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."

*******

For three hours Alyson played with the fairies and kurori elves in games like Tag and she even taught them Hide and Seek, to which they all had greater fun. All this time, the bronze dragon just watched her have fun and play with creatures who treated just like them. At one point she ran under one of his wings and claimed that he was the safe zone, and suddenly overwhelmed and surrounded by fairies, and kurori. Lazheros's attempt to protest that he was not any part of their game failed the moment Alyson climbed up onto his back. "I'm queen of the castle! Hahaha!"

"What? Hey now! I am not a play ground for children!" The dragon snorted.

"Just this time?" Alyson laughed hoping that he would say yes."

"No," He replied.

"Awww! You're no fun," She pouted crossing her arms and nearly lost her footing when he rose from sitting all that time, "Ahh!"

"Sit down, Alysiane, please and hold on. It's time for us to go for now." The dragon adjusted his wings making her slide in between them and the neck. ~ Grab the sail on my neck, child. ~

The fey and kurori continued to cheer, giggle, and wave to Alyson. One among them spoke up, "Come play with us tomorrow, Alyson!"

The Bronze Dragon moved to the edge of the massive limb of the Ancient Oak. His wings extended when he leaped off the edge and glided downwards not too fast. His precious companion wasn't used to the sudden drop much less riding on the back of a dragon of his size.

"Aaaaiiieeeeeee!" Alyson screamed in sheer excitement and held on for dear life. It was like one of those fast rides at the carnival for the big kids to ride except she was the only one with the free ticket. "WOW!"

By this time, the sun was settling in the west and the dragon banked to the left near the airship docks for it had the greatest area for him to land without colliding with anything else. Passers by watched in awe as this legendary creature made a three point landing that made any of the airship captains envious. He then dipped down enough for Alyson to slid off of his back and wait. The dragon again polymorphed into the Bronze Man again. "Only for you, Alysiane that I would do that again. Only for you, child."

Alyson gave him a big smile and hugged him suddenly to show her thanks. He was truly surprised by this display of affection she gave him. He wasn't used to this kind of attention from anyone, let alone from a human girl and one of whom they shared a powerful bond. It was nice to feel the love a child who only wanted to feel love in kind.

"Are you hungry, Alysiane?"

She let go of him and immediately her stomach responding loudly. "Uh-huh!"

He smiled at her warmly, "There's the Neverending Story Tavern nearby. Think of it as a place where you can eat anything from any world, or a home cooked meal as your uncle said often."

"Why is it called the Neverending Story?"

"Well," He offered his hand for her to grab and walked towards the tavern, "you'll just wait and see inside. Then you tell me what you think."

On the way, to the tavern, they were approached by one of the airship captains. "Aye, sir. That landing was spectacular, Bronze Man. At some point, I will get my airship to do that! Hahaha! Well done sir. Well done!" The captain bowed before the bronze man.

The Bronze Man bowed in kind, "May Bahamut guard you and your men on your travels, Captain Lion."

Captain Lion was tall, sandy brown haired and thin man for a sailor of the skies. He was also well versed and highly experienced handling the steam ships and their mechanisms. "Little lady, would you like to see my airship sometime? With the Bronze Man's permission of course."

She looked at Lazheros and shrugged, "Neat! That sounds cool, sir but maybe later?"

"Hahaha! Of course, little lady. Of course." Captain Lion saluted them both, "I must take my leave of you two. Duty calls."

Lazheros and Alyson made it to the tavern after a few minutes of walking. He was amazed she still energy to keep going. Most children would of been too tired to walk at this point but Alyson was not like most children. The two entered the tavern, it was still early enough that most of the regular patrons were still working their trade within the city.

The noise caught the attention of Mertul, the owner and proprietor of the Neverending Story. She was a stout dwarven woman with the braids woven down each side and intertwined down the center of her chest. "Oh. Bronze Man, is is a delight to see you here. And who is this?"

"Alyson, the niece of Madeous Khyng," he replied.

"Such a lovely girl. Come in. Come in. Hungry are you?" Mertul motioned them to follow to a table off by itself. "We have stew. Vegetable or beef, young one?"

"Beef stew, please." Alyson's stomach growled again, "Do you have milk, or juice?"

"Sorry no milk. Juice I do have. Your uncle calls them smoothies?"

"Oh yes. Raspberry, blueberry, apple, and orange flavors please." She ran over and sat down.

Lazheros chuckled watching her, "Just tea and whitefish for me, please."

Mertul hurried off to the kitchen and returned with the food several minutes later. "Here's your smoothie and beef stew, Alyson. And your whitefish and tea, Bronze Man. Enjoy."

Alyson started with the stew first. It was so good and meaty. "This is really good. Want some?"

Lazheros was about to take a bite of the whitefish and politely declined, "No thank you."

"Okay more for me." She gobbled the all the stew up including licking the inside of the bowl clean. Then started on the citrus smoothie Mertul made for her. The complete opposite of the hot stew and brain freeze hit. "Gah! Brain freeze! Urk!"

He chuckled again, "Hahaha! You are full of surprises, Alysiane and very silly. No wonder the fey and kurori like you so much. In a way, you're just like them."

They sat there for another thirty minutes before departing the tavern and thanking Mertul. Alyson felt something jingle in her pocket and pulled out a handful of silver coins. "Is this enough for dinner, Lazheros?"

He blinked in surprise, "Where did you find ten pieces of silver? They can't of magically appeared just now."

"I don't know," She looked back at him, "Whenever we went out to eat, we always paid for the food and drinks. We also left a tip for the person who brought us our food as thanks. All people have to eat too, you know."

"They do indeed, Alysiane. They do indeed. Walk over to the bar and ask for Mertul. She will gladly take it from you. I will wait here, now go on." The Bronze Man watched as Alyson went over and asked for Mertul. She paid her for the meals, and told her to keep the change. Then walked back out the tavern with him and down the street towards the merchants district.

********

Most of the shops were closed up for the evening and the people went home to their families or taverns to unload with friends. The tide in the bay was receding now and the land bridge connected to the lighthouse could now be traversed on. The Bronze Man had thought of taking the boat and decided not too. Alyson had already taken a ride twice today and needed to burn off more energy.

The light of the setting sun engulfed Alyson as she walked with Lazheros to the lighthouse. The lighthouse itself appeared to be average on the outside of about four stories tall but the inside was completely different. The interior was deceptively bigger on the inside than on the outside. Typical of a mage creation. The main room had a two large couches on either side with book shelves behind both. At the far end was a desk covered with scrolls and various other writing tools. A set of spiral stairs could be seen just to the right and behind the desk that went further up. Plants hung from the twelve foot ceiling with long green tendrils glowing softly in the room.

The girl was in awe and wonder at how such a feat could be possible. "Only magic can do this. Only one with a imagination can do this."

"Magic! Of course magic did this!" A construct of armor clamored over to her and the bronze man. "And pray tell are you?"

Alyson jumped and hid behind the bronze man. The armored figured startled her enough to hide. "Ahhh!"

"Armendes," Lazheros narrowed his eyes, "It's not wise to startle the niece of Madeous Khyng. I do not want my home going up in flames because of your boisterous persona."

"Flames? What do you mean flames? And the niece of Madeous Khyng? Bah!" The construct backed away and grumbled loudly, "what could possibly cause a single little girl to start a place of this on fire?"

Alyson clung to the robes of the bronze man even harder. His big friend was scary and she wanted nothing to do with it.

"Her emotions are the source of her power. By the watch towers of the south by the power of FIRE and FEELING." Lazheros spoke the invocation of the southern watchtower and Alyson whole body was glowing with a fiery aura. He reached around and gently pulled her in front of him to show Armendes exactly what he was referring to.

Armendes took a couple more steps back. Even he was no match to withstand this child if she were to loose her temper. "My...my apologies. I did not know or care to know. Forgive me, child. I am old disembodied wizard stuck in this construct. I'm really a nice person once you get to know me better? Is that okay with you?"

The bronze man placed a hand on each shoulder and repeated, "By the watchtowers of the south, by the power of FIRE and FEELING. Hail and farewell." His calming presence and gentle touch made her feel safe. The fiery aura slowly vanished from Alyson.

Alyson stayed with Lazheros. She didn't say anything but nodded an okay to Armendes. The only thing she did do was let out a big yawn to which the bronze man was waiting for awhile now.

Armendes moved to the far left as not to scare young Alyson anymore than he already did. He decided to head upstairs to his arcanum for some peace and quiet. He was sure to hear the rest at a later time.

"Come, child." The bronze man took Alyson up the spiral stairs to the second floor. He reached over to the wall and rang a small bell that summoned two chamber maids.

They came over asking, "yes, what do you require, Grand Cleric?"

"Draw up a warm bath for Alyson and provide a night gown for her, please. She will staying here for the summer while her uncle attends his kingdom until he returns." Lazheros told the older of the two maids.

"Sir, we no extra beds for your guest, or room at the moment. Master Armendes has taken up an extra room for his books and research materials." The younger said quietly.

The Bronze Man frowned. He would talk to Armendes about his collection later. He would let her stay in his chambers for now. She could have the canopy bed not that he used it much anymore and sleep on the hammock.

The older woman came out of the bath house, "The bath is ready for you, little lady. Come along please."

Alyson didn't protest at all. She was dirty from playing with the fey and kurori today. Ten minutes later she came out, hair washed as well and clean. The older woman gave her a night gown to wear while her own clothes needed to be washed. She walked out in the gown with her wet hair and glasses to the bronze man patiently waiting for her.

He took her hand and brought her to his chambers to sleep. When he turned to close the door behind him, Alyson saw the huge canopy bed and climbed up on it. It was so big that she got a bit carried away and started horsing around. Hearing the noise, he turned to see jumping on the bed. "Eh-hem!"

"Ulp!" She dropped to her knees on the bed, "I'm sorry."

He walked over with a stern look implying not to do that again. "I know you are tired, Alysiane."

Alyson yawned again and rubbed her eyes. "I'm not tired."

Lazheros sat down on the bed and looked her eye to eye. He relaxed again, "Uh-huh. You need to work on convincing me that you're not tired another time. Time for bed. Children such as yourself can turn into 'little monsters' when you don't get enough sleep."

Alyson yawned again and hung her head in defeat. He was right. She was tired and crawled over to him and hugged again. Lazheros was taken back a bit and embraced her gently and was truly surprised when she kissed him on cheek. There was that feeling of love again. A child's unconditional love for him and she loved him for what he truly was. He breathed slowly watching her fall asleep on the bed. Standing up quietly, he drew the silk drapes together and left her to her dreams.