Disclaimer: The world and characters created by Mercedes Lackey belongs to her, not me.

Chapter Sixteen

The crowd took an involuntary step back. A hushed silence fell.

"Whoa." King Kris drew out in a stunned voice. In Gadriel's place standing behind the now seeming small bush was a large, very large, black, winged, reptilian beast. Dragon, Kris mentally corrected himself and not in Gadriel's place but Gadriel himself. Gadriel was even larger than the Griffons, about the size of a one room cabin not accounting for wingspan and tail. He was sleek and powerful, his scales the same black with deep blue shimmer as his clothes. Clothes he now suspected were made of his own hide. His head was long and narrow kind of like a mix between a horse and snake. He had two ridges acting like eyebrows over deep blue eyes with slit pupils. He had two straight pristine white horns coming out of the back of his head. Two parallel frills ,starting on the outside of his horns, flowed down his long neck and followed his spine all the way to near the end of his tail where they merged into one. The first part of his frill beside the horns were larger matching the horns in length but slanted so they ended behind them. The end of his frill after they merged was also larger creating a sort of plume. His feet were long jointed like the Griffons, his claws as pristine white as his horns. He looked towards his wings folded neatly against his back.

"May I see your wings?" King Kris asked politely.

"Your Highness!" a concerned voice objected from the crowd.

"Hush now." he replied gently. The crowd watched avidly not daring to interrupt the King again. Until that moment Gadriel had been standing still but at the King's request he stepped out from behind the bush and slowly unfurled his left wing. "May I?" King Kris asked indicating he wanted to come closer.

Gadriel nodded, "You may." The crowd gasped in surprise, many unused to voices in their head, and murmuring broke out. The King slowly walked forward and reached out towards Gadriel's wing. It was smooth and cool to the touch, firm. Unlike the Griffons feathered wings these were more like sailcloth between the masts of the ships of Lake Evendim. The joints and 'arms' of his wing was clearly visible under the scales of his thin wing. At the top point of his wing where the 'arms' and joints met was a small horn like protrusion of bone.

"Fascinating." King Kris stepped back. "Thank you." Gadriel nodded in acknowledgement and tucked his wing back in. Dalina took this as her cue and started to circle Gadriel curiously occasionally hopping up to rest her hooves on his sides and get a better look. Gadriel obligingly lay down to give her better access. Dalina promptly took advantage of this and scrambled onto his back. The crowd looked on curiously not sure what to make of the Dragon calmly letting his Companion literally walk all over him. King Kris got the distinctive impression of a lazing hound letting the pups play all over him. He looked at his sister bemused.

"He really is quite intriguing." Senta sent with an image of Gadriel from behind. King Kris looked back towards Gadriel to see he now had a crowd of Companions behind him as well. "And this does explain his lovely Dragon Star song."

"Dragon Star song?"Kris asked confused.

"Yes. He sang it just after he got here. Its about the colours of the tribes. Or at least I believe so. He wears it on that sash during Council and Court." Senta explained. Kris recalled the multicoloured star clasp Gadriel wore on his sash. In truth it was hard to miss as it was the only colour in his outfit.

"I don't remember turquoise being on it." Kris mused. "But he did say Fredrick was the only one."

"Gadriel?!" Kris turned to see a shocked looking Herald Trainee staring at Gadriel. "Wha.. bu..." the red haired trainee trailed off before his face suddenly lit up and he laughed in glee. "Ohhh, they're never going to believe this!" He ran forward and skidded to a stop in front of Gadriel. "Is this why Laurie looks so young? Why you're so tall? If your scales are the colour of your hair does that mean Marlong has green hair? Were you hatched? Are dragon scales really impenetrable?" The trainee suddenly looked suspicious "Do you really kidnap young virgins?" Kris was surprised at how well he could read the unimpressed expression on Gadriel's now reptilian face. Dalina humphed indigently.

"Really Tavan?! Virgins?" Kaliria asked exasperated,walking out of the crowd, and rolled her eyes.

"I'm just saying." Tavan muttered defensively. "It's in all the stories."

Gadriel sighed irritably. "Are Heralds really demon spawn? Do the Tayledras really make off with naughty children?" Gadriel asked with a long look to make sure Tavan got his point. "To answer your other questions yes we age slower, we're all tall, Marlong has green hair, and we OOF,"Gadriel gave a stern look to an apologetic looking Dalina before turning back, "and yes we hatch, and no our scales are not impenetrable just nearly."

"Wow." Tavan said in awe, "Green hair." Gadriel snorted.

Gadriel stretched his long neck back and nudged Dalina with his nose. Taking that as a que she slid off Gadriel's back. Once she was firmly on the ground Gadriel stood and stepped back behind the bush. In the blink of an eye he was once again Gadriel the man.