Among the hills of a remote valley in a box canyon, high in the mountains, with an icy river running through it, a young woman with white hair in french braids hiked. She wore a simple, light-colored T-shirt and a pair of shorts, since it was a hot day. She was very fit, in the manner of a ballerina, though the same muscular tone that was clear from the sight of her legs was also apparent in her arms.

Appearing deep in thought, she crested a hill and sat on a rock at the top, which poked out of the waist-high tall grass, where she set her elbows on her knees and rested her chin in her hands. She stared into the distance at the high waterfall that fed the valley’s lake and river, while she considered the future. It was her twentieth birthday, which had stirred up buried questions and feelings regarding her uncertain future.

Nicole Jacobs had spent half her childhood looking forward to returning to her home planet, but having been there for two years, she felt restless. The first year had been spent on getting to know her birth parents and combat training with her aunt, which had been a sunrise to sundown affair, every day, but for the past year, she’d felt almost entirely rudderless, because others had ceased to dictate the direction of her life, since she was an adult.

She’d been so consumed with the idea of getting home, she’d given no thought to what she wanted to do with her life. She had many talents, including singing, ballet, swordsmanship, magic and she’d even managed to graduate from high school with a degree in chemistry. There were so many options available to her, she had no idea what to choose.

She could train for duty aboard a star ship, hire herself out as a sell-sword, seek more education at the local university, find a wizard or witch to study with for magical training in subjects her adopted mother hadn’t been able to teach her, work as an enchanter making magical equipment or look for a job in a chemistry lab. She’d even discovered a local ballet company that was looking for dancers.

Literally, the sky was the limit, but the only subject she felt drawn to was dragons. She’d largely spent the past year taking every opportunity available to study them. She’d become fascinated with them since the time she’d spotted a small dragon walking the streets of the city in the company of a dwarf, while the two of them talked about a shared business venture. There wasn’t much in the way of accurate reading material available on dragons, because their very nature was based on belief and as that belief changed, so did they. Amusingly enough, she’d also discovered that people rarely understood what their beliefs actually were. Consequently, what was written was only loosely true or just plain wrong.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

After reading everything she could find on the subject, her research turned to visiting local creatures from myth, including a few old gods and monsters, just to hear their views on dragons, because most of the legendary creatures had spent a lot of time together. The conversations had been illuminating and fascinating, giving her valuable insight into the way dragons thought and interacted with others.

Next had come a chance to go on an expedition with a group of treasure-hunting dwarves, intent on slaying a dragon that had been eating traveling merchants. From that, she’d gained a bit of experience fighting them and the dwarves had told her all they could about the strengths and weaknesses of dragons, based on their first-hand experience.

Finally, she’d taken brief excursions to remote areas, to speak with a few of the most even-tempered dragons, which had been difficult to arrange without getting burned, but she’d managed to entertain them with a mixture of magic, song, dance and nimble acrobatics, gaining a short audience with each, until they’d tired of her presence and ordered her to leave.

In the end, Nicole became an expert on dragon lore, having learned all she could without hatching an egg, coming right back to the question that dragons had helped her avoid: what now? She could become a dragon hunter, but she loved them too much to want to harm them and that seemed to be the only job available that involved dragons.

So, she was no closer to an answer than the first time she’d asked the question and it gnawed at her. So many options, but to seek after one option meant largely ignoring the rest. What she really wanted was a job that fit all her talents, but that was a rather tall order, since her interests were so varied. Really, the only job that fit was that of a traveling adventurer for hire, which did appeal to her, but she wasn’t ready to leave her birth mother, since they’d only recently reconnected. She wanted to stay near her birth mother for at least a few more years, especially after the sudden, upsetting way they’d lost Nicole’s birth father, roughly a year earlier.

The phone in her pocket rang, stirring her from the conflicted thoughts filling her mind.

Nicole raised it to her ear, “Hello?”

“Hi! I just wanted to remind you the party starts in a hour,” her birth mother spoke, “and someone sent you a letter. Feels like there’s something thin and metallic inside, about the size of a coin.”

“Who’s it from?”

“An old friend of your father-your birth father.”

“Thanks for the reminder,” Nicole nodded, “and I’ll start toward home, now.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too.”

She tapped the face of her phone, ending the call, then stood. She turned her head toward the old, wood-veneered house her grandfather built at the top of another hill and set out for it.