See the full-sized image to be able to see Cari. They stayed near the huts and had friends and family visit. Shay’s brother and his family came often. Her other family came too. Mishtali’s family had been smaller. As far back as he could trace his line, his ancestors had been only children. There were a few cousins from their mates who also came. Most of his childhood friends had been elves, and they were no longer around, but friends he’d made with Shay were and they also came. Nim got the biggest surprise. His uncle had taken a mate before he died, and she had been pregnant with his baby. His cousin had passed away, but his three children came to visit. Tercala watched it all with a quiet curiosity. For most of his life, he hadn’t known anything about his family. He’d been told they wanted nothing to do with him and would kill him for being a crossbreed. That turned out to be a lie at least on his dad’s side. But he worried how these people might react to his accent and coloring. The others pointed out there were several different accents of the group. His dad and Shay had Tricot accents. Thailyn used a Menthanlan one, but since coming back, he occasionally slipped into the Tricon accent. Jaidu had a Yarba accent. Andy and Jo had earth accents. They called it Midwest, but he didn’t know what that meant. Pt’this’s accent was Baj-tisk and Pisha’s was Erulian. Most of the rest had Menthanlan accents, except Nim. He also had in Ertonian accent, for similar reasons. But Nim wasn’t a crossbreed. And he wasn’t a white wyrm. Tercala watched the kids playing in the ocean. Thailyn and Mishtali were supervising them. Pt’this had made himself scarce. He was terrified of water and couldn’t handle seeing his children playing in it. Tercala wasn’t afraid of it but he didn’t know how to swim. “Come on in, Uncle Wyrm,” Cari called out. Mishtali growled. “His name is Tercala.” “I know, but he likes it. Maybe if we make him happy, he’ll join us,” Cari reasoned. Tercala smiled at her consideration. He was already barefoot. He stood and pulled off his shirt. “He’s coming,” Bremul cried. “Remember, hold your breath and keep your mouth closed,” his dad reminded him. He nodded and stepped into the water. As he did, he heard someone land behind him. He turned. The council was there. “Everyone out of the water,” Thailyn called. “But Uncle Ter just got in,” Jix protested. Thailyn growled and Ruzi picked the boy up. Tercala helped herd the rest to the shore. “Maybe we can swim later,” he suggested. Thailyn tossed him his shirt as he took the children into change. “You like swimming, Tercala?” Fiormi asked. Tercala shrugged. “I don’t know how. The kids love it.” “Your dad did too if I heard correctly,” Trellen said. “I still do,” Mishtali admitted. “But I don’t do it as much as I used to.” Trellen chuckled. “I should hope not. Your grandfather said he could barely get you out of the water to take care of your responsibilities.” “That was my dad, at least according to my grandfather. He wouldn’t let me near the water until I was done. But I did spend a lot of my free time swimming.” “I hope to learn someday,” Tercala admitted. “But I’ll have to wait until I get caught up on things I missed not growing up with him.” “Why didn’t you raise him?” Fiomi asked. Mishtali growled. “I was a prisoner. They kept him for me. I didn’t even know about him.” “Dad’s done the best he could, given the circumstances. From the moment he even suspected I was his son, he’s been there for me,” Tercala claimed. “So who did raise you?” “One of my captors,” Mishtali said. “And you trust him?” Shilish asked. Tercala was glad he couldn’t growl, or he would have. That would’ve been a bad idea. “He was no better than a prisoner himself. He’s mortal. You don’t think they’d treat him as one of their own, do you?” “So why did they even keep him alive?” Fiormi asked. “They know how important family is to us. They probably planned to use him as leverage to control me.” Ann joined them, followed by Cari. “Dinner will be soon. Are we having guests?” “No, thank you,” Trellen said. “You and your uncle never take true form,” Shilish observed. Ann shrugged. “We are in true form. We’re half human. This form is no less true than our other.” “You don’t take your other form.” “We grew up in these forms. We’re used to them.” “Do you have a problem with being a dragon?” “I’m not looking forward to shedding,” Ann admitted. “You’ve never shed?” “She will eventually,” Thailyn said as he joined them. “She’s half human and as she said, she spends most of her time in human form. She has a few more years. We’ll make sure she’s okay.” “And Tercala?” “I’m watching him. He’s my brother.” “We think you’re hiding something,” Shilish claimed. “Somin read them both. You saw their magic. What else is there?” “That’s what we want to know. Why won’t they change?” “Mommy changes,” Cari insisted. “She’s a pretty dragon. I’m going to look like her.” “Cari, go inside,” Ann said. “But…” “Child, do as your mother says,” Fiormi insisted. “But the boys are getting dressed.” Ann sighed. “Fine.” “Ann, go ahead and change for them,” Mishtali instructed. Ann shrugged and stepped away to give herself room. She took dragon form. There were the usual gasps in surprise, but there were also growls. Reflexively, Ann put up a shield. Some of the council took true form. So did Mishtali and Tercala. Upon seeing a second white dragon, the rest of the council changed. There were more growls. “Stop!” Cari yelled at the top of her lungs. Everybody froze in surprise. “Mommy’s a nice dragon. She and Uncle Tercala help people. They stopped the bad immortals and the trolls. She saved Grandma Mishtali and Grandma Shay and Grandma Pisha and Grandpa Emeton. She’s good. You can’t hurt her.” The council glanced at each other. Finally, Fiomi took alternate form. She knelt by the girl. “We aren’t planning on hurting her. She just surprised us. White dragons aren’t supposed to exist. A long time ago, there were a lot of problems because of them.” “She won’t cause problems. She’s good. You can’t hurt her. She’s strong.” “Don’t worry. We just want to talk with her.” “Without hurting her?” “Cari, sweetie, no one’s going to do that. Go check on the boys,” Mishtali instructed. “We’ll talk to them.” “We’re just concerned that if the Ertonians learn that white dragons are possible, they’ll come back,” Shilish explained. “They know. The troublemakers have all been killed. Their ruling senate has declared all dragons untouchable to 1/32 dragon. There are two Ertonians in Menthanla keeping an eye on things.” “And you trust them?” Mishtali nodded. “I already told you that. It’s Chapado and her sister, Morina.” “Chapado? The same Chapado that started it all?” “Yes. I told you I spoke to her. She’s worked to prevent that from happening ever again. She spent two hundred years teaching Nim about the immortals to help protect the Baj-tisk. She gave up seeing her own granddaughter so she could keep an eye on Cramda. “Morina did similar, keeping an eye on Nor’than and her daughter who seem to be the biggest threat at the time.” They turned to Ann. “We apologize if we made you uncomfortable. That was not our intent.” Ann nodded. “I apologize if I overreacted.”