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Ryan lay with his head hung over his father's shoulder, staring at the wall. The wall, while not terribly interesting, also was not staring at or intimidating him. Tanner eventually coaxed him back onto the table, most likely because the was the only one in the room that was not nervous or staring at him. While most dragons were sensitive to emotions, Ryan was particularly so, mostly as a defense mechanism at home to avoid getting into trouble. Reading his father's moods was paramount to peace and tranquility of his family.

Tanner convinced him to to come back up and sit and he did so, wanting to please Tanner, but still refused to go more than a few feet away from his parents and the dubious safety they provided. It all seemed as a dream to him. Surely this was not happening to him, he wasn't sitting on a table, being displayed for dragons that he didn't know, he wasn't a prince, and there was no one out to hurt him or his family. He would wake up tomorrow and everything would be back to normal, going to school, running from bullies, trying to keep his father placated...

He knew better, of course. This was real; he was far to old to believe that just shutting your eyes and wishing would make everything go away.

A small part of himself had to admit that this was also very exciting in way that he had yearned for. Part of him wanted to be in the thick of things, wanted to be around other dragons, bursting forth, being a dragon fully and without constraint. It had been building in him for some time. He tried to ignore it, to suppress it, but with other dragons around and his newfound importance, he feared that it would not be able to contain it for much longer.

And then what consequence?

That scared him. Terrified him. What if he loved being a dragon so much that he rejected what his parents had taught him, rejected the "human" side of himself, perhaps even rejecting his human family all together? He couldn't bear the thought of it. He wouldn't turn on his family! He wouldn't do it; he refused to do it.

He looked over at his mother and she looked back at him, clearly frightened. He trilled nervously at her and she smiled and started to reach a hand to him. He went to rub his cheek agains it but froze at the sight of the dragons getting to their feet with worried expressions on their faces. He trilled again and dove for his mother's arms. The dragons all shuddered, groaning, closing their eyes at the sound. His mother wrapped her arms around him tightly and his father leapt to his feet. "Stop it!"

Sulvius shook off the effect of the trill and held out his arms. "Please, everyone sit down; the prince is just fine." The other dragons looked at him and then back at the prince. One by one they shook off the effect of Ryan's trill and sat down, still looking nervous. Sulvius walked around the table to Ryan and gently pet the little dragon's head. Ryan looked up at him, eyes wide.

"I am so very sorry, Sulvius," he said in a small voice.

"You're fine, Ryan. Just fine," Sulvius said soothingly. "No one is angry with you."

"Not at all, Ryan," Kith said in her soft voice and he looked at her uncertainly. "You need to be careful trilling like that, however. It is very hard to hear and almost impossible to resist."

Ryan shivered and tried to relax. "Alright," Cladden said wryly, "now that we have all experienced the trill first hand..." He grinned at everyone as they laughed. "What do you all say to lunch? I am certain that we can find Ryan whatever he wishes."

Ryan's mother looked down at him and the little dragon's stomach suddenly rumbled at the offer of food and he ducked his head in embarrassment. The dragons laughed quietly. "I have never known a young dragon that is not hungry," Kheros said and then cocked his head. "Come to think of it, so am I."

"You are always hungry," Kith said and walked over to where Ryan was being held. "What would you like to eat, my prince?"

He looked up at her, eyes wide for reasons other than just nervousness. "I think that I would like pizza?"

"Then pizza it is," Cladden said and went to a phone that hung on the wall, evidently to put the order in.

"Thank you," Ryan said and ducked his head bashfully.

"You are most welcome, Ryan," she smiled and went back to her seat.

The dragons relaxed in their seats and started polite conversation amongst themselves, trying to relax everyone. Ryan's father sat quietly, saying nothing, and Beth glanced over at him worriedly from time to time. She worried at his reactions to what was going on. She sighed and looked down at Ryan, who was now laying in her arms, more relaxed that he had been before, looking at the dragons with curiosity. She noticed that his eyes continued to stray towards Kith. Well, he would have discovered girls sooner or later, she thought, feeling resigned to the situation. Kith was certainly attractive, inasmuch as she was a judge of draconic beauty. She sat easily in her chair, gesturing gracefully from time to time in response to something that Cladden had said.

Now Kheros, on the other hand, was big, intimidating, and made her just ever so slightly nervous. Chaos, Sulvius said they called him from time to time. He didn't seem surly or foul tempered, at least, if anything he seemed quite cheerful, almost oafish after a fashion.

She wasn't sure what to make of Cladden. He seemed quiet, mostly, and she couldn't quite shake the dour british stereotype that he seemed to project. Sulvius assured her repeatedly that all of the dragons here were friendly or at least neutral towards Ryan. She hoped he was right. The idea that someone wanted to kill her son made her want to hide him away so that god himself wouldn't find him.

Tanner appeared, at least, to be calm but there again, he had been dealing with dragons his entire life. She briefly wondered at what that was like, rather the opposite of what her son was going through. She looked down at him and stroked his head a few times and he thrummed softly for her. Suddenly his head snapped up and he darted out his tongue a few times. A moment later the door opened and several platters of pizza were brought into the room, steaming hot, being carried by what appeared to be humans. She scratched Ryan behind the ears and opened her arms and he hesitantly climbed onto the table, looking at the pizzas with interest.

"I had them send up several types as I was unsure of what everyone would want," Cladden said. He looked to Ryan. "You first, Ryan." Ryan hesitated and looked around at the other dragons.

"What's wrong, Ryan?" his mother asked, stroking his neck.

"I do not know how to take that form and you do not like it if I eat while in this form," he said quietly.

"Hmm," Cladden said. "How do you explain it?"

"I just did it one day," Kith admitted.

"I can try to teach him," Kheros said, "Mother had to show me." Ryan looked at the large dragon apprehensively and Kheros' ears drooped. Ryan immediately felt guilty.

"Yes, I would like for you to show me," he said quickly.

Kheros immediately brightened. "Yes my prince!" He stood up and stretched out his huge frame, then shifted to his human form. "I am going to shift as slow as I can. Watch how it feels when I shift." He paused for a moment, considering. "I am not exactly certain what the means, really, but it is what my mother told me and it worked."

He started to shift forms and it was almost nauseating the way he blurred and warped, shifting slowly into his bipedal form. Ryan nearly looked away, feeling queasy, when he suddenly understood what Kheros meant by "feeling" the shift. Somehow he could tell exactly what Kheros was doing, exactly how he managed it.

Ryan jumped off the table and concentrated and the next thing he knew he was looking at things from a different viewpoint. It felt odd standing on two legs, yet having wings and a tail. His balance felt strange and he was a little unsteady on his feet but hoped he would get adjusted to it soon. He felt stronger, faster, could see and hear much better, all the good things that being a dragon gave to him with the flexibility of a more human form. He decided he would get to like this form very much and trilled happily, then quickly looked to see the other dragons reactions.

They were all grinning, thrumming in approval and Ryan smiled shyly, then turned to go get into his seat.

And promptly fell flat on his face.

Ryan walked back to their rooms in his human form, patting his rather over full belly. He had eaten just a wee bit more than was good for him, but the pizza tasted so wonderful! Much better than he had ever eaten before. "So dragon cooking agrees with you then?" his mother asked, amused.

"Yes, very much so!" he said and groaned, patting his belly. "I do hope that everything they cook is so very good."

"You'll probably find it so," Tanner said. "Dragons take great delight in their food. It's one of the many reasons I love to go to gatherings, the food is always great. I can instantly gain 10 pounds!"

Ryan laughed and looked up to see his father's reaction. His father had that look on his face again and Ryan sighed. He wished his father worry so; Sulvius promised them that the dragons here were on their side.

Sulvius yawned. "I think I will take a nap. We can sort out what the next step is later; for now we should all rest."

Tanner looked over at Ryan. "Do you think you would feel up to looking around the gardens and walking off some of that pizza you gorged yourself on?"

"I did not gorge!" Ryan said indignant and Tanner and Sulvius laughed at him

Ryan's parents exchanged a quick glance. "They did seem rather impressive," Beth said.

Sulvius grinned. "One year the dragons had a competition to see which safe house could create the nicest garden. As with most things dragons do competitively, things quickly got out of hand and moved to making gardens of epic proportions. If one tree was good, then surely 20 must be better! Anyway, you'll find that most safe houses have elaborate gardens as well as hedge mazes and the like. It works out well for dragonkind as it satisfies our biological imperative to snoop."

Beth laughed. "We've always said that Ryan was far more curious than any cat!"

"Cats have nothing on dragons for curiosity," Tanner said wryly.

"Ryan would be in no danger?" Beth asked Sulvius.

"No, none at all. The dragons here are all on his side, so to speak, or at least neutral. Even if something were to happen, this safe house has top medical facilities and there are more than enough dragons to keep Ryan safe," Sulvius assured her.

Ryan's father didn't look as if he were all happy about the situation. Ryan's shoulders slumped and he sighed deeply. His father wasn't going to allow him out; he should have known it would go this way, even with other dragons around to protect him. Ryan's mother glanced at him and went over to her husband, putting her hand on his shoulder, talking quietly to him.

Allen sighed. "You may go, Ryan, but you will stay close to Tanner and you will be very careful of what you say. Obey him at all times, do you understand me?" Ryan nodded and he grunted, turning to Tanner. "You will watch out for him."

"Of course," Tanner said soothingly. "I would never allow anything to happen to him."

Ryan's father just grunted and walked into his room. Ryan sadly watched him leave, wishing that just once his father wouldn't hold being a dragon against him.

"I am not so very certain they made a good choice with his father," Cladden said, settling back into his chair. "I am not so very certain that he does not hate dragons."

"I am not so very sure that it goes that far, but yes he does seem to be very wary of us and protective of the young prince. I do not suppose that we can blame him, really. Sulvius said that all they knew was to keep him away from other dragons, but never why. Now? He is surrounded by them and his father truly does not know which to trust, if any," Kith said

"I can see your point," Cladden admitted. "What do you think of the prince?"

"It is hard to say. I would not wish to make a judgment of him on such a short encounter. He seems healthy enough, though he is very small for his age. He seems...timid. I know not if he has started puberty or not, but that will likely remove much of it if that is the case. His breed is one of the more cautious ones, as you well know. It may well be that they are far more shy during their growth.'

Cladden sighed. "I wish they were here to ask."

"Our policy of not writing information about the royal breed seems to have backfired on us here," she admitted.

"Yes and it did not seem to help so very much in keeping them safe did it?" he said a little bitterly.

"That was thousands of years before you or I was hatched. They only did what they thought to be right at the time," Kith said. She stood up and stretched, her lithe form seeming to reach the very ceiling. "Are we having a dinner for him tonight?"

Cladden nodded. "A small gathering. Myself, you, Kheros, and Sulvius for dragons, though I may invite Pax as well. His family and Tanner otherwise, just the group we had for lunch."

"Perhaps we should invite Athena?" she asked, cocking her head. "She can give us a general opinion of his health."

He shook his head. "No. No need to expose him to a healer just yet. I think that may scare him further, and we certainly don't want that." He looked troubled. "I truly worry, Kith, that he is timid and will stay that way. It is so very hard to see him like that. He should be happy, bright eyed, inquisitive and full of energy, not looking around as if he expects to be struck."

She looked at him with a jerk, "You don't think this parents are abusive?"

Cladden looked startled. "No, they never would have given them over to them if they were."

"But if they did not know..."

He looked down. "We will have to keep a close eye on him and his family.'

She nodded. "As if we would not anyway. Should we ask Sulvius? Perhaps Tanner?"

He shook his head. "No, not yet. Let us make our own observations."

"Very well," she said with a yawn. "I think that I will go sleep off lunch, basking in the sunshine in my rooms, in preparation for dinner."

He grumbled. "You are so very cruel! You know that I have work to do and cannot leave."

She laughed. "Do not work too hard," she said and she walked out the door.

Cladden grumbled again and settled down to the paperwork he had been ignoring.