She approached the dragon slowly, reverently. It would have been difficult not to, and she knew immediately what these other kobolds felt in its presence. There was something powerful and instinctual happening here - something that explained much of her species’ hierarchical nature. All her life among humans hadn’t completely eradicated it. She’d overcome it when standing before people in power like the Bishop. But she knew they were mere humans with the trappings of power, and that authority could be taken from them at any time.

She’d been around humans so long, she could not see them as superior to herself. The Drow considered themselves superior certainly - and in some ways that superiority was justified. But she’d never felt much more than mild disgust at their condescending attitude towards her kind.

But this was something altogether different. As she watched the eyes follow her, she knew now she was in the presence of a different order of being. It wasn’t fear - at least not as she’d known the term. She wasn’t afraid of the dragon. Though he could obviously have dashed her life away with the flick of a tail, she knew he wouldn’t do that - without cause at any rate. Perhaps extreme awe would be a better term.

“This must be what humans feel like when standing before their King,” she thought, though even as the idea flashed through her mind, she knew it wasn’t powerful enough.

She both loved and feared this dragon at the deepest level, and with every step she took the feeling became more powerful. And she was aware of a certain pride as well. It knew her name. It had called her. None of these others. She was special.

Finally she stood before it, as close as she dared. She knelt before it, her eyes downcast.

“My Lord,” she said. “I am your servant.”

“Oh shit, Kreet! Don’t be like that! Please!” it rumbled.

She looked at the dragon’s head, now turned towards her.

“My Lord?”

“No, no, no… this will never do! Kreet, I thought you were better than this! Do you think I went through all this to have yet another fawning sycophant waiting on me? Come on - snap out of it! I’m just a dragon. I need you to be you! Remember your family, Kreet. If I could I’d slap your face to bring you back to life. Unfortunately you wouldn’t survive it. Now stand up, I beg you!”

She did so, her head cocked to one side. She was struggling to try and reconcile the form before her with his words. He certainly didn’t speak like a dragon should!

“Well, we can’t talk here anyway. A few of them might have managed to understand Common a little by now. Come on, let’s get away from here. I need the exercise anyway.”

“Do… Do you want me to climb on your neck or something?”

“HA! You’d fall off before I flapped a wing. How about instead I just hold you, okay?”

She saw him extend his foreleg and she climbed into the open claw. It felt as if she’d stepped into the jaws of a terrible predator, knowing full well she would be eaten and somehow not only resigned to that fate, but even relishing it. To be eaten by something this powerful - could she wish for anything more?

The claws closed around her and suddenly she was slammed against one talon. She saw the ground fall away incredibly fast and knew without a doubt the dragon was right. She could no more have hung onto the dragon’s neck than she could stop a tumbling boulder.

In an instant she realized something else. She had a fear of heights. She tried to remind herself of the bridge in the Underdark so long ago, but that was different. Somehow underground heights didn’t bother her. Maybe it was seeing with her Darkvision instead of the full daylight colors that made everything so incredibly detailed. But she found herself holding on to the dragon’s talon with all her might, and she closed her eyes to shut out the sight.

Blessedly the ride came to a halt quickly. Kreet found herself spilled out onto a wide, grassy meadow.

“This should do. We are alone,” the dragon began, but it soon realized that the kobold was in no shape for talking. “Are you alright, Kreet?”

She lay on her belly, her arms and legs splayed to the sides, affirming that the ground was real.

“Just… give me a second, okay?” she said, breathing heavily.

“Oh. I’d forgotten. Sorry. Next time maybe a blindfold would be appropriate.”

She nodded her head, then vomited. She thought briefly about that - would the contents of her stomach have been resurrected with her? Her clothes obviously hadn’t been.

Suddenly she remembered she was naked. She hadn’t thought about it much when with the kobolds. Clothing was certainly worn by kobolds, but they had no concept of modesty as the human’s meant it. She had reverted to that mindset when with her own kind - but now, in the presence of this dragon - her humanity reasserted itself and she tried to cover herself.

“Kreet,” the dragon said, it’s face becoming amused. “Do I need to put on some dragon pants? Don’t be ridiculous. Besides, it’s not like I haven’t seen you naked before!”

With her returning humanity, she recovered some semblance of dignity too. She was fast beginning to lose her awe.

“How… could you have seen me? I don’t even know you!”

“Of course you do. Damn it Kreet, I really thought you were smarter than this. What, do I have to hang a fucking sign over my head? ‘PELOR! PELOR! THIS IS PELOR!’?”

Her eyes grew wide and her pupils became slits.

“PELOR!”

“In the flesh. Scales to be precise. Well, just my Avatar of course. Like Eilistraee’s.”

She wasn’t sure if she should bow or kneel or what. And she had just thrown up in front of her god! Worse yet, she now found she had to pee.

“Not like Eilistraee’s,” she said, bowing her head.

“Well, hey. I am a bit more powerful god. I get a few perks.”

“You took away my powers.”

The dragon’s head reared back. “I did no such thing! You rejected them! I’d think you would remember that! It’s not exactly a trivial thing for a Cleric to reject her god, after all!”

“You… abandoned us!”

“Kreet. Even you don’t believe that. I should know. The fire wasn’t our fault. We didn’t cause it, and - even if you can barely comprehend what it is to be a god - surely you also understand that we are under certain constraints.”

“So I’ve heard. The fates…”

“Yes. That’s the best way for you to understand it. Fates. And yet, you’re still here, aren’t you?”

“No thanks to you!”

The dragon sat up - a rather unusual sight - and put its forearms to its hips in a mimicry of human and kobold indignation.

“I beg your pardon! All thanks to me I’ll have you know! Well, granted the stone was from someone else… a friend. But still! I certainly helped!”

Kreet laughed at the visual, and that broke whatever reserve she had left. She’d never really thought of Pelor as the type of god that would deign to appear as a physical avatar - much less a dragon.

“Well okay. I guess you’re right. I was a little distraught though! Surely some credit must be due. You’re right. We have to talk. But please, would you mind… I feel pretty weird standing here naked anyway.”

“Oh for heaven’s… look behind you.”

Kreet turned around and she found a sort of leather two-piece set of wild-kobold appropriate clothing at her feet. She pulled it on.

“Better?” the dragon asked.

“Better.” she admitted. “Though a little tight in the chest. I’d think a god would…”

“I stole them from an Outside kobold’s drying-line. Be happy they’re clean. Now, Kreet, I have a proposal for you. I need you to do something for me. And it will cost you, a lot.”

Kreet laughed bitterly, remembering her family. “Cost me? What do I have to lose? I’ve lost everything already!”

“It will cost you time. With them. Not long, in the scheme of things. But it will be a cost you can never get back. I would point out though that had you died in the fire you would have lost far more time! But… if you will do this for me, I will ease that loss of time.”

“Do I have any choice?” Kreet asked, though now understanding what her god meant. “I always thought you were a Good god.”

“I am a good god! Surely better than most anyway. But I need you to do this for my children. You aren’t the only kobold in the world, you know. These I live with here… they’re good creatures too. But they need your help.”

“Help how? What do you want me to do?”

“Kreet… I need you to teach them to be like you. I need them to learn Common. I need them to become friendly with the light-dwellers. The humans. I need you to lead them home, Kreet.”

“Me? Can’t you just… I don’t know, wave a claw and have them all know Common or something?”

“No, Kreet. I can’t. Because it isn’t just the language. I don’t want them to become human. I want them to be like you. Fully kobold, but also capable of living in peace with humans. Not as slaves, or as enemies. Coexisting. It is a dream Eilistraee had. She convinced me, long ago before you were born, Kreet. We saved you, Kreet. This is your purpose. I promise when you are done you can be freed from this burden.”

“Can I actually refuse?”

“No. You won’t refuse. I already know that. But it is important that you feel like it’s a choice you made. I can offer something to make it worthwhile though.”

“What could possibly make it worthwhile?”

“I will show you. But first, you must give me something.”

“What? I have nothing.”

“No. You have one thing, Kreet. The only jewel this dragon wants. First you must give me the resurrection stone.”