This morning Indigo was awake. She buzzed around the kitchen as I made scrambled eggs and took the bacon out of the oven.

“The Elder dragon is stopping by today,” said the Cat, leaping up onto the island in the kitchen.

That made sense.

I stirred the eggs, doing my best to make sure they didn’t get burned. I finally felt like I had perfected the art of scrambled eggs and bacon, even if it had taken me months. Though, I wished I could cook it for my brothers; they might be shocked. Still, I missed Umber’s cooking. Giant cinnamon rolls and pancakes, sausage, potatoes in all shapes, Umber was an amazing cook. I bet I could make a decent pancake at this point. I’d learned a lot, after all. I made a mental note to try that later this week. They would be even better if I could get some berries to toss in them, and some real maple syrup.

The timer beeped to take the bacon out, and I quickly set it on the stove to cool. I hummed to myself as I dished out the scrambled eggs to the three plates, then plated up the bacon onto one large plate.

My coffee was still thankfully warm as I sat down to eat. Indigo landed next to her plate and attacked her eggs in joy. The Cat grabbed a few slices of bacon first. I swore it was his favorite food, but I also grabbed some bacon. It was bacon, after all. It didn’t take long for us all to clear our plates.

I headed out front to the counter, but Indigo beat me, landing on the wooden surface with a trill. The sound was new. The Cat jumped up after her and I noticed the growth. She had grown bigger, definitely. She was a little longer, and now she was maybe three-quarters of the size of the Cat.

Indigo turned to look at me again, and then at the door.

“One moment,” I said, moving around the counter to check out the space that had formed. Ever since Lady Borsal had mentioned taking inspiration from the conclave conference room, I had been thinking about what shape the bookshop should be in for training with the Elder. The center of the room was empty today, and the area across from the door was larger than before. The wall had moved back, leaving plenty of cleared space that had a stone floor. In one corner was one of the large couches from the conclave, and there were plenty of pillows.

It was the best idea I had. “Hey, Cat, is this large enough for a full grown dragon? I can’t remember the size she was on the stage.”

The Cat jumped off the counter and joined me in the center of the room. “Yes, she will have plenty of space if she takes her true form. She won’t be able to fly, or even stretch her wings, but I doubt that will be a thing right now. She wouldn’t be able to take her Elder form, but that’s also not likely to be a thing today.”

Indigo chirped, her eyes wide, and I swore she asked about the Elder flying.

That’s when I realized Indigo might not have seen a fully grown dragon before. Sadness echoed across me, but I pushed it away. All the dragons I’d interacted with had kept a humanoid form. I assumed it was to keep me at ease. Even seeing the image of the Elder in her true dragon form had made my brain turn sideways.

Indigo, with her cute smaller form, just made me want to protect her.

“Alright, then we should be good.” I moved back behind the counter as the door unlocked.

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The Elder walked in, the bells ringing in her wake. Her eyes glowed, and she smiled at all of us waiting. “Good morning, everyone.” Indigo leaped into the air and flew closer to the Elder, yet she didn’t land. “Ah, you are excited this morning. That’s good.” Her eyes moved over the area the shop had created and she nodded. “This will work perfectly.” She nodded twice. “I need to talk to Sable for a moment, little one, and then we can get started. How about you get your stone and I can check it out?”

Indigo shot into the air, heading toward her hideaway.

The Elder marched across the store and stopped near the counter. “I heard you have more players ready for the dragons?”

I pulled the box out from under the counter where I had it ready to go. “It’s a large order, along with some recorders for the rest of the Elders.”

The box vanished as one claw touched the edge. Then the claw turned into a finger a moment later.

“You have done much for the Clan of Lore,” she nodded her head at me. “You can call me Twilight Moment, or Lady Twilight.”

My eyes grew wide at the honor. Everyone had referred to her as Elder or honored Elder, no one so much as whispered a name. “Thank you.”

“Of course. We are related, after all. Indigo is my great granddaughter. Well, maybe add a few greats.” She chuckled at her own joke.

My mouth dropped. “She is going to be so thrilled to find out she has more family. I hope Lord Bennit understands, because she is now calling him, Grandpa Bennit.”

Lady Twilight’s laughter echoed across the space. Indigo almost dropped her stone as she shot out of her hideaway with it clutched in her claws. It glowed a bright orange color, spilling light across the shop. Lady Twilight turned to face Indigo and held her hand out for the dragon stone. “This will do nicely for what you want to accomplish,” she said to the little dragon.

“Let’s head over to the training area and get to work,” she added. She flashed me a smile then the two of them moved over to the right to the big open area. They were close enough that I could see what was going on, but I couldn’t really understand what was being said. Lady Twilight switched to the dragon language, and that was one that wasn’t translated by the shop.

“It’s a high honor learning her name,” said the Cat. “I don’t know if any other mortal knows it.”

“Really?”

“The amount of greats you would need to add would be many.” The Cat moved closer to me, within reach to give him pets. “That Elder is one of the oldest dragons left in the various worlds.”

“Is she older than you?” The question slipped out without me realizing it.

The Cat’s head tilted toward me to give me better access behind his ears. “Maybe, it’s hard to know for sure.”

I kept scratching him, trying to not let the surprise show that he had answered the question. Usually, he dodged questions about himself. Then again, he was much more talkative now than when I first started at the shop. It was nice.

After a couple of minutes, the Cat moved out of reach and curled up in a ball on the counter. He closed his eyes, and I assumed he went to sleep.

I pulled the book out from beneath the counter that I read when it got slow. Given that this particular book was a little spicy, I had to be careful not to read it around Indigo. There were definitely some things I wasn’t ready to explain to her just yet.

Time passed quickly, and before I knew it, my stomach grumbled about lunch.

Lady Twilight and Indigo headed our way, and the Cat perked up. His tail twitched frantically.

“This was a good session. We will need plenty more, but today’s progress was good,” said the Lady.

Indigo looked tired, but happy.

“We’re going to have lunch here, and you are welcome to stay,” I added.

Lady Twilight shook her head. “I need to head back to my home. Thank you for the offer.”

The Cat flinched next to me, drawing attention. “You should stay.” Power blossomed out of nowhere, heading directly at the Cat. He froze, like he had been struck by something.

***

Pain, so much pain I couldn’t move. I had to trust the dragon and Sable. It had to be worth it, I had to protect Sable.