'I've heard you were developing at an astonishing rate. Your merging is nigh complete and your studies as Merlin’s apprentice are able to please your master. So, we thought how we could possibly reward you.' Miriam smiled at Rhiannon who had blushed being complimented by the queen. The young dragon had come to admire the strong and gentle regent. Her and Merlin were a kind of role model to her. Being praised by one of them felt special. 'Uhm thank you.' she mumbled not sure how to react.

'Well, I am sure your rhetorical skills are far more advanced than that. But I don't want to tease, but reward you, even though it is quite fun to do so.' the dragon-queen laughed and added 'Merlin and I have talked what you could possibly like most... he told me you wished to further your studies at the vet-school. You even did online courses to keep up whilst being subjected to the much harder schedule Merlin has tortured any royal dragon available and willing. Most of us did indeed not hold on for long and threw the towel.' she chuckled looking at her own sons, who seemed suddenly extremely interested in the pattern of the table cloth avoiding their mothers and Merlin’s gaze.

Rhiannon smiled. She knew Morgan still loathed the lessons he had to spend in Merlin’s sanctuary up in the mountains peak. But as the successor he didn't have much of a choice but to participate in her military strategy, history and politics lessons. He had to suffer alone before she was here but being compared to her didn't make it any better. 'You are such an overachiever.' he always said when she had, again, answered a complex question with ease. 'I should simply marry you and get over with it. You do the academics and ruling part, whilst I have your back and do the more practical part like intimidation, fighting and so on.' he told her only half-mocking. 'Did you just propose to me, your highness?' she had asked him and he had answered suddenly earnest 'Would that be a bad thing?'

She had blushed and hadn't known how to reply and was saved by Merlin who had re-entered the room. Even now she blushed at the memory. It was true she didn't think it was half-bad being married to Morgan, who she felt was her best friend, she ever had, maybe more, but she didn't know whether he felt the same. He was quite popular in the dragon-clan. Being the crown-prince and all. Some of the girls were really refined, beautiful and they had known him for all his life.

She was but a new-comer, an alien. And yet she felt a deep connection between them. The young dragon sighed. Rhiannon had to admit it she had a crush on the black prince. The very same thing she had never wanted to happen.

But right now, was neither time nor place to adore the admittedly hot first prince but to listen to his mother, who was momentarily talking to her.

'We have arranged that you are able to stay in the same semester with your peers and do the theoretical exams in two weeks. You will only have to do the practical courses later on. The dean of your university was very pleased to have a member of our family in his care. He said he would see into your case and talking to his more spirited professors not to give you a hard time.' the dragon-queen told Rhiannon, who could vividly imagine the joy of their enthusiastic dean, who always tried to make his university the best it could be. He had always tried to get people notice and sponsor his little vet-school. Most times he succeeded, but having a student belonging to Merlin Drakes family at his university was a major advantage in getting internships and even research-possibilities for his students and professors. She smiled at the thought.

'I can imagine the dean was quite enthusiastic. By the way who did call him?' she asked smilingly. Merlin, who knew his student and the cause of her question chuckled 'That would have been me, obviously. Your prolonged internship in my personal care did impress him quite a bit and me mentioning to groom you as my assistant and successor did nearly give him a heart-attack. He kept mumbling a student of my vet-school....'

'I can imagine...' Rhiannon laughed. 'When am I able to go there? And how am I to coordinate it with my studies under your care?' she asked with sparkling eyes. 'Only her can ask such a thing...' Morgan mumbled and rubbed his eyes with his palm.

'Don't worry. You will be able to do both. Your new semester starts in three weeks, when you are done with your theoretical exams. Morgan will return to law-school at the same time. He was actually supposed to do an internship in the past few month... he did so at our legal department... which was quite handy as he was able to spend more time with as he would have whilst a regular semester. So, he will be there to help you if the need occurs.' Miriam assured her and smiled.

Morgan smiled and gave her thumbs up and the last bit of fear she didn't even knew was there loosened up. She smiled back.

The next two weeks vanished in a rush. She had virtually no time do anything else outside her schedule. But at the same time a nearly feverish anticipation grew in her heart. She would be going back to vet-school, to the outside- world. Rhiannon felt almost gibberish about it. Being in the mountain was alright. It was her home. The only place that had ever felt like that. But only seeing the same things and people every day was boring, even if one had no time to be bored at all.

Right now, she was wagging her tail like an excited puppy which made the black dragon beside her chuckle in amusement. 'You are quite enthusiastic. Are you always like that, when going to exams?’ Morgan asked in his growling dragon-voice. 'Well usually I am much more tense and far less happy to go there.' She answered smilingly and added 'But today is fine weather and we are going to fly to the city outskirts before taking your limousine to university. I have never been travelling with this much style.'

'I know. But mind you will get used to it pretty soon. As a part of our family, you will always travel in style.' he smiled, enjoying her good mood.

Shortly afterwards Merlin, who had asked them to wait for him appeared at the hangar, how they mockingly called the cave where the dragons landed and started. It even featured a few planes and helicopters.

Merlin smiled and patted her shoulder as he said 'Don't worry you will do fine in your exam. I will now cover you with an invisibility- spell. It is quite easy to learn and once you are back, I will show it to you. I didn't do so before because I doubted your ability to stay put once you were able to leave unseen. But now that you are allowed to go outside it is indeed better for you to be able to do it yourself.' 'Quite easy... my ass...' Morgan mumbled flinching. Merlin only chuckled and drew a complex rune, which lit up. A simmering fog appeared and sank into Morgan's and Rhiannon's scales. 'It worked, didn't it?' she asked nervously. 'Of course. The simmering is the spell. It just neither the casters nor the eyes of the subjected are fooled by the invisibility spell. That's why we are able to talk normally. And now be gone. You don't want to be late. Even though you are able to fly the car is not. And our chauffeur might be good but no miracle-worker.' the wizard shooed them away, whilst smiling.

The flight was fantastic. It was a whole different world to Rhiannon, who couldn't bring herself to stop flying superfluous manoeuvres, which made Morgan laugh and sometimes even join her. The sun was shining and Rhiannon who had only trained flying in combat-training inside the mountain felt like a child in the candy shop. Flying though she never had dreamt of it like people always said in novels was a wondrous feeling. Her heightened senses which allowed her to see every detail of the landscape they were crossing completed the joy. It was quite a distance. That made her wonder.

'How did you get me to the mountain in time?' she asked Morgan, who shot her a shocked glance, seemingly taken aback by her serious question, all of sudden. 'I had given you a little of my blood right at the scene, then I changed into complete transformation and picked the both of you up. At that time, I didn't waste any energy nor time on a nice or careful route. I used the direct line and flew at top-speed, which is about 400km per hour. That's why. I had to decide whether it was riskier for you to fly this fast in your weakened state or if it was your only chance. Luckily your first scales appeared at the scene and took the decision out of my hands. When you began to change this quickly, I knew I had to take you to the mountain at the fastest speed possible since I could not possibly provide enough blood to finalize your transformation. It would have killed you to stop half-way.' he explained dead-serious. Even now more than half a year later his tone carried guilt and worry. 'I couldn't have stand to lose you, any of you.' he mumbled barely audible. A warm feeling rose in her chest.

'Wow that's quite a feat... I know how hard it is to carry something in your claws without squashing it and you did that at top speed with the aerodynamic working against you.' she said to cheer him up and was rewarded by a proud smile. After that she watched him a while. He was a stunning flyer. His wings strongly beat the air, but without any unnecessary movement. Like a well-tuned engine. Efficiency at its best. And sheer beauty at it. It seemed like her merging now had enveloped her understanding of desirable features in men, too. Right now, she was happy not to be able to visibly blush at the moment.

After a while the city appeared in the distance and both dragons initiated a slow descent towards their destined meeting-point. They landed elegantly at a well-kept lawn belonging to a house in the possession of the dragon-clan. Miriam had told her they had solely bought the old cottage with is big plot as a kind of private airport for their clan. They renovated the old house all the same and now it served as a kind of city mansion. It was indeed beautiful. The clan had restored the old facade which was now overgrown with climbing roses only leaving small parts of the whitewashed front uncovered. The light-blue door and window-shutters completed the postcard imagine.

They changed into their human-form and entered a homely kitchen were their chauffeur a lesser dragon awaited them drinking coffee and reading a newspaper. They joined him for a while eating scones and chatting, because they had arrived early.

The roads were empty as they finally set off and they reached the campus in no-time. Morgan and Rodger, the chauffeur, let her off right in front of the building where the exam took place and promised to be awaiting her later.

Her fellow students shot her curious glances seeing her exit such an expensive limousine. She just smiled and looked for her friends, who were standing in the far corner, as usual. A light tinge of nervousness struck as she walked towards them. Rhiannon didn't really spend much effort in staying in touch with them and they were actually the first humans she talked to since her transformation. In person that is. Via Skype and such didn't count. Would she be able to hide in plain sight? This question did bother her more than the upcoming exam. She smiled and sighed.

'Hello. Long-time no see.’ she said in a self-confident tone she didn't know she had at the moment.

'That's more than true. But I am happy you are back. It was not half as funny without you. Am I right?' Mara their unofficial second leader, if Rhia was not around, broke the ice and set the course for the group of girls, who were obviously relieved by the turn of events. 'Of course, much less civil-unrest against the professors. Mara couldn't do it all alone.' Laura chortled her French accent charming as ever. Megan snorted and said 'You didn't contribute much to the resistance that's for sure. Little miss très bien Monsieur le professeur.'They laughed.

The conversation spun over the next thirty minutes before they were admitted to enter the exams room. They happily chattered about what had happened in the time they hadn't seen each other. Most of the time the three other girls told her anecdotes and informed her of the latest gossip. They didn't ask her a lot of questions as if they felt she was not comfortable talking about it. She told them her cover-story of her being Merlin’s apprentice and designated successor. That made them envious at first but when she told them about his antics and his academical basic requirements as he called the language, historical and political studies as well as his obsession with chess, they seemed to be happy not being in her place. Fame and chances were nice but a personal life was more important to them.

She had also told them about her friendship with Morgan and his younger brother Mero as well as her new living arrangements. Obviously leaving the most outlandish details out. Rhiannon was happy Miriam had briefed her about what to say, to do and what not. At first it had felt superfluous but now she was actually happy to have some guidance.

The exam itself was fairly easy. Her dragon-mind was much more analytical than her human-mind had been, that shortened the time it took her to process the questions massively. In the end she was tired all the same since the fear to somehow blow her cover never really left her. And even though she was happy to have met her friends again, she was happy when she entered the clan's car and didn't have to hide any longer.