Lyra opened her eyes to the comforting green fields of the land surrounding her family’s home. She breathed deeply, enjoying the crisp air that held no scent of dirt or car exhaust. She dropped her burden and took a few steps outside of the cave she had transported into. Rising onto her rear legs she stretched her wings to their full extension, arching her neck towards the sky as she let out a roar of joy. Dropping back down to all fours, she swung around to face Rhinn. The human was looking at her with trepidation. It was a bit intimidating seeing a creature as large as Lyra do a dragon version of the happy dance.

"I’m home," Lyra projected quietly, allowing the human to feel her happiness (and her slight embarrassment) through their connection.

Rhinn had been a bit frightened when the dragon reared up, but the projection Lyra sent calmed her immediately. She was still angry about being called a possession, and had been prepared to argue with the beast some more on that subject when the creature had grabbed her and brought her…here. Rhinn peered around her from the safety of the cave. It was definitely not New York. They were on the edge of a rolling green field. She could see what might be a large town at the base of a mountain in the distance, a road to the left leading towards it. The dragon had called this home…

"Where, exactly, are we," Rhinn spoke aloud.

"New York," Lyra projected with a touch of humor.

Rhinn stared at the dragon, shook herself slightly, and stepped out of the cave. She walked directly up to Lyra, looked her in the eye, and repeated her question.

Lyra looked down on the small human with her luminous green eyes, and Rhinn could have sworn that the dragon’s mouth curled into a wry smile.

"This is New York; we are simply on a type of alternate plane. Your home exists as an alternate plane…" Lyra let her projection trail off. The human had a look of utter confusion on her face. Lyra tried to simplify her explanation.

"Your world is like that unknown movement, caught in the corner of your eye. You think you see something, but when you turn to get a full look, you see nothing. If you continue to observe out of the corner of your eye, you can see fully. We simply stepped through that small space."

Rhinn was very confused, but she thought she a pretty good idea of what the dragon was saying. Then, as Lyra’s words were spoken into her brain, Rhinn could actually see how it was accomplished, and suddenly, she understood why Lyra had to bond with her in order to get back home.

"You needed me to be a, a type of bridge, didn’t you? When you looked out of the corner of your eye, you would have seen New York, but you were already there, so you needed my eyes to see this place, right?" Rhinn spoke haltingly; trying to put into words the pictured information she was being sent from the dragon’s brain.

Lyra was taken aback; there was no way this creature should have been able to understand the more complicated abstract projections that she had unconsciously sent with her words. She would have to be more careful, lest she loose dominance. Lyra shuddered at the thought of being forced to relinquish control again. She answered with a nod of her refined head.

Rhinn breathed a sigh of relief. She was starting to get the hang of this mindbond stuff! Her mind was so full of questions she didn’t know where to start. She looked down at the ground in pensive silence, thinking that there were so many things to learn, to study, and she wanted all the answers. She looked up at the dragon and found herself lost yet again in the green mists swirling in almond-shaped eyes.

Lyra felt Rhinn’s questions hammering at her brain. She couldn’t give the human all the answers, not yet! It would increase Rhinn’s status in the bond too much, she would begin to take control and Lyra would be a slave again. The dragon was starting to panic; she clenched her front claws, feeling the ghosts of twin bracelets encircling her wrists. Lyra looked down at her hands and found herself trapped by Rhinn’s cobalt gaze. Rhinn’s eyes radiated her curiosity and excitement; no fear showed in them. It was oddly calming. While the curiosity was a bit disquieting, Lyra could find no glint of calculation in the oceanic depths of the orbs gazing at her with total trust. Lyra relaxed her fists and took a deep breath. This was so different. She kept telling herself that she was the one in control, the one with all the knowledge and the power. The human’s eyes were just so interesting to watch…

The dragon lowered her head towards the human, maintaining eye contact. The urge to give Rhinn all the answers she wanted was strong, but Lyra kept herself in check; content to just bask in the joy of this painless bond.

"Later," she projected. "Right now I need to go home."

She accompanied her words with a simple picture of the mountain in the distance. She was quite amused when the little human picked up the shield and started to head towards the road that lead to the town.

"It would be several days journey on foot, Kaleran," Lyra projected with a grin, "and I am in a bit of a hurry to see my kin. It would be much faster to fly."

Lyra flattened herself to the ground, holding out her left arm and sending a picture projection that showed the human stepping onto the dragon’s arm and allowing herself to be boosted to a seated position in front of Lyra’s wings. Rhinn decided that if the dragon had wanted her dead, she would be dead already, so she lost no time in mounting the great beast. She paused only once when she first touched Lyra: the scales under her hands were surprisingly soft and warm. Rhinn was happy to discover that the joints and bones of Lyra’s wings and front legs formed a kind of natural saddle, holding her securely in place. The shield was a bit unwieldy, however, and Rhinn was a little worried that it would cause her to overbalance.

She needn’t have worried. Lyra suddenly leapt into the air, snapping out her wings with a loud crack. The air pressure pushed Rhinn securely into the dragon’s back as they gained altitude quickly. Rhinn looked down at the ground falling far below and had a brief moment of panic. Never having been in an airplane, she was unprepared for the sense of vertigo that sometimes accompanies a person’s departure from solid footing. Transferring her gaze to the back of Lyra’s head seemed to steady her perceptions a bit. Wanting to distract herself from the height, Rhinn began asking questions.

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