I knew that he would tell me something witty or at least deep, when I asked what was up these days in the Nexus. But I had no idea when my draconic friend Seppun recommended some teleport coordinates to me that they'd lead me quite where they did...

The Sanctuary of the Sun. It was a beautiful place, hardly what I'd expected to visit after many months in the busy and often dark streets of Paragon City. Ruins dotted the area nearby a wonderful ... temple? City? Stronghold? I had no idea what to call it. Sanctuary, I suppose... Yeah, that'd work. Though I'm not magical by way of the powers I use, I've been exposed to magic often enough to know that this place fairly reeked of it. In a good way - not like down in the somewhat stagnant Oranbega city.

(Mmm, well, yeah that little tidbit that flashed through my mind about Akarist needs to just sit itself right down. He's on leave from Atlas' magic department for a trip to Carramba High, and I'm sure that once the semester is over there, we'll be able to see each other again.)

The dragons that flew through the skies over this Sanctuary were gigantic. Well Seppi is pretty large himself, but these were more traditional looking. He's very horsey, pegasus...sy, perhaps. A dragon, none the less, but...

"Perhaps you are here to investigate the possibility of Choice? Are you here as Inspired?" Asked someone who'd appeared out of nowhere. He was human, I think, but he wore robes and looked way too much like a Circle for my tastes. Yet, I smiled.

"Sure," I said, "I was ... not really sent here, but a friend of mine told me I ought to come here. So," I grinned brightly, "here I am!"

He nodded and turned, so I followed him along until I came to the sands of their ...

"This is a dragonry," I whispered. It didn't seem like I ought to say anything too loudly. But my host merely nodded again.

"Yes it is, and ... there are already a small number of dragons ready to be approached. They've hatched, but they are still willing to Choose."

I gulped, "erm..." I found nothing else to say. He'd gone, and there were two or three nosey dragons approaching me. They were large - adults? "Hi," I said, and one of them turned away and went back where shhhhe? was busy preening.

The other though, a shy male continued to stare at me while looking over his shoulder. It wasn't that he looked uninterested in me, but that more like he needed to look inconspicuous as he did so.

"It's all right, I'm used to being looked at, I mean," I spontaneously changed costumes with a flashy teleport, "I'm a superhero, getting praised and looked at is part of my job!"

He gave a strange sing-song noise, it was beautiful. It had meaning, substance. I had no idea what it was, only that he aimed it at me. He repeated it, and then it became clearer. Not in English, of course, but what he'd said was something like, 'that was a neat trick, do it again'.

"Well it takes a minute," I said, "I have to ... kind of shuffle my wardrobe." Eventually I flashed back to my old costume, and then to my Irregulars colors. He seemed more and more impressed, and nudged himself a little closer.

He was huge, to me. I wasn't used to dealing with dragons really regularly - Seppi is a friend and fellow 'heroic' type, but I don't hang out with dragons. Even some Zekirans gave me a bit of a shock - being so darn tall and with the extra limbs and stuff.

But this guy...

He seemed painfully shy. Even though he was absolutely gorgeous, with this almost... giraffe like pattern on his skin. Yet he was a bit small, now that I could see the females who stood around. But it was 'small' like by the size of a freakin' volkswagen, maybe, he was almost as tall as a building.

"Do you want to see where I fight crime?" I asked, "Maybe Seppun should come along, show you around too. He comes to Paragon a --"

no, I will come with you anyway!

... Where had that come from? I blinked, I wasn't really used to telepathic speech. Not since that one time with the Rikti, but that was a long time ago. Other dragons did it, but this voice was so different. Smooth, almost intoxicating.

"Then, I ... let's go, eh?" I suggested.

first I will give you something, he thought. I realized that I wasn't even experiencing words so much as ideas - what he'd just 'said' almost looked like a 'hold on/stop sign/hand out' sequence. It was followed by a kind of sigh from him, vocally. I looked up. He had lovely violet colored eyes, I stared at them.

Lethayukulen, he said, and I jumped.

"Er..."

That is what you should call me. If that's not too much of a bother. He was so timid.

"I will certainly call you that!" I said smiling. "It's a wonderful name. I like it. Reminds me of someone I know, for some reason." That reason escaped me, I've no clue, but it was familiar. Perhaps it was just that... maybe, this was meant to be.

I didn't believe in fate, before I met Akarist. I didn't believe in a lot of things. But after traveling between universes and seeing the sights that other versions of me and the world could have... Maybe this was meant to be.

I'd have to thank Seppi later.

you should ride, he thought to me, an image of me upon his furry back.

Now, look - I'm not really afraid of heights any more, but I teleport away from things quickly enough that I don't have to worry about whether I'm falling.

This dragon is like ... a dozen feet tall, taller than two of me. But ... "Okay," I said. I was used to climbing and jumping over things in my day to day activities in Paragon, and my leathers worked nicely to protect me from the elements. Maybe now it'd be like a flight suit.

Where?

"I can teleport us there, so if you want you can get us back here," I suggested. He complied, and I... concentrated hard.

I'd teleported large things before, but he was actually quite bigger than I'd expected. All that wing membrane... And tail.

"Tuck your tail here," I said, patting his side, "and put your wings close. I can handle the mass, but not the space. Okay - good."

And then we went home. Paragon was a black flash away.

***

We landed on my apartment building's roof, which was a typical perch for me whenever I started my day. Crime fighting in Paragon was easy - you just look around.

"Oh please, look at that crap," I muttered from the dragon's back. Down below, on the street about six stories down, there was a woman typically being assaulted for her purse. "You'd think that women would learn not to bring purses with them everywhere they go. By now, I mean..."

Abruptly, Lethayukulen slipped from the rooftop and spread his wings a little. Just a bit, enough to slow our fall. We didn't plummet like I often wound up doing (hey, just because I can teleport doesn't mean I can fly - I fall all the time!) we drifted. It was a marvelous sensation - and I trusted him.

We came to about the second floor when the two Hellions looked up for the first time, shoving the woman away and dropping her purse. She didn't run - but the two young men did.

go after them? The dragon asked me, and I said, "no, just let them run. They'll get caught doing something else stupid by some other hero. Probably today if statistics serve me."

"I've ... I've met heroes before," the woman stammered as she picked up her purse, "but I've never seen a dragon!"

I laughed, tried to put her at ease, and let off a healing burst at her. Surely being tossed on her bum wasn't the nicest experience she could have. "Need a lift to work?"

***

Seppi stood proudly next to Lethayukulen, and tossed his head. "You see, I told you that was a good place for you."

"And I can't thank you enough," I said. "Paragon will be extra safe now. Until tomorrow morning when everything starts over..."

I protect, Lethayukulen announced.

"And you do it very well, too," I said.

"But wouldn't you like to mate?" Asked Seppi, out of the blue. I swear, that if my dragon friend, my Inspired Choice, could have blushed - he would have. "There are females willing you know... In fact there is one at your home."

this is my home now, he supplied carefully.

"I think he means where you were born," I said, and leaned up against him. He was warm, so soft. So fierce in battle too - we'd met up with another bizarre clockwork monster last week and the way he took it apart amazed me. "Wouldn't it be nice to have a break and then come back?"

All right, but ... I am so small, I cannot win.

"Letha' you're so ... you're fast, strong, brave. You're far braver than most, I think. Because you're small. You're no less handsome than any other dragon out there, what more could a girl want? I've seen you do some really incredible things in the air."

like that one trick? he imagined a loopy spiral turn, one that had me clinging on for dear life.

"Yeah like that one!" I laughed. "Come on, my friend, we're going to the Sanctuary and seeing about this female you're gonna pair up with. I can't wait to see if there will be any little ones on the way..."

Briefly I panicked, like I always did - did I water the plants/feed the animals/lock my doors?

My little Massacranian pup was doing okay, surrounded as he was by my cats, who were extremely protective of him. I'd found him a few weeks before, while Letha' and I were portal hopping. Since he was tiny, and pretty much newborn, I had no idea what to call him. I did gather a bit of history about the place we found him, but not much more.

I do not know why you want that thing. Its race is dangerous.

"But he doesn't know that yet. And I'm used to rehabilitating villains all the time, Letha', you know that. He's not going to be raised that way." My usual method of operation was to try and get the bad guys to help themselves out of their situation. Sure I'd send them to jail if I had to. But if I could get even one of them to apologize for their actions and mean it, that was a success.

Akarist agrees, I think... *wink*

So with the pup settled in, and the food on automatic, we went back to the Sanctuary.

***

"I didn't realize you'd have to be competing against other males like that," I said, apologetically. Poor Letha' was curled up next to a large stone outcrop, watching the other males leap into the air and spin. They were practicing. The girls would just sit there waiting.

"How freakin' arrogant," I said to myself, but wasn't really serious. After all I'd looked at the female that had announced her ... event, whatever you'd want to call it, and she seemed very level headed. It was their culture that had the males flaunting their abilities and showing off their colors to her.

humans are backwards, Lethayukulen told me with a silly image. We are meant to impress her, not the other way around - she is impressive just the way she is.

And she was, too. Striped sort of, darker than my bond's furry skin. Prouder than he too - like some of the males. I did worry, they were bigger, some were different species.

"But Letha' you're faster and have a much better turn radius than those big lumps," I suggested. He needed all the assertion he could get. After all, he was 'so small' compared to the others.

What might happen next?