Serali sat with her clawed feet dangling over the edge of the cliff, gazing unafraid into the gulf between her toes. Now what can I do? I certainly can't go home looking like this. But to just abandon my family . . . No, I can't do that either. Who, or what, ever birthed me, Marilla and Falio are the ones that raised me. The are my parents. And my brothers and sisters, they need me. She sat long, pondering, until she reached her decision. There is no other choice available, she finally decided. I will sit here and try to change back until I succeed. If I fail, well, someday my bones might be found on this spot!

Some hours later, as noon approached, she decided that her inward proclamation might have been a little hasty. Still perched on the cliff she had tried to will herself human, putting all of her strength behind the thought but with no result in sight. Finally she sat back exhausted. This is not working, she thought, I must be doing something wrong. Then an idea hit with the force of a falling brick.

Standing upright, she straightened her back. Then she closed her eyes. She felt a warm breeze blowing over her face, she felt the feel of the gritty floor of the gully between her toes, she loosed her mind totally, relaxing into a creature of feeling. Then, when it seemed that nothing was left of her but the soft whisper of the wind and the solid feel of the ground under her feet, she brought into mind the feelings of wind in her hair, of the way it caressed her face, of the way her toes could feel the ground through the thin soles of her shoes; she brought all that to mind, remembering it, the way she had half-remembered the feel of wind under her wings as she fell. The real sensations seemed to fade until the remembered wind in her hair was stronger than the peculiar ruffle of wind blowing her crest. There was again that odd pushing, pulling, shifting feeling, that brief instant of intense pain, and then she opened her eyes.

Serali laughed, delightedly. "It works!" she crowed, "It works!"

With a light step she set off back up the gully toward home.

Arriving back at her house, the delicious scent of cheese noodles was wafted to her on the breeze. They almost never had cheese noodles, since the noodles could not be made and had to be bought.

"Umm. . . ." She inhaled happily.

Opening the door to the kitchen, she stepped in side to a bustling scene. Her mother was stirring the cheese into a large pot of noodles. Falio was getting dishes down from the highest shelf and handing them to her youngest brother, Ohlito, who was setting them on the big table in the center of the room.

Marilla noticed her come in. "You look happy, did you enjoy yourself?"

"Oh yes! I. . ." then she realized that her parents were unlikely to believe her story. Just believing that Patren really was a slime ball, like Breck had said, would be too much. There wasn't a chance that she would be believed about turning into a dragon. "I went to the edge of the world and looked off," she extemporized. "It was a long way down!"

Her mother frowned. "You shouldn't do that, you might fall off."

"Nonsense!" interrupted Falio. "Our Serali has more sense than that."

Serali giggled at her father's unintentional pun. "Don't worry, Mama, I won't fall off."

Just then the kitchen door opened again, bumping Serali in the rear. He other brother, Dentol, came in the door, carrying a pitcher of milk form the well-house outside where it had been cooling since milking time that morning. A few drops sploshed over the edge as he tried to maneuver around the unexpected obstacle of his sister.

"Out of the way, sis, or you won't be drinking anything but water with your lunch."

"I'm moving! I'm moving!" she replied with a laugh.

Her sisters trooped in form some mysterious errand upstairs and they all sat down to eat. Serali ate slowly, savoring every bite. She watched with amusement as her brothers shoveled in food as if there was no tomorrow. They were both scrawny little things, but they could eat twice what she could three times as fast. Terla, the older of Serali's two sisters only picked at it. She didn't like cheesed noodles, but Serali had little sympathy, recalling a certain day some months ago when, for Terla's sake, she had been forced to eat a plate full of steamed crook-neck squash, one of her least favorite foods. As the last scraps were finished Serali sat back with a sigh. This was such a good day, and it wasn't even over yet! The dishes were cleared away and the family moved to the sitting room at the front of the house for the best part of the day, the present giving.

With giggles and whispers, her two sisters dashed upstairs, followed by the whole rest of the family. Serali sat in a chair in the room and waited for them to return. When everyone was gathered, the fun began.

First little Carita, who was only four, stepped forward, hands behind her back. She was giggling helplessly as she pulled out a small object. Serali took it from her and examined it. It was a water-smoothed rock, deep red with black streaks. Just large enough to fit in the palm on her hand, it had a small hollow on one side.

"Thank you, Carita," she said, not certain exactly what to do with the rock.

"It's a luck stone," Carita volunteered in a piping voice. "You rub it when you're sad and it makes you feel happy."

"How nice. I shall keep it with me then, in case I ever need it." She slipped the rock into her pocket.

Next came Terla. She was six and had recently begun a project that involved much consultation with Mamma and much secrecy. Serali had managed to catch a glimpse of the work though and she had a good idea of what her gift would be. Sure enough, she was presented with a small cloth bracelet, stitched somewhat clumsily with dragons in yellow thread.

"To match your other one." Explained Terla.

Serali glanced at the glittering golden bracelet that encircled her wrist. She seldom payed it any attention since it had been there her entire life. Her parents had told her how her birth father had put it on her wrist just minuets after she was born. To compare that exquisite work with this little bit of cloth was laughable, but Terla had put her all into that little scrap so Serali smiled and asked Terla to help her put it on.

Her brothers were next. Ohlito swaggered up and pulled a paper packet from his pocket. The swagger was instantly explained by its contents. Rock sweet!

"Where did you get the money for rock sweet, you rascal?" asked Serali, delighted.

"Hauled wood for Breck for a month and got enough for two," he grinned and pulled out a second pouch. Swaggering even more, he proceeded to dispense small portions to everyone else, saving the lion's share for himself.

Serali laughed at his antics and was still chuckling a bit when Dentol approached her. He had his hand in his pocket and when he pulled it out and opened it, Serali could see a small, coppery object laying on his palm. "Oh my. . ." she gasped involuntarily. "Dentol, I can't!"

"Oh yes you can, sis, because I just got a new one from Breck last week." He grinned then. "Ohlito is not the only one who had been hauling wood."

Dentol had a fascination with knives. He had been continually getting into trouble with them as a child and finally Falio gave up on keeping him away form sharp edges and decided to teach him how to use them. Since then, he had acquired a growing collection, receiving at least one every name-day and earning others from various people over the years. One that he had gotten several years ago lay now in his hand. It was a folding knife, with a copper handle worked in a pattern of hawks in flight. Serali had admired it openly when she had first seen it and apparently Dentol had remembered.

"It's not really that good of a blade, he explained. Can't ever hold a point so if you use it much you'll have to sharpen it all the time, but it's good and sharp right now, and I figure you won't use it much."

"Thank you, Dentol, this is wonderful." She took the knife from him and put it in her pocket where it clicked against Carita's rock.

Lastly there was the present from her parents. With smile on their faces, they produced a leather covered object of unusual shape. Serali gasped in surprise. A lute case! She took the case form them eagerly and opened it. Inside was nestled a small, simple lute. Picking it up with trembling fingers, she cradled it gently. Placing her fingers with the utmost care, she strummed a chord. It needed tuning, but the tone was lovely, sweet and pure. With care she adjusted the strings, turning the pegs by minuscule increments til the notes rang true. She had a fascination for music almost as great as her brother's fascination for sharp objects. Ever since a strolling minstrel had come through town last year she had longed for a lute like his, but there was only one such instrument in town and the owner, an sweet old lady, would not part with it. Serali had managed to coax a few lessons out of her, but these only increased her longing.

"How in the world did you get it?" she asked.

Her mother smiled, "When Getrel went to the capital last month we asked him to get it for us. We knew we would have no peace from you till you had one."

"Thank you, thank you, thank you!" And with that, the celebration was over, and Serali dashed upstairs to try out the instrument.

After an hour or so of plucking strings, Serali put the lute away, her fingers sore, but her face smiling. Going back downstairs, she found the house empty, her family all at work or play elsewhere. She decided to finish this fine day by going to see Breck. After an uneventful trip through the warm, dusty streets of town, she reached Breck's forge. The big man was hard at work, hammering on a plough share for one of the farmers.

Serali came into the building and sat down in her usual corner. Breck continued hammering without acknowledging her entrance. She waited patiently while he finished with the plough. After it was done, he looked over at her with a grin.

"Are you enjoying yourself, little one?"

"Oh yes!" she replied with enthusiasm. "This had been a terrific day!"

He laughed, his big voice booming in the small area of the forge. "Well, I need to do my part to continue such a great day, then, don't I?"

Serali looked at him quizzically, wondering what he had in mind.

"Wait here a moment," he said. "I have something to show you." He walked through the door that connected the forge to the rest of his house. Serali waited, her excitement and curiosity building up her impatience to an almost intolerable level. Just when she thought that if she had to wait a moment more she would burst, Breck came back through he door, holding a small object that was almost lost in his huge hand. He handed ti to her wordlessly. She took it form his hand and examined it. I t was a little wooden box, carved all over in a fanciful pattern of trees and fantastic beasts. It had a hinged lid and when she opened it, there was a pendent, perhaps an inch in diameter, made of tin and bronze and iron. The pendant was in the form of an iron circle, divided in half by a curving "s" that was also made of iron. The two, tadpole-shaped halves thus created each held a delicately molded form, one side in reddish copper, the other in silvery tin. Curled together in exact mirror images of each other, a pair of dragons nested, one in each half of the pendant. Serali was stunned. The pendant was, with the exception of her bracelet, the most beautiful thing she had ever even seen, much less dreamed of owning.

"Did you make this?" She queried Breck, surprise showing plainly in her voice.

"Aye, that I did, child. I wasn't always a village blacksmith, you know, and I still remember a few of my old skills form my city days."

"What is it?" she asked.

"It's a Korental luck-charm, or at least that's what it was designed after." he explained. "Folk form Korent think dragon are lucky. I made this little charm after the traditional pattern, only I used the mountain dragons we sometimes see around this country for the models, instead of the snake-dragons that you're likely to find around Korent." He began to get carried away in talking about his work, like he always did when she asked him about it, but she didn't mind. "See this one," he said, pointing at the silver dragon, "is a male mountain dragon, you can tell by the horns and the spikes all over his head, and this one here, that's the female. The two sides stand for all opposing forces. . ." He continued the explanation, but Serali had been quite thoroughly distracted by his earlier comment.

So, that's why I didn't look like the dragons in the stories, she was thinking. It's because they were all boys. What a simple explanation. She looked at the pendant, examining the copper dragon in detail. Yes, there was the same fin-like crest, the same rounded snout, all the same. How amazing! I really did turn into a dragon. A mountain dragon, he said. I need to learn everything that I can about mountain dragons. Her musing was brought to a halt when she realized that Breck had finished his explanation and was looking at her with an amused expression on his face."You haven't heard a word of what I just said, have you?"

"Sorry," she blushed, "I was thinking about something."

"Well, I'll leave you to it then. I need to get back to work on this thing." He gestured toward the plough on the forge. "Otherwise I'll never get it done." But Serali was already back in her own world, thinking.

A great many things have happened today. I've become a year older, I've met a real bad villain, like in the stories, gained an amazing gift and had a great many other gifts given, but I don't really know what it's all about. I can become a dragon, but I feel like the same person I always have been. How can so much change around me, how can things be so different without making me into a different person? And what am I anyway? I felt so whole, so complete as a dragon, does that mean I am really a dragon accidentally born human? But I am human, my parents are human, how can I be a dragon when I feel so ordinary?

She sighed, a huge breath that whistled out of her lungs and was lost, the only trace of it a stirring in the dust that hung suspended in the air. I guess I may never know the truth. I just have to decide what I think is true and then act like it was. Otherwise I'm going to go mad from wondering.

Serali walked out of the forge, waving a silent farewell to Breck, and headed home into the reddening twilight as the sun sank below the horizon. She had a feeling that no mater how ordinary her life had seemed until now, things were going to start happening.

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