The night passed suddenly and in short order, the sun began to rise. The festivities from Heart had long died down. Stands taken down and all masks put away till next year. Despite the little hiccup at the palace, the people of Heart would not let it ruin their fun. And as the sun reached an adequate height, a single blue shape freely flew in the sky. It was long and held a reptilian quality to it, albeit with a mammalian mane. The shape landed freely upon the streets of Heat and announced to the world.

"Good morning Heart! How are you all doing today?"

The shape in question was a living creature: a dragon, one very familiar to all of Kumandra. She was Sisudatu, the one who wielded the Dragon Gem when the Druun first arrived, and the very one Princess Raya awakened to restore Kumandra after the Druun put it within their grip. Though in the end, she had not wielded the gem a second time, she had been the one key factor in the proposed peace between the five tribes.

The dragoness looked about, but found no greetings, "Wow, must have been some party?" She guessed.

Working her way up to the palace, she went in without a problem. Being a dragon and the "gal pal" of the princess, she had all access. As she stepped inside, she noticed much of the castle was busy, not stopping to say hello. As she worked herself further in, going into the Courtyard, she beamed as she spied the one she sought.

"Raya! What's up my girl!?" Sisu said slinking around to the girl in question.

The princess looked up at the sound of her name, smiled briefly, and merely replied, "Hello Sisu."

"Hello? That's it? No "Hey girlfriend! Wuz up?"," The dragoness said cheerfully, "Man sorry I missed the party last night, Pengu had a little family get-together, and by "family" that included my cousin Reela."

This provoked a flinch from Raya, "Reela huh? Did she drive you insane?"

Raya had only met Sisu's cousin once, but once was enough to leave an impression.

"Did she drive me insane? Of course, she did, she's Reela!" Sisu put a claw to her chest and raised her head high, then putting on the poshest voice she could, said, "Oh Sisu darling! How humbling to invite me to your little hamlet, truly this place is a grand testament to our kind! Though it may lack the grandness of my estate, truly it is an honor to walk among you all," Sisu finished by spitting out her tongue in disgust.

Raya on the other hand found Sisu's impression amusing, "Sounds like your cousin," She laughed.

"Yeah it was cute when she and I were kids but now it's just annoying. I swear there's got to be something funky in that pipe she smokes. Some kind of weed messing with her mind," Sisu speculated.

"So what brings you here?" Raya asked.

"What brings me here? I just want to drop in and see why my girl is up to!" Said Sisu, "So how's the old gang? Everyone good?"

"Yeah everyone's fine," Raya answered.

"What about Naamari?" Sisu asked.

"She's good?"

"Why are you asking about her in particular?"

"I just sort felt there was something between you two? I mean that had to be tension right?"

Raya's face flushed briefly, so recognizing that Sisu changed the subject.

"Never mind, so what's up with everyone? I haven't gotten a single "hello" since I got here," Sisu said with disappointment.

"Everyone's just tired from the festival, as for the palace...we were robbed," Raya stated.

"Robbed! What happened? What did they steal?" Sisu asked with alarm.

"Just some dusty old wooden statue. It's been in my family for generations, but Ba's not the least bit upset about it," Revealed Raya, "He says things can be replaced, people can't. I think he's just happy no one got hurt."

"Your Ba is a wise man," Complimented Sisu.

Raya grinned with pride. Even if she didn't completely agree with her father, she knew there was wisdom in his words.

"Well seeing as this is a crime scene and all, I'll head back," Sisu excused herself.

"It's really fine Sisu, I mean if you wanted to talk?"

"Nah it's good, besides I should head back, Pranee is really getting into baking and I'm worried she'll set fire to the entire settlement."

"What happened to all that talk about trust?" Raya asked coyly.

"I trust my sister! It's just she's been overeager," Leaning in as if to tell a secret, Sisu added, "If you ask me she's hoping to snag a guy. Heart through his stomach and all that."

Satisfied and accepting of her friend's answer, Raya responded, "Okay, I'll let you go, but don't be a stranger okay?"

Flashing her missing tooth smile, Sisu responded with, "Never."

And then the dragoness took off into the sky, soaring through and heading home. Heart vanished behind her, and the forest followed leading into the river. She followed it knowing full well it would lead to the dragon settlement. The trip was seamless, save for one thing: Sisu noticed something at the river's edge. Curious, she descended down and once she touched solid ground, she cautiously stepped forward. A solid groan escaped what she was looking at, spurring her to speak.

"Hey, buddy you alright?" She asked.

XXX

Jarek felt like ten pounds of dung in a five-pound sack. His head was killing him, but it was different from a hangover. He realized that as soon as he regained a level of consciousness. A groan escaped him, but his eyes were closed. He didn't know where he was, but slowly his sight returned as he heard the voice.

"Hey, buddy you alright?"

The voice was female, somewhat raspy, but not unpleasant to hear. As his vision cleared the first thing he saw was blue, a shade of sky blue, but the blue held a pair of eyes and he realized what it was.

"What? A dragon?"

"Hey easy there," The dragoness cautioned.

As Jarek's vision cleared further, he recognized the dragon, for she was the most famous dragon in Kumandra. "You...you're Sisu."

Sisu leaned in closer, offering a claw, "Here let me help you up."

That sounded like a good idea, so Jarek held out his claw...wait? His claw? As Jarek raised what he thought would be his hand, instead he saw a claw in front of him. For a moment he felt startled, letting out a tiny gasp. He looked to his other hand and sure enough, it was a claw.

"What?" Jarek said.

He crawled out, the chill of the river vanishing as he stepped onto dry land. But his crawling felt off. He didn't feel his knees. It felt as if his legs were planted upon the ground, yet he wasn't standing up. Something wasn't right, he tried standing up, but found his balance uneven, falling to his side.

"Hey, pal be careful!" Sisu cautioned.

Jarek groaned once more as he felt the impact of the ground. "What, what's going on?"

He looked forward, down his body, a body which was now long and with a tail. Jarek's eyes grew wide and swiftly crawling back to the river, he gazed upon his reflection and now received his answer. The man looking back at him was not a human, but a dragon, a long black-furred dragon. A dragon with a single horn, bending back at the top. Jarek's face fell and immediately he let out a yell.

"WHAT!? NO! WHAT THE!? WHAT'S GOING ON!" He screamed in a panic.

He stepped backward, the full reality of his situation dawning upon him. He no longer had two feet but four, he had a tail, and his body resembled a noodle.

"No, no, no, no NO!" He screamed.

"Woah hey what's wrong?" Sisu asked concerned.

"This can't be happening, this can't be happening," Jarek repeated.

Suddenly he shot up in the panic he was feeling and hurried over to the river. Examining his face, he noticed a patch of fur around his muzzle.

"Good, my beard is still here," Jarek sighed with relief. But then the panic overtook him again, "But I'm a dragon!"

Sisu looked at the newcomer confusedly, "Yes, you're a dragon, I'm a dragon, this is Kumandra, dragons are sort of common."

"No! You don't get it! I'm not supposed to be a dragon! I'm a person, a human!"

One word summed up Sisu's feelings, "Huh?"

Jarek tried to recall last night, tried to piece together how this happened.

"Okay, think back, you were with some guys last night, then that woman Sayua, she...she stabbed me," Jarek recalled the pain as the knife sank into his body. Now he felt no pain, and he could see no blood seeping from his body, "Then she pushed me into the river," Everything at that point became a blank. He recalled his mind slipping away as he let the water overtake him.

Sisu didn't know how to respond. This dragon was in shock, but she didn't understand what he was talking about. Immediately her kind-hearted instincts took over, "Look buddy it's okay, just tell me your name."

Jarek snapped out of his shock for a brief moment, "Jarek."

"Okay Jarek, there's a settlement with other dragons, why don't we go back there? Sound good?"

Too bewildered by his situation to think straight, Jarek found himself saying, "Sure...that's fine."

"Good! Just follow me," Sisu snapped back into the air but when she noticed Jarek wasn't with her. Looking back she noticed he was still on the ground, "You coming skippy?"

Jarek stared at the dragon and merely replied, "I don't know how to fly."

Sisu tilted her head in confusion, "You don't know how to fly? How do you not know how to fly? That's like Dragon 101!"

Jarek feebly attempted to raise his claws in the air, hoping to stimulate flight, but only served to fall flat on his face.

Sisu winced with pity and descended, "Look, why don't we just walk back? Is that okay?"

Jarek cleaned off the strands of grass from his face and numbly replied, "Sure...it's fine."

Though just as bewildered by the situation as Jarek was, Sisu helped him along. As they walked, Jarek looked back to the river he had fished himself out of. It seemed that one little job set off a chain of events, and he didn't know what was going to happen next.

A/N: I was suggested to try and make Jarek's reaction to being a dragon similar to how Kenai found out he was a bear. I hoped I conveyed that.