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.Except for Azzie.But that was not because he hada lying heart.No, it was because he was trying so hard to be really bad.She couldn't help but feel forhim.He still appealed to her.And it was not the amusing season in Athens."Promise you'll never leave me again," she said."I promise," Azzie said.Then, realizing that he had ca-pitulated too soon, added, "Under normalconditions, that is.""What do you mean, normal conditions?""Conditions that are not abnormal.""Such as what?""How would I know?""Oh, Azzie!""You must take me as I am, Ylith," Azzie said."It really is nice to see you.Have you any ideas aboutthose eyes?""Yes, as a matter of fact, I do have an idea or two.""Be a doll and rush off and get them," Azzie said."I'm running out of ichor and I don't dare resurrectthese creatures before I have eyes for them.It might change their develop-ment.""They'll have to wait," Ylith said."Two special pairs of eyes aren't come by quite as fast as all that.""We will all await you, my queen!" Azzie said.Ylith gave a raucous laugh, but he could tell she liked to hear that stuff.Azzie waved, Ylith twirled,turned into a rotating column of violet smoke, and then disappeared entirely. Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.htmlChapter 6She had been content for many years to hang around in Athens, enjoying parties and good times, havingmany lovers, and redecorating her house.Witches grow lazy with the passing of time, and tend to restupon their lau-rels.The sins that witches try to make people commit turn up later to haunt them.Theylose their knowledge bit by bit, for-getting what they studied in the great witch schools.Ylith had beenvegetating for a long while, before she was called up by Azzie.Her reaction now was surprise at herself for volunteering to find eyes for the young couple.Was thisreally what she wanted to do? Did she love Azzie so much? Or was it more a matter of trying to find aduty to perform, to serve something greater than herself? Either way, she felt the need for advice when itcame to the second pair of eyes.And when it came to wise advice, the sagest counsel she knew was that of Skander.Dragons live a long time, and smart dragons not only live a very long time, but also change their namesfrom time to time so that people don't get wise to just how long they're living and get jealous.There'snothing a hero likes to kill more than a really old dragon.The years on a dragon are like the rack on abuck.Skander and other dragons became aware of how many heroes were hunting for them, and they grewmore and more cautious.Gone were the old days, when they hung around and guarded treasure andtook on anyone who came along.The dragons were doing very well at that game, too, although all youhear about are hero victories.There were plenty of dragon victories, but there were only a few dragonsand an endless supply of heroes.The heroes kept coming, until the dragons got wise to the whole game.There was a big conference held, at which many views were heard.The Chinese dragons were the mostnumerous at that time, but they were so jealous of their wisdom and so determined that no other dragonwould get it, that all they said, when their advice was asked, were things such as, "It furthers one to seethe great man." "You will cross the water." "The superior man is like sand." And the Chinesephilosophers, who had a taste for obscurity, collected these into books, which they sold to Westerners insearch of wisdom.The final decision at the conference was to bow to neces-sity, give up some of the more aggressivetactics, which had given dragons bad repute, and maintain a low profile.Dragons voted universally togive up their time-old pursuits of Hoarding and Guarding in favor of the new disciplines of Ducking andDodging.Don't just stand around guarding treasure, they an-nounced to each other.Fade into thelandscape, live at the bottoms of rivers - for many dragons were able to live under-water- gilled dragons,they were called, that fed on sharks and killer whales and mahimahi.The land dragons had to adopt adifferent strategy.Land-based dragons learned to conceal them-selves as small mountains, hills, even asclumps of trees.They gave up their old habits of ferocity, contenting themselves with an occasional hunterwho strayed into their territory.Once in a while a dragon went back to the old practices, and eventuallygot hunted down and killed.That dragon's name would go down in the Dragon Hall of Heroes, and therest would be advised not to act like him
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