There was something comforting about the way the dragon eggs nestled in their little mound of blankets in the corner of her room. Freya slumped down on her bed and stared at them.

So Jenny and Sophie were being looked after by Wulfric. They were going to live in the caves for now. That was good. The refugees who had come with them were being cared for by people in the village. That was good, too.

They'd made their report to Wulfric. The doors were opening much more easily than ever before, and parties of soldiers from the Other Side were roaming across Camelot, attacking isolated homes and generally being nuisances. And the people who lived there were reacting by attacking the people who had moved in from the Other Side. It was a mess.

Freya slid off her bed and knelt by the eggs. The sound of the sea was in her ears. If she closed her eyes, she could see it, the waves crashing onto the rocky beach and the wind blowing hard and stinging along the shore. And she could see far out, beyond the mist that encircled this land.

She had read about what sailors had seen when they tried to sail away from this island. There was a wall of white mist about ten miles off the coast. It was impenetrable. Every ship had been forced back towards land. In fact, that was how they had discovered that the land Camelot and all the other kingdoms were on was an island. There was nowhere to go but around.

She'd never seen the sea, but she could hear and smell and feel it. Hmmm. She opened her eyes. The blue egg filled her vision.

Freya put her head on one side. "Thalassa," she hissed.

The blue egg cracked and split. A little claw pushed up into the air. Freya watched, smiling, as a little aquamarine dragon hauled herself out of the egg and balanced on top of the empty shell.

'Hello, Thalassa,' she said in the dragon tongue. The newly hatched dragon wobbled precariously on her perch. She gripped the jagged edges of the shell in her tiny claws and flapped her translucent wings. A pair of eyes as black as the darkness under mountains gazed back at Freya.

Freya held out her cupped hands. Thalassa crawled off the eggshell and into Freya's arms. She was about the size of a big Chihuahua, weighed around twelve or thirteen pounds, and had warm dry skin that felt like slippery velvet. Freya cradled her close and felt the little dragon nestle into her.

She sat for a long time with the dragon in her arms. Neither of them spoke. There was no need to. They could both feel it, a bond between them stronger than words. It felt like a shared memory, a friendship that was old and new at the same time. They were kin.

When Freya finally went to sleep on her bed, she curled up like a cat with Thalassa in the middle of the circle, her head resting on Freya's side.

0000

When Freya woke up in the morning, Thalassa was fast asleep. She was warm, like a little heater, and smelled faintly of cinnamon, sweet and spicy at the same time. Freya cautiously got up. Thalassa opened her eyes and yawned cavernously, showing a row of minuscule blunt teeth. They had an orange tint to them.

'Food?' Thalassa said. Freya shrugged.

'Let's see what we can find you.'

She went out into the house, with the dragon perched on her shoulder. Hunith looked up.

"Where did that come from?"

"Her name's Thalassa, and she hatched last night," said Freya. 'And don't even think about eating the chickens,' she added in the dragon tongue, seeing Thalassa's eyes swivel towards the open door and the hens scratching in the garden outside.

'Why?'

'Because they are useful to us. Don't eat them.'

Thalassa snorted. 'What about the squeaky furry thing?'

'Where? You can't eat the cat either. He's big and white and -'

'I can see him in your mind. I mean the small squeaky brown thing.'

'Oh. That's a mouse. Yes, I suppose you can -'

Thalassa rose from her shoulder and flapped out the door, swooping down on a mouse in one corner of the garden. The hens began to squawk in panic.

"What is going on?" said Hunith. "Why were you hissing at it?"

"Her," Freya corrected. "That's the dragon language. It's what she understands. At least, I think she understands every language, but she can't speak any of them. I'll have to teach her that."

"She's certainly efficient," said Hunith, watching Thalassa disembowel the mouse.

"Yes," Freya agreed. "I just told her not to eat the hens."

"Will she obey?"

"I think so. I think she has to, because I'm a Dragonlord. She won't be able not to."

"And why exactly did you hatch her?"

"I - I don't know. It felt like it was time. I was dreaming, I think, and I kept seeing the sea, and the patterns on her shell were swirling, and it all just fit."

"What's her name?"

"Thalassa. It's something to do with the momentum and eternity of waves, I think. In the dragon tongue, I mean."

Thalassa finished the mouse and looked around curiously. She walked over to the log pile under the eaves and began to nibble at a twig that had fallen off one of the bigger logs. Freya smiled. Hunith looked at her, and her expression softened. There was a glow in the girl's eyes that she had never seen before, a look of peace and tenderness.

"Well, she's your responsibility. Take good care of her," she said.

Freya nodded. "Of course I will."

"Are you going to hatch the other one?"

"I don't think it's time yet."

"Hmm. What about the other dragons? Do you have to introduce them or will they know another one has been born?"

"I hadn't thought of that. I should probably . . . Where's Mordred?"

"He's already up and gone. We let you sleep. Wulfric wants volunteers to go and help people get out of Camelot. They're already forming groups."

Freya scowled. "I'm not going back."

"Is there something you want to talk about?" Hunith asked gently.

"N-no. I - It wouldn't do much good."

"It always helps to let the feelings out. No one can go through life and not feel a thing except for psychopaths, and you're not one."

"How do you know?"

Hunith reached out and touched Freya's arm. "You're wearing the bracelet again."

"So?"

"You've decided how you're going to live with it."

Freya sighed. "I made a friend there and he tried to kill me just because I am Morgana's granddaughter. There."

"That's awful."

"And I know I shouldn't care but I miss him. A lot. Every day. He was smart. He knew stuff. He'd be able to help with this this destiny thing," Freya went on, barely hearing Hunith's reply. "And it's not sappy and I wasn't his girlfriend. We were just - friends. But I've never met anyone like him. He was - gentle. And hard. Like chalk and flint, like Tiffany."

Thalassa finished chewing up the twig and flopped down, spreading her wings out in the sun. Freya swiped angrily at her cheeks.

"He even knew stuff about dragons. And then he saw my bracelet and he went all cold and he wouldn't read to me anymore or talk to me, really talk, and then everyone fell asleep except me and they came back and he said I'd done it and then he tried to kill me." She stopped. "I think I'll take her up to see the other dragons," she said in a small voice.

"You should eat something first," said Hunith. "You got in very late last night."

"I'm fine."

"Freya."

"Oh, all right." She had a hasty breakfast and then set out along the path to the mountain clearing where she had met Aithusa, Thalassa balancing once again on her shoulder.

0000

Blaze was uneasy around Thalassa at first, but by the time they reached the clearing he had calmed down somewhat. Freya dismounted and looked around vaguely. How would Aithusa know that she wanted to speak to him?

She sat down on a rock and let her mind reach out. Thalassa bounced around in the long grass at her feet, happily chasing grasshoppers. It was nearly summer now, and the days were long and warm.

There was a warning snort from Blaze. Freya looked up to see Aithusa dropping towards them from further up the mountain. That had been fast. She had only just reached his mind.

Aithusa landed in front of her and looked down inquiringly. Thalassa burst out of the grass, taking a flying leap, and landed in front of Freya. The little dragon's spines rose and she began to growl. Freya caught her, holding her back.

'Relax. This is Aithusa. He's a dragon too. Aithusa, this is Thalassa. She just hatched last night.'

'Yes. We felt her.' Aithusa lowered his head and sniffed at the blue dragon struggling furiously in Freya's arms. 'I will not harm her, hatchling.'

Thalassa's spines slowly sank down and she stopped trying to spit fire.

'Why can't she breathe fire?' Freya asked, releasing her grip.

'She is too young. It will come in time. Her magic will grow as well.'

Blaze stamped one hoof. Aithusa turned and looked at him. Blaze butted his head against the white dragon's chest. Aithusa nuzzled him.

'What are you doing?' Freya asked.

'Saying hello,' said Aithusa. 'We have met several times since I met you. We are friends.'

'Does he speak Dragon?'

'No, but we can understand each other well enough.'

Freya blinked and leaned back on the warm stone. 'So, what do I do now?'

'About what?'

'Stuff. Things. I have this great destiny and no one I talk to will help me. They just say "Oh, you'll manage" and don't even care that I'll have to -' She stopped abruptly.

'Yes?' Thalassa was chasing grasshoppers again, and Blaze was tearing at the long grass and watching her with just a hint of suspicion.

Freya took a deep breath. 'Go and murder someone I don't even know just because I'm "destined" to take his job! I don't want to kill him! I don't want to kill anyone! I know how it feels to die, and it's horrible! And when I Change I can feel my instincts telling me how easy it is, and I have to fight them because I know that if I let my body do the thinking my brain will never forgive itself.'

Aithusa made a soothing sound deep in his chest, like a purr but much deeper pitched. Freya's muscles relaxed involuntarily. 'Must you kill Emrys?'

'What do you mean?'

'I can smell that you are a shapechanger. But you will not have to face him in an animal body, will you? You can stay as you are. Must you kill him without question? Why can't you talk to him first?'

'I don't know! Everyone keeps saying that I'll know him when the time comes to kill him, and we'll have no choice but to fight.' She stopped. 'What would happen if I let him kill me?'

'Would you? Really? When you are fighting for your last breath, would you not try to defend yourself?'

'No.'

'You cannot know that for certain.'

'Well, I do,' Freya snapped. 'Someone tried to kill me. That's why I'm here, because they tried to bury me in a cave but I woke up and left. I could have broken him easily, but I didn't.' Her voice became more thoughtful. 'I didn't. I didn't even think about trying to. I - couldn't hurt him. Not even when he was scaring me.'

Aithusa was watching her with those achingly blue eyes.

'But never mind that. Do you know what's going on in Camelot?'

Aithusa nodded slowly. 'Oh yes. We can feel the doors between this part of the world and the rest of it opening much more frequently now. Are people coming through?'

'Yes. Soldiers. They're destroying homes and killing people. They're just on the outskirts of the kingdom now, and I think they're in other kingdoms, too. But not here. Something is keeping them away. I wish we knew exactly where they were. It would help a lot if we could mark where they are coming through on a map.'

'You will be able to see the doors from the air. They show as fractured space.'

'Really? I suppose you know a lot about them. How far do you fly?'

'As far as I like.'

'I mean, in a day. Do you stay close to home or do you cover a wide area? Because if you do, it would be very helpful if you could tell me where the soldiers are. Then I could tell Wulfric and the other Guardians and we could try to help stop them.' She looked up at Aithusa hopefully.

'I can do better than that. I can show you.'

'What? Like, you want me to ride you?'

'If you wish to. You do not look heavy.'

Freya bit her lip. 'I - I don't like heights,' she admitted. 'I get dizzy.'

Aithusa looked down at her gravely. 'I will not let you fall,' he promised. 'It is one of the privileges of a Dragonlord. No dragon will bear anyone who is not a brother or sister in the heart.'

'I - I - ' Freya hesitated. She had a vivid recollection of Tiffany's first experiences riding a broomstick. And a dragon was uncomfortably similar. True, Aithusa was bigger than a thin stick, and he had wings and would probably be easier to steer. And she was pretty sure that she wouldn't be sick. But - Oh, damn. It would be useful to see exactly where the doors were, and the pattern that the soldiers were moving in. There was one, she knew, but they hadn't been able to work it out from gossip.

'I suppose I could try,' she said unenthusiastically. She was sure that she heard a snigger from Blaze. "And you be quiet!" she said in Human.