\u00ab\u00a0I thought dragons didn’t exist.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Yet here I am.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0And I thought dragons roasted anyone they met.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Only those who want to kill us. We’re not as big fans of the idea as you are.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0I am unarmed.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Thus you live. Also, had you known you would meet a dragon today, would you not have considered bringing weapons?\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0… I don’t know. I may have considered asking you for a bit of gold, though.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Gold? We don’t care for it.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Oh? So the dragon sleeping on a hoard of gold taken from us is…\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Gargoyleshit, if you’ll pardon my Human. It happens that we’re good at metallurgy. Want to bring some ore to the right temperatures for the right durations in order to extract some metals from it? Find a dragon. And your kind did. In olden times, there were scores of dragons in foundries. We practically got you into the bronze, then iron ages. The gold was a byproduct.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0The bronze and iron ages? But…\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u00ab\u00a0Then some of you got fond of gold. So much so that they started demanding<\/em> it. Then accusing us of withholding it. In fact, it’s where the whole dragon-sitting-on-gold-roasting-people stories come from. If you are one to keep scores, know that there were dragon hunts before there were witch hunts. And as with witches, it was for the wrong reasons and with the wrong motives and all you humans got from the hunts was having to do some things the hardest possible way. Ask any human metallurgist. They’ll take a dragon at any price. As if the issue was price! Those who work out the real issue, on the other limb…\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0You mean there are still humans working with dragons?\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0Very few. I know a dragon who partners with a goldsmith. they make precious stone encrusted, gold and silver jewelry of unrivaled quality. Very few pieces, mind you. And of course they keep the whole thing secret.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0I can see why. If people learned about about the dragon…\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0… They’d actually want more certainly-somehow-magical-dragon-made jewelry. Until they would learn about the goldsmith, and then they would suddenly find woman<\/em>-made jewelry inferior.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0Oh! Good thing the dragon doesn’t think that way, eh?\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0Good thing she doesn’t indeed. One thing we hate more than someone trying to kill us is someone trying to hurt a friend. We’re really not into hurting anyone, actually.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0Then what about these sacrifice stories? The, er, young virgins?\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0You kind’s idea again. Oh, and the young virgin stuff is really a metaphor. Anyone innocent and innocuous would do. Though it always seemed to me like these people were trying to kill two birds with one stone, making the dragon look bad and getting rid of a potential witch.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0Witches are not innocent and innocuous.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0They are until a mob tries to burn them, be it with dragon or wood fire. Which is stupid, by the way, because trying to burn a true witch is the quickest way to her getting really irked<\/em>. Oh, and for the record, none of us ever agreed to the sacrifice stuff, so it never really happened. The hero defeating the dragon and saving the girl is just spin doctoring after a fiasco.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0So all our stories about dragons are false?\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0They’re stories. They’re just your kind’s imagination going wilder than usual. Emphasis on wilder<\/em>. And usual<\/em>, come to think of it.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0Well.. You<\/em> could be a figment of my imagination.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n The dragon turned and shot a thin, yellow-white, burst of fire at a rock which reddened, cracked, and started melting. A yellowish speck glinted inside the crack.<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0Come back tomorrow. I won’t be there, but that will. Bring others to witness, if you don’t trust your senses.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n \u00ab\u00a0They won’t believe it was done by a dragon.\u00a0\u00bb<\/p>\n