"Irtysh likes you," Rizantona said to Otohime. "He wants to return and explore more volcanos with you, if you would be willing."

"We can do that," Otohime said to her father's fearsome consort. "I would enjoy it."

They reclined in Rizantona's cavern in Otohime's official residence off the caldera of Mt. Fuji. The newest addition to dual-natured dragonkind, little Prince Susu, nestled in a curve of his mother's sparkling brown barbed tail. His older half-sister's wider ...