Era looked on with incredulous disbelief as the man took out a dagger and futilely tried to hack at her tail. She would have been even angrier had she not been so bewildered. As it was, the man could count his lucky stars she choose to satisfy her curiosity rather than her wrath.
Like a particularly fascinating specimen, Era lifted him up higher and held him to the light. She loosened her grip slightly so that he slid and dropped until she tightened her tail again - like a mouse being tossed by a cat. The distinct aroma of burning embers filled the air when Era spoke again.
"Are your wits lacking? Even if you are deficient the common courtesy of an Ayorthian slug, you should at least have some sense of self-preservation. If my mother were here, she wouldn't be nearly as patient." He really should be more careful with dragons. Some of them had tempers. "Now, shall we start again? My name is Era. You wanted something?"
The dragon considered herself a model of selfless restraint. She had never intentionally harmed a human, but this one made her want to reconsider that choice.