Joseph thought he was going to fall off the dragon each time he flapped his wings or changed direction. Shimmertail wasn't trying to make it a rough ride, not that he cared, but he had no choice. He couldn't simply glide through triple-digit mile per hour winds; he had to fight hard against them. But the wind was not the only thing that made his job difficult; flying during the day, even with a drink of moon dew, still took more effort than at night, when the moon fueled him with energy even faster than he could possibly consume it. The rain wasn't helpful, either; the rain had the opposite effect of moonlight by draining his strength away. In better weather, just a few drops of dew could carry him for an hour, but in this case he hoped a whole bottle would be enough just to reach safety.

Joseph's eyes were shut tight so he wouldn't have to watch the ordeal. All he knew was he had to lay flat on his stomach and cling to the dragon like a fly to flypaper. "Are you sure you've never done this before?" Grey shouted over the fierce winds, "You're a natural!"

"Not funny!" the boy shouted back, "How can you be so calm, anyway?"

"Because Shimmertail's never let me down before!" the brownie confidently declared. But he could still see Joseph needed some encouragement. "Hey, you're doin' great, OK? I can tell the wind is already getting weaker! How ya feelin', Shimmertail?"

"Tired," the dragon rumbled, "but I can keep going!"

"Hey, Joey! Why don't you open your eyes, eh? What's so scary?"

"Wha- are you kidding me?" the boy yelled incredulously. "I'm thousands of feet in the air flying through a hurricane on the back of an angry dragon!"

"And you're scared of that?" Grey asked as if that was no big deal. "It's just wind! You've seen wind before! It's not like Shimmertail's gonna fall!"

"I'm not worried about Shimmertail falling, Grey!"

"Well it's not like you will! I'm right behind you watching you close, and Shimmertail won't let you fall either! Promise!"

"Are you sure about that?"

Shimmertail interjected then, "Don't give me any ideas."

"Shimmertail!" Grey smacked the dragon's hide as hard as he was capable of, though the dragon hardly felt it. "He'd never really do that! Would you?" The question was phrased to be obviously leading toward one correct answer.

The dragon reluctantly admitted to himself that he didn't even want to think about it. He didn't hate humans; he feared them. But even he knew he couldn't kill something just because it scared him. "...No." An unexpected gust forced him to bank, but he leveled out quickly.

"See? Then we're all friends here!" Grey declared even though never believed it. "Joe, let's talk. What do humans do for fun? How do you have little stars and moons inside your house?"

Even though his eyes were shut tight already, Joseph still narrowed his eyebrows in confusion. "What?"

"How do you get little stars in your house? Or does the light come from something else?"

Joseph assumed the brownie was talking about basic house lights. He also knew there was a purpose for this redirection in the conversation, and he appreciated it. So he bit the bait even while knowing it was bait. "It's electricity. Basically, the entire world is made of really, really small pieces called atoms, and atoms are made of materials called protons, neutrons, and electrons. Electrons are special because they have the ability to move between different atoms. Humans have found a way to make electrons move from wherever they are to a certain place through metal wires, specifically to a lightbulb in this case. I don't know how the bulb itself works, but by directing a stream of electrons to the bulb it converts their energy into light. Most other machines work the same way."

"Wow!" Grey exclaimed with an interest so great it almost sounded insincere. Joseph didn't think it was, though. He showed great interest in human items earlier. The boy concluded Grey had never been exposed to such things.

"Also, my name is Joseph, not Joe."

"So? I call Shimmertail 'Shim' all the time."

"I'm sure he's fine with that, but I really don't like it. Can you just stick with Joseph, please?"

Grey shrugged. "Whatever you say. Hey, long as I have your attention, there's one more thing you need to know about flying: landing. When Shimmertail gets close to the ground you should sit up instead of laying flat like before. Those spines are probably a minor inconvenience right now, but the shock of landing will jam them right into your chest, and it'll hurt like heck. Might even bruise a rib if Shimmertail is careless."

"Great!" Joseph thanked, "Anything else?"

"Yeah," Grey continued, "You'll be applying that very soon. We're about to land."

"How soon?"

"Six," was Grey's response. The boy waited for him to elaborate, but he didn't.

"Six what? Minutes? Miles?"

"Four." Grey changed his answer. And then he immediately changed it again. "Three. Two." Joseph only caught on at two and gasped when he did. He quickly sat up to prepare for landing and also finally opened his eyes to confirm what that he was landing in the first place. Indeed he was. "One."

"Wait."

Thud. Shimmertail crash-landed, or at least that's how it felt to Joseph. In reality it was just a casual landing for the dragon, but that didn't matter. On touchdown Joseph lost his balance, and although he flailed his arms a bit to try and stay centered, he tilted out to the right and was claimed by gravity, which forced him to fall backwards from between Shimmertail's shoulders and onto the muddy ground. Lucky for him he wasn't seriously injured by the fall. "Ow!"

"Hey, not bad!" Grey complimented as he slid down the dragon's scaly side as if he had done it a hundred times when in reality it was far more than that. "Wish your eyes were open to enjoy it, but you got the technique down! I should have said something about the balance, though. I guess I assumed you'd figure that out yourself." The brownie held out a paw to help the boy up then.

It was still raining, but not nearly so hard as in the center of the hurricane. Nor was the wind so strong, though it did make his clothes and hair flap a bit. "Where are we?" With the wind less intense, he had need to yell at the top of his lungs.

Grey shrugged. "You tell me. You're the one who knows how to read maps."

Oh, right.

"In here, you two!" Shimmertail then called to the pair. He did so from a cavern in a rock face that was more than spacious enough for the boy and brownie appeared to be a tight squeeze for Shimmertail, leaving standing room only. If he wanted to get out, he'd have to ask the pair who joined him in the cavern to get out of his way first. Joseph noticed that Shimmertail didn't stop warily watching him as he walked closer.

"Well..." he mused, finally able to calm down a bit, "It's... it's been an interesting day." He held his brow with his hand to try and refocus himself. "Grey, and, uh..." He turned to the dragon. "Shimmertail?" The dragon neither affirmed nor corrected the name. "Well, even though I didn't ask for this... Thank you. I'm probably safer here than there. Oh, that reminds me, Grey? The atlas?"

"In the bag." Joseph took a step to retrieve the bag secured to Shimmertail, who tensed at it.

Grey sighed but decided to humor the dragon. "I'll get it." As he dug through the pack he scolded Shimmertail, "You can stop treating the kid like a basilisk any moment now. He's not gonna turn you to stone if you look him in the eye like an equal."

"Must we discuss this now?" he tried to deflect. Grey knew what he meant.

"Would you like me to cast Joseph out so we can have some privacy?" And before Shimmertail could respond, he finished with, "Don't answer that."

"I was going to say, 'no!'" Shimmertail defended indignantly.

"Can we just stop this?" Joseph projected his voice to make sure his interjection would be heard. "Shimmertail, I can't imagine you have a personal grudge against me, so I assume your problem with me is my species. You don't have to tell me what kind of bad dealings you've had with humans, and I definitely won't say you have to like me despite those. Let me reassure you that if I get my way, I'll be home after this storm is gone returning to my life as usual, and even though I have no wish to say anything about you, it wouldn't even matter if I did because nobody would believe me anyway. If your big concern is secrecy about your existence, you don't have to worry about that." He gulped then. "If you're concerned for your physical safety... Well I just don't know why. You could step on me without meaning to, and I can only imagine what you could do if you did mean to. I'm not just as scared of you as you are of me... I'm probably moreso." Joseph felt a cold shiver run up his body then. He attributed it to soaking wet clothes even despite his rain coat. "So - just while we're stuck together - can you please just treat me like the scared and confused kid that I am? Or if you can't do that, just ignore me altogether?"

When Shimmertail opened his mouth wide, Joseph was terrified of the many pointed teeth the move revealed. But he was even more terrified that the dragon may have been about to breathe fire. It turned out that was exactly the case. Joseph cringed and jumped backward and to one side. It turned out he didn't have to, though; the fireball didn't even travel to where he had been standing. Rather, it ignited the ground at his feet. The intentional miss wasn't lost on Joseph, so what could it have been? Some sort of warning? Shimmertail explained, "I saw you shiver... Warm up and dry off." Somehow, the light blue fire was still burning. Joseph couldn't see how; it only landed on dirt, and that dirt clearly wasn't being consumed by the flame. The little act of kindness made Grey grin sweetly. "Humans are the reason we're on this journey in the first place."

"Well, I'm sorry for that. And I mean it. But I neither contribute to that nor have the power to stop it. I just want to go home..." He took a breath then before continuing, "...assuming it's still there to go back to. Grey, the atlas?"

"Comin'!" The cat creature tossed the book like a frisbee, and Joseph caught it effortlessly.

"We went straight west, right?"

Grey replied, "Well, we tried our best to. Winds like that do throw someone off."

Peering outside the cave, Joseph noticed he was surrounded by mountains. "Well I can't say for certain if you can't, but we're somewhere in the Appalachian mountains. Probably in this area." He held the atlas up and traced his finger on it to demonstrate to the brownie. "In which case, I have to compliment you on your flying. Your fast." How was his area, though, he wondered? His smartphone told him he had a signal, so a quick internet search would tell him. He was scared to look, but he had to know. "Here, have this back." He threw the atlas back at Grey. "I'll leave you guys alone. Thanks for the ride out of the disaster zone... and thanks for the fire, Shimmertail."

Grey was confused. "What's that about? Friends look after each other, right?" He scurried back down from the dragon's back then. "You don't have to wait over there all day!" Joseph wasn't responsive, and the brownie was concerned. "Can we at least talk? I wanna learn more about human stuff." Joseph continued to kneel with his back to Grey as the latter lay a paw on the shoulder of the former. Grey didn't notice that Joseph was crying until then, eyes intent on his phone. "What's that machine? What just happened?"

Finally Joseph turned his head a bit just enough that he could make indirect eye contact, and he looked truly pathetic. Why did this boy tug on Grey's heartstrings so much? Perhaps it was all just a stream of bad luck that, apparently, had not yet ended. Well, the brownie didn't need to ask what was wrong to want to comfort the boy, so, without even asking, Grey knelt in front of Joseph to hug him. The boy neither returned it nor protested against it. But after some moments he inhaled sharply enough to startle Grey and answer, "I just checked how bad the storm was in my town." He sniffed. "It was wiped out. Flash floods trapped most everyone inside. Extreme winds knocked over trees and blew debris into homes through windows and weak walls." He had to stop for a breath, but it ended up being many convulsed breaths in quick succession. "A... a whole network of tornados blew through. Hundreds are believed dead, thousands missing - they're probably dead, too." Joseph felt the hug tighten on that. He himself looked back over his shoulder to address Shimmertail. "Good news if you wanted me gone quick: you won't have to take me home. I don't have one."

Shimmertail fell asleep fairly soon after that without trying; the moon dew's effect ran out. This prompted a conversation about why, and Grey explained why Shimmertail had to sleep when the moon wasn't out. From there, Grey taught him a bit more about dragons in general, such as their usually gentle nature and their extended lifespan as well as the truth about dragonfire. "So he's, like... Immortal?"

"Of course not. No one is. Injury and disease can still take anybody. But he's hundreds of years old and still about as young as he's always been."

"Hey, speaking of death -" Joseph segued, "- boy, that sounded dark - anyway, I remember being bitten by a snake on my ankle. And maybe I'm crazy, but the bite should have been right here." He showed Grey the spot on his ankle. "But there's nothing there... What happened? Did you see?"

Grey smiled. Maybe he could use this opportunity to make some peace between the two still conflicting parties among them. "That was Shimmertail. Since dragonfire can heal, he breathed it all over you. And the fire cured the poison and even closed the wound."

Joseph's eyes went wide. "You're kidding. He saved my life?"

Grey nodded affirmatively. "He's not mean or cold-hearted, even if you are a human. He wouldn't be my friend if he was." Perhaps he would leave out that he had to beg and plead to convince the dragon to save Joseph.

Joseph huffed, some cognitive dissonance setting in with this new knowledge. "I don't get it. I thought dragons were myths, and I never even heard of something like a brownie before recently."

"Well, we thought humans were dangerous, Shimmertail especially. And we thought our old home was safe. Sometimes you can be wrong about the things you take most for granted."

Joseph frowned. "You're scared of me, too, then?" Even though he didn't stop frowning he found a way to chuckle at that. "That's like the bear being scared of the salmon."

"I'll admit I was," Grey confessed, "That's why I tried to sneak around you at first. But unlike my friend I made no final judgements."

"Hmm." The boy leaned back against the cave wall. "At least prejudice isn't just a human problem. Or maybe that's a bad thing." He glanced at Shimmertail then. "Geez, I don't know what to do now. My whole life's just been turned upside-down, and I don't think I'm going to Bel-Air."

"What?"

"Sorry. Probably have to be human to get that reference. Point is... Well, I can't go home. Or stay with neighbors. I can't contact my family for two weeks, and even if despite all that I manage to go back to my regular life at some point, now I know there's more out there. You know... Like you. So what else is there, anyway? Fairies? Mermaids? Phoenixes?"

Grey briefly considered not telling. "Eh, guess there's no point now. Fairies are real, but the other two are myths, but one with a basis of truth. I think humans saw a dragon high in the sky breathing fire and mistook it for a bird, and that's where phoenixes came from."

"And we think mermaids are actually a mix of drunken sailors and curious manatees. How about giants?"

"Fake."

"Unicorns?"

"Real."

"What about werewolves?"

"No!" Grey shouted that as if it was a stupid question and should have been obvious.

"...Leprechauns?"

"Joseph." Grey was stern. "You can't put off planning your next move. What are you gonna do? Do you need us to take you somewhere?"

Joseph appreciated the offer and that Grey wouldn't let him be diverted from an important issue. But that didn't make solving it easier. "Grey, I don't even have options to consider. I'm homeless! Something tells me you know something about that."

"Yes, I do." Grey didn't take the bait. "So now I'm here doing something about it." And suddenly, it seemed so obvious. "Hey, come with us! You seem honest enough, and you're in need. So why not?"

The absurdity of the suggestion made the boy ironically chuckle. "Are you crazy? Greenland?" He nodded his head in Shimmertail's direction then. "With him?"

"I know I could bring him around," Grey defended, "And if your only other option is to be alone and homeless, why not?"

Still, Joseph shook his head. "No, no... I don't need or want a permanent move like that. I just need somewhere to hole up for the next two weeks, when my family will be home and they can figure something out."

Grey shrugged. "That'll make it even easier to convince Shimmertail. Stick with us for a couple weeks, and we'll drop you off after." He retrieved the atlas again then. "How far do you think we can go in two weeks?"

Joseph took a look at it, scrutinizing it. "Well, you got this far over a few hours in a storm. So if I increase your speed a bit and take in travelling time - assuming you can fly an average of 12 hours per day - my best guess is you can make it here, to Maine, assuming you circle farther west -which you should do, since there are less people to see you farther from the coast." Joseph thought about that for a second. "I might just be able to spin that. I'll claim that I hopped in the nearest stranger's car as soon as the evacuation order came, and they put me up for the duration... but it's a long way away from the disaster area. I'd need some explanation for getting that far since I can't say I rode a dragon there."

"Well," the brownie pointed out. "there's some good news. You have two weeks to figure out a good story."

Joseph couldn't deny the clear logic behind the move. Still, he experienced great cognitive dissonance when he acknowledged that fact. "I'm sorry to put you in this position. I won't impose on you, so if you're not sure-"

"-I asked you, remember?" Grey huffed. "Besides, maybe it'll be good for Shimmertail to learn more about humans and fear them less. And, hey, I'm still pretty curious about humans, too!"

Well, that didn't clear up the dissonance, but it did eliminate all but one possible excuse to not take the offer. "Please tell me he isn't always such a rough ride, then. Because I did not enjoy myself."

"Well, what did you expect? It was only a hurricane! Plus I usually tie myself down to him, so you would, too. For the most part on a good day, you're just gliding steady." He leaned forward and grinned. "Honestly, given all that, the only way to fall is to jump. So relax, will you?" He teasingly shoved Joseph then. "You're more tightly wound than a boa constrictor!"

"Please, keep snake metaphors away from me right now."

"I rest my case!" Grey declared with amusement. "You're alive whether you like it or not, and I know humans don't live as long as us. Why spend your short time worrying so much when you could feel something you like? It makes no sense."

Joseph huffed then, himself amused by the brownie this time. "Maybe what humans just like most is worrying," he quipped. "But, more likely, we just have too many things to worry about. I don't suppose brownies and dragons have to deal with politics and education and keeping secrets, do you?"

The brownie shrugged again. "Not really. I don't even know what those first two are."

That made Joseph laugh out loud this time. It wasn't a funny joke, but it was like a genuine expression of childlike innocence, something he felt like he should have but didn't. Nobody did. He supposed it was just a refreshing sight. "Sounds like a dream. Well... if you can get the dragon on board, I guess I am. What choice do I have, right?"

"That's the spirit!" Grey cheered. "Now, I don't know about you, but I'm hungry. Do you prefer truffles or shiitake?"

It turned out mushrooms weren't that bad. He thought he better not make a habit of eating them raw, but Shimmertail's fire continued to burn after he fell asleep. It turned out mushrooms weren't bad at all.

"Hey, Grey. Is it safe to take a nap in the air? I don't do well if I can't sleep at night."

Grey was behind him down the length of Shimmertail's back and digging through his pack pre-flight. "Sure. Like I said, once you're tied down, the only way off is untying yourself." He handed the boy a long strap of leather. "Whip that over the side of his neck and catch it on the other side when it flies up at you." The first time Joseph didn't do it hard enough, but he did it the second time. "Use any knot you want, doesn't matter. But tie yourself tight if you wanna nap, OK?"

"Thanks a lot." He leaned down a bit over Shimmertail's side, then. "Happy? You'll hardly have to deal with me. I'll probably sleep through the night." Shimmertail just huffed and averted eye contact. "Hey." He wanted the dragon's attention, so he tied the strap loose to not lose it again and hopped back down to the ground. "Can you look at me please?" For once his tone was polite, so the dragon obeyed, swinging his head closer. "Grey told me you saved me from the snake bite. So-"

"-That doesn't make us friends."

"That's quite clear, Shimmertail."

"And you don't owe me either."

"Good. I doubt I have anything a dragon could want anyway."

"Then why bring it up?"

Joseph made a sudden move and wrapped his arms around the dragon's snout, since that was all he could reach around. Shimmertail's first instinct was to pull away, but the confusion from the move kept him in place. Still, he huffed yet again, and Joseph felt the hot breath all over his face. "I just didn't get to say 'thanks' yet." The boy didn't want to push his luck, so he took his hug back then. "So that makes two times you saved me. If I can't settle up, I figured I'd at least be polite. That's it." That's right, Shimmertail supposed he was already more involved with the boy than he tried not to be when he thought of it that way. He had mixed feelings about it.

Grey extended a paw to help pull Joseph back up, which he took gratefully. "Grey, one day you've gotta tell me why he hates humans so much more than you."

The brownie shrugged. "I couldn't if I wanted to. I don't understand it either."

"Really?" Joseph didn't follow up by asking Shimmertail. He wanted to, but he didn't expect an answer. "Maybe that's one mystery I'll never solve. Anyway, I'm strapped in. You?"

"All set. Let's go!"

"We're going," Shimmertail affirmed as he stood up. Now that there wasn't an emergency rush, Joseph noticed just how far off the ground he felt just from riding the dragon on foot. Already he felt himself breathing harder.

Grey noticed. "What are you scared of now? The sky is clear, and we aren't even off the ground."

"Eh... not counting last time, the only time I've ever ridden anything was a horse when I was eight. And even with a saddle, reins, and the horse's handler right beside me, the horse still threw me off just by going into a jog."

"That again? I told you, you're not going to fall, Joseph." The boy could sense a wane in patience from him even though Grey never wanted to show it.

"I know. It's just irrational fear. I'm sure I'll be fine when we're steady and I'm asleep."

Shimmertail had left the cavern by then. Grey chided, "Hey, at least stay up long enough to see the view. It's not all that exciting to me anymore, but on my first dragonflight I was blown away!" Quickly he added, "Figure of speech," remembering Joseph's anxiety.

Joseph sighed uneasily. "Guess I have to get use to it eventually." He took a hold around the dragon's neck then. "Let's go, I guess."

Shimmertail casually extended his wings and clawed at the ground. Then he let out a grunt of effort as he took a great leap up and forward. Before he could begin falling back down, a mighty swing of his two wings gained him about twenty feet of altitude, and he flapped many more times in order to keep climbing. Even though Joseph was shaken around a lot by the unsteady rate of climbing, he was surprised how slowly the group gained altitude. He watched over Shimmertail's head as the ground contracted and the mountains fell. It seemed that Grey was right; it wasn't so bad. Falling off would be deadly, sure, but, despite the rough ride so far, he didn't feel as if he would.

Grey had said that the dragon was a steady flyer, but Joseph supposed it wouldn't get like that until he was at cruising altitude. How high would that be, he wondered? Well, he didn't find out for sure even when he got there, but he thought it had to be well over two thousand feet over the ground. That's when Shimmertail completely leveled out and began to flap much less often and with less effort; he seemed to be gliding more than flying. That meant make dragon wasn't constantly falling and rising to fight gravity anymore, and it made the ride much easier. "OK... this actually isn't as bad as I thought it would be," Joseph called back, for even at a more casual speed he still had to project his voice past the wind that blew his hair back.

"See? What'd I tell ya?" Grey jeered back smugly.

"Hey, are you gonna sleep up here, too?"

"Nah, I'll wait until we land. And I'm gonna be dead tired when we do, so don't wake me unless it's an emergency."

Joseph was confused. "If you're so tired, why not sleep while it's night?"

"Easy. Because I never sleep at night anyway. I know human life usually happens during the day, but for us it happens at night since, well, I explained it to you already."

"Well, maybe it's a good thing for you I'm tagging along for a bit, then. You can sleep while I keep watch and make sure nobody finds our little party... though, not if I stay up with you all night." Very carefully, he checked the time on his phone. "But I guess the night is still young. I'm not tired yet anyway. So... you were curious about humans?"

When Joseph turned back he was amused by Grey's eyes lighting up. So, he explained many aspects of human life and society as well as he was able, and it turned out it wasn't as well as Joseph thought it would be. Usually the questions he couldn't answer were why's. Why didn't humans care about each other more? Why do humans use paper currency? Why weren't we better friends with other species? He couldn't answer those.

That killed a few hours for Joseph, and by then the conversation had eased him up so much he almost forgot he was on the back of a flying dragon. His eyes began to droop after some time, and when Grey noticed he refused to talk any longer, insisting that Joseph get his rest. That was fine by the boy, though.