A mournful crooning emerged from the dragon clan's cave and swept across the countryside. That which the dragons had feared since the human infestation had first moved near the cave had finally come to pass. One of the elders, Tyrei's own mother, was dead, and now the survivors must choose between warring with the little creatures or abandoning their ancestral home.

"Mother..." whispered Tyrei as she nuzzled the body of the older female. "I'm so sorry..."

Uncle Elrys looked down sadly at the guilt stricken young dragon, no longer a child, barely an adult. "You mustn't blame yourself, Tyrei," he rumbled.

"But maybe... if I hadn't stirred them up..."

Elrys shook his head. "No. They're humans. Curious little beasties. They would have found us eventually."

"But... but..."

"It's not your fault," snapped Tyrei's brother, Gire. "You need to get that through your head. It wasn't you... it was those... wretched little... monsters."

Elrys sighed. "They're just animals, Gire, doing what comes naturally to them. They see us as a threat."

Tyrei sighed and said softly, "But Uncle, they're not just animals. I've been watching them. They can think and feel, they use tools... The hard shell that one had wasn't just a natural, metal-like covering. That really was made of metal. They can work the stuff!"

Gire snarled. "If they're not just animals, they're murderers! It's time we cleaned out that infestation once and for all."

Elrys shook his head. "No, it won't work. Others have tried that tact before with humans. Eventually, more come. You wipe them out, and more come, and more... Eventually they overwhelm you. A meeting of the elders will be held tonight to decide what to do, but my vote will be to withdraw."

"Couldn't we try communicating with them?" asked Tyrei. "Make them realize that we mean them no harm?"

"Tyrei, honey, I know what you think, but I'm telling you, they're animals."

"They're monsters," growled Gire. "I can't believe you're going to just give into them."

"But we just can't kill them," complained Tyrei. "Not all of them are at fault!"

"Enough," hissed Elrys. "This isn't for you two to decide. I've said it before. Tonight the Elders decide what to do. But all dragons have been told to remain in the caverns until the matter is settled. Is that understood?"

The two young adults nodded, and the conversation was ended. But the matter was far from settled.

Tyrei desperately chased her brother through the night. Earlier that night she had tried to find Gire to speak with him but had found his room empty. It hadn't taken her long to figure out that he had flown off to extract revenge from the human settlement, and she immediately took off to stop him. When she arrived at the settlement several of the buildings were already burning, and Gire was chasing a small group of them down the dusty main road.

She had tried to stop the bigger, stronger dragon, but he had snarled and snapped at her, accusing her of being a traitor to her species. Then he snatched up the nearest human, a familiar female with long hair, and flew off.

Tyrei stayed on just a moment longer, watching the hysterics of another older, also familiar female: the other one's mother. She took off a moment later. She didn't know how she would do it, but she had to stop her brother. The loss of their mother hurt her as much as it did him, but killing the little human, depriving the mother of her daughter, would fix nothing. After all, humans loved their children, too.