• "What is Karan's last name?" Jana asked.
    "She doesn't have one yet," Jok said.
    "Why doesn't she have one?" Jana wondered.
    "We obtain our last names through our strongest attributes," Jono said.
    "What do you mean?" Jana inquired.
    "We are given our last names according to the animal we change into most often," Jok said.
    "What animals do you five transform into most often?" Gihan said.
    "Mine is a tiger," Jok said. "Rona's is a stray black dog, Salo's is a horse, and Jono's is a golden eagle."
    "What is Karan's?" Jana asked.
    "As of right now, there is no one animal that she changes into most often," Rona said. "Karan will change into a different animal every time she transforms."
    "How long will it take before Karan is given a last name?" Jana asked.
    "That will depend on whether she chooses one animal as her main animal," Salo said.
    "Right now, I'm not sure which animal I like the best," Karan said. "Truth be told, I like them all equally."
    "What about me?" Jana inquired.
    "When did you transform for the first time?" Jok asked.
    "That happened only two weeks ago," Jana replied.
    "What did you change into?" Rona asked.
    "A dragon, according to my friends," Jana said.
    "Jana didn't transform into just any dragon," Gihan said. "She transformed into a golden dragon."
    The rest of the group stared at her with something close to awe in their eyes.
    "Why are you all looking at me like that?" she asked.
    "You have no idea of the significance of this, do you?" Rona asked. Jana shook her head.
    "I thought all dragons were the same," she said. Jok shook his head slowly.
    "All dragons are special," he said. "But none more so than a golden dragon."
    "What's so special about a golden dragon?" Karan asked.
    "Precious metal dragons are extremely uncommon," Salo said. "Golden dragons are the rarest of the rare. The last true golden dragon died a thousand years ago."
    "Hasn't our kind ever been able to change into one before?" Karan asked. Rona shook her head.
    "Until now, none of us have ever heard of any changeling having the ability to transform into a golden dragon," she said.
    "What's so great about me being able to change into a golden dragon?" Jana asked.
    "In all the history of our kind, you are the only changeling that we know of that has had this ability, Jana," Salo said. "None of us have ever found any reference to your abilities anywhere in all our travels."
    "What he's trying to say is that ye have a destiny that is set apart from the rest of us," Jono said.
    "What do you mean?" Jana asked.
    "Golden dragons are social animals," Rona said. "They are, by nature, highly protective of those they love. They are easily offended, and their wrath is terrible to behold, thus the reason that no one has ever offended a golden dragon and lived to tell the tale."
    "They are also leaders," Jok said. "Golden dragons have the unique ability to sense when someone is telling the truth or lying, as well as when someone means them or someone close to them harm. They are also wise, far wiser than any other dragon."
    "In short, the golden dragons were rarely, if ever, challenged," Salo said. "It is said that the golden dragons possessed awesome powers that no other dragon had. Among these was the ability to read minds and breathe lightning."
    "Jana, you breathed lightning at one of the young men that was attacking you and your friends in that alley," Gihan said.
    "How do you know?" Jana asked.
    "I spoke with Jona and Luke before I turned in that night, after you had gone home," he said. "They both agreed that you had breathed lightning at one of your attackers after slashing another one's arm."
    "I was only acting in self-defense!" Jana said. "I had no idea what was going on at the time!"
    "That is common when a changeling transforms for the first time," Jok said. "Most of the time, they won't remember a thing that happened."
    "I didn't even know I could transform into a dragon until my friends told me what had happened," Jana said.