The Bronze Man approached slowly and in a calm voice, "Child, where is your mother or father?"

Without missing a beat, "In prison."

"What?" The Bronze Man looked confused for a second then asked again, "Aunt, uncle?"

"I followed Uncle Madeous here. I knew he had a secret. This place is COOL!" The girl whirled around and finally looked up at him, "Who are you?"

Lazheros couldn't believe his eyes or ears at who stood before him. The last he saw this child she was an infant. "My name is Lazheros, may I sit down?"

The girl scratched her head, "Umm....sure I guess." She went back to petting the dragonee again.

Lazheros relaxed a little, "I am a friend of your Uncle Madeous."

"Really?"

"Yes. What is your name?" The Bronze Man asked while observing her.

At first she didn't answer. Petting the dragonee only seemed to matter. Finally she realized that this guy wasn't gonna hurt her, and relaxed a little, "I'm Alyson."

Again the Bronze Man was speechless. Had her time on Earth been harder there than here? He sensed that she was unhappy and hadn't gotten much in way of love of any kind or any nurturing that parents are supposed to do when raising a family. "Tell me, child. Do you dream of this place? Do you dream of the Realm?"

"Uh-huh," Alyson nodded while petting the dragonee, "Uncle Madeous has told me stories about place called the Realm of Dungeon's and Dragons before I go to sleep every night. He seems sad sometimes and lost when he talks of the Realm. I've tried to cheer him up but he gets really mad. He's scary when he's mad. You don't seem like the person to get mad like him."

The Bronze Man stood back up, "Come along, Alyson. Your uncle will have to told that you are here."

"What?! No! No!" She ran towards him grabbing his arm, "He'll send me back! He'll be angry, he'll be..." She started to cry a little.

Lazheros reached around and comforted young Alyson gently. "I am sorry, child but you cannot stay here unless he says otherwise." He took out a small cloth and dried her eyes. "Be brave, child and you may yet get your wish to stay here in Asylum."

He offered his hand and she reluctantly took it. She sniffed the whole way back into the main chamber of the temple itself. Madeous Khyng, was there but he hadn't seen her so she hid behind the Bronze Man as much as possible.

"Lazheros. I am ready to go forth to the kingdom beyond the Great Veil." Madeous said when saw him approach.

"As you wish but there is one issue that you and I must address first before you take your leave." The grand cleric said as he gently pulled Alyson out from behind him.

"Alyson? How? When?" The platinum knight gasped in utter surprise.

"I..I followed you when you thought I was taking a nap. Seriah taught me how to sneak better." She confessed to her uncle.

"Did she now?" Rubbing his chin trying to figure out how to bring Alyson back to Earth.

"Can I stay here? With Lazheros?" Alyson said suddenly looking up at the Bronze Man then at Madeous, "please?"

"I don't know--"

Lazheros offered, "Let her stay here while you're gone to your kingdom, Madeous. She's in good hands. You know that. Then on your return trip, Alyson will go back with you to Earth."

The girl remained holding the grand cleric's hand while Madeous pondered the question. All Alyson could hope for was at least to have fun and it would let him do what he needed.

"Very well. You may stay with Lazheros while I'm gone. Think of it as a long summer vacation." The platinum knight knelt down eye to eye with her, "Give me a hug, kiddo. I will see you in couple of months. Be good and listen to him."

Alyson let go of the cleric's hand and gave her uncle a hug. "Thank you! Thank you so much, Uncle Madeous!"

Madeous stood back up and both of his dragonee had joined him now. Taking the medallion from around his neck, he spoke words of sylvan and draconic and a portal appeared to the left of the group. "Good Journey!"

Lazheros held Alyson's hand again as the two watched Madeous and his dragonee pass through the portal and disappear. It shimmered a couple of time before disappearing.

******

Young Alyson Khyng now looked back up to the Bronze Man, "What happens now?"

"Now, I shall show you Asylum and those who dwell here. Do you like meeting new people?" Th Bronze Man asked her.

"Yes. I don't have many friends back home besides school. Are there lots of kids here?"

"Yes, plenty of children, Alyson." Lazheros replied as he led her out the temple's main chamber and down the path to the city itself.

Alyson gasped at the sight of it. It was nothing she had seen except in story books and movies. She stopped in her tracks to take in the view and noticed a big tree off in the distance. "What's that over there?"

"The Ancient Tree," he started to say then saw her confusion, "It is a colossal tree. Home to the Fey, and the Sidhe. Fairies and elves.."

"Fairies? Really? Could we go there?" Her eyes lit up with anticipation and new life.

The Bronze Man watched her reaction and his heart was gladden, "Of course, Alysiane."

The girl looked back to him, "huh?"

"Your birth name. It means Child of Fire in the common tongue and makes you immune to fire." He said calmly.

"How do you know that?" Alyson was suddenly guarded. Her mind started to race as that event came to the surface.

"I am not here to frighten you, Alysiane. I know you were in a very bad place on your world. The people who you thought were family turned into monsters?" He continued quietly allowing her plenty of space.

"Only one monster," Tears welded up in her eyes again, "My older brother hates me. Said awful stuff to me and about me." The ground around Alyson began to blacken from the fire within, Said that I shouldn't have been born! Why? Whatever did I do to him!! WHY?!?"

Lazheros motioned people to stop and turn around. Giving him and the girl plenty of space. He knew now what gave her powers, her emotions was the source of it all. He wisely kept his distance from Alyson as she let out her anger. For five minutes she cried and a ten foot radius around her small form turned to ash from the intense emotional heat that radiated out of her. "There will always be monsters, Alysiane. Some are born and some are created through the arrogance of others. You and I aren't any different than the people here."

Alyson wiped some of the tears from her eyes and from her glasses. When they focused, she saw the Bronze Man's form shimmer in the light of noonday sun. "Different? I am different, and so are you, Lazheros. I see you."

The Bronze Man's eyes widened when she could see him for what he truly was and breathed slowly, "Is that what you want, child? To see me as I truly am?"

"Yes."

The rest of the people going to and from the city from the temple gave a very wide berth from the Bronze Man who about give the child exactly what she asked for. "Very well. There will no illusions between us." Walking back about thirty feet, he faced her as his form grew and changed into the gargantuan bronze dragon before her eyes.

Alyson gasped. She couldn't move. She was stunned as her knees gave out and fell to the ground. No words came out as the bronze dragon sat down on all fours and his wings folded to keep from him flying off. His presence clearly made her nervous but not truly scared and that impressed him greatly. "You wished to visit the Ancient Tree, Alysiane, still?"

"....yes," A single word slipped out. Natural fear still gripped her a bit. "You're not gonna eat me, are you?"

The dragon lowered his head and chuckled, "No. People taste bad from what I was told by another bronze dragon. I like fish. Subtlety works for you most of the time but in this case, being blunt works to. Hahaha. Do you want to ride on my back or be carried?"

"Umm...carried," she answered sheepishly, "besides Uncle Madeous would be going nuts if he was here."

"This wouldn't have happen, if your uncle was still here, child." The dragon stood up and gently grabbed a hold of Alyson in his claws. His wings unfurled and he lifted off into the sky towards the Ancient Oak. ~ Do you trust me? ~

For the first time, she heard his voice in her mind. ~ I do. ~

*****

It took the dragon and his precious companion less than five minutes to fly across the city and over the wall to the Ancient Tree. Not his original plan of arriving that way but she called him and he answered in kind.

Lazheros glided in towards the Ancient Tree that dwarfed even him landing somewhere in the center of the colossal tree's interior. Upon landing he released Alyson from his grasp but remained in his true form. The fey, kurori, and some of the darker sprites can get possessive of new children when meeting them. It also gave Alyson some relief that he wouldn't leave her alone until she was comfortable. After all, they were swarmed by the fey and kurori. There was the sound of wood tapping on the harder limbs that parted the group of fey and kurori like the red sea and there stood a single elder fey. This one was among the Sidhe. He walked up to the dragon and his guest slowly. He was tall and slender build in simple garb of the forest with greens, yellows, and brown. He wore no shoes on his feet and his eyes were pure white. Perhaps he was blind or ascended to a higher level of sight beyond that of the norm. He understood common but did not speak it, and doing so spoke in draconic to Lazheros, *Wux, daratrix munthrek?*

The bronze dragon remained where he was standing guard over young Alyson, "She is Alysiane. The niece of the King of the kingdom beyond the Great Veil."

*Ux daratrix, Bahamut?* The Elder asked him.

The dragon nodded in compliance, *Ux daratrix, Bahamut.*

Alyson could see a figure of an elderly man in peasants robes standing in the back round quietly watching her. He tilted his head up to reveal a warm smile and blue eyes. She rubbed her eyes to get used atmosphere of all the new faces and went to look back up and he was gone. To her, she figured he was kind of guardian angel or someone who might have know Lazheros, or even a ghost. "Bahamut?"

"He is the king of all good dragons. Mostly metallic dragons like myself. He is the Platinum Dragon and his kingdom is--,"

"Celestia," Alyson said suddenly without knowing how or why. "I dreamed of a huge blue-silver metal dragon once. I told my uncle but he didn't believe me. He said it was my imagination. Does, Bahamut have a human form, like you?"

Lazheros and the Elder were stunned. Silence fell upon the crowd by what she said. "Yes he does have a human form but alas I have not seen him as such. Why do you ask?"

"Because....I just saw him over there and he smiled at me," She pointed to where the old man stood but when they looked there was no one.

The Elder of the Ancient Tree walked up to Alyson and placed his hand upon her head to see within her mind and soul. After a minute he stepped back *Ux daratrix, Bahamut.* He nodded and welcomed her to the Ancient Tree.

~ You dreamed of the Platinum Dragon? Were you flying on him or with him? ~

She looked up at the dragon and shrugged, "Don't remember. Can I go play now?" Stating that she was okay now and looked eager to make new friends here for the next few hours.

The dragon chuckled, "Of course, Alsyiane. Go and make new friends and have fun."