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Story and all characters (c) 2006-2007 Yancarlo Ramsey. Please do not redistribute without written permission.

This is a work of adult fiction. If you get caught reading it, don't blame me.

• 7 -

The next day, I awoke in the early hours of the morning. I knew the sky would still be dark, and I slipped quietly from my lair and through the mostly deserted tunnels, hoping to avoid another encounter like last night's.

I reached the takeoff cliff without incident, and breathed a sigh of relief. With a short run and a leap off the edge, I was airborne, winging my way directly toward Adrian's cave. If I had not been so worried, I might have taken an indirect route, as I usually did, but my only thought was to get to Adrian as quickly as possible. I hadn't thought anyone would actually try to follow me.

I don't know if I would've noticed my pursuer, even if I had looked back. But I didn't. I dove, and landed hard in the early morning twilight, walking quickly to the cave's entrance.

I called out in a hushed tone, "Adrian? ... Adrian, are you awake?" But I received no answer.

Entering the cave, I moved toward his sleeping mat, and sniffed at the lumped up blankets there. I could see that they were still warm, and his scent was fresh, but he wasn't present. I turned and went back toward the entrance, looking for signs of his passage. There! Faint, but noticeable. I saw the glow of warm footprints, and smelled a trace of his scent that followed them. So did I, moving back out of the cave and along the side of the hill. I realized he'd been headed for the area he used as a latrine, and so I stopped partway along the trail and waited for him to return. Eventually he did, though in the minutes that passed I twice nearly reconsidered my decision to wait.

"Dorani? Is that you?" he called softly as he approached along the trail. He was wearing only a shirt, but I didn't care.

I brought my head down near his and replied in a hushed but urgent voice. "Yes! Adrian... I need to talk to you..."

He reached up and gave my nose a pat. "Come inside, then... Tell me what's wrong."

I silently followed him back into the cave, not wanting to discuss the problem out in the open. As he grabbed his pants and pulled them on, I started pacing the length of the cave, as if looking for a place to lie down, but too restless to do so.

He watched me for a few seconds, and then stepped closer to where I was walking, almost into my path. "Dorani..." I stopped in place and looked down at him as he continued. "It's something serious, isn't it? I haven't seen you this tense... ever."

I closed my eyes for a moment and nodded. Then, realizing he might not be able to see that very well inside the cave, since the dim pre-dawn light barely filtered in at all, I added, "Yes, it's serious." And then I dropped to the floor and the whole story came pouring out. He just patted my snout as I spoke, looking into my eyes with what I'd learned by then was a worried expression.

"Shalindra thinks I've mated! She smelled me as I returned home. The only way a dragon smells like that is after mating. Except for yesterday. I had to tell her something. I had to tell her about the male I'd mated with, and why I hadn't said anything about courting, and..."

"... So, what did you tell her?" he asked softly.

"I managed to convince her that there was a dragon, named... Please forgive me... 'Adrianfarshallan'. And I used my experiences with you to fill in this imaginary dragon's background... He studies humans, and has a good friend who is a human mage... That was shocking enough to her. If I'd told her the truth..."

"I understand." He leaned forward, his chest against my nose, and held as much of my snout as he could in his arms.

I closed my eyes for a moment and sighed slowly, being careful not to blow him away. "But what if she wants to meet him..."

He raised his head to look me in the eye again. "... I have an idea about that. It may take some time, but... It may be possible."

I just stared at him, having no idea what he meant or how to respond.

"Trust me." He smiled and gave my snout a pat, then leaned forward and touched his lips to my big nose. Then he stood up straight and turned away, and went to look through his things.

I did trust him. That had already been established. I moved to follow him, arching my neck to look down curiously over his shoulder. "What are you looking for?"

"For one of my books... Ah, here it is!" He pulled out a tome, much smaller than the dragon-produced volumes on the other shelf, and much more suited to his size. "Creating transformation spells... I've been studying this sort of thing, and I have a feeling that may be quite useful now."

"Transformation spells...? Those are dangerous, aren't they?" I wasn't sure what he was planning, and it was making me worried.

"Only when used improperly. I'm definitely not going to be taking any chances. And I have been studying this for some time. I just hadn't had the desire, or the need, to actually try it out... yet."

I lowered my head and put my nose right in front of his face. "What are you planning, Adrian?"

He lowered the book and looked up at me. "If the only way to deal with this situation without you getting in some kind of trouble is to show her a dragon... Then I'll just have to give her one."

He said no more. He just sat down in a chair and went back to flipping through the book, pausing to read certain passages. Confused, I drew back and just stared at him for a minute as he reviewed. Then put the pieces together. It was a stunning conclusion.

If he could change himself into a dragon... What would that mean? We considered each other good friends... I considered him one, at least, despite my initial distaste. And if he was willing to go to such lengths to help me out of a situation I'd gotten myself into, he must have considered me a friend as well. But he would have to not just look like a dragon, but act like a dragon. Could he do it well enough? And we would have to treat each other as mates, in order to maintain the deception. Could we both manage that convincingly?

A bit of muttering followed by a louder exclamation broke me out of my thoughts. "Aha! Here, transformations involving changes in size... energy requirements... let's see... oh. - Oh my..."

I moved closer and tried to look over his shoulder at the book without bonking my nose into his head. "What is it, Adrian? Is something wrong?"

"Ah... No... Not exactly. It's just... Well, it's going to take several steps, probably. There's no way I would be able to go from my current size to that of a dragon all at once. It would take far more energy than I possess." He gestured at the book and at himself as he spoke. "I'm not sure how long I'd have to rest between them. I've never used that much in close succession before..."

I brushed my chin against his shoulder. "If it could be dangerous... Do not risk it! I will not have you hurting yourself because of me."

He shook his head slowly, frowning at the book. "No, I... I'm sure it would be safe, as long as I rested enough. But without a larger source of energy, I'm not sure how long I'd need to rest, or how many times I would have to..." He reached up and scratched at his scalp with one hand, holding the book open with the other, still staring at the formulas scrawled on the pages.

I sighed, my hot breath fluttering the pages slightly. "If only I had more skill at magic..."

He smiled and looked up at me. "Then you would help? Thank you, Dorani, but..." And then he broke off and stared at me for a moment.

I returned his stare with a puzzled frown, my eye ridges pulling down slightly. "... Adrian?"

He blinked, then grinned at me. "Dorani... You're a [genius]!"

"I'm what?" I blinked at him.

"A... a really smart person! That's the solution!" He jumped to his feet and grabbed the end of my snout, planting his lips against my nose and making a 'smack' sound. It was a human's [kiss], though I didn't know that word at the time.

"WHAT is the solution?" I pulled back a little, still quite baffled, hoping to get him to explain.

He released my nose - not like he had much of a choice, if he didn't want to get dragged into the air - and pointed at the book, grinning at me. "To the energy problem! It doesn't have to all come from me!"

I wasn't sure I liked the sound of that. "And... where else would it come from? I can't--"

"You can! You don't have to know magic. Remember what I said? My spells draw their energy from pleasure... Specifically, from the reaction of a body to pleasure... And the bigger the body is...!"

"... The more energy is available? Are you saying..." I kept staring at him, not certain I believed what I thought he meant.

"That last night you were producing huge amounts of excess energy? Far, FAR more than I needed to maintain that simple spell? Yes!"

I flopped down on my belly, staring at him. "You are suggesting... doing that again? And using that energy to transform yourself...?"

"Yes! It's brilliant!" I couldn't help responding to his enthusiasm, despite my misgivings. "I'm sure that would be enough, easily!"

I frowned. "You are assuming I would agree to take part in..." I trailed off, not really knowing what to call it.

He stopped and looked at me for a few seconds before replying. "You... I thought you wanted to help? You said that if you were better at magic..."

I let my head sink to the floor, feeling ashamed for some reason I couldn't fathom. "I did say that... I don't know. This just seems so strange. I'm worried, and... I'm frightened." The last was said in a whisper as I closed my eyes. Admitting that, to anyone, was difficult. But of all the people I knew, Adrian had quickly become the one I was most comfortable speaking to. Perhaps I just needed someone to confide in. Or perhaps it was because I knew he couldn't spread what I told him around to the others who knew me. Maybe it was both, or something else entirely. But I wasn't thinking about that, and if I had been, I wouldn't have cared either way.

I could hear him stepping closer to me, the faint sound of his bare feet touching the cool rock floor. Then I felt his hand press against the scales on top of my snout. He was standing right next to my head, so close to my right eye that he could have reached out and touched it. I opened it a crack, and saw him looking into it. He rubbed his hand up and down the top of my snout. "Dorani... Something you said to me once. 'We're both here to learn what we do not know, to satisfy our curiosity. There is nothing to be ashamed of'. If you are not comfortable assisting me in that manner, then I can use my original plan. Or we can work something else out."

"No..." I replied. "No. I enjoyed it the first time. - This will be no different." I was certain I sounded more confident than I was... I have no idea how he saw through it.

"Nuala..." I was slightly embarrassed at his use of a mate-name. But I quickly realized that if we were going to 'pull this off', he would have to get used to calling me that... and I would have to get used to hearing it from him. "You needn't fear," he continued. "I will not harm you." His left hand came up and stroked my cheek, just under my eye. I didn't even flinch. "Ever."

I took a deep breath before responding, in as solemn a tone as he had used. "I believe you, Adrian. - But what if you harm yourself?"

He smiled faintly. "That will be far less likely to happen if I have the use of your energy, Nuala... But if you have another idea, I will listen."

I looked back at him for a few seconds, then closed my eye. "No. I have none."

He leaned against my snout, wrapping the one arm over it and patting the opposite side gently. "It shouldn't take me too long to prepare. A few hours, to get the spell in the correct form, and re-check it a few times..." Then he released me and stepped back, and I opened my eyes to look at him again as he continued, "I'll be very careful. I promise."

I lifted my head from the floor. "Thank you, Adrian." While my mouth didn't know how to smile, my voice conveyed my sincerity well enough.

He did smile, though. Quite warmly. "You're welcome, Nuala..."

Something about his expression, or the way he said my name, made me feel for just a moment as though he meant it as more than practice at using the form of my name others would expect him to use. But I dismissed that thought. How could he? He was human. And I was so naive, back then. As he returned to his seat and the book, I remained on the floor and peered over his shoulder, trying to absorb some of what the book said, while he scanned and flipped through pages and began to scribble notes on a scrap of parchment which he pulled from a pile on the table.

He took nearly four hours, checking and re-checking his notes, even thinking out loud, describing what he was working on, both to help me understand and to help himself validate his work. In that time I realized I had not stopped anywhere before coming here, and my bladder had started to feel uncomfortably full. Excusing myself, I went out briefly to use the latrine area.

Perhaps I was simply preoccupied with thoughts of what was to come. Or perhaps I wouldn't have noticed even had I been alert and suspicious. Whatever the reason may have been, the result was the same. I remained completely unaware that I was still being watched.