'whoa hold your horses. What do you think you're doing?' Rhiannon asked Morgan who had just entered the cafeteria with an unknown young man. He had spotted Rhiannon who was amicably talking to a guy. A handsome guy. Then he had snapped. Rhiannon could virtually see the moment Morgan had switched to his 'black-prince-mode' how she called his instinct-triggered jerk-mode. Not that it happened often, but when it happened it was bothersome to get him back to think normally. She sighed internally. That was going be fun. Well not really, obviously.

Ethan on her other side wasn't behaving any better. As if she was some frail princess unable to speak and fend for her own. Those blasted idiots. She was no-one's possession. Rhiannon looked at the two heroes who stared in each other’s eyes as if to kill the other by sheer will-power. This scene reminded her why she had never wanted a possessive boyfriend. Envy and pride a deadly mixture. But what could she do besides try to talk some sense into them? She couldn't even understand the situation. Where did their claim come from?

Sure, Morgan was a dragon, a royal dragon at it, but he was mostly rather relaxed compared to those dragon-knights he was training and commanding. Those were real jerks. Thinking about it he mostly radiated self-confidence and an amused calm when it came to situations like this. Some of his knights had tried to flirt with her in their usual, well draconic way, quite obvious. He had simply raised his eyebrow and his sheer presence had shooed them away. Well, none of them even tried to put up a resistance. Ethan on the other hand did.

She looked at him. Brown hair and eyes, perfectly human, but able to withstand the pressure Morgan sent towards him. Admirable, stupid, but admirable. She had only known him today since it was his first day at this university, he had just changed his study place due to this university's better research-faculty. They had several courses together and shared the same lunch-break. Her female friends were working in the university's veterinary clinic at the moment to make some money. The living expenses were quite high in this city and if they wanted to keep up a certain standard of living, they had to job to pay for it. That was why she had agreed to take him with her to the cafeteria, where she was to meet up with Morgan. She never had shown any interest in being more than friends, especially not on their first day of meeting. Rhiannon had wanted them to get to know each other, since they were quite similar in humour and interests. Well, it seemed they shared more than that. She raised her eyebrows, crossed her arms in front of her chest and sat back, looking slightly annoyed at their duel.

Both of them did not show any signs of backing down. Behaving like ridiculous kindergarteners. Well, that wasn't quite fair towards the kindergarteners. Those were usually fighting over things they could actually possess. The two young men were fighting over her. Which made her angry at both of them. They were causing a riot over a 'thing' none of them could ever own.

But since none of them seemed to be inclined to end their idiotic fight and talk to her, she looked at the young man Morgan had brought. He was tall, handsome and obviously a clan-member, though none of the dragon-clan. She guessed he was a phoenix, though she never had seen one. At least not knowingly. Her dragon-eyes registered every aspect of his altered physics. His hair, if one wanted to call the hair-formed micro-feathers hair, was snow-white. The facial structures and bird-of-prey-eyes did the rest to give him away. Right now, he seemed everything but comfortable. Rhiannon sighed and shot Morgan an annoyed gaze for him being such a jerk and ignore his company.

'Hi I am Rhiannon. Please take a seat. Those two jerks seem unable to participate in normal conversation, let's wait until there thinking-process is relocated to a higher place again.' she introduced herself. The phoenix laughed at her remark and sat down on an empty seat opposite Rhiannon's.

'My name is Mark Stern. I am belonging to the Teine's clan, obviously. I can't believe I am saying that but if those higher ups catch me at leaving it out, they will lynch me.' he introduced himself only half-joking. Rhiannon felt he was not as lucky with his clan as she was, Morgan's momentarily jerkiness aside. He seemed wary and uncomfortable in his own skin. She felt sorry for him.

'Don't you think those two are quite alike? I mean stubborn, annoying and seemingly deaf?' Rhiannon asked raising her voice at the last part. 'I guess it was dumb to think they could behave themselves like reasonable human-beings. Dumb to think they could get along since they share most of their interests.' she added unfazed by Morgan’s low growl, which was on a frequency so low that it became inaudible for human-ears. It carried a warning and it made Rhia wanting to slap him. She was fed up by his behaviour.

'Maybe I should tell your mother about your childish, animalistic behaviour, you ill-mannered jerk.' she answered him sending her thought directly into his brain.

Rhiannon didn't know whether it was the mentioning of his mother or the rest of her harsh remark, that made him snap out of his mode, but he shook himself like a wet dog and his eyes returned to their normal appearance in human-form. An anxious expression formed on his face when he looked into her eyes. He lowered his head and raised his shoulders as if to avert a blow. Nothing remained of the juggernaut he had been moments ago. His whole posture radiated so much guilty consciousness that Rhiannon had to force herself not to hug him.

Ethan unsure how to react to this sudden change in behaviour treat from one foot to the other. Then he sank back on his seat and buried his face in his hands. Seemingly just as aware as Morgan was just how idiotic his behaviour had been. Rhiannon smiled and blinked at the astounded Mark, who looked flabbergasted at the two idiots, who had been moments ago facing each other in open war.

'what did you do?' he mouthed. 'Nothing special. I just reminded him of his standing.' Rhiannon answered laughingly. 'Now heads up, guys. Let's eat, we don't have all day for your idiotic behaviour and at least Mark and me want to practice a more civilized form of conversation.' she released the remaining tension and left the two embarrassed young men a way out. A chance they used immediately offering to fetch something to eat for all of them. 'Please go ahead.' Rhiannon smiled at the sudden eagerness.

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'Do you really think it is commendable to leave these two alone?' Mark asked as they stormed towards the buffet.

'We will see. But I don't think they will do something stupid. They are both intelligent, even though it didn't seem that way just now.' Rhiannon laughed at his remark.

'Quite impressive to withstand Morgan’s mental pressure by the way. It is not a small feat to do so. Most clan-members cannot. He is a huge black dragon, don't forget. Ethan's mind-barrier has got to be quite impressive.' she added and watched Morgan and Ethan return with their food, still uneasy but less tense.

'As if one could ever forget.’ Mark mumbled. He had felt the dragon’s pressure since the moment they had met. His phoenix protected him quite effectively, but still. Even whilst Morgan had hidden dragon’s his presence, he felt like a huge shadow was lurking next to him. The moment Morgan got agitated he felt like his feathers were ruffled by the beat of huge wings and he felt indeed quite relieved that he was not in the focus of the dragon's ire. The only thing more impressing than the black dragon's possessiveness next to him was the blue dragon's annoyance that could only be felt for a small moment. Right after none of the present dared to invoke her ire any further.

'I guess she didn't even know just how much power she just radiated.' Mark thought to himself and made a mental note never to mess with Rhiannon. Since he would not only face the blue dragon's fury but Morgan's, too, if he read the signs, he was sending correctly. The black-prince had been jealous at a young man taking to Rhiannon to the point of snapping into his dragon-instincts. And her gaze told the rest of the story. Ethan stood no chance. Mark only wondered when they would finally gather the guts to talk to each other. It would make things much simpler. He sighed and rolled his eyes.

They a nice lunch together, even Ethan and Morgan managed to joke and chat as if nothing had happened. The food was surprisingly good and they planned to meet each other at the same time the day after. Everything went well until Ethan went to the toilet.

'Guys I have to go to the toilet right now, would you please watch over my stuff, while I'm gone?' he asked. 'sure, no problem.' Mark answered and tugged Ethan's rucksack nearer to his feet. They chatted on but after some time Rhiannon asked 'Uhm, don't you think he should be back by now? I mean it's been a while right now.' 'Thought so, too.' Morgan said and stood up and ordered 'You guys stay here. I will check if he is alright.'

After two minutes Rhiannon heard his voice in her mind. 'Pack up and come over here. Don't be too obvious. Tell Mark we've got our first hint.' She did as she was told and saw Mark tense up slightly as she mentioned the hint. They cleared the table and took all their stuff with them as they headed towards the toilets. Avoiding any sign of haste.

When they arrived, they saw that Morgan was in an empty room besides the toilets. He had sealed it with a simple sight-barrier, which Rhiannon enforced upon entering using a quickly drawn rune.

Morgan kneeled on the ground supporting an unnaturally pale Ethan.

'What has happened?' Rhiannon asked as they went nearer. 'I found him like this. He is wearing this silver ring right now; he didn't wear one when he left for the toilet. His scent is changing. Barely human more like one of us.' Morgan explained and shrugged helplessly. 'Can't take the ring of his finger, right now. I tried but it's somehow connected to his flesh, just like the ring of this serene was.'

Mark groaned. 'Shit. He doesn't seem all-too-good, does he? Is the change supposed to look like this? I mean we've got to die, but I heard other clans don't...' he asked and looked at the black-prince.

'No, the transformation should not like this. It is supposed to be a slow and smooth process. He looks like one of ours who didn't get enough blood for the transformation. Like his life-force was sucked away without means to replenish it.' Morgan answered worriedly.

'I have called Merlin and Miriam. If he is becoming one of us, I guess the know best what to do, to save his life.' Rhiannon told them. 'Good idea. I would have done it myself, but even calling you across the room, made him wither faster.' Morgan nodded thankfully.

'You are sharing your life-force? You know just how dangerous that can be?' Rhia asked worriedly.

'I know but, there is no other way. None of you can, since you are not done with merging yet. A chick and a hatchling, that's what you are at the moment.' Morgan answered in a hoarse voice.

'Call the department, Mark. They got to know we've got a hint.' Morgan instructed Mark who hadn't moved since entering the room. He called Lisa and John directly. Both of them assured them they were on their way.

'We've got to leave this place for a quieter location.' Rhiannon stated and opened a portal in the wall of the little room they were in. 'Where to?' Morgan asked. 'The old horse surgery-room. It is not often used these days. Just follow me.' she answered and tossed their rucksacks through the gate. Afterwards she transformed into her dragon-form. She instructed Mark to jump up and to place Morgan and Ethan on her back, whilst securing them. Then she crossed the portal.

They put Morgan and Ethan on the huge operating table and waited for help to come. Rhiannon was exhausted by using the portal-spell that used existing fold in space to operate but drew on one’s life-force whilst stabilizing it. It was much more costly than for example an invisibility-spell that only bended the light around a certain object. It did tire but in comparison to harnessing the sheer power of an ever-changing space fold it was nothing. None the less it had to be done. They would have never been able to transport to semi-conscious students across the campus, even invisible.

'Everything okay?' Mark asked worriedly 'You don't look much better than those two.' he added when he saw her sliding down the into a sitting position.

'Don't worry it's just the drain. Space doesn't like being harnessed.' she answered him in a tired tone.

The next moment another portal opened and Merlin and Miriam exited.

'Doesn't look all-too-good. I really hoped to never see one of those again.' Merlin mumbled and stabilized both Morgan and Ethan with a rune.

'Miriam, there is no way, but to further his transformation through our regular means, otherwise he will die in flames. It's the curse of the seven rings. You've got to get the counsel of clans here. They've got to see it.' he ordered the dragon-queen who just nodded.

Afterwards he separated Morgan and Ethan, before he attached an infusion of red-golden liquid to Ethan's vein. Dragon-blood. 'There it goes your life as a human-being. Now you will be a subject to Morgan in the future. How ironic.' Rhiannon thought as Morgan sat down beside her watching what occurred.