[ WP ] As a dragon of innumerable age you have guarded your gold horde for millennium . Many heroes have come with long speeches on how they will slay you , the great evil , none finish . However this one is odd.He throws a coin on your stash , looks you in the eyes and says `` I have a proposition for you . ''

( First time writing in a long time. Humor me. ) 
 
 `` I have a proposition for you,'' he said. 
 
 I pause. I pause because this at least sounds like this could be novel. A pause is all I afford him, though. In body, he looks so many other heroes that have crossed me in the past: healthy and hale, straight in every limb, young with a proud chin and enough confidence that he could pass for royalty. However he bears no armor or arms, so perhaps he is merely some fatally ambitious squire. His attire is odd and his jerkin and slops are too tight. I take the moment to bring my head closer to him so that I may observe him and I find myself unable to decide if he's handsomely bland or blandly handsome. He's wearing spectacle that give him the air of a court scholar. If nothing else, I'll refrain from eating him until he reveals his origins. 
 
 He does n't speak, nor does he shrink from the no doubt uncomfortable heat of my furnace-like breath. His spectacles fog and he removes them to wipe them clean, but he does so without hurry, clearly waiting for me to respond. At least he is courteous. 
 
 `` Go on,'' I say shortly, but I make sure to speak in a tone that will rumble his form and rattle his bones. He nearly drops his silly spectacle and I stifle a chuckle. 
 
 `` I propose you leave your Lair and come with me,'' He says plainly. 
 
 I let my laughter fly, high and cruel, and it shakes the walls of my lair. He scrambles for footing and purchase as coin cascade underneath his feet from the tumult. `` And pray tell, why would I do that, little morsel? Why do that when I could snap my jaw once and devour you whole and then return to my slumber without your noisome intrusion? My jaws crush stone, you understand. Biting a bovine in twain offers me naught more resistance than air.'' 
 
 `` Actually,'' he said as he replaces the spectacles back on his head, `` I do n't think I've ever seen a cow up close.'' 
 
 `` Ah, a scholar then I take it,'' I say. I shall humor more conversation before I kill him. 
 
 `` Well, you could say that. I'm a *licensed psychologist and amateur urban cryptozoologist*,'' he says. 
 
 Now understand. I am old. Older than humanity, older than the mountains and only a little younger than the seas. I can shirk castles off my back should I put effort to it and I can trample forests if I am not deliberate with my bulk. I know all the languages of man, fey, angels, demon, gods and more. 
 
 But I expressly do *not* know these words he just spoke. 
 
 `` A what and a what?'' I finally say, embarrassed for the first time in centuries. 
 
 `` I suppose you would n't know these terms. You see, I am of a profession that helps individual with illnesses of the mind. In addition to that I am a seeker of the unknown creatures of the world.'' 
 
 I cast him a sideways glare, remembering how irksome I found the sensation of confusion. `` Ah,'' I say, paying no heed to the nonsense you just uttered, `` but that still does n't explain your baffling proposal, oh little scholar.'' I begin to encircle with him my wings and forelimbs, reminding him just how impressive I am. 
 
 `` Because it's what is best for you,'' he says, actually approaching me directly with upturned palms. 
 
 `` Come again?'' I say. 
 
 `` You've been cutting off social ties for too long and you've lost touch with the world at large.'' 
 
 `` And?'' I say again, letting my annoyance creep into my tone. 
 
 `` Well, I think you might be exhibiting symptoms of mild to moderate clinical depression,'' he says. 
 
 `` Depression? What are you babbling about? I have no depressions on me. My magnificent form has no dents or scars! How could it? No weapon could cause such harm to my impervious scales!'' I bellow, and he visibly shields his face and braces himself at the force of my voice. 
 
 `` No, not a physical depression. I mean you are suffering a mental disorder.'' 
 
 `` What?! You little worm! You describe me ill?! ” I casually swat him to the floor with the barest touch from my snout as punishment for his presumption. 
 
 He is sent sprawling and he throws up his hands in fear as I tower over him. Finally, some respect! 
 
 “ Not just me! Another patient of mine! ” he gasps out now, wanting for wind from the impact with the cave floor. “ She is a friend of yours. ” 
 
 “ Friends? I have no friends! ” And at this I let loose fire from my gullet and it flows around and encircles him. I do not wish it to burn him. No, now I want to see fear on his face before he dies. Such an ego on this one. 
 
 He steels himself and shouts over the crackling flame, “ You do! Do you remember Sheila Caomhánach? ” 
 
 “ Her?! That harpy? ” 
 
 “ Well, technically she ’ s a banshee. ” 
 
 “ DON ’ T CORRECT ME. ” 
 
 “ Look, I ’ m just trying to say she misses you. And she was worried about you. ” 
 
 “ She... misses me? ” I let my flames die down ever so slightly. 
 
 “ Yes. She does. She talks to me very positively about her past interactions and she ’ s noted that you haven ’ t been outside your lair in centuries. She ’ s still thankful for the times you offered her shelter and conversation when she felt alone in the world. ” 
 
 I growl a little but relent a little as well. “ Well, she seemed distraught. She seemed to have lost her way. ” I feign disinterest and add, “ It was unsightly. ” 
 
 “ She told me, ” he says, standing up now and dusting himself off and smiling ever so slightly. “ She told me of how you used to terrorize villages and fly in the night sky well into dawn and how you two would talk about anything and everything. She told me how you had a wicked sense of humor that could make laugh and laugh for hours. It was the best time of her unlife. ” 
 
 Memories come rolling back unbidden. “ Heh. It was rather enjoyable. ” 
 
 “ But she says you ’ ve lost interest in what you normally enjoy now a days. You don ’ t respond to her summons. She says you enjoy so precious little at all it seems. That you content yourself with simply staying in your lair, asleep all the time. Tell me if this sounds accurate, Melchior til Alexandrite? ” 
 
 My name! How does he know my name?! That is power over me! I thrash back fearfully, trying to get away. 
 
 “ No, no! Sheila told me your name! ” he says quickly. 
 
 “ How could she?! ” I shriek. “ Betrayer! ” 
 
 “ No! Listen! Please! My name by birth is Ryan Baldwin! ” 
 
 I freeze, confused, and say, “ Do you not know what you give up by telling me your true name? ” This has turned out to be a most baffling day. 
 
 “ I know precisely what I give up. Just as I know that by knowing your true name, we ’ ve now both undergone the Rite of First Naming with each other. Now we both have influence over each other. We both stand on equal footing. But I ’ m not interested in power. I ’ m interested in trust, ” he says. 
 
 “ You ’ re going to force me out of my Lair, you can do that now… ” I whisper, almost hushed. 

