Before Heata loomed a wall, but it was a wall quite unlike any other. Rather than the dark gray stone of which the castle was made, this wall was of a deep and rich purple.
And it was scaly.
And upon the impact of Heata's body, it began to move.
The wall of purple scales shifted, rose, and resolved itself into a dragon, neck and wings and tail uncurling to reveal her full size. Royal purple cloaked the whole of her, and a set of simple gray horns fanned backward upon her head. Along the length of her neck traveled a white mane, feathery and full. The hallway, high-arched and wide as it was, would still not have allowed a creature so large and yet there she lay. A glance upward and past her would have revealed how: just past her upper body the ceiling and walls ended, the floor of the hallway jutting out into open space beyond.
Her great head came down, brilliant golden eyes as large as a man's fist taking in this strange little creature who had run into her. She bared he teeth. It was a smile, though she sometimes forgot it could look frightening to those unfamiliar with dragons.
"Here now, little one." Her voice, though deep, was distinctly feminine. "Best be careful with all the construction going on. Turn a wrong corner and you might find yourself wishing you could fly." To illustrate her point, she folded her wings close to her body and shifted to the side, revealing the demolished hallway beyond. The tiled floor went on for another twenty or so paces, still supported from below, before ending abruptly. The entire wing beyond was gone, torn down in lieu of the complete reconstruction. Scaffolding reared up on either side of the hallway floor, and laborers toiled over stone and wood and mortar. From below came a constant din of hammering and shouting.
The view, however, was gorgeous. Three stories up they were with the whole of Ketra stretched out beyond, hazy in the springtime heat and surrounded by a patchwork of farmer's fields in spectacular growth.
"That's why I'm laying here, you know. To keep people out of the mess back there. Angel ran off to fetch some rope to section this hallway off. He should be back soon."
She tapped her claws upon the tiles idly, leaving cracks in them with each stab. It didn't matter. This whole hallway would be gone soon, and the construction would soon engulf the entirety of the castle. To a dragon, the scurrying antics of all these laborers and engineers looked frantic and random, rather like the activity of a disturbed anthill, but humans had built this castle so they must know what they were doing. For her part she merely watched, finding the whole process a pleasant curiosity, lending her aid and advice as requested.
A consultant they called her, to ensure the place was made fit for the dragons who would soon call it home.
"I don't think I have met you, yet," she said, a little cautiously. Elves, humans, haithians...all these little two-legged sprites yet looked the same to her, and she had trouble telling one individual from another sometimes. It came from spending most of her life among dragonkind. "Well met, my dear. I am Shai. How shall I call you? And where do you run to with such haste? Perhaps I might direct you."
