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Three days didn't seem like much time to a pair of mating dragons, but to a human sitting in the clan cave with nothing to do it was an eternity. Dave glanced out at the sky; he needed to have something to occupy his time, too, or he knew his thoughts would turn to Jim's death--and he wasn't sure he was ready for that.

At least not all of the dragons had left to mate, so he could talk to them for his research. He decided after a little consideration to talk to one of the older ones if he could; the little dragons might be less intimidating and maybe a little more accepting of humans, but the oldest dragons would know the best answers to the questions he had--though he may as well examine both young and adult dragons, to have a better understanding of how they grew as they aged.

He started by taking a very close look at Aithsa, who was the smallest dragon in the cave, then Orasin, a young dragon who said he was in his seventies--strange to talk to someone who was more than twice his age, but not even fully grown yet. As for the old ones... Only one was in the cave when Dave went over with his notepad, a smallish but well-muscled dragon with some sagging scales at his joints that were the only indication he was aware of that showed the dragon's great age.

"...excuse me, dragon," Dave said, approaching slowly; the dragon was lying almost motionless on his belly but his eyes were open, and he raised his head when Dave spoke.

"I'm Nesleh," the dragon said.

Dave frowned: it was Carnoc's father, and the only dragon he was less eager to talk to was Carnoc himself. "Oh."

Nesleh shifted closer and lowered his head to look him in the eye. "Please let me say how sorry I am for what my son did to your family."

Well, that wasn't what he'd expected, though a dragon had attacked Carnoc right after he'd... done that thing that he'd done; maybe that had been Nesleh. He sighed and said, "you didn't-- you didn't kill my brother... It's not your fault."

"I could have stopped him, though, if I'd just seen he wasn't in control of himself sooner, or done a better job teaching him to keep his temper under control... I'll see to it Carnoc apologizes once he returns from being with his mate, but is there anything else I can do to help?"

Dave took the opportunity to change the subject. "I'd like a chance to examine a full-grown dragon in some better light, and ask you some questions about your physiology, society, culture, that sort of thing."

"Of course," he stood up and stretched, yawning wide. "How would you like to begin?"

He hesitated. "I... I'd love to know how dragons can breathe fire."

Nesleh chuckled. "Fluid sacs, above the roof of the mouth. I open the valves, two different fluids fall into the mouth, mix, then light, and I let the fire flow wherever I want it to go."

He started writing. "Do you have any idea what chemicals these fluids are?"

"No," he shook his head. "They smell similar to the fuel you humans used to power many of your vehicles back when I was a young dragon, but I don't know anything more than that."

"Hmm... Is there a way you could give me samples of these chemicals for me to research? People have tried for years to figure out how, if dragons existed, they would be able to breathe fire, but as far as I know nobody ever figured anything out."

"I... I'm not sure. The reflex for fire only works when my mouth is closed and angled downward."

He thought for a little while. "If I had more equipment with me I might be able to rig something to catch the chemicals before they mixed, but for now I'll have to settle for a demonstration."

Nesleh grinned and turned his head away. "One jet of fire, then!" He bunched his neck and took a deep breath, then spread his jaws wide and breathed a stream of fire along the ground. Dave noted everything he could: how the fire stayed in a tight cylinder until it had traveled nearly twice Nesleh's length, then billowed out almost like a sideways mushroom cloud before falling to the ground and dying out, how the color of the flames changed along their path, how quickly they left his mouth... After a few moments the dragon cut off the stream of fire, leaving a blackened, smoking path along the rock.

"Incredible..." he muttered, then went from amazed back to scientific after a moment. "How much can you breathe at a time?"

"It's limited to how long I can go before having to breathe, but the fluids take time to replenish themselves... It varies from dragon to dragon, but I have a minute or two of fire per day--around twenty bolts, for a warrior like Carnoc."

"And I assume his fluids are different, of course, to have such a different reaction. Now, could you stand still so I can have a good look at you?"

Dave performed a thorough examination of Nesleh's body, then the two of them talked for much of the morning about his physical capabilities, along with some basics of draconic society and daily life. But when it came to culture Nesleh said, "I'm sorry I can't show you any of my sculptures, or ask another dragon to give examples of their carvings and scent-paintings and the other things I mentioned; we had to leave all of it in our cave in Montana, and I'm not going to go rooting through some dragoness' space looking for her creations when I don't have permission to be there. But if this business between my kind and yours ever gets sorted out and we have a chance to go home, then I'll be able to show you something."

He smiled. "I look forward to it."

"Glad to hear it. Now it's been nice talking with you and I hope what I said was useful, but it's time for me to hunt," he groaned and started to stretch out his wings.

"Thanks for all your help."

"Not a problem," he tilted his head, then turned, spread his wings and flew from the cave.

Dave watched him go. Even if he hated Carnoc so much, Nesleh was a very kind, reasonable sort of dragon, and from what he'd seen of the clans it seemed Nesleh's attitude, not Carnoc's, was the norm among their species. How could simple biology have made such a difference with that one terrible dragon?

He sighed, then pulled out his phone and turned it on to check for messages. He had one--though he was more surprised he could actually get reception in a cave in the middle of nowhere.

"Hey, Dave, it's Alex. I talked with my lawyers, but what I found out is a little long to condense into a phone message, so give me a call when you get the chance. Bye."

Dave smiled, then dialed Alex's number and walked over to an empty corner of the cave. The butler picked up on the second ring, then transferred the call to Alex.

"Hey, Dave. You got my message?"

"Yeah. So what'd you find out?"

"Well, the death penalty is out no matter what happens because dragons are presently classified as an endangered species..."

"And they could end up more protected than they are now, if I ever get a chance to talk to the ARA. Assuming these dragons I'm with now are the only ones there are, then there are only fifty dragons in the entire world."

Alex yawned, then said, "yeah, so there's no way he could be given the death penalty. As for at least being convicted of murder, there's a definite possibility, but that would depend on a few other things. See, dragons aren't human and therefore aren't bound by our laws. On the other hand, they're sentient, and there are some pretty large protests getting started over in Geneva right now to get the UN to stop trying to find and capture them, consider them our equals, and all that stuff. If that succeeds, then this dragon's actions could probably be called murder. But if that doesn't work out, then he's still an animal and murder doesn't apply."

Dave thought for a moment. "Usually an animal that kills a human is euthanized. But..."

"Dragons are endangered, so that can't happen. I don't know, Dave."

"I would be all right with a life sentence, honestly. Really," Dave looked around to make sure nobody who understood English was within earshot, then said, "I just want to see him suffer."

"In that case, I'm not sure getting him sent to some sort of dragon prison would be the best way to go, but we'll have to see. Now, I just happen to know some people, and I gave them a call yesterday..."

Dave listened while Alex outlined what his people could supply him with, a malicious grin spreading across his face all the while. Once Alex finished outlining the list of materials, Dave said, "that sounds great. Now, based on what I've observed, most of the first group would work best on a dragon... Is there any chance of you getting them to do something custom-made for this? That would just make it work better is all, and would help me get closer to what I have in mind for him."

"I'll talk to them, but it'll cost more..."

"I won't mind spending extra for it. Now, I don't have a way to recharge my phone and my battery is starting to get low, so let me think about it, then I'll get back to you once I have a good plan in mind. Thanks for getting all this information, though."

"No problem. I'll come up with some ideas of my own and wait for you to call again, all right?"

"Sure. See you later," Dave said, and ended the call.

He turned off his phone, pocketed it and started to walk back towards Sean's jet. But as he passed by one of the female dragons, he glanced over and noticed that she was crying. Another dragoness sat next to her, trying to comfort her, but it didn't seem to be helping.

Dave started to ask what was wrong, then remembered that none of the females could speak English. He looked around, then saw Orasin sitting nearby and waved him over.

"What do you need?" Orasin asked.

Dave pointed at the weeping dragon. "I was wondering what's wrong with her."

"Oh." Orasin walked over, looked up at the female comforting the other dragon and said something to her. Dave walked closer while she replied, then Orasin said, "she's crying because she wasn't paired with one of the male dragons last night." He paused and listened while the female added something. "Especially because that mutant, Sean, didn't take a mate, and now she thinks that Sean must not find her attractive enough, or that she must not be good enough to deserve a mate at all." Orasin sniffed the air. "Though I don't see why she'd even want to mate with that great coward anyway... He probably wouldn't even know how to mate properly," he snickered, then started talking to the two females.

Dave groaned and turned towards Sean's jet. "Sean!" he shouted.

Sean poked his head out from the other side of the jet. "What?" he called.

"Get over here!"

His head disappeared behind the jet for a moment, then he stepped out from behind it and made his way over to them. "What?" he repeated once he had reached Dave.

"Why, exactly, didn't you take a mate?"

Sean rolled his eyes. "Not this again... Why is everyone so desperate for me to mate with one of these dragons?"

Dave started counting off a list on his fingers. "To potentially make the dragon race slightly less endangered, so I could ask you about it when you got back for my research," he pointed, "so she wouldn't be crying her eyes out because she didn't get an opportunity to mate, because you have nothing better to do..."

"I'm going to give you the same explanation I gave Vallen, and we're going to leave it at that: I am going to do it with exactly one person, and that is Elaine, who I am very soon going to be engaged to--I have the ring picked out and everything, I just haven't asked her yet because I got sidetracked with saving the dragons. All right?"

Dave crossed his arms. "Well, could you at least apologize to her, or something? Think about how rarely they get the chance to mate; she must feel awful."

The dragoness wiped some of the tears from her eyes, looked up and saw Sean standing there. She bared her teeth and snarled at him, then sobbed again and covered her head with her wings.

He shrugged. "If I remember properly, there are two more mature female dragons than there are males, and you don't see the other one complaining, do you?"

Orasin said something to the dragoness attempting to comfort her companion, and she answered after a moment's thought. He then said, "Tsala gave up her chance to mate this cycle, because she can tell that her participation in this mating cycle will not produce an egg and didn't think it would be worthwhile to mate just because she could. She gave up her chance so that another dragoness could mate and hopefully enjoy it more than she would, and she's already accepted the consequences of that choice. On the other hand..." Orasin looked towards the other dragoness.

"Sean, just apologize, would you?" Dave gestured towards the dragons. "It's not like it's the end of the world."

Sean sighed, then approached the dragonesses, reaching out with one hand to touch the crying dragoness' side.

Her companion hissed, and Orasin said, "you'll probably lose that hand if you touch either of them. They aren't used to human contact."

Sean nodded and withdrew his hand, then said, "and you're going to translate for me?"

Orasin nodded.

"All right. What's her name?"

"Hilsuro."

"Okay." Sean took a deep breath and spoke, while Orasin translated his words for the two females. "Hilsuro, I'm sorry that I chose not to take a dragon as my mate while I'm here. My choice has nothing to do with you; I'm sure that by draconic standards you're quite beautiful. But there's a human who I'm in love with, and it just wouldn't be right for me to love her, but mate with someone else at the same time." Sean paused. "Besides, there's always next cycle."

Hilsuro brought her head out from under her wings during the apology, eyes shining, but she didn't seem to like the last phrase. She struck forward with her head, jaws snapping shut a paw's width from Sean's chest, then stood up with a snort and walked over towards the group of young females, followed by Tsala. Sean backed away, stumbling, then looked at Orasin. "What did I say?"

The young dragon growled. "The next cycle isn't for fifty years. That's a long time, even for us, and she probably would have preferred if you hadn't reminded her just how long it will be."

Sean looked over towards Dave. "Are you happy now?"

"I suppose," he shrugged. "Either way, you probably should have just mated with her in the first place."

"Oh, just give it a rest, would you?" Sean turned and walked back over to his jet.

"He really should have," Orasin said once Sean was out of earshot, "just to loosen him up a little."

Dave glanced over at him. "Probably should have included that in my list of reasons," he said with a grin.

---

Carnoc sighed contentedly, enjoying the warmth his mate gave off while they rested, curled up together. She purred softly in her sleep, the tip of her tail curling and uncurling around his own.

Three days. Three days of mating, sleeping, hunting and eating, then mating again, over and over... He was almost glad their time together was nearly finished, just so he could finally get some real rest. A couple of days' inactivity would really do his body good.

Melora stirred next to him and stretched, kneading her claws against the floor of the cave and yawning wide. She blinked a couple of times and looked around, then nuzzled him behind his earhole. "How did you sleep?" she murmured.

"Well enough." He returned her nuzzle, then picked his head up off the ground and looked through the entrance in the ceiling of the cave. "It's getting dark; we should fly back to your clan's cave."

"Oh, not yet," she whined, rolling over and wrapping her legs, wings and tail around him, pulling their bellies together and nibbling at the tip of one of his horns. "One more time before we go back."

"We're supposed to be there by sunset..."

She pressed herself against him. "Who cares? The elders can't exactly blame us for being a few hours late; they must know what mating for the first time is like." She started to pull his hind legs apart. "Come on, my mate, one last time while we still can."

"No," he growled. "Mating is not about enjoying how it feels, it is about making eggs." He paused and cocked his head to one side. "Do you think we succeeded?"

"If mating was just about making eggs then only a dragoness who is scenting would be paired," she snorted. "That would mean only a few pairings per cycle, and some dragons might never get a chance to mate in their entire lives. We are meant to enjoy it, of course; why else would we be given so much time together? And besides, the punishment for coming back the next morning is only a day or two of grounding."

Carnoc felt his arousal begin to build and she purred happily when she felt it against her, reaching up to nuzzle under his chin. "I knew you'd see things my way," she laughed.

He growled and pushed her away with his hind legs. "You didn't answer my question."

"Of course we'll have an egg. I'm scenting."

Shock froze him. "How can you already be certain?"

"Didn't your sire teach you anything? That's how it works," Melora tossed her head. "If a scenting dragoness mates with a dragon, then she will lay an egg. Exceptions are so rare in legend that they're not worth mentioning."

He was still a moment longer, then purred and let her embrace him again, nuzzling her so hard it hurt his snout. "Oh, that's wonderful! We must thank the elders for pairing us--"

"How about you thank me for being responsible for it?" she bared her fangs and rolled so she was on her back with him on top of her.

Carnoc laughed. "Of course." He stepped back and crossed his forepaws, bowing low. "Thank you for letting me mate with you."

"That's not what I meant," she swatted at him with her tail. "You can start showing your gratitude by doing what I asked you to do with me."

"No," he pawed at the ground. "We were told to be back by sundown."

"Please," she wrapped the end of her tail around one of his paws and tugged lightly. "Please, for the last chance either of us will have for fifty years... for me. For your mate," she purred, flexing her hindquarters suggestively.

"I shouldn't," he looked away, resisting the urge as best he could. "I'm sorry, but after what I've been through over the past couple of months I can't ignore our elders again, and besides, what if humans come while we're recovering? The clans might need their warrior's protection."

She growled, but rolled onto her paws and didn't argue further. He tilted his head and slid his tail along her flank, then crouched and leapt through the narrow slit in the rock that formed the entrance to their little cave, Melora following close behind him as he led the way back through the mountains to the cave of her clan. Despite having given up arguing just a moment ago she continued to pester him, wrapping her tail around his and batting at him with her wingtips, at least until he gave a warning snarl and snapped his jaws at her wing as it passed into his reach.

"Fine," she huffed, drifting away. "I still want to, and I can tell just by looking at you that you still want to..."

"What my body shows you and what my mind thinks about it are two different things entirely," he snarled again. "You know, it's not the best of ideas to annoy someone who's known for violently losing his temper."

"Oh, you wouldn't get mad at me," she laughed. "I'm your mate! You'd die protecting me, not kill me."

"We'll find out for sure if you don't stop that," he growled as the entrance to her clan's cave came into view, working to calm himself down. A few other pairs of dragons could be seen as well, coming towards the cave from different angles. Carnoc noticed Krain among them and bugled a greeting.

"Hey, there you are," Krain said as they came in to land. "I don't need to ask if you enjoyed these last three days, of course," he grinned.

He groaned as he folded his wings against his back. "Not that I'm not glad they're over. I really need the rest."

"I know what you mean." He looked past him to where Melora stood. "You didn't work our Warrior too hard, did you?"

She grunted incoherently and looked away.

"She wanted to mate one last time before we came back," Carnoc explained, "but I said no."

Krain's mate laughed, and he recognized her as Vical. "Sounds familiar, only I was the one explaining that to him."

"Oh, come on," Krain slapped her side with his tail. "Don't tell me the thought didn't cross your mind."

"It did. But I said before we began that we would not conceive, and there's no way all the time we spent together wasn't enough for you. Besides, you said yourself that you need to rest," she flicked her tail back at him.

"I would have enjoyed the alternative more," he said, then he smiled and they nuzzled briefly before separating and returning to the north and south ends of the cave.

"I guess this is it, then," Carnoc said, turning to face Melora.

She tilted her head. "For now... we'll be spending a lot more time together starting tomorrow, as soon as Dulna's done speaking to all of my clan. I enjoyed spending these past three days with you."

He nuzzled her cheek, purring and closing his eyes. "You were a good mate, too." They touched their tails together and she returned his nuzzle, then they also parted and walked away to opposite ends of the cave.

Vallen and Dulna roared to call all the dragons together again at the center of the cave, just as the last of the sun's light faded outside. "Thus concludes this mating cycle," Dulna said once they'd all gathered. "All of you already know if you have conceived new eggs, and while most of you were not so fortunate, that has always been the case. Be happy for the lucky ones, who will bring a new generation of dragons to this world, and remember that most of you will get at least one more chance." She paused and looked around the cave. "For those who know this cycle is their last, follow Vallen and me to the far corner of the cave, where we have things to discuss. The rest of you may go about your business."

Dulna and Vallen led a few of the older dragons away, while the remaining male and female dragons went to their respective sides of the cave to rest. Carnoc walked with his head and tail held high; he had sired an egg, and he was going to be a father! He was so excited he felt ready to burst out of his scales despite his weariness, but that only lasted a moment; as soon as he saw the other dragons of his clan yawning and curling up to rest he couldn't help but yawn as well, his whole body suddenly aching, and once he'd sprawled out on the ground he was asleep almost instantly.