For both their safety and Dafne's sanity, both patients were moved the next day. The Daygon prince was put in Dafne's room, being the most comfortable room in her house. Marcie would have protested but Dafne shushed her with a look. Then they placed Sebastian in a corner of the treatment room and sectioned it completely off with screens, so anyone seeking treatment could enter without disturbing him. Dafne made sure there were lots of doors between the two wounded parties. Especially when Marcie suggested she should inform Aldren and Jin of their companions condition. To them he would have been missing for several days now, and they were no doubt worried.

Dafne agreed it had to be done but she insisted on holding out for at least one day more,

"To keep what little peace there is" she grumbled,

Marcie helped care for the patients, although they were getting better so quickly she had little to do except feed and change bedding, the wounds healed well with no infection in sight and little fever. It was incredible.

Both were in very deep sleep which Dafne said they would stay in until most of the 'internal damage' as she called it had repaired itself and then they would wake. She did not know how long this would take, just that it would be a while.

Marcie tried to be helpful but her mind was elsewhere, Dara was staying close by and she was itching to see him, she had shown him all Dafne had revealed to her and he was equal parts fascinated with her, and distrustful. Probably because he had felt Marcie's anger, sadness,and fleeting sense of betrayal.

Marcie was snapped back into her own body from watching Dara do tricks in the air by Dafne calling her name,

"Hmm sorry? What did you say?" she said,

Dafne sighed exasperatedly,

"Yeah, ah can see you was nay llistening" she reapplied Sebastian's bandages securely.

"Whats keepin yer head in the clouds then eh?" she asked as she peeled off another bandage to expose another wound for inspection.

"Nothing, I am just tired" Marcie said truthfully,

Dafne grunted

She finished checking Sebastian's wounds and rose from her crouch,

"Right en, shall I come an meet yer Dragon en"

Marcie started, and nearly dropped the pitcher of water she was holding,

"What? Why? What?" She stammered,

Dafne snorted, "Oh common girly, its me, I ain't a villager to be scared of by a nearly extinct fantastical creature" she lowered her voice,"Yer do remember the very large tree im keepin a secret under the floor yeah?"

Marcie laughed nervously despite herself,

"Yes, sorry Dafne, I just...I'm so used to keeping him a secret, I dont know how to..." she trailed off, "He's close by, ill tell him to come meet us"

"Good" Dafne said briskly,

She locked the door securely between the Daygon and their wounded foe and led Marcie out and round the side of her hillside home to a sheltered part where they would be unlikely to be seen by anyone passing.

Marcie took a deep fearful breath and hesitantly beckoned Dara to come and meet her and Dafne, he sent her reluctance and a little bit of fear, she sent him reassurance and he begrudgingly accepted. He had been nesting in a large tree and flew out of the branch and up high into the sky and then come down in a dive, unable to resist the urge to show off to this stranger who would be only the second human he would have met face to face.

Marcie watched Dafne's eyes light up when she saw the beautiful black scaled creature swoop out of the sky and even out  into a graceful landing. Dara rustled his wings before tucking them carefully away and standing up tall and straight, all his spikes on display.

He hoped to look majestic and also a little frightening, did he succeed until Marcie wrapped her arms around him and rubbed under his chin where she knew he liked it, he nuzzled her neck happily then fixed his eyes upon Dafne and stared at her in a challenging manner.

Dafne returned the stare and a large smile caused laugh lines to open around her eyes.

"Oh Marcie, he's a beauty that's fer sure" she said softly,

Dara bristled smugly, he liked her already.

Dafne slowly raised her hand and held it palm up. Dara inched his snout close to her fingers and sniffed deeply. After a moment he nuzzled her to say he approved.

She stepped forward and began scratching the soft scales under his chin and on his neck, he growled in pleasure.

Marcie kept a hand on his wing, she could tell he was still a little nervous and tried to keep herself calm so as to reassure him.

Dafne held Dara's head up and to the side, she peered into first one eye, then the other, she tugged on his ears and tested the sharpness of his teeth, claws and the spikes on his head and down his back.

"Hmm" she said, walking around him, Dara's head turned with her, he seemed to be anxious to impress as he had endured her inspection with little complaint.

"He's pretty big for his age. But en, black dragons always were" She said, picking up his tail by the end spike and holding it out, nodding as she walking around him.

"Still a babe but maturing quickly, when starts losin his scales, then the new ones come in its a sure sign of im bein an adult"

She paused and tested the sharpness of one of the great spikes on his head with her finger, wiping the resulting blood it drew on her skirt,

"The growth period can be ard, for both o you" she said softly, fixing Marcie with a stare,

"How big will he grow?" Marcie asked, intrigued,

Dafne shrugged, "Dunno girly, no way to tell with dragons, big, thats fer sure"

Marcie stroked Dara's neck, "His mother was the biggest thing I ever seen" she said, wincing at the stab of pain that Dara felt at the mention.

"Oh he'll be bigger an his mom fer sure. She was a great beast but she wont very old and she was only a red dragon, they the commonest an only bout mid sized" she waved her hand in a vague gesture.

Dara bristled at that but Marcie soothed him,

"Din like that did he" Dafne observed

"If dragons are extinct how did he and his mother come to be in that cave?" Marcie asked to change to subject,

"Well...they aren't" Dafne said,

Marcie frowned, "What do you mean?" she said, Dara also fixed Dafne with a quizzical look,

Dafne shifted, looking a little uncomfortable,

"They ain't extinct, in hidin yeah an not as many as they used ta be but they still around"

"Then why have they not been seen? Why is their existence not common knowledge?" Marcie asked,

Dafne stared at her hard,

"Cuz they hidin innit. Used ta be, the sky was full o them, they could be a right nuisance an all, but they were as common as deer, some o them were solitary bunch, some o them were pack animals but all o them were powerful and wary o humans and Daygon alike"

"Why are they in hiding?" Marcie asked,

Dafne's eyes went dark, she patted the top of Dara's head absent-mindedly,

"The Daygon happened" She said,

Dara quivered, he shrank against Marcie's side,

"What do you mean?" Marcie breathed,

"They became so many that the Daygon saw them as a pest, a worthy pest, one hard ta kill, but a pest nonetheless an they started a campaign to kill em all"

"Why?" Marcie said quietly,

"The Daygon are a warrior race, all o them are raised ta fight from birth,they need war to live, they need ta use their skills ta hunt, and to kill. They decided dragons were the ultimate opponent an they slaughtered them"

Dafne closed her eyes and when she opened them Marcie could almost see the accumulation of years of loneliness and pain embedded on The Forgotten blue.

He voice began to take on a more formal cadence, she started to sound like one of her history books, but Marcie had read all the books and none of them spoke of Dragons and Daygon at war. Dafne's eyes began to darken and took on the far seeing look that they had gained when she warned Marcie about the wolves, Marcie tightened her grip on Dara who shied away from the old Witch.

"Both sides were culled considerable, and in the end, The Daygon retreated to the Juggernaut where they licked their wounds and plotted to regain their pride. However the humans, who had remained neutral throughout this conflict (not for any reasons of moral you understand but simply because they wished the two parties to destroy each other )saw the Daygon as the weaker and started a defensive to remove them entirely. The Daygon, weakened though they were, were a force completely made up of fighters and strengthened considerable by their knowledge of their mighty home, and the powers contained within, they fought to a stalemate with the humans, who, realising their mistake, erected the great Cathels Wall, a feat which took two score years to build and bankrupted King Cathel in the process, a bankruptcy which continued into four generations of kings and was only overturned by the ruthless king Jessiah who taxed his people so heavily that he overflowed his cofers and, as a result, ensured the prosperity of the house of kings for generations to come. The Dragons seized on this great distraction and took to the skies, slowly but surely, leaving no trace that they had ever inhabited the earth. Where they went no one knows but they did not appear in the kingdom for many many years. Untill..."

Not-Dafne's head snapped towards Marcie and she stared with her black black eyes into Marcie's and Marcie felt that she might leave her body and fall into them they were so endless.

"A Dragon, a mother, drawn to this ancient forest by a force she knew not what, maybe it was the feeling of death she felt, but she did not know why she was to die, just that she would, she accepted this as she was soon to birth her first child and wondered if she would watch it grow or if it was destined to die as she was. She put these strange thoughts from her head as Dragons were creatures of the present and not ones to ponder questions of their place in the world or where their long lives would take them. She was led by that same great purpose that caused her to leave the relative safety of the Dragon flock and come to this unknown place, to a suitable home, one with a touch having been placed there just for her. There she birthed her first egg and rejoiced when it hatched an infant with scales black as night meaning her child would be a ruler of beasts. The threat of death led her to keep her child close, and she mourned for them both and prayed to the mysterious power of this place to spare her child. Then, it answered. An intruder in her sanctuary, a scent she recognised as one she was warned to avoid at all costs, human. With no where to turn she confronted the human and found it to be a female, young and strong but afraid, she fled but not before the Dragon mother had her answer. This was the one who would raise her child."

Not-Dafne finished her tale, she gasped and her eyes bled back into their natural colour. Marcie released the breath she did not realise she had been holding and Dara made a wining sound of distress.

"I need ta...see ta my patients" Dafne said faintly, she made to walk to the door of her house but stumbled and fell to her knees after only a couple of steps. Marcie rushed forward and took her arm,gently pulling her to her feet,

"I'm aright, I'm aright" she said weakly,

Marcie escorted her back inside and deposited her in a chair in the study, then she made some tea, with just a hint of honey, just the way she liked it. Dafne sipped from the delicate cup with hands that trembled.

"Sorry Marcie, sometimes she uses my voice to impart knowledge, doesn't do it often" she said softly,

Marcie watched her drink more of the sweetened tea closely, watching a little colour come back into her cheeks,

"It was frightening" she said truthfully,

"Sorry" Dafne said again, "Hope Dara ain't too scared"

"He's alright" Marcie said, checking on him to see that he had taken to the air again, to keep out of sight but was watching through her eyes in interest and concern.

"He's worried about you"

Dafne waved her hand dismissively,

"Bah, I'm aright, s'not the first time an it won't be the last. Just takes it out o me that's all" She said, she took a large sip of tea and smacked her lips appreciatively.

"Now en, weren't yer gonna get Sebastian's friends ere ta see him? I remember ya sayin ya would"

Marcie had forgotten,

"Do you think its a good idea?" she asked,

"No, but that don't mean its wrong" she lowered her voice to a whisper, "But be careful what ya tell em, and keep an eye out, lots a people would kill ta get there hands on Leeban's power; power ta heal any wounds or illness? That's somethin else that is an there be rumours to her existence, enough ta bring travellers from all around, I hope they ain't them but ya can never be too careful ya hear?"

 "I hear ya" Marcie replied, and she ran off to fetch Aldren and Jin.