Years passed like usual and Smaug found himself waiting for Susan Pevensie to dream about him. He wanted to know if the war she spoke of was over, if her father was finally home, if her siblings were safe. He wanted to see how beautiful she had become. Sometimes he wished that he would dream of her, just like what happened last time. He started sleeping even more as there was close to nothing that took his attention anymore. Close to nothing of which to be considered entertainment. So he slept, thinking that maybe he would get a glimpse of Susan Pevensie's reality once more.

He was woken up by the swish of fabric and the stretch of string. Faint sounds that rung alarm bells in his mind. Intruder. Weapons. His ears noted the sound of breathing and the scent of a blend of flowers. He dug his talons to the gold under him, readying himself to spring to where the sound came from. There would be blood and food tonight for him, even when he was in no mood to feed. Food or entertainment? Hmmm… If they prove to be entertaining then maybe he would spare them alive, even if they were elves that smelled too feminine for his tastes.

"If you wish to keep your life, I advise that you put down that bow." His voice was bored and he kept his eyes closed. He could easily kill her, especially if he was a measly elf. Who would be stupid enough to wander inside here alone?

"If you open your eyes then you would know Sir Dragon that I wasn't drawing it against you."

Woman. Flowers. Lilies.

His eyes opened instantly and turned to where he knew she stood. There standing where Susan Pevensie always stood when she came and left, was a woman in flowing blue gown and a simple gold necklace around her neck. Strapped around her body was a quiver and in her hand was a bow. Dark hair in a braid that ended down her knees heightened her pale skin. He knew beauty and could appreciate it, and he also knew of the clothes that women of Gondor wore. He also knew that women of mortal Kingdoms did not fight.

Woman. Blue eyes. Lilies.

"Why are you here Lady Susan Pevensie? What had happened that you dream of me?" What happened to your reality to come to me clad in such finery? Who are you?

She blinked, clearly taken off guard of his apparent knowledge of who she was. She was obviously looking at him in a different light even before he opened his eyes and now that he had spoken, her eyes shifted from distant to probing.

"I have seen and met dragons, but I do not remember you among them." She tilted her head to the side, considering if he was friend or foe enough to not step back.

"And you remember each one of them?" Who was this Susan? His mind echoed.

"Of course." Disappointment curled inside his stomach, wondering the circumstances of why she would forget him.

He was the first dragon she met, wasn't he?

"We met in the past, wee lassie." He rested his head on his folded arms, lounging like a dragon can only do.

"Which past do you speak of? All the past that I can clearly remember, especially concerning dragons, was what I just spoke of." Even her way of speaking was strange to his ears. Gone was the innocent Susan, or the war torn teen, what stood before him was a stranger that spoke in tone and a way close to this world.

"Your past that I am of your dreams. Your past that is of a war your father is fighting in. A past of planes and explosives, stories of a boy that became king because of a sword."

Recognition came to her countenance and Smaug knew at least that he spoke of something right.

"What you say doth echo in me. A knowledge and a fear that curls within me. If what you say is true that you are a dragon in my dreams then you come once more in my slumber. Who are you proud dragon that I might know if you are friend or foe?"

"I do not come as I choose. I will promise you once more Susan Pevensie, that no harm would come to you as long as you are here."

"Your name Sir Dragon, so that I can thank you for such promise?"

"How would you know if I am friend or foe just by name?"

"You are the third dragon that preferred talking over eating me."

"And you have met many dragons?"

"You're name Sir?"

"Smaug."

"Not many Smaug. Thank you for assuring my safety."

"You are quite kind from what I remember in the past Susan."

"I hope I have been kind to you and you forgive me for not remembering."

"Would you like I tell you of our memories?"

"Can I come closer to you?"

He laughed and held out his paw. If there was something that he was thankful of, it was that she still wasn't afraid of him. He told her of what she told him, of Peter and Edmund being that of light and shadow. He told her of Lucy and how the gold in his home would've helped them through the war. He felt her body, as she sat by his arm, relax with every story that he said. Unlike their previous meetings, this was the most that he had spoken.

"So tell me Susan Pevensie, how are you and your family?" He relished her slight weight on his side and the way she moved closer for warmth, even when in this place, it was as hot as it could be for mortals like her. "How did you come to such finery and speak like of a noble lady?"

She looked at her clothes for a moment and then went quiet. He could see that she was thinking on what to tell him. Something he had known ever since the beginning of their friendship. Friendship?

"I will do my best to tell you as it has been years."

"We have the time."

She chuckled and her eyes twinkled with mirth. There was a calm there that he had not seen before. He had seen more too: contentment, wisdom, understanding, mischief and the ever quick thinking he had admired.

"I now live in a country called Narnia, where animals talk and trees breathe and dance. There are nymphs and naiads, mermaids and griffins. From what the tales tell, I lived in a place called Spare Oom in the land of War Drobe." She smiled, a simple tilt of the corners of her lips that told him that she knew it wasn't just that. That she knew more. She told him what mermaids, nymphs, and whatever creature inhabited her new home. Of course, she told him briefly of the dragons. "How we come upon this land, my brothers and sister no longer remembers but I try to, was through a wardrobe in the Professor's home. We were sent off as you said, at least as I remember."

She took a deep breath and released it through her rose petal lips. The mere action, after years apart, was hypnotizing to the dragon.

"We fought a war of our own in Narnia. A fight to liberate the Narnians from a hundred years of winter. It was a spell that was casted by the White Witch, who called herself as the Queen." She told him briefly about Peter and Edmund learning to fight with a sword. She spoke of a man called Father Christmas, who was the one who gave her and her siblings the tools they would need in their adventure. She told him everything she could tell him, like a historian to her audience. However compelling the way she told the story, it was all facts and devoid of opinions or emotions. He needed to watch and listen closely to know how she felt about a situation. "We've lived in Narnia ever since."

Of course, he knew there was something else she was keeping.

"How long since?"

"Six years."

"Why did you stay?" She froze for a moment and searching his own golden eyes.

"The Narnians needed us." She answered simply.

"How?"

"Rebuilding and cleaning up." He nudged her side with his snout, and showed her that he didn't believe it was just that.

"For six years? Such a long time."

"Of course. After a hundred years of winter, it's just a wink."

"What of your mother?"

Silence.

"I don't know. Aslan will protect her." She had explained who Aslan was, and he couldn't comprehend why she believed in this Lion so.

"Aslan. Your father?" His questions about her home, or maybe former home, always caught her off guard. He wondered if it was because she barely remembered, while he perfectly remembered every story she told him.

"I know not what happened to him, all I know that six years ago, he was still alive."

He called off himself when her voice became sad, hating the way her eyes turned dull and her words sounding so far away. "My apologies lass."

"You? Apologizing? A dragon?" Her eyes were still sad and he did his best to ignore the guilt. (Him, usurper of kingdoms and bandit of treasures, apologizing to a young woman.)

"Never happened to you?"

She shook her head, her eyes closed and her long lashes like arcs of ink on snow. "In Peter's words, there is always a first. It makes me understand why my younger self liked you."

"You no longer like me then?"

"I find that I still do." She chuckled.

"Bow and arrows suit you."

"I do know how to use swords Smaug." She blinked and then looked at him with wide eyes. "I remember dragging a sword here," She blinked again. "And you were looking at me like my back would break if I even try lifting it."

He chuckled, both in sarcasm and relief that finally she remembered something.

"You need not laugh at me!"

"Do you remember anything else?" He asked.

She contemplated for a short while before shaking her head. "Nothing definite."

"Tell me about the dragons you have met. Have they tried stealing you away?"

"Thankfully, no. I am no Princess."

"But you are close, if not, then more."

Another surprised look from her and another chuckle from him.

"I am a dragon dear Susan Pevensie, I know how important one is with just a look."

"Is that why you spared me?"

"No."

"Then why?"

"I cannot hurt you because this is your dream, you told me such. Oh, and that I am a good dragon." He watched her as she regarded him with walled emotions.

"You are a good dragon."

The amusement that he felt when young, little girl, Susan told him those words years before wasn't what he felt. He felt a lightness in his chest that seemed to burst to the tip of his tail. A feeling that he hadn't felt in so long that he sneered at himself. Thinking that not even one woman's words would change the world's view of him. Not one woman's words could change what and who he was.

"You do not believe me."

"I don't."

Her smile was a boon, an understanding that he always received from her. A boon that he couldn't understand why he was worthy of it.

"Do you want to stay?" He asked, the usual ritual.

Her smile showed that she remembered and that she missed it too.

"I can't."

"Do you want to stay?"

"No. I do have a family to return to."

"Why such long hair?"

"Why so many questions?"

"Because there are many answers needed."

"Because I have the chance to grow it."

"That'll be a pain in the mornings."

"Indeed."

"I hope you would be visiting my reality next time." She stood up with a grace improved and a world so close to his own. "It makes me jealous that you do not dream of me, when I dream so much of you."

"I have seen your reality, you just didn't see me."

"I'll look harder next time."

"You wouldn't miss a dragon of my size."

"Indeed."

A hush descended on them

"Morning is upon us, and if thou art a heroine of a land I need to return you to your people."

"You wouldn't steal me away? Keep me captive in this home of yours?"

"As you said, you are no Princess."

"You are still a dragon."

"A good dragon, you said."

"Do good dragons escort ladies home?"

"Maybe I will be the first?"

"Then escort away?"

"Gladly."