Nim and Joanne went to her room to talk. She sat on the bed while he sat on the floor. “I have chairs if you don’t want to sit with me on the bed,” she offered. “I prefer the floor,” he said with a shrug. “Your choice. Now, tell me what I’m supposed to know.” “I suppose I should start with what mad-dragon is. Full-blooded dragons don’t have mental illnesses. We don’t go insane or get dementia or any of that. But, under extreme duress, we can sometimes temporarily lose control; become the mindless beasts other people fear us to be. We will attack or roast anything that moves. Once it starts, it doesn’t stop until we exhaust ourselves, so we have to rest and calm down. Sometimes sleep spells can help. The best thing to do is stay out of sight. “If it happens when we’re in human or elf form, it’s a bigger problem. We can be burned just like a real human. Pt’this did that recently. The amount of damage that was done took several healing potions and days of healing to fix. “If you see one of us go mad when not in true form, you need to choke us until we pass out before we start breathing fire.” “Choke you?” Joanne looked shocked. Nim nodded. “Preferably, below the voice box rather than on it, but as long as we can’t breathe, that’s the important thing.” “Does this happen a lot?” Nim shook his head. “Pt’this seems to be prone to it. He’s gone mad-dragon three or four times recently. I’ve only done it twice in my life. The first time was when I was injured.” He indicated his chest. “And the second time was when Ann killed Lyra, and we thought she’d died in the process. Pt’this, four of the young ones you met, and I all went mad-dragon for hours. I don’t remember much, just bits and pieces. That’s usually the case. I imagine the people hiding from us were terrified. You could try asking Sapphire if you want to know what it’s really like. She was bonded to Pt’this each of the times and felt it all. However, I’m not sure she’ll want to talk about it.” Joanne moved to sit with him on the floor. She put his arm around her and leaned on his shoulder. “Being a dragon is complicated; shedding, bonding, addictions, mad-dragon.” “I warned you. Are you having second thoughts?” “Yes, Nim, I’m cuddling with you because I no longer want to be with you.” She rolled her eyes. “Just checking.” He smiled. “Do I need to undress again to prove it to you?” “Please don’t.” It had taken all his self-control to stop the last time. He didn’t know if he could do it again. “We do have other things to discuss,” Joanne relented. “Right. I started to tell you before why we’re here. When Ann killed Lyra, she went into a very deep trance, which is why we thought she’d die. Being in a trance allowed Mishtali to contact her saying she needed to come here.” “Who is Mishtali again?” “He was a dragon from the Tricot clan and Pt’this’s mentor. He was so powerful he was black. The stronger the magic a dragon has, the darker the scales. Mishtali means living night.” Joanne gasped. “That’s what the caller said he was called.” Nim nodded. “But, he was never called Death Wish. And Mishtali and I don’t have the same accents. “At first, we didn’t believe Ann because he was supposedly dead for five hundred years. He was the one battling the immortal, Nor’than. There was no sign of either of them after the explosion. We all assumed they had died. “As I said, we didn’t believe Ann at first, but eventually, she convinced us to look into the matter closer. That’s why I came with Ann to pick up Andy’s parents. I was trying to contact him telepathically. “I didn’t speak with him, but the connection was made, so we knew he was here. Then, we got to thinking that if Mishtali survived, maybe Nor’than did too. We figure Nor’than is probably the one who called you since we didn’t recognize the voice on the phone.” “So, you came to try to kill someone who so powerful he’s immortal and couldn’t be killed by the most powerful dragon?” Joanne summarized for him. Nim smiled. “But, we have Ann. She’s stronger than Mishtali.” “Is she a black dragon too? I’ve only ever seen her look human.” “No, she’s white. She’s so strong the strength doesn’t reflect in her scales. She transported the ruins from a building the size of the palace and dropped it on Lyra. Then, she used a magic blast and crushed those ruins to dust. No one’s ever been able to do something like that before. It caused her to go into a trance so deep no one should have been able to get her out, but she was able to bring herself out of the trance. “The one to teach Ann magic was an immortal, Lyra, Nor’than’s daughter.” “The one she killed?” Nim nodded. “She was evil. Ann is vague about how she ended up there, but when she was ten, she ran away from home. Somehow, she ended up working for Lyra. Lyra branded anyone who worked for her. This brand caused intense pain and sometimes bleeding if the wearer disobeyed her. Sapphire helped her escape, and eventually, she ended up back home. She had been taught many things but not control or safety. She was too strong for the humans and the elves at the college so Pt’this brought her to Baj-tisk to be trained. “He didn’t know about the brand or where she’d been, not until the alarms went off. The alarms were what got my attention. “I was rear entrance guard at the time. It suited my desire to be alone. The caves were well away from the rest of the clan, and the only access was from the desert. Mostly, what entered were wild animals that usually became supper. “The Council didn’t trust her, of course. She was desperate to finish being trained, so she tried to remove the brand herself. She nearly destroyed her shoulder, and the backlash knocked out two dragons and started a minor cave-in. The Council decided she needed either to be trained or killed. Since we’re not normally in the habit of killing children and killing a princess would be seen as an act of war, training was the choice. I was familiar with immortals’ magic and saw how strong she was. I knew no one dragon could shield her until she learned to shield herself, so I agreed under the condition that Pt’this help me to shield her. We were unable to remove the brand and until she destroyed it coming out of the trance any time she did something against Lyra it caused her great pain.” “How did she kill her then?” “She learned to ignore the pain. She’s lucky she didn’t die of blood loss during the battle. The original tattoo I gave her was in part to try to hide the brand and apart to keep it from setting off the alarms. That tattoo was destroyed too. The new one is to show she is now a member of Baj-tisk. “She doesn’t talk about the time she was with Lyra except to give us intelligence on her or occasionally when she’s drunk.” “Is that why she drinks?” Nim nodded. “It helps keep the nightmares away sometimes. Although, since she’s met Andy, she hasn’t drunk anywhere near as much as she used to.” They sat in silence for a while, and Nim held Jo. “It’s so nice to talk with you and not have to worry about going into a trance,” he said after a bit. Joanne nodded. “And to be able to touch you.” Nim kissed the top of her head. She turned and sat on him, straddling his legs and kissed him back. “You are so beautiful,” he said. “You make me feel ugly.” “Don’t say that.” “Maybe that’s why people were staring today. They were trying to figure out how an ugly old man ended up with such a beautiful young woman.” “Maybe, they were wondering why a man with such a beautiful woman looks so sad.” She kissed him again. “What am I going to do with you?” “You can keep doing that,” he said with a smile that almost reached his eyes. “You keep smiling and I just might.” She leaned in to kiss him again, but he put a hand up to stop her. His face changed to dragon form while the rest of him stayed as human. “Is this better?” He said with a grin. “Oh, that is so wrong. One form or the other,” Joanne said with a shudder. He went back to human form. “Sorry.” “It’s okay. Just weird. Doesn’t that use magic?” “It does, but it’s different. I don’t understand how it works. I don’t think it’ll make me sick, however.” There was a knock on the door. Joanne moved to Nim’s side before giving permission for entry. Shunati entered with Nim’s bag and drawing case. “Emeton said not to try to contact Mishtali. He also asked that when you two are done here if you could come join us.” Nim nodded. “We’ll be right down.” For once, he didn’t blush. Shunati nodded and left. “Are you really okay with me sleeping here?” He asked. “Nimitinas, I know you wouldn’t put up with the young ones making you repeat yourself so much. Listen to me. I said I wanted you here. I mean it. I want you by my side every night for the rest of our lives. I love you. I know you didn’t forget that because you don’t forget anything. Do I need to get someone to translate it into Dragon for you?” “No, I understand,” Nim said. “Do you? Are you sure? Should we hang up that picture you drew as a diagram?” Nim smiled. “I don’t believe you would. You might run around in almost nothing, but that’s not the same as nothing. You don’t want others to see you naked.” “No, I don’t but if that’s what it takes to get you to stop doubting yourself, so be it.” “No. I wouldn’t do that to you. Let’s go see what news they have before they start gossiping about us.”