The dragon sat on a rod looked at the storm clouds. It was a bck dragon and Saira was captivated by the sight of it. Her little brother Fiete ran after her in a bad mood. He was still young. Just sixteen. And she had to take care of him again. They both had e scales in addition to white scales ahers. A rarity among white dragons. Fiete had never liked his e feathers and scales, but Saira liked to be special.

  Her brother snorted. He was annoyed. It was raining and he didn't like it when his feathers got wet. Fiete sent her pictures of their warm, dry cave. He wao go home.

  Then go!, she urged him. The nguage ons was an iing nguage. For every word, they had a picture. They used images and memories to unicate. And sounds. Hissing, humming, and growling. For the ears of the people, only these could be heard. They didn't see the beautiful pictures. Their heads were closed off from the dragons. Even for their names, dragons had pictures.

  Saira! Please! It's st!, pleaded Fiete.

  I don't mind. Go ahead.

  Saira looked at the bck dragon. Their eyes met.

  Frightened, she woke up. Her little son, Josef, slept under her wing. It had been three years since she had to leave her homend. What was Fiete doing now? He was now een. Or already twenty? How quickly time passed.

  Her so soundly. He knew nothing but the marshnd. Joseph had never seen the wilderness. He did not know his father. Yadoo. The bck dragon did not know that he was a father. He did not know that Joseph existed. He didn't know she had to leave.

  It had been a brief romance. Short and stormy, like the thuorm in which she had seen him for the first time. He had quered her heart. They had been together for three days. They had shared the nights with each other. But then oeful night, another dragon had seen her and ruined her happiness. The m, her family could smell it. She regnant. And everyone learhat it was a bck dragon. They chased her away.

  A wonderful night had been enough. It was enough for a destroyed life and a new life.

  Saira did nret it. She loved Joseph. He was her little miracle. But with each passing day, she felt weaker. She knew her days were numbered. Just like child's days. He had ied the disease that would tear her away from him. Soon. She could feel it. She wouldn't see him grow up. How long did she have left? A few years?

  In those years, she would give him everything.

  EVERYTHING!

  She had only one wish. She wished there was someo there waiting for Josef. That there was someone who loved her child. Loved him as she did. Unditional. Infinite.

  Would this wish be granted?

  How was her brother?

  And Jadoo? Had he traveled on? He was a wanderer. He ayed long in one pce. Their meeting had been a ce. A wonderful, intense ce. When she was chased away, he was long gone.

  He knew nothing about Josef. He probably didn't care either. Bck dragons were hermits. The females raised the children alone. Foreclosed. For Josef, growing up in solitude robably the best.

  She looked at her child's dark scales. They were as bck as his father's. But the wings? White feathers. And also some e. He erfect.

  A quiet, dear child. But also an angry child.

  Without a doubt, the child of a bck dragon.

  sasi