The laughter of the two young dragons doesn't help in the least.

"See, Cantor, I told you she can't hurt us. She doesn't even know how to land without skinning her nose," the larger red dragon says to the blue one. "Who are you?" the red dragon asks with an air of superiority.

"I'm Pepper," I finally say after another fire-breathing cough.

"You are Uncle Tahr's mate?" he asks in disbelief.

"No, not his mate. I'm just a dragon. A very special dragon," I ...