Aelwen stood alone in an empty field. The sun burned brightly overhead, showering the myriad of bright green grass blades in a brilliant light. Majestic mountains loomed in the distance on every side, faded white mist covering their steep slopes like blankets.

She knew it was a lucid dream. The world around her had a strange sense of vagueness to it... that, and she was human. Aelwen stretched her dream arms and poked at her dream fingers, hopping around the grass in delight with her dream legs. Though she knew this happiness was fleeting, she relished being able to be herself for but a night's worth of sleep.

Wind whipped at her untamed hair, a strong breeze materializing in the air. Waves of grass rippled like the ocean.

She could feel herself breathing now, a strange sort of thing to feel while asleep, Aelwen thought. The longer she seemed to stand in the field, in fact, the more real the whole scene seemed to become. She felt her heartbeat as she put a hand to her chest, and could touch the individual blades of grass beneath her wriggling toes.

Was this really a dream?

Her brows knit together as she looked around her once more. The flat field had no end save for those mountains, which seemed to be miles away. From her position it seemed as if she were standing in the middle of the field, right in the center of a huge circular plane of grass.

With a grin, she began to dance through the field, moist dirt squelching under her toes and grass slapping at her shins. An airy yellow sun dress clothed her, so bright and beautiful it looked like it was made of sunbeams as she twirled around in it.

A loud crack resounded through the air as a giant bolt of black lightning hit the ground a few yards from her.

Aelwen cried out, her hair standing on end as she bolted from the spot where the lightning had struck.

The lightning had split the ground, a large fissure forming between burning blades of grass. The crack opened wider and wider, a thunderous roar belching from its depths. An enormous paw emerged from it, sinking its claws deep into the ground beside the fissure. A colossal golden bear pulled itself up out of the crack. Giant purple gems of various sizes adorned its body, and its eyes glowed a bright violet. It roared as it stood upon its hind legs, seeming to challenge the world to a fight. The sun glistened off of its golden fur so brilliantly it was hard to look at.

Aelwen, once a fair distance away, turned to look at the beast with wide eyes. Her mouth hung open and her heart pounded.

"High God Cainen..." she whispered in awe.

The High God Cainen was the god that her mother worshipped daily. She had told Aelwen he was the deity that ruled over and had created the earth. He was the one who had bestowed the gift of magic to man, allowing them to use wands to wield it. He protected Queen Liriel's kingdom, and in return Liriel communed with him every day... though Aelwen was never allowed to see her do it.

Cainen's symbol was that of a golden bear, and thus he was almost always depicted in artwork and sculptures as one. One of the biggest statues Aelwen had ever seen of Cainen was in the Gold Cathedral in her home city of Caineriel. The witches who ran the place of worship had made it themselves from their dark magic. He had always looked down on the congregation with a stern, cruel gaze, and as a small child Aelwen had been terrified of the statue.

The great bear lumbered forward, its huge paws crushing the grass beneath. As every paw stomped the ground, blood seeped from beneath them, as if the grass was filled with it. Rippling muscles bulged from beneath his shimmering golden coat, truly he was a powerful-looking god.

The beast stopped and sniffed the air, a deep, rumbling growl emanating from his chest.

Aelwen cowered, fearing Cainen had detected her.

As if replying to Cainen, a soft voice--that of a woman--radiated from the sky. The voice was singing a beautiful song that sounded strangely familiar to Aelwen. Cainen looked toward the patch of sky where the song came from, his eyes glowing purple and his mouth twisted into a furious snarl. The sky began to light up, a glowing figure descending from between colorful ethereal clouds. Aelwen covered her eyes, as the light was too bright.

"Hey there, Princess. I brought back some crap to eat."

Aelwen lowered her hand--which was now sporting the claws and scales of a dragon--to see Gerel standing at the opposite end of their campsite. In each hand he held a grey rabbit, small arrows sticking out of their eyes. He plopped down next to the fire pit he'd made and sliced open the dead rodents, preparing them to eat.

After making their agreement, the two had set up camp. Gerel had taken a tent out of his backpack, and had set it up so as to cover Aelwen's head, while still leaving enough space for him to lie down in. Aelwen was absolutely exhausted, so he left her to sleep while he went hunting for more food.

The venison slowly roasted over the crackling embers of the campfire. Aelwen yawned and inhaled the savory scent. The meat looked so much more delectable when it wasn't covered in blood.

"'Crap?' That looks like rabbit to me." Aelwen cocked her head in confusion.

Gerel looked at her for a second before shaking his head and returning to tending to the food. Aelwen could have sworn she saw him smiling.

"Alright then. First things first," Gerel said. "Are you feeling a bit better?"

Aelwen lifted her head, horns scraping against the top of the tent. "Yes..." she said as her voice trailed off, her mind drifting back to the strange dream.

"That's good, because we've got quite a journey ahead of us if we want to reach my people. And along the way, I'll teach you all I know about getting used to transformations. I hope you're a quick learner," Gerel said.

Aelwen thought back to her mother's words about finding Cerubia. However, any mention of traveling to meet the witch made Gerel immediately clam up, only stating a hard "No." Thus, she decided that she would meet with his people first, and once she could freely turn back to human, she would hurriedly find her way to Cerubia.

"Why are you out here alone?" Aelwen asked, the thought suddenly dawning on her. "I mean, if your people are so far away, why is such a young boy out on his own?"

Gerel accidentally snapped a rib of a rabbit, the cracking sound punctuating the question. Gerel was silent for a moment. "I'm revising the deal. No questions about me. Got it?"

Aelwen shifted her weight nervously. "Alright..." she agreed with hesitation.

Gerel placed the two rabbits on a spit next to the venison, which was almost done. He promptly stood up, wiping his bloody hands on his pants. Aelwen winced.

"Alright! First lesson in recovering from a ridiculously rapid ride of a radical remodeling: Moving your head." Gerel strode into the tent and sat in front of Aelwen. He placed his hands on either side of her face, squishing it slightly. Aelwen did not look amused.

"Now, you've moved your head quite a bit already, but we need to get you to have a full range of motion with it. Dragon necks are long and very flexible, almost like really thick tails. That's why it might be weird to try to use it," Gerel explained.

He twisted her head slowly, pointing it backwards. Aelwen gave a surprised gasp.

"Flexible, see?" Gerel grinned. He continued to adjust her head and neck into all sorts of different poses, getting her muscles used to the movements. Then he stepped back, motioning her to try by herself.

Aelwen hesitated, then gulped and attempted to crane her long neck in the various poses he had shown her. She was stiff and cramped, but she managed to do them fairly well.

"Nice," Gerel said. "Now for the front legs."

The two went through several leg motions, then finger motions, and lastly, back leg motions (which were quite tricky, as it turned out. Gerel explained that it was due to the bone structure).

By this time the venison was slightly burnt. When Gerel noticed this, he made a small scream before hurriedly taking it off the spit, laying it gently on a large rock to cool.

Gerel popped back onto his feet, sweeping his arms in a flapping motion. "Ok, now this is where it gets really tough. Wings and tail."

"Because they are extremities I've never had before, correct...?" Aelwen guessed.

"Yup." He strode behind the tent and grasped the end of her limp tail. "There are quite a few muscles in the tail which will be really foreign to you. Have you ever tried lifting it before?"

Aelwen shook her head.

"Alright. We're going to do what we did with your other limbs, but with a lot more motion." He proceeded to do so.

"Now, try to move it," Gerel said.

Aelwen focused on the feeling of the nerves in her tail, sucking in a breath and closing her eyes.

Suddenly, she heard a loud smack, and a cry of pain. She whipped her head around to see Gerel behind her, clutching his face. He grimaced.

Aelwen gasped, flinging her body around and gripping Gerel's shoulder. "Are you ok!? What happened!?"

Gerel wheezed, scratching at her scaled hand. "Your claws... hurting...me...."

Aelwen squeaked, immediately unhanding him and stepping back. Now Gerel gripped his bleeding shoulder and his face.

"Oh no, oh no, oh no..." Aelwen shrieked away from him, not knowing what to do. Gerel sunk to the ground, breath hissing through his teeth.

Aelwen attempted to rummage through his backpack, but her front leg kept shaking, and she ended up tearing into the side of the pack. A pair of pants fell out of the hole, and Aelwen (Not trusting her clawed hands at this point) snatched them up with her mouth, quickly stumbling over to Gerel.

She cut the pants into uneven scraps, laying them over his bleeding shoulder with her teeth. She didn't try to fasten them, not wanting to cause even more harm.

She sat in front of a silent Gerel, her ears laid flat against her head, and brows furrowed.

"Are you.... Ok?" She whimpered. "I'm so sorry..." What had she done in the first place? Had her tail whipped him in the face?

Gerel ripped off the makeshift fabric scraps, stomping over to his pack and making a small groan as he saw the tear. He rummaged through the bag, procuring a bottle of purple slime. He turned away from Aelwen and opened the bottle, smudging some of the goop on his face. He pulled down the shoulder of his shirt and examined the claw holes, his fingers getting covered in blood. He used a strangely-shaped sponge to wipe up his shoulder, washing it in the bucket of water by the campfire. He wrapped it up with cotton bandages after smothering it in more of the purple slime.

Aelwen watched silently, guilt sealing her throat closed.

Her mind traveled back to when she was seven years old, riding her favorite horse, an old white mare named Darling.

Aelwen had loved the horse, and enjoyed riding her every time she was at the stables. However, the mare had been growing weak and frail, and as Aelwen goaded her over a tall jump, she stumbled, fracturing two legs.

As Aelwen had lain sobbing in the dirt, brushing her hand on the neighing mare's neck, she had felt like the most awful person in the world. She had pushed the horse to her limit and as a result had caused it to be hurt.

She recalled her relief as her father had gathered her up in his strong arms, and held her tiny hand. "It's not your fault," he had said. "You didn't know what her limits were."

Stable hands quickly tried their best to tend to the horse. Aelwen heard a few whispers that she may have to be put down. This had only made the little princess cry harder.

Her father had whisked her out of the stables, taking her to her chambers. There he sat next to her on her bed, an arm around her shoulder as she wept.

"Sometimes in life we can hurt the things we hold dear, though we don't intend to," he said. "You must learn to let go of this kind of guilt. If you know you never would have done something such as that intentionally, then there's nothing you can do except try to fix what went wrong. In this case, what do you think we can do to help fix problem, Little Wren?"

The tiny princess had made a small smile when she heard her nickname. She wiped her tears away.

"We could ask Mommy to use her magic and fix the horse's legs!" Aelwen had said, beaming at how brilliant her idea was.

Her father's face clouded. His suddenly solemn face made Aelwen think she had said something wrong.

"Uh... Daddy? Am I incorrect?" She asked, using a word she had learned last week.

"No.. No... Your answer was fine. But this time, let's let the castle doctors deal with the problem. Your mother has enough on her work schedule right now." Her father patted her on the head, standing up. "How about you make a card for Darling? We can hang it in her stall as she gets better. I'm sure she will enjoy looking at it."

Aelwen nodded in excitement. "Ok! I can do that! I'll draw a pretty picture of her. I hope she'll like it."

The King smiled, opening the door to the stairwell. As he was about to shut it behind him, he had taken a final glance at his daughter.

"Don't tell your mother about this, ok?" He had said, his voice a tone that let Aelwen know his words were to be heeded.

She nodded slowly, confused as to why he would ask this of her.

As it turned out, that wouldn't be the only time he would ask her that same question over the years.

The campsite was quiet as Aelwen watched Gerel cooking their dinner for the night. Aelwen experimented with moving her tail, glancing at Gerel occasionally. He never looked back.

Once the meal of rabbit, venison, and carrots was prepared, he plopped it in front of Aelwen, taking a small portion for himself.

Gerel bore a large, swollen cut across his left cheek. Indeed, Aelwen had unintentionally smacked him with her tail, one of the spines slicing into his face.

She repeatedly tried to apologize, but all Gerel did in reply was to raise his hand to indicate that she remain quiet.

The food laid out in front of her was a huge portion, much bigger than anything she had ever had for dinner. The whole slab of venison, as well as a whole rabbit, was there for her to eat. Several cooked carrot slices were delicately placed all over both hunks of meat.

"Goodness... This is quite a large meal..." Aelwen said. "Ah... Thank you very much for preparing it, Gerel..."

Gerel looked at the meal, eyes hooded. "You're a dragon. You eat a lot."

"Yes, I suppose you're right. I do seem to be... A lot bigger." She paused. "Are dragons... Omnivores?" She pointed at a carrot slice with a claw, internally cheering at the fact that she had gotten him to talk.

"Yeah. Bet Liriel told you they were ravenous carnivores, huh?" He took a vicious bite out of his rabbit leg.

"She never really told me anything about dragons..." Aelwen said. "She... She..." Aelwen suddenly didn't feel very hungry.

"Oh. That's right... Sorry." Gerel said, looking away.

Aelwen gulped, pushing away dark thoughts. "I thought... They only existed in books... until now." Her tail made a small whipping motion, striking a pebble on the ground and making it fly into the bushes nearby.

She noticed Gerel regarding her with a concerned look. She gave one back.

"Are you sure you're ok? Is there anything I can do to help?" She asked him.

"Eat," he said. "You gotta learn how. Thankfully most of it is simple instinct."

Aelwen nodded, taking a deep breath before opening her mouth and wrapping her jaws around a small part of the venison. She set her paws on one side of it, holding it down as she tore a small part off and chewed it.

It tasted divine. She had eaten venison at the castle many times before, but now, without spices or sauces, it somehow tasted a hundred times better to her. She dug into the meal, tearing it apart and smacking it up like it was her first meal in months.

Before she knew it, she had eaten all of it.

A soft smile appeared on Gerel's face as he calmly ate his own dinner. Aelwen eyed the half of the rabbit he hadn't eaten yet. He rolled his eyes and threw it over to her. She caught it in her mouth and swallowed it whole.

Aelwen yawned, licking her lips in satisfaction.

"Let's get some sleep," Gerel said. "Big day tomorrow."

Aelwen slowly made her way to the tent, her belly happy and full.

"A big day?" Aelwen inquired.

"There is a village relatively close by. We're going there. Or at least, I am. I'll be getting a few supplies and gathering a ton of information. You, on the other hand, will be learning to hunt, aaaand...."

He paused.

"Learning how to use your wings."