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Because Geram is such an (adorable) ignoramous, I get the chance to bring in some of the background of the story now.
"Have you heard the story of the Dawn Dragon?" she began.
He shrugged. "Nope."
"Ah. Then we must begin at the beginning." She folded her hands in her lap, pressing her lips together as she thought. "I will try to be succinct."
Birili, who was gently sponging Geram's nose, chuckled. "Good luck with that."
To Geram's surprise, the priestess reached over, felt for one of his hands, and, finding it, clasped it in both of hers. "What I am going to tell you will sound like a myth to you, Geram. I beg you to believe it to be true, just as true as the mark on your head. Will you try to accept it so?"
"I'll give it a try, but you're talkin' about dragons, right? And everyone knows they don't exist."
"Not dragons as you know them." She squeezed his hand, then released him, smiling warmly up at him. "Try to believe, my friend. Remember – I can see your mark, and I knew exactly where to find you, even though I have never been to this town before." She waited a moment, and when he didn't speak, she continued. "You've heard of Mount Stelenath?"
"Oh, aye, that's there, right enough." A mountain, he could believe in, especially the biggest in all Elegar.
"Have you been there?" She sounded pleased, and then seemed disappointed when he said he hadn't. "But you know of the valley within the mountain?"
He nodded, realized she couldn't see the movement, and said, "Yes."
"Long ago, deep within Mount Stelenath was a great chasm, not a valley. From the day that this island of Elegar was brought forth from the sea, it was there. Two spirit dragons, Steleduil and Nathduil, rose with the island, and from the very first, they both wanted to remain in the earth and sky. But only one could stay; the other had to go back to the depths of the sea. They fought a great battle within the chasm, and the victor, called the Dawn Dragon, had dominion over the world we know. However, every 200 years, the Twilight Dragon rises into the chasm, and they fight again for dominion and freedom. In the first of these battles, they were so evenly matched that, when they came together, parts of them were shattered and blown all about the island, five parts for each dragon. They discovered that, should humans bring these parts, which are called Talons, to the dragon before the fight, this could change the balance of their powers and give victory to one or the other."
"I'm already not liking the sound of this." He took a bowl of stew from the girl, Paka, with an absent thanks, and shoveled the food into his mouth without taking his gaze from the priestess. He loved a good story, but this one also made him apprehensive. The mark on his head did look something like a dragon's claw.
"As you have guessed, you are one of the chosen Talons."
"So what's it going to do? Rip the thing from my head?"
She chuckled. "Nothing like that. You will find a talisman, somewhere along the road as we travel to the mountain. Only you can find it, and in it will be the essence of your strengths. The talisman is given to the dragon, and with it, the dragon will gain what is best in you – without any harm or loss to you, except the sacrifice of your talisman."
"So you're sayin' I'm some kind of chosen one, right?"
"Indeed you are."
He had to laugh. "Why would some otherworldly dragon thing choose someone like me?"
Koras, who was reclining in the shadows, drawled, "I've been wondering that myself."
The priestess – Mazya, he remembered her name was – only smiled at this. She had a smile unlike any he had ever seen, lovely in its serenity, with warmth and joy in the very curve of her lips and the light which sprang into her sightless eyes. Even in firelight, he could see it. "None of us knows why we were chosen," she said. "None of us feels worthy. But Steleduil is wiser than we. There are great strengths within us all, of which we ourselves are unaware."
No, not quite, he thought. He could see Mazya's strength, although, not being a particularly literate man, he could never have described it. She was like the great sea swell that you could barely detect with your eyes, but which bore a ship smoothly to harbor on its tide. "Steleduil, huh? That's our side of the fight?"
"Yes."
"So what makes this Steleduil any better than the other one? And what do we get out of all this being chosen, and going to the mountain, and talismans and stuff?"
"Of the two dragons, Steleduil cares for humans. When he rules the earth and sky, we prosper."
"Then the other one must be running things right now, because the world's a bloody mess."
She chuckled. "That is true enough, but it could be much worse. You see, Steleduil does not interfere directly with us humans. Instead, he allows us to follow the paths we choose. He simply makes life easier for us in general."
"How?"
Birili answered that for him. In her sweet voice, she began to sing, but not a normal song. It was a list, a list of disasters. Borne on the notes came flood, fires, drought, earthquakes, landslides, great storms, tidal waves, and a list of dread diseases. He gaped at her, and when she was finished, she laughed. "That's what Steleduil wards away from us. And when he cannot stop them, he protects us, or at the very least warns us."
Mazya nodded. "And he brings us weather that favors our crops and our livestock." She touched his hand again. "You are from the north, are you not?"
"Aye."
"Then you have probably been at sea. Have you never seen a storm come upon you, but you escaped it because some amongst you had a premonition about it? Or seen a wave which looked as if it would toss your ship like a toy, only to rise over it and come out on the other side, safe?"
He had not, but he knew others who had. "That's the dragon, bein' nice to us?"
"Yes, exactly," she said, as if his question had not been sarcastic.