Another week passed and Sooyeon and Hyoyeon continued to be busy with finishing off the orders they had gotten for the queen's coronation anniversary ball. Sooyeon still had no time to go see Taeyeon in the evenings and did not even have the energy to trudge up his mountain to go sleep with him when he asked her if she could do that. But, they were almost done. The elf had promised a week vacation for her apprentice once they were finished, so she could spend time with Taeyeon.

When Sooyeon got home particularly late one night, she was happy to see Taeyeon's form sitting on her bed in his human appearance. He looked like he was propped up against the headboard. Though she felt like collapsing into bed in her dress, she mustered the strength to change. She then went to her bed and climbed between the sheets. Her dragon smiled down at her lovingly. She returned it, though a yawn made it disappear. She cuddled up as close to the warmth he gave off, wishing he was really there.

"I love you," she whispered, even though she knew he could hear her just fine through their mental connection.

Still smiling, he nodded and she could see his mouth moving to say: "I love you, too." It was accompanied by his voice in her mind saying the words.

The young woman snuggled happily into her pillow, watching her dragon next to her until her eyes would not stay open any longer. She quickly drifted off to sleep after that. The dreams that had found her for the past month came to her again. She would often blush each time she woke from one and still saw Taeyeon beside her, usually asleep himself at that point. She wished those dreams would come true more often. She had that week of vacation coming up that Hyoyeon had promised, so maybe they could work on making those dreams real during that time. But, at the height of her wonderful dream, it suddenly changed for some reason... and it was not a dream she wanted to have at all.

Sooyeon found herself walking down the street humming a cheery tune. She was carrying a basket full of bread, cheese, some vegetables, a piece of wrapped meat, and some fresh sprigs of herbs. She was thinking of the wonderful dinner she was going to be making Taeyeon that night when he came to dine with her parents. It had been a while since he had come to sit at their table. Her parents were actually looking forward to it.

Her eyes turned skyward when a cloud crossed in front of the sun. Her heart was racing from the momentary darkness. She chastised herself for being scared of such a little thing. She knew what a cloud passing in front of the sun looked like, after all. And today was a wonderful day, anyway. The air was crisp. The sky was full of puffy white clouds. The sounds of autumn birds filled the streets.

The young woman was soon at her house and passed through the gate. Her mother was working in the side garden and saw her return. She turned from her gathering of the last squash and smiled at her daughter.

"I'm back!"

"Did you get everything you wanted?"

"Yes. The butcher gave me the best piece of meat when I told him Yul was coming for dinner with us tonight, too." She smiled.

"He always likes pleasing the nobility." Soojin gave a laugh as she walked to her daughter with the autumn vegetables in it that she had been gathering. "Shall we go..."

A scream from someone down the street made them look towards the source of the sound. The woman was pointing to the sky... Three huge dragons were bearing down on the town. Sooyeon's eyes widened when she realized they were blue dragons. Perhaps her fear of that cloud earlier was not so unfounded after all. She grabbed her mother's arm and pulled her into the house. The young woman looked out the window and saw one flying towards their house. She took a shuddering breath, looking at the sky in panic.

"Where's Taeyeon," she said, feeling like she wanted to cry.

"He'll be here," her mother said, reassuringly.

"I hope so." She gasped when she saw the dragon that was headed towards them land in front of their house. "Mom... go out the back way. Go hide in the forest."

Soojin tried to grab her daughter's hand to make her come along with her, but she did not take it. "Sooyeon?"

"I want you to be safe, Mom. They're after me."

Her mother looked at her bewildered. "Why would they..."

"Please, Mom, go. I don't know why they want me, but just hurry and get somewhere safe."

Reluctantly, Soojin nodded and hurried out of the house through the kitchen door. Sooyeon could hear the dragon's heavy footfall as he came closer to the house. It seemed to shake everything. She heard the stone wall around the garden crumble under the creature's feet as it stepped on it like it was a pebble. She had to hold her breath when she first smelled the dragon. She had never thought that a dragon could smell so rancid. When it hissed at the house, she felt herself nearly faint – not from fright, but from the horrid stench that came from its mouth.

One of the clawed front feet of the beast came through the house easily, ripping the wall apart. She jumped back and screamed. The dragon roared at her, trying to grab her. She hurried out the back way as the dragon's head came into the house. She swore she heard a growled curse towards her as she vanished. As she dis