We reached the backyard to find that Sterling had already shifted into his unicorn form.  I’d had an idea of what unicorns would look like, of course, but seeing it was still quite different.  Equine-like, with cloven hooves and a long horn, but his mane and tail were also quite long.  His coat seemed to almost glow like moonlight and every movement was so graceful it took my breath away.

I tried to describe him for Elyse, and Jace tried to help, too, but my takeaway from the entire thing was that I couldn’t understand how anyone would want to hurt a creature this beautiful and ethereal.

Anyone who killed unicorns had to be devoid of any feelings.

Sterling pranced over to me and started nudging me gently with the tip of his horn.

“He wants you to shift,” Gwen informed me, which I’d kind of already guessed.  “He also says it’s okay for Elyse to touch him if she wants.”

Elyse did want – her fingers were part of the way she viewed the world, and while she couldn’t see the colors or the way he moved, she could feel the softness of his coat and let his silky long mane run through her fingers.

Might as well get my own shift over with.  I glanced around, calculating, then turned to Percy.  “Is there anywhere in the yard that’s a little clearer?”  There were a lot of trees here and I couldn’t be certain I wouldn’t knock a few of them over.

Percy nodded and pointed off towards the northwest.  “There’s a fairly large clearing about a quarter mile that way.”

Elyse made a face.  “Trekking through woods shall be lovely.  I don’t suppose you have a path?”

“We don’t, unfortunately,” Percy started to say, when Sterling stomped his hoof.

Gwen seemed surprised at whatever he was telling her.  “You’re sure?”  When she got an affirmative response, she looked at us, her surprise still evident.  “Sterling says she can ride him, if she thinks she can hold on.  We’re fairly smooth on our feet so it shouldn’t be an issue.”

Elyse was even more excited about this, which I couldn’t blame her for – how many people got the opportunity to ride a unicorn?  Probably precious few, because from what I remembered learning about unicorns, they didn’t normally like to let people ride.  Sterling was definitely being kind to Elyse here and giving her something she would never forget.

When we got to the clearing, instead of immediately getting off, Elyse leaned forward and hugged Sterling’s neck, murmuring something to him, then slid off, Jace quickly reaching out to steady her.

Sterling shifted back in one smooth motion, his eyes sparkling.  “Really?  That would be cool!”

Apparently, she had offered to show him her shifted form, which was almost as unusual as someone getting to ride a unicorn.

It wasn’t that gryphons didn’t like to shift.  They did, but not Elyse.  She told me that whenever she shifted into her gryphon form, she had an almost overwhelming urge to fly, but if she gave into it, she’d be paralyzed by fear immediately.  It wasn’t just fear of being seen, but fear of what to do then.  She couldn’t see around her to know which direction she was going or how close she was to objects and while she could make her way around with use of a cane or one of us while on the ground, all of that was gone when in the sky.  She’d become almost scared of her gryphon form as a result, knowing it would result in an urge to fly that she didn’t want to give in to.

So for her to volunteer to do it to repay Sterling was probably a bigger deal that he realized, but his enthusiasm was still clear enough I knew Elyse could feel it.

Sterling stroked her feathered head gently after she shifted, Milo and Jace coming over as well.  Jace started running his fingers lightly over her wing feathers in what I knew was a grooming method Elyse had taught us.  Gryphons usually groomed family members as part of showing affection, so on the rare occasions Elyse did shift to gryphon form, this was a way for us to help her feel more comfortable and loved.

Since everyone was distracted by Elyse, I thought this might be the ideal time for me to shift as well.  It was kind of uncomfortable to have everyone staring at me, waiting expectantly, so at least for the moment I could close my eyes and reach for my dragon form without having to worry about all the eyes watching and waiting.

Regular shifters basically flipped a switch between their human and shifted forms.  Those of us who weren’t considered shifters but did have a second form – like unicorns, gryphons, dragons, phoenix, and even oceanids, for instance – tended to shift a little differently.  Sterling, when he shifted, seemed to shimmer into or out of his unicorn form from one end to the other.  Elyse literally started sprouting feathers and her hair disappeared, her body changing as well into half lion, half eagle with wings that grow into being in the process, which generally took less than a minute, thankfully.  Dragons, on the other hand, well…our shifted form was significantly larger than our human form, meaning that when we shift, it was like we expanded into ourselves, as it were.

When I shifted, essentially a cloud would billow out from me, thick enough to obscure all vision.  It was a magic cloud, basically giving the magic and energy I needed to find and rebuild my body.  There was more conscious thought put into a dragon’s shift than most supernaturals’ shifts, as in, if I wasn’t focused, I either wouldn’t complete my shift or might end up partially shifted, which could be…painful.  And awkward.

For a moment, I focused solely on dragon, solely on the magic and the power that was my other side.  Then I opened my fire orange eyes, unfurled my wings, and tossed my head back to breathe a burst of fire into the air.  Not to show off, actually – it was almost obligatory, as a way to spark the fire inside my lungs and bring the dragon form fully to life.

“Whoa, Dad!”  Jace breathed.  “That’s awesome!”

In my much larger form, I surveyed them, holding still as Elyse immediately started running her fingers across my scaled shoulder and foreleg.

My dragon form was approximately 14 feet tall at my back, with my head reaching about the same height.  I was probably about 28 feet from my nose to the back of my body, but my tail was as long as the rest of me.  My wings were as long as my head and body together, when extended, but currently were folded up.  Elyse could walk right under them without even brushing her hair against the bottom of my wings.

To my surprise, Milo decided to actually climb on top of me and run his hands over said wings while trying to avoid stepping on my spines.

“Can you at least take off your shoes?”  I asked him, using magic to communicate in dragon form.  “That feels weird.”

“Oh, sure!”  He gingerly balanced while removing his shoes and socks, then tossed them off to the side.  I made a mental note to make sure we retrieved them later so he didn’t have to walk back barefooted.

Sterling joined my own kids with their hands-on exploration, asking me questions as he went.

“So you seem pretty armored – that’s not heavy for your wings?  Ooh, these spines are sharp.  Do you use the ones on the tip of your tail as a weapon?”

“In theory,” I responded.  “Dragons use magic in combat as well as teeth and jaws,” our jaws could rip apart metal and stone, “claws, and our tails.  Some dragons can actually shoot spines at opponents.  In reality, we rarely engage in combat, and almost never in dragon form.  A few hundred years ago, maybe, but these days, it’d be hard to get away with.”

Sterling stepped back a bit and surveyed me critically.  “I’d think most people wouldn’t want to face a dragon in combat – like this at least.  Even with magic, it seems like you’d be a serious opponent.”

“Dragons were considered much like today’s tanks for military,” I agreed.  “They’re your heavy artillery, so to speak.  We’re not invulnerable, but you are right – even in times when supernatural wars were more open, people didn’t like to engage someone who had a known dragon ally.  It meant you’d have to bring even more resources to the fight if you intended to win.”

“But most dragons don’t go around starting fights, right?”  Gwen drew closer, her eyes almost as curious as her son’s.

“No,” I agreed.  “We tend to be more territorial.  As long as you don’t bother our territory, we won’t bother you.  Deliberately invading a dragon’s territory is like inviting a war.”

Jace straightened up, a smile playing on his face.  “Yeah, you said something about having fairy hearth magic to help hide the yard here?  Dad’s version of hearth magic is a lot more aggressive.  If anyone tries to break in, they’re not going to walk away without at least a broken bone or two or some other serious injury.”

Sterling whistled in appreciation.  “Adair showed me what their house does when someone tries to attack it, but I can imagine dragon magic would be less, um, friendly?”

I blinked.  “Adair…Woodson?”  How did he happen to know one of the most powerful fairies in the world?  Talk about someone who was capable of handling a dragon on his own, even in full dragon form – Adair was one of the few who could.

“Yeah, yeah!”  Sterling beamed at me.  “He’s Riven’s father-in-law!  So kind of family now, I guess?”

I took a moment to process that.  “So the fairy helping research techno vampires is a future son-in-law to Adair Woodson?”

Sterling grabbed the tip of my wing to pull it down to his eye level.  “Sure, if he and Honey get married.  They’re dating, they’ve been together about a year now, I think?  Give or take.  Honey’s the middle child, Ren’s the youngest – the one married to my cousin – and Sorrel’s the oldest, he’s the one who had a techno vampire friend.”

That actually made me feel a lot more relieved about trusting Kade with helping Milo.  Fairies like Adair Woodson wouldn’t trust just anyone.

While I was distracted with this thought, I didn’t notice that Gwen had drifted closer and now had reached out to touch my wing with her son.  Her fingers were softer, gentler than Sterling’s and even just that small touch sent a spark through my veins directly to my heart.

“Do you fly much in this form?”  Percy asked, thankfully distracting me from my now-fast-thumping heart.

“No, not really – it’s not exactly easy to hide.”

Sterling paused and looked at Jace thoughtfully.  “Witches can make invisibility potions, right?  Would that work on Tony’s dragon form?  Would you have to make it stronger or something?  And what if Elyse took one, too?  Then she’d have someone to fly with.”

I hadn’t thought about trying to take Elyse flying myself due to the, err, difficulties of hiding a dragon in the sky, but the idea kind of intrigued me.  Maybe there was a way to help her fulfill her urge to fly without leaving her stranded alone.

“We can,” Jace said slowly, “but I don’t do much with witch magic usually and I don’t have the kind of ingredients that would be needed.”

“Fairies grow the stuff you’d need, right?  We can ask Ren,” Sterling volunteered.  “I’m sure he could get you some!  I mean, if you wanted to do that.”

“We actually have a couple fairies back in Port Fylin, so that’s not an issue.”  Jace was quiet for a bit, then looked up at me.  “Is that something you’d want?”

Sweet Jace, willing to bring out his magic to help Gwen, and now to offer me something that wasn’t necessary, just a potential convenience.

Very gently, I nuzzled him with the end of my nose.  “Jace, I would never ask you to do something you’re not comfortable with.  I am fine as I am – I haven’t flown in decades, it’s not that big of a deal.”

He rubbed my face in response, automatically, but I could see the idea was still troubling him.  Maybe he actually wanted to use his magic to help his family, but wasn’t sure how he felt about it?  This might be something to talk over with him later, when we were alone.  If he wanted to, I would be happy for the opportunity to fly with Elyse, but only if he wanted to.