Oh my. This is a keeper. You nailed both their voices. I love Buffy's dry humour (Smelly, filth-ridden water flowed in through her peep-toes. Ah, back in her comfort-zone once more.) and Illyria's unexpected warmth. And the poor little dragon. It's wonderful how you connect the dots between the dragon and Illyria and Buffy's home town. Change and diminution and clinging and loss. And the spark of connection those, unexpectedly, create.

I'm kind of mooning over the way this story slots in next to mine. Tessellations.