Bessemer is the steel dragon in Senta and the Steel Dragon.  Despite the title of the series, Bessemer is a far less central character than some of the others.  Part of that is because of necessity.  As a dragon, he is just too big (figuratively) to be a central part of the story.  It’s not much of a story arc to start awesome and then become awesomer.  Part of it is that it never really was his story– it’s Senta’s.

That being said, I always enjoy writing Bessemer and enjoyed having him grow up.  In The Voyage of the Minotaur, he is a cat-sized lizard who occasionally pops out with a word.  By The Young Sorceress, he is nearly the size of a locomotive and is on his way to being one of the most powerful and intelligent creatures on the planet.  I love the relationship between Senta, Bessemer, and the sorceress Zurfina.  One can never be sure which of them will be submissive to the other and which will suddenly become dominant.  Bessemer and Senta are a bit like siblings and a bit like best friends, while their relationship with Zurfina is more child/parent, despite Zurfina being very unparent-like.