It is soothing to remember the days I spent learning to read with Orphela, and more so the first time she brought me to the local library. Trough gates adorned with Zenvo’s flag, yellow and purple stripes flowing, curving around a figure of a sighthound. Past the gates one could appreciate the shelves, the stewards who handled the books with their delicate touch, to make sure any harm done by the readers would occur after the book was handed to them, and limited to a single tome. The ceiling, a white dome, was decorate by an iron lattice sculpted like the upper part off a pergola from which gracile vines hung. Whoever had sculpted the vines was not in want of talent or observatory skills.

We introduced ourselves into the place in ways that could not be more different. Orphela was tranquil, secure, walking a path she had walked a thousand times. I was marveled, and a little taken aback by the grandeur of this place and the revelation that, to men, books were important, maybe even… ritualistic.

Stepping up to one of the stewards, a man dressed in Zenvo’s colors, with thigh fitting clothes that reminded me of those of a buffoon, I began my interrogatory. Orphela had dispelled most onf my doubts previous to the trip, but now new ones arose.

“Why do people care so much about books to give them guards?”

“Excuse me, sir, I believe we haven’t met before and this is.” The man made a pause, as if looking for the words. “Inadequate for a first meeting.”

“I apologize, good man.” I bowed politely. “You may call me Terus, I am in company of Lady Orphela and learning to read in your tongue, which I learnt merely by ear so many moons ago.”

He bowed in turn.

“Sir Terus, it’s an honor to see up close the man who repelled the dragon. Please understand it is my job to ask you for—”

Orphela stepped in between us, interrupting the man.

“It’s not necessary to ask him for paperwork, Mercis, I will borrow the books in his stead, so add them to my tab. He will only read under my supervision and the books will be my responsibility.”

“I understand, dear little Orphela. How to deny you this slim favor?”

It turned out Mercis knew Orphela since she was a wee lass. She was something akin to a lifelong customer of the library, and paid a fortnightly fee to be allowed to loan most of the books.

“Well, go ahead and ask for whatever you want, Terus. I will help you read books to the best of my skill. If you want I can recommend novels or—“

“The other day, I visited the sea. I saw some fish, some… shelled animals. I’d like a book about the inhabitants of the sea. Introductory, if possible, as I don’t wish to burden Orphela with having to borrow specialized dictionaries to understand the subject matter. Would that be possible?”

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“Wait by the counter, if you would be so inclined. I will take a selection meeting your criteria out of the shelves and then you can choose. Is that fine by you, sir Terus?”

“Just Terus.” Then I nodded and bowed again.

Mercis soon got lost behind the lines of shelves, leaving orphela and I alone in front of the counter.

I thought about admitting to her that it was a pleasant surprise to behold humans being so serviceable to each other. Standing among them made me feel more like a man, and less like a dragon. But I decided against it, as someone could hear.

I felt my form becoming unstable.

“Orphela, I have to go, he is waking up. Choose a few books for me, kind soul, will you?” I asked her, and then patted her shoulder playfully. Then I ran for the gates of the library: disappearing outside would be less notorious. Yet, it was in vain: I became undone as soon as my palm contacted with the metallic slab.

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My following weeks of existence enjoyed several reading sessions with Orphela. She had checked out a book about fish and one about seabirds, both featuring artists’ renditions of the animals in question. We began by reading the one about fishes, as it was natural. I knew birds, they were common in the places both I and my dreamer frequented. The shore-dwelling ones had its quirks: the longer wings, the stylized forms. They didn’t look like little fat balls of feathers, as many continental birds did. But, still, birds were known, mundane as they may come. The world of fish was new, flirting with my curiosity.

“I like this one. Lienfish,” I said, pointing at the stripped illustration.

“‘Lion’, Terus, it says ‘Lion’. It’s called like that because the fins resemble the mane of said animal.” She raised one of her hands and curved her fingers as claws, gesturing a scratch. I had no idea what she wanted to say.

“What’s a lion?”

She sighed, then laughed, and finally dedicated me a stare filled with comprehension.

“A big cat with a mane in the case of the males, or without mane for the females.”

“Pardon my ignorance. I am noting the big cat thing.”

“It’s no problem, Terus, you just appear to me to be like a child.” Her gaze wandered to the roof, and she joined her hands. “What is your opinion on them, though? We never talked about it.”

“I have no opinion on lions,” I stated flatly.

“I mean children. Because… well, Terus, there will be one in this house soon.” She said, pointing downwards, giving me a complicit smile.

I raised an eyebrow, just like she had taught me.

“You have a child stashed under the floorboards? What does it eat?”

Her infantile excitement was cut off immediately, her face turning to a frown. “What sort of question is that. In my belly, I have a child in my belly!”

A beat passed between us. It was either pregnancy or cannibalism, I guessed. I needed to be tactful with my next question.

“So, have you ever tasted the flesh of the young ones?”

Her hand met her face. She was hitting herself for some reason that was then unbeknownst to me.

I kept awaiting an answer.

“I am making a child inside me. Mine and Dariel’s.”

“Oh, then you two mated. But… he doesn’t have a big enough hoard.”

She slammed her fists on the table as she ground her teeth. “You are doing this on purpose, aren’t you, wyrm? You enjoy reeling your little friend Orphela up”

I shook my head violently, making my long hair sway such that my fringes covered my eyes until I pulled them back. “I aim to serve and please, Orphela. To be each day a little less of a dragon and more of a man. Yet I will never be more man than dragon. I know of humanity what you have taught me and what I have observed. No more, sometimes even less. I swear on my honor that my questions were not intended as mockery.”

She inhaled and exhaled slowly. “Fine, Terus, I believe you. Sorry for overreacting.”

“You didn’t answer my question about tasting children, though.”

That was when she pulled me out of the house by tugging on my sleeves. This woman was stronger than she looked.