The days fairly flew by after that. Serali experimented with her new-found powers, discovering their limits. She often bemoaned the fact that she had to waste so much of her time doing chores and helping around the inn, but in reality, her life was fairly uncluttered and she spent many a happy hour winging her way across the high plateau upon which the village rested. And that, perhaps was not wise of her, for she was seen, never clearly or up close, but often and from a distance the villagers caught glimpses of her reptilian form in the sky.

So it happened that one day when Serali was helping serve drinks in the inn, a stranger entered. This was cause for comment, and he was quickly surrounded by a small crowd of the curious. Serali, quite curious herself slipped closer, hoping to overhear something of interest. Her curiosity increased greatly when she caught the word "dragon" in the stranger's conversation. Trying to be unobtrusive, she half-hid behind a rather wide man and listened closely.

"That's what I heard," the stranger was saying, "The rumors have reached Cartos, where I happened to be staying in between jobs."

"Aye," said one of the village men, "It's truth, far as I know. I've never seen the beast up close, but I've caught sight of it in the distance often enough to know the truth of it."

"I've seen the thing too," spoke up another of the men, "We can all agree that it's there. The question I want answered is this: can you do somethin' about it?"

The was a chorus of agreement from the men, swiftly silenced by the stranger's raised hand. "I don't know what needs doing, but this I can say, If the dragon proves to need slaying than I'm the one to slay it for you." He paused dramatically, while Serali, unnoticed, sagged weakly against a table, shocked almost to fainting. Then he concluded in a ringing voice: "For I'm Donovan, the dragon slayer!"

Somehow Serali managed to make it through the rest of the evening without giving way to her terror, but when finally her father gave her permission to leave she raced home, her heart pounding, and locked herself in her room. I have to think, she told herself. I can't let my imagination run away with me. She sat on the bed, breathing deeply, until her heart had stilled. Now, calmly, I need to run over this. So he's a dragon slayer, so what. He doesn't know I'm the dragon. I've been a fool, flying so close to the village. From now on, I'll only go out where no one else can see. Yes, I'll only change... then she realized how futile her panic had been, and almost laughed out loud. Serali, you are a fool. There's no reason for him to ever see you at all. Just stay in human shape til he gives up and goes away. And maybe. . . an idea hit her then, a marvelous prank. With a chuckle she lay back on the bed and began to formulate a plan.

Her father's inn was the only inn in town and so it was there that Donovan stayed and it was there that he made his base of operations. Serali helped out at the inn whenever things were busy and with the excitement of a dragon hunt in town the inn was busy almost every night. So she waited on tables and kept her ears open. Donovan had enlisted the aid of several of the village men, those farmers who could spare time from their fields and those shopkeepers who were willing to take time from their shops. Each evening they would make their plan, sitting around a table in the commons room and drinking ale by the bucket. Serali payed their table special attention, making sure their mugs were always full and expressing admiration for and curiosity about their endeavor.

So it was that if they planned to search north of the village the next day, why then if the dragon was spotted it would be to the south. Or of they split up to cover more ground, then no sign would be seen. If they stayed near the village, the dragon would be seen far over the eastern bluffs, and if they ranged far off, it would appear directly over the town.

After several weeks of this game of hide-and-seek, the townsmen were puzzled and Donovan was beginning to think that his particular dragon must be some great dragon-mage to keep fooling them so.

"It's not possible!" he complained, venting his frustration. "All the sightings agree it's a small dragon, a young one. How could it be so powerful as to know what we do before we do it?" He got up and began pacing across the length of the commons room. "And it's range! If I didn't know better I'd say that it had to be centered on the village itself, either that or it's got such a huge range that we'll never find it's lair! I am almost ready to give up!" He sat back down in his chair, slumping wearily.

Serali looked over at him and felt a bit sorry for him. Over the weeks that she had played the game during days and listened to his plans in the evenings, she had come to see that he was a good man. Breck had even joined in the hunt for a brief period and he had agreed with her assessment of him. "I've never thought much of dragon hunters, they seldom care for anything but getting rich and earning a reputation, but Donovan seems a fine fellow." Serali thought that over in her mind. I wonder, what would he do if he knew. . ? Her musings were interrupted by Donovan's continuing compaint. "I don't know why you people are even worried about this phantom. So far the only thing it's done is to put some scratches in a few trees and scorch a couple of rocks." He sighed. "If I don't find any evidence that it's going to be a danger, then I'll just leave it be. People have learned to get along with dragons before."

The villagers looked at him with some incredulity, and Getrel spoke up. "What is that supposed to mean? Are we then to make sacrifices to this monster?"

"Donovan looked at him wearily. "No. I mean only that not all dragons are as fearsome as folk like to think they are. A very few are kind and will help humans living near by, and most will at least leave them alone. The largest reason that I had for hunting down this one, was that it was showing itself so close to the town, which dragons seldom do save when they intend to damage things."

The villagers were murmuring disbelievingly, but Serali felt a sudden upsurge of hope. If she could talk to him, perhaps he would listen and leave her alone. Now, how to go about it, she mused. Perhaps I can pretend to know the dragon? That would be a fine joke! With ideas swirling in her brain, she went back to the kitchen area, absentmindedly putting the drinks she had gone to serve back on the counter. Her mother looked up from the stew she was making, but seeing Serali's expression of concentration, she made no comment.

"Can I go early today mamma?"

"Of course dear."

Without a further word, she headed back home. She had plans to make.

"And then what, mighty dragon hunter?" He muttered to himself. "Where do you go from here? I'll tell you where, nowhere, that's where." His bleary eyes noticed that the mug he was staring into had somehow emptied itself. He waved his hand in the air.

"C'mere, I's need more of this stuff."

The inkeep's daughter wove her way between tables to wards him. Nothing's right, he thought to himself, disjointedly, none of the stories come true. No evil dragon, no grateful townsfolk, not even a winsome inkeeper's daughter. The girl bearing a mug toward him could hardly be more than fourteen.

She plunked it down in front of him, and then started to move off, but hesitated. Glancing around at the mostly empty room, she leaned over the table and looked at the drunken would be dragon slayer.

"Sir? Why do you want to kill the dragon?" She asked, her head tilted to one side in a gesture of curiosity.

"Why? ‘Cause it's mos' likely dangerous, tha's why. Dragons don' live near villages, ‘cept when they're up to somthin' so this one's mos' likely trouble."

"But what if she isn't?"

"Maybe be the best that way, then. I don' know if I kin kill the thin' anyway. If the thin' is, is. . ." His lost track of what he was saying for a minute before finding it again. "If it wants," he pronounced very carefully, "to be friends, that's good. Always good to have friends."

The girl was peering down at him. Tall, he thought to himself,she's awfully tall for a little squirt like that, how'd she get so tall? Then his head met the table and he was out of it.

Serali shook her head. She'd seen plenty of drunks in her life, but it was still pitiful to see a grown man collapse like that. I'll talk to him in the morning, she thought, maybe I'll have more luck then. At least now I'm sure I'll be safe.

He sat up, glad that at least he had managed to make it back to his room before collapsing. Or had he? There was a dim recollection of that girl standing over him before everything went blank. With a groan, he crawled out of bed and began to dress. Just as he was about to go down to see if any breakfast was left at this late hour, there was a knock at the door.

Opening it, he found himself looking at the golden haired inkeep's daughter.

"Sir? I have a message for you."

"Huh?" He said brightly.

"Here." And she held out her hand. Donovan gasped. Lying in the center of the girl's palm was single dragon scale. Dragon scale is as hard as the finest steel, and more resistant to heat. It's lightweight as well, and when forged with common steel by the correct methods, it can be made into a substance called dragon steel that is harder than any other metal, as well as being lighter and less brittle. Because dragon scale is so rare, and also light, it is worth twenty times its weight in gold.

The scale resting on Serali's hand was not a big one, but it was worth more then all the funds he had come here with.

"Take it." she said.

"Where did you get that?"

"From the dragon."

"What?"

"She wants to meet with you. This is in promise of more if you'll come."

Suddenly something that the girl had said last night leaped out at him. He had been too drunk to notice it at the time, but now it was crystal clear in his mind. The girl had called the dragon "she" But no one had yet seen the thing close enough to know that.

"You know this dragon?"

"Yes. We're friends, of a sort. She wants to see if perhaps she can befriend you too. Or at least reach some kind of truce."

He shook his head, amazed, and the n regretted it as the world seemed to spin around him.

"You can tell you friend," he said after everything stopped moving, "that I'll be glad to meet her, but later, please. I'm not feeling to well right now."

The girl grinned. "I'll bet, after how much you put away last night."

She turned and walked down the short hallway to the stairs. "I'll tell her. Come to the needle's eye this afternoon and she'll be there."

He approached the glittering form cautiously. The dragon smiled, an expression that was not as reassuring as it might have been. Donovan had been part of a dragon-slaying party before, but he'd never been this close to one

"Hi." it said.

"Hi." he replied.

There was an awkward silence, then Donovan spoke.

"I'm Donovan, I hope that you aren't upset at me?"

"Not unless you still intend to kill me. I think that would be a little upsetting."

"Oh no! I have no intention of harming you, so long as you have no intention of harming the townsfolk. Though I do admit, the amount of scale you represent is very tempting. But I would never dream of harming an innocent."

"That is very good to hear. What do you want if you're not hunting me though?"

"Well, all of the best dragon hunters, the ones that kings hire when they have a dragon problem, have contacts and treaties with various dragons, so when they have to deal with a rogue dragon that's too much for mere humans to handle, they have someone to help them kill it, or reason with it, or just to give advice. So I thought that I might get a dragon to help me too. It might make my career if I could go and say that I was on friendly terms with the great gold dragon... umm... what is your name, anyway?"

The dragon's expression turned sad. She slowly shook her head.

"I don't know."

"What?"

"I'm an orphan. I've never met any other dragons. There was no one to give me a proper dragonish name."

"Well! Perhaps I can help. I speak the dragon tongue well enough for a human. Perhaps there is some human name you fancy that I could render in dragon?"

"Yes, there is. I think the name of my friend, Serali, is a fine name."

"Well! That it is. But if it's to be a dragon name, you have to pronounce it differently. First, you need to hiss the ‘s' and then..."

Several hours later, Donovan interrupted the impromptu language lesson to point out that the sun was sinking toward the horizon.

"I'm afraid that I must go."

The newly named Sserrali looked at the sky with surprise. "Oh my! It's much later than I thought I need to be off as well."

Donovan turned to go back down the path when the dragon called out.

"Wait! I almost forgot!"

She reached back into an alcove in the side of the eye of the needle and pulled out a small leather bag. It was dwarfed in her clawed hand. She turned and threw the bag at the dragon hunter. "This is for you."

He caught it. Opening it he saw that it was filled with small golden scales. It was more money than he'd ever held at one time.

"Thank you!" he said, startled. Then he thought of something.

"Wait. before you go, tell me one thing."

"What?"

"How did you avoid me all these weeks? Are you a mage?"

The dragon laughed. "Not at all. It was simple enough trick. Everynight you sat in the inn an made you plans while Serali..."

"Served up drinks! I would never have guesed!"

"Yes, it was a marvelous plan. Well, Ssevtal, trrevaler," She sai, trying out some of her newly learned Dragonish.

"Ssevtal." Donovan answered, "And may we meet again."

Donovan walked back down the dusty path. Something he had just seen was nagging at him. The dragon, when she had thrown the bag. She'd thrown it with her left hand. During their entire conversation, she'd kept her left side turned slightly away form him. He'd thought nothing of it, but now... He'd seen as she tossed the bag a flash of slightly different textured gold form the rest of her scales. It had looked like a little golden bracelet. And there was something familiar about that bracelet, he'd seen it before somewhere.

He reached the town and went to the inn, still lost in thought. He sat down at his usual table. A distant commotion caught his ear. Serali's mother in the kitchen was chewing the girl out for arriving late and for being gone all day without telling her where she had gone.

Poor girl, he thought, having had many such reamings when he was younger. Shortly the girl cam out, bringing his usual mug of beer. She plunked it down on the table and turned back to the kitchen, but not before Donovan saw something that made his jaw drop. Serali was wearing a gold bracelet. A gold bracelet in the form of a dragon biting its own tail that might have been the twin to the one the dragon had worn. He sat there with his mouth open, thinking furiously. She can't be a dragon. She's a human girl, for heaven's sake. The inkeeper's daughter! But then, he answered himself, she's obviously adopted. No, he countered. These people would never have let me come here if they knew they had a dragon for a daughter. But must they know? How could they not? And yet, her gold hair, the exact same color, and that bracelet! He shook his head, and then realizing that he must look like an idiot, he closed his mouth and looked up. His eyes met Serali's across the room. She looked at him, grinned, and then winked a leaf green eye, an eye the exact same shade as the dragon's.

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