So I gave your chapter a light read and I'm tempted to continue it.
I'm not particularly picky about flow I've noticed, and so won't be targeting the mechanics so much, but more the story elements I feel, I did notice the following, however:
"men had to steal their nerves at the sight"
You're looking for steel :) That one's hard to look for because well, steal IS a valid verb used correctly.
"When a stream of smoke started pouring out from the cave entrance, Flor lost his concentration and faltered in his reading."
So this is actually correct, but my brain flagged it as incorrect and
Why isn't the When attached to previous sentence?! I think if I were to rewrite it, I'd suggest something like: "A stream of smoke poured out the mouth of the save, accosting Flor's concentration. His reading faltered soon after." Hells, I'd do something crazy like "A stream of smoke poured out the mouth of the save, smoking out Flor's concentration and fizzling his read." (That is a very nonstandard use of "fizzle", I'm being flowery and facetious.)
"Flor quickly told his friend, 'bow down and avert your eyes,' before he returned to his reading aloud of his transcript."
I'd reverse the quote and dialogue tag, and possibly make a paragraph break here. Oh hells, now I'm looking at this with editor mind... Bad Luna. (Also that Bow is capitalised)
that would be a who. whom is indirect and (if you want) direct object, not subject. Arguably you could also strip the s from shows but I forget the actual rule on that. (I think you really do strip the s, because I kicked it to faux-Middle English and it would be "Thou who showest")
OKAY! Now onto the Story bits:
I really, REALLY like that the interaction with Flor and the Dragon went BADLY. It hints that Flor was just learning the language, and was in NO way prepared to speak Draconic, especially before a Dragon who would not only have mastery over Draconic Language but also a culture with rules and traditions, which Flor could not possibly have acquired from a book, not at the level one needed to in order to make a request like that.
Also I find it interesting that your elf is said to be 17. I imagine you're having them age at humanish speeds at least in their youth because most Elves are made to be really long lived, like 17 is possibly still a toddler long lived. I like this.
The transition. I assume the Dragon spell is how you're genderbending, and if it is, I'm here for it, and I really, REALLY hope Flor has to struggle a bit with that. Like, honestly at this point, how that transition is handled will probably be the make or break point for me continuing reading. I say that like I'm an authoritarian bitch, but really all I'm asking is that it not be like "Poof! You're a girl now and everything is amazing and you're overpowered as sin!" Not only would this break what feels like the Dragon straight up KILLING Flor if not for Syl's intervention, but I want to see how Flor and the world respond to this phenomenon, and by bringing in Dragon Magic Hax you've given yourself a LOT of leeway.
Also I like the effect of the Dragon knowing Truespeech and how you present it. It's really cool :)
I do think you could use proofing your chapter a couple more times, but other than that you're doing pretty well so far :) I might come on here with a follow up review, who knows.
