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Draconic eyes opened onto a room in darkness. The cave at the end of the knuckerhole was underground, and as such had no windows. This was little problem for the dragon's eyes that pierced the darkness. One side of the room was neat and orderly, the other side was a terrible mess.

My room, thought the dragon, but... who am I? The dragon lifted its hands and saw something amazing. The left hand was a vibrant violent, the right a grassy green, but both contained little swirls and patterns of the opposing color. Those hands felt, first the long slender neck, and then all the way up to the single head perched upon it. It felt at the same time familiar and yet completely new. The surprise, it seemed, was that there was only one head.

Zak... my name is Zak. No. It's Wheezie... who am I? Am I both?

Stumbling into the bathroom, the dragon recaptured memories of before it had awoken. It had been such a wonderful, passionate night. The culmination of love and learning to cooperate. A grand expression of the unity that Zak and Wheezie shared expressed in physical form. Finally the mirror reflected the truth into the two eyes of the formerly two-headed dragon.

"I AM both!" shi cried.

The dragon was a combination of the two lovers, an ultimate merging of form and thought. Around hir single neck hung the ancient and powerful shape of the primal dragonbage of harmony, three ruby hearts entwined with golden rims with a chain of braided metal links. When Zak and Wheezie had worn it, this single badge was a pair, both were incomplete. Each side had one of the hearts wrapped in gold, but one had an empty frame while its mate had the ruby out and alone. But now together it was as much a melding as the dragon who wore it.

Hir scales were purple and green, swirling together strongly at the median of hir body, but diffusing into smaller whorls the further from center they got. Other than this hir body looked pretty much the same a shi remembered it, the only major difference was a thinner shoulder-region that held hir only head. On top of hir head, the scales that had made up the crests of both Zak and Wheezie had combined, making them look fuller and more numerous than either alone. But most fetching of all, hir eyes were dual-colored, each combining like an ametrine gemstone.

"I... I really should talk to Quetzal about this." Shi said with a voice that was just a bit too high to be Zak's and a bit too low to be Wheezie's.

Wasting no more time, the new dragon rushed out of the room, out of the cave, and up the knuckerhole that served as an entrance, erupting from the puckered stump with a determined speed.

As shi flew on toward the School in the Sky, more memories surfaced. Things from Zak and Wheezie's combined past played across hir mind like a slideshow. Things they thought, things they felt, things they did both together and separately. After a near lifetime of constant conflict and disagreement, they had finally found the love of the other and a happy medium in which to exist. They still disagreed about many things, even right up to the end, but at last they had found harmony. Within herm-self the new dragon felt the very best things of Zak and Wheezie glowing like gems upon a pile of treasure.

"I suppose I should think of what to call myself," the dragon mused, "I wonder if I should just go with something like 'Harmony' or maybe 'Medium'... naah too corny, I'm way cooler than that! Maybe it should be a mashup name... Zakwheezie? Zeezie? Whak?"

The combi-dragon laughed at the last name. The laugh intensified and drew a snort of delight reminiscent of Wheezie when the name was expanded to "Whakie" in an echo of Wheezie's pet name for her brother.

Quetzal relaxed in his favorite chair, content with his day and ready for a nap. Cassie had been by with a delightful visit and he felt that things were finally settling back into some sort of normalcy.

Almost as expected, there soon came a knock at the door to the school. Grumbling only a little, the aged dragon teacher got himself up and answered. The shock of seeing the form who stood at the front door cause him to jump in surprise. The strange figure entered...

Zakwheezie stepped into the School in the Sky. Looking around at the familiar trapping of the dragon school, a wash of nostalgia passed through hir mind, even though technically shi had both never been there and had just been there the day before. Would the other dragons be shocked? Would they reject hir? Would they think shi was a different person despite having all the memories of their friends? These and more were the questions burning within to ask of the old mentor that dwelled here.

"Quetzal? You here?" shi called to an empty schoolhouse.

"That's weird," shi said to herm-self, "Quetzal is almost always here at this hour!"

"Maybe he stepped out?" shi replied, "Whoa... am I just talking to myself?"

"I guess even we... I... need some time to adjust," snorted the laughing response.

Walking further in, shi noticed that everything was prepared for hir teacher's nap. A glass of warm dragon-milk sat empty upon the table beside Quetzal's favorite chair, the blanket he loved lying crumpled upon it. The only thing missing, as far as Zakwheezie could see was that Queztal wasn't present. A flush of worry passed through the new dragon's spine. Something unusual had happened here, and shi needed to get to the bottom of it!

Quick as a flash, the green-and-purple form of Zakwheezie split the sky. Hir eyes scanned the land below, looking for anything amiss. For Quetzal to be gone suggested something went wrong... something their old teacher couldn't handle. Luckily, shi had Wheezie's boundless energy and enthusiasm, combined with Zak's sense of order and logic, which made for a very quick but efficient search. Within minutes, the dragon's keen eyes spotted shapes upon the ground. One pink, one blue, one goldenrod yellow. Their friends!

Diggy the dwarf pranced and laughed, taunting his draconic captives, "If that's all you've got you'd best give up quick, Diggy want's your lot, and he won without tricks!"

"Just... just let us go!" Cassie pleaded, pulling at her bonds, "You've got our treasures, there's no need to keep us!"

Diggy danced around the piles of ill-gotten goods before him. A nasty smile formed on his face as he considered the little pink dragon's request. Condescendingly he waggled his finger at her.

"A bet is a bet, my dear dragon lass, you lost in straight sets, now I own your..."

"Let my friends go!" interrupted the newcomer with a shout.

All eyes turned to the green-and-purple dragon that swooped in from the sky. The bound dragons goggled at the sight of someone who was at once familiar and completely new to them. A look of anger was plastered upon the new dragon's face as it stared down the villainous dwarf, who stood cocky and confident against it. With a derisive snort the mean little man moved in front of his piles of treasure.

"You're friends lost a wager, so this is all mine, and now you're in danger, for it's challenge time!"

"Oh wow... that's annoying. Do you have to rhyme like that?" Zakwheezie said.

"No one dragon can beat me, none ever has won! I offer my treasure should such a thing be done!" Diggy grumped onward, ignoring the dragon's disdain. "Name your challenge and we will see. Your hoard will be mine and you'll belong to me!"

Zakwheezie turned to hir friends, hoping they would be alright with herm.

"What happened to you guys?" ZW implored.

"What... Zak? Wheezie? Is that you?" Quetzal asked in surprise.

"How did that happen?" Ord added, confused as ever.

"Are you... are you the same?" Cassie wondered.

"I... I'm both. And yet I'm a new person. Just call me 'ZW' for now till I think of a better name. These dragonbadges Quetzal gave me made us into a new dragon. I hope you'll be ok with this... I mean... I hope you won't hate us..."

"ENOUGH with your talking, I will not be ignored!" roared Diggy, "Now get with the betting, before I get bored!"

The little dwarf stomped in front of ZW's towering form, one grubby finger poking at ZW's stomach. He glared angrily at the dragon who dared to interrupt his fun.

"Your friends, now, are mine! They belong to me! They lost to my challenge as you plainly see! Now I demand to be heard, do not turn away! My curse is transferred, you don't have all day!"

ZW glared angrily at the dwarf. The audacity of the little creature was quite at odds with its stature. But he had mentioned a curse, and something about the little creature's words sent a chill up hir spine. To see hir friends bound and stolen from by this one creature made hir wary of of simply ignoring the problem.

"Fine... what are your terms? And can you please stop rhyming all the time?"

"My challenge to you, oh dragon green and purple, is to test me, please do, it is just that simple. But wary be ye, of the curse that I lay. Not one can beat me, if I lose, then you stay. Any test, any task, and soon you will see. I'll face what you ask, I'm just better than thee."

"So... I challenge you... and if I win, I get everything you have. If you win, you get everything I have."

"Don't do it Zak... I mean Wheezie?" Ord cried, "That's how I got us into this mess!"

Somehow, ZW wasn't at all surprised at this news. But still, shi knew that shi had to win. Hir friends couldn't be left in bondage!

"Fine," ZW shouted, "You say no dragon can beat you? Well I'm not gonna let that stand. This is the dragon who is gonna beat you! I challenge you to a music contest!"

"ZW! No!" the others cried, fearful that their new friend might end up joining them.

"Relax. I know what I'm doing," ZW said solemnly, "If nothing else, I'll be with you guys if I lose. But trust me, I'm not gonna lose!"

"A music contest? HahHAH! You will see! No single dragon is better than me!" Diggy announced.

With no more gloating he whipped out a viol, he played a sweet tune and sung with a resonant bass voice. The song was resonant and heavy, it played with emotions. He sang of the beauty of treasure and the delights of winning, he played note that conjured visions of delight and beauty. It was, without doubt, the most wondrous piece of music that Dragonland had ever experienced.

"Beat that, if you can," Diggy mocked with a grin, "I'll win, you'll fall, and here I will stand!"

ZW stood with an odd grin upon hir face. The song was beautiful, there was no doubt, but as ZW considered the challenge, it became clear that this contest was in the bag. Reaching into hir pouch, ZW produced a pair of mallets.

"Mallets? But you have no drums! I've won already! It can't be done!"

But then, ZW played. Shi drummed upon hir scales, sending out beautifully harmonious notes. Each scale was a chord where before they had been simple notes. The music was a mixture between Zak's orderly cadences and Wheezie's wild riffs. But blended together they were a harmonious blend, the best of both. Their voices, so often at odds, also blended into the words ZW sung. They sung of love, the sung of harmony. Their beauty rang out through their song, blowing the dwarf's melodies away.

For a long while after the song finished, silence reigned. Diggy's mouth hinged open and closed, robbed of what to say. At last, he spoke, breaking the awed silence of all around.

"My... my treasure is yours. Take it and go..." he started slowly, "I... I don't think I need to rhyme any mo... rrrre!"

He laughed out loud, dancing in place with a hysteria borne of new freedom.

"The curse is gone! I no longer have to steal from dragons! I'm free!" he cried, running up to ZW, embracing him with dusty, dirty hands, "I'm going back to my mines this instant!"

With a whoop and a click of his heals Diggy dashed away, stopping only to unseal the magic knots binding Cassie, Ord, and Quetzal. Excitedly they leaped up and crowded around their new friend, all eager to ask their questions and thank ZW for saving them.