I’m going to do something I’m still not used to doing: admit that I might have been too quick to judge my new body. It’s not something I accept with joy, but rather with resignation. I still think the human body is far too soft for its own good, but at least it has its perks once you learn how to use it. I can finally walk without falling every two steps, and better yet, I can run—so much so that when I go out for a walk, they have to hold my hand so I don't escape.

"How… can someone… your age… run so fast…?" Julie the maid would say, panting as she chased me through the corridors.

After practicing quite a bit, I’ve managed to articulate individual words; it has been a huge help for my new situation. Despite this, the world of the mansion still feels immensely large to me; every hallway is an endless cave, and every staircase a precipice I’m terrified to even peer over.

However, I still can't get used to the group of servants who help me with everything. It’s too overwhelming—a large group of eyes watching my every move, ready to intervene if I so much as lean too far. I won’t deny that when they help me down the stairs, preventing a likely and humiliating tumble, I truly appreciate it.

Mainly because, without them or Lya, I wouldn't be able to go down to lie in the great main hall, where the midday light filtered through the windows, giving me a sense of addictive comfort. All of this was accompanied by the soft sofa cushions I used as a bed. Lya sat nearby, busy with a curious activity that somehow broke the neat, maternal image she always projected. She was sharpening a collection of old knives with handles that looked carved from bone or wood darkened by time. They weren't kitchen knives; their blades were curved and had a weathered appearance.

Lya was calm, passing the whetstone over the metal with a rhythmic, hissing sound, accompanied by a whistled melody. She checked the edge of one of the knives by peeling an apple and slicing it into pieces, offering one to me, which I took very cautiously.

That’s... a little scary, I thought, swinging my feet and watching her out of the corner of my eye.

She was the most affectionate woman I had ever known, but sometimes it seemed her position and attitude didn't quite fit her personality or activities.

The sound of Lya’s whistling was drowned out by the unmistakable neighing of horses in the courtyard, amplified by the proximity of the window. I approached, crawling with effort, until I managed to peer out slightly.

I could see Alister. He was standing there, as always, straight as a tree and with that touch of serious elegance that characterized him. Beside him was a man he was talking to, who was covered in bandages and dark fabrics, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a hood that completely concealed his face. Behind the man stretched a caravan of horse-drawn wagons, from which servants were unloading several boxes.

"...Besides, you could rest for at least one night; the journey must have been quite long, as always," Alister said to the man.

"And as always, I must decline your offer. I will return to the road as soon as possible before sunset; you know we are not permitted to..."

It was then, as he turned to point something out to one of the men unloading the goods, that his eyes fixed on me, though only for a fleeting moment.

And those were not human eyes.

They were large, with a mottled golden iris and a horizontal pupil, like glowing spots in the shadows of his hood. They were the same eyes I had seen reflected in the spring of the cave where I was born. They were the eyes of a dragon. Not exactly mine, but incredibly similar—the same tones, the same shape, and the same pupil.

I began to flail, hitting my hands and legs against the window glass, wanting to go see, to touch, to speak to the first being that remotely resembled me in this world. He was like me. My agitation caught Lya’s attention.

"What’s wrong, sweetheart? What do you see outside?" she asked, setting aside her knives and picking me up with the ease of someone carrying a feather, despite my babbling protests. "Is it the carriage?"

She then saw the carriage outside and Alister with the man. "Oh, look who has arrived! Tamor has come sooner than expected. Do you want to go take a closer look, my little explorer?"

I nodded vigorously.

Go, go, take me out already and get me closer to him!

Lya opened the door, and we stepped out of the house, holding hands, though my pace was too fast for her. Curiosity—that urgency pushing me to go further—made me let go of her hand. I ran as fast as I could until I reached the man. I grabbed his leg, trying to communicate, to tell him that I understood, that I knew what he was.

"Ga! Daga! Dra-gon!" I managed to articulate, loose words that died in my throat; I was too excited and nervous to pronounce them correctly.

I was swept up into someone's arms. Alister, embarrassed by my manners, lifted me awkwardly under the arms, apologizing to Tamor for my behavior.

"Forgive Dorien, he is very… curious," he said curtly. "It’s the first time he’s seen anyone outside the family or the staff."

Tamor laughed. His laughter was deep and warm. "Don't worry, Alister. It’s fine. He’s just a child." Then Lya appeared, walking quickly.

"Tamor! Were you avoiding me, or were you going to come and go without saying a word?" she said, giving him a friendly blow to the shoulder with genuine strength—a gesture that would have knocked anyone else down.

He stumbled slightly, returning the greeting with a slight bow. "Not at all, Lady Valcrest. But since Alister told me there was a little one in the house, I thought I shouldn't disturb you."

He greeted me with a soft nod of his head. As he stepped closer, a gust of wind slightly lifted the edges of the fabrics covering him, revealing a profile of his face that was not entirely human: the facial musculature was tighter, the jawline wider. It was a scaly face accompanied by a long snout, similar to a dragon's but slightly different—more humanoid, with that scaly skin covering his entire face.

The man quickly covered himself again, wrapping himself back in the fabrics. "It isn't necessary," Alister said. "But I don't want to frighten the other people in the mansion, Baron. Including him." Tamor looked at me again.

The servants reported that they had finished loading the payment onto the caravan. Tamor thanked them and was preparing to leave when I tried to lunge toward him, even though Alister was holding me clumsily. I struggled in his arms and shouted the word that had been trying to form, the one that wouldn't stop echoing in my mind. The thing I needed to verify.

"DRAGON!"

Everyone fell silent at that loud shout. The man turned abruptly, looked at me, and laughed even harder. "Well, Alister! That’s a curious word. I’ve never heard it before. You have a little one with a great imagination. What did you say his name was? Dorian?"

"Dorien," he replied.

"I hope to see you again upon my return, Dorien."

He added that he would return sooner than planned once he replenished his supplies. Alister and Lya said their goodbyes, and Tamor disappeared into his caravan, his fabric-covered figure moving with the rhythm of the wind.

"Lya, please, you take him." Alister handed me over to his wife; he was still holding me strangely, not knowing how to grip me properly, almost as if he feared my baby body would break at the slightest movement.

Lya took me, smiling and saying softly to Alister while she played with me in her arms: "Maybe it's time to start teaching him some manners, Alister. We can't let him grow up so wild."

"No," Alister murmured, adjusting his suit jacket. "I don't think it's necessary to start spending time and resources on him; he wouldn't learn anything."

Did you just politely call me an idiot?

Lya didn't refute the idea, but she looked at me with a smile.

"It seems someone wants you to stay a child a little longer, Dorien."

Actually, I’d appreciate growing up a bit faster, thanks.

Lya held me in her hands, looking at me intently. "It's the first time you've seen someone from another race, isn't it?" she said to me, stroking my fine, dark hair. "It's normal that you got so excited. So much new life, and even more to see."

Other races? There were more than just animals and humans?

"More?" I asked.

She lifted me into the air so I could see everything beyond the mansion entrance. "That man, Dorien, was a Taurek. This world is enormous, my little one, full of many different races. There are hundreds of Taureks like him in the world, all living alongside humans."

That excited me quite a bit. As I said, there was so much I didn't know and that would have probably taken me years to find out had I continued living on the mountain. If I was going to stay with the Valcrests as a human for a while, I had to take every opportunity to learn.

Alister, who was about to leave to resume his business, stopped at the threshold. "Even so, if you want to begin his education," he said, retracing his steps, "then you should start by teaching him something about the different races you've mentioned. You can take some books from my study if necessary—at least let it be done properly."

Lya rolled her eyes, a gesture she made on purpose for Alister to see, to which he responded by leaving in silence without a word. But what did it matter? I was anxious to meet all those beings I was sharing my world with without knowing it—perhaps some more similar to me than I thought, like the Taurek.