Some hours later, after everyone had gone, Bria made her way back to the Lady’s Hall. The last of the day’s sunlight was still enough to illuminate the hall and Rosa was sitting at her table reading. She looked up as Bria approached. ‘Your preceptor has worked you hard and now you relax. You look happy, child.’

Bria sat down on one of the side chairs and let her shoulders drop. ‘Yes. Tired but happy. Before was just a boring cycle of court functions and wondering who I would be traded off to as a wife. Now I feel free and have a purpose. The Preceptor has given us permission to carry the poleaxes and recharge them but I think he has some misgivings. He doesn’t really know you.’

Rosa laughed ‘And how could he, child? His misgivings are the sign of a cautious mind and there will be a price extracted from me? Let me be honest, child. I am stuck here and I have lost most of my powers. I need allies to help me without alerting those that might still hunt for me. My power grows back slowly, so slowly and it will be needed and soon I think. You have been honest, and I will be honest in turn. I will help you learn, train and fight. Carrying the poleaxes in the garden will charge them and I can syphon off the power here, building my reserves, although it will be a long time before I am anywhere close to full. I would ask that you do not talk of this outside this hall. A way to tap the tree of its power could cause great harm should it become known.’

Bria sat there in silence for a moment. ‘The ambassador from the Areetan embassy said that people with power usually had a dragon in their heritage. Do you have a dragon in your heritage?’

Rosa grinned and her blue eyes sparkled. ‘Oh indeed. The ambassador is entirely correct.’

At that moment, the doors closed with a thud which made Bria jump. She looked around and saw Adeline and Nia walking towards them. Rosa waved at them. ‘Come and join us!, Now Bria, I’m sure the good Preceptor mentioned something that he wanted? Recount to me all that he said.’

Bria swallowed. ‘He said that if you had ulterior motives then you were also helping to train us to with fierce weapons and giving us an edge we wouldn't otherwise have. He also said to ask for any information you may have on dragons. You might know something that the Lore master doesn’t. We might as well make use of your knowledge and experience.’

Rosa chuckled. ‘Relax, child. Be assured that I mean neither you, nor the preceptor nor any of the knights harm and it is my design that you should be trained and ready to fight as fast as maybe. In time we may see if you have a spark of power that can be woken. Now, on the matter of dragons. Tell me what you have been told and I will see if we may expand upon it.’

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‘Dragons can be any colour but the colour means nothing except that when they shape change, they can’t change gender, hair or eye colour’ said Adeline smartly. ‘They are inherently magical, absorbing light through their wings and they live a long time. They see humans as food if they are foolish and servants if they are clever. They can breed with humans when they are in human shape.’

Rosa nodded. ‘Very good. Anything else?’

‘They breathe fire and attack late in the day so that they are fully charged by the sun and they plot against each other rather than cooperate.’ chipped in Nia. 'And she said something about the Empire using dagger chambers.'

Rosa smiled. ‘Some of that is correct, but not all. They don’t breathe fire so much as raw magic although the difference is academic. Getting a dragon to breathe is a quick way to deplete its reserves. Dragons can’t alter their eyes or gender when they change, it’s true, but their hair? Changing hair colour is the easiest trick of all. She sat there and her grey locks turned first golden, then red, before settling on a deep chestnut. ‘A nugget of almost no importance, except that you were told wrong and that telling could be significant. Either the teacher learned badly or sought to mislead.’ She paused for a moment. ‘Not all dragons see humans as food or servants and although most see them as inferior, some also learn to see them as friends.’

‘Dragons do charge during the day, it’s true, and will bask in sunlight but even a small dragon will take more than a day to be full. They come when they are ready, no sooner, no later. A cunning dragon will attack near dusk to take advantage of the low sun and to cover their escape route in darkness if needs be and most dragons are cunning but do not confuse that with any need to charge. Last but by no means least. Dragons incessantly plot against each other and there are no such things as family loyalties but some, a very few have been known to cooperate, usually to thwart a common enemy in the first place, but have learnt that trading knowledge, skill and even resources can be beneficial to both. Dagger chambers are cruel but perhaps necessary. How else can humans hope to contain a dragon. An enraged dragon will almost always assume its natural form, but deliberately enraging one? That is a ticklish business indeed. Anything else.’

‘Jemryn and the ambassador talked about the crystal tree and I overheard’ said Bria. ‘Jem thinks the grass is an illusion and that it’s hiding something else.’

Rosa smiled ‘He’s a smart boy and entirely correct on both counts but the tree is a prize many would kill for and I think it best that I don’t reveal its secrets lest they be plucked from your mind by the unscrupulous. Now bed! Tomorrow we will fit you with armour. You must practice with that too.’ She exchanged a glance with Nia and they both grinned.