She took a sip of her ale.  “I was involved in a certain conflict in the land of Calador, as some of the current generation knows.”  She spoke slowly, without a hint of her usual good humor.

Maybe it was because she had powers of persuasion, or because it was a chance to learn something about mysterious Morgy’s past, but Baneck was suddenly engrossed in her every word.

“Unfortunately, I threw my lot in with the wrong side.  My hoard, my lair, my allies, and very nearly my life, were lost.”

She looked between them.  Baneck did not let his attention waver, wanting very much to hear everything she had to say.

“But I learned something from those who had me at their mercy, but held the death-blow.

“There’s more strength to be had in standing for something other than one’s self; something other than one’s own ambitions.”

“I can hear all of dragon-kind rolling in their graves,” Torsar said.

“Hm-hm.  In the strength of that philosophy, one could win; and in the peace brought by strength, one could prosper.  It takes an intelligent creature to see the merits.”

Torsar nodded.  “A practical perspective.”

“I could not stay anywhere in my old homeland, and I had only a bag of gold to my name.

“So why should I come here, of all places, to a people known for killing dragons, and fighting a brood of reds to a standstill?”

Baneck shrugged.

“It was for the strength of community.  The honor of the Coastals was as famous as their bloodied swords.  To be part of that society, would make me part of the reliable strength I had seen in others.”

Her head bent slightly more forward.  Looking with defining focus, her eyes held Baneck’s as if she was a commanding officer.  “I took a chance.”

“I flew into the Coast, and came to light just outside the town of Dumian and the royal Keep, in broad daylight.  Of course, I was quickly surrounded by warriors and wizards alike.  But they did not attack right away.  Like all smart people, they observed first, to find out what I was about.  I told them I came to live among them.  Being part of their kingdom would continue my own safety, as it had theirs.”

She brushed her hair back, as if thinking in pleasant reminiscence.

“They did not appreciate being used, naturally.  They spoke of their battles with the mighty Spearhorns brood, and how their kingdom had no place for a dragon.  Why do you think I’m still here?”

Baneck shrugged again, but kept his eyes on her.

“Because I laughed, and told them, they kill red dragons, not copper ones.”

Baneck cocked his head, and looked at her incredulously.

“You did what?”

“I was not a red.  So I acted like they did not need to fight me.”

“But you were still a dragon!”

“Yes.  But the good thing about not being a red, I told them, is reds have no value for honor.

“This, they quickly agreed to.”

“The king at that time was Angar, the Buried Axe,” Baneck pointed out.  “He would not have spared your life just for that.”

“No.  And among other things, there was talk of me being a spy for the Spearhorns.  By this time, the biding spells were upon me, so I couldn’t leave if I wanted to.  But fortune was with me that day.  Angar was away on other business.  So I kept making my case.

“I showed them the gold I carried, and said quite plainly, if the Spearhorns even knew of me, then any one of them would rob me, or slay me unless I paid them tribute.

“Despite being weaker than the Spearhorns, I would give up neither my pride nor my treasure for any other dragon.  Just, as I told the humans, they had their pride; and served the principles of honor and society, and in those things had possessed the strength to beat back the Spearhorns.”

“To which they said?”

“‘That does not matter to a dragon’.

“‘But if I stay in this territory’, I told them, I would stand by it and all in it.  I would stand beside those who have bought their peace through strength.”

“You were telling them things they wouldn’t believe.”

“Yes, but I knew the value of my wit, and knew it to be more effective than any sword.”

“You were trying to prove something to yourself,” Torsar said.  “After your loss, you had to believe your wit was still a powerful force.  So how did you sway them?”

“Because I told them, ‘Let us be realistic.  If a brood of reds could not conquer this country, then what could one copper do?  A copper dragon living among you is not a threat.  It pains me to say it’, I told them, ‘but it’s true.’

“Since they had prospered under the strength of community and kin, they did not know how pride could destroy the mightiest of creatures.  Therefore, I challenged them to listen to a tale of a mighty female elder red dragon – a true queen among her kind – and her fall from power.  And if they still wanted to say I was speaking falsehoods, let them say so at the end of this tale.”

“But they had not really called you a liar,” Baneck said.  “They just did not trust you.”

“But with a challenge to their own pride of what they knew of the world, I guided them into a new conversation.”

“Now, see, nephew,” Torsar said, with one meaty finger jabbing at him, “this is why you never argue at length with any female.”  He took another swallow, then looked back at their hostess.

“The story was so unusual,” she continued, “somebody needed a drink.  Then somebody else needed a drink.  After everyone had indulged a little too much, Angar arrived the next morning.  Naturally, he wanted not to hear any excuses, but to have me gone and those who had allowed me to live punished.  But a couple of them stood up for me, and said it would be better to keep me alive, because I had been so interesting.”

“Interesting?”

“A tale makes a friend with each new telling, yes?  My chance paid off in the light of their own pride.  They told the king, that killing a copper dragon who’s not threatening them, would be beneath them.

“Then I had a chance to tell Angar, a human is still a human.  What makes them different is their choices; and the Coastals’ strength had come from their choices.

“In that regard, I told him, humans and dragons have the same power.  He had the power to choose if any creature stayed or went.  But he also had the power to decide why.

“Typical of Coastal kings, he was a proud and personally stubborn man.  I believe a part of him wanted to be so proud, he did not want to kill a copper dragon just because a brood of reds nested to the north.  That would be like them making the decision for him.  He kept me under the binding spells for days, while he sent out messengers with a simple question: did a dragon ever spend a night of drinking and storytelling with humans?”

“So he let you stay then?”

“Of course not.  Even tolerating me as a prisoner, there was outcry.  The leaders of the Noble Houses traveled quickly to Dumian to protest.  While he was mulling it over, he had me kept between the barracks of the training grounds.  Left to their own devices, the troops started training with me.  After all, nobody in the land had fought a dragon for centuries.  The question was on their mind: did they still have what it takes?”

“A question planted by you,” Torsar surmised.

“Oh, in a subtle way, maybe,” she cooed, with a flutter of her eyelashes.  “But could they move their sword faster than my claw?  Could they leap over my sweeping tail on the left, while their wizard cast a spell on the right?”

She looked at them both with a sinfully joyful smile.  “Is that any way to guard a prisoner?”

“Oi!  That went over well,” Torsar said.

“He was too angry to kill them.  But this turned out to be the greatest boon of all.  If I was helping them fight, I could not be in league with other dragons.  That seed was slow to grow, but it took hold nonetheless.”

“You used their pride to guide their opinion,” Baneck stated, with grudging admiration.

“By having them argue over the matter, I got them to take more interest in me.”

Baneck smiled.  “So those old stories are true.”

Torsar jabbed a thumb at the bar behind them.  “Did you mean to build a personal guild, when you adopted your first human child?”

“That’s a tale for another day.”

“After you’ve built over two generations of family?”

“Another day,” she repeated, closing the matter.

Baneck clasped his hands firmly around his mug, elbows on the table.

“I don’t mean to question your honor, Morgy.  But why didn’t you do anything when Felldrake was threatening us?”