A chorus of assents filled the air, the liveliest and most energetic sound Tani had ever heard in the women's cave. She handed the hand laser to Astra, who took a moment to turn it over in her hands. This was the first time she'd ever held a weapon of any sort, just as it would be a first for the other women. It was heavier than she'd expected it to be, and solid. When she was finished, she went to Drya, the unspoken leader of the women, and handed it to her.

While the women passed the hand laser around, Tani continued speaking. "During the raid to free all of you from the mine, we broke into the Nomen's armory and took all of the weapons it contained, including enough hand lasers for each woman to have one of her own. One of the most important features on these hand lasers is the fingerprint identification safety mechanism. That means that, when activated, the safety will not disengage until a specific thumb is pressed against the tiny panel on the side. It will also specifically lock out certain people, such as your children. The weapon will not function unless you unlock it yourself.

"I need all of you to understand that you will not receive a weapon, or be authorized to use one, until I'm satisfied that you've learned the weapon's proper use, that you know all of the safety procedures, and that you'll follow them. If I feel that any one of you is too careless with a weapon, or that you haven't learned the safety procedures, or that you don't take them seriously, I will not clear you for a weapon. It's just that simple. I will work with anyone who has trouble for as long as necessary in an effort to help you learn, but I will not put a deadly weapon in the hands of anyone that I feel is irresponsible, or unsafe."

"We will all abide by your decisions, Gunji Tani," Drya said, standing up and turning to face the rest of the women. "If you believe, for any reason, that I'm not capable of handling a weapon safely, as much as I want to be able to protect myself and Dirk, I will accept that decision with grace. You are the expert, not we."

"Thank you, Drya," Tani said, offering the older woman a deep nod. "I appreciate your support and understanding. Aside from the mechanics of how to use a weapon, there is another side to the matter that I'd like to address. I want you all to give serious thought to what it means to use a deadly weapon. Before you pick a weapon up, you must understand and accept the fact that when you point it at someone and pull the trigger, you will either kill or seriously injure that person.

"If any of you are uncomfortable with that idea, please know that there is no shame in it, and your feelings will be respected." Tani put extra emphasis on her last statement, letting all of the women know she expected them to comply with it. She saw Drya indicate that she wanted to speak again and nodded to her.

"I know this is a personal question, Gunji Tani, so please do not answer if you're uncomfortable doing so, but I'd like to know if it was a difficult decision for you to make."

"I began learning self-defense when I was three years old, and began training with edged weapons at the age of five. Before I ever touched a weapon, I was taught their purpose, and the risks of using them in battle. But until the night of the raid on the mining compound, I'd never used a weapon against a living being with the intent to kill. On that night, I killed seven Nomen."

"Was it difficult for you?" Drya asked.

"No, it wasn't," Tani said. She looked around at the expressions of surprise and doubt and tried to think of a way to explain. "If I accidentally hurt an innocent person with a weapon, I'm not sure how I'd deal with it. It wouldn't be easy for me, I know that much. Accidents cannot be altogether prevented, but they can be minimized. That's why safety protocols are so important to me, and why I've trained so long and so hard to master every weapon I pick up.

"But the Nomen are not innocent. They are the enemy. This is their contest. They started it, and they set the rules. I entered their contest knowing those rules. Knowing that I could be killed just as easily as anyone else, which I nearly was. The only decision I had to make was whether the risk to my life was one I believed worth taking. It was.

"No, Drya, I had no hesitation in killing some of the men who'd taken four hundred innocent Khun to use as slaves, including one hundred and thirty three women and children. My only regret is that by the time I arrived here, nearly half of your number had already died."

"We are grateful that you came at all," Drya said. "Thank you, Gunji Tani."

Tani smiled, then took a deep breath to clear her mind. "Right now a number of men are checking the hand lasers carefully to be sure they're safe. Tomorrow we'll begin learning safety procedures, and the proper way to maintain and handle a hand laser. After that, we'll begin target practice. It shouldn't take any of you more than a couple of days to learn how to properly handle and shoot a hand laser. By the end of the week I expect the majority of you to have some proficiency."

"That's fast," Drya said, smiling. "We thought it would take weeks or even months."

"Most weapons do require a lot of time and practice to gain true skill. That's not what we're after right now. Our current goal is to put a weapon in your hands that you can use safely and effectively to protect yourselves if necessary. Now, I see that not all of you have had a chance to hold the hand laser, so while I wait, does anyone have any questions?"

Tani spent an hour answering a variety of questions, most of which would be answered during lessons over the coming days, but which she patiently answered anyway. By the time everyone had had a chance to hold the hand laser, she sensed a change in the atmosphere of the women's cave. There was excitement. Curiosity. Anticipation. And purpose.

After answering the last question, Tani turned to Astra and gave her a hug. "You did good, Astra," she said softly. "Very good." Astra swallowed hard and smiled her thanks. Then Tani excused herself and left the women's cave.

She looked up the face of the cliff and smiled to see Steel standing outside of his cave watching for her. She started up the steep path toward him, wondering why it was that she never had any trouble climbing the paths when those who'd lived here for a year had difficulty.

"How'd it go?" Steel asked when she reached him.

"Really well," Tani said. "They're so quiet, though. Especially the children. They rarely talk and when they do, it's in a voice so soft it's barely even a whisper. It's a bad sign."

"Yes, many of the men are the same way," he said. "They'll get better, Tani. We'll help them."

She smiled up at him, her heart swelling with happiness. "You're a rare man, Steel."

"Am I?" he asked curiously. "In what way?"

"In several ways," she said, "but in this particular instance I'm referring to the way you view your position in regards to your people."

"I'm not sure I understand."

"When you went away to school you didn't tell anyone you were a prince, did you?"

"Hel...uh...no," Steel said, his eyes widening with surprise. "I made everyone from Garza promise to keep it to themselves before I'd go."

"Why?"

"Why?" he asked in surprise. "You're a princess yourself. You must know why."

"I do," she said. "But how many students did you come across while you were in school that were the sons and daughters of royalty, or politicians, or just really wealthy parents?"

"A larger number than I expected."

"And of those, how many made certain that everyone knew their status, or the status of their parents?"

"Too many," Steel replied with a grimace. "Neither my brother nor I were raised to believe that our people owed us service because we were princes."

"No, you weren't," Tani said, beaming up at him. "You were raised to believe that, as a prince of the Khun, you owed service to your people."

"Yes, that's exactly right. It's part of who I am, Tani."

"I know, just as the same belief is part of who I am. That's why I said you're a rare man. I've met others who believe as you do, as I and my family do, but not many."

"Then you're not complaining?"

"Complaining?" she asked in surprise. "No, Steel, I have nothing to complain about."

"Neither do I," he said, reaching out to brush her cheek lightly with his fingertips.

Tani blushed, then searched for a change of topic. "So, how did the men react to the idea of learning battle skills from me?"

"They're excited about it. Believe me, after the struggle we've been through this past year trying to teach ourselves, we'd be happy if a monkey came to teach us a trick or two."

"I think I might be able to do better than a monkey," she said huffily, but Steel saw the laughter in her eyes.

"Good, then let's go up to the mesa and see if you can teach a bunch of farmers how to take down a Nomen with a trash can lid."

Tani's eyes widened in surprise. "Don't tell me you showed that vid to some of the men."

"Nope," Steel said smugly. "I showed it to all of them."

She blushed again, then poked him in the chest with one finger. "Just remember that if they ask me to demonstrate, you're playing the Nomen."

Tani and Steel watched the men leave the mesa, both happy with how well practice had gone. It hadn't taken a lot of effort on Tani's part, either. She'd just offered advice and tips here and there: information that wasn't in any user manual. Things that she'd learned as a child and took for granted, but that the Khun had no way of knowing, and which prevented them from excelling beyond a certain point despite all of their hard work.

"You're going to have dinner with me today, right?" Steel asked as he took her hand in his, then kissed it.

"I said I would," Tani replied, smiling. "What are we having?"

"Astra made some soup and sandwiches for us and put them in my chiller," he said.

"I thought you were going to cook," she said archly.

"Believe me, the last thing you want is for me to cook," Steel said, grinning. "The last time I tried, I nearly burned down our house."

"How old were you?"

"Seventeen," he replied. "I promised my father that I'd never attempt to cook again without expert supervision."

"That's a big promise to make," she said.

"Yes, but it was either that, or banishment."

Tani laughed. "In that case, I will remember to never ask you to fix a meal."

"I knew you were smart from the moment I set eyes on you," Steel said, leading the way into his cave. He stoked the fire while Tani got the food Astra had put in the chiller and started the soup heating. They sat together on the hearth rug and ate quietly for a time, both of them hungry from their busy day, especially since they'd skipped lunch.

A sound of fluttering wings had Tani looking up toward the doorway in time to see Wily fly in. Now that he could fly, albeit somewhat clumsily, he'd been spending a lot of time with Dirk and the other children, though he never stayed out of Tani's sight for too long.

"Hungry, are you?" she asked, holding up one hand for him to land on. Wily did a little loop in the air, then landed on her hand.

Steel frowned when he noticed that Tani was just sitting there, staring at Wily with an odd expression on her face. "Tani?" Nothing. He reached over and placed one hand on her knee. "Tani, what's the matter?" he asked a bit more urgently.

Tani blinked, looked blankly at Wily, then him for just a moment, then gasped in surprise. "I remember," she said.

"Remember what?" Steel asked as Wily started mewling at her. She set Wily down on the floor next to a dish of food she'd prepared for him, her mind racing with all of the memories that had suddenly just blossomed into her mind.

"When Wily's egg hatched, was there a light...a sparkling light?"

"Yes," Steel replied, frowning. "Now that you mention it, there was. It startled me, but then I forgot about it. How did that happen?"

"While I was unconscious, after Wily bit me, I had a dream that wasn't really a dream at all. I spoke with a dragon named Magda."

"You spoke with a dragon?" he asked doubtfully.

"Please don't tell me that you believe only humans and humanoids are intelligent," she said.

"No, of course not," Steel replied. "We were enslaved by the Xanti, remember? It just sounded strange I guess. What did the dragon say to you?"

"A lot of things, though now that I think about it, there were a few things she left out, too." She frowned at that.

"Maybe you could just tell me the stuff she didn't leave out," Steel said, his mouth twitching.

She arched a brow at him. "Has anyone ever told you that you're funny?"

"No, they haven't," he said, smirking. "Must be a new talent that you alone inspire."

"Yeah, I'm sure that's it," she said dryly.

"I apologize, Khalute," he said with a deep nod. "I will be quiet and listen politely while you tell me about this dragon."

"Thank you," she said, then smiled to let him know she was just playing. The sparkle in his eyes told her that he was, too. "To begin with, this planet was once home to dragons. All different sorts of dragons, all intelligent and all magical. They lived together, different types of dragons in the same community, all over the planet. In fact, these caves were home to Magda, her family, and their community. Then the Xanti came, found the metal they'd been searching for, and killed everyone and everything on the planet. Except for three dragons, and one egg."

As Tani told Steel the story of the dragons of Garza, and what the Xanti did to them, Wily listened, nodding occasionally, indicating to Tani that he had some sort of memory or knowledge of the events. When she was finished, they sat in silence for a while as Steel absorbed all that she'd told him.

"Tani, does all of that mean that we're supposed to be dragons?" Steel asked.

"I don't know," she said. "Maybe, maybe not. All I know for sure is that whatever it is I'm supposed to do will finish the transformation of the Khun that was begun four and a half centuries ago. I suspect that the women will be more complete, so that their alter forms don't make them weaker instead of stronger as they should. And I also suspect that you'll be able to restore Garza to what it once was."

"Which was what?"

"Before the Xanti came, this was a beautiful world," Tani said. "There were oceans and rivers, forests and plains. The earth was red, as it is now, but it wasn't dead. It was filled with life, just as the planet itself was filled with life. The last thing the dragons did before they were all destroyed was to hide everything. They sent the water underground to keep it from being contaminated, and they gathered all the seeds of life, protected them with magic, and buried them deep, using more magic to lock them away and preserve them. It's all there, just waiting to be...reborn."

"How do we bring it back, Tani?"

"I don't know," Tani said. "Yet."

"Yet?"

"Magda said that when the time was right, I'd know what needed to be done. I learned why it is I can heal now, too."

"Which is why?"

"When I agreed to finish her work, Magda said she was giving me a gift of understanding." She reached up to touch the dragon pendant. "It's because of Riata."

"Who is Riata?"

"Riata was an Alverian Empath Healer," Tani said. "She did much good for the Jasani, and will be forever remembered, but she was also a good friend to my parents. She died on the day my sisters and I were born, so my mother wanted to name me after her, but my Dads objected. They believe that it's bad luck to name a child after someone who's recently passed to the next plane."

"We hold with that belief ourselves," Steel said. "So, your mother named you Tanjelia instead. Does that have a meaning?"

"Yes, it means angel," Tani said. "It was as close to naming me for Riata as Mom could get."

"I don't understand that."

"It's a long story, but the short of it is that, without Riata's aid, my Mom would have either died or been enslaved by the Xanti. There's no telling what would have happened to me and my sisters. Riata did a lot of really good things for a lot of people besides being a healer who saved uncounted lives."

"What does all of that have to do with you being able to heal?" Steel asked.

"This pendant I wear was a gift from Riata, given to my mother to hold until my twenty-first birthday, which was just a few weeks ago. It has a tiny well inside of it that holds the ashes of one of Riata's feathers. Magda told me that it strengthened what was already a part of me, so I must have already had some healing talent. Maybe that's why I enjoyed working and learning from Doc and Aunt Darlene so much when I was younger. I suppose the dracon inside of me was strengthened by the pendant too, which would explain why I suddenly started to sense her."

"Do you have to wear the necklace in order to be able to heal?"

"No, I don't," Tani said. "When I healed Astra, I remember that it felt a little warm, but I thought it was my imagination. When I healed Naran, it got so hot I thought it might burn me. But when I was working on Dirk, it didn't get warm at all. I remember now that Magda told me that its work was finished, and since I healed Dirk without it getting warm, I believe it."

"Have you any idea when you'll be able to finish what the dragon's magic began with the Khun?"