“Another trip into the Empire Lands?” I signed. “To see some faerie scholar who may or may not help?”

“I need to know what I am,” Augustus softly said.

“I understand completely, but…,” I hesitated. “We don’t know how much we can trust Prince A’gustine. Or this Flick. What do we even know about him other than the book he wrote?”

“The story lines up,” Stefan said. “Flick Farlane is the last surviving member of a lesser-known noble family near the Flaming Delta. The family was socially disgraced after Flick’s grandfather was found to be educating his slaves. It’s just Flick now, no remaining family. He patrons a few merchant vessels and owns a papyrus press. He’s rumored to have a lover and a daughter.”

“A’gustine did mention that Flick had a lover ‒ Finnian, I think it was ‒ who was a lust beast,” Cornelius said.

“Like me,” Augustus firmly added. “Flick knows what I am.”

The desperation in his voice triggered a memory. When I had gotten old enough to understand that I wasn’t an uskir, wasn’t a night or magma child, wasn’t a Jal, I had begun to wonder what I was. Where I had come from. Why I existed.

I took a breath, “Okay.”

The three other men looked at me in surprise.

“Okay, I’ll…,” I sighed. “I’ll take you to the Flaming Delta. The quicker we can get out, the safer it’ll be. But are you going to be okay going deeper into Empire lands? It’s not far from… where you came from.” I traced my finger on the map, between Flick’s estate and the estate where Augustus escaped from.

He breathed shakily, shifting his weight. “I-I have to know.”

It didn’t answer my question, but, at this point, I wasn’t sure if he even knew if he was going to be okay. Cornelius and Stefan clearly weren’t either, but said nothing.

“We’re going to need to send a letter to Prince A’gustine,” Stefan said. “We pick the meeting place.”

I looked at the map, then at a smaller and more detailed atlas of the region. The road to the estate wasn’t well-trodden, and the distance between it and the closest city was decent. I pointed to the center of the road, “There; distant enough from both city and estate. With the heavy cloud cover we’ve been having lately, no one should see us coming or going, save for maybe when we land or take off. And who would believe that someone saw a dragon? We can meet the prince there, get you two‒” I looked at Cornelius and Augustus, “‒into the hidden compartment, and I’ll follow from a distance until you signal me to come get you; the whistle should do.”

“I’ll draft a letter to A’gustine and have Ethyn send it,” Stefan said. “You’ll set out in three days.”

Three days later, I met Augustus and Cornelius outside. Once again, we were dressed in warm layers. Rather than his usual scarf, he had on a thicker knitted one that wound tightly around his face and head, all tucked under a fur-lined hood. Bright orange curls tried hard to leap from under the hood, and he kept pushing them back, only for them to bounce out again. He looked even more nervous and frightened than usual.

“Please tell me Cornelius explained how this works,” I sighed.

Both of them nodded, and Cornelius looked offended.

“Okay,” I sighed, taking a few steps back. “Stand back. And maybe don’t look. And definitely don’t freak out.”

Augustus nodded.

After a moment, I took a few more steps back, hoped this wouldn’t make him scared of me, and shifted. When the soft smoke cleared and my lungs and stomach stopped burning with fresh fire, I looked towards Augustus. He wasn’t freaking out. Just staring. I could smell him a lot better now; he had gained a bit of Cornelius’s scent, but it mostly smelled like spring forests and summer love. Warm.

“It’s okay, it’s still him,” Cornelius softly said, urging Augustus forward.

I laid down on the snow and tucked my wings, showing that I was no threat. I couldn’t do anything about the horns or teeth or claws, unfortunately. But there was a bit of deep purple fur here and there, mostly on my chest and back, and the place just in front of my wings could be comfortable, or so I was told.

Augustus cautiously stepped forward, carefully reaching out. I pressed my nose against his palm; his hand was maybe the size of my eye. He almost giggled, and his muscles visibly relaxed.

“...The stories were wrong,” he whispered. The smile reached his eyes.

Cornelius helped him onto my back, telling him to hold on.

“Wait,” Augustus softly said. He leaned down and around Cornelius to look at me as best as he could. “Can you breathe fire?”

I chuckled ‒ although it came out a deep, amused rumbling ‒ and huffed a bit of smoke. His eyes widened and he ducked behind Cornelius, who chuckled.

Augustus gasped as we lifted off, and I could just barely hear him almost crying over the wind, probably gripping Cornelius with all his strength. He seemed to calm down as the flight went on. I kept my head down, sharp eyes scanning the ground for the road I had studied for the past few days. I flew north along the Dragon Crest Mountains, towards the Flaming Delta, then pitched west, and found the road. I carefully circled through the clouds, bringing them down with me as I descended. I landed as softly as I could in a mossy clearing, and Cornelius and Augustus got off me. Augustus stared at me when I shifted back and stretched, eyes curious and amazed.

We made our way to the edge of the road, and waited. It was worn cobble and packed dirt, creeping with lichen.

Even from where I hid, crouched in the shadows and fern shrubbery of a large redwood, and even with his veil and the shadows, I could see Augustus trembling. I, meanwhile, couldn’t stop thinking about Ethyn. I hated being away from him. I had never really been on a mission on my own, not like this, and this was big. I could only pray to the moons that all would go to plan.

I was snapped out of my prayers by the slowly-growing sound of approaching hoofbeats and rattling wheels. I peeked out of my hiding place to see a large, elegant, blue and silver carriage, led by four dappled chestnut and grey horses. Atop the carriage, there were two royal guards in minimal armor.

I glanced at Cornelius. He curtly nodded. We both rolled out of the bushes, and the horses were quick to be pulled to a stop, stamping their hooves and shaking their manes. Cornelius had his knives drawn, and my draconic features were enough to make anyone stop.

The carriage door opened, and Prince A’gustine appeared. Despite never seeing him before, I knew it was him. His wavy white hair was cropped neat and straight at the neck, and his eyes were a bright green-blue. He wore stiff dark blue pants, tall black boots, and a form-fitting vest similar to the pants and embroidered with silver, all draped in a thick black cloak. I was surprised to see that he looked to be about my age, although not weathered by rebel life.

“Are you sure about this, Your Highness?” One of the guards asked; both of them eyed us suspiciously, me more than Cornelius.

“As sure as I can be,” the prince replied as he got out of the carriage.

Cornelius hesitantly sheathed his knives, motioning for Augustus to come out of the shrubbery, and he slowly did so. The guards were silent, but had their hands on their swords, ready to leap to defense if needed, as the prince opened the secret compartment at the back of the carriage. It looked just big enough to fit two people.

Augustus deeply sighed, then crawled in, curling up as far back as he could.

“See you on the other side,” Cornelius said to me before slipping in.

Prince A’gustine closed the compartment and, as he was getting back into the carriage, he said to me, “Are you… what I think you are?”

I glanced back at him, but said nothing.

As I slid back into the forest, the carriage continued on its journey. When I was far enough, I found a good tree, and started climbing. The snow that fell atop me was quick to melt, thawed by the bubbling heat in my throat. I reached the top of the tree, and was faintly able to see the cobbled road that led to the faerie scholar’s estate. On the horizon, I could just barely see the estate itself, a clearing between thick forests.

I jumped from the tree, spreading my wings and hiding within the clouds. My grey clothing disguised me well. Besides, not many people look up unless they’re stargazing.

I followed the carriage towards the estate, then began circling, slowly moving ever downward until I not-so-gracefully landed. I grabbed a branch on the way down, skidding down the tree and rolling away once I hit the ground.

I popped up at the edge of the forest just in time to see the carriage come to a stop in front of the golden estate.