Riddles:

After all the heaviness that's been in this story so far, we finally get a bit more of a light theme here. Thanks to Raelynne no longer being scared of the dragon, and Smaug deciding to back off a little to research what she may be, the two of them have their walls down for the moment, even though both of them are scheming in their own ways.

Also, I just wanted to thank all you readers out there and your patience with me. I know it's been a while since I updated, but things have been busy and needed to spend some time with my family. But now that I am back at Uni (why, dear gods why) I'll be back to writing as well.

I would like to thank Teddy bear 007, DONOVAN94, angel9507, vixxen1991, JustBFree, Reader, MeAFanfictionGirl, ita-chan01, Zerousy, Uniquely, samanthatm, Isabel, megumisakura, aoife7, and xxyangxx2006 for reviewing!

"The skinchanger is a being of incredible ability. They are capable of two forms, one of a near humanness though much larger in bulk, and another in the shape of a great animal, most often representing a bear…"

Raelynne droned on as she sat in what had become her usual couch, reclined and at her ease. The practice she had at reading the common tongue when she was a child helped her much this past few days, but her talents were limited when it came to reading the dwarven language, which put a restriction on what she could read. Thankfully, many of the books that Smaug wished her to read were in a language that was either common tongue or close enough for Raelynne to interoperate. Dwarves apparently had never been all that interested in penning their own legends of beasts and strange creatures of old. The dragon however, was thoroughly interested. Or at least, it seemed that way to Raelynne, as that had to be the topic of his search here in the library. In truth, she did not really wish to spend time thinking about the dragon's purpose in this place, but she had read nothing else for him, and it was rather curious. No poetry or any classical literature. She was not sure why she was surprised by this, but she was.

What she her thoughts were more preoccupied with however, was the attitude of the dragon. The day she had made her commitment for her performance, the dragon too changed. He was different, in a way one could not explain. The picture of him was the same, but it was as if someone had tilted the frame, so subtle a difference. The dragon appeared to be less concerned with her entertaining, and more wanting to spend time with her in the library, with her reading by him, though he would abandon her at times to answer the siren song of his hoard to count his gold and sleep for a few hours. He talked with her only minimally and would let her see to her own needs without escort once she could remember how to walk back to the vault from the library on her own, the dragon having grown tired of carrying her back and forth the past couple of days. Though more indifferent to her, Raelynne had an inkling that this new habit of the dragon's was more or less having to do with her. If this had been a usual pastime of his before her arrival, there certainly would have been less dust to coat her lungs in the library, and probably more fire scorched furniture.

But while she had this suspicion, Raelynne also felt she should not yet presume a dragon's thoughts, especially since in deeper reflection it seemed rather egocentric to think this all centered around her, but more to the point, she did not wish to yet test how far the beast would be willing to indulge her with an answer should she dare ask. She did not know what was making him so lenient in his attention of her, and so she kept up her guard and did no ill towards his orders to obey and never tried to argue or resist against any wish of his, and that included curbing her curiosity, but at the same instant she was somewhat irritated with this. If the dragon continued to be caught up in his books and thoughts, she would not gain his attention, which under other circumstances would be blessed. But if she was to win his trust once more, she needed him to watch her preform. It was hard to captivate an audience that was more interested the wood works of the stage floor rather than the artist. She had many schemes for when she had the dragon's attention, but to first get that, she needed more than just a colorfully short dress to express her intention, as she could with just any other audience. Something far more subtle was required.

And so, she decided to try something different.

Picking up the book she was reading to carry it in her arms, Raelynne began to pace. She continued to read aloud, but she had picked a distinguishable path for her seemingly bored pacing. The dragon made the archway of the great library his resting place, and as the hours would go on, he was oft to lay his head down upon the carpet by the fireplace he kept lit for the sake of light, and content to listen with his eyes closed. The image of it reminded her of a giant tom cat lying before a farmer's fire, especially when his tail twitched in his private thoughts, though she chided herself for the innocence of her imaginings of the beast. Her pacing went right by his head, not close enough to feel the heat of his slow breaths, but enough so to see the fine detailed scales that adorned his snout. She had not willingly been this close to him before now, and while he appeared sleeping, she grown to tell the difference between sleep and him merely resting. Now was one of those times of the latter, though it hardly lessened her nerves.

Her strengths and wits had been kept within her these past few days, though not for want of any bravery. She was still cautious of the dragon, wary of his moods, and was by no means foolish to oppose. But her fear was indeed gone. It was a burden lifted, a black thought dissolved, and its missing presence affected her, making her feel light where before she was anchored. But the feeling was only feigning, as the rush of painful indifference and frustration for past habits kept her quite aware and keen to her tasks. But in trade for the concentration it gave her, the desolation she felt was consuming. She could not bring herself to charm a smile out of her lips, not even for the sake of appearance, finding it beyond her ability still. There was nothing left to feel, nothing left to say, nothing left to her heart but the void that she had once believed to have been mended by her isolation and freedom. It saddened her to think that she never truly recovered from being a silent victim, having thought herself stronger than that. Perhaps the dragon sensed this emptiness about her, and that would explain his dislike in dealing with her, and quite possibly she was no longer as entertaining to him as she once was. It was obvious to Raelynne that he was a beast that enjoyed the brutal whines and screams of his prey for its own sake as well as the kill, as she herself had once closely come to know firsthand. Then, maybe the remedy of this silence was to give him the very desperation he had once enjoyed from her again, and that line of inspiration, gave her new plans to follow through.

As she had planned, it did not take long until the desired effects of her plan had been fulfilled, they being, namely, to irritate the dragon into waking fully.

"Enough."

Though expecting his attention, the sudden voice of the dragon had managed to, as it so often did, surprised Raelynne, and she dropped the book she had been reading as she stopped her pacing suddenly. She cursed her skittishness that persisted still, but had no time to recover her poise as she watched the dragon move. With his giant head tilting itself towards her slightly from his reclined position so that his fire filled eye could look at her fully, giving her the brunt of his annoyance, Smaug spoke.

"Do you have need of something?"

"No, master." Raelynne answered, making her voice meek.

"Are you tired?"

"No."

"Then why do you find it necessary to pace so?"

"Am I bothering you master?"

The look he gave her melted some of her resolve, and she took that as his answer. Though he no longer held sway over her fears as he had once, and her numbed detachment had given her much strength, that did not mean she was no longer concerned about the fire that always burned under his jowls and in his stomach. She had too many unanswered questions about his behavior and treatment of her to doubt his willingness to use such on her at any moment if she made but one more mistake in his eyes.

"I am restless." She muttered in honesty, directing her glance away from that of the dragon's to study her bare feet. For as long as she lived, she would never be able to repress the uncomfortable feeling those fire stone eyes bore into her. Her resolution shielded her from the brute of it now, but still, every time those fire swelled eyes landed on her, she felt something worm into her heart, something akin to fear, but far more primal and ancient, far more compelling and undesirable. It was one of the few things that reached her now, and it was the most infelicitous.

"Then go pace in the hall ways outside, and return when you are in a more compliant and quiet mood." Huffed the dragon with something like a sigh as he closed his one eye lazily, wanting to get back to whatever thoughts her annoyance had distracted him from. Obviously he was in no mood to tend to her human needs. But now that she had the dragon's attention, she was unwilling to let it go, even if it meant taking a risk on his current mood.

"Will you not join me master?" She pressed. The dragon made no acknowledgement that he had heard her, but she explained her request regardless. "I am also restless for conversation."

"Why the sudden interest in speaking to your master, songbird?" The dragon asked with some derision without opening his eye to look at her again.

"There is nothing else here to hold my interest. As impressive as your hoard is, it lacks in entertainment. And I have grown tired of reading the same kind of stories over and over again." Raelynne explained, shifting herself down until she was seated on the floor, legs tucked underneath her comfortably. Again, it did not escape her notice, and she presumed the same of the dragon's for that matter, that this was the closest she had willingly placed herself to him, but her concerns were suppressed. She took the opportunity to use this wait for his answer to study him once more, as she had a thousand times before.

His scales blazed under the distant fire that burned low in the hearth that was near to them, shining red and burning to the gaze. Through her disdain Raelynne felt herself in awe of their color. Every time she cast a glance at him, the poet within her a burning effigy, a trapped sun. The sensation his scales against her skin the last time he held her in his talons still left an invasive warmth on her body, one that had never been known to Raelynne before and yet she could not place it as wholly unfamiliar. What fascinated her now more so than his scales at the moment, was the strange furl of his wings on his back. The beast was oft to keep them tight to his body, but even in the tight space of the library, he would stretch them once every few hours, filling what little room there was till their tips brushed the high chandeliers. They were nothing like a bird's, soft and delicate, but sharp, leathery, and Raelynne imagined that in flight, those wings did not so much glide with the wind, but shred it into submission. Though in study of his form for her own purposes, it chided her how much the dragon's appearance could still stir her imaginings and bewilderment, from his talons to his eyes of fiction, but, she reasoned, carnality did often have its own fastidious charm.

"Your purpose here is to entertain me, not the other way around, my pet." Finally retorted the dragon, to which Raelynne was more than hurriedly willing to answer in order to shed her thoughts.

"True. But you have hardly utilized my purpose as performer of late, and I am beginning to lose inspiration."

"That hardly justifies why I should satisfy your inane curiosity." The dragon huffed once again, growing frustrated with repeating himself to her.

"Then perhaps I can satisfy yours?"

There was a moment of silence that followed, but Raelynne was pleased to see the dragon's eye open in mild curiosity to stare at her after a while. For what she had planned to say next, she could not help but feel some apprehension. It had been a desperate attempt to again the dragon's attention to begin with, but now that she was starting to regain it, she felt somewhat regretful of her strategy. But efforts needed to be made on her part, sacrifices to gain his trust, or at least for now, his interest. With that she pressed on after a steadying breath she hoped the dragon paid no mind to.

"You asked me once 'how did a human come to possess such striking eyes?'. And I spoke the truth when I told you I did not know, but there is one thing that I have been led to believe."

She truly had the dragon's attention now as he lifted his head up from the floor a good ten feet, staring at her lazily, though she could see an anticipating curiosity in his eyes for her answer.

"My father…" Raelynne paused, surprised at herself to learn how difficult it was for her to continue after having muttered those two words. Then again, she did not trust the dragon for anything, especially with her scarred secrets. But if he was to trust her with his weaknesses, she must first divulge her own. Still, such doubts were within her. She still did not know why he wanted to know about her eyes, but decided it was best to play to his self-interests, even if it was against her own, to gain his endearment.

"What of him?" The dragon compelled, and Raelynne found herself answering, doubts withheld.

"I…I do not truly know. My mother only told me that I inherited my eyes form him, and he…i-is gone. Dead."

Here she faltered in her honesty at memories of her father. She resisted clutching at the chain hidden under her dress like the child she sometimes was, and pressed on to pull away from her hesitation.

"When I was a child, I was received by others with mixed reactions of disgust or reverence. Some suspected my eyes to mean I have unnatural powers, and therefore feared me, because I am unknown to their ignorance. But my eyes are simply a mistake made by inheritance. Nothing more."

Her hopes that the dragon would fail to pick up on the insecurity in her voice went unanswered as he tiled his head to one side, perplexed by her tone.

"You are ashamed of them then? You're eyes?" He asked as if he had no comprehension of such a concept. It was the first time Raelynne had ever seen anything close to confusion shown by the dragon, but she reasoned it quickly away. Why would one such as he, with his immeasurable pride and immortality, know what shame was? It was a bitter luxury for the flawed. And as she had pointed out herself once before, to be infallible is to be more human than anything else, and though his cruelness was the same as she had met a thousand times before, Smaug was anything but human.

"No. And yes." She answered after some time.

Secretly, Raelynne hoped the dragon would not press for more answers, but she still needed to hold his interest. The more silence she let fall, the more she would lose his curiosity. She was going to divulge even more than she was comfortable with, when, to her surprise, the dragon continued to conversation.

"Why were you scaling my mountain before you were brought here?"

His question caught her off guard, and she stared at him a moment before replying.

"I was…lost."

To her further surprise, the dragon chuckled at her response, the sound filling the dust filled air with its disturbing reverberance. She could feel the sound beat against her rib cage as she spoke once more, and for her slowly returning pride, it was a blow.

"I would have found my way if it wasn't for your rat of a manservant." Was her protesting response to his sudden humor and excuse. This seemed to amuse the dragon more, as he gave her a toothy, condescending smirk.

"No doubt." The dragon said skeptically, "Though you did seem to with ease find one of the few dead ends of my kingdom when you tried to escape."

The dragon's thoughts were privy to none but him, but Raelynne could hardly miss the resentment the dragon pronounced the word 'escape' with, even if hidden behind his smirk. Her failed attempt to flee quite obviously still perturbed him. It was almost curious how much he took her flight as an insult to him, as if it was still inconceivable to a being as fearsome as he is to have been disobeyed in such a manner. Perhaps he thought she would have taken to being in his presence as a compliment of the highest degree. Raelynne felt a small rise in her chest at the satisfying thought that she had stung his pride as much as he had hers, but it was only a thought, and an unfounded one at that. Besides, the dragon was still harboring ill towards her for her attempt to flee, meaning she would have to continue to charm and simper for all her performance was worth.

About to continue to conversation, Raelynne was, again, startled the dragon as he went on at his own accord. If she had known he was this willing to gain answers from her she would have tried speaking up much sooner.

"And how old are you, dear songbird?"

"Twenty-three winters have passed since the one I had been born in." She answered, gladly taking note his use of his special name for her for the first time since having been brought to the library.

At this the dragon again looked confused and staggered at her answer.

"Twenty-three, traveling without a family or a husband. Tell me, did you plan on living your life out as old dame?"

Instantly Raelynne felt her back stiffen in indignation.

"Twenty-three is not old!" She protested. Of all the creatures in the world, the dragon was the last one Raelynne would have thought to call her, a young mortal, old.

"It is for a creature that rarely lives half a century." Was the dragon's counterpoint, which Raelynne less than timidly replied with her own.

"I had plenty of time left. And besides, a human's lifespan has nothing to do with it. I don't see why girls have to be married and saddled with four children by the time their my age. I was quite content to live on my own and to be my own master, and so I never married or started a family because I never wanted to, that's all." His notion of age was just like those of the married minstrel wives who had teased Raelynne for not being married yet. Such people quickly filled her with annoyance, as since her first taste of freedom to even now, she did not like her life being dictated to others standards of what is or should be. But the little voice at the back of her head that often told Raelynne, usually too late of course, when she should quit while she was ahead was just now starting to warn her to watch the boldness of her answers to the dragon. She needed to consider them more carefully, and tailor them to what the dragon wanted to hear the most. Then again, the truth had served her well this far, and the dragon often boasted how he could smell lies, a boast she was most willing to believe given her past experiences.

"Oh, and why not?"

"Most of the men I came across were either half-wits or drunks in my profession. And those that weren't…well, they were unsavory to say the least." She gambled once more on the truth with her response, and her answer did not seem to displease the dragon. It did her through, as she shuddered at some of the memories of said unsavory men. There had been the unpleasant ones back at home, who teased and taunted her for her appearance, and the even far more unpleasant ones who took to thinking her profession that of applying her entertaining in a variety of ways, which she came across much unfortunately in her career. Her thoughts must have been written on her face as the dragon spoke once more.

"I see. You think they are all beneath you."

By his tone it was not a question, but an observation, one Raelynne immediately began protesting to.

"N-no, I mean–"

"You are right to think that. Because they are." Interrupted the dragon, stilling Raelynne into silence. She was much perplexed by what he had said. Even through her derision, she had never once thought that anyone man, or woman, could be better than any other, lumping them all together to be mistrusted and used only to gain money or praise from, but she had never connected such beliefs to thinking herself better. She did not like to think that this was so, for if it was, she would not want as much as she had in past times to settle herself down, to stop running, and be a part of her race, with or without a family. It would not be the first time the dragon was wrong, or possibly right, but his conviction was not something she was going to test.

"But what of you master? You do not have a mate living with you." Raelynne asked, hoping that she could turn the questions back onto the dragon without his noticing. He spared her a warring glance at her sudden change in topic, but answered none the less as he made to lay his head back down upon the rug.

"Very few dragons ever had temperaments that would make living with another peacefully attainable."

This peeked Raelynne's interest, though it was hardly the pertinent information she had been wishing to obtain. Still, she could not stop her next question.

"But surely you have had a family? A mother?"

"Familial bonds do not hold such importance to dragons as they do humans. They are inconsequential."

"But surely–"

"Enough of this. Go back to your reading, pet." Commanded the dragon, once more fully reclined with his piercing eyes resting on the relaxed frame of Raelynne. She knew that it would be wise to take this as the end of the conversation she had initiated. Leaning to grab the book she had unceremoniously dropped before, she flipped over to the page she had left off in her reading. In her honesty, she did not mind all the reading he had her do, but she did wish for something of a little variety, something with a little more mystery to it. And like that, Raelynne found the inspiration she had been missing.

It would be another dare, yet another brilliant risk, but its possible reward called to Raelynne like the chime of coins.

"Who are two brothers who live on opposite sides of a bridge, but never see each other?"

There was a long silence that followed her words, in which Raelynne reclined herself on her side till she was supported up by her forelimb. This lowered position made the dragon's height all the more imposing, though he too was relaxed, but Raelynne's calm, innocent front met Smaug's gaze as it drifted back to her, narrowed in suspicion. Still, it seemed to Raelynne that he could not stop himself from speaking.

"Eyes." His voice growled lazily at her, though his gaze did not temper its severity. She nodded her head in approval before speaking again.

"I tie it, it walks. I lose it, it stops."

There was another pause, which Raelynne filled by idly feeling the weathered pages of the book laid before her, and Smaug sighed somewhat tersely before he answered.

"A shoe."

Another nod from Raelynne.

"If you break me I do not stop working, if you touch me I may be snared, if you lose me nothing will matter."

This time she produced an annoyed scoff from the dragon.

"A heart."

"So it is true," Raelynne said, feeling one of the corners of her lips turn into a small, poised smirk as she returned her gaze back onto Smaug, "dragons love a good riddle."

"Isn't there a saying among you humans? 'Curiosity killed the cat'?" The dragon warned her tersely for trying to bring back the conversation, his slight lift in mood by the instinctive liking for word games she stirred in him seemingly diminishing.

"People always forget the rest of the saying; 'and satisfaction brought it back'." Raelynne sighed to herself as she, having delayed his orders long enough, was about to go back to her reading. Her intuition on dragon's liking riddles however paid off in her eyes, and Raelynne was quite satisfied to turn back to the it seemed the dragon had heard her, and made a point to catch her attention with yet another, eerie chuckle, made once more at her expense.

"Is that so?" He questioned her, his widening smirk revealing jagged teeth Raelynne uncomfortably realized were quite close to her, enough so to see the serrations and grooves of each. "Then answer this; what is two but belongs to one, what is one but is in shatters, who resides by the storm waters won, who is ignorant to what matters?"

The silence between her answer to the dragon's riddle was far longer than what his had been for any of hers. The reason for such was that his asking her in turn had taken her by complete and utter surprise. Firstly, that he would reciprocate her game with a riddle of his own, secondly, and far more disturbing to her, she could not think of a reply. She racked her brain for an answer, both for her pride as a performer and as a means to not have the dragon be disappointed with her and find her less entertaining for her ignorance. But when the dragon's glare made it clear her time to solve it had run out, his own patience thin, she let out a sigh of defeat.

"I…I do not know."

At her ignorance, the dragon smiled most unpleasantly. It was so filled with malicious mischief that Raelynne felt her heart cease in its beatings, allowing the beast's voice to fill the silence in her veins.

"Then it appears the satisfaction is mine. Which leaves you with what, songbird?"

~:o0o:~

Hours departed as quickly as they came, the fire having died out in its marbled hearth long ago, and Smaug still found himself in the library, pondering and listening to his songbird. Though she was no longer reading to him, having fallen asleep on the dusted rug she laid some time ago, the rise and fall of her breathing set a rhythm to his thoughts, mostly in tune with the information she had just divulged to him.

The trait of her eyes had been inherited through her father. That narrowed the search considerably. And given how many years she has lived, and with no true sign to be shown, there were few but promising conclusions to her…

So far, Smaug was certain that all that was presented to him was evidence of value, the thought that this would all be proven to be for not was no longer considered, believing his search would turn up something worthwhile, or at the very least worthy of having traded his time for. It was somewhat of an astonishment how willingly his songbird had offered him this information he now chewed on, under such flimsy pretext as wishing for a conversation. Though his curiosity thought of little else, he had not paid much heed to the girl herself in sometime, only interacting with her to use her small hands and voice. Blindness however could not have kept him ignorant of her sudden change. It had been his aim to make her responsive again, but he had no intentions of colliding her into her spirited ways. The thoughts of giving comfort, even if for his own purposes, made him sick with sentiment.

His annoyance at her impassiveness had kept him from dealing with it in the end however; it was not often for Smaug to come across a creature that showed nothing in the presence of his greatness, not even a twitch of fear or wonder, and in the case of his long dead brethren, respect. To receive none of these was an insult to his superior being. But the young woman was far from unreadable, practically opposite. It came to his understanding through his own suppositions and what little his songbird had shared that she had been met with cruelty in her life, and he supposed this was her defense against it, to be rid of all feeling so as not to be affected. He found this method of hers to speak of cowardice, a denial her true fear and anger, either of which he would prefer to this pretentiousness of unfeeling from her. The intensity of his punishment of her had been her own, foolish fault, Smaug did not find the consequences of it on her demeanor desirable, it akin to a child that hides under their blanket so as not to face their monsters. And with him thirsting answers, this would not do. He knew he could always resort to dragon-spell to loosen her tongue, and certainly, that would give him immediate satisfaction, but Smaug almost felt like such would be unsporting, or at least, cheating himself out of what little entertainment was left in his songbird's resistance against him, however childish.

This of course, made for his songbird's sudden change earlier to be suspicious. Though she did not shy from him as she had done so before her attempt to flee during their hours in the library together, her boldness to shorten spaces was a surprise to the dragon. Moreover that he only detected the slightest rise in the beat of her heart to tell the truth of her nervousness for doing so, which pleased Smaug to know she still held reverence, if not fear, of his presence as he rightfully deserved. Her apparent dislike of being near him made her action all the more strange however, but none more so than her persistence in holding a conversation with him. But her willing divulgence of her past and family was just the opportunity Smaug had been waiting to pry from her, and he took advantage of her strange compliance. Her inheritance from her father, her shame, even her disinclination for human men gave Smaug the means to become closer to his solution. But when she asked in turn the same for his kind, his little patience for her had nearly run its course.

At this, the dragon let out a blistering huff of air in irritation. Her inquiry about his own being had agitated him, though he knew it to be natural for her to be curious about his kind. They were the objects of legends after all, and honestly a lack of interest on her side would have been just as insulting as her present curiosity was found bothersome. What he least expected from her was her to play to his intelligence with her last game. Dragons always had a love for riddles and puzzling talk, and apparently this fact was one of the few true told in the human's tales. It disturbed him how willing he was to answer her, despite the simplicity of her riddles, but then again it had been quite some time since he ever had the challenge to solve one presented to him. His songbird did once boast to knowing unsolvable riddles, and while she fell short of her promise, Smaug found her quaint game almost diverting, and could not resist giving her one to solve in turn, adoring the way her two colored eyes became confused at his reciprocation and challenge. It would be quite engaging if she ever would be able to solve what he had challenged her to, but he doubted it. Still, the thought amused him.

But all this hardly mattered, her desire for their talk or short game, it was of little consequence outside the information she offered him. For in a few days, Smaug would name her, and curiosity would be sated. He was just beginning to find it diverting to, his research. But then, such reason was only because this inquiry was a change from the routine, something he had been longing for before even his songbird showed up. Once all was said and discovered, truly there would be no reason to keep her, no reason to bother with her mortal needs or her questions. But, some part of Smaug knew that she withheld more challenge within her, kept hidden now only in fear of his response and he was intrigued to push her further past those limits so as to be engaged in her battling spirit once more. He presently looked anywhere for a desperate excuse to corner her and continue their little tryst from last he left it since her failed escape. The distraction of her spirit had been, and was still, welcomed, and maybe even craved for now that she denied him it. The idea should have had him scrubbing his talons down his head with contempt, but he couldn't bring himself to regret his new-found obsession. He always wanted for everything, and never settled for anything less. It was just the same for this woman as well.

In his thoughts, the dragon caught the soft sound of the young woman moaning in her sleep, and cast a lazy eye towards her to see the young woman curl inwards upon herself to gain warmth, though her nearness to him allowed for some of his body's immense heat to reach her. The tattered dress she wore gave her little in the means of protection, both against cold and for her modesty. Rips and tears showed much of her pale skin, showing a resemblance to marble dusted with light specs of gold as she shivered once more at the loss of the fire. Her understated beauty still managed to shine out under the darkness of the library, her long locks cast over her frame like a blanket of embers, a few strands crossing her face as if to curtain her from his intrusive gaze. Despite her aggravations, Smaug still found her beauty to be infallible, tempted to entertain the thought that after he had discovered her mystery, he might still keep her close to him. She was rare, and to let her go would be against his nature, though his pride still called for further retribution at her insult to his magnificence. But no one would have her but him, that was for certain, even if he was to do away with her in the end. Mortals were beneath her, unworthy of her, so much so to even claim her as a fellow human...

He watched her for a time, the woman moving every once in a while to clutch at the rug beneath her, though not in comfort. By the tightness in her hands and the furrowing on her brows, Smaug guessed her not to be a peaceful sleeper. Seeing her lips part, he heard another moan escape her. It was only a small sound, but it was enough to be a disturbance, one unforeseen and undesired. Her absence of voice was apparent to him now and only continued to grow more obvious with her every sleepy sigh. While he was felt nothing of annoyance at her having fallen asleep, he was still bombarded with other emotions he had not felt for many years. A powerful resentment still for her having tried to run from him, certainly, but there was craving interest also manifested behind the embers of his eyes as he saw her once more tighten her fists. There had always been more grave about her than cheer, something lackluster that he could not overlook. Had it always been there, or had she merely been molded by her time and circumstance with him?

With a ponderous growl, Smaug stood himself up. His frame backed out gracefully between the wide set doors he had been laying between, turning in the wider stone hall to point himself in the direction of his horde, deciding that it was time for him to answer the call of his gold, leaving his songbird to shiver harder in the absence of his heat.

~:o0o:~

I really love this chapter, because here, Raelynne's trying to be all friendly with the dragon to win him over and of course Smaug is just "What do you think you're doing?" But, ah, we certainly got some bonding this chapter, or at least, some exchange of words between Smaug and Raelynne. The next chapter will be pretty much the same excitement level wise (or will it?!).

So, once again thank you for your patience and please, take a bow for yourselves guys, you are amazing!

Join Raelynne in the next chapter as she takes a spill and is rescued by the last person (or dragon) she'd expect. But when torn dresses make complications arise, will Raelynne be able to keep her composure?