Serali twisted in midair in a corkscrew turn, Kethro close behind her, as they winged their way east toward the city of Barona. Serali had decided to visit Janus and give him the good news. It had been well over a year since she had last seen him, though she was sure nothing had changed in that time. Janus had been around forever and would be around forever.

The air was crisp and clear as they soared over a sea of trees in flaming fall colors. A few clouds dotted a brilliant blue sky, and a light breeze made flying just that much easier. Chasing each other, playing tag in mid-air the two newlywed dragons flew toward a rising sun. Serali had never felt so good. After long years of feeling out of place, different, even unwanted she now belonged completely and utterly. It was wonderful. Looping and rolling exuberantly, she doubled back and chased Kethro's tail. They cavorted across the sky like a pair of hatchlings just learning how to fly.

As the day lengthened and they fled from the setting sun, Serali started looking for a place to land for the night. A bluff stood out above the irregular fire tinted carpet of trees not far ahead. Serali headed for it with Kethro following close behind. They spent and uneventful night in a cave at the base of the bluff and continued on in the morning.

They repeated that pattern, making their leisurely way along. After several days, Serali wasn't counting, they arrived. They both shifted into human form before approaching the city, since causing a panic wasn't a nice thing to do.

Janus greeted the pair with enthusiasm when they knocked on his door.

"Serali! I hadn't expected to see you again so soon!"

"More than a year is 'soon' to you?"

"Well, you're a journeyman now. Generally journeymen don't return to their masters until they've reached the level to be tested for master themselves. But who's this?" He glanced curiously at Kethro. Then he shook his head. "Let's have our introductions inside." He motioned them both through the door.

Seated in comfortable chairs in the front parlor, they continued their conversation.

"Janus, this is Kethro, Kethro, Janus." Then she grinned. "We were married just last week."

"A pleasant surprise!" He rose and shook Kethro's hand. Then he turned to Serali with a slight frown. "But what about…" he hunted for the right way to say it. "What about the problem you had before? Does he know…?"

Serali laughed. "Yes he knows! He's a dragon himself."

Janus looked a bit surprised. He shook his head. "I still can't quite get used to the idea that people who seem so human aren't."

Serali was suddenly serious. "Humans and dragons aren't so different. There's so much animosity between them for no good reason at all." She shook her head. "I of all people should know that the two races can get along. They're just so used to the way things are now, nobody wants to change it." Then she sighed. "But I didn't come here to bother you about that. You of all people aren't guilty of racial prejudice."

Janus smiled. "No, I of all people am not…"

And Serali did study. She'd been neglecting her magic in favor of just living and learning how to be a dragon. Now she needed to get back into the habits of being a mage again. But long study gets tiring so she and Janus, with Kethro sometimes tagging along, would go for walks outside the city. They would talk about this and that, nothing related to magic, but just everyday things, or philosophy, or religion. Once Serali asked Janus about his childhood, but he avoided the question, and Serali didn't ask again.

Then one day as they walked down a deserted path not far from the edge of the city all that changed. Kethro had stayed behind that day, so Janus and Serali were alone. The path wound through grassy hills dotted here and there with trees. There was an odd feeling of isolation. Hundreds of humans were only a mile or so away, but from the path the two of them could have been the last people on earth.

Serali mentioned this the Janus.

"But if we were, Serali, humanity would be in trouble, for neither of us is really human."

Serali smiled and started to reply, when he glanced up. Complete surprise, joy, and a kind of agonized hope flashed across his face one after another. She followed his line of sight and saw a bird. It looked like a raven, but it was silver all over, not a spot of black to be seen.

Janus let out a cry that was part hopeless longing, part joy. "Ariel!"

The silver raven nearly fell out of the sky. It recovered and circled back on its path till it was over the two of them. Janus called "Ariel," again, and raised his arm like a falconer would for his falcon to land on. His face was hopeful and in dread at the same time.

The silver raven circled again, the dropped. It landed on Janus' forearm. Then it walked up his arm and perched on his shoulder. Janus reached up and stroked it tentatively, as if he was afraid it wouldn't be real. The bird nibbled at his ear gently and Janus looked as if he might actually cry. Without a word he turned around and headed back for his tower, reaching up to stroke the bird occasionally as if to assure himself it was really there.

Serali followed behind, mystified. What on earth was going on?

The walked all the way back to the tower without a word. Janus opened the courtyard gate and went inside. He crossed the courtyard, opened the door to the tower, and went in. Serali followed. Inside he carefully closed the door after Serali had entered. She watched, still mystified as he sat down slowly and carefully. Then he put the silver raven on the floor. It looked at him with one beady eye, which was, surprisingly, a dark purple instead of the usual black.

Then the bird shimmered oddly. It seemed to expand in a cloud if silvery haze that cleared to show a slender silver-haired girl. No, not a girl, thought Serali. She was like Janus, ageless. She could have been twenty, or two hundred. She smiled at Janus.

"I hadn't thought to meet you again so soon."

Janus was almost agonized as he responded. "Soon? Almost half a century and you call it soon?"

Serali sensed a private moment between the two. She quietly got up and left the room. Her curiosity didn't allow her to go far though. She paused just out of sight down the hall and listened.

"Yes I do. When we parted I thought it would be another hundred years at least before your task even began. And now you have begun it indeed."

"Yes. I've more than begun it. Ariel, this task of mine is so near completion! Can you not stay here for the few years left?"

She shook her head. "You want it to be so, and you hope, but it may be a century or more before it is done. I will not be tied to one place, one task, for a hundred years."

"Please Ariel. I know I can finish what needs doing before then."

"I doubt you can."

"Very well, perhaps I can't. But the part of my task that binds me to this tower is done. If you will not stay here, let me follow you."

"And have you leave the moment your task calls you again?"

"And come with me when I go! You said you wanted adventure, well now you can have it! This will change the world when it's done!"

"And it changes you, Janus."

"Yes, it does. Did you want me to remain the same while you went out and changed? Did you think I would simply wait for you and do nothing? Task or no task, I cannot remain the same over half a century unless I cease to live."

"Yes… I see that." She sighed. "Janus, I care for you, but I will not uproot my life for you."

"I love you Ariel, I would do anything for you but the one thing you ask."

There was a pause. "Perhaps I have wronged you Janus. If you would truly come with me, then come. I will even follow you when your task comes calling."

There was a much longer pause, interrupted by a faint rustle of cloth. Serali imagined them embracing. Then, "I think fate was conspiring against us. Can you imagine the odds against your glancing up just when I happened to be passing over?"

"No, fate isn't conspiring against us, it's conspiring for us."

There was more silence.

After a few more moments Janus called out, "Serali, I'm sure you're lurking in the hallway, why don't you come in?"

Somewhat sheepishly, Serali went back into the room.

"Serali, this is Ariel. Ariel, Serali."

Ariel stood up and shook Serali's hand warmly. "Nice to meet you."

"Ariel is… well, an old, old friend, you might say."

"Very old. How much do you know about Janus' past?"

"Hardly any, to tell you the truth.

"I don't really like to talk about it much," said Janus. "It brings back too many difficult memories. But I know you're dying if curiosity, so perhaps Ariel would be willing to tell you a bit about it."

Ariel smiled. "I've often made my way as a story teller. I'd be happy to give you a bit of my history."

She seated herself and motioned for Serali to do the same. When all three of them were comfortable, she began.

"Have you ever heard of the lost continent that men call Atlantis?" When Serali nodded she continued. "Not all the legends that men tell are true. Living short lives as they do, they forget history quickly, and Atlantis was never a place for men to begin with. It was raised from the bottom of the sea in the age of Glory, not long after the creation was done. It was raised by Vrisna, one of the Bright Ones, as a home for her people. To understand about what later happened to Atlantis, you have to understand how the Atlanteans were made.

"Before the Creation began, Vrisna listened well to the song of the Creator. She heard the part of the song that spoke of humanity and found it very grand. She decided that she wished to be the one to bring that part of the song to pass. In her pride she thought she could do as well as the Creator. So in the first days of the creation of intelligence she made the Atlanteans. In form they were like humans, and each was fair to behold. Janus and I both bear Atlantean blood, and you can see much of their outward form in us. They all had silver hair and large eyes of unusual and bright colors. They were small in stature but great in strength for their size.

"They had great intelligence, and made many discoveries that have not been duplicated since. They even harnessed the powers of magic and did a thing that no one has so much as contemplated. Vrisna raised the island continent above the sea, but her people raised it further. They tore it from the earth and set if afloat in the sky.

"They took after their creator in their pride. They thought themselves the highest form of life and all other races were hardly more than animals. But it is they who were less. For Vrisna, in trying to equal the Creator, failed. The Atlanteans were fair and wise, and mighty, but they had no souls. They treated each other only slightly better than the 'lesser' races. Even their children were given no love or affection, only taught stern duty and pride.

"My father was an Atlantean. I never knew him. My mother left him when I was born. She had thought she might change him, that he might grow to love, but she would not risk my life in his unloving hands. I'm grateful to her every day for that.

"Janus wasn't so lucky." Serali glanced at her mentor. He nodded. "My mother was an Atlantean, my father a half-elf. He died when I was quite young, but I always half suspected my mother of killing him. She would have done it without a second thought if she believed it would be to her benefit. She certainly had no love for either him or me. She raised me because she thought having someone the elves revered would help her to gain power and wealth."

Serali broke in. "I don't' understand. Of course the elves honor you now, but how could she know that would happen when you were just born?"

"There's a passage that appears on most holy books about like being meant for like."

"Yes, it's in the dragon's Book of Truth too."

"Different races interpret it differently. The dwarves, for instance, believe that this means half-breeds are an abomination. But elves think that this passage means that in order for a half breed to be born at all the Bright Ones or the Creator himself must make a special exception to the laws of nature. So they believe that all half breeds are destines to do something very important or they could not have been born."

"I see. So the elves would think you were doubly destined for greatness."

"Yes. So I was raised without my father and without my mother's love. I used to wonder if I would become like her when I got older. The idea terrified me."

"But it would never have happened," said Ariel. "Because of his father, Janus has a soul. As do I because of my mother. But to continue the story, the people of Atlantis became more powerful and more proud all through the age of Glory. During the age of Might, after the Bright Ones had left the earth, the Atlanteans joined into the many wars that followed their departure with great enthusiasm. They came near to conquering the whole world during that time. But at last the mages of all the other factions and races joined together. They made a spell of great power, and the Atlanteans were forced to tap all the magic they could get to deflect it and save themselves.

"As you well know Serali, magical energy doesn't come from nowhere. It must be drawn from a source. So when the Atlanteans drew all their power to themselves, they drained it from every spell already cast on the floating isle. And that was their downfall, literally. They weakened the spell that held the island aloft to the point where the island's great weight could no longer be held up. It fell down back into the sea and none survived.

"Janus was already an adult and was off the island when it fell."

"My mother thought she had a hold on me, so she'd sent me out to negotiate the surrender of a group of elves. Though negotiate is hardly the word, since they would be near slaves under the terms I was supposed to offer. I'd had thoughts of somehow joining with the elves, but there were enough spells on me that it would probably been suicide to attempt it. When she died, the spells all collapsed and I was free at last.

Ariel took up the tale again. "Many poor ensorcelled people were freed when Atlantis fell. But I didn't even know it had happened until years later. My mother had moved us as far from where Atlantis usually lay as she could. Though no place was safe in those days. The Atlanteans could move the island wherever they wanted. It was a relief to the whole world to know that they would never again have to fear waking up to find their country shadowed by the floating island."

"But how did you two meet?" asked Serali.

"It was actually more than a hundred years after Atlantis fell. We happened to be in the same city. Of course people always noticed my appearance. Silver hair and purple eyes are hardly common. Some fellow told me that he'd seen a man that looked like me in the market that day. I was half curious and half scared silly. Humans were already beginning to forget Atlantis, but my mother's scare stories were still quite fresh in my mind. I'd never seen an Atlantean, and I wanted to, but to meet someone who had terrified my mother so much was a horrible thought. At last my curiosity outweighed my fear and I went looking for him."

"Meanwhile," said Janus, "I'd been hearing things about a silver-haired girl and having similar thoughts, except that I knew what an Atlantean was like. So I decided to avoid this stranger at all costs."

Ariel grinned. "I had a hard time finding him, that's the truth. But he'd been living with elves too long. He didn't know the first thing about cities. I'd been a city girl for many years. So I managed to find him. Sometimes I wonder why I put so much effort into hunting up somebody I was terrified of, but I just couldn't let it go. When we both came face to face, I'm not sure who was the more scared. But it only took me a moment to notice that poor Janus was scared too. Surely an awful Atlantean wouldn't be terrified of me? So I introduced myself like a civilized being."

Janus shrugged his shoulders. "I was still a bit suspicious. Atlanteans were capable of all kind of tricks. But I knew that I was different, so I hoped that Ariel might be too. It took us both a long time to get used to each other, me more so than her I think. But we were both so curious we couldn't keep apart."

"Both of us were just there temporarily," explained Ariel, "so it wasn't long before we parted. But we kept meeting each other in the oddest places. Atlanteans are like dragons in that they live forever if nothing kills them, so neither of us was in any rush. Sometimes it was centuries between meetings."

Something was gradually dawning on Serali. "Wait a minute. Earlier didn't you say that Atlantis fell during the age of Might? But that was something like eight thousand years ago!"

"Yes, it was. Ariel and I have been around at least that long."

"I can hardly imagine that much time. You're as old as the oldest dragon on earth!"

Janus frowned. "How is that possible? Dragons were already old when Atlantis fell."

"Yes, but there aren't any dragons from that time still here. It's in the Book of Truth. When the Bright Ones left, First Father of dragons went with them. But it says that he didn't go to the same place they went, because they went to another plane, while First Father went out among the stars. At the very end of the age of Might, after Atlantis sunk, he returned and led all of the dragons to the stars. The only ones who stayed behind were those too young to be carried and too old to make the trip themselves. Apparently a dragon only just past his first century wouldn't survive among the stars."

"Amazing. But that means that Ariel at least is quite a bit older than any dragon, because she was into her second century when Atlantis fell."

That thought was mind-boggling, but there was something else that nagged at the edge of Serali's mind. There was something familiar about Ariel. Serali couldn't place it, she certainly had never seen Ariel before, but the nagging familiarity refused to leave.

"Ariel, I know it's insane, but there's something vaguely familiar about you, and I can't place it."

Ariel looked rather startled. "You have a better ear than I thought," she said enigmatically, but suddenly it triggered Serali's memory.

"Ear, of course! I've heard your voice before. But where?"

"You've figured out that much, I'll give you the rest. It was at the dragon's moot. I'm almost as comfortable in dragon shape as you are as a human."

"You were the silver dragon, the one that tried to sing out."

"Yes. I love the dragons. I've seen what Skrissish is doing to them and I don't like it. I've tried to do what I can, but he has gathered a great deal of power, so there isn't much I can do. If I tried to upset the way things are done now, he'd probably kill me."

Remembering the way that he's slain the brass dragon, Serali didn't doubt for a moment that Skrissish was capable of doing it, but, "Ariel, I defied him, and he didn't do anything worse than glare at me."

"You're different."

"How?"

She shook her head. "You're a true dragon Serali and a royal gold to boot. I'm a fake and they know it. They've accepted me, but only just barely. You belong with them. I never will."

"I don't feel that I belong. Not here, not with the dragons, and not back home."

"I know what it's like to be an outsider Serali, but there isn't anything I can do about it. You'll have to fight that battle yourself."

Serali smiled. "I suppose compared to you I don't have much to worry about. I've one set of parents who loved me very much, and though I never met my dragon parents, I suspect they cared for me too."

"Yes you're very fortunate, in more ways than one."

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