On the other side of the door was a brightly lit cabin. There were several worn and comfy looking couches, a long wooden table and chairs, many shelves and cabinets, and at the center of the room was a lit fire pit. A stew cooking over the flames making Faye's stomach clench painfully, reminding her that she hadn't eaten in hours.

  "You made it!"

  Faye jumped slightly, she had been so distracted by the food that she failed to take notice of the people in the room. Only a couple feet from her stood Justice, a big silly grin on his boyish face. Like Faye, his dark hair had grown out (Though only slightly in his case), but otherwise he looked pretty much the same.

  "Daemon?" She asked him with a small smile. Though Justice had always been nice to her, it wasn't like they spoke often.

  "That's right!" He said brightly throwing an arm over her shoulder and guiding her toward the table where several others sat.

  Two were Searx men she did not recognize. Both were older with thick beards. The other two at the table must have been her fellow Awoken Searx. Or former Searx she supposed. The first was Natasha, the only other women to go through the Awakening this year. She was squirming uncomfortably in her chair as she tried to get comfortable, a beautiful set of leathery pale blue wings making it difficult for her. She had become Dray-kin, the dignified race of dragon people. She looked even more beautiful than before, with her pale blue scales covering her curvy body, glossy horns on her head, and three new appendages: a set of wings and a long dragon's tail.

  It took Faye a moment to recognize the last man at the table. He was just over four feet tall with very long ginger hair and matching beard. He seemed to be attempting to braid them both. Most comically, however, was that he looked to be wearing a child's night gown. There was a set of clothes neatly folded on the table in front of him which he was now too short, and too broad, to fit in. It wasn't till she noticed that he had one bright green eye and one brown one that she recognized the Dwarf as a fellow orphan by the name of Alto.

  "You both look different..." She said awkwardly.

  Natasha smiled kindly. "The wings I can learn to live with," She said "but I'm not too sure about being covered in scales."

  In New Birth, Natasha had been seen as a real beauty, and the most sought after as a potential wife. People were stunned to learn that she was going through with the Awakening. Apparently, she thought her scales somehow diminished her beauty, but Faye thought she looked better than ever.

  "At least you aren't a dwarf!" Snapped Alto, always one quick to anger. Faye didn't envy Alto, but somehow being a Dwarf seemed to fit him well.

  "Are we the only ones who have made it?" Faye asked, wondering just how big Thane's yearly meal would be this year.

  "No" Justice answered, looking Faye up and down curiously. "Pyrin is outside in a magical tank of water. He Awoke as a merperson. "he shook his head sadly "Poor guy had to be carried to the door by that massive dragon! Someone is out there trying to calm him down now."

  Faye tried not to show her amusement as she imagined Thane lifting a squirming half-fish over his cavern to the door.

  A sober thought reached through the humor. That meant that three men had lost their lives this Awakening so far. Just how many more would make it?

  "How many have gone through so far?" Asked one of the bearded Searx.

  "I was number seven" Faye answered. "I went after Alto."

  "What? But he came through ages ago..."

  "Yeah... Thane and I got to talking and we ran rather long. The next Searx was being sent through just as I was leaving."

  "Who is Thane?" Asked Natasha abandoning her attempts at getting comfortably seated in the wooden chair and standing, stretching her blue translucent wings as best she could. The cabin was in no way small, but it still wasn't adequate to accommodate her wings.

  "The Dragon."

  Faye wasn't surprised by the stunned silence that met her announcement. She doubted anyone else stopped to have a conversation with a massive dragon, inside a scary cave, after going through the painful process of the Awakening.

  When the silence grew too long for Faye's comfort she said "What? He was nice!"

  Justice broke into a body shaking laugh "Awesome!" He exclaimed holding his sides. "I threatened him after my Awakening. He growled so loud the whole place shook, and he almost chased me out the door."

  Faye smiled. She wouldn't have guessed that Justice would be so brazen. She wouldn't call what he did brave, so much as foolish.

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  "So, what are you now anyway?" He asked once he could control his laughter. " Are you an elf?" He pointed to where her ears were hidden beneath her long hair.

  Faye smiled awkwardly. "No, I'm Daemona." She said.

  "Not possible." Piped up the second bearded Searx "Women don't become Daemon in the Awakening."

  "According to Thane women turn Daemon as often as men do. They just don't usually live through it." Faye shrugged her shoulders "I'm the only one to have done it I guess..."

  "Really?" Said Alto, forgetting his attempt at braiding his beard.

  "Yes. At least I'm not a dragon! Thane says I would have made a great dragoness."

  "It's good you didn't become one. Female dragons are terrors!" Said the first bearded Searx. "We had one last year. She nearly ate Patrick. Isn't that right Krane?"

  The other bearded man, Krane, nodded. "He retired promptly after that."

  Settling herself at the table, Faye gratefully accepted a bowl of stew and began to eat. It was nearly an hour before the door opened again. In stumbled a tall, thin man, with short blonde hair and pointed ears.

  "Prax!" Alto shouted, running to his friend.

  "Damn Dragon!" Prax shouted at the door. "What's the big idea, making us face that thing?!"

  "Faye says he isn't all bad." Justice snickered, gesturing toward Faye, who had stood up from the table when the door opened.

  Prax snorted. "That explains that then..." He grumbled.

  "Explains what?" Asked Faye.

  "I asked the brute how many of us he'd eaten, and he said 'more than most years.' And laughed at me! I got mad... rightfully so, I might add! I asked him if he'd used the skinny girls as tooth picks. I admit that it probably wasn't the best idea to back talk a dragon, but the bastard decided to eat me! I had to haul tail across that death trap of a path before he got his claws in me!"

  Amused, Faye looked to the wide-open door with a smile on her face, only to let out a startled shout an instant later. Staring at her from the rectangle door frame was a huge orange eye.

  Prax gave a fearful shout and fell over one of the couches as he backed up from the door. The others gave equally terrified shouts and scurried as far from the door as they could manage. So Faye stood before the dragon all on her own.

  "Thane." She said happily, ignoring Justice's warning cry.

  "Are you alright?" Thane asked her mentally. He glared at Prax who was cowering behind the couch.

  "I'm perfectly fine."

  Thane snorted and a plume of smoke filled the cabin making everyone cough. Justice rushed forward and tried to pull Faye away.

  "Hey!" She yelped pulling her arm back. "He won't hurt me."

  "Don't be too hard on the brat." Thane said, adding an audible growl. "It's instinct for Daemon to protect their females..."

  "I am nobody's female!" Faye huffed, giving the dragon's eye a dirty look.

  Thane chuckled, causing Justice to try and grab her again when the ground shook. "No doubt." Thane laughed. "A male would have to be very impressive to lay a claim on you Little One."

  "Are you making fun of me?"

  "Never."

  "Faye...?" Said justice nervously. Faye realized that the others could only hear her side of the conversation.

  "Everything is fine..." She told Justice calmly.

  "That one was the last by the way." Thane said glaring at Prax again.

  "Only six of us made it?"

  "What?" Asked Justice "What's he saying?"

  "Prax was the last. The Awakening is over." She said not taking her eyes off Thane's large orange one. "I won't ever see you, again will I?" She asked him sadly.

  "Not likely Little One..." The orange light seemed to dim a little. Faye was a little confused by how sad that news actually, made her. She had only known Thane a couple hours. "Don't be sad Little One. You may not be able to see me, but I might be able to check on you during my Dream Walks."

  "Really?"

  "Yes." Faye beamed at the dragon. I actually hurt her face to do... she couldn't remember the last time she had occasion to smile so broadly.

  Thane gave another of his smokey snorts as a way of goodbye and disappeared with a scrape of claw on stone and a surprisingly gentle whoosh of his wings. Krane rushed forward and shut the door. Not that the flimsy wooden door would do much against Thane's might if he did decide to return.

  "That was scary." Breathed Natasha. "All that smoke and growling. He could have burnt us to a crisp!"

  "He wouldn't have done that..." Faye said, but truthfully, she didn't know that for sure.

  Justice laughed uneasily. " Not with you here anyway." He said.

  "What's that supposed to mean?"

  "I saw the twinkle in that dragon's eye." He laughed. "I might not have been able to hear what he was saying, but you two were defiantly flirting."

  "What?!" Natasha exclaimed. "eww!"

  Turning pink Faye couldn't look any of them in the eye. "I was not flirting."

  The rest of the night was mainly spent in quiet chatter and making plans for the next day. Except for Pyrin, who, in his magical box of water, would be escorted by some elven volunteers to the Breastor Sea, where his fellow merpeople would bring him to a colony beneath the water.

  Pax would also leave with the elves, who would take him to their forest village in the Everwinter Forest to the south once Pyrin was delivered.

  After a few hours of sleep, Natasha would be taken by some Dray-Kin- who would arrive sometime the next morning- to the great Dray-kin Kingdom of Dracorm, far to the north. Lastly, Alto- who didn't have far to go- would leave the next morning with one of the Searx who live in the cabin. He would be taken to the largest of the many Dwarven settlements scattered around the Stames Mountains.

  That just left Justice and Faye. Krane would be bringing them through the Stames mountains and on to the northern border, where they would cross over and go a short distance to the town of Stine. Thane had been right, she would be headed to the kingdoms of Breastor Pass.

  The next day, before the sun could even be seen over the mountain tops, Faye, Justice and Krane packed up some provisions and headed out even before Natasha's escorts had arrived.

  The journey though the steep mountains was rough, and at times nearly impassable, but they made it through with persistence and the adrenaline of the unknown. On the third day of travel they were held up by bad weather. A thunder storm had them seeking shelter in a shallow cave for a day.

  Faye enjoyed the company of Justice and Krane. Justice was talkative and always telling jokes or humerus stories, keeping the others in good spirits. Krane, though not particularly conversational, was a rock for Faye to lean on when things got tough, and he was full of helpful advice.

  A week later, as they crested the last mountain, Krane pointed out a fuzzy smear on the horizon. It was Stine; just in sight at the far end of the rolling plain. Four more days and they would reach Stine!