girlfriend back home... are you sure you want him near Cill?"

Nokala nodded and threw the saddle over Moona's back "I'm sure, there's something that's drawing them together and I don't want to be in the way when they realize it"

Moona snorted, "Come off it... You can't see that pasty-faced whelp actually trying to... you can... cant you?" he sounded shocked as they trotted down towards the gate.

"Our race is declining Moona, I've a feeling that we may have to sacrifice certain things and entertain new ideas to revitalize it," Nokala murmured as they passed the gate and went out into the forest night.