"So there's a war between the dragons?" Frey could barely believe it, he had never seen a dragon attack another, let alone kill each other. "How is it even possible that you say we don't bother them? I've killed up to twenty dragons in my life."

"You humans are very strange creatures," the woman replied in that serious tone she had adopted, apparently this is how she behaved when she wasn't angry, "we don't form families or nations, we don't care about ours, each dragon looks out for himself."

"It doesn't make sense, for a war you need groups, factions, if every dragon looked out for himself, who did you even call 'traitors'?"

"It's because of the four dragon princes. The king has laid ten eggs in his lifetime, six, that is, five were spoiled, but each of those that hatched gave life to a prince, a dragon whose power could be compared to that of the king over time, but each one wants to be the strongest, the only one left of the king's lineage."

Everyone was silent for a moment, seeing that they would not interrupt her, the woman continued.

"As long as there is a stronger dragon, we are forced to submit, or we risk being destroyed, each prince has subdued a more or less equal number of dragons, they fight each other for the right to assassinate the king."

"If what you say is true," Frey scratched his head, confused, "the king's rule should be undisputed."

"The problem is that the king is a tyrant, there is not a single loyal one left, for he has ended up devouring all those he has subdued. In a group, with the support of a prince, we dragons can try to oppose, if not, we have no choice but to submit, as I did myself."

Eri interrupted.

"Excuse me, are you a sir or a madam? I don't understand. When I'm wrong, people correct me, but you don't. I thought you were a sir a little while ago, but now I don't know."

The dragon in the woman's body looked at Eri with stern eyes.

"I suppose," her sigh seemed resigned with a hint of irritation, "that you can address me as you would the human I devoured. We dragons do not have such distinctions, we all lay eggs and do not require a mate. I admit that I am comfortable with feminine treatment, I lived among you for a few years, two or three centuries ago. I cannot say my own name in this body. The humans of millennia ago called me Meraxes. Terror of the night."

"Lady Mera then?" Eri said with her best smile.

A very subtle, ephemeral rictus was reflected on Meraxes' face, if Frey had blinked he would not have seen it but he did... Did she just soften?

"I think it will work. But I have many questions, something I need to know."

"Ask, human, I have no reason to lie to you or secrets to keep, I am not one of you."

"Eighteen years ago, Cormin, my city was reduced to ashes by the dragon king, why?"

"It's as if you were asking me where the wind was going on a moonless night in the middle of the sea, I know he wasn't nesting, but sometimes he likes to fumigate for its loyalists, or maybe it was looking to eliminate some traitor, or maybe it was bored."

The serious voice, sprinkled with disinterest, fueled Frey's fury, the one he had locked away in his heart for so long, the one he had never managed to extinguish even with tears. But he remained stoic, as always when it came to the subject.

Runa touched his shoulder.

"Love, please take Eri to bed, we woke her up very early. I will continue the interrogation."

Frey understood that it was time for the difficult questions.

----------------

With her husband and daughter out of the cell, Runa faced the dragon woman, until then, they had exchanged bravado and rudeness, she wanted to be more sincere.

"Meraxes, do you know what Eri is? Why isn't she completely human or dragon?"

The stern look on the aged face softened into a grimace of confusion.

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"To be completely honest, I was hoping you would tell me. I can feel the inextinguishable fire of a dragon princess, but that's her body, her own appearance. It doesn't make sense. She can roar like a dragon and I've seen her breathe fire. Yet she looks like one of your infants. But what scares me is something else."

"Scared? What could scare a dragon as big as you besides the king?"

"When she left I felt a great relief in my soul, I thought I felt bad for having adopted this form, but it's her. Her presence weakens me in more ways than one."

Runa grew suspicious, remembering the reports of the Meyrin mages.

"How long did you spend as a human the first time?"

"I lived among you for twenty years."

"We know that spending time in human form depletes your fire, how did you keep it alive for so long?"

"We exhaust our fire healing the body or after many decades preventing it from aging, when I returned to my form, I had barely consumed a little."

"I think I know what's wrong with you."

"That girl is consuming my fire, how clever, did you figure it out yourself?"

"I'm going to tolerate you a little longer in return for the harm I did you," she said without showing that she had been bothered, "I'm even willing to do more, for the good of my daughter. You are a dragon and you have been for millennia, I am raising my child blindly while trying to save my people from yours. I'm not going to hide that I need you."

"What can you offer me to join your side? Right now I am loyal to the red prince, but you know how it works, I will join whoever can help me prevail. But never a human."

"How about Eri? Would you join her side?"

"You learn fast, if I don't submit to her, she will devour me. Maybe she will anyway. She doesn't seem to know she's doing it. It's terrifying, not even the king can consume another dragon's fire. I don't even want to think about what would happen if it ran out," the facade of strict seriousness cracked with every word, sweet Eri, seemed to be the worst nightmare for dragons.

"My husband fought a dragon whose fire had been consumed, he says it looked no different, except that it couldn't breathe fire and its body didn't explode when it died."

"So that girl has already devoured another dragon? I imagine he would have become totally loyal to her, why kill him?"

That explained why he had spent five years protecting her, in the logic of dragons, Eri was his mistress and lady.

"What you're saying," Runa said, gradually adopting her princess pose, "is that we don't need to kill all the dragons to end the war."

"Our war will end when there is an undisputed king, but that has nothing to do with you. The world is too big for you, you can't even reach the other continents and islands of the world. Answer me now, why did you kill the dragon without fire?"

Runa had only a moment, but in the end she admitted sheepishly. "I think he was just in the way."

"We are not so different then, I can respect that. You seem to believe that you can triumph over our race. It seems like an idiocy, but you have that princess on your side, and you were able to deceive me. I am not in a position to make demands, I am not stupid, you will kill me when you no longer need me as you did with others like me. But since you admit that you need me, elf, we can make a deal."

"Can you tell? Many do not distinguish half-elves from ordinary humans."

"Are we going to make a deal or not?"

"What is it that you ask for?"

"My life for starters, you must guarantee that in addition to not killing me, you will protect me against the red prince or any other dragon more powerful than myself."

"If I need you, take it for granted that we will keep you alive, I need you to teach Eri to be a dragon, to know her powers, and to learn how to control them."

"She is too young to learn everything... and I will need to be hidden."

"I'm not going to release you, you are too dangerous."

"A dragon without freedom is like air in a bottle, it is nothing at all. But I understand that you fear my power."

"The shackle we put on your ankle prevents you from regaining your dragon body, but it won't last forever. I admit that I don't even know if you can break it by force of will."

"I will swear to you, or rather, I will swear to my new mistress, in whose name you have been speaking, not to return to my dragon body without her consent, if you add that line to the enchantment, it will not be broken, the oath of a dragon has ties that come from primal magic."

"You are cooperating a lot. You will understand that I am suspicious."

"Let's say," she said with an arrogance that was accentuated by her serious demeanor, "that I have some faith in your commitment. We dragons do not help each other, at most we force or submit to each other, this girl has something that makes me think that one day she will be the one to end the war, and I want to be by her side when that happens. Maybe it's just that she has already devoured part of my fire."

"Assuming I trust your word, what is your proposal?" She looked at her threateningly, or as much as she could, but she didn't see a single change in her face.

"I will remain at your service in this form for twenty years, by then I will have taught the girl everything a dragon should know, and she will be of age to fight for herself. You will add that line to the shackle's enchantment, no matter what happens, in twenty years I will be free, and I will decide whether or not to submit to her. I will give you all the information I have, and I will help you if it pleases my new mistress. But I want to live as I lived the first time, I will not be a peasant."

"I will consult with my husband and with Eri, she must decide if she wants you close. In case we accept your proposal, I want to add a clause to the contract. If something happens to Eri, you stay in that body until you die."

"Cunning elf. I accept. Let me know your decision, and please, return my dress dry and in good condition, I have a certain affection for that old relic."

The dragon woman inhaled deeply, and as she exhaled, a translucent fire covered her entire body, which rejuvenated from looking like a woman of about fifty, to a mere thirty in just a few seconds.