Sooyeon had hurried through town and up the mountainside along the edge of the stream, not worrying if anyone in town saw her. She stopped when she reached the flowers and took several long, deep breaths. She smiled. She felt so at home here... on Taeyeon's mountain. She looked up to his lair and called to him happily with her mind and aloud. She hoped he was not too far away and would be there quickly. She wanted to see him, to tell him. She had to let him know that she could not love Yul like she loved him.

Yul... She looked down at the forest near her home that she had been in only a few minutes before. She truly hoped he would understand. She hoped so much that she had not hurt him when she told him. She did love him, a lot. But she could not leave Taeyeon. She had loved Taeyeon far longer than Yul. No one could ever replace her dragon in her heart, no matter how she did try to do that with the nobleman. The thought of being apart from her dragon hurt her so much. She had to stay here, even if her love with Taeyeon could never be.

"Taeyeon!" She laughed, hoping he would be there soon. "Taeyeon!"

Giddy, she began laughing uncontrollably and had the urge to spin around in the field as she had done when she was younger, feeling like she was dancing with the flowers as they swayed in the wind. She held out her arms and began to spin, even if she flattened some of the flowers in the process. She had never been happier. She wanted her dragon there with her so she could share her happiness with him. It had been so long since she had been there. She wanted to see him face-to-face. She missed him so much.

Finally she was so dizzy she fell to the ground. She laughed more. She had never felt so marvelous! "Taeyeon!"

When she finally heard footsteps coming lightly over the grass, she spun around, ready to jump up and embrace her dragon. But, instead, she froze. Her eyes widened and she eased back some. fell open as she tried to say something but nothing would come from . She shook her head slightly.

There, standing beside the oak tree where her dragon should have been, was Yul. His hands were clasped behind his back. She had not even seen him behind her as she hurried up the mountain. Where had he come from? His unreadable expression was rather disconcerting to her. But what troubled her the most was that he was not supposed to be up on Taeyeon's mountain. She was the only one that was allowed on the mountain. Taeyeon had told her so...

"Sooyeon..." His voice was calm and even.

Tears were starting to well up in her eyes. "What are you doing here?"

The nobleman looked down and was silent for a long while. "This... is my home."

His home? What was he talking about? "But... you..."

"I'm a nobleman from the south?" He looked back up at her gently, though beyond that his face was still as unfathomable as before. "Lord Yul, son of Count Kwon of Shridroleen, died when he was eight after a hunting accident up in the mountains near his home."

Died? She shook her head, not able to understand. "Then..."

"Who am I?" He slowly began to walk closer to her, gazing down at her so tenderly. "You know me well, my love. Though I do believe I have deceived you in a way I should never have done."

Sooyeon's mouth fell open. She knew what he meant... "Tae... Taeyeon...?"

The man before her nodded. "As you suspected when you first met me."

The young woman shook her head, feeling like getting up and running. Some part of her wanted this to be a trick. She wanted to run up to Taeyeon's lair and see him there with her own eyes. "No... you... you can't..."

"I need to tell you the truth." He stopped, knowing his approach was distressing her. "Please, listen to me."

"But you lied to me!" Her desire to run was overtaken with uncontrollable tears and she covered her face with her hands. "How could you have done this to me?"

Yul knelt where he had stopped – about ten feet from her. He bowed his head. "I could not tell you. I thought this was the way it had to be. How could a sweet human girl love a dragon?"

Sooyeon looked up at him, tears streaking her face. She so wanted to be mad at him, but she was sure she loved her dragon too much to hate him. "Taeyeon..."

"Please, let me explain to you why I did this to you. Let me explain to you about children born on the Day of Offering." He was still looking down. He sounded near the verge of tears himself. "I completely understand if you despise me for having done this, Sooyeon. I will let you leave and I will never expect anything of you ever again. Just... please... listen to me?"

The young woman stared at him for a long time as she took shaky breaths. Slowly, she nodded, though her eyes were on the flowers around her. "I will listen, my lord."

"Thank you, Sooyeon," he said quietly, though his voice hinted at the smile she did not see.

It took him a while to speak again. He too was looking down at the flowers, not able to look at her. His voice was quiet, and rather sad. "In all the stories I've ever heard that are told of girls born on the Day of Offering, the dragon lord and the child always have a special bond. It varies in how it manifests, but his being able to tell when she needs him is almost always there. Our connection is probably the most unique I've ever heard of. And though the dragon always grows to love her, as I have you, the girl does not return his love. She is human, after all, and cannot think of loving someone that isn't like her.

"The dragon cannot stand not being able to be with her and love her as he wishes, so he takes the form of a human in order to court her. I've never heard of a young woman not falling in love with a dragon she is connected to when he does this, for their connection is still there and she sees him as a human. She believes that feeling means he's her soulmate and happily marries him. The dragon leaves the guardianship of her town to someone he trusts so he can marry her and be with her always. They are always, always happy together.

"But, there have been times when the woman discovers the truth. She cannot love him anymore because of it. It doesn't ever seem to be because he deceived her, but, instead, because he's a dragon. It destroys the dragon, to be rejected by her for who he really is. And, in the end, she is as well, for she realizes what she did and cannot take it back."

The disguised dragon paused for a moment and lifted his head and saw t