Chris watched nervously as Amaru passed through the gates. Amaru was currently a short, but extremely plump figure with very little hair, dressed in a loud floral shirt and jeans. Hopefully his apparent age would cover any undue confusion, and his height would diminish the effect his bulk usually had on people.

Chris was tempted to shift his form so that he could watch and see that the older dragon made it onto the correct plane, but he told himself firmly that this was only the first test. He'd been tempted to go along too, but Amaru had actually asked him to stay. Anne could have gone if she hadn't had a criminal record, or could have shifted her appearance like the dragons could.

Chris was actually rather surprised that the extravagant vacation idea had worked at all. There were reports of rising infection rates all across the country, but apparently the chance of obtaining money was still worth the risk to enough people. The elderly man that Amaru was imitating was someone that Gregory Vincent had known peripherally. It was always easier to borrow an identity with a starting point, and Chris didn't even feel too bad about it, since Amaru had paid off an astonishing amount of debt to facilitate obtaining the necessary documents.

A small clawfull of gold could go a long way, and Chris privately admitted that the potentials of the ability to meld with solid objects kept him trying to learn his own 'pattern' far more effectively than the ability to give himself permanent wings someday. Especially when he considered that it might not be too long until wings that moved a body through an atmosphere might become obsolete within a century when humanity started exploring the rest of the solar system… unless civilization was thrown back into the dark ages when the Earth "turned upside down" of course.

--

The thief had been one of the most interesting people that she'd spoken to since awakening. And he had known so much more than he had realized.

She'd just been curious about the skin-like clothing he'd worn that had made him so very difficult to see without using her true eyes, but the encounter had been the most intelligent, concise, and informative conversation she'd had since meeting Victoria. The man would almost have made a good dragon with his almost instinctive understanding of the value of details when trading information.

She had, of course, collected his contact information for future questions. The internet was still the most amazing tool ever invented in her opinion, but you had to know what you were looking for to get the most out of it. She delicately opened the valuable device that she'd had so much trouble obtaining, and sent a simple message that she had never imagined sending to anyone on the other side of the world a mere two or three centuries ago.

"I'm coming to see you!"

It was time to visit 'the colonies' and see what had changed on the twin continents that had been so new to the cities where she usually played. How much amusement had she gained back when chocolate had been the latest vogue? She looked forward to seeing the colorful toucans again, and the way the tribes there decorated themselves with colorful feathers as if in imitation of her favorite teacher.

--

He wondered at the bravery of creatures that hurtled themselves through the sky inside metal darts powered by jets that spun air with metal coils.

If the delicate contraption failed, he would be fine, but the humans aboard would likely perish. Some of them looked completely unconcerned, but others sat stiffly in the small seats with fear radiating off of them. His nose told him that many of the ones that appeared bored or sleepy were just as tense as the ones who showed their fear in their postures, but some of them were truly unconcerned.

Many of them were fiddling with the mandatory masks that the airline required, but it had been simple enough for him to adjust his ears to suit the pull of the straps. The child had insisted that he must do his best to act like the other passengers, so he raised his hand to his face occasionally just to fit in. The warning that occasionally filled the tiny screen in front of him proclaimed that touching one's face was likely to spread infection. But as with the traffic laws the child had insisted he memorize and explained, few of the humans seemed to follow the restrictions consistently.

The airplane was only filled to partial capacity, with one person per three seats, as though the extra meter between passengers would prevent them from breathing the same recycled air. He found the artificial air pressure very interesting. Reading about such things was not the same as experiencing them with your own nose, and he seriously contemplated the child's suggestion that he craft an identity from 'birth' and become an 'engineer' among the tribes of the mankind so that he could experience and participate in the construction of many of the devices that he had been reading about.

The difficulty was that he could not reduce his size far enough to simply imitate a very young member of their tribes. The child had said optimistically that the plague provided the perfect opportunity to create an identity that only interacted with the rest of civilization digitally whenever possible, but he was actually playing with the idea of keeping part of the fragments of himself hidden in plain sight, or melded into objects that were regarded as solid.

The nervous passenger across the tiny aisle that this shape had barely fit through leaned toward him suddenly. "You know these masks aren't preventing us from catching anything? This whole thing is a hoax, otherwise why would they ever let anybody fly?"

Amaru turned his head and considered the questions. "I hope that you catch everything you wish to, and that you learn many truths within your lifetime," he answered benignly.

The lazing form of the man in the seats behind him emitted a quiet chuckle, while the nervous one blinked and wrinkled its brows in puzzlement. The dragon turned his head further as the nervous passenger drew a deep breath, and eyed the man behind him curiously. This one was truly as relaxed as he appeared to be.

--

His people would not starve. The emperor was confident in his appraisal. He had poured centuries of energy back into the lands he claimed, and all things that lived and grew within it were thriving. He was unaware that many creatures considered undesirable by his people and their neighbors were also thriving, because no one dared to complain.

He had more servants now, and the palace was no longer as empty and silent. The 'president' had even come to make his bow, a silent acknowledgement that the emperor accepted. He wasn't fooled by the obeisance, few of the individuals who had ruled over the others had ever regarded him with real reverence. It was those who had no power of their own who worshipped sincerely. To that one he was merely a useful phenomenon.

His eyes glittered as his scaled form shifted beneath the sunlight that touched the garden. He couldn't decide if it was just that he had spent centuries sleeping beneath the surface of the world within the cave that had been shaped for him, or if the sun was actually hotter than he remembered it. The strength of the sun also seemed to mute the sound of the songs that ran across the world to fill his heart.

The guiding songs spoke of such things, of the lean times when the songs would fade, and the sun would burn while the world spun. However, he had not actually lived so long that he had experienced such times himself, and he could not accurately judge whether this was the beginning of such a time.

When he had hesitantly spoken of it, his first servant within this generation had assured him that the sun was actually cooling. The confidence of this simple declaration stunned him far more than any of the devices that were displayed, or the trains that crossed his territory faster than he could fly. His people had advanced enough to study the sun on their own.

He had wasted so much time sleeping, foolishly believing the words of his elders who had insisted that they were doomed to consume themselves to death within a few hands of their generations. He should have believed in those he had claimed as his. His heart ached as he thought of how much they had accomplished with such fleeting lives.

He was not oblivious as to the reason for his attachment to them. As they had become more like him, he had become more like them. As he had raised them, to covet learning and development, so they had raised him to covet the transitory beauty and passion within them. He had changed.

He raised his face to the sun and closed his eyes.

"Why can't I fly all the way to the sun?"

"That which we drink from the heart, that which binds the world with song, does not stretch so far. We are creatures of the world, and cannot survive if we leave it behind."