Melis looked down at the creatures. They were kobolds, skinny upright lizards with long tails and cute, large-eyed, snouted faces. Both were males and a third of the dragon's height. One looked young with a smart shirt and slacks, cut to fit his slender body and accommodate his long tail. The other was much older and slightly stooped, had scuffed and worn scales, and wore a shawl with tribal-looking beads and tatty jeans.

The dragon's furious expression changed to a wide, relieved smile. She immediately broke into a warm conversation with them, in a language that none of the humans could understand.

The three customers, the winged lizard and the barista watched the three scaly creatures conversing, and felt the tension draining out of the air. Sapients resolve sapient problems, they knew. Monsters had come to sort it all out.

Esme pet her little lizard husband absent-mindedly, then realised what was doing and stopped, blushing. Lucas let his tail wag against his wife's shoulder and he buried his muzzle into her hair.

Not really sure what else to do, Carlos started to clear away the assortment of half-finished coffee cups the dragon had gone through. Terri grabbed one and started drinking from it.

“So," she said, facing Jan, “why didn't you leave when the dragon let you? Like Sarah did?"

Her friend stopped tapping into the phone and showed the screen.

“I've been keeping the sapient representative up to date. Someone has to. She says she's having trouble getting over."

The excited conversation from the three creatures at the doorway gradually softened and started to become sleepy, almost hypnotic. Melis' bare feet crunched in the door's glass fragments as she slowly settled down onto her haunches until she was at the same height as the two kobolds.

“I…errr," continued Jan, switching to another screen on the phone. “I also updated my Insta. A lot. Like, we're having coffee with a dragon! Are we hostages? Will we be victims? I got hundreds of thousands of new subscribers! People want to know!"

“Looking to become an influencer?" asked Terri teasingly.

“I _am_ an influencer," replied Jan with a serious tone that surprised her friend.

“Seems like it's over now anyway," Terri replied. “We got lucky, we could all have been… lizarded? Or eaten. Or burned."

“Yeah," replied Jan with a hesitant nod, looking over at the monsters. It wasn't as if they had left or anything. “So, why did you not get out?"

“Ehh… I… guess I just-“

Terri was interrupted by a roar. Melis was standing over the kobolds, who were backing away, panicked looks on their faces. The dragon looked furious and sounded like she was intoning some kind of dreadful fate in their impenetrable language. As the air writhed about her once more the shards of glass on the ground slowly rose in the air, tumbled round and pointed towards the two creatures.

Esme stepped forwards gingerly. It didn't look good. The elder Kobold said something back but it only made Melis look even more angry.

“What's up? Can we help?" asked Esme.

“Broken arrow," said the younger one in excellent English. “Maybe you can-“

The elder kobold stepped hard on the younger one's tail, causing him to yip in pain. The old creature gave him a furious glare, which he then focused on the dragon. Although his limbs started to shake he pointed a claw at her and started to intone something that sounded to the humans worryingly close to a defiant final speech before his execution.

Is there anything we can do?" asked Carlos to the other humans. He looked around for some sort of weapon. But dragons had quite the reputation for sturdiness, and there were no warships or cruise missiles lying around for him to deploy.

“There's nothing we can do," said Terri. “She treats us as the enemy. All of us humans at least…"

Carlos and Jan followed her stare to Lucas, laying on his wife's shoulder. He looked back at her inscrutably, but his tail started to flick. Esme lay her hand on him dearly.

“She's a bit… unhappy with him at the moment as well," said Esme. 

“Maybe," returned Terri. “But maybe it's worth a go anyway? Do… something. Anything!"

Lucas slid out from under Esme's grasp and tried to kiss her neck, but his new instincts somehow turned it into a long lick with his tongue. His wife shuddered and giggled despite the tension.

The lizard hopped off her shoulder and spread his wings. He felt a slight twinge of fear as he looked down at the vast distance five foot now was to him, before his green scaly body caught the air and took him almost effortlessly towards the coffee shop entrance.

Lucas carefully approached the three from the side. He hovered discretely just outside the field of floating glass shards and wondered how to get the attention of the terrifying monster that he was somehow supposed to try and calm down.

A cherry red hand lashed out, snatched him from mid air and brought him squealing into the dragon's embrace. She gripped him so tight that he thought she was going to break his bones.

Yet, she was shivering. She hugged him to her chest, stroked his back almost frantically. Melis' flesh surged against him, her breaths deep and shuddering. The little former human felt his body changing again and the world shrank a little as the dragon grew him to the size of a lap dog.

“Hhhhhhhh… Hhhhhhhhhhh…" breathed the monster woman as she slowly calmed. The two kobolds looked pensively up as she tickled Lucas' tummy with one clawed hand and used the other to rub his throat. Despite everything, despite Lucas not daring to even look over at his wife, it felt _amazing_.

The dragoness looked down at the creatures with a soft, slight smile. She licked her lips. Then her clawed hand arced around and slashed them both. They fell backwards with shrieking squeals, the scales at the youth's throat and the elder's face parted and dripping red.

Lucas tried to jump free but the dragon's other hand kept him pressed to her. The monster said a short, disturbingly sweet sounding sentence to the kobolds and they backed away and ran for their lives.

Melis' warm, almost doting smile remained as she turned around and entered the shop once more, stroking Lucas' back. The floating fragments of glass parted around her body then returned to the doorway and started to piece themselves back together again.

“Cheeky little things," said the dragon with a grin. “Trying to put me to sleep again. But I've rested _plenty_ by now."

“You, err," said Terri, her voice shaking. “Did you have to hurt them?"

“Oh, yes, absolutely," replied Melis enthusiastically. “They were so brave! They faced an enemy dragon and lived! And if anyone dares to say otherwise, I gave them the proof, in a nice, visible place."

“O-kay," replied Terri, helplessly. The dragon sounded completely genuine, like the deep gashes she left in their bodies were her gifts, bloody medals of valour.

And why not? Navigating the ways of sapients was sometimes like walking through a minefield. Just another reason to let them deal with their own issues.

Only now the kobolds were gone. It was just the humans and the dragon again…

“What did he mean by broken arrow?" pondered Carlos aloud.

Melis shrugged, causing her wings to rise and fall with her shoulders. “I don't know," she replied. “I never heard of that."

Behind her the door discretely finished reassembling itself.

“It was a nineties movie," volunteered Esme, her voice distant and distracted as she watched the glass in the door fusing solid, the spiderweb of cracks disappearing with a soft crackling noise. “Err… and a code phrase for missing nuclear missiles, or something."

“Oh?" said the dragon with great curiosity. She returned to the coffee table, settled into a bean bag and patted the table to signal the others join her. As they cautiously complied she placed Lucas on the table and ran a hand over his back and tail.

Esme sat down next to the dragon. Lucas diplomatically crawled over a bit so they could both stroke him.

Well, this is how I'm contributing to monster-human detente, I guess, he thought as human and dragon hands slid delightfully over his scaly body. It seemed to be plenty.

“Are you… on some sort of mission involving nuclear missiles?" hazarded Terri towards the dragon.

“I wouldn't tell you if I was," said Melis. “But, well, no. Are there any nuclear missiles nearby?"

“I wouldn't tell you if there were," Esme shot back slightly teasingly, “but I really doubt it. The military don't have any bases anywhere near here. We're too close to the Migration. Err, that's what we call your monster lands."

“A Broken Arrow is defined as an unexpected event," said Jan as she read out a website from her phone, “involving nuclear weapons that result in the accidental launching, firing, detonating, theft, or loss of the weapon. Is that any use?"

Jan felt her brain tingle as Melis rudely probed her thoughts.

“You've been busy with that little slab thing all this time… Janice," said Melis. “What is it?"

“Err, we'll it's-“ started Jan, before she felt the dragon continue to rifle through her thoughts.

“So it's a phone," said Melis, her face scrunching in concentration, “what's that? A computer? And that's… a machine made with electricity and silicon… which accesses the Internet… which is a lot of connected computers…"

The humans watched the dragon as her expression turned to complete bafflement.

This strange little object, thought Melis. Every time she fished about in the humans' memories for answers to what the hell it was she just found more things she didn't understand. Even the humans didn't seem to comprehend exactly how their 'phones' worked, or what precisely they were.

The dragon realised she was showing her ignorance to the enemy.

“It is unimportant," she said dismissively. “But… I know about your nuclear missiles. They are a threat to my kind. Maybe they meant… one is nearby, hiding?"

Esme shrugged. “If there is, there's no way… we'd…"

She looked at Melis intently and her voice trailed away. Her fingers rested on her lizard husband's head. The dragon looked back at her, somewhat impressed about this human woman's tendency to not be afraid, or even all that nervous, towards herself.

“When we asked what the problem was," said Esme, “the kobold said 'broken arrow', but they were dealing with you. They tried to put you to sleep. Maybe the broken arrow isn't about one of our nukes going wrong. Maybe it's one of theirs?"

“Monster nukes?" asked Terri. “They don't have any, do they?"

“They have dragons," replied Esme. She looked towards Melis. “They have you. I reckon you're their broken arrow."

“That's… possible," replied the dragon. Her voice was on edge. She looked deadpan at nothing.

“Why did they try to put you to sleep again?" asked Esme. “Why are you in trouble with your own kind?"

Melis rubbed Lucas' neck, her caress gentle but thorough and repetitive. Like nervous fiddling.

“I don't… I… I can't…"

The dragon looked lost. Then she gritted her teeth.

“I won't discuss this any further, that is a matter for me and my minions."

“Your minions?" prompted Terri. “Like, kobolds?"

“My… they… promised me they'd still be around for when I woke up," replied Melis, softly. “But my lair was empty."

The dragon's voice broke at the last word. She took a moment to compose herself. Lucas looked up at her, then back at Esme. The human gently picked him up and gifted him to the dragon, who quickly took him into her arms.

“I mean, I understand," continued Melis. “We all thought I'd be woken in about ten years, not seventy. You humans were at the edge of war. Either you'd kill each other and we'd be needed to pick up the pieces, or you'd all team up and go to war with us, and I and all the dragons would be called on to…"

Melis looked around at the humans and she blushed. Or rather, her already bright red cheeks glowed subtlely.

“I said far too much. So…"

A strange smile touched her lips. The sight of it sent chills down the spines of all those who gazed upon her.

“I'm afraid I'm going to have to… recruit you all."

The dragon suddenly leapt into the air and hovered in place, her wings outstretched but not flapping. A blue glow emanated from her hands, causing Lucas to jump with a panic out of her embrace. The air writhed visibly all about her body and emanated out, washing over the humans.

“Hey, no, no you don't!" called out Esme, standing and backing away. Her top started to crumble on her body, the textile tattering into fragments.

“I feel funny," said Carlos, rubbing his head. And touching two little nubs there, which were slowly pushing outwards. He swayed unsteadily as his feet elongated and tore out of his crumbling shoes.

Melis watched the humans from on high as they started to panic, with the exception of Esme who was looking up angrily up at her, of course. A light blue tail erupted from the white haired human's disintegrating pants as she tried to snarl something at the monster, through a mouth that was pulling forwards into a snout and filling with fangs. Melis beheld her and winked, only infuriating the transforming woman all the more.

The focus of Melis' attention, Esme's changes surged ahead of the others. Her skin turned almost as pale as her hair, then as blue as her tail. Her clothes drifted and shredded to nothing and she covered herself with her claws as best she could, mortified, finally looking away from the monster changing her and down at the monster she turning into.

Jan fell to the floor as her thighs shrank, her shins stretched and her toes surged forwards into claws. She crawled desperately forward towards her friend, much like a lizard that she was increasingly resembling, while her clothes remained behind in a trail of  rags. Terri saw her and reached down, drawing the woman up with her light purple clawed hands and wrapping her into a hug. They felt their own and each other's skins harden and break up into scales, their tails growing free of their rumps and swishing manically behind them.

“It… beee, okay," managed Terri uncertainly through a maw that filled with frighteningly sharp teeth.

“I… I…" replied her friend. She reached down, grasped the phone from the ground and fumbled with it with her reshaping digits. The device sprang into life and Jan held it up in front of herself and her friend. Terri saw the screen fill with their peculiar changing, increasingly reptilian, naked selves. And a little blinking recording symbol appeared at the bottom.

“Hiii allll! Weeerrree turrrniinnng iinntoo monnssttrrrsss!" slurred Jan excitedly to the phone.

Terri's new maw dropped open and she frantically covered her chest with her arm.

“Donnn't stream thisss!" She shouted. “Everyythinng's on shhow!"

Terri broke away from her friend swiftly, grabbed a bean bag and covered her front with it, her lilac face going more scarlet.

Melis looked at her new kobold recruits approvingly. They were taking their transformations pretty well compared to previous victims . The green one was pointing her little device at the others and trying to get them to wave for some reason. In response the male leapt behind the counter while the light blue female snapped something at her and slid under the table.

“The chaaannngeess rrr fiinnnssshiinng," said Jan, blinking and watching the dark green, scaly creature on the screen's eyes open and shut. “It'ssss like ann avatarrr, but… ahhhhh!"

The tingling sensation returned and filled her mind, and left behind… skills.

“Ahhh… i knoww… kung fu… well, not rreally. Just… wow…"

Jan poked her long tongue out, opened her maw, licked the rows of pointed teeth. She stood up slowly on her clawed toes, using her long tail to balance herself as she now knew how.

The new kobold pointed her phone up at Melis. The soft blue of the dragon's hands slowly faded as her transformations finished.

“She's the onne who channged me," said Jan, modulating her voice through a lizard snout . “I guess I'm her minion nnow or somethinng?"

Melis looked at the Kobold and her gadget. “Indeed," she replied, imperiously.

“You might be, but I'mm not havinng this," growled Esme. She stood bolt upright, tail frisking angrily, and pointed her claw at the dragon. “I'm not yourr monnster!"

Melis' own tail lashed in reply. She gritted her teeth, narrowed her eyes and loomed over the little blue kobold. Esme did not back down.

“Who gave you the right?" she snapped, “You cann't do this to us!"

“Enough," commanded the dragon, causing all the kobolds around her to flinch. Esme found herself rising up off her feet. She struggled helplessly, hovering in zero gravity. Melis looked out at the other creatures. Carlos, who had covered himself with an apron, wailed as he floated upwards and tumbled through the air to bump into Esme. Jan and Terri were next, yelping and waving their limbs, the latter pulled away from her bean bag of modesty, and they joined the other two. The dragon simply looked at Lucas and silently motioned him over. The little reptile nervously leapt into the air, flew to the group of kobolds and settled onto his wife's scaly shoulder and back.

Suddenly they were surrounded by blue walls. Esme blinked with confusion. It was as if someone, Melis no doubt, had dropped a giant box over them all. They were trapped inside this… thing… with a big, red, furious dragon.

I've gone too far, thought Esme from the mass of flailing scaly bodies, all naked save for Carlos and his apron.

“Do with me what you willl," she barked defiantly if shakily to the fiery red monster standing over them. “Don't hurt the rest!"

“Please help me," said Melis.

“Ahh… what?"

The dragon lunged at them and collected them all up in a hug. She squeezed the four kobolds to her ample chest, her hands wrapped tightly around their backs.

“I can't trust my side anymore," wailed the monster, a tear dripping down her snout, “they want to put me to sleep! But I don't understand your side. I don't know what to do. And if I do something wrong people will die! Please be my kobolds. I don't know what to do!"

“I… don't…" managed Esme.

Jan found herself patting the dragon softly on the shoulder. Esme ran out of words. Terri reached out and dabbed the monster's tear with the back of her claw, but that just caused Melis to sniffle and both eyes to leak glistening, sad  streams.

“Well… what _do_ we do?" asked Terri. “As your… kobolds?"

“Control the territory. Hunt. Deal with… human things," said the dragon, vaguely. “Keep me from having to get involved. You can't understand what it's like being so powerful. Every time I go out I could start a war!"

Carlos was acutely aware that he was pressed tightly against four attractively shaped, naked creatures. He lay rigid in the embrace, trying not to stare at all the ample multicoloured female flesh all about him, or move and feel the yielding, soft bodies… yield. Instead he looked elsewhere and his glance landed on Lucas, who couldn't help but put on a lizardly grin in return.

Esme understood why the monsters would want to put Melis back to sleep. How safe would the human world be if their nuclear weaponry walked around and had personalities? What would happen if they got really upset? Would they… explode?

Better that they be tucked up in their bases…

“What _about_ returning to sleep?" she asked. “Would that be so bad?"

“The first time I slept, the humans were headed for war," replied Melis. “And I was ready to fight. Defend my kind. Now things are different. _I'm_ different. At best I'll never be needed, and I go on sleeping… forever? At worst… I'll wake up to a big war. They'd need me to do terrible things. The things they made me for…"

Terri stroked the dragon's shoulder tenderly.

“I'll be your kobold," she said. She wagged her dangling tail, knocking it against those of her fellow lizard creatures.

Carlos just made a thumbs up gesture with his free claw and smiled slightly.

“I'll be your press secretary," said Jan, a twinkle of quiet ambition sparkling in her slit pupiled eye.

The dragon's embrace tightened and she placed her head between those of the former humans.

“Hmmmmhhh… hhhhhh," she breathed, half sobbing.

After a little while she pulled her head back away a little and looked to Esme.

“You… ummm," said Melis, “you're… grumpy. You stick up for yourself, and others. Very good trait in a minion. Means I don't have to get involved, and risk making things go very bad. Would you…"

Yes, thought Esme, I _am_ a Karen.

“Fine," responded the last reluctant kobold.

Melis smiled softly and rested her forehead against Esme's chest.

“Thank you. All of you… let me… just… stay here a while…"

The dragon continued to cuddle her little monsters as her breathing gradually became more regular. They gave each other sidelong glances as their captor slowly pulled herself together.

“Okay," said Melis, her voice returning more or less to her usual confident cadence. “I'm ready. I show no weakness. Unguarded power gets exploited."

She gently lowered her minions to the ground and stood back up again. The blue box vanished as quickly as it had appeared.

The young male kobold from earlier looked towards them all from just inside the coffee shop's entrance, startled at the vanishing barrier. He appeared much the same as before, except for a ragged scar at his throat, the wound already healed. He had opened the collar of his shirt to put it on full display.

“I-errr, ragna, ragna! Peace! Just here to give you…" he dropped a pile of clothes and dashed back out the door.

“Hah," said Melis haughtily as she watched him bolt away. “Kobolds. They're _so_ much trouble."

Esme and Terri, both glowing with embarrassment at yet more people seeing them on show, pounced upon the pile and slithered into the first thing they grabbed. Jan and Carlos walked over in a more leisurely fashion and pawed through the fabrics.

Melis looked down fondly at the creatures getting dressed into the little monster-adapted clothes.

My allies, she thought. My kobolds.

 There was a cheerful chirping noise from the floor. Jan's abandoned phone lit up.

“I'll get it," said the green kobold as she hauled a pair of jeans up her legs and threaded her long tail through the specially tailored sleeve above the rump. To her surprise she saw Melis stalk over and pick the phone up.

“How do you 'get it'?" she asked, curiously. She turned the plastic oblong over a couple of times as it continued to sing its strange little song.

“Errr, press the green button…"

Melis continued to stare at the device.

“I mean, touch the green blob on the screen. Err, on the surface…"

Melis stabbed the green shape and saw the patterns on the slab change.

Okay, she thought, it's got human writing on it and some kind of simple rune. So-

[Hello?] came a voice from the device. [I'm Emma. I'm the sapient representative and… champion of the city. I challenge the dragon, Melis.]