front of his green tunic and raised him a dozen feet from the ground.
'Either you teach me to shapechange right this minute, as we agreed, or you can pull some other hapless creature from the bowels of the earth to smell flowers.'
'Does a rose look like a badger?' Kadagan rasped from the pressure on his chest. His expression was strangely serene. Joad had not moved.
'Of course not!' snorted Khisanth at the improbable ques shy;tion.
'So, it is not a badger. Does it have the flavor of a moose?'
'No, it tastes like a rose!'
'And how is that?'
Drawn into the line of questioning despite herself, Khi shy;santh set the nyphid down on the still-damp pine needles. 'The wooden stem is acrid, and the center is sweet, com shy;pared to the rest.'
'Wouldst that not describe an orange or an apple?'
'No-' The dragon paused and thought for a moment. 'Yes, it would.' She grew frustrated at this realization. 'Whaf s the point of all this?'
Kadagan looked at her straight-faced and said, 'I think thou knowest, even if thou dost not yet understand it com shy;pletely.'
Khisanth's eyes narrowed. 'Are you trying to say that there is a commonality between all things, and that the differ shy;ences are but nuance?'
Kadagan looked impressed. 'Thou hast learned more than expected. All I hoped for was recognition of the distinctions.' Adjusting his tunic back into place, the nyphid settled onto a rotted tree stump and wrapped his slender arms around his knees.
'Any magical creature can learn the rudiments of shape-changing,' he continued. 'But a master of the skill brings all of his other…. 'essences' to his new shape, combines it with complete understanding of the creature whose shape he would take.' Kadagan paused. 'The result is a magical crea shy;ture superior to the natural one. Anything less is simply a magically animated shell, no better than a golem.' He nod shy;ded solemnly. 'Thou art becoming qhen, Khisanth.'
Khisanth was moved to silence. She could feel an almost physical transformation overtaking her body as she began to understand. The dragon shivered in the oppressive heat of the rain-dampened forest.
'I believe thou art ready to try thy wings.'
Surprised, Khisanth looked back over her shoulder eagerly. Joad was unleashing the vines and slipping the splint from her damaged limb. 'It's all right, Joad?' she asked, not wait shy;ing for an answer as she gingerly flexed her wing. 'I've thought for several days that it was healed.' The joint felt stiff, but not sore. She stretched it farther, opening the wing to full extension. The pearl-white, razor-sharp claw at the tip pierced the treetops.
Khisanth tucked the wing back to her right side. Her heart pounded wildly with anticipation. Raising up on her hind legs she stretched both wings in unison toward the sky, furl shy;ing and unfurling them with a rhythmic snapping.
Kadagan's soft, even voice said, 'Canst thou launch thy shy;self here?' His gaze traveled up to consider the tall canopy of trees that grew dense some distance before them and afforded protection for Khisanth's lair in the hillside.
'I'm … not sure,' muttered the dragon.
Frowning, Khisanth searched her mind for memories of flight. All she could unlock was the still image of a tightly packed herd of extremely young dragons, barely distinguish shy;able among the clouds of red dust they kicked up as they pushed their way toward a distant precipice. She wasn't even certain she'd been among the wyrmlings-turned-dragons, or if she'd just heard about them.'
'I think I need a ledge,' she mumbled at last.
'Is the one above thy lair of sufficient size?'
Khisanth looked over her shoulder at the shelf of rocks that formed a hood over the opening to her lair. It was not overly high, perhaps twenty-five feet above the ground, but it might be adequate. The rocky shelf continued up the face of the steep hillside, interrupted only by the occasional low shrub. Below her lair, the ground dropped away sharply; the line of trees under which they now stood lay at least one length of the dragon's thirty-foot body from the cave.
'We'll see if it's high enough,' the dragon said at last.
Anxious to test her wings in flight, Khisanth stepped from the protection of the trees and into the sunlight that had chased the rain clouds away. How the nyphids could enjoy the sun's blinding light, she would never understand. Squint shy;ing, she lumbered past her lair and continued upward some distance on the shelf.
That should give me enough room for a running start, Khi shy;santh reasoned. She raised herself high and extended her wings, once, twice, as a test. Drawing in a deep breath to con shy;centrate, she tucked her wings tightly to her sides. Leading with her right foot, she took elongated strides, gaining great speed as she approached the precipice. The ground shook beneath her; rocks tumbled away. The clawed toes of her right foot met the edge first, as she had planned. Then Khi shy;santh pushed herself up with all her great strength, drawing her wings out and driving them first down, then up.
She plummeted like a rock.
For five heartbeats, she scrabbled and clawed and flapped to no avail. Then she met the moist ground and tumbled head over wings.
Breathing heavily, Khisanth let her face remain covered by her left wing as it had fallen. She could feel Joad at her side, silently examining her right wing. She didn't stop him, though she knew she wasn't hurt.
'Thou wast trying too hard.'
Khisanth's head snapped up from under her wing. She glared at the nyphid, who was hovering above her left shoul shy;der blade, his own little wings fluttering effortlessly. 'How can I try …. 'too hard' to learn to do something I don't know?'
'Thou dost not need to be taught to use thy wings-drag shy;ons fly naturally. Didst thou need to be taught to walk before the Sleep?'
In truth, Khisanth could not recall.
'Thou likely took stumbling steps at first. But thou assumed upon waking that thou couldst walk, and thou didst.'
'Are you saying I should just assume I can fly, and I will?' Khisanth scoffed. Standing, she brushed damp pine needles from her chest and tail and affected a look of disinterest. Still, she waited for the nyphid's response.
'No.' Kadagan shook his head as he alighted to the ground. 'Though the skill is natural, the knowledge is not. Thou needs to practice, but effortlessly, like a leaf falls from a tree. Thou must stop caring about flying and just do it. After thou hast practiced, it will become second nature.' Kadagan could see that she was trying to absorb his words, yet her nat shy;ural hostility had wrinkled her brow into a scowl.
'Stop thinking about being a dragon, and just be a dragon.'
Khisanth's thick lips ruffled contemptuously. The nyphid's gall was limitless! 'If there's anything I know more about than you,' she stormed, 'it's how to be a dragon!' With that, she spun her snout around and thundered off again toward the shelf above her lair.
The indignant dragon posed herself as before and pre shy;pared to sprint down the hill toward the ledge. But at the last second, she caught a glimpse of Kadagan, standing far below, arms crossed expectantly, face tilted up to catch the sun as he watched her. Whether from spite, or some emotion far more powerful, Khisanth abruptly conjured a brief mental picture of herself flying above the earth. She stopped think shy;ing of every step she would take, of leading with her right foot so she could push off with the same. She commanded herself to move, to run, and when her toes touched the edge, she sent no conscious message to her wings.
She was over the brink. Her wings snapped up, then out. The dragon's horned head jutted forward, and her four wing shy;less limbs stretched backward beneath her expanding chest, in starched, straight lines, parallel to the ground.
Khisanth was gliding. She saw the tree line fast approach shy;ing and tensed for a moment, then remembered to simply be a dragon. Her wings angled slightly on their own, and she rose sharply above the thick green leaves and into the wait shy;ing blue sky. Coming at last out of the glide, her long, leath shy;ery wings folded, then sprang open again with a snap. Wind currents tugged at her, jostling her as she soared. She let the wind take
