Out amongst the thundering clouds another shape could be seen, had anyone been there to see it. Moving almost unseen, it was periodically illuminated by flashes of lightning that glinted off of a shiny, rain-slick surface. The dark bulk of the thing flew heavily through the rain on huge wings, settling to the ground amongst a grove of scrubby trees that did little to conceal its gigantic form. An observer would have noted how it turned its head towards the dim lights of a small town that could be seen not far off. Lightning flashed once, brilliantly, showing the scene in minute detail. Then a moment of pure blackness came and when it was banished by a second titanic flare, there was no sign of the creature. That hypothetical observer might have noticed, had he looked closely, a smaller form that now stood in the grove, but no one was there to see.

The village inn was small, consisting of a moderate public room, a small kitchen in the back, a pair of private rooms above, and a small stable. Right now there were no visitors to stay in the private rooms, there seldom were. The innkeeper made most of his money selling cheap wine and cheaper ale to the villagers, and even then, he managed to support his wife only with the extra income from some half-competent black-smithing, as the village had not had a real smith in some years. Tonight there was a fair crowd in the public room, drinking away their cares since the storm prevented any work being done. The villagers were boisterous, many of them having passed the point of intoxication by a fair distance. They talked, laughed, and even sang; creating a sizable racket.

The innkeeper was being kept busy pouring drinks so the first indication he had of anything unusual was when the crowd suddenly went silent. Looking up from the casks at the back of the room he saw what had silenced the others. There was a stranger standing in the doorway. On a night like this, that was oddity enough, but that was not the reason the village men stared. No, the cause behind the stares was the fact that the stranger was quite obviously a woman. She entered the room, slamming the door on the storm behind her, and walked towards where the innkeeper stood. She was tall, taller than all but the tallest of the village men, and blond, her long hair tumbling down to her waist. She was also obviously well-born, being dressed in somewhat bedraggled but obviously rich clothing. Her feet were shod in mud- splattered boots and her long hair was plastered to her head. She also seemed to be in some distress, staggering once as she crossed the room as if suddenly pained. Then with an abrupt shock, the innkeeper noticed the probable cause of her discomfort. She was pregnant!

Her manner imperious, despite her appearance and condition, she asked for a room. The stunned innkeeper stammered out agreement and called his wife from where she was waiting tables. She did not need the situation explained but led the stranger immediately upstairs.

As soon as the two women disappeared up the steps, the talk in the public room abruptly resumed but the main body of the conversation was now centered on the strange woman. A few minuets later, the innkeeper's wife cam down and sent one of the men off to fetch the midwife who arrived with little delay. An hour passed and then two without anything unusual happening and the noise in the public room drowned out anything that might have been heard from upstairs but before the third hour had come and gone the midwife descended and went out into the rain without a word. The smile on her face was enough to tell all that the baby and mother were well. Only a few moments had passed after the door shut behind her before it was again flung open, this time by another stranger. A man stood framed in the door, taller even than the woman had been. He was backlit dramatically by a flash of lightning before entering and shutting the door behind him. Just as obviously noble as the other had been, he too had golden-blond hair and emerald eyes. He appeared to be in a towering rage, the first words that crossed his lips were a shouted demand to be taken to his wife. The innkeeper, seeing no other choice, hesitantly stepped forward and directed the man to the upper room. Imperiously he stalked past the much smaller man and vanished up the stairs. Again conversation resumed.

Upstairs the woman was lying in bed, gently cradling a tiny golden-haired babe. The innkeeper's wife was sitting by her side, admiring the child. Into this tranquil scene burst the man, throwing the door open with a crash. Bearing down on his mate, he cursed her, cursed the innkeeper's wife, even cursed the child. The woman sat undisturbed and the infant looked up at him without either fear or understanding in its eyes. When at last his rage had run out, she spoke, with both sadness and triumph mingled in her voice.

"I know what I have done. Born thus, the child can never have its full birthright yes. But I will not see it used as a pawn by our enemy. Born thus the child has no use to him. We will leave it here to be raised as any common village infant. It is the only way to spare it the treachery that will pursue us."

"Very well. You may be right in this, at least. But I cannot leave our child without some token of what might have been hers." So saying, he removed a heavy gold bracelet in the shape of a dragon devouring its tail from his own arm and placed it on the child's arm. It shrunk until it fit perfectly around that tiny wrist. Then, without a further word he turned and left.

His wife handed the infant to the Innkeeper's wife with a command to care well for the child and find it the best home that could be had in this place. Then she followed her mate out. In the public room, she paused only to deposit a handful of gold coins, enough the buy the inn twice over, in the startled Innkeeper's hands before going back out into the stormy night.

Lightning still flashed and thunder still rumbled over the high desert plateau. The intermittent flashing showed, as in a series of stark black-and-white drawings two human figures vanish into the grove. Then the flashed again glinted off of something that might have been rain-slicked scales as two dark shapes lifted into the whirling clouds on giant wings.

Back at the inn a stunned couple wondered at their double wealth of golden coins and gold-haired child, but the child looked out at the world calmly through hour-old eyes the color of leaves, a golden bracelet the only sign of an unknown potential within.

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