What Makes a Dragon a Dragon?

"That was not why we came, for when we set out we did not know of its existence. No doubt Belboz originally came to the caves so that he could work on it while keeping it a secret from my kind. If Minestus found out about it, then as an outcast he did not choose to share his knowledge with us. But now that we have learnt of it, we must see that it is destroyed. The instability induced in the caves by Elaine's duel with Minestus may do the job for us, smashing it under countless tons of rock."

"I'm still puzzling about how it could be possible that forty dragons would have to agree before another dragon could be born," Elaine said. "You spoke of a machine. But how could a machine - even a magical one - prevent conception? Or would it affect things at a later stage of pregnancy? In any case, why can't this machine be switched off or destroyed? And are you saying that the number of dragons has now fallen below forty so that, however long-lived you are, the dragons must eventually die out?"

"We have not quite reached that point yet. But we are few enough that it would require four-fifths of our people to agree, and that is very doubtful."

"Even if failing to agree would eventually lead to the extinction of the dragons?" Astra asked.

"I see that you are astonished. Yes, even so, so deep do our divisions go. For if a dragon was born to a member of a particular faction, that would be seen as making that faction stronger. That is why saving Elaine's life was so important. It had never occurred to us that a dragon's flame could pass into a human, but nevertheless it has happened. That flame - and hence Elaine - must be preserved because, as far as the machine is concerned, possessing that flame makes Elaine a dragon. She could thus potentially become one of the quorum of forty."

1. The questions continue.
2. Elsewhere...

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