"How much longer?" The boy fought to keep the eagerness down. He felt like he had butterflies in his
   stomach...butterflies or spiders. After all these years, it was finally going to happen...

   He'd always dreamt of being able to return to his family. And after meeting Selyna..well, the dream
   had become a reality. She'd agreed to take him home...and it had been a long journey. But today...!

   The feathered serpent beside him smiled. She was in good spirits, too, Trall could tell. "Asking won't
   get you there any faster. But it shouldn't be far." Her feathers sparkled brightly in the sunlight that
   filtered through the trees along the forest road. As they headed upwards over a small knoll, she slid in
   front of him, blocking the path with the front of her long body. Her expression turned serious. "You
   know.." The hissing of her scalefeathers against the ground and against each other stopped. "I will
   miss you. I've grown to like having you around."

   Trall was taken aback. Miss him? "What do you mean? Aren't you going to stay?"

   Her mentor seemed to ignore the question, moving instead in a circle around him, and when she
   spoke, her voice held traces of memory. "You've grown....you used to be short and scrawny. Now
   you've at least grown taller..." She stopped when she could face him again, completely surrounding
   him in a her snakelike way. By now she looked sad...an unfamiliar emotion for her to show. "I can't
   stay...You understand why..."

   "I..." She was right. This hadn't occurred to him. Selyna..in a way she was like family to him. He
   hadn't realized he might have to lose her.. He sighed, suddenly confronted by something he didn't
   want to be confronted with. "Can't you-"

   She shook her large head gently. "No, I can't. If I could.."

   He looked away, turning and climbing over her torso, walking up the road a few paces. "If you could,
   we wouldn't be here in the first place."

   "Trall!" the serpent exclaimed, a hurt tone in her voice. Behind him, he heard her move forward, then
   stop. She said nothing. The young man continued walking, not believing that he could have brought
   the subject up. Not now. Not now of all times.

   After a few minutes, he heard her slithering forward, rustling over the ground. He looked at his feet as
   she came up beside him; she didn't look at him at all.

   They moved on in silence.

   TempestDra