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was the queen who setup the dragon corrals and decided that bad little girls would be condemned to work there.’
    ‘One of the more interesting fables,’ Norema said. ‘Well, she was always fond of the animal, since it was a giant sea dragon that guarded her sunken treasure on which her power rested.’
    ‘That was the story your friend set out to find was true or not?’
    Norema nodded.
    ‘She wanted to find Mad Queen Olin’s treasure in the sunken city guarded by the dragon Gauine?’
    ‘That’s what she said.’
    Suddenly Pryn turned around and looked off at her own winged mount swaying at its tree. ‘Brainless, stupid beast! I thought I’d fly you away from home to excitement and adventure – or at least to a ledge from which I could return. But here – ’ she turned back to Norema – ‘she has landed in this silly clearing and can’t take off again!’
    ‘You want to leave home for good,’ Norema said seriously.
    ‘Yes,’ Pryn said. ‘And
don’t
tell me not to!’
    ‘You aren’t afraid of slavers?’
    Pryn shook her head. ‘You’re traveling alone, and
you’re
still a free woman.’
    ‘True,’ Norema said. ‘And I intend to stay one.’ She considered a moment. ‘Let me give you two more gifts – besides my tale.’
    Pryn looked perplexed. She hadn’t thought much of the story. It had stopped and started, leaving her anxious and expectant precisely where she had wanted answers and explanations.
    ‘You can be frightened,’ Norema said. ‘But don’t be terrified. That’s first.’
    ‘I’m
not
terrified,’ Pryn said.
    ‘I know,’ Norema said. ‘But that’s the way with advice.
    The part you can accept is the part you always already know.’
    ‘I’m not afraid either,’ Pryn said. Then she frowned again. ‘No, I
am
afraid. But it doesn’t matter, because I made my mind up to it a long time ago.’
    ‘Good.’ Norema smiled, ‘I wasn’t going to argue. One of my gifts, then, is a packet of food; that I’ll give you out of my provisions cart. The other is some geographical information about the real world over which you’ve just so cavalierly flown – both are things one cannot trust tales to provide. Oh, yes, and another piece of advice: Untie your dragon and let her wander into the mountains where she belongs. Left to herself, she’ll find the ledges she needs, as you must too – but you can’t be tied down with dragons that won’t fly where you want to go, no matter how much fun the notion of flight. Through those trees, maybe a hundred yards on, you’ll find the junction of two roads, giving you a choice of four directions. The one going –’ Norema glanced at the sun – ‘toward the sunset will take you, with three days’ walk, to a white desert with dangerous tribes who sew copper wire up the rims of their ears. Take the road leading in the opposite direction, down between the mountain hills, and with four days’ walk you’ll reach the coast and a brave village of rough-handed men and women who live from the sea. Take the road running to your right as you approach the crossroads, and you’ll be back at the High Hold of fabled Ellamon in no more than three hours. Take the path that runs away from the junction to your left, and seven days’ hike will finally bring you to the grand port of Kolhari, capital city of all Nevèrÿon – like in my story.’ Norema smiled. (That so famous city had not played much of a part in the tale, Pryn thought; though certainly she knew enough of Kolhari by other reports.) ‘Along with my tale, I think mygifts should stand a young woman like you, off to see the world, in good stead.’
    ‘Thank you,’ Pryn said, because her aunt, for all her bitterness, had taught her to be polite.
    Some hours later, when Pryn was several miles along her chosen route, she stopped a minute. Of all the day’s marvels it was neither her own flight, nor the tale of the dragon and the sunken city, nor the food pack tied on her back –