"Ah. Let's shoot for three hours, then? Just to be safe. And not have you waiting around impatiently while I'm walking back."

"Sure."

She smiles at him, pats his forelimb in a friendly fashion, and then turns to go walk to town to send a letter.

Is this a complicated procedure? She can spare some jewelry to uncomplicate it, if so!

It's a little bit complicated, but she does not need much jewelry to uncomplicate it. She will be back in plenty of time to meet the three-hour deadline.

She supposes she could attempt to flee and get home if she wanted, but there are a number of reasons why she won't be doing that. For one, it's not very realistic; she doubts very highly that a lost, destitute princess stranded in a foreign country could safely make it back home. More likely something awful would happen on the way back, and she'd rather avoid that. For another, she doesn't exactly want to leave the dragon without a princess, since he'd probably just snatch someone else and probably be much less inclined to be as pleasant to them, since his last one ran off. If he has to have a maiden around, it might as well be her, since he likes her so much. Besides, maybe she actually can help him.

Or maybe she's just a stupid girl willingly wandering back into the dragon's lair. She guesses she'll find out.

Here she is, at a time comfortably before the end of the deadline.

The dragon is curled up at the base of the stairs. He lifts his head at her approach.

She gives an awkward little wave, feeling slightly self-conscious about actually coming back to the aforementioned dragon's lair.

In an effort to get over this self-consciousness: "So I realized on the walk to town that I didn't actually know your name, or tell you mine. I'm Saveth, hi."

"Zekanare." He makes an expression that might be a dragonish smile, mostly visible around the eyes.

"Pleasure to make your acquaintance, Zekanare," she says with a polite curtsy. "Will you please carry me off to your lair?"

He giggles, and scoops her up and—climbs up the cliff face, with Saveth tucked securely against his scaly chest.

She tries not to squeak when she's scooped this time, but she fails. Being scooped up by a dragon is kind of a squeak-worthy affair.

"I swear I will stop squeaking eventually. This just, um, takes some getting used to."

"Not every day you get carried off by a dragon," he agrees, depositing her carefully on the balcony.

"Today is just one of those days," she says, sagely. "Thank you for sparing me the stairs."

He snorts. "You're welcome."

Smile.

"So I am actually really curious about the food situation. If you can go half a century without snacking on a stray sheep, then surely you have some way to feed yourself up here. And, um, presumably me. Please feed me regularly."

He shifts down to human form and holds out his hand toward her, red light sparkling in the air above it; by the time he completes the gesture, he's holding out a beautiful little porcelain plate with a slice of cake and a silver fork.

"Oh." She looks at the cake, blinking. Then she takes the offered cake with a polite, "Thank you. That's very convenient, all right."

Well, no point being hesitant about offered foods. She has a bite of cake. Then a second, more enthusiastic bite of cake. "... And delicious!"

Zekanare beams at her.

She smiles back, and has another bite of cake. Because it really is pretty good.

"Do you actually eat stray sheep, or is that just a silly rumor?"

"Once in a while, if I'm bored and I happen to spot one. And I go out hunting, sometimes, have an elk for dinner or something. Nobody panics as long as I'm not making two flights in the same week."

"Huh. All right. ... What's the appeal of it, when you can just." She waves a hand. "Make food?"

"Of hunting? It's fun!"

"Huh. Okay. I suppose I'd make a terrible dragon, wouldn't I. Or at least a very un-dragony dragon. 'Why would I go hunting, I have a perfectly nice mountain right here.'"

He giggles.

"Is there a reason most dragons tend to hole up somewhere and cause trouble? Or is it just - they have no choice but to hole up somewhere because they are dragons and therefore everyone's afraid of them, and we only pay attention to the ones who cause trouble?"