Josephclive99
A man of half dragon, half humanoid descent, burdened by a mysterious and unyielding illness, disabled and unable to transform or soar as once he did, unable to do anything that should be his due as someone with dragon heritage, has lived a long life, isolated, reclusive and in pain. When, after centuries of hoping, a cure for his enduring troubles is proposed, Aindrith initially feels an intense relief that his suffering may be over, only to realise that choosing to take the offered cure may leave him in a much worse position than his illness ever has.
This short story follows vaguely on from the discovery of pattern activity in Kelly's trauma. It takes place around the year 2100, after Tal has become a Hilrean priest, and twenty five years after professor Raffy, professor Rintargodash's husband, died of old age. Professor Kelly has been university dean for one hundred and thirty years. The genetic biology professor in the story, Florence Betsydatter, is the same one who approximately half a century earlier first identified talan genetics in Tal and his young ward, Belinda, but at the time of this story, the name 'talan' has not yet been rediscovered.