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rm the roles of merchant and
agent to the adult Megassi.
Somewhere in their fifth or, perhaps, late sixth decade, they begin to
undergo the great change. They do not sleep though the change, Aimee';
every day they awake knowing that they have begun to change their shape,
begun to change into Dragonkind. Many move awkwardly at this time; They
have no reason to learn to live with a shape that will not feel the same
tomorrow as it does today. My guard, apparently, had some control of his
faculties. He spoke well, and he moved without clumsiness.
As I said, the central city is built for the young who are shaped as
Men, but beyond that the buildings grow ever larger and more impressive,
housing as they do the various centuries of of the Megassi Dragons. The
architecture is utterly alien; the homes on the plain look as if they were
grown, or like bubbles on the water, but made from a stone the color of
which pleases the owner. The most common color is white, although some are
red, black, green, or yellow. The mountains that surround the plain are
riddled with cave in which sleep the Great Elders. Very few live that old;
most succumb to disease, or madness. Some to spiritual decay that leaves
them lifeless and suicidal.
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