The crowd of Humans and Metahumans arrayed around the Dragon was divided into three parties. All the normal Humans, a pair of Dwarfs, and a large, furred humanoid stood to the beast’s right, spread out between it and a quad-engined VTOL whose insignia appeared to be a portrait of the Dragon’s own silhouette. The rest, mostly Elves, stood in a ragged, divided semicircle in front of the Dragon. One Elven contingent was aligned behind a red-headed Elf, the other behind a blond. From the blond’s gestures, he was clearly making a passionate address to the Dragon. The beast seemed unperturbed.