A/N: Okay, here it is, the conclusion of The Princess of Dragon's Castle. To all who have reviewed, favorited, followed, or just viewed, I sincerely thank you. I hope you enjoy the end of the journey.

Jimli

"Is that the end?" Dex asked, a note of sadness in his voice. He had been enjoying the twists and turns of Princess Calla's tale. She laughed.

"Of course not, Dex! It was only the beginning! Orion and I were very happily married, and we too eventually shared a baby, a red-tinted, gold daughter born one fine spring day as the sun rose. We named her in the same manner that we had been named ourselves, calling her Aurora."

"So the human friend Orion had?"

Calla nodded. "Was actually Orion himself, yes."

"Why not just appear to the knights as a human, to convince them there was no dragon?"

"I asked him that once. Orion shrugged and told me that he felt no need to assume a human shape to solve his problems. He wasn't a human, he was a dragon. Why should being a human make things easier? He also admitted that he enjoyed the taste of knights. Besides, if not a dragon, the knights would probably just believe that the human was keeping the princess captive, and try defeating him with magic or something." Dex nodded, thinking that it would indeed be exchanging one set of problems for another.

"You told me when I arrived that the great red dragon was killed, how did that happen?"

Calla smiled bitterly. "A few years ago, hearing tales of a beautiful princess trapped here, a knight showed up. He had heard of the many knights that had come before him, so he came prepared with a poisoned blade. Orion did well against him, but against the poison…" she trailed off sadly.

"Aurora came back from getting some food too late to help her father, but she took care of the knight."

"Did she eat him?" Dex asked wryly.

"She did, but before doing so, she showed him the beautiful princess. It was a nasty shock to the knight to learn that the object of his quest was one of the dragons of the castle."

"Where is Princess Aurora now?"

"She left to get some fish from the marsh for breakfast." A flapping of great wings could be heard in the courtyard, and both Calla and Dex went to the balcony to see a red-gold dragon ambling into the castle.

"Mother!" a rich feminine voice called. "I found some fish! They must be breeding like crazy, I have enough here for-"

"A guest, perhaps?" Calla interrupted as she and the prince met the dragon in the kitchen.

"Who's this?"

"A knight, come to slay the great red dragon and rescue the fair princess," Calla answered, laughing. Aurora snorted, a sound Dex now knew meant he was being somewhat made fun of, but somehow, he couldn't seem to care. Even as a dragon, he found Aurora utterly captivating.

"Might I join Your Most Beautiful Highnesses for breakfast?" he asked softly, holding the dragon's gaze. She cocked her head curiously at the would-be knight.

"What is your name, knight?"

"Actually I am not quite a knight. I am on a quest to earn my knighthood, but after hearing about the many knights your family has known, I'm not so sure it is quite the honor I once believed. My name is Dex, and I am the third prince of the Kingdom of Molung."

The dragon shifted, and a beautiful young woman with cascading strawberry blonde hair stood in her place.

"I am Princess Aurora of Dragon's Castle." She glanced at her mother briefly. "Mother and I would be pleased to have you join us for breakfast, Dex."

Not only did he join them for breakfast, but for many and many breakfasts afterward, which of course, was only the beginning.