Dragons are scary for a lot of reasons. You have to be a powerful warrior or a powerful fool to not treat them with caution. They can breathe destruction, vast magics are at their claw tips, many are very intelligent, and the dragonfear has routed armies as they directly cause panic in the minds of lesser creatures. And being a carnivore with massive teeth and sharp claws is also a concern, but what took Beverly the longest to adapt to was how fast creatures that big could move when they wanted.

All of those thoughts came later, though. This first interaction with a dragon, the first that Beverly saw clearly and had all of her memories of, the frightening thing for her was how fast it moved.

Panic took a backseat to action, however. Without thinking, Beverly moved. The fish was flung toward the beast’s face, and her long elven legs carried her quickly forward, interposing her between the hulking creature and the halfling. “Run, Sili! I’ll try to hold it off!” she shouted.

But the halfling did not run. Instead, her head took an inquisitive tilt, as if she couldn’t understand what Beverly meant. The dragon began to make a hissing sound, loud and repetitive. Beverly braced for some sort of attack, before understanding.

Laughter. The dragon was laughing at her! She straightened, blushing with rage and indignation. She got a good look at the creature now. The creature was a bright purple, and sparkled in the sunlight. The scales were rounded, like gemstones. The wings were massive, looking oversized even on the dragon’s huge frame. Spines jutted backward from the dragon’s face, like a slicked back spiky hair do, continuing down the ridge of the back. The other limbs seemed stumpy compared to the sinuous tail and the massive wings.

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No words had been spoken aloud. The dragon’s words had been said directly in her head. They had a slight reverberation, and there was a small sound of a wind chime in the background behind them. Unmistakable and familiar. A memory surfaced of this voice asking for a favor, demanding a ride to a tunnel, and then the approach of wings.

She shook off the thought as the dragon settled down, folding his wings and crossing his forelegs catlike in front of him. Beverly cautiously sat on the ground as well. Sili did not. Instead, she picked the thrown fish off the ground with a shake of her head and headed inside.

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“I… I don’t remember that. Just bits and flashes.”

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“W-what trauma?”

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It was said so casually, as if it was just as life changing as a hair cut. Beverly felt her heart leap in her chest. She knew it was true. She was dead. Had died. She had passed in the past tense, and somehow, she was alive and breathing again, in a different body. No report of heaven had mentioned dragons or flying fish.

“If… I’m dead…how…?”

<> The dragon paused, and then lowered his head before continuing. <>

Beverly almost laughed at the dragon’s tone. He sounded like a guilty child, claw caught in a cookie jar. Such a human emotion, guilt, and much of Beverly’s awe and fear of Jydrenth faded as a mental image of a tiny dragon stealing cookies with her son flashed in her head.

“The body is perfect.” she assured the relieved dragon. “It’s a lot to take in, and I’m sure I’m going to have some sleepless nights as I come to terms with things, but what’s done is done. I’m here now, like this, and I better come to terms with it.”

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“Work? What do you mean?”

The dragon laughed again. <> The dragon hissed a word and the hulking form began to pull in, the colors shifting, and the stranger from before, who had stopped her bus, stood in front of her again.

He looked older the he had before. His brown hair was graying at the temples, and three large scars, like clawmarks, ran across his face. They stood out from the rest, scars of a night that haunted them both.

“Let me give you the tour.” he said, his human voice just as deep as his mental one.