“You will have to catch me,” she said, taking another step backward.

Weysh narrowed his eyes, and as he surged to his feet Yenni shot off, laughing. The two of them pounded through the grass. He was fast, but she was quick, even without her runes. Her lithe form darted like a doe ahead of him, and he couldn’t catch her. She reached the tree and scrambled up, and sat taunting him as he stood huffing below.

“You can’t reach me up here, Dragon.”

“And what makes you so sure?”

“Because your hand is the size of my head, you big brute. By the time you haul yourself through these tight branches I will be halfway back to Imperium Centre.”

He surveyed the tangled network of tree limbs. This was true. And it wasn’t as if he could fly up in dragon and perch like a crow.

But she had never seen him half-change. Even as she sat swinging her legs and sing-songing at him he reached for his inner trigger. He felt the horns stretch from his head, felt the cool air on his bare torso once his shirt whisked away to otherspace at the touch of his wings. But thanks to the Law of Self-Preservation there was no pain. His nails became talons, but he stopped himself from changing fully, though it was a challenge to maintain, like walking on one’s hands.

With a few strong pushes of his wings he rose, coming to land in a crouch beside her on the thick branch. She gasped.

“Don’t be afraid,” he said. His voice had always been deep, but now it was not much more than bass, closer to his dragon’s rumble.

“Weh-sheh?”

“Yes, it’s me,” he said and moved toward her, pleased when she didn’t scoot away. “This is called half-change.”

“Oh.”

“We don’t do it often, because it’s difficult and tends to make people uncomfortable. It scared the piss out of my maman the first time I did it as a child.”

“Your eyes are quite something.”

“They’re my dragon eyes.”

“Oh,” she said, mesmerized. She touched his horns, then cupped his cheek.

“You’re not bothered?” asked Weysh.

“No,” said Yenni. “It’s like seeing both you and Dragon at the same time. Amazing.”

“Yenni, I am Dragon. We are one and the same,” said Weysh, and he covered her hand where it rested on his face. “Whatever you feel for Dragon you feel for me.”

“Not quite,” Yenni whispered, and smiled at him.

Weysh stood up on the massive branch, digging his claws in for balance, and reached a hand out to Yenni.

“Come, let’s get down.”

She went to him and he wrapped her in his arms, then jumped, gliding them safely to the grass. He kept his arms around her as he slid out of half-change back to a man.

“My fare?” he asked.

“What? For that little hop?”