Phoenix Ice: :blushing, fans self: Whoo, it's getting hot in here! How do I know about that scar? Well, that's another interesting story I'll have to share with you some time soon.

Artemisa: Thanks! I was hoping for just that reaction!

Susan: Thank you! I hope you'll find the rest to your liking.

Notes: I don't know much about how Elves and Dragons mark time, so I'm making that part up.

*****

"You never told me who Tlas is." Legolas said, his voice muffled by the pillow.

Jaz finished cleaning the wounds and covered them with soft bandages. "Tlas is the eldest dragon of our tribe. It is my responsibility to watch over him and to help him hunt. His eyesight is rather poor and he probably mistook you and your horse for an elk. We don't care much for the taste of people."

The elf rolled over onto his back, wincing. "Why did you catch me?"

"All intelligent creatures are a gift it's shameful to waste." Jaz ducked his head. "And I don't get to see many people anymore," he said sadly. "I was hoping we could talk."

As Jaz turned away Legolas caught the man's arm. "I'd like to talk."

Jaz looked up and smiled, "You would?"

"I've never met a dragon before, I've only heard stories about them and never that they can look like men."

"Well then we have much to discuss;" Jaz sounded excited as he cleared away the dishes. "I've never see an Elf before and heard only a few tales of them."

"How old are you?" Legolas asked.

Jaz cocked his head, thinking, "Hmmm. I'm not really sure but I know I was hatched shortly after the seventh season of the dark sun."

"So was I!"

Jaz laughed and Legolas blushed.

"Born I mean." Legolas said.

"Then we are closer in age than imagined." Jaz reached out and fluffed the pillows and tucked the blanket around the small Elf. He scooted down to the end of the bed, leaning against the footboard and watching Legolas. "What else would you know about me?"

"Have you always lived here?" Legolas asked, settling more comfortably against the pillows.

"Only the last few hundred years, before that I lived with my mother and brothers and sisters far east of here."

"Why haven't I heard about you and Tlas before? My people travel this pass often."

"While I like to talk to people, Tlas would rather not be seen by them. He is getting close to the end time of our kind," Jaz frowned, " it makes him careless and nothing I do or say changes that."

"He's dying?"

"Yes."

"Where will you go" Legolas' voice cracked. "after he's gone?"

Jaz swallowed hard and when he looked at Legolas his eyes were shining with tears, "I don't know. I've been here so long.... I like it here but without Tlas it will be ...."

"Lonely?" Legolas finished for him.

"Yes. Lonely." Jaz rubbed his hands across his eyes. "Lonely and purposeless."

"Can't you go home?"

"No. There is no place for me there anymore, Mother is raising new children and males are not allowed around the dragonets."

Legolas patted Jaz's leg; "You could come home with me."

"Somehow I don't think that a shape-shifting dragon would fit in very well with your family."

"You could visit for a while and travel, you said you like people, there are lots of different kinds of people, my father says so." Legolas said breathlessly. "He tells my brother and I stories of strange folk every night before we go to bed. And if you come as a man they will never have to know that you are really a dragon. My father and mother have humans as guests sometimes, I've seen them."

"Perhaps." Jaz said thoughtfully. "Perhaps when my duty to Tlas has passed I will come to your home to visit for a while."

Legolas yawned; "You could bite my brother when he's mean to me."

Jaz laughed, "I'm sure he'd taste terrible. Why is he mean to you?"

"He thinks I'm a coward." Legolas answered sleepily.

"Why does your own brother think you are a coward?"

"I'm afraid to swim at the falls. Last spring he dared me to jump off the cliff and I did." Legolas' voice trailed off as he drifted off to sleep.

"Legolas?" Jaz sat up, "If you did that why does he think you're a coward?"

"When I hit the water a rock trapped my foot," Legolas mumbled, "I almost drowned."

"So you're afraid to swim there anymore?"

"Don' wanna die like that, 's scary." he mumbled, drifting off again.

Jaz smiled and slid off the bed, taking care not to disturb the young elf. "Look at that." Jaz watched Legolas curiously, "He sleeps with his eyes open. Now that's a trick I'd like to learn to do."

^*^

What do you think? Is it just me or does this chapter seem a little disjointed? Perhaps I'm just too tired for it to make much sense to me. It is after all, 1:05 a.m. on a Sunday....