As if everything were determined to happen at once, Janus arrived early that year. Janus was a mage, from Barona. He had come to the village every other year on his journey to the far desert realms in search of rare magical components for his spells. Many of the villagers feared the mage, and none truly trusted him completely, but Serali had always gotten along with him well, ever since the time she had been two. He had been at her house, discussing something with her parents, and little Serali had been up, though it was well past her bed time. She had come into the room and crawled up onto Janus' lap, much to his surprise. Her parents had been frightened quite a bit. They didn't quite trust the mage. But he had been quite tolerant of her antics. She had been fascinated by the bright silver color of his hair, and had sat and gurgled happily as she pulled at the strands until Janus had managed to hand her back to her parents. On his last visit, she had pestered him with questions on every subject under the sun, with the idea that a mage would have better answers than her parents' "It just is, that's why." This had proved to be true, and she was looking forward to asking him about dragons this year.

Janus was not the sort of mage that you heard about in the tales. He dressed in a simple tunic and trousers, in sensible dark colors. He wasn't tall, being only six inches over Serali's current five feet. His skin was quite pale, paler even than Breck's, and his eyes were a peculiar golden color. He wore his silver hair long, and pulled it back in a tail. He usually visited Land's End in the last month of autumn, but this year he arrived while summer still clung.

Coming into the inn, he sat himself in a table corner. The inn wasn't busy that night, so Serali was able to come over immediately. After taking his order for the kitchen, she sat down next to him.

"So, still wanting all the answers, Serali?"

"Of course! I want to know everything there is to know about everything!"

"Well, what is your question today?"

"How much do you know about dragons?"

"As much as any human, I suppose. They are elusive creatures. Still, the mages know more about the lore of dragons then most. I can tell you some."

"Wonderful!"

"So then, let me start at the beginning." He stared off into space for a long moment. "You've heard the story of how the Father of gods made the world? Well, the age of making was the first age, but second age began when he set the first intelligent beasts in the world. And one of these was the dragon. Many say that the dragon was the first of all, but none know for sure. Well, when the Father made the dragon, he made two. No human knows the kind or color of the first dragons, but from them sprung all the dragon kindreds we have now.

"That is the next bit of dragon lore, the telling of the kindreds. The first among the dragon kin is the royal. Royal dragons are the largest, and they have scales in metallic colors, like silver, gold, or copper. After them come the mountain dragons, which look the same as far as cresting goes, though they tend to be a bit smaller, and their scales are glossy, like laquer, rather than metallic. Except for a rare type, called a royal red, that has laquered red scales with metallic gold edging. The next kind is the plains, or common, dragon. They are quite small, seldom more than thirty or forty feet in length. Their scales are pearl textured, and they are unique among dragons for having external ears. Then there are the sea dragons. They have scales in transparent gem colors, always in shades of blue, green, or purple. There are rumors of sand dragons that live in the great circle desert too, but no one has ever seen one. Then there are the eastern dragons. They have long snaky bodies, and their scales are iridescent, like the wings of butterflies. They have very tiny wings, and fly almost entirely by means of magic."

"Why are royal dragon called royal?" asked Serali.

"Because ever since the first gold dragon, Arvass, the son of the first dragon, the royal dragons have ruled. Though there have been a few royal reds to take the throne. But being the dragon king is nothing like ruling a human kingdom."

"How is it different?"

"Well, for example, if a human king needed money, he can command taxes raised, and everyone has to obey him. But if you were the dragon king, and you wanted money, you couldn't ask the dragons to give you anything. They'd only do it if they felt like it."

"Dragon ranks are like human ranks, in that they do have nobles and rulers, but they have much less power over other dragon than their human counterparts."

"I see. Then the dragon king doesn't really do anything?"

"A few of them have. But usually, no."

"What else do you know?"

"Not a lot. Dragons aren't well known, especially not in the city where I live."

"That's it? But what about all those stories about dragons?"

"Just stories. They are almost never even close to the truth. I have only known one case where a dragon carried off a fair maiden and that was a very odd situation. You see, a young knight had happened to befriend a dragon, and he got the dragon to agree to carry off the lady, so that he could impress her when he rescued her."

Serali laughed. "I've seen the silly things that people can do when they're in love. Karina is always mooning about after Rickolo. It's silly, but it's also kind of sad."

"Yes. Love can be a very sad thing." He stared of into space, a faint expression of melancholy on his features.

"Janus, were you ever in love?"

"Yes, a very long time ago. She was beautiful, intelligent, and so like me. People said we must have been meant to be, we looked so alike. Her hair was a silver that put the metal itself to shame, and her eyes were purple, dark and deep enough to drown in. She was graceful and cheerful, a free spirit like no other. But it was not meant to be. She didn't want to be tied to one place and I have a duty. This trip now is the only time I ever leave the city. So she left. I haven't seen her in years, but I still miss her."

Then he shook his head. "Well, enough of that, I can't go dwelling on what's past. What else shall we discuss?"

"What about magic?"

"What about it?"

"Well, do dragons have magic?"

"Yes, they need it. A dragon is much to huge to ever get off the ground without aid of magic. You remember I mentioned that Eastern dragons fly entirely by magic? Well, of all the other dragons, only the plains dragons even have a chance of being able to fly without magical help. They also have a great talent with elemental magic, particularly fire magic. A dragon's ability to breath fire is related to this, though not directly. That is one thing the tales do have right, by the way. Most dragons, saving sea dragons, can breath flame. Many can also shape shift. Royal dragons in particular have a great ability with shape changing. Dragons also have a remarkable ability with bardic magic, because they have a perfect sense of pitch."

He grinned at Serali, mischievously. "That reminds me of something. Here, I brought this for you." He pulled a small object out of the many pouches that he wore on his belt. It was a small purple crystal.

"What is it?"

"The crystal is an amethyst, a fairly common stone. It is also the component for a cantrip."

"A cantrip?" Asked Serali.

"Yes, a cantrip is a simple spell that requires a single component and a simple activating word or gesture. There are even a few that you can do with nothing but a word. This particular spell will make the crystal ring."

"But if there are spells that you can do with just a word, why don't they happen accidentally all the time?"

"Because you first need to have some magical ability, and second, you need to be concentrating on the result you want." He held out the crystal. "Take it."

Serali accepted the purple stone, peering at it curiously.

"Now, I want you to picture in your mind the crystal singing with a pure tone, then, hold it by the end, and flick the side of the crystal."

Serali closed her eyes for a moment, picturing the result she wanted, and then opened her eyes and flicked the crystal with her finger. The result was a very soft, pure, shimmering chord. Three perfectly tuned crystalline notes that rang so softly, they could hardly be heard.

Serali grinned. "That's beautiful!"

Janus, however, was looking stunned. "It wasn't meant to do that, it's not possible to do that."

"What do you mean? It did just what you said it would."

"No, I said it would make a single note, you got three out of it! That's not supposed to be possible!"

"I was thinking of a chord, yes. One note alone isn't very musical, after all."

"Doesn't matter, the spell is for one note, you could have been thinking of a symphony, and it still should have just given you one note. I can never get more than one out of it."

He collected himself then and said, "Never mind. Whatever happened, it's probably not important."

"No, though it's certainly beautiful. Here, do you want this back?" She held out the crystal.

Janus hesitated, then took it. "If you want to try the spell again, you can likely find amethyst around here. And quartz works almost as well, so long as you get a whole crystal, and not just a broken piece."

"Thanks. Now what shall we discuss?"

Janus smiled at the girl. "Well, the other day, I saw..."

Janus left the next morning, on his way to the distant southern lands. For Serali, time passed, as it is accustomed to do, and she kept growing. By the time Janus visited again, she was fourteen, and taller than her father. They spoke of dragons and magic, of love and of life, and Serali complained that none of the village boys were interested in holding her hand and walking in the woods. (The presence of a dragon in the area had given young lovers a new excuse to go out of town together. They went hunting dragon scale, but they very seldom found any) Janus told her that the problem was that she was larger than most of them, and had likely scared them all off.

By the time Janus' next visit approached, Serali was taller than every man in the village, and had filed out. She looked, at sixteen, like a woman of twenty, and was feeling somewhat miserable because despite this, not a single boy in the village would speak a word to her. She was also eagerly awaiting Janus' visit, largely because, with the exception of her family and Breck, she had no one at all to talk to. But it seemed that Janus was to be late this year as autumn began to slide into winter with no sign of the mage.

In a tall tower, on the edge of a great city, a silver haired mage sat and thought. He held a small object in his hand, which he turned over and over, flicking it every now and then with a finger. No matter how often he hit it, it always rang with only a single clear tone.

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