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Cedric waited, as they had agreed, by the cave. He was a bit early, but that was always safer because time ran differently here than in their world. So a minute late could be fifteen minutes late, here. Not that there was much of a way to tell time except by the unfamiliar sun and the shadows of an unfamiliar world.

He waited calmly by the entrance, standing and watching a dragon flying over head. He supposed that Katrina's dragon might land here before they made the switch, so that her human wouldn't have to walk far. He swung a leather necklace with a carved bone charm on it. His wife had insisted on making it for Katrina once she heard that Cedric had run into one of his children. The bone was actually dragon bone, and the two of them suspected that it had magical properties. Cedric wore one himself around his neck, carved in the shape of a winged lizard meant to resemble his family crest. The one he had brought for Katrina was carved in the shape of a horse, a symbol for beauty where they came from.

He was cool, a bit aloof for a man of his honorable nature meeting his long lost child. Showing the appropriate emotions, emotions like concern for her wellbeing, hadn't gone over so well last time. And anyway, she was full grown.

He stretched out his hand, palm up, the necklace dangling from his fingers. "This is for you," he said without much explanation. "The books are inside, in case it rains. You won't take them away from here, will you? I'd hate to see them lost. There aren't any copies, I don't think." In an age where the printing press wasn't widely developed or used, that wasn't so unusual. "Any questions for me?"

Cedric straightened and gave her a stern look, because what he was about to say was important. "You are old enough, he is not. Children cannot have such intimate interactions with their bonded without ill affect. Does he want to be dragon, or human? If he comes here too often, he will be mostly dragon, and that doesn't bode well in a human body." Clearly this was a simplified version of the facts, but considering the very ancient roots of their magic, that was probably the most any one knew.

"You, how often had you come here when you were young? Perhaps you were lucky, and found it a difficult feat to perform, and so you remain unscarred. Or perhaps you have lost your humanity, but you hide it better. I know someone who came here quite often as a young child, and she is the worse for it."

Cedric didn't like being challenged, but he would try to explain. He sighed. "It has to do with how old you are. If you are old enough, then your dragon's mind is settled. They are less wild. When you both are so young, the dragon is wild, and so you too will become wild as you come in contact with them. It will warp your mind. The dragon will overpower you, and you will not have much humanity left."

He paused dramatically. "How old are you again? You should be at least 20, I would think, before coming here regularly. 18 before coming here at all, if you could help it."

"Er..." Cedric shifted a bit uncomfortably, changing the majority of his weight from one foot to the other and back again. "I suppose it might be," he admitted, "It could be." He knew that the next question might very well be something he couldn't answer, so he was reluctant to let the conversation lead in that direction. But he was also certain that his daughter was strong-willed and stubborn, and that if he did not entertain her curiosities to the utmost of his abilities, she would find him of no further use and leave.

As much as it would make his life less complicated if she were to simply, and literally, vanish, he would feel guilty for driving kin off. He was probably the only man in Tok that knew how to talk to a Feretris woman without getting someone's throat slit. His proud bloodline especially would not put up with the constant disrespect that tinged every word out of her mouth. Or maybe Cedric was letting his imagination dominate his sense.

He cleared his throat. "It's quite possible, actually. I don't know what type of magic your dragon weilds, but I might be able to guess by what you tell me. I'm pretty sure, uh, from my own experiences, that they can lend us magic for a short time if they please."

"I can put people to sleep," Cedric admited with a smile, "something I wish I'd learned how to do a bit earlier. You'll have to talk to your dragon about all that. It can tire them out to lend you too much for too long, of course. Don't overextend yourself if you don't have to."

Cedric gestured to the cave. "Books are in there. Any further questions for me?"

"What sort of faction?" he asked, more interested in that than in how to tell one another apart. "There's no way to tell, unless you happen to see one of us switch with our dragon. Then suddenly a dragon is running around, and that's a bit hard to miss, isn't it?"