"Not here it isn't.  Frost, my adoptive father, is the only other dragon capable of shape-shifting.  I don't know if Mayumi can do it..." she said.

"I wouldn't be surprised if she could. She is a flarion after all," it said seeing Mossed open up his box and pull several cmall fod item out, "Maybe you should ask her."

"Maybe..." she said.

"It wouldn't hurt to ask. The worst she could say is no. It's just a simple question of ability," it said, "By the way the others act around her, I can only guess is she's a friendly person."

"She  is.  Before I can here, I had a limp in my leg because it healed wrong.  She saw me and fixed it.  Now she is my adoptive mother." she said with a smile.

"What are you two talking about," Mayumi asked with a smile, still having some of the varani on her back.

"Life in general..." she said airily.

"That's Iyka for you," she said laying beside Goldenscale and giving the varanius on her head a pat, "He's always looking for answers."

"I am not," Iyka retorted, "I just like to know my suroundings."

"So he's just like me then, always looking for answers to explain all the questions we have." she said, nuzzling Mayumi.

"Yes, in a way. You look for answers about yourself. He looks for answers about everything," she said catching Iyka as he jumped from Goldenscale's head, "It's kind of funny to think he was made from a toy, yet he's probably one of the most advanced out of the whole group."

"I'm not the most advanced. I'm just the first of my size," he said slipping out of Mayumi's claws and crawling up to sit on her shoulder, "No matter how many of us Dad makes, Miyra and I will always be the first of our line."

Goldenscale looked at him in confusion.  "What do you mean the first of your line?" she asked.

"Even though we have free will and a mind,  we're only machines, to put it bluntly. While Zeag and Reiko were the first normal size varani to be given a mind and free will, Miyra and I were the first minivarani to be given free will and a mind," he said, "Dad has made several more like us, but we wil always be the first.  To us, that is a title we'll hold proudly. To Dad, it doesn't matter. We're all his family, and that is all that he cares about."

"That's always good to think.  I've had six different families including this one, as well as six different names.  But even though I was sent to live with another family, I always thought of them as my families." she said with a slight hum.

"Our entire mind and being is held in a small sphere crystal," he said opening a panel on his chest to show a device containing a round glowing object, "He made every part of us other than the skins we wear. He makes every gear, and every screw."

"They're a labor of love to me. I've only made three for other people, but they were very close friends," Mossed saidwalking over to the group, "I see them not as machines, but as living art. No matter how many of them I make, they will all always be my family.  Should one break, I will drop what I'm doing and fix them as soon as I can."

"I would probably do the same thing.  Many creatures don't think of plants as living, they just see it and think it's just there, but I feel every aura and thought the plants give off.  I even communicate with them." she said.  *Yes she does.  It isn't often that we get such a frequent listener.* the willow added.