Thestian’s sense of direction was much better than Anya expected. The young girl had seen the dragon in the forest and subconsciously assumed that it must have been lost there as well, just not as lost as she was. She realized that she had clearly been mistaken as the dragon navigated the forest to return the girl.

As they got nearer, they realized that the second round of the tournament had already begun. A battle between two of the competitors who had passed the first round had clearly been underway for a decent while now.

Anya returned to her seat beside the queen, who immediately stood up and examined her.

“Where have you been?” she whispered. “Rau informed me that she had lost you and I was so very worried! You are such a small child, and there are so many people out there. This may be my city and kingdom, and those who may dare to harm you in my domain may be few, but you must understand that they still exist! I had quite a mind to halt the tournament until you returned, but I did not wish to draw attention to the fact that you were missing!”

Queen Kiridian was patting the girl all over to make sure that she had not been harmed. She lifted back the hair over Anya’s forehead and froze. Her expression indicated that she wanted an explanation.

Anya pried an arm free and wrote in the air. “I am sorry. I got lost, but I did not realize it until there was no one else around to ask for directions. I found this dragon and formed a contract with it in exchange for protection and help returning.”

Kiridian’s eyes widened in surprise. “This dragon formed a contract with you for such a reason? Anya, my dear, I do not wish to upset you, but dragons are very prideful beings. They do not form contracts with people for such trivial purposes. Did the dragon know of your identity as my disciple?”

Anya nodded, confused.

The queen sighed and frowned. “This dragon is most likely taking advantage of your status. Dragons and fairies… We have a particular rivalry. Dragons believe themselves to be the origin of magic, but that is incorrect, because the origin of magic lies within us fairies. Dragons who require a contract to obtain a humanoid form are often very pure-blooded, which means that they are even more prideful and withdrawn than the average dragon. There must be a reason beyond helping you.”

“Thestian said that it was interested in me because I used to be human. I think that sounds like enough of a reason. Am I wrong?” Anya’s eyes widened in confusion.

Kiridian stared at those eyes for a while, at the eyes that had become green and catlike from her own influence, and found that the girl’s eyes had truly become elven, sharp and clever. She was still young and uninformed, but even that would change in time. Elves had a very long time to change. The small child who did not know anything about their world had disappeared, and the queen felt glad that the girl was learning, but she was afraid that the girl would lose the purity that had allowed her to see and befriend the fairies. She would still be able to see the fairies now, even if she did lose that innocence, but the queen wanted her to enjoy these precious moments that the girl would experience before the harsh nature of reality shredded this delicate peace apart.

“You may be right. There may be some tension between fairies and dragons, but dragons have been known to express interest in rare beings. It is not a particularly well-known fact among the public, but the first elves were also bound to dragons in contract. The humans who succeeded in murdering our king so many millennia ago also received help from the dragons, according to some versions of the story. It occurred so long ago that it is difficult to be certain of every detail.” Queen Kiridian shook her head and chuckled softly. “You are young, Anya, and no one is infallible. You must understand that in no way do I intend to doubt your judgement. If you say this dragon is trustworthy, then I will not treat it any differently from you. Nothing would change, even if I were to object to this. After all, you have already formed the contract with it. That scale on your forehead is enough evidence of that.”

“Scale on my forehead?” Anya lifted her hand to touch the spot between her eyebrows and felt a hard, smooth scale the size of her thumb. She looked at the dragon on her shoulder, hoping for an explanation, but Thestian just turned away with a dismissive huff.

“You had not realized? My dear, a dragon enters into a contract with another race by exchanging the flesh. Thestian was able to obtain a humanoid form because it uses part of your flesh to create human skin,” the queen gently explained, although it sounded somewhat horrific to Anya. “The dragon always places its scale upon the forehead of its contractor.”

The girl kept absent-mindedly rubbing her thumb over the scale. She could hardly help herself, since it was so smooth. The motion was relaxing to her, and she had been through quite a bit today.

The fight in the tournament ended, and the final battle in the second round of the tournament was set to begin. Anya had not realized that so much of the tournament had already passed. She had believed that she only missed one fight, not two and a half.

Anya still wanted to watch, but the excitement of the day had begun to catch up with her. She rubbed her eyes and yawned.

Seeing this, the queen went to call for a servant… and stopped. “Oh. Anya, where is Rau?”

The girl’s eyes widened. She had not even thought about Rau since she encountered Thestian! A mixture of guilt and embarrassment flooded her emotions as the girl shook her head to indicate that she did not know.

Meanwhile, Rau was waiting near the bathrooms. Her mouth was pursed, and she was tapping her foot impatiently. How much time could someone possibly take to use the bathroom?