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I told Teras that I would make my way down the mountain to give him some privacy while he mourned the loss of his mate and cremated her. He hesitated a moment, unsure, then nodded and turned to his grim task. I sighed and started down the mountain, brooding over all that had gone on.

I honestly couldn’t deny it any longer: there really was no malice in him that I could see. If anything he was naive and innocent in demeanor and, despite my attitude towards him, concerned for my well being.

It left me more confused than ever and in a theological crisis of sorts. Everything I had been trained to do as far as dragons and other such creatures of darkness was suddenly called into question, at least for this dragon. There had never been a single mention anywhere in any of the scriptures that I was aware of or any of the teachings that a dragon could be in anything other than hell spawn.

I simply couldn’t see Teras in that category. There were no signs, none at all.

It suddenly occurred to me to use one of the enchantments to look for traces of evil. It was a routine enough enchantment and one taught early. I very seldom used it, being mostly in the healing arts and rarely encountering anything that would be shadow touched. I wondered at why I hadn’t done it before.

Probably, a small part of me said, because I was afraid of what the results would be.

I mulled the thought over. It almost seemed a violation somehow, after having spent several days with him and not getting the slightest indication of anything evil. I sat down on a rock and sighed deeply. I would wait, I decided. If he gave any hint of trouble then I would look.

Curiously, I felt better having made that decision.

I pulled a small codex of scripture out of my pack and started to read it out of habit. As I turned though the pages I hesitated, thinking again about all I had seen and done in the last few days. I closed the codex and held it at arms length, staring at it for some time.

Was this a guide to truth as I had long believed or flawed in some way? Certainly whole sections of it rang true in my mind and in my heart: caring for others, looking out for others interests, healing with no cost, protecting the innocent, and so on. Those things were surely the truth.

But the parts regarding things shadow touched and beasts of darkness? Surely they still applied to other shadow touched, people who had practiced the dark arts, wights, demons, boggles, and other such creatures. And yet it included dragons in that list and Teras just didn’t fit, not at all.

Perhaps he was unique in some way.

Some creatures could be corrupted, were not born shadow touched but became that way though their own actions or by the aegis of some outside force. Some could be freed, others were too far gone. Dragons, according to scripture, were hatched shadow touched and could not be freed from it; it was as much a part of them as their scales and blood.

But how to explain Teras? Had something happened to him after he hatched, or even before that removed the taint? Or were the scriptures somehow mistaken in this? But if they were, why would it be written that way? Surely there had to be reason for it, there must have been enough evidence to prove that dragons were shadow touched, were hell spawn, and had to be treated as such.

I resolved to research this after helping Teras find his lost child. I would have to travel to one of the main convents to do so, to access their library, but the trip would surely be worth it if it gave me peace.

That still small voice inside me wondered how much peace I would find if I challenged what the scriptures said. Doing so was a dangerous proposition at best. One didn’t simply up and call things into question, especially not a simple sister such as myself. Such questions were left to the theologians sitting in their white towers, pondering the scriptures and, some said, talking to the maker himself about them.

Such was beyond the likes of me and yet I felt compelled to do so, as much as I had felt compelled to take up the healing arts.

I put the codex away, feeling troubled, or more troubled perhaps. This whole adventure had turned my peaceful life of solid answers into a bothersome question filed existence that made me as uncomfortable as a frog in the hot sun.

I stood up and stretched myself out, then started to go through some forms with my staff. The practice would do me good and focusing on it would, hopefully, keep all these questions and thoughts at bay.

I was starting another form when I looked up to see Teras sitting there looking at me curiously. I yelled and stepped back, startled by the dragons presence and he took several steps back, ducking his head.

“I am sorry. Did not mean to scare,” he said in a quiet voice.

“It-it’s alright, Teras. I was just too focused on what I was doing,” I said and wiped the sweat from my brow.

He took several steps towards me and sat down, cocking his head to the side. “You fight?”

“Yes, if I have to. I’ve been in a few battles but it’s not really my calling.”

He bobbed his head and fidgeted uncertainly. “You fight dragons?”

I felt a cold stab in my gut. “No. No, Teras, I’ve never fought a dragon,” I said quietly.

He seemed to settle at the news. “Good. I would not like it if you tried to hurt me. You have been kind.”

I sighed. “I suppose I have.”

He pointed his nose towards my pack. “Your book says to hurt me.”

“It does,” I said quietly and it was my turn to fidget uncomfortably.

He cocked his head the other way. “Why do you disobey? Sisters always obey book. They chant, read, sing, do everything by book.”

I took in a deep breath and let it out slowly. “I’m not sure, Teras. I just…you needed help and I felt like I should help you. I’m not sure why.”

He considered me for a moment and bobbed his head again. “Thank you. I like that you are not doing what book said and hurting me. You are a good person.”

I sighed again. “There’s plenty of people that’d disagree with you there, Teras.” I looked back towards his cave. “You’re…finished?”

He almost seemed to deflate before me. “Yes,” he mumbled. “She is with the wind and beyond.”

“I…I’m sorry, Teras.”

He looked up at me. “Thank you,” he said quietly.

“Well, we should probably figure out where to start looking for your son,” I said, trying to shift the subject away.

His ears perked. “Yes. I find tracks, footprints and wheels going riseward.”

“Riseward?” I asked, not familiar with the word.

He gestured with a wingtip towards the east. “Yes, where the sun comes up.”

“Oh, to the east,” I said. “Well, show me the tracks then and we can start out from there.”

He nodded and headed towards his cave using that hopping gate he had adopted with me. I looked around for the pyre as we approached the cave but saw nothing and Teras seemed curiously unaffected by coming back to the place of so many bad memories.

He lead me east of the cave then pointed his nose at the ground. “There. Foot tracks and wheel tracks.”

They were easy to see; whoever had made them took no effort at all to hide their trail. I suppose they didn’t figure anyone would be following them and I hoped they would remain so careless; it would make it far more easy to track them.

I looked out towards the east, my mind running over what towns lay in that direction, trying to figure out where they would be heading but nothing came to me. There were several towns but none of them seemed a likely destination.

I turned to the dragon, “I’m not sure where they would be going but we can follow the trail down. There’s a few large towns that direction along with some villages. I can stop in and see if I find any information that would be useful.”

Teras drew back, looking worried, and I held up a hand. “I’ll be careful and discreet. I’m not going to tell anyone where you are or what we are doing.”

He swallowed nervously then nodded. “Okay. You are good person. I trust.”

I watched him for awhile. “Well, lets get going. We still have a lot of daylight left.”

I started down the track with the dragon hop skipping behind me.

We made our way down the mountain and I occasionally stopped to check the tracks, not that a blind person could have missed them. I estimated at least six people and some sort of wheeled cart pulled by a fairly good sized horse. Whoever did this had it planned out at least somewhat well.

I crouched down to examine some prints when I heard Teras come up behind me and peer over my shoulder. I nearly swung at him but managed to control my reaction and looked up at the dragon. “Yes?”

He took a few steps back and dropped his head. “I was just curious.”

I sighed and nodded. “That’s fine, Teras, but you need to be careful coming up behind me like that. You could startle me and I may hit you by accident.”

He bobbed his head then peered down at the prints. “You find tracks?”

I nodded. “They’re not trying to hide them so it would seem they’re not worried about being followed. I’m going to guess they think you’re dead or won’t track them down.”

He bobbed his head again. “But I am alive and I will find my son!”

“I’m sure we will,” I reassured him and he brightened at my words even though I wasn’t so sure of them. Whatever the men that took his son had in mind I doubted that it involved keeping him alive. I whispered a quick prayer that I was wrong then wondered if I should be praying for a dragon at all, child or otherwise.

We stopped at midday to rest and eat. I was able to find some blackberry bushes as well as some white root that I dug out with little trouble. I started a small fire and set out to prepare them to eat, humming to myself with Teras watching the whole time with some interest.

I noticed that he was staying a goodly distance and stretching his neck out as far as he could to try to get a view of what I was doing. I looked over my shoulder at him. “You can come closer, Teras.”

He hesitated. “You said to watch you from away from you; did not want me close.”

“That was before, Teras. It’s okay now.”

He cocked his head “Before?”

I could feel the heat rush to my face. “Before I knew you weren’t shadow touched.”

He hesitated once more, then carefully padded over and peered down. “You heat up water and put things in it?”

“It’s called tea.”

He sniffed at the pot a few times then drew back and looked at me. “It smells good?”

“Well, I think so. Would you like to try some when it’s done?”

He bobbed his head and looked eager. I couldn’t help but laugh at him as I finished making my meal and drew the tea pot off it’s hook with the small crook I had purchased for that reason. I poured myself a small cup then looked at Teras.

“We don’t really have a cup for you I’m afraid.”

He cocked his head in a gesture that was become more familiar to me all the time. “Pour some in one of your bowls. I lap it up like river.”

I nodded and fetched the bowl from my pack and poured some tea into it, the dragon watching with wide eyed interest the whole time. I held it out for him and he sniffed it once more, then carefully drew some into his mouth with his tongue. He cocked is head again, then nodded.

“It tastes good!”

“Well, I suppose I’ll have to buy more in the next town and another bowl for you to drink out of, then.”

He looked at me, almost startled, then smiled hesitantly, his ears slowly coming up. “You will buy more for me? But I have no treasure and already owe you much.”

I shook my head. “That’s not the way I do things, Teras. I’m giving you the tea because I want to, not because I wan payment.”

He watched me for a moment then nodded carefully. “You are kind.”

I sighed and looked up at the sky. “I’m glad you think so, Teras. I really am.”