They returned to their seats by the fire to talk.

“Arion, what did she mean about mates?” Renna had to ask.

“Every dragon has a destined mate. A counterbalance soul.” Arion explained.

“A dragon’s soul gets… heavier, more powerful as it ages. It needs its mate to balance it or the balance of the world is disturbed. Think of scales - if you put weight on only one side of them, it will tip over eventually. An old dragon who has never met its mate is… a dangerous thing. In this world the effects of it are … subdued. This world is hostile to magic. But even here… I was dangerous.” he told her quietly.

Renna knew he was thinking about the other girls. Compassion stirred in her.

“So me and my beast are mates to you and your beast? A counterbalance to you?” She asked.

He nodded.

“It does not happen automatically with dragons, not all the way anyway, at first there is just the recognition that the other is your mate. It seems my beast knew long before the possibility even dawned on me.” He said, eyeing his bracelet thoughtfully.

“You will need to learn dragon magic to be able to bind me properly. Over time… our souls would fuse together removing the imbalance as such.” Looking thoughtfully at Renna.

“It’s both a blessing and a curse.” He continued.

“If a dragon of a mated pair that has not fused yet dies, the other becomes unstable… if left free, they would wreak havoc, destruction… So they are hunted and killed by their own kind.” His face was filled with sadness.

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“But if a dragon of a fused pair dies, half of both souls are lost and the one left can live for a while for two at the balance…” he sighed. “They usually won’t stay for long and soon leave this life to look for the missing half.”

“Where is your mother’s mate? Your father?” She had to ask.

“He was lost almost a century ago. They had been together for a millennia. She has stayed for my sake, I believe.”

His voice was very quiet now and Renna regretted asking.

So she opted for a change of topic. “What did she mean by inheritance!?”

Arion looked at her thoughtfully. “You must understand, with our long lifespans, we are seldom blessed with children by the goddess. We honor our blood lines and inheritances greatly. The woman who was banished to this world was an old dragon with assets of her own and considering her father has passed too… There will be a title and property and few other things that you are entitled to in my realm.”

Renna didn’t believe there would be anything of value left after all this time and dismissed it.

But mention of his return bought her straight to the next thorny topic.

“What did she mean by returning!? Will you be going away and leaving me here?” She asked cautiously.

He looked at her with love in his eyes. “I'm not going anywhere without you, so if you refuse to come with me to my world, I will stay here with you. But… now it is possible for me to return. I have found my balance with you.”

Renna felt worried “When do we need to go?”

“The walls between worlds weaken once per year, in midsummer. We go then or wait another year.” He told her.

There was a bit less than three months until midsummer. Renna did not feel ready to go yet. There was too much unfinished business in this world for her. There was a certain castle she needed to torch. And her beast was not ready either.

“Can we stay a year more? I want … to learn how to be a dragon first, before we go.” She asked.

He smiled. That would put his stay in this realm at a bit more than eight years.

“If you wish. We start with your lessons tomorrow.” He said.