“Sarah! We’re going to be in big trouble!” Tara’s brow furrowed and Serryah continued to play dumb, delicately trying to loose the last bit of turbine fan from her back claw without drawing any further ire from the flightless one.

“I know you can’t help it, but you just have to be more careful. If they figure out what’s been happening to the turbines they’ll take you away from me!” And after a brief pause, the tears came. Nothing overly dramatic, Serryah noticed, but they were genuine sobs, the sobs of someone who truly cares. She could have been found be someone worse, Serryah realized, a little bit of luck goes a long way. And as last dragon on earth, Serryah had had more than her fair share of luck. She lowered her scaley head towards Tara, a token act of remorse. The waterworks came to a slow stop as Tara stroked the head gently.

“There, there. I know you didn’t mean it. They have enough of those stupid turbines anyway, they won’t miss a couple of them. I bet they just made us carry all of them up there because it made them feel important.” Right on cue the sirens from the village began to wail. Serryah, who had just about enough of all this emotion, gripped the back of Tara’s tunic in her mouth and flung the flightless one on her back. Before the first shriek of protest Serryah was winging down the back side of the hill into the misty valley below.

After all of existence flying never got old for Serryah. Perhaps that’s why she was the one survivor, she never hesitated to take to the sky, where she knew no one could catch her Serryah banked sharply to follow the river and felt the weight shift on her back. She had forgot all about Tara, but quickly adjusted her turn to keep her Finder from falling off. Once a dragon is found its soul is bound to the finder, only when Tara chooses to release her will Serryah’s spirit be truly her own.

After an hour she landed on the bank of the great river that had been whittling the valley since before Serryah arrived and let Tara slide off. Serryah had wanted to be found. She knew the village, which is to say all mankind, needed her, and she was lonely. She had played along at first, but now it was time to get some things straight.

“Sar …” But Tara stopped as quick as she started. There was a voice in here head insistent yet beautiful.

“My name is Serryah,” the voice said, “and we have much to talk about.”