The text starts from the last word in the prompt.

The girl walks over to the dragon. "Ah, you must be the sacrifice the village sent. Are you perhaps the fairest among them, meant to be displayed in my lair? Or perhaps their best scholar, meant to discuss philosophy with me?"

''Euh! Actually I am the dragon slayer they sent to trick you and kill you. But, we can talk philosophy if you want.'' She Said with uncharacteristic confidence for a human.

An amused smile tugged at her thin colored lips as she took of the sword sheath hanging at her side and put it down on the ground.

A surprising action in the present circumstances. So the dragon watched her in silence.

She held her hands open in a peaceful gesture and walked very slowly, toward the large dark animal.

She advanced deeper in the cave, despite the growing darkness. The sound of her footsteps reverberated on the rough walls of the cavern, and her breath caught in her throat.

''Scaredy lion cub!" He caught himself thinking. He usually liked the mountain lion cubs, who ventured in his cavern sometimes. ''But she had nothing similar to them. She is a treacherous human.''

The dragon watched her in silence. He didn't move an inch. He wanted to know how far she could go, how far her courage would take her.

Would she dare act against him in his own lair, after her confession?

That was an interesting question for Azimir: the spirit of the Mont Haven Stairs.

So, he Watched her tentative steps with a mixture of the usual hate he reserved for humans, and a pinch of amusement.

He could have turned her into ashes in a blink of an eye, but her ungraded confident smile suggested that she wasn't an ordinary insolent naked ape on two legs.

The girl, who was barely a woman, came up close and regarded him with an air of wonder and awe.

He appreciated the fact that, despite her racing heart, she didn't flinch when she had a closer look.

Azimir's copper scales glistened in the thin thread of light that invaded the darkness of his dwelling. His skin looked like thousands of little yellow blades, sharp and unyielding.

The mighty thousand years old dragon looked impressive and utterly terrifying and he knew it.

That however, didn't seem to bother the little lady warrior too much. She reached out her hand to his muzzle.

''What in the name of Methuselah is she doing?'' he thought.

On instinct he retracted his neck and got the sharp pointy little scales of his noise away from her fingers.

He didn't want to be touched by a filthy human, he told himself.

Her eyes showed a pained expression.

''She didn't get hurt'' he thought ''So why does she look hurt?'' "Huh, complicated bugs." He concluded inwardly.

To prevent himself from thinking about her any further, he spoke.

'' and what changed your mind?" He said. His voice rumbled like thunder in the closed space. He expected her to shudder in fear and run for her life. Instead she stood annoyingly steady and fearless. '' you spoke! '' she said immediately, as if it was obvious. ''I came here to slay a mindless, heartless, blood thirsty and rampage seeking creature. Instead I find a calm, self composed and speaking dragon. And that was the opposite of what I was told all my life. ''and how is it different from your teachings , young one?" He asked before he could stop himself.

''If you speak then you are endowed with reason and if you can reason, then you can be reasoned with.''

'' So, unless you plan on making me your supper today, wise dragon, I see no need for a weapon.''

''Spoken like a true gentleman of old.'' He thought. But he guarded himself from answering. Instead, his curiosity took the best of him. And he asked another question. '' and what reason does a beautiful young lady have to dress like a man and carry a weapon to the dragon's lair. Pray tell me.''

He spoke softly, as if he let her choose not to answer, if she wished to. Her eyes widened and color accentuated her rosy cheeks.

'' What now?" He thought as a sigh escaped his old lungs. She seemed to catch the wordless question.

''Did you just call me beautiful?"

'' Is that a bad thing? It wasn't a lie, if that is what you're asking. Dragons don't lie.'' He said simply.

'' her confusion increased.'' and her hand flew to her mouth. '' Did her brain finally catch up with her precarious situation?'' The wondered. But then, she laughed a loud crystalline laughter, sounding like a child. And it was his turn to be confused. He watched her in silence, struggling to catch her breath and align her words together.

''So you understand beauty and you know the difference between truth and lies? And you like philosophy?"

''and you SPEAK" ?? She exclaimed again, as if she couldn't believe what she was saying. '' What do you know." She exclaimed.

Azimir didn't know whether to feel flattered or annoyed by her incredulous tone.

He should feel neither, he figured. Shouldn't be feeling anything toward this human whom the other humans sent to kill him.

He shouldn't be conversing with her, and most importantly, he shouldn't be enjoying it. She is human for crying out loud! And he isn't.

He wanted to scare her. He needed to get her to be afraid of him. She needed to understand her place, and the danger she put herself in. She shouldn't be speaking to him and laughing with him. She shouldn't be looking at him as though he was something beautiful. She shouldn't even be inclined to touch him.

He could not allow her to break his defenses and change his mind about the human race.

She shouldn't be looking at him so expectantly. He has nothing to offer her Nothing but a long lasting hatred for her murderous race. She shouldn't have to pay for the crimes of her kind, though. She shouldn't trust him like that. His heart was too rigid and too burned to feel compassion for her.

He wanted to scream at her. To tell her to come to her senses. To tell her a run away instead of sitting cross-legged in the monsters lair, so close to the big bad dragon.

For the memory of his mate who had been savagely slain in her lair, five hundred years ago,

He mustn't forget He mustn't forgive

He mustn't allow himself to soften He mustn't let his heart get attached to a mortal stranger. A total stranger whom he didn't even know the name of.

If for some wretched reason he couldn't exert his revenge on her. If he cannot even imagine hurting her. Then he will fly away and nurse his bleeding heart and his broken pride.

He was about to spread his wing, To push her away without a warning and startle her young naïve mind to the cruel reality of the world.

Then she spoke.

'' my name is Elthia'' "What is yours?"

So he changed his mind.