Night was falling, and with it the temperature, bringing a chill I shouldn’t have been able to feel. I knew I should get up, leave behind this secluded corner and uncomfortable stone bench and go inside, into the light and the warmth where my friends would be waiting for me, but I just couldn’t bring myself to stand.

They would all be excited, filled with nervous anticipation, ready to see my true form and certain the elders had given me the key to find it. It would never occur to any of them that I wasn’t a dragon like them, bound to human form in infancy until reaching a level of skill and power and self awareness sufficient to cast Revert to True Form. I had dragon magic, after all. So what else could I be?

A huff of bitter laughter fell away from me. Seconds later, there was Pitch, buzzing low to the ground in his true dragon form. I always thought it was funny that he was pure white and tiny as a dragon when his name was Pitch and his human form was so massive, but I was having trouble finding anything humorous at the moment.

“There you are, Kauri! We’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

“You have? Why?” I asked, internally admonishing myself for not casting a hiding.

“You missed dinner and no one heard from you after your meeting with the elders. We were worried. Some of us thought you might have gotten lost in the instincts of dragon shape and needed help remembering who you are no matter what shape you are, so we all came looking. I was put in charge of this section of the grounds in case you were little like me and couldn’t fly far, and Frost and Soot took some of the better flyers and they’re doing a wide loop in case you ended up big and went further than you meant to. But here you are, all human shaped and safe.” Pitch touched down, changing to his human form between one breath and the next. “Were you waiting for us to change shapes?”