We found an acceptable glade, and settling down Miraldis went carefully over the preparations that I would have to make and the proceedures to take and assured me that he could and would counter any mistakes I might make. I have to admit to being extrememly nervous. After all, it is one thing to change an inanimate object from one form to another, but something totally different when it comes to one's self!!! He thought it might be a good idea to go over the lessons with the pebble and do a practice bit and I had to agree,even if it was just to settle my nerves and make sure of myself. That done, I looked at him for some minutes and could see no sign of hestiation or concern, so I took a deep breath, settled myself, and closing my eyes and picturing the overlays in my mind, said the word that would make me into a swallow and capable of flight.

I had the most awful sense of falling and panicked, flailing about with my arms and only faintly heard Miraldis voice calling and urging me to stay calm. In an instant I was back to myself again, trying to catch my breath and very frightened, and flat on my back on the grass. OOOOhhhhhhh ...... this was not at all fun, and nothing that I had expected. Miraldis was very upset and fussed about with a big leaf trying to fan my face and patting my arm in a sweet way that did nothing for my nerves. I just wanted him to leave me alone for a bit.

"What Wass The Thing That Frighted Thee?" He asked in a worried voice. "Didsst Thou Ssee Ssomething? Perhapss Heard Ssomething?"

"No." I said, when at last I could manage to speak again, though my voice did sound a little squeeky. "I thought I was falling."

"Well, Thou Didsst Do That." he replied dryly. "Perhapss We Sshould Have Begun Closser To The Ground. I Neglected To Conssider The Height Differential" he admitted a little ruefully.

"Thanks a lot. I suppose you want me to try it again."

"Yess .... But Resst For A Bit. I Musst Needs Think Of Thingss To Make Thiss Eassier For Thee. We Musst Continue Sso Thou Doess Not Loosse Thy Nervess."

I didn't want to tell him they had pretty much disappeared already, and managed to sit up and prop myself against a tree trunk. The thing felt solid and comforting behind me and I closed my eyes again, leaned my head back against the rough bark and let myself drift. I thought about what he had said about the height differential, and wondered if I would have been better to begin by sitting on a branch. That way, when I changed,I would be where a bird is supposed to be. But if I fell off, there would be a whole lot farther to fall!! Birds made the whole flight thing look so easy. They landed and took off without a thought and never seemed to loose their balance, even when landing on a grassy stem. Then I thought about the robin babies leaving their nests and how awkward they were. Swallow babies just came out of the nesting box and flew and glided without having to practice ..... at least so it seemed.

I peeked out through a partially open eye to see what Miraldis was doing and found him huddled dejectedly under the next tree. He had his head down and appeared to be deep in thought. He stood up and turned into his alter dragonfly form and I thought he was leaving, but then he changed back again. Once more the transformation took place, this time a little slower,and again a little slower yet, and I wondered what he was about. I noticed that the slower the transformation took place the more I was able to see a sort of shimmer around him. I was just about to call out to him, when he changed yet again,only this time it was with a speed that made it seem as though he was a dragon one instant and the insect the next, and there was no shimmer. The dragon appeared in the next instant and this time he had a big grin on his face.

"I Believe I Have Ssolved The Problem" he said. "It All Hass To Do With The Sspeed Of The Transsformation. When Thou Dosst Change Sslowly, There Iss A Moment Of Vertigo. When Thou Dosst Change Very Fasst, There Iss None. I Am Asshamed That I Have Forgotten What It Wass Like The Firsst Time For Me Alsso. I Do Give My Appologiess For Thiss."

"It's not your fault,Miraldis. It's the same for me when I have to teach someone how to do a job at work. I have to pretend it is my first time too because after a bit you get so accustommed to the task that you don't really think about how you do a thing...... you just do it. I am ready to try again if you will stand by in case things don't work. I think I will try crouching down this time, though. It's not so far to fall if I don't get it right, and this time I shall be prepared for the dizzyness."

I knelt down and got as comfortable as I could and this time I kept my eyes open while I said the word and tried to picture the change at the same time. Again the vertigo grabbed me, but I was better prepared, and just went with the flow, so to speak. An instant later, my nose/beak was buried in the dirt, as I toppled forward,and I was surrounded by green stuff and huge leaves and logs. On instinct, I huddled down and my claws clutched at the ground as I shook my head. A shadow fell over me and a giant creature gazed down. Part of my mind was screaming at me to "fly.....fly......escape.......escape".......and another part recognized the giant as Miraldis. His voice thundered in my bird ears and I winced with the pain. I needed to get back and right away, but could not seem to manage the proper mind set and began to panic again. I felt the vertigo again, and the next instant opened my eyes to find myself back to my own self. This time, however, I was not winded and not as frightened, though I was mighty glad to see Miraldis and feel my own body again.

"Thou Didsst A Wonderful Job Thiss Time" he cried, with a huge grin. "I Didsst Only Step In When I Felt Thy Fright. Wass I Correct In Asssumming That Thou Didsst Need My Help?"

"Yes ..... thankyou Miraldis. I need to talk about what I felt though. There must be a way of controlling sound and perception. Do you know anything about that? What do you do in dragonfly form? "

We discussed many things in the next couple of hours, from the damping of sound, to the workings of the separate and individual minds of bird and human. We worked out a system of signals that would let Miraldis know if I was in need of his help, so that he would only interveen if I felt that I was in trouble beyond my capabilities. Even though I knew Miraldis was impatient for me to fly, as was I, I realized that before I actually attempted flight, I must become thoroughly comfortable in the body of a bird. I must be able to change from human to bird effortlessly and be able to do so under some stress. That would be the measure of my trust in Miraldis,for it meant that he must contive to frighten me in bird form without doing me damage or causing me to do damage to the bird's body in fright. It meant that I must be constantly aware of both minds, and be able to think simultaneously with both.....to reason and make decisions with the human mind, and to react with the bird mind.

This would be no easy task and we decided to continue after the noon meal. For the rest of the afternoon, I practiced changing back and forth on my own. Each time I spent longer in bird form, getting used to the different sensations at first and the task of aligning my two minds. Then Miraldis would startle me and I learned to master the bird's fright and flight instincts,while doing a shape shift at the same time. In the beginning, Miraldis had to rescue me rather too often, but I began to become more confident and the rescues came less and less often.

I graduated from the ground to a low branch of a shrub by bending the thing down and standing on it in human form so that I would be in the air and on the branch after the change. Miraldis had to catch me in his clawed paws at first until I mastered the balancing act, and could stay on the branch as it sprang up to its proper position under my bird weight. Then, I practiced standing on a higher branch of an accommodating maple while I made the change,and noticed that I was having to flap much less, and then finally, not at all to keep my balance. By the end of the afternoon, Miraldis called a halt, and collapsing under the tree, I realized that I was exhausted and that my shoulders were terribly sore. I wanted a nice hot bath and sleep. Miraldis had his eyes closed, but there was a little smile on his face and I knew that he was a happy little dragon. We had both worked hard and I was looking forward to the next step, which would be FLYING.

I've watched birds flying, and noticed that you can often tell which kind of bird it is just by the flight patterns. Goldfinches swoop up and down in the air and are fairly vocal during flight. Bluejays' wings do a stop and start pattern. Hawks flap until they get to the height they want and then just hold their wings open and float; gulls do almost the same thing. But swallows ....... those are my favorites. They flap their wings but most often wheel and soar and glide, and are ever so agile. They dip down to the lake surface and sip water in flight, and then glide back to the trees, snapping up insects along the way. They settle their wings and peer at you with their heads on one side as if they know all about your ways and wonder what is keeping you on the ground. Their feathers shine blue black in the sun and their tummies are creamy. When they get together, two or more, they chatter and chip at each other in long sentences joined by a drawn out "and". They are cheerful and happy little creatures and their stay with us is all too short.

The day of flight dawned and the tables turned, for this time, it was I who was waiting for Miraldis. I prayed that he would not show up with the Blue, as he seemed apt to do when there was a new thing to be done. He did not, bless his little heart and we once again repaired to the glade and once again I began with some practice shifts, just to make sure of yesterday's lessons. I climbed into the branches of the maple, and settling my feet shifted to swallow form. It was one thing to be standing firmly on something solid, and quite another to launch into mid-air, knowing that the only thing keeping me from crashing into the ground were a few feathers. Taking a deep breath, I held out my arms/wings, and jumped. And the ground flew right up at me at an incredible speed!! Instinctively, I adjusted the wings and glided to a landing that was not as smooth as it should have been, but never-the-less was a landing. Miraldis was cheering, and sending up little puffs of steam, so I assumed that my first attempt was not a complete failure.

Miraldis lifted me into the air, and I no longer had to climb up to the branch ..... I fluttered. The first few times can hardly be called flying, but I was airborn. I found that birds have an instinctive pattern, and when I gave up to the swallow's mind, flight was effortless and ..... ohhhhhh .... so wonderful. I glided and swooped and the feeling was incredible. How do you describe absolute freedom. I also discovered the difference between bird sight and my own. Trees are huge of course but everything is so clear. Bird's eyes can see far better than our own as far as the details of things such as whether or not a twig can support weight or if an insect is good to eat. I practiced and practiced with times between to return to myself for instructions from Miraldis.

After a welcome lunch.....human food...not insects...... we decided to really fly, and went to a nearby meadow where we could both let loose and I did not want it to stop. Finally however, Miraldis decided that I was going to be alright as a bird, and called it a day. The next task, he said was to decide what to do about retreiving the eggs, and the real adventure could begin.

"Thou Musst Not Asssume That Thiss Will Be A Lark" he cautioned. "We Will Both Be In SSome Danger. The Eggss Sshall Ssurely Be Guarded."

"Will it be majical guards?"I asked

"Of Coursse. Though I Do Not Know The Exact Manner Of Magic. We Musst Be Prepared For Anything From Now On."

"Do you have any idea how long this is going to take?" I mentally tallied up the days until the end of my holidays and found that there was only a week and a couple of days left. I had been lucky this year to have a whole month off work at once... something that I had not done before. I couldn't help wondering what would have happened if I had only taken one week as I usually did. I would perhaps have met Miraldis but would not have had time for learning magic or going on an adventure.

"If We Do Be Lucky,"Miraldis answered,"We Sshall Be Back In A Sshort Time."

For a creature that was apparently a few hundred years old, I wondered how short that actually was, but was a little afraid to ask. Well I had not done all that studying and learning to let him down now. "In for a sixpence, in for a pound" as my Mom used to say. I was as ready as I would ever be, so we might as well get on with the job and see what happened. Before we made the plans to go to where ever it was that the eggs were, Miraldis wanted to take a flight to show the Blue that I had succeeded in the shape shift and was proficient at it. I thought that was probably a good idea, since it might turn out that we would need his help and any animosity on his part would not be a good way to begin the task ahead of us.

We shifted to flight form, and flew out over the lake to the little inlet where the dragonflies congregated, and found the Blue resting in the sun on a mossy stump. He was very nonchalant when we flew up, and settled near him. I tried to keep a bit of distance from him since I must admit to being a little intimidated, even though he was smaller than I was in his present form. He looked hard at me and I managed to hold his eyes. For Miraldis' sake I refused to let him know that he frightened me; as too much rested on his approval, and willingness to help, should we need it. I could see his dragon form shimmering around the insect form and it was to his credit that he and Miraldis spoke with their dragon forms, since I would not have been able to understand the insect communication.

"Sso.....Thou Hasst Achieved Thine Objective." he hissed. "I Musst Admit To Ssurprise ..... I Didsst Not Believe A Mere Human Would Have The Courage, Nor That Thou Wouldsst Have The Patience To Teach It".

"Well I Didsst Sso, And Sso Didst Sshe" answered Miraldis, and I could see that he was not puffing himself up, but merely stating the fact. I was still struggling with the concept of being called "IT"!! To be fair, I suppose that to a regal and proud dragon, humans were slightly less than important, but it didn't do much for my self esteme. I did not protest though, and when the Blue suggested that we all take a flight together, I thought it a good omen.

We flew out over the lake ... the three of us ... and part way across, the Blue shimmered into dragon form directly in front of me, and sent a stream of fire in my direction. In the next instant he had changed back to dragonfly form and I was left to frantically flap and dive to escape the flames which were definitly real enough to burn me. Instinctively,I swooped down to the surface of the lake and managed to escape harm,but I could feel the heat on my feathers, and smelled a singed feather odour that was not at all pleasant. Was he trying to harm me?? Or test me?? I flew to the nearest stump poking out of the water and landed... and then thinking better of being out in the open, should he decide to attack again, flew to the sheltering trees on shore.

Miraldis had been flying ahead of us and was not aware of what the Blue was doing, and so was not near when I reached shore. I landed in the sheltering branches and was about to shift to human form, when the Blue, who had followed me, switched again and sent a wave of fire at the tree. I was not taken unawares this time, and was ready to evade, which I did by diving from the branch and flying behind a large maple, providing enough shelter to allow me to return to human form. By this time, Miraldis had realized that something was not right and had streaked to join us.

He was a very angry dragon when he landed beside the Blue and seemed to grow in size and shape from the friendly little guy I had become used to, to a very large and fearsome beast. How many guises did he have anyway?? I could see that he was about to more than blow off his usual steam, and stepping from behind the tree, shouted his name.

"MIRALDIS!!! I am not harmed!!! Please, do not send fire.....I believe it was only a test."

The Blue ignored Miraldis, and turned to me. "Thou Hasst Guesssed Correctly. Thou Hasst Passsed Thiss Time. Do Thou Heed Thiss Warning .... Not All Danger Iss Asss Eassily Avoided. Thou Musst Needss Be Consstantly On Guard. Thou Musst Never Asssume That Friendss Remain Friendss. Ssmall Doess Not Necesssarily Mean Harmlesss. I Wissh Thee Luck On Thine Quesst. Miraldiss Knowss The Meanss To Call If Help Iss Necesssary." And with a final glare at Miraldis, he switched back to dragonfly form and flew off across the lake, leaving us still shaken from the test.

We flew back to the cottage in silence, each thinking our own thoughts. The adventure was about to begin, and I was having thoughts about what the Blue had said about friends not remaining friends. Was Miraldis using me for some plan of his own, or did the Blue not mean him specifically. Was there much more danger than Miraldis had told me about, and what form would it come in? I could not believe that dragon's eggs would just be there in some cave for the taking. There had to be some guards and the guards had to be some kind of powerful magic. Were we up to the challenge? More to the point ... wasI up to it. After all, Miraldis was a magical creature and eons older than I when it came to the practice of magic. I came to the conclusion, finally, that he would not have spent so much time with me,or been as patient, if he was not a creature of honor. I prayed that I was right.

We spent an hour or so, upon returning to the cottage, in a discussion of how we should proceed the next day. The plan was to set out in a northerly direction. We would fly by day, and at night Miraldis would be the one to provide shelter and food. I could only carry a small pack of the things most necessary, as a human, and would have to rely on Miraldis to alter its form to one a bird would be able to manage in flight. I packed one change of clothing, and a few things I thought I could not do without, and Miraldis magicked it into a tiny amulet that I could wear about my neck as a bird. I practiced a bit, to make sure that I could fly with it, and though it felt very strange, it was manageable. I would practice in the evenings during the trip, so that I would be able to change it myself as I had done with the pebble. The only change I made was to have the amulet become the same color as my feathers, so it would not be readily noticeable, should anyone wonder at a bird with a necklace. Miraldis spent the night in a dark heap on the floor at the end of my bed, to be ready early the next day and I read until I finally got tired enough to sleep.