《The Turning Wind》


 Griolor, Part One

    Aleicree was tied up and blindfolded in a room on the forecastle of a ship, and everything was normal. For zie was one of the three windmages upon the Serene Chordalite, and presently zie loomed over the ship in a diaphanous invisible form larger than any dragon on Theoma. Zir physical body? Merely an oft-recurrent port of call.


    Zie was the wind!


    The wind that filled the sails was Aleicree, as was the wind that stirred the barbels of the few dragons on deck who had them, and the wind that brushed the fur of the one swaivshon on the crew. The wind that made creak the ropes above the ship, the wind that blew foul scents from the head, and the wind that filled every lung with salt spray ocean air, all of these were Aleicree.


    The higher gusts that blew the clouds overhead were not Aleicree, at present. Aleicree did not need to reach that far. For now, zie was only the wind where it touched the ship, which scudded along with zir help, just off the shore, on the Chordal Ocean. Courtesy of perfect wind from the three shifts of windmagery on board, (one of those shifts being provided by Aleicree, who was very confident of zir talent at this work), the Serene Chordalite travelled near its top speeds all day every day. The time it took to carry a full cargo of sailcloth from Rhakanin''s industrious farmlands to the shipyards of Griolor was reduced to 28 hours.


    Such a guaranteed swift trip meant these two cities became adjacent ports, their prosperity linked. Griolor was a world famous shipyard theome where trading companies headquartered in a massively commercial city. It was led by, an atypical land god who ran his own shipping business and who adored producing ships at good prices for merchants. Rhakanin by contrast was a port servicing a region of farms. Many of the farms grew cash crops, but nevertheless there was no shortage of arable land on Theoma, and so the farming regions, of necessity, borrowed their prosperity from their neighbours.


    Aleicree knew the route and that the Serene Chordalite and all the seagons - sea dragons, sailors, seagons - aboard it should be coming up that evening into Zyrine Bay, but zie could not see the land ahead on the horizon. To zir spell-altered senses the ship sailed in an empty void, a bubble of Aleicree. Zie could not see anything save what zir augmented wind touched. Everything else was a fuzzed silhouette.


    It was late in the evening, for the sunlight had ceased to warm the air.


    Zie pushed at the ship and seeped through its door jambs. Dinner was cooking in the aftcastle, Aleicree noticed with some hunger. They were so close to shore and so confident in their speed that they ate no preserved, salted meat on the Serene Chordalite, rather fresh foods as a matter of course. Tonight, while stewing a simple pottage of vegetables and grain, the ship''s cook fried meat for them with a wok in the galley.


    The wind flagged not while looking in on the preparations, for zie was everywhere the air travelled and saw the meal cooking that way.


    When the ship''s cook reached for the dinner bell, Aleicree let the wind taper off. Zie stood down from being the wind to simply be zir physical form again, that great invisible form of air seeping back into zir body through the slit walls of the windmage room. Having rocked unaware for hours spent bound, zie felt the accustomed discomforts. The bindings were meant to be helpful, lest the waves should break zir trance by sending zir rolling across the floor, but they were still uncomfortable.


    A moment later, another seagon stepped near to unbind zir so zie could end zir shift. With the blindfold removed, zie saw the face of one of zir shipmates, a vohntrai with fiery scales called Shiowatha, who was the only vohntrai aboard. They were a rare kind of dragon!


    "Thank you for unbinding me," Aleicree said. Shiowatha''s unbinding and zir gratitude for it were a much-loved bit of daily social ritual.


    The two of them went to take the night meal together. Afterwards, Aleicree put on a flight safety harness with its dots aglow and took to the sky for zir regular exercise. Those hours spent bound upon the deck meditating were so bad for zir. Zie needed to fly to stay healthy. Thus, Aleicree saw the ship from far above as it sped along with the night shift windmage an invisible presence around it.


    Aleicree watched its swift traverse by the fireless magic lanterns which illuminated its decks. There were other ships likewise illuminated. Magic lanterns were the most common magic item on all of Theoma, produced in great numbers for every kind of home and business. They lit up the sea at point after point all the way to the horizon. Here near Griolor, there was never a scarcity of shipping.


    There were other dragons upon the wing in this area. The sky was full of gleaming dots from safety harnesses worn for night flying. Each one had lit patches designed to prevent dragons from flying into one another in the dark. They were a specialised good, so they were not quite as cheap as magic lanterns, but they were common.


    Other ships¡¯ off duty windmages took to the air like Aleicree did, most of them shaking off the stress of prolonged immobility, and they were joined by many seagons who were also not on shift, who simply wanted to stretch. To these crowds were added the lookouts of the various ships, who often did their work on the wing. Distant dark shapes flew and swooped around and between the lantern-lit ships upon the near-coastal waters of the Chordalite Ocean.


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    The ship below travelled into the famed Zyrine Bay, which served the three cities of Zyrine, Relny, and Griolor. On a clifftop peninsula visible across the bay, Zyrine reared up to dominate the horizon. The city itself shone with countless magic lanterns, but the great flaming sigil that was Raul the land god hung above it, a discomforting and awesome presence that made the night sky bright and ugly with its excess light. He brightened the dark so much that Aleicree thought that they wouldn''t have impacted each other in this airspace even if they hadn''t been wearing flight safety harnesses. Had they needed the stars to navigate in this place, they could not have them. Raul was supposed to be a land god; Aleicree wondered why it was that he felt the need to so dominate the sky over Zyrine, as though to set into good dragons a fear of flying. Had anyone ever been injured flying too near to the flames?


    Aleicree thought about these things as zie flew back down to the Serene Chordalite and landed on the deck. Zie doffed zir safety harness, stowing it in a chest on deck, and then went below, into the crew quarters to zir own sleeping place.


    Zie woke with the ship having put into port on the Griolor side of the bay. To wake the next morning after flying the prior night was to get an inadequate amount of sleep, but Aleicree woke with excitement. It was ¡®market day¡¯ in Griolor and though there was no great attraction in the city itself, zie could fly home to visit zir parents Taisach and Praoziu in another nearby theome: Nidrio.


    There were few dragons in Nidrio, but Praoziu was a land god!


    Before Aleicree could leave, however, zie first had a vital stop: the local post office. Zie had letters to post and hopefully letters to receive. Here where the Serene Chordalite was nearest to Nidrio, Aleicree''s most-used post office box held the promise of new letters to read. This was zir ''permanent address''.


    Aleicree sent letters from all over, as zie knew where the post offices were at every port. Those zie received arrived along the route of zir travels, requiring zir regular correspondents to be familiar with the schedule of the Serene Chordalite. Dragons who weren''t sure where the ship was in its circuit sent mail to Griolor, so that Aleicree often had a small pile to pick up here from irregular correspondents.


    Unfortunately, only one dragon had used it this time. The lack of letters made Aleicree feel a bit forgotten. The postage received consisted solely of one letter from Vrekant the Raincaller.


    Aleicree put it away lovingly into zir pouch, for Vrekant was zir best friend from the wind magic academy. They lettered each other constantly. Every bit of shipyard gossip went to Vrekant, along with a new poem every time. So many letters had run dry the well of ways to speak of sailing the same route ad nauseum, so Aleicree had turned to poetry. Zie loved the exercise. Vrekant told zir everything about smoothing out the weather for farmergons in Sorjek. Sorjek was famous for two things: farmergons and necromancers. Fighting with necrotic decay of the wind itself, Vrekant claimed, was far more interesting and challenging than guiding ships. One of his neighbours was a literal ghost! Yes, it was disappointing to receive only one letter, but at least zie had gotten a letter from the correspondent zie liked best.


    The postage sent started with one in turn to Vrekant, and then there was a letter to Taltios to post as well. Taltios was one of Aleicree''s two siblings. This second letter carried a little bit of the accounting of seaboard life, but it was mostly bland family well-wishes. It would probably become fireplace tinder, but it had to be sent.


    Taltios lived in Tekagol, which was adjacent to Griolor. In theory Aleicree could evade the fee by flying there to hand-deliver this letter, but Aleicree had refused many invitations to visit Taltios'' house. With grimacing superstition zie had only once stepped foot in Tekagol: the day when in ritual fervour zie had smashed a ceramic representation of zirself upon the ground! Zie had broken zir connection with Tekagol¡¯s fate beacon, because that beacon broadcast BAD LUCK. It was unfathomable to Aleicree that Taltios chose to live in an actively unlucky theome, so they met only when both of them visited Nidrio at the same time. They were otherwise in contact only by letters.


    Two further letters Aleicree posted. One of these was to a geomancer who had written a book that Aleicree had read. Writing such "fan mail" was a little embarrassing; Aleicree didn''t expect to see a reply. The other was to correspond with a minor friend from the academy who had lately written to boast of taking a merchant journey to a deep-under theome. Ekis had never made it as a windmage. It was unusual for an izerah to make any attempt, lacking the natural gift as they were. Still, Aleicree and Ekis had kept in touch with occasional letters since then, and now she had met Aleicree''s other sibling Denziu while on a northward caravan. The two were hoping to be trading food and lanterns in underground communities.


    When zie had heard such strange news, zie couldn''t resist writing back. How strange to think of wind magic in the deep-under theomes! What was the wind, in closed spaces far from the light? Would an amicus breeze of a vashael become a superbia of clean air? Perhaps wind magic freshened the air down there and would be greatly appreciated.


    Of course, zie wasn''t sure Ekis still thought of herself as a windmage. It hadn''t worked out, after all. Letters with Ekis tended to focus more on her current profession as a merchant rather than her prior failure to master the archetypally vashael magic. Maybe there wouldn''t be any summoned breezes in the deep-under as a result. Still, Denziu would bring the amicus breeze on their journey. Aleicree had made a point in zir reply to ask how wind magic worked underground.


    All of these letters to send were made possible because Praoziu had gifted lev-i-quills to the whole family. They were levitating quill pens of preternatural durability that wrote swiftly at their owner''s will. They kept in touch with a steady stream of letters. Aleicree was proud to be part of such a literate family¡­ and the lev-i-quills were fun to use, too!


    Two letters were withheld from the post: One to zir dad Taisach, who dwelled with Praoziu in Nidrio, and one to zir sibling Denziu, who had so befriended the farmergons in the region that zie spent the nights in every home but zir own. As Aleicree would fly home to deliver Taisach¡¯s letter, giving the letter to Denziu to their dad too meant it should arrive more swiftly.


    With zir business with the post office concluded, nothing kept Aleicree in this coastal city, and zie was eager to fly the hour it would take to arrive home in Nidrio.

 Nidrio

    Nidrio was a marvel of forested mountains.  Endlessly verdant, the landscape had been worked by Praoziu as though with the intention of pressing everything near the snowline and then cutting short the mountains so that they did not crest the snowline.  Nidrio''s mountains did not get tall enough to kill the trees.  Thus its rolling hills and valleys were forests upon forests, broken only by the canyon of a river and the great lake into which it fed.


    There was a drama to the escarpments of Nidrio and to its high narrow paths which called out for a paintergon to immortalise them, but never to Aleicree''s knowledge had it been done.  Before she met Taisach, the land god Praoziu had protected the beauty of her land in a dark way. What a redemption story it was!  Perhaps an as-yet incomplete redemption, seeing as the population of Nidrio was still so small.  A century later, Praoziu''s reputation as a killer had only begun to fade.


    Here where tree roots broke the stone, zir sibling Denziu ''the Clayseller'' had learned the secrets of perfect growing soil, a fruit of Praoziu''s garden that would keep fed the region, while Aleicree had become ''the Windlost'' and marvelled at the weather.  Zie had felt secrets of the weather known to few, such as how the many trees of Nidrio raised up the water to the sky, exhaling their invisible harvest of moisture from the soil.


    Zie sought Praoziu¡¯s home, one of the few artificial structures in the theome.  The only other was Denziu''s.


    There!  High up where the forest grew sparse, a white spire rose three stories tall.  The spire bloomed into a broad platform with an entire house built up over it.  At its base was more house underneath the platform.  Just out of the shade of the platform grew two strips of garden.  Praoziu''s home could expand without limit if she willed it to, but this was its shape for years now.  It was not so large for a land god.  Aleicree had been born here, though as this home was too isolated to be healthy for young minds, much of zir upbringing had been in neighbouring Denxalue.


    The three siblings born of Praoziu and Taisach were all celebrated in their mother''s home, and Aleicree looked forward to getting there as a form of homecoming.  Zie expected to have a far better meal than the pottage of the night before.  Praoziu did not cook, but served strange meals from other worlds, featuring such things as strangely flavoured pastes, meats with overpowering sauces that they could try nowhere else, and sweet dense food bars whose varied textures defied description.  She assured her children that these were all perfectly nutritious in moderation.  She had even once implored Taltios to visit and eat with her more often, for a diet of staple farm produce could be missing nutrients that Praoziu''s odd, summoned foods amply supplied.


    Zie wondered if Taisach would have visitors.  He seemed almost a recruiter for Nidrio, so tireless was he in reaching out to dragons in the nearby theomes and encourage them to come to Praoziu''s house.  She appreciated those who were not trying to wheedle geomantic advantages from her, and so often a visit home was an event of meeting someone unusual who Taisach had drawn in to admire Nidrio.


    Aleicree alighted upon the upper platform and spared a moment to turn and admire the view from it zirself. Zie had seen it many times yet always appreciated, for this was an ancient rolling forest in the mountains that had been tended to a hidden ''natural'' perfection.  It was too perfect to disturb.  So much so that, as Aleicree turned to walk to the door and step inside, zie wondered if this was part of what scared away visitors.  Who could disturb this place of beauty by something so crass as to build in it?


    There was a tile path through the entryway, but the first room of the house sprawled to the side of the door.  It was a lounge room with a unmarrable wooden floor that cleaned and repaired itself from any insult.  It had once been a playroom for Taltios, Denziu, and Aleicree.  Now it was a comfortable place next to the balcony where dragons could gather and rest on either the two chaise lounges or the piles of pillows that littered the floor here.


    The furnishings like the floor were undirtiable; everything in this household was under Praoziu''s tight control.  It looked a little strange to Aleicree''s trained geomantic senses.  Zir amicus breeze orbited in a regularised parody of its usual friendly drifting.  The very air zie breathed was locked in its patterns by Fate bindings.  Aleicree could not become this air.  Zie had childhood memories of trying, and exploring Praoziu''s Fateweaving rather than the weather.


    There was no question of, "Where is Praoziu?"  For in this house, she was everywhere.  Aleicree had met zir mother in spirit even while zie flew over the mountains of Nidrio, and would find Praoziu incarnate in due time.


    A better, more interesting question: "Where is Taisach?"  Aleicree wasn''t strictly sure that Taisach would be ''in''.  He had no business anymore other than to represent Praoziu in other theomes and so was technically a henotheistic geomancer now.  Henotheism was unusual among geomancers.  It meant being dedicated to one land god.  Part of recruiting others to Nidrio was to travel to meet them, so that at any given time the house might be empty. Zir father wasn''t currently entertaining a guest in the lounge, yet Aleicree had a sense that Taisach''s Fate was presently near to zir own, and so continued searching the house intending to greet him.


    After peeking into many rooms and climbing down the stairs of the spire, Aleicree peered into the door to the workshop in the lower house, where Praoziu and Taisach often tinkered with a scale model of a populated future Nidrio, struggling to create a city plan so gorgeous that it would draw dragons in to fulfil it.  Praoziu was not as talented with this as some of the other land gods, and in any case was fickle and uncertain for that she loathed to start giving up the verdant perfection outside.  The model proceeded occasionally by commissioned art from sculptors willing to provide urban designs.


    The shelves were full of sculptures made for proposed or abandoned plans.  A grand central table housed a display of the hills of Nidrio with the current design built up atop it.


    It was by this that Aleicree found Taisach.  He was a great orange vashael with large fins who wore a humble brown vest.  Upon the tails of the vest was an abstract symbol like red petals on two red lines, the higher of which curled around to form a spiral of one revolution.  He had golden eyes, as had most of the family; Praoziu had that trait as well and had given it to Denziu and Taltios, though Aleicree''s eyes were inexplicably green.


    Zie would have rushed forward to hug Taisach at once, but zie saw that he was presently in discussion with another dragon, a vashael with deep green stripes on a light green back and a beige underbelly.  By scent and voice, Aleicree knew the other dragon to be female.  The two stood reviewing the scale model of the current theoretical future of Nidrio.


    "I get a lot of praise for these designs, but I can''t get anyone to commit," said Taisach.


    "It''s difficult to justify uprooting one''s life to move to a strange new place.  Especially one where someone might be moving alone," said the unknown dragon.


    Rather than interrupt their meeting by sudden affection, Aleicree stepped forward to the table and tried to enter Taisach''s field of view demurely.


    Taisach startled on seeing zir.  "Aleicree!" he said, his surprise turning to a smile.  Then with a gesture to the other dragon in the room, who was presently turning to look at Aleicree, Taisach added, "This is Qianjek, an architect I''ve recently met.  Qianjek, meet my daughter Aleicree."


    Qianjek moved towards Aleicree and held a hand out which zie clasped momentarily. Qianjek said, "Pleased to make your acquaintance."  With that, they stepped back from each other.  "Your father has been telling me about Nidrio''s bright future as a planned community."


    "Of course," said Aleicree.  "This theome will always be beautiful."


    Yet Aleicree thought, somewhat guiltily, does Nidrio really have a bright future?  For it had been decades in which Taisach had tended his garden and his network of friends in the region (mostly Denxalue, which was the theome of his birth), and nobody had moved in to Nidrio.  It remained a beautiful verdant theome with a moist clime, unnaturally fertile soil, and only one family enjoying it.


    Taisach''s voice interrupted Aleicree''s thoughts as he said, "How¡¯ve been the voyages of the Serene Chordalite?"


    Aleicree reached into zir pouch then and withdrew two letters.  These zie offered to Taisach, one addressed to him and the other addressed to Denziu.  He took them from zir hand.  "I have kept you up to date I think," zie said, "But the short of it is that I am still blessed to have a job where I can use my talents every day."


    "So you still won''t think of moving back here?" asked Taisach.  He asked every time.  "You''d have so much support from Praoziu, you know.  As a geomancer, your position could hardly be better."  That went a little farther.


    ''I''m not really a geomancer'', Aleicree was tempted to say, but it was too sad a sentiment.  Zie couldn''t finish putting the words together, but raised zir brow in slack sorrow and looked towards the model on the table to hide the severity of zir response.


    "I think Captain Kagnir needs me," zie said, but it was an excuse.  Zie was so accustomed to zir duties that zie needed take no orders, but merely followed wordlessly behind the navigator''s till, and so hardly thought of the captain on an ordinary day.


    It worked though, and Aleicree wondered if Taisach assumed that there was some private matter, for he said nothing else on the subject, but said instead to Qianjek, "I can''t even get my own children to move back to Nidrio.  Only Denziu chose to build a house here."


    "Strange.  You don''t seem like such bad company," said Qianjek with a jesting tone and a smile.


    "Glad you think so!" said Taisach.  Qianjek and Taisach resumed their discussion then, and Aleicree listened in quietly as they discussed this hilltop or that hilltop, this valley or that valley, the riverside or the coast of the large, nameless lake.  They seemed to be talking about which bit should be used first if there were only to be a few dragons taking an interest at the start, and Aleicree got the sense that Taisach must have had some success, for they kept returning again and again to the number of twenty-one settlers.  Did Taisach have twenty-one dragons agreeing to move here if twenty other dragons did it?  Zie did not ask, but wondered quietly while the conversation moved on without zir.


    The model city on the table was made of skillfully carved bits of stonework set into mountains of faux-earth from which rose also an illusory forest that swayed in the amicus breezes of the three vashael in the room.  ''There is so much artwork in our society'', thought Aleicree, losing the thread of the conversation in distraction of seeing Taisach''s own favourite artwork on the table.  ''Dragons have such time in lives unending, and they master their skills in that excess.  Yet what art can I produce?  None at all.  For I was born of Denxalue, a muddy place where dragons spend their free time studying mud pits, and only Denziu has ever made a career of that,'' Aleicree thought.  ''I''m too much like my homeland.  That''s why I have to stay a seagon.''


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    That zie spent zir days bound to the deck weighed on zir then, for it was so similar to laying in a mudpit in Denxalue... with more bodily aches from being in an uncomfortable position.  For a brief, weird moment the fantasies collided and Aleicree imagined laying in a tub of mud upon the deck of the Serene Chordalite, but zie soon sighed and abandoned the thought with a rub at zir head.


    Praoziu arrived then, and Aleicree was a little disappointed that she did not manifest from the very air around them, but came in through the door of the room like anyone else would.  Praoziu was a silver-scaled, wingless individual with cloven hooves, a thin build, and a shaggy white mane that stretched from between her horns to the tip of her tail.  Her helical horns were thickly covered in flowering vines, and a knotted string bracer held a tripartite swirl on her right foreleg.


    Where zie had been politely reserved towards Taisach, this time Aleicree did bound forward to nuzzle affectionately at Praoziu, a brief gesture that would have been outright hugging if not for Qianjek''s presence in the room.  "Mom!" zie said


    Praoziu was even less restrained, embracing Aleicree openly.  "Welcome home," she said, and after a moment longer of holding on she let go of Aleicree to look at Qianjek and Taisach.  "I''ve readied a meal in the downstairs dining room.  You''re welcome to join," she said with a nod to Qianjek.


    The downstairs dining room was a nearly adjoining room, down only a short length of hallway, for this was where zir mother and father took their meals when they were working on the model room together.


    It turned out to be a fairly prosaic meal, with the entree of it formed of a cheesy broccoli and fried onion dish, and there was enough meat served sliced and fried upon the table for each of them to claim a side of it.  The dishes spoke of relatively easy preparation, but there was no kitchen attached to the downstairs dining room; being a land god, Praoziu simply summoned dishes when she was entertaining guests.  Yet she rarely summoned anything truly exotic for visitors, saving the stranger dishes for her family.  That rule held this day as well.  After previously summoning to mind memories of stranger foods, Aleicree was disappointed to not try anything more otherworldly than cheese melted onto broccoli and onions.


    Zir parents sat at adjacent places at the table, so close that Taisach put a wing over Praoziu as they ate.


    Qianjek ate heartily, but took an interest in Praoziu, who was using levitating implements to eat.  "I have never shared a meal with a land god," said Qianjek.  "Do you gain anything from eating?"


    "Sensation alone," said Praoziu.  "The meal is of my substance already."


    Taisach saluted her with a strip of fried meat.  "Your substance is delicious, my love," he said.


    She giggled and shoved at him.  "Praise it as meat, not as me!"


    "This meat is delicious," said Aleicree dutifully.  Zie did mean it.  The meat was delicious.  It was chewy and flavourful, and could not have been fried better nor could it have come from a fresher source.  As a summoned food, it had never been part of any animal, but had come into existence just for their meal.


    Qianjek must have still been thinking of the question she asked, for she said, "Sensation is a kind of gain, though I think some land gods must forgo it.  I am from Tulneras in the north of here, you know.  It is rather impossible to imagine Dessor joining a meal like this."


    Praoziu nodded along to this, and Taisach responded with a mild ''aye''.


    These reactions made sense, for Dessor was... Aleicree''s thoughts halted.  Which land god was that?  There were so many, and zie felt even worse as a geomancer to not know one in zir own region, but zie did not.


    "What is Dessor like?" zie asked.


    Qianjek set down her fork and lifted her hands, then spread them and said, "Whoosh!  A blazing column of burning letters!"  Laughing, she sat down again.  "That''s Dessor.  Nobody sees him except in emergencies."


    "He does live without sensation," said Praoziu.  "I have eyes as you have eyes, but Dessor has no eyes at all."


    Aleicree perked up at that.  "Mom, I''m not sure it should be characterised as without sensation.  Dessor sees the way I see when I''m doing wind meditation, right?  There''s a lot of sensation there.  It''s like ''being'' everything and everywhere."


    "You have a gift, Aleicree," said Praoziu.  "There are many windmages who can ''be'' the wind and sense nothing but a great mass of air."


    Aleicree looked down at the table.  "They''re the ones with a gift.  Those windmages can ''be'' the wind without closing their eyes."


    "But they are not ''being'' everywhere and everything," said Praoziu.


    "Oh my shrines," blurted out Qianjek, and Praoziu''s gaze lifted sharply towards her.  "If any of my relatives take up geomancy, I am going to tell them to come here and ask for nothing."


    "For nothing?" asked Taisach in bright confusion.


    "Ah hah hah hah haaa!"  The green dragon Qianjek threw her head back in laughter, and when she came down from the momentary giddiness she said, "The conversation alone is golden insight!"


    "I admit, I am charmed by dragons who come here asking for nothing," said Praoziu.


    "That''s how I did it!" Taisach said.


    "You underrate your other charms, my love," said Praoziu.


    ''You stole him from other futures,'' thought Aleicree, but zie didn''t say it aloud.  Something about who Taisach would have been without Praoziu was likely what endeared him to her.  Aleicree could not see as a land god, zie knew, for zie saw only one present moment shifting forward a second per second, like everyone else.  Dessor and Praoziu and almost all of the land gods saw a splintering vast future of many possibilities.  Somewhere in those possibilities Taisach had proven himself to Praoziu so completely that she forgave him his trespass in her sacred forest.


    It was a good meal, and good conversation, and despite feeling self-conscious of zir poor skill at geomancy Aleicree was glad to be home.  When the food Praoziu had summoned was gone, she bent her rule of summoning only prosaic things in honour of good company, and passed around the table four cylindrical cookies wrapped in an unknown material that evaporated as they sliced it with their claws.  Qianjek tried to extract the cookie from the wrapping without damaging it, and could not find a way to do it, so that even the fourth cookie''s wrapping evaporated when Qianjek cut it.  The cookies themselves were minty and bittersweet, formed of a dark brown substance pocked with craters of light green; Praoziu said they were ''chocolate with mint chips''.


    After the meal, Qianjek departed.  Aleicree didn''t know what part Qianjek played in Taisach''s future plans, and quietly suspected zie would never see her again.  Many of their visitors were rare returnees, or at least zie thought.  Zir father didn''t talk of his friends much in his letters, and was a brief writer in general.  Aleicree''s visits home occurred every time the Serene Chordalite docked in Griolor, and often overlapped with someone-or-other visiting but rarely with the visit of anyone who had visited before.


    Unless the matter of "21 settlers" meant Taisach had achieved a breakthrough, Aleicree still had the impression that zir mother and father were facing no success in their attempts to recruit settlers to Nidrio.  Zie suspected Praoziu was being very picky as only a land god can: by manipulating the threads of Fate that filled the future of Nidrio.


    With such little rest the night before, Aleicree was planning to head back so zie could sleep at the ship at Griolor when Taisach pulled up after her in a corridor.


    "Hey," he said.  "I worry about your ship, you know." He had also said as much in their correspondence.  His letters were to-the-point and occasionally repetitive.


    "We''re not going to sink, Dad."  Aleicree turned to face Taisach.  "We run a regular route around Tachamund.  We''re in home waters.  We have three shift coverage of windmages."


    "There are always rogue waves," pressed Taisach.


    Aleicree shook zir head.  "Only if you upset the land gods of the sea," zie asserted.


    "What if your captain learns of some exotic treasure and decides to go for new cargo?  I''ve met Captain Kagnir."  Taisach held his arms wide.  "He wasn''t always content to run a supply route."


    "Do you want me to pledge to desert if the ship goes anywhere new?"  Aleicree''s voice flattened with a heavy strangeness.  Am I offering that sincerely? zie asked zirself.


    Taisach gave zir a thousand yard stare.  After a moment, he sighed.  "Sailing is...  very dangerous.  Often nobody knows what happens when ships are lost.  It''s such a threat to immortality.  You could even be attacked by pirates."


    Aleicree resisted the urge to snort at that, but held zir expression politely steady.  Yes, it was a real concern.  There were corsairs who hadn''t run out their Fate and corsairs who had broken from Fate with necromancy.  Neither were common and the Serene Chordalite had fought none, but both existed. He was worried about unknown threats, too.  It was frustrating to face him on this.


    "You''re dissatisfied with the reassurances in my letters," Aleicree said.


    "I am."  Taisach nodded, then looked at Aleicree with a grave expression on his snout.  "Nidrio is here for you, you know.  If you ever move back to land, we could build you a palace.  Remember that."


    Aleicree sighed and shook zir head.  "A palace yes, but where would I work?  Would I then tend my palace gardens and sell produce in Denxalue?"  Scepticism was laved in heavily to zir tone, for zie wasn''t willing to be a farmergon.  The contrast of fine lodgings and menial labour held no appeal.  It was just silly to have a palace as a poor farmergon.


    Taisach didn''t have an answer.  He lived in a beautiful house, and tended a garden at its base as his only formal employ.  Aleicree had struck right at zir dad''s lifestyle with disdain.  The challenge weighed on him so much that he touched the floor with his hands, falling into a lower stance than most vashael ever travelled in.  For some moments the two stood facing each other still, but then Taisach shook his head and walked away.


    They parted on that note, mutually discouraged, and Aleicree went away thinking about the possibility that Nidrio represented.


    If zie wanted only a palace to make the move, Praoziu''s determination to keep the landscape sublime would see one built to ensure their mutual happiness.  Praoziu would be miserable if zie asked for a hut!  Yet the happiness of the palace dweller was an arrogant one, and zie was not interested in it.


    How strange it would be, for zie would certainly still have some menial position.  There was nothing to do in Nidrio, which had only Denziu and Taisach living in it.  Was Taisach¡¯s offer meant to place zir as the first member of a community of humble farmergons, every one of them dwelling in a grand palace?  Could it be imagined?  It was surely ridiculous.  To move to Nidrio risked being given every ridiculous thing, and Aleicree thought it intolerable.


    As for professions other than farmergon...  Well, who would ever cut stone in Nidrio, if Praoziu would summon stone in bulk?  There was meaning to the toils of the labourers in Theoma, a pleasure in tackling great jobs in great health and accomplishing much.  If Taisach was offering a palace, then Praoziu had not yet learned to create the kind of paradise of diligence that Fate could uphold.  She was...  inexperienced, thought Aleicree.  My mother is an inexperienced land god, zie thought again, stunned to have had it occur to zir mind.


    Zie was in the air by then, and flapped to adjust zir course, for every minor upset was magnified greatly by the flowing wind even with a vashael''s amicus breeze.  It was an hour''s flight back to Griolor, and zie spent that flight wondering if there was some way zie could help zir mother.  Instead of building palaces from the air, what could they create as a kind of paradise for a single stonecutter, then thereafter build with labour, at the pace of their stoneworkers?


    These thoughts occupied Aleicree for the entire flight back to Griolor, but zie made no headway in them.

 Griolor, Part Two

    Aleicree retired directly to the Serene Chordalite.  The majority of the crew was still off the ship carousing in the city, but Aleicree had done the one thing zie was excited to do in Griolor and now zie needed sleep.


    The crew quarters were almost austere.  Hardened by a dragons'' form, most of the seagons slept upon the wooden floor next to the coffers and chests that stored their belongings.  A slotted depression ran across one wall in which these storage trunks could fit, pressed up against their neighbours, without sliding around too much with the turning of the waves.  Each space large enough for a dragon to sleep in was shared across three dragons, one to each shift.


    There were a few variations up the row hinting at who slept there.  Most of the seagons had a pillow up against their private coffer.  The vrash aboard ship had larger chests and sometimes two for that they needed also to store their peculiar armoured attire.  The crew¡¯s only swaivshon craved comfort and had accumulated a mess of pillows that were used for all three dragons who shared that space.  Smaller than everyone else, the one vohntrai among them did not share sleeping arrangements, but had instead strung up a hammock across the farthest corner of the crew quarters.


    One final variation was relevant to Aleicree and zir two colleagues: each of the windmages had their own space to sleep in.  It was a very simple luxury, not nearly as good as having a cabin, but Aleicree often needed it.  The simple open space was enough to read and write in.  A magic lantern was hung over Aleicree''s place, and zie used it that night to reread old letters sent and received until weariness overtook zir.


    The next day, Aleicree awoke in the morning again.  This was somewhat displeasing; zie was used to waking up just before the start of zir shift on deck as the windmage.  Yet zie had fallen asleep early in the evening the night prior, and had gotten a good long sleep in before the morning shift bell rang, so that it was the morning shift bell and the general rising of the morning shift dragons in the crew quarters that roused zir up as well.


    Zie was off-duty at this hour, and could do as zie pleased (more or less), so that it in a sense did not matter if zie was up now or later.  Pragmatically, zie could take zir daily exercise early.  There was nothing wrong with that save the irritation of being up at an unaccustomed hour two days in a row.


    They were still anchored at the dock as the morning shift ate hearty corn chowder.  It was one of the galley''s commonly recurring dishes.  Aleicree had a distinct ambivalence to the ship''s corn chowder, but zie didn''t turn zir nose up this time, instead joining the morning crew to take a bowl.


    When zie''d eaten, zie returned to the crew quarters.  Zie wouldn''t waste away staying cooped up for one day. Opening Vrekant''s new letter to read, and composing zir reply, would be more vital to zir happiness than flying about the ship.


    Zie fetched out the letter with delight, but this quickly turned to dismay when zie read it: "Will I forever be serenaded by a seagon out a-sailing?"


    Vrekant had written a rebuke to Aleicree!


    The last letter zie had sent to him before this one had been mainly a poem, and so had many letters prior to that.  He didn''t like it anymore.


    Years prior he had rebuked zir for the sameness of zir letters, and so Aleicree had bought a dictionary to learn more of words.  Zie had used the dictionary to dive into the abyss of letters to find every way of saying things, seeking first for turns of phrase, and then thereafter to find ever more clever ways of putting them so that the repeated descriptions should become something akin to song.  That was how Aleicree had gotten started writing poems to Vrekant¡ªand only Vrekant.  All around Tachamund and for years, zie had been singing to him of the wind and sea, but especially of the wind.


    Now he rebuked zir again, rejecting these songs.  The poetry had run dry of novelty just as more prosaic descriptions of shipboard life had run dry long ago.


    "I adored you at university, and you weren''t a poetgon then," he wrote.  He missed her, he said.


    Aleicree missed him, too.


    Zir eyes welled up with tears reading the letter from Vrekant.  The one zie''d mailed him in Griolor''s post office was mainly a poem again.  Would he understand that zie''d posted it before reading this letter?  He might, but he wouldn''t love it.  He didn''t love zir poems anymore.  Aleicree held the letter from Vrekant with one hand as zie rubbed at wet eyes with the other.


    "We should meet again!" he wrote.


    With sudden determination, Aleicree decided zie would find a way to make it happen.  Zie had never been there, but zie knew where Sorjek was!  From there, zie knew Vrekant''s address.


    Aleicree put Vrekant''s letter in the chest of correspondence zie kept in zir sleeping space.  Over the years, quite a collection of paper had accumulated there, for zie kept all the letters zie received and even copies of all the letters zie wrote.  It was zir chest of memories.


    Then zie went out onto the deck to look for Captain Kagnir.  If zie wanted to meet Vrekant again, zie needed a vacation.


    Captain Kagnir was up with the morning and evening shifts.  His cabin was off the quarterdeck, but Aleicree found him standing out upon the deck overseeing the departure from the port.


    He was a vrash of yellow scales with a pink stripe to each side of his body; the pink colour dripped onto his earfins likewise and showed up again to each side of his tailtip in a spade.  He wore none of the vrash armour and only a few slim bands of jewellery upon his body, for he seemed proud of his natural colours.  Symmetrical gold piercings adorned his tailspade.


    They were away from the dock already and underway, so nothing urgent was going on.


    As he was not rushing between one function aboard to another, zie spoke to him then and there.  The subject was quite simply Aleicree''s misgivings with staying with the ship and its schedule, but zie didn''t immediately jump to thinking zie might want a change of career; rather zie said, "Captain!  I have a friend in northern Kanjamund that I haven''t visited in too many years, and as it will take me off our route for too long a distance, I would like a vacation long enough to get there and spend some time with him."


    "You''ve been a good seagon for years and I''m loathe to refuse, but I''ll ask you give me a circuit''s warning," said Kagnir, which was a gentle phrasing yet no less an order: a circuit''s warning meant that Kagnir would grant no vacations without the Serene Chordalite going through a full 52-day journey circuiting Tachamund between when the request was made and when it was granted.  "For you know well I cannot sail with less than three windmages, and I shall need to arrange for a replacement at Griolor if you''re to have even a few days from your duties."


    "But we have barely left Griolor," zie protested.  "Do I really have to wait 52 days?  Can''t you send an officer to fly back to the academy and hire someone for this circuit?"


    He mulled over these words for a moment.  Aleicree was painfully conscious of the heavy wind that pushed them out to sea; every moment the ship grew farther from the bay under the wind of Kajir, the morning shift windmage.


    "Alright," conceded Kagnir.  "I suppose you''re right."


    So he tapped Calira, a blue vrash who wore blue armour, and who stood as the officer of the watch in the morning shift.  She was up on the quarterdeck with them, as was her station.  "Calira," he said.  "I''ll take over the morning watch in your role today.  I need you to go to the academy in my name and hire a tertiary windmage for this circuit.  Pick up a cheap student, would you?"


    "Aye, captain," said Calira.  She took off then.  She took off into the wind with a leap, and turned towards shore when her altitude took her out of the bubble of Kajir''s wind.


    If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.


    Even with the perfect wind that favoured ships, a dragon in the air was still much faster than a ship, so that Calira and the windmage she hired should catch up without issue.  Visiting Vrekant would be possible!


    "I''ll stay with the ship until Hiakoreska!"


    Captain Kagnir nodded at zir and said, "Aye, that¡¯s what makes the most sense.  I''ll put the new tertiary on your shift.  Make sure they''re capable, Aleicree."


    "Aye captain!"


    With that, Aleicree left his company and set out at once to take zir daily exercise.  Once more zie hung in the sky over Zyrine Bay, this time in the unaccustomed brightness of the morning sky.  Raul still burned eternal over Zyrine itself.  Many trade ships still sailed across the sea to supply the hungering industries of Zyrine and Griolor, and half a dozen or more dragons flew in the air around each of them. The sun shone brilliantly in partly cloudy skies, reflecting off of the brightly multicoloured scales of dragon after dragon.


    Aleicree tipped zir wings to Danahae and Ren¨¦eden, who were morning shift lookouts for the Serene Chordalite and often on the wing.  Zie flew in a brief spiral with Nysalum, who was an afternoon shift seagon.  Zie touched wingtips flying alongside Eldaryn, a morning shift seagon who zie knew had a powerful amicus breeze to keep him stable in the air for a dangerous manoeuvre like touching their wingtips together.  Eldaryn was not a windmage, but as he grinned with the thrill of getting away with a risky manoeuvre in flight, Aleicree wondered if he would join the academy someday.


    Most of the night shift seagons flocked around the ship to take their daily exercise in their unstructured time, but Aleicree flew away from them by instinct.  They were never working while zie was the wind for the evening shift; they were busy at work while zie was unstructured during the night shift.  By some combination of shyness and respect for their work, zie had rarely spoken to them, so the night shift were all as such nearly strangers.  Zie knew their names, but beyond that not even gossip; Aleicree was not sociable enough to know gossip.


    Dragons ranged between each other¡¯s ships as well.  Some glittering golden vashael who Aleicree did not recognize flew with the dragons over the Serene Chordalite; that was a visitor from another ship.  Aleicree dipped away and became such a figure in the cloud over another ship travelling in the same direction.  It was easier to play during the day, when sight was clear and there was no need to stay quite so far from other dragons.  So zie swooped and spiralled and was chased by dragons whose names zie didn''t know and would likely never know, until zie was happily tiring and looking once more for the Serene Chordalite''s familiar silhouette.


    Landing again aboard ship, zie saw it wasn''t yet time for the shift change, so zie sought out the windmage of the morning shift: Kajir.  He was the lucky one, the most competent of the three, and the only windmage aboard the Serene Chordalite who could control the wind while staying unbound without external signs of meditative trance.  He had no need of the windmage room in the forecastle.  He was up in the rigging checking on rope knots when Aleicree spotted him, and zie waited nearly under him for a few minutes while he worked.


    As a silver vashael, his appearance was something remarkable.  When they were clean, his scales fairly gleamed.  Although he was sometimes grimy with shipboard life, he was never so dirty from it that his scales were hidden.  Aleicree thought he wouldn''t tolerate it.  His silver scales were beautiful in the sunlight.  He wore of course the same vest zie did, a white vest with a blue wind rune upon its tails, and a great feathery fluff warming his neck.  This was a windmage uniform.


    When he finished in the rigging, he saw zir in turn, and climbed down calling, "Hallo Aleicree!"


    When he was on the deck, Aleicree said, "H''lo Kajir.  Have you any books I could borrow?  I want something to study."


    "Aleicree," he said with a smile.  "Too rare a pleasure.  I have a copy of Sea Gods'' Laws, if you like?  I kept it from school thinking I might someday learn sounding."


    Sounding geomancy, or more broadly termed hydromancy, had a vital usage in mapping the depth of the water and spotting well in advance the presence of unseen shallows that might be a hazard to a ship.  (There was, of course, a more mundane skill which involved casting sounding lines from the ship, and half a dozen seagons could perform that.)  A ship whose windmage was also a hydromancer could sail swiftly near shoals and in unknown waters.


    "Did you?" asked Aleicree with a curious head-tilt.


    "No," said Kajir, shaking his head.  "The book doesn''t help, as the sea gods do not grant sounding by piety alone.  I now believe that training the skill requires living underwater for some years."


    "What happens to the amicus breeze if one submerges a vashael?" asked Aleicree.


    "A curious question.  I don''t know," said Kajir.  "Perhaps it orbits in some faint spiral of current, ready to be called out to and magnified into an amicus whirlpool."


    This was an inventive idea that made Aleicree smile, but privately zie thought submersion probably just dissipated the amicus breeze.  Living underwater was for a rare breed of dragons: the veserus.  Imitating a veserus by living underwater would be at least as unusual as the izerah Ekis studying wind magic.


    "Here though, do you want Sea Gods'' Laws?" asked Kajir, and Aleicree nodded.  Together they went into the crew quarters and to the particular coffer that held his belongings aboard ship.


    Kajir fetched out a stout textbook of a style that Aleicree recognised from the windmage academy decades prior. It looked so well-kept that zie expected that it had a self-cleaning enchantment upon it.  Books were so expensive and the self-cleaning enchantment was so basic that it was a very common work for geomancers to enspell their books to last longer.  Much longer, indeed.  Aleicree zirself worked that spell on every book that passed zir hands for more than a day.


    Aleicree took the book from Kajir.  "I''ll keep it safe.  Thank you for lending me this," zie whispered to him.  (For there were three shifts of seagons aboard the vessel, and always someone slept in the crew quarters.)


    "Of course," he said quietly, though not quite as quietly as Aleicree had.  He jerked a hand towards the door.


    Once the two were up the steps and back on deck he said, "It''s good to talk to you.  If you''d ever like to ''talk shop''..."


    Aleicree shook zir head, touching the deck as zir whole stance weighed down for a moment in dark sentiment.  Zie envied Kajir ferociously for being able to operate the wind over the ship while walking about like this, but outwardly zie conveyed only the sorrow of not being able to keep up with him.  "I think our technique is too different to translate between."


    "I wouldn''t be so sure," Kajir said.  "I used to do full meditation as well."  Here he swept an arm, and Aleicree felt a gust of wind blowing across zirself from the gesture.  Brightly he said, "I received my lighter method in reward from service to a land god!"


    Kajir is more of a geomancer than me, thought Aleicree.  Aloud, zie said, "Then I would like very much to hear!"


    Kajir looked back and forth, then led Aleicree somewhere that no work was being done.  "If anyone bothers us while I''m on-shift, we''ll tell them this little storytelling event is important for your development as a windmage."  He grinned at zir, and started into a longer tale.


    Aleicree listened closely while Kajir told the tale of a workgroup being assembled several centuries prior to build elevated roads to the specifications of Akilno, the land god who reigned in Mosdenechrak, which was an unusually renowned farming theome in central Tachamund.  The workgroup was mostly geomancers who''d been directed to find each other; this they''d accomplished through Querent-Querent, whose offices in Mosdenechrak were eager to have something productive to do.  "So many of the dragons there are actively opposed to ever travelling," said Kajir, "That despite having a very substantial and beautiful building to work in, Mosdenechrak is one of the most demoralising Querent-Querent postings."


    Its neighbouring theome Varsitra had roads being reworked.  The elevation points in the roads of Varsitra were entirely for the animals of the theome, Kajir explained, the land gods having taken an interest in preventing the depletion of small game animals and, by extension, small-to-medium predators in a theome without a land god tending it.


    "Did Akilno explain this to you?" asked Aleicree.


    "He did!  And, if you ever go to Mosdenechrak...  Well, if you can ever ask me about this when we''re on land, I will show you the ritual to summon him."  Kajir jumped from one spot to another suddenly.  "It involves too much leaping about to do the whole thing on deck."


    Aleicree shied from the jump in surprise, but zie was impressed.  He is definitely more of a geomancer than I, zie thought.


    After that, Aleicree retreated to zir space in the crew quarters to read quietly.  Sea Gods'' Laws was very much to zir interest.  There were three worlds in Theoma, the introduction promised: the surface, the deep-under, and the ocean.  Each had greater divinities ruling over it.  Over a third of the ocean was believed to be claimed by one greater divinity or another, and collectively these were known as sea gods.  Any dolphin in the ocean might be a sea god incarnate, the book said.


    After the introduction, the first chapters were something of an overview on Veserus settlements under the coastal seas.  Having been at sea for decades already, Aleicree wondered if there was any relevance to the Veserus settlements; they didn''t trade with them, skimming blithely over the unmarked seas where they dwelled.  Would it be that way forever?

 Rhakanin

    Aleicree''s reading was eventually interrupted by the ringing of the shift change bell, which was also the ringing of the chow bell. All through the crew quarters, the afternoon shift of seagons roused from their slumber. Aleicree put away Sea Gods'' Laws in zir small coffer of belongings (not the larger chest that held decades of correspondence) and got up to join them.


    They¡¯d sailed into some rain. The waves rocked the ship, but Aleicree had been ignoring that by long practice. When the shift change happened, the wind magic briefly relented, and wild winds slewed the whole ship out of line, setting the navigator to a struggle. They were in safe waters, but it made for an unpleasant deck crossing to the galley. Part of the crew had to delay going for their meal as there was a surplus of work to be done on deck keeping the ship running in the rain, but none of that applied to zir.


    Sometimes zie skipped meals; they were served hearty for hard-working seagons, and in a physical sense, Aleicree was not hard-working at all. There was no muscular demand within the task of wind-weaving. It was a task of the mind. Today zie caught the smell of spicy fish noodles. This was not a day for skipping meals. This smelled too good to pass up.


    While waiting to be served, zie asked one of the other seagons, "Do you know what good we''re carrying from Griolor?"


    "Packed, salted meat for distribution to the cash croppers of Rhakanin. Believe they find it a delicacy," came the reply.


    "Aye, good for hard work!" said another seagon in passing.


    Aleicree was at the front of the line then, and the comment almost made zir laugh into the fish noodles zie''d just gathered from one of the kitchen''s great serve-yourself bowls. The salted meats of Griolor were nominally for long sea voyages, but any respectable sea captain carried three shifts of wind magic. That made their voyages swift enough for fresh foods and left them carrying preserved meats as a delicacy for farmergons!


    After the meal, Aleicree stretched one last time and then meant to be soon again being the wind. This time was slightly different. Zie found that zir space was occupied. A red and gold vashael was being bound into it just as Aleicree usually was. The blindfold hadn''t been placed yet; it was placed last and removed first. "Are you the student windmage?" Aleicree asked, stepping to the front of the room and into the new dragon''s line of sight.


    "I am, I''m Rhaokir," said the vashael. Aleicree could tell they were both hermaphroditic, like a third of dragons. Pronouns usually matched scents in this respect, and necromantic alterationists took on most of the few exceptions. They were almost certainly both ''zie/zir''.


    Aleicree dipped a hand and a wing, then swept them to the side. "Welcome to the Serene Chordalite," zie said.


    Rhaokir eyed the fluff about Aleicree''s neck. They were both wearing windmage uniforms. "You''ll be the officer windmage of the evening, then?" zie asked.


    Aleicree settled self-consciously to all fours. This was a very low stance for a vashael, and not at all officer bearing, but being called an officer felt wrong. "I am," said Aleicree, acknowledging verbally what zir body language denied.


    "Then I hope I perform adequately well," Rhaokir said.


    Aleicree smiled as zie replied, "I hope I can meditate well without bindings."


    The blindfold was placed upon Rhaokir''s head, but the red and gold vashael said one more thing before dropping off into a meditative trance: "It''s a relief to hear you say that. I failed the course I took on walking meditation." It was a relief to Aleicree as well. They were similar in that respect.


    Then Rhaokir fell still, fully bound to the floor and blindfolded, and Aleicree experienced the wind picking up everywhere over the ship at once to fill the sails as Rhaokir became the wind. Even in the windmage room upon the forecastle, Aleicree''s amicus breeze was plucked at by Rhaokir''s will.


    Aleicree for zir own part had to shadow Rhaokir that first shift, and so reserved a portion of zir mind to stand still while attempting a meditative trance. It didn''t work well. Zie had not the slightest difficulty doing this unbound on land - had indeed settled upon the skill in childhood - but zie was not used to countering the rise and fall of the ship while being the wind. It took some time to achieve, adding the need to remain standing under zir own power while the ship moved underfoot.


    When zie managed it, zie felt a great looming darkness. It was very strange. Rhaokir''s meditation was touched with the awareness of non-sight and non-movement, as though Rhaokir were projecting the experience of being bound into place through the steady wind itself. It was a paradox for the moving wind to project stillness, but Rhaokir was doing it.


    Yet what cause did Aleicree have to complain? The wind blew steadily.


    The time zie spent bound up boneless on the deck never wore on Aleicree. Ordinarily, this job was a way to spend the day playing and get paid for it! Being the wind was fun. Dropping in and out of trance constantly while losing zir focus was less fun. Hours of watching Rhaokir do it all subtly wrong wore on Aleicree very rapidly. Zie wished zie had some light seagon duties to occupy zir day as Kajir did.


    Despite Aleicree¡¯s irritation, the student windmage did not slip control even once, so Aleicree eventually stopped going repeatedly back into temporary trance states to check. Zie thought instead about the book zie was studying. Zie had read so much in zir life that Sea Gods'' Laws was only likely to take three days. With little cause to remain in the windmage binding room, zie exited onto the forecastle and started looking for off-duty seagons to canvas for books that zie hadn¡¯t read.


    This endeavour saw no success. Some of the seagons were so shame-faced zie wondered if they were literate.


    When Aleicree went back to the forecastle near the end of shift, zie found a black vrash standing anxiously in the rain outside of the door. Zie recognised this sailor as Chraiteng the Lifebinder, who had once been a necromancer yet who gave it up before it killed him. He could still work small healing spells to deal with aches and minor injuries.


    Aleicree moved to the door and opened it. Chraiteng stepped inside out of the rain, his dark scales dripping. There was room for three dragons in the windmage room, although only just. They stood partially over the bound form of Rhaokir.


    Call it a test, zie thought. Can Rhaokir meditate while we''re talking?


    Aloud, zie asked, "Why are you hovering near the windmage room?"


    "There''s a strange aura about the ship," he said. "The crew can''t tell, but I traced it here."


    "That''s Rhaokir''s altered meditation," Aleicree replied, pointing a finger at Rhaokir''s head. "Zie¡¯s doing something weird with the wind trance.¡±


    Chraiteng stood for a moment thinking about that. His cheek was quirked down by a minor frown. "I''m not sure about the Fate implications from that. I''m not a geomancer. I just... felt the dissonance. Between myself and others. I''m¡­ Uh, I¡¯m dropping out of the ship''s order."


    ¡°How can you be dropping out of the ship¡¯s order?¡± asked Aleicree, unsure what he referred to.


    "It¡¯s a, uh, mystic issue," Chraiteng offered hesitantly, turning a hand up. "Maybe it''s nothing. I''ll get back to work." He shuffled out of the room and back out into the rain on deck.


    The rest of the shift passed without incident. Remaining in the binding room, Aleicree was still there when the chow bell rang. Shiowatha showed up soon after, and zie let Shiowatha take the blindfold off of their apprentice. Aleicree helped with removing the rest of the bindings. Soon Rhaokir was standing again on the deck.


    Aleicree bid them go to the galley without zir, and then when they had departed zie contemplated the dark skies through the slits upon the wall of the binding room. On an ordinary night, zie would fly for exercise as zie had near Griolor. That flight would be unpleasant with storm clouds in the air.


    Zie wanted to stay up and return again to sleeping through the morning shift. This was easier thought than accomplished, but there was a tool aboard that could help. Zie sought out Captain Kagnir''s cabin and knocked upon its door, then was greeted by Kagnir looking at zir dourly. "A poor hour, Aleicree," he said.


    "I thought I might be forgiven as the night shift has just begun," Aleicree said, dipping zir head deferentially. The captain worked on both the afternoon and evening shifts, then slept through the night shift, so Aleicree was intruding in the first hour of what was his sleeping shift. Zie had little choice; zie sought something in his cabin.


    "What do you need? Be quick," he snapped.


    "I need a waking puff, Captain," Aleicree said with zir head still low. Zie touched zir hands to the deck and stood on all fours. Aleicree felt small in spirit and did it more than other vashael.


    "No. Those are special dispensation only," he said, and started turning away.


    "Wait, dock my pay. I''ll pay double! They''re available in every port!" said Aleicree hurriedly. This was true as far as zie knew.


    Captain Kagnir hesitated, then shrugged. "Fine. It''s your money," he grumbled, and came back a moment later with a small muffin whose top was coated with a candy shell. He handed it roughly to Aleicree, who stood again on two legs to take it, then he closed the door behind himself.


    Aleicree tossed the muffin into zir mouth and bit down. It was a rather bitter pastry despite the look of it. It needed all the sweetness it had to be edible. If zie didn''t know what it was and were eating it only for pleasure, zie might have spat it out as a bad dish. As it was zie walked away chewing reluctantly and swallowed en route to the galley to get a ration of water and wash the flavour out.


    The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.


    Even as zie drank that water, zie felt alertness returning to zirself as though zie hadn''t been awake all day at all. This was the power of the waking puff.


    Freed for a few hours from the need for sleep, Aleicree slipped on a safety harness again and took flight once more. Night flying was harder than day flying. Without the sun, there were no good thermals. By the grace of the amicus breeze, it wasn''t too bad. Aleicree didn''t have to see the details of their bodies to know that the vast majority of the dragons flying at night would be vashael.


    They were out near Lorniven, as Aleicree knew by having been on this particular voyage many times. Lorniven was an uninhabitable grassland; anything built within it vanished in a day. That left the land an inky void from the deck of the ship. Yet high above like this, it was possible to see very far across the land, and there were distant towns all lit up. Griolor was due east and a little south on the far side of Lorniven¡¯s murk. Northeast of them there were three little fishing villages on the coast, not quite large enough to host the kind of ships that trafficked between Griolor and Rhakanin, but still showing up against the clear night. Due north was Rhakanin itself, a proper blaze to show its wealth.


    The night shift would do all but dock; the morning shift would handle that. Aleicree would be asleep by then. When zie tired of flight, zie landed on the deck again and stepped lightly past the slumbering morning crew to zir own space in the sleeping hall. Fetching out an eternal lantern from zir chest zie hung it up, and then took out Sea Gods'' Laws to read quietly until the waking puff wore off.


    Zie got past the chapters describing individual settlements swiftly enough that night and started reading of the first treaties between the sea gods. For there was a substantial regularity of climates upon the sea and negotiated guidelines for such things as how the winds were to blow in different latitudes. All Theoma could be navigated without wind magic by those who had studied the laws of the sea gods, the book boasted. There in the margins a cramped bit of writing said, "Being able to do this is called curse-rating." This intriguing marginalia note at that point in the book made Aleicree wonder if Kajir had taken some of his notes within Sea Gods'' Laws.


    Likewise to the great regularity of the winds, and important to land climes, there were agreements among the sea gods to allow certain weather events to pass by strengthened. For most rain systems grew stronger over the sea, and thus land theomes near the coast were often beset by what the book called maritime rains. These were the orders of organisation of the higher clouds, Aleicree recognised; in the course of zir day-to-day work at being the wind, zie did not reach so high as to disarray the weather systems overhead, but rarely extended zir invisible aery presence above the top mast of the Serene Chordalite.


    The book spoke a great deal about meteorology from its particular perspective that blamed the sea gods for all processes. As zie read it, Aleicree contrasted it mentally with one other textbook that zie had read at the windmage academy: Missing Meteorology. The author of Missing Meteorology had studied the processes of Missing theomes. By finding a Missing/Missing pair of theomes, where both the land theome and the coastal theome adjacent to it were Missing their land gods, they had demonstrated that the land theome received a breeze by day, while by night the wind blew out towards the sea.


    Missing Meteorology was why Aleicree knew about land and sea breezes. Had zie only read Sea Gods'' Laws, zie would have thought that land and sea breezes were solely the result of geomantic negotiation between the land and sea gods. Zie believed based on reading both that the sea was governed to a substantial effect by the dynamics of Missing theomes, and so zie wished zie had a copy of Missing Meteorology to show to Kajir. Perhaps next time the Serene Chordalite completed a circuit and returned to Griolor, zie would acquire a copy of that old textbook to share with Kajir then. The notion struck zir again: if zie actually changed careers, zie might have to arrange for one to be delivered to the ship. Kajir would be an interesting contact to keep, and the gift would make zir memorable in correspondence.


    With that thought, zie stowed the lantern and the book away, and curled up to sleep with zir chest, coffer, and pillow.


    The ship arrived at Rhakanin early the next morning while Aleicree was asleep through the morning shift, and the seagons were released for a market day. Every time the ship made port, it stayed for a day; such was the regulation of the schedule of the Serene Chordalite as well as many other merchant vessels. This was the chance for the captain and crew to load the next cargo. Great wind-powered cranes rolled in upon the wharfs to accelerate the loading and unloading of the ships, but ship windmages were off-duty for this interval; the port labourers controlled the winds that powered their own machinery.


    Those who worked the morning or afternoon shifts to unload or load cargo were released in the evening and through the night as well to provide a chance for the crew to let off steam if they wished to do anything with their time and money.


    Aleicree... had no idea how often they wished to do anything with their money. The market days didn''t drain zir own coffer much of the weight of currency within it. Zie did not drink, revel, or eat expensive meals. Paying double for a waking puff to fix zir schedule was an unusual expense. Zie most typically visited the offices of scribegons looking to buy books from them, and that was actually profitable for Aleicree. Books were common enough to find a few for sale at most decent ports and rare enough that patience plus a lev-i-quill could turn blank ones into a side income. This part-time scribegon work felt good and useful!


    Zie woke in the afternoon again with the shift change bell. This time it was not the chow bell, as no meals were served aboard ship while it was anchored in port. Coming out onto the deck, zie saw the sky was dreary overcast overhead, spitting a few drops here and there as a light rain fell.


    Despite the weather, the docks were greatly active. Aleicree walked into town past the looming, windmill-festooned cranes that were picking up giant crates from rolling carriages on the wharf. Vashael meditated on platforms to control the winds that actuated the machinery, and melodic chiming rang out to warn the crews when a wind shifted.


    The scribegons at Rhakanin were exceptionally prosperous. There were a lot of dragons in the vicinity of this city, and the local market for books stretched all the way along the river Joylim. The scribegons had a lot of business to occupy themselves with as they sold the kind of books that were most popular among the farmergons on the river. The sales were mostly lampoons and cookery books, alas. Comedy and cookery held little interest to Aleicree, but such books were common in many households; countless dragons who considered their reading ability of no great import could yet read enough to appreciate a funny story or a cookbook. Publishing for the Rhakanin market was a real trade pursued by a few authors!


    Aleicree, for zir part, was unwilling to copy a lampoon or a cookery book, because they were not useful books. They were easily sold, but they did not make dragons better at anything essential. Zie would rather copy something else, and browsing at a local scribegon shop, zie found a farming manual. These were also good in the local market, for obvious reasons.


    This would be a book that zie would almost certainly sell if zie copied it; it needed to go into the hands of some farmergon who would make good use of it. Theoma could always use more farming manuals. Talented farmergons freed the unskilled from farming. Everyone could get more of what they wanted out of life if the farmergons knew what they were doing.


    While there, zie asked the scribegon, "Do you have anything on geomancy?"


    "I have a copy of The Directory of Querent-Querent," said the scribegon. "Will that appeal?"


    The Directory of Querent-Querent was a famous, and supremely basic, work of nonfiction. It was largely a collection of heavily reproduced Tachamundi city maps with offices of Querent-Querent highlighted within them. It also contained short descriptions of the offices within different cities across Tachamund. Aleicree had read it before, but although it had nothing to teach about geomancy as such, it was a good resource for finding books on geomancy. Querent-Querent nominally promoted trade, tourism, and migration rather than geomancy as such, but it was an organisation of geomancers. When you visited a library of Querent-Querent, 9/10ths of the librarians were actual questing geomancers who were trading a few years out of forever to be librarians in exchange for some spell or magic item.


    The reliance of The Directory of Querent-Querent upon maps meant that Aleicree could not copy it by lev-i-quill; the fact that the book was heavily reproduced already meant that Aleicree could not expect to retrieve much value reselling it. It held nothing for someone who was already capable of finding the libraries of Querent-Querent without it. Zie didn''t want it.


    Still, zie persisted to the scribegon with, "Do you have anything for practising geomancers?"


    The scribegon shook his head. "I spend my days copying lampoons for farmergons," he said. Aleicree was aghast. I could never be just a scribegon, zie thought. Copying lampoons day after day sounds soul-killing. Perhaps misunderstanding zir silence, the scribegon continued, "There are few geomancers along the whole river Joylim."


    That seems too great a claim, Aleicree thought. Surely there was no region in Theoma that was without geomancers. Who could resist the lure of the trade in spells and magic items? Yet there was nothing to be gained in arguing the point, so that Aleicree bought only the farming manual and three blank books. One for if zie copied Sea Gods'' Laws, another for the farming manual, and a third just to have on hand.


    Zie also refreshed zir stock of loose writing paper, ink, and envelopes. All of this was quite expensive, but... well, writing letters was not so expensive a hobby when it was zir only expense, as it often was. Zie''d been saving up for quite a few years despite keeping in contact with others through the post.


    Through Rhakanin zie went back to the ship, zir business on land concluded, while about zir the city streamed about to other entertainments of the evening. Aleicree was a proudly practical dragon with no use for any of that.


    Zie spent that evening reading zir new farming manual and holding open a blank book for zir lev-i-quill, taking only a few brief breaks near the start to look up terms in zir dictionary. All evening and into the night zie read at the measured pace which zir lev-i-quill could keep up with, getting through perhaps a fifth of the book in this way. The enchanted quill wrote far more swiftly than Aleicree could write with a natural quill, though still not quite as swiftly as the traverse of zir eyes, thus requiring this practised pace to copy a book with it.


    Had zie started on Sea Gods'' Law zie would have gotten less than a tenth into it, for Sea Gods'' Law was a much thicker book.


    The farming manual went on at length about soil types and how they impacted plant growth. Aleicree supposed it was the sort of thing Denziu had known for decades by then, and though zie was sleepy after the work zie switched tasks to writing a letter that would be good for Denziu. Zie wrote of the book and what it contained, then just in case mercantile Denziu had never thought to do it with zir spare time, zie wrote of the work of copying a text by lev-i-quill. Zie wrote of zir pride in selecting a practical text, and then that zie wished zie had a dozen lev-i-quills with stands to put the books upon. "If either of us should ever found a scriptorium, we should acquire from geomancers that it be done swiftly and well. We could make a real contribution to learning in Theoma," Aleicree finished.


    When zie was done with the letter, zie was very happy with it, for it was a letter written very much to Denziu''s interests in soil without any of the tiresome details of seagon life that everyone zie knew had grown sick of. The whole chest of letters was Aleicree¡¯s joy. Someday, zie would pay a bookbinder to create an epistolary archive of zir travels upon the Serene Chordalite, and so thereby keep the memories far more indefinitely than they would keep in zir head alone.


    Only when the letter and its necessary duplicate had dried and were ready to be stowed in the chest of letters did Aleicree curl up around zir precious belongings for sleep.

 Hiakoreska

    The chow bell served again its purpose of rousing the afternoon shift.  The crew ate their meals at every juncture between the shifts, so that the two meals of the afternoon shift were held firstly with the morning shift and secondly with the evening shift.  The ship drifted without its spell-wind for a brief interval at every join of shifts while the two shifts mingled and the windmage was not yet at their post.


    The ship was well under way.  They were next off to Hiakoreska carrying cotton and indigo produced in Rhakanin.


    Hiakoreska was a theome without distinct natural resources, though it had a balmy climate enabling some citrus farming.  Its dragons were mostly occupied in manufactories.  The cotton and indigo from Rhakanin were an example of supplies for such a manufactory, and they would take onward bales of completed clothing from the warehouses at Hiakoreska.


    Rhaokir and Aleicree reported to the windmage binding station on deck, finding Shiowatha already present when they arrived.


    "I hope someday that I''ll be able to do this without the bindings," said Rhaokir with some trepidation as Aleicree and Shiowatha set about binding zir into place.


    "I do too," said Aleicree, "But it''s not necessary.  We can keep binding you as long as needed."


    "Yes, but...  What do you mean that you do, too?  You checked on me many times yesterday.  Do you mean to claim you can''t meditate without bindings?" asked Rhaokir.


    "I can manage brief trances, but not stable meditation.  The ship moves too much under me and it disrupts my concentration," said Aleicree.


    "That''s what the bindings are for," chimed in Shiowatha, tugging taut one of the ropes zie''d tied about Rhaokir.


    "If we could both be bound at the same time, we could both watch over the wind together," said Aleicree.


    Shiowatha held zir arms up wardingly for a moment at the other two, then moved to another binding.  "Only one binding station aboard.  We''re not equipped for wind redundancy."


    "You should really be working with Kajir on the morning shift," said Aleicree as zie too continued with the bindings.  "He can do walkabout meditation and stay with the wind no matter what he''s doing."


    Rhaokir blinked.  "So why was I assigned to you?"


    "This is the shift that''ll have a vacancy in a few days.  I''ve been working on this shift for decades without a vacation.  Now I''m going to Kanjamund for a circuit!"  Aleicree stood tall.


    Shiowatha and Aleicree had continued on the bindings throughout the conversation, and at this point Shiowatha blindfolded Rhaokir.  Both of them heard the red and gold vashael mutter something faintly as they did, "Decades?"  Zir voice sounded drained by the prospect of doing wind meditation for decades without a vacation, but nevertheless Rhaokir settled into the bindings and the wind rose a moment later.


    Rhaokir had seemed very competent the day before, so Aleicree decided to try trusting in zir and seeing how the wind blew that day.  Zie wanted to write a letter to Vrekant to post at Hiakoreska.


    Zie told him that Captain Kagnir had offered zir a vacation almost immediately.  The ship had taken on a fourth windmage at Griolor - a student windmage named Rhaokir - so that Aleicree could take a vacation without the ship losing a shift of wind magic.  This vacation would provide the opportunity to visit Vrekant with weeks of freedom, until the Serene Chordalite met Aleicree again on its return to Griolor.


    Zie mentioned in the letter that zie was studying a textbook called Sea Gods'' Laws to learn more of geomancy, and bemoaned to Vrekant that zir grades in academy had been mediocre in everything but wind control itself.  "I thought nothing of it then," zie wrote, "For I had always intended to land a place aboard a ship, and pure wind control was ample for that."


    As with the letter to Denziu the night before, zie set the letter out so that its ink would dry, but this time zie went back out onto deck immediately.


    The wind felt normal, but despite this Aleicree found a clear space and went into a brief trance to check on Rhaokir''s control of it.  Zie was immediately hit by a stifling sense of boredom that suffused the ship invisibly, and this was so unexpected as a sensation on the wind that it dropped zir from the trance.


    Trying again, Aleicree braced for it and touched the sense of boredom again.  The wind was flowing strong, but everywhere was a whisper in the whorls of the air currents: decades.


    Rhaokir''s trance was corrupted, yet firm.  Aleicree didn''t know whether to be impressed or concerned.  The inclusion of such a strong mood detail made trying to meditate with Rhaokir an unpleasant idea.  Yet as far as zie knew, it was harmless and would work just fine for pushing the ship along to its definition.  Zie wished zie''d done better in geomancy classes.  Could Rhaokir curse the ship by suffusing the wind with zir reaction to the idea of doing wind trances for decades?


    More prosaically, zie worried about Rhaokir''s ability to be a careerist windmage with a reaction like that.


    Dithering about on the deck, Aleicree wondered if zie should do anything about the corrupted trance Rhaokir was holding.  Would it affect anything?  Could the wind channel boredom in a way that mattered to anyone but a land god?  Zie knew no reason to suspect it would, and zie regretted not reading zir textbooks more carefully.


    I hope it doesn¡¯t upset the local sea god, but I think it¡¯s a good enough channel for the workday, zie thought.


    It upset zir own oversight of Rhaokir, as well.  Zie couldn''t join in being the wind without being afflicted with that boredom.  That was probably worth complaining about... later, or if the wind slackened.


    Acting on zir concerns for the sea gods, zie went to the crew quarters and fetched out Sea Gods'' Laws, which text zie carried back to the windmage room on the forecastle.  Sitting near the slitted wall of the room to judge the wind, zie passed the shift reading and waiting for Rhaokir to slip up.  There was no sign of it.  Likewise the book yielded nothing about overly emotional "meditation" disturbing the sea gods.  Aleicree found nothing about such as Rhaokir was doing.


    Eventually, the chow bell rang the evening meal as darkness fell.  Shiowatha showed up to assist Aleicree, taking the blindfold off of Rhaokir first before the two of them together started on the unbinding.


    While they were still working, Aleicree said, "Did you keep meditating on boredom the entire time you were being the wind?"


    Rhaokir replied with a question of zir own: "Why didn''t you check on me more often?"


    Aleicree crinkled up zir snout, but swallowed zir irritation without saying anything.  They continued the unbinding.  When they were done and Rhaokir was stretching out the discomfort of hours spent in trance-bindings, Aleicree found zir voice again to say, "You shouldn''t maintain a corrupted trance like that if you''re trying to work with someone.  It''s unpleasant to share."


    Rhaokir mirrored Aleicree''s wrinkled up snout, and the two of them stood grimacing at each other for a moment before Rhaokir sighed and said, "I think of it as being myself.  I can hold onto a thought while I''m doing the wind, and just...  be that thought.  Everywhere.  It passes the time.  Does it really do any harm?"


    "I guess not," Aleicree allowed, "As long as your wind doesn''t slacken.  Have you gotten any commentary on it from your teachers at Griolor?"


    "Aye.  The first year instructor banned it.  I complained a lot.  Since then, ''as long as your wind doesn''t slacken'' has come up more and more."  Rhaokir tossed zir head towards the door to the little room with the windmage binding station in it.  "Can I go to the galley?"


    Aleicree gestured to the door, and the two dragons exited the small room on the forecastle... directly into rain.  It''d been raining much of the day.  Rhaokir went on to the galley while Aleicree rushed to the sleeping hall to stow zir book.  The self-cleaning enchantment on it would keep it safe from a brief exposure, but zie couldn''t shake the inclination to clutch it tightly to zirself and hide it from the rain.


    Zie grabbed a bowl of food that night and didn¡¯t eat it.  Aleicree wished zie''d felt the confidence to forbid Rhaokir from doing anymore strange meditations.  Perhaps that would have been tyrannical?


    Worse, zie couldn''t fly for exercise in weather like this.  Well, hopefully there was no harm in that.  The gods wouldn''t let zir body waste away.


    Once zie¡¯d read for several hours after dinner and become dulled to the task, Aleicree slept for a while.  Checking on the deck after, zie discovered it was still raining, so with a sigh zie decided to do something arguably productive by practising unbound wind meditation despite the rolling of the ship.  Laying in zir own sleeping space, zie became the wind about the ship, mingling as an invisible presence with Jazhou, the night windmage.  It was a peaceful shared meditation, greatly reassuring after Rhaokir''s disturbing negative emotion channel.  With Jazhou''s presence all-embracing as the very air surrounding zir, eventually Aleicree''s awareness faded into slumber.


    Hiakoreska was another destination that was arrived at during the morning while Aleicree slept.  The ship bobbed gently at anchor when the blue dragon stood from the floor of the crew quarters.


    Zie leaned over zir chest of belongings and fished out two of the four recently written pages, then fitted them into envelopes and folded down the tops as firmly as zie could, then put them away in zir flight pouches.


    Aleicree climbed the stairs to the bustling deck with the envelopes, and took flight almost immediately over Hiakoreska.  This reeking city had the dubious honour that it had in Aleicree''s opinion nothing to esteem it other than the post office.  It was so full of awful-smelling buildings such as tanneries and dyeries.  The quainter industries such as weavers and quilters were no rescue against them.  They didn¡¯t exactly make the air smell better.


    Still, as Aleicree flew overhead, zie had to admit that at least the ready availability of pigments made the city a colourful sight from the air.  There were many different paints used on the buildings.  A few of the larger buildings even had advertisements or creative murals painted across them where their walls reared up over other, smaller buildings.  If Aleicree wanted to know where Biski¡¯s Miracle Soap was made, zie knew exactly which factory was supplying it.


    The fields beyond the city were full to the horizon with cash crops, and yet it pulled on more than its own farmland.  A great deal of import shipping was needed to keep the manufactories working at full tilt.


    As Aleicree landed on a hilltop landing field in the north end of the city, zie looked at the crowded boulevards here where various businesses served dragons aplenty.  There was something else that was special about Hiakoreska: all the dragons here were clothed.


    There, a brown swaivshon was adorned in a green robe.  Rose-thorn wires tangled across their body and wound around their legs, blooming with sepia flowers.  Such attire looked impossible to get on and off of a furred body.


    Worse was a sea-green vrash who had abandoned the customary vrash armour for a polychromatic dress.  Their wings were adorned with rainbow-striped garniture and their hips were hidden by a bustle striped in absurd colours.


    In what was clearly a show of wealth and dubious taste, a vashael of abyssal hue and bright green wings was covered all over in delicately worked silver jewellery.  Each leg, both arms, both wings, twice each upon their neck and tail!  Upon their head was a tiara, and they wore a green-blue dress whose shimmer was dimmer than their wings.


    Aleicree wouldn¡¯t have worn such things if they were handed out for free.  As far as zie was concerned, Hiakoreska''s cause celebre was its own bit of ridiculousness.  Aleicree had one outfit, zir windmage uniform, and it was as enchantingly self-cleaning as everything zie valued.


    The post office was near the field, for it had a great deal of air traffic coming and going with parcels.  The building reared up with blue brick next to the boulevard, its ornamented windows standing dignified.  Aleicree passed into the building and met the attendants behind the counter.  A brief transaction later and the delivery of the letters had been arranged.


    They were close enough to Sorjek that a well-trained postal flyer could see to it that Vrekant would have a letter the next day.  Aleicree could sometimes estimate in an instant the travel time of letters from each particular post office.


    After that, Aleicree set off again directly back to the ship.  There was nothing on land here to draw zir away from that gently bobbing anchored ship.  Zie wanted away from the stink and bright colours of Hiakoreska.  Nor was Aleicree''s opinion quite unique.  The ship was usually nearly vacated once the transfer of cargo was complete.  Here at Hiakoreska?  This was not a vacated ship.  Clearly there were others who disdained the city''s amenities.


    Fashion was not universal among dragons because clothing was not universal among dragons.  There were a lot of undressed dragons aboard the Serene Chordalite, clad only in their scales.  Or their fur, in the case of Chidavith, their one swaivshon.


    Aleicree was not entirely surprised to see the ship packed, though it was displeasing even from a distance.  There was music playing from the ship.  Someone had an accordion.


    They were all off of work and the shifts mingled.  Aleicree even saw the night shift up and about.  There was some scent of alcohol and a number of dragons holding blue bottles.  Several vrash seagons stepped around in an awkward three-legged way to keep hold of a bottle in their fourth limb.


    The presence of the night shift up and about in the afternoon without looking dead on their feet from exhaustion meant that someone must have passed around waking puffs.  That was peculiar.  They were stored away in Captain Kagnir''s quarters.  As he''d said, special dispensation only.  Wanting to throw a party shouldn''t qualify; they were an emergency provision.


    Aleicree had intended to come back and while away the hours copying more of that farming manual.  Zie was looking forward to selling a bonus copy of it.  This unexpected festivity would get in the way.


    Looking around for a familiar face, Aleicree spotted Jazhou near the gangplank (still presently extended to the dock).  Zie didn''t see Jazhou often, despite often being awake at night, because Jazhou was the other windmage who spent shifts bound and meditating.  The two of them could catch a word at the changeover meal sometimes.  Aleicree didn''t usually seek anyone aboard.


    If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.


    Jazhou was a gaunt female vashael, whose scales were blue and white.  She had a broad build that suggested she could have been quite strong if she worked in a more active profession than windmage, but years spent bound and meditating had taken a great and visible toll on her.  They both skipped meals sometimes, too.  Although it was a likeness between them, it meant they met each other even less.


    "Jazhou!" called Aleicree as zie landed.


    Jazhou turned and looked at Aleicree.  "H''lo there Allay!  Want a bottle?"  And so saying, Jazhou stepped aside and revealed that she was standing guard next to an open crate of blue bottles.  That explained the alcohol at the party.


    "No, I don''t drink," said Aleicree, waving off the offer.


    "That''s alright!  Hey, everyone thinks I''m a sober enough guard, I''m not drinking any of it!" said Jazhou.


    Jazhou was drawn away from Aleicree as another seagon approached, and Aleicree watched her say, "H''lo there Tulor!  Want a bottle?" to one of the seagons on the crew who Aleicree wouldn''t have known the name of if not for overhearing everyone while being the wind every day.  Tulor did want a bottle, and walked away carrying it.  The closest Aleicree and Tulor had ever gotten to having a conversation was officially that Aleicree had been standing nearby when Tulor wanted booze.  Great.


    Seeing Aleicree still standing there, Jazhou looked to Aleicree again.  "What''s up in Allayville?" she said jauntily.


    "I''m just wondering what all the festivity is for," Aleicree said.


    "Bit of a joyous revolt!  Everyone here - oh, h''lo there Taitharn!  Want a bottle? - everyone here finds this port a bit dreary."  Jazhou fingered her windmage uniform.  "They''re all dressed up dragons!  Even the factory workers dress up!  We stick out in a bad way, so we''d rather stay where we are."


    "Even the windmages?" asked Aleicree.  The three windmages aboard the ship were never down to their scales for attire.


    "Well...  You, me, and Kajir could get away with Hiakoreska, but it''s unfriendly to leave our colleagues behind."


    Aleicree felt distinctly like being unfriendly.  As far as Aleicree was concerned, the ship just felt way more crowded than usual with all three shifts on deck.  Someone had fetched out musical instruments on the aft-castle and a lively tune was starting up over there.  The deck crowd was shifting to create openings large enough for dragons to dance in, but the fun atmosphere wasn''t reaching Aleicree.


    "I don''t like this city either," said Aleicree with a frown dragging zir cheeks down.  "But I wanted to pull back and read!"


    "Ah, well, I don''t think you want to know what our dragons are using the crew quarters for right now then," said Jazhou, and then looked away for (of course), "H''lo there Chakun!  Want a bottle?"  Chakun did.


    Aleicree grimaced, and for a minute sat there by the gangplank, sour-faced as Jazhou guarded the depleting crate of bottles.


    Jazhou held out a hand as she offered, "You, uh...  May want to stay in an inn ashore tonight, Aleicree.  Tulor saw you buy a waking puff from Kagnir and heard you claim they''re available in every port, so he went looking and came back hawking ''em at-price.  They were bought.  The whole crew''s going to be up around the clock this time."


    There was a momentary distraction from yet another crew member coming to the crate, but this time she waved her hands across and said, "Hey, Quojin!  You''ve had plenty!"  Quojin was a green vrash; he walked off grumbling.


    Aleicree''s tail rested on the deck, zir shoulders were slumped, and the cheery music being played might as well have been a dirge.  "I like a peaceful ship.  I don¡¯t care what the crew gets up to in port, but I hate when dragons being dissolute messes up the ship."


    Jazhou shook her head fiercely at that.  "Hey!  We''re hardly dissolute."


    "Dissolute enough that the crew quarters is ''I don''t want to know''," scoffed Aleicree.  That seemed a special threshold.  "I''m going back to the post office."


    A brief flight later, Aleicree bought more paper and envelopes from the post office and with their permission brooded over a writing desk in the customer section, writing a letter to Taltios asking, "How are those cute swamp lizards you raise doing of late?"  Taltios'' swamp lizards ate pond scum and other awful plants, but they grew to a good size and their meat was good.


    Zie sat for a while over the letter, wanting to add something other than complaints, but zie didn¡¯t know much about lizard-raising or anything else about Taltios¡¯ life.  Zie was stumped for a while until zie recalled that there was definitely good news to share:  "I''ve been given a vacation from the Serene Chordalite, and there''s a new windmage called Rhaokir taking my shift.  Zie seems competent and the whole of the evening shift will be trusted to zir once I leave the ship at Hiakoreska.  I''m planning to fly south through Kanjamund to visit Vrekant, who I think has been pining for me to do something different rather than sailing forever this back-and-forth journey around Tachamund."


    Aleicree duplicated the letter and set both copies on the desk.  Zie blew on them, impatient for them to dry.  Maybe an instantly drying ink would be a good blessing to seek... no, zie shouldn''t bother.  Zie started on another letter.


    The next one was addressed to Ekis.  Zie hadn¡¯t gotten a reply yet from Ekis and wouldn¡¯t expect one while Ekis and Denziu were off on a mercantile venture, but there was no sin in sending more than one letter.  This time zie just straight-up complained that "you don''t want to know" had taken over the crew quarters, and zie didn¡¯t actually know what that meant.  "What could they be doing that Jazhou would tell me I wouldn''t want to know about it?  Why does the whole ship have to be up and about, keeping me from my reading?"


    Aleicree considered writing a letter to Praoziu, but zie thought it wrong to write complaints to a land god.  The weave of Fate stretched over all Theoma and every land god influenced it.  Writing to a land god would be too much like wishing for bad consequences to befall zir shipmates.


    It was still not late as Aleicree departed the post office.  This was vexatious.  Zie had no idea how to spend the evening in Hiakoreska.  Zie wished it were a typical market day where the revelling happened on shore rather than having partying seagons take over the ship in protest of a dull port.  They were disrupting the silence aboard the ship!


    Aleicree took to the air again and flew back to The Serene Chordalite.  It was still busy, musical, brightly lit, and crowded.  Landing on deck, Aleicree sighed and milled around, resigned to waiting out the party until the sleeping quarters were fit to use again.  Eventually, zie ran across Kajir.


    ¡°Aleicree!¡± he called to zir, ¡°This has been awesome.¡±


    Zie stared at him.


    ¡°Well, I think it¡¯s been awesome.  You wouldn¡¯t believe what¡¯s going on in the-¡±


    "DON''T tell me," cut in Aleicree with a sudden shout.  Zie looked down.  "Don''t tell me.  I''m sorry I shouted.  I wanted to spend the evening copying a book, but Jazhou warned against investigating the crew quarters.  So whatever¡¯s going on, would you leave me innocent?"


    Kajir blinked at Aleicree, the smile having been blown away by the unexpected shout from quiet Aleicree.  "What''s the point of-"


    Sensing an impertinent question, zie silenced him again with a glare before he said anything that made zir regret apologising.  Zie must have hit the mark for he shut up at once.


    "Fine," he said, now a bit glum.  "You''re drearier than Captain Kagnir, and he¡¯s been spending the evening holed up in his quarters."


    "In his defence, this is usually a very orderly ship," stressed Aleicree.


    Kajir shook his head.  "Market days are just not enough.  Throwing a party every so often is good for dragons.  Really," he said, and he tried a smile again.  ¡°It wouldn¡¯t hurt you at all to join the fun.¡±


    "...I''d rather be flying south to visit a friend in northern Kanjamund, Kajir.  I will be, soon.  I''ve been stuck on this ship for years," Aleicree said.


    "So''ve we!  So we... have some fun with it, you know?" said Kajir.  "But I guess different dragons want different things.  You write letters, right?  You probably have a whole bunch of quiet friends.  Strange though, I heard rumours about you from the academy."


    Aleicree blinked.  Rumours?  Kajir couldn''t be younger than zie was!  He''d already spoken of doing geomancer things centuries ago and gaining a wind magic ability by it!  "You went to the academy WAY before me," zie said.  "Didn''t you?  Are you going to say you graduated from Griolor more recently than I did?"


    "No," said Kajir, "Or kind of.  I joined the Chordalite in ''09, right?  Did you know the academy has a continuing education program?  I go back for a semester or two between postings.  Pick up courses of interest, brush up on old bad grades, and... well, it''s really just an excuse.  Ships hire at the Griolor Wind Magic Academy, so being there is one of the best ways to find ships that are hiring windmages."


    That answered why Kajir was at the academy more recently than Aleicree.  Truly, zie knew what kind of rumours Kajir had probably heard, but zie didn''t even want to think about it.  Zie''d let some dragons - like Vrekant - talk zir into a few weird things back in the academy.  There had been a particularly strange alchemical elective...


    Blushing at the thought of it, Aleicree said, "You know, it''s weird for an old dragon to be picking up rumours on much younger dragons."


    Kajir grinned.  "Nuh uh.  You don''t get to pull that one.  Past a hundred, nobody cares how old anyone is."


    "Kajir, I am right now not yet a hundred," said Aleicree.  Zie was 75.


    "O-oh." Kajir pulled back.  He coughed, adjusted his vest, and stood up straighter.  "That''s...  I''m sorry, Aleicree.  I didn''t know."  An awkward moment.  "Did you... tell everyone at the academy?"


    Aleicree made a sour face.  "No.  I kept my age completely to myself so I wouldn''t miss out.  But I was young and dumb and did a lot of things that I don''t do anymore, so please don''t talk to me about rumours from the academy."


    "I won''t," said Kajir, standing quite as straight as vashael can.


    He looked very sincere in that promise, but to Aleicree they were still parting on a sour note.  This was probably a death knell of Aleicree''s party life aboard the ship, but that was for the better.


    Zie didn''t usually like to think of the age gap between zirself and everyone else.  They were all unaging, praise the land gods, but sometimes that meant anyone under a hundred was still in the creche.  Aboard the Serene Chordalite it did not usually matter.  At all.  Nobody seemed to think of Aleicree as distinctly young.  Like it had been to Kajir, Aleicree''s true age was a surprise.  And Aleicree, flustered by mention of old rumours from academy, had let the secret slip.


    The academy had posed a problem for Aleicree.  In hindsight, zie had been young enough to fall for ''fun'', yet superficially mature enough that dragons thought zie knew what zie was getting into.  They had taken zir for two hundred.  Zie''d been thirty.  Hindsight being 20/20, zie wished zie would''ve been forthright.  Ah, but then zie wouldn''t have gotten along as well with Vrekant...  Maybe it was better that things worked out the way they did.  Vrekant was a charm worth keeping, and zie was looking forward to seeing him again.


    In the meanwhile¡­  If Captain Kagnir was being dreary in his quarters, maybe he was a like-minded soul.


    Aleicree went to the Captain¡¯s cabin and knocked on the door.  A frowning yellow vrash head poked out through a partly opened door.  ¡°Something gone wrong?¡± he asked.


    ¡°This ship¡¯s a madhouse,¡± Aleicree said.  ¡°Mind if I spend the evening with you?¡±


    The door opened all the way.  ¡°Someone shares my opinion of all this noise,¡± said Kagnir, brightening up a shade.


    Aleicree stepped into Captain Kagnir''s cabin.  This was a little room of wonders; zie was surrounded by the finds of a once-adventurous captain who had not always taken this staid and safe supply route around Tachamund.  There was a bookshelf with nearly twenty books upon it, and a stone bust of a dragon wearing heavy golden jewellery.  There was a table with the map of Tachamund on its surface semipermanently, but a bin of other maps stood at its side.  There was a peculiar model of Theoma in one corner which was shaped like a column with a smoothly tapered bulge in the centre; this was set up with a map stretched across it such that it could be rotated in place to view other parts of Theoma.


    There was also a painting on the wall whose story Aleicree had heard years ago: it depicted Captain Kagnir in a boreal scene with a birdskull-adorned dragon from a primitivist tribe in Niazon.  He had once tried to make her his wife, but the seaborne life had disagreed with her so steadfastly that after a few years she had gone back to her tribe in Niazon.


    Captain Kagnir closed the door behind Aleicree and walked over to sit on his haunches behind the table with the map of Tachamund.  There were regularly spaced pins on the map, all the way around Tachamund.  With the regularity of the wind that the ship''s windmages could provide and the experience that the Serene Chordalite had in making this voyage continuously, the pins represented the ship''s probable location as of each shift change all the way through the supply run.


    ¡°I hope you don¡¯t mind,¡± said Kagnir dryly, ¡°But I¡¯m not prepared for any festivities.¡±


    ¡°So much the better.  I¡¯d be in the crew quarters reading, normally, but ¡®you don¡¯t want to know¡¯ took it over.¡±  Aleicree folded zir arms.


    Kagnir glanced towards midship.  ¡°Actually, I would like to know.  What ARE my crew quarters being used for?¡±


    Aleicree was caught out.  ¡°I¡­  don¡¯t know.  I refused when someone offered to tell me.¡±


    A span of relative quiet passed between them.  They both listened to the revelry outside.  ¡°Do you think¡­¡± started Kagnir, then stopped himself.  Another few moments, and he said, ¡°I know this isn¡¯t something I¡¯ve asked before, but could you wind-watch for me?¡±


    Aleicree frowned.  ¡°Are you ordering me to spy on your crew?¡±


    Kagnir brushed one leg with the other.  ¡°Wellll¡­ I won¡¯t order it,¡± he said.  ¡°But I¡¯d like to know why my quietest crew member can¡¯t go read in peace, and it¡¯ll be awfully disruptive if I show up myself.¡±  He paused for a bit, and then said, ¡°And I¡¯m not sure what we¡¯ll have to talk about with this hanging in the air.¡±


    Aleicree paced the room.  ¡°I wouldn¡¯t mind being the wind.  I like watching over everyone that way.  I wouldn¡¯t usually¡­ but you do have an interest in the crew quarters¡­¡±  zie muttered to zirself as zie thought about it, then zie turned towards the door of the cabin and laid down facing it.  ¡°Fine, I¡¯ll do it.¡±


    Wind-watching started out exactly the same as being the wind, but where Aleicree could count on a placidly all-accepting attitude to be the wind without caring what dragons did aboard ship, to wind-watch them zie had to take a keen interest in what was going on.  Zir consciousness expanded in the ethereal form of the air itself, spreading from Captain Kagnir¡¯s cabin until zie encompassed the ship, and then zie zeroed in on the crew quarters.


    There were knots of dragons all up and down the hall where they slept.  Each knot had a dragon in the middle of it, babbling copiously.  Not a word of what they said made sense, because one was talking about plains of ravishing grasses that gleamed like fire, while the next spoke about breathable oceans full of friendly metal beasts.  Every so often the babbler stopped, and was cajoled back into talking again by the bystanders surrounding them.


    Being the wind relied on calm, and spying on other dragons like this was not calm for Aleicree, so at this point zir trance failed, and zie found zirself abruptly back in Kagnir¡¯s cabin.  Looking over at him, zie said, ¡°They¡¯re gathered around dragons describing otherworldly places.  It¡¯s a lot of babble.¡±


    ¡°Is that all?¡± asked Captain Kagnir.


    ¡°That¡¯s all.¡±


    ¡°Pshaw,¡± scoffed Kagnir with a grin.  ¡°You¡¯ve misunderstood it.  There must be something more than storytelling going on, or they would¡¯ve asked me to join.  Look again!¡±


    So Aleicree looked again.  It was hard to ¡®see¡¯ what was going on, because zie was not exactly seeing at all.  They were fuzzy silhouettes.  Scent and sound carried on the wind, but zie could not tell Kagnir every member of the crew in the sleeping quarters, for many of them were sitting quietly as they listened.  Colour didn¡¯t carry on the wind.


    For some minutes, Aleicree watched over them, trying not to take too keen an interest lest the trance break again.  Eventually, a breakthrough!  A new knot formed down the quarters, and a phial was passed to the dragon in the centre of it.  ¡°Are you sure this is safe?¡± asked the dragon who received the phial.


    ¡°Safe enough for the other two so far,¡± came the reply.


    ¡°Here goes nothing,¡± said the dragon, tossing back the phial and swallowing its contents.  ¡°How long will the madness salts take?¡±


    ¡°A few minutes,¡± said another of the gathered dragons.


    Aleicree let go of the trance and came back up in Kagnir¡¯s cabin.  ¡°They¡¯re dosing the talking ones with something called ¡®madness salts¡¯ to induce visions,¡± said Aleicree.


    Captain Kagnir hmmed.  ¡°Does it look like anything dangerous is going on?¡± he asked.


    ¡°No,¡± said Aleicree.  ¡°They¡¯re just talking.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d rather they asked permission,¡± said Captain Kagnir.  ¡°Although I suspect I¡¯ll grant them forgiveness well enough.  Thank you for satisfying my curiosity.  I¡¯ll ask tomorrow what was going on and I¡¯ll keep your name out of it.¡±


    Aleicree nodded.  ¡°Thank you.¡±  Zie glanced over at Kagnir¡¯s bookshelves.  ¡°Do you mind if I borrow a book for the evening?¡±


    Captain Kagnir perked up.  ¡°I¡¯d tell you not to touch my treasures, but I know you of all dragons will be gentle with it!¡±  He walked over to his shelf and beckoned to zir, so that soon they were both standing next to it browsing the titles.


    While the revelry outside went on, Aleicree spent a quiet evening with Captain Kagnir, with both of them reading a different book from his shelf.  When the noise outside died down, zie gave him back his book and went out to sleep in zir usual spot.


    The next morning, Aleicree gathered a pouch worth of coin and then reported to Kagnir¡¯s office again to officially report that zie was leaving Rhaokir in charge of zir shift as zie departed on vacation, and then zie was off.

 Shibanyet

    Flying directly from Hiakoreska to Sorjek was too far.  Zie set zir first day of travel less ambitiously: welcoming Shibanyet, at the northern tip of Kanjamund''s northernmost isle.  This involved a good southwest cut across the Rainy Strait.


    It wasn¡¯t too far, but it was a very wet flight.  Shibanyet was ever-rainy.  Hiakoreska was hardly dry.  Between the two of them stretched the aptly-named Rainy Strait.  Aleicree flew through the rain that bridged the gap between them.  Without zir amicus breeze it would have been a miserable flight.  With it, it was still somewhat difficult.  It was good exercise at the least.  Aleicree would have preferred to get to Shibanyet by ship, though it would''ve taken hours longer, but flying there zirself was fast and free.


    Although Aleicree was not an exceptional geomancer, zie felt when zie flew into the airspace of Shibanyet.  The invisible flux of Fate agreements was different here.  Accustomed as zie was to wild sea ports and imperceptible sea theomes, the geomantic boundary of Shibanyet was an almost tangible thing.  This was a "model city", as geomancers termed it.  Fate was woven strongly here by the local land god (who was named Vesset).  Everyone in the city existed within the influences of Fate.  The reward: the city spread before Aleicree in an artful order of perfectly connected structures.  Kanjamund had a reputation for being undeveloped, but this city defied it.


    The clouds were breaking as Aleicree approached the bay, bringing a sunset colored by the evening light across the mostly cloudy skies, but Aleicree was looking for an inn.  Zie flew over the famous Bay of Shibanyet and its harbour jammed with ships, the great tower of the royal palace, the temple of Vesset, the marketplace, and many more places of interest.  The smell of cooking fires and roasting fish was strong over the city.  There seemed to be nowhere to land.  Zir unfamiliarity with the area was a disaster, and a frustrated Aleicree wondered if zie would have to spend the night in the clouds.


    Then, miraculously, a building Aleicree thought might be an inn came into view.  It was built of red bricks and had a large garden around it.  The garden had an open grassy area for a landing space.


    The soft grass was welcoming underfoot as Aleicree touched down. Such a lush carpeting in a busy landing area meant that the grass here was surely enchanted to survive being trod upon countless times.  The building next to zir mounted up four stories with countless white-framed arched windows.  Light spilled welcomingly from the nearby open doors of what was very definitely an inn. Aleicree could smell the hot food and drink already.


    The main square of the city, where the Temple of Vesset stood, was not far away. This was probably a major visiting point for journeys to and from Shibanyet, and therefore crowded.  Aleicree wondered if zie were Fated to visit this inn.  Surely Vesset would have accounted for every visitor to make her model city perfect.


    Zie walked over to the inn''s entrance and peered in. A large number of dragons were flowing through the doors, but the room was not yet full.  An apron-wearing vashael standing just inside the door said, "Welcome! The dining room is this way, sir!"  Aleicree entered the inn as bidden and was surprised to feel that the muggy air outside immediately dissipated. Magic was thick in this place, so much so that the air itself had been tweaked to be more comfortable for the patrons.


    Turning to the vashael by the door, Aleicree asked, "What is the name of this establishment?"


    "The Royal Lion of the Sun," the vashael replied.


    "What''s a royal?" Aleicree asked.


    "A great leader, first among many,¡± the staff dragon said, and then, ¡°We often call our inn The Royal.¡±


    It seemed a pretentious name to Aleicree. Zie wondered as zie went towards the dining room of the inn whether that was a trait of Shibanyet.  Zie''d never visited here before today.  What kind of society had Vesset curated over the centuries in this place?


    The dining room of the Royal Lion of the Sun was a large place, and public houses were generally not small.  The room was filled with smoke from pipes and the burning of incense.  There was a roaring din of conversation among the many dragons in the room.  Hardly a soul seemed to notice Aleicree''s entrance, focused on their own conversations as they were.  Zie sat down at a table and surveyed the room.


    From a nearby table zie witnessed an animated conversation.  "What use is all your magic if you''re afraid to use it when we need it?" asked an exasperated brownish red vrash of a cringing white-scaled fellow.  They were both wearing armour of the typical vrash style, which didn''t necessarily mean anything.  Most vrash wore it.


    "Every time I use my magic," said the white dragon, his head down, "One of two things happens.  Either the world gets more chaotic and nears its inevitable demise, or I get more chaotic and near my own.  Everything has a price!"


    "You''re doubting the promise of the land gods," said the brownish red vrash.  "They keep everything stable."


    "They have limits!" said the white dragon.  "Do you remember Sorjek?  They use magic too much, and mutagenic black wisps fall like rain or snow there.  Dragons don''t live forever in Sorjek."


    The conversation fascinated Aleicree, who had never thought of zir wind magic as making the world or zirself chaotic.  Zie spent zir time in meditation.  What was chaotic about that?  They''d mentioned Sorjek, too.


    A waiter came to the table where Aleicree had sat, and said, "Would you like to order anything?"


    Aleicree waved off the waiter saying, "I will soon," and stood to step over to the table with the brownish red vrash and the white one.  "I overheard your conversation," zie said to them, and looked to the white-scaled vrash.  "Do you really think magic speeds the end of the world?"


    "Magic is logically incoherent," said the white vrash gravely.  "And when we invite logical incoherence into our world, we invite its return to the primordial state."


    The brownish red vrash grimaced and said, "The primordial state of the world is soaked in magic.  Everyone has magic, Azosta!"


    "I''ve read the Deathwall far to the north is soaked in magic, too," said Azosta, shaking his head slowly.


    "What''s the Deathwall?" asked Aleicree.


    The brownish red vrash said, "That''s the northern edge of Theoma.  There are a few pockets of life in it, but it''s mostly a vast wasteland of necrotic energies.  It tears everything apart."


    Azosta said, "Necromancers can make some headway into it, if they''re willing to take the risk."


    "This isn''t relevant," said the red vrash.  "Look, magic has its own logic.  It doesn''t all go to necromancy."


    "If we use it lightly, it has its own logic," said Azosta.


    "We don''t even use necromancy!"


    The two of them looked to be paying attention mostly to each other again, and Aleicree felt like zie was intruding, but zie tried again anyways.  "I use magic every day, and it doesn''t seem to be pulling me towards chaos."


    Azosta sighed.  "It takes exceptional sensitivity to discover the chaos created by magic.  You have to turn away from glory and revel in the quotidian."


    "Revel in the what?" asked Aleicree.


    "Yeah," muttered the red vrash.


    "The quotidian," said Azosta.  "The day-to-day.  The magic of order is the magic of a city of dragons living their lives.  Libraries are filling with the stories of lives lived well or poorly.  Powerful magics... break that.  They fix or ruin everything at a go, and the drama is out of the story."


    Aleicree asked sceptically, "Are you saying that drama and struggle are the basis of reality?"


    "In a very subtle way..." said Azosta.


    The brownish-red vrash actually growled at that, and Azosta flinched back into a low posture.  With bared teeth the red vrash said, "You''re making a very strange excuse for failing a job, Azosta."


    There was an uncomfortable silence around the table.  "Soooo..." started Aleicree, "What happened?"


    The brownish-red vrash looked past Aleicree, and zie glanced that way as well.  A group of three dragons had descended on the previously vacant table nearby, leaving Aleicree''s prior seat taken.  He looked at zir and said, "You may as well sit down and tell us your name."


    "I''m Aleicree the Windlost," said Aleicree.


    "Windlost, eh?" said the brownish-red vrash.  "You''ll have to tell the story sometime."


    "Sure," said Aleicree, sitting down.


    When Aleicree had sat next to the table, he said, "I''m Limist the Pipeseller.  This is Azosta the Endseer.  We''re plumbergons, but maybe we''re ex-plumbergons now.  We just got back from flooding someone''s house with a failed installation.  Azosta has geomantic contracts for water manipulation, and I know he does," here Limist paused to glare at the other vrash for a moment before continuing, "but he won''t use them for plumbing work."


    "This work doesn''t need magic," stressed Azosta.


    "It does when you mess it up!" said Limist, nearly yelling.


    Another silence descended, until Limist growled, shook his head, and... shrank in on himself.  He said, "I''ve been messing up, too.  This kind of thing isn''t supposed to happen in Shibanyet, but we''ve both been having accidents lately.  Fate is against us for some reason." He stink-eyed Azosta again.  "If only we had someone who could renegotiate Fate."


    Azosta snorted at that and stood straighter.  "No, no, and no!  That is not how geomancy works.  I do not renegotiate Fate.  I work with Fate.  If Fate turned against us, using my contracts to fight it would turn out badly."  He looked at Aleicree.  "See?  Fighting Fate is necromancy.  Limist doesn''t get it."


    Aleicree glanced between them.  "If Fate is against you, maybe you should try visiting Nidrio," zie said, wondering if Taisach could make use of visiting plumbergons.  Maybe for irrigation systems.  He would likely appreciate visitors in any case.


    "Where''s that?" asked Limist.


    "The mountainous forests due north of Zyrine are Nidrio, where my mother Praoziu is the land god," said Aleicree.


    "Why is she your mother?" asked Azosta with furrowed brow.


    "Because she loves my father very much," said Aleicree.


    "Land gods don''t..." said Limist, then he looked at Azosta and asked, "Do they?"


    Azosta touched his chin with a hand.  "I guess they do if they want to.  Talk about biasing Fate, though."


    Aleicree said, "My parents are trying to recruit dragons to live in Nidrio.  You can speak to Praoziu herself about it, though you may find my father more approachable.  His name is Taisach."


    The waiter came by to check on them again.  Limist and Azosta had eaten, but they accepted another glass of wine each, and Aleicree said, "A roast fish, if you would.  I smelled a great deal of fish roasting as I passed over the city."


    "Very good.  It will be out in less than a minute," said the waiter, hurrying off.


    "Less than a minute?" asked Aleicree.  "How do they provide fresh food that quickly?"


    Azosta said, "Geomantic predictions.  They already know most of the orders they''ll get in a night.  You probably didn''t feel it, but Vesset even leaned on you when you were ordering so that you''d be more likely to fulfil the prediction."


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    "Do you think that turns reality towards chaos?" asked Limist.


    "It''s up to Vesset to handle the consequences from this one.  Or, no, it''s on us as well, but I think here this is part of the day-to-day," said Azosta.  He seemed uncertain.


    The fish arrived soon.  It was large and had been cut into several pieces and was already sizzling in the hot pan. Slices of green vegetables had been placed next to it. Seeing the entire pan brought out to the table was a pleasant exoticism.


    "Eat and enjoy," the waiter said, and then he hurried off.


    The smell was appetising.  The heat from the pan, a bit intimidating.  Aleicree hovered a hand over the pan to test the temperature, then with zir cutlery carved a tiny cautious bite from the fish.  The skin was crisp, the white flesh was tender.  The taste was mild and just a bit sweet.


    As Aleicree ate, Limist said, "I think we will visit Nidrio.  We have debtors here, but the work is hopeless right now; it''s only been getting worse.  Nobody will go bankrupt if we flee."


    "You''re talking about running out on our debts?" asked Azosta.


    "We''re immortal and so is everyone we owe a debt to.  It''ll all be paid in time," said Limist.  "This is just... a bit of renegotiation.  We can''t pay right now."


    "If you sell your armour, can you pay off any of your debtors?" asked Aleicree, pointing at them with a fork.


    Limist grimaced, and Azosta ducked his head.  "Yeah, maybe," said Limist.  "Metal IS pretty expensive.  Showing up naked''s a statement of its own, though."  He put on a voice and said, "Hey, lookit us, we''re poor!"


    "Better poor than in debt," Aleicree said.


    "We can''t pay them all off that way, but it is the honourable thing to do," said Azosta.  "The land gods reward honourable conduct."


    Aleicree finished off zir fish and vegetables swiftly as it cooled.  The pan didn''t sit empty for long before the waiter returned to their table again.  Before taking up the pan, he bowed to them and said, "The meals and drinks you have ordered so far are on the house, sirs.  As will be your lodgings if you will stay with the Royal Lion of the Sun for a night."


    "Why?" asked Limist.


    "We are humble servants of Vesset''s will," said the waiter.


    Azosta said, "You mean to say, it pays to do what the land god wants."


    The waiter smiled.  "We are prosperous servants of Vesset''s will as well.  We received more in prediction than just your orders.  The three of you were destined to meet here, and staying the night will be auspicious."


    Limist looked at Azosta and said, "Well, we weren''t planning to, but if it''s free?  Why not?  The room here is nicer than the one I''d be sleeping in otherwise."


    Azosta was frowning.  He looked uncomfortable.  "See, there''s something wrong with this," he said.  "This is magic being misused."


    "Will you stay the night?" the waiter asked.


    "Oh, I will," said Azosta.  "This is a very nice inn.  Only a little marred by all the smoke.  I''ll stay.  I''m just...  Nevermind."  He slumped against the table.  "Nevermind!  And take my drink.  I''ve had enough."  He pushed it away across the table without looking at it.


    The waiter bowed again, departing with Azosta''s wine glass and Aleicree''s empty pan.


    Aleicree looked across the table at Azosta.  "So what was that about magic being misused?"


    Azosta rested heavily against the table, scrubbing his face with both hands for a moment.  When he looked up, he said, "I think I''m living in the wrong city.  Here in Shibanyet, everyone is destined to meet exactly who they need to meet.  Model city.  Heavy Fate pressure.  And being told I was destined to meet you makes me feel all of a sudden like I was being managed out by minor catastrophes that would make me want to leave-" and here Limist went open-mawed and droop-eared, but Azosta continued, "-right before I met someone who would tell me to travel across to another theome.  I just got bounced out of normal social reality by powerful magic."


    Limist asked, "Do you think Vesset wanted us to move away?  Is a string of petty accidents the kind of thing that just happens to dragons who Vesset thinks don''t fit into their perfect model city?"


    "That''s horrible," said Aleicree, reaching across the table to try to grasp one of Azosta''s hands.  "But does it change the importance of leaving?"


    "No, it doesn''t," said Azosta.


    "Sounds like it''s time to move on," said Limist.


    They stayed in separate rooms that night, occupying two rooms on the upper floor of the pretentiously named inn.  There was a blessed absence of the scent of smoke in Aleicree''s room.  Even though the inn''s rooms were surely frequented by dragons who smoked in their rooms as they smoked in the hazy dining room below, the whole room was crisp and clean, likely soaked in petty magics designed to make it comfortable.  Shibanyet was a paradisic theome.


    Laying on zir side in a plush bed, Aleicree wondered why it wasn''t paradise for Azosta and Limist.  Was Vesset really rejecting them?  From their story, it seemed like she was doing just that. Had they done something wrong?  Would Praoziu reject them, too?


    There was one oddity in the idea that Vesset was rejecting them.  If they were getting the boot, why would Vesset instruct the inn to pay their way for the night?


    Zie expected to meet them the next morning again.  Zie would tell them zie was bound for Sorjek, to meet a geomancer there.  If they might do irrigation in Nidrio, they might have even more business in Sorjek, assuming Azosta could overcome his reluctance to deal in such a magic-soaked place.  Zie would suggest it at the least.  The two sounded like they could use new opportunities.  If zie was honest with zirself, Aleicree was fascinated by the idea of a geomancer reluctant to use magic.  Limist hadn''t made much of an impression, but zie wanted to talk more to Azosta.  Zie fell asleep looking forward to the next morning.


    The three of them planned to meet the next morning in the garden of the Royal Lion of the Sun.  Since the inn wasn''t covering a round of free breakfasts, the three of them were planning to skip it.  Aleicree could afford it, but zie was skipping it in sympathy to the poverty of Limist and Azosta.


    Aleicree got there first.  All around zir, flowers bloomed between bushes alongside grassy paths.  A wooden sign with a cheerful little sun painted on it bade guests, "Please step on the grass."  It was a lush carpet underfoot.


    Experimentally, Aleicree crouched low and bent a single blade of grass as hard as zie could without breaking it.  When zie let go, the crease in the grass vanished.


    Alas, zie thought with a smirk.  The world was going to lose the beauty and drama of bare dirt developing where dragons walked in this garden.  Truly chaos primordial lurked waiting to consume them.


    The garden of the Royal was not large.  It was a simple loop of pathing that led to a flower-ringed clearing behind the bushes.  A small fountain burbled in the centre of the clearing.  Aleicree lay resting by the fountain and wondered if it was fed by magic or plumbing.  Zie decided it was likely plumbing.  There was a completeness to pipework that was missing from an instant solution like summoned water.


    Was that completeness what Azosta had complained about being missing if magic was overused?  Zir mind flickered back as well to zir discomfort with accepting a palace in Nidrio.  The absence of magic here created room for the labour of the plumbergon.


    Azosta and Limist came around the bend of the path into the clearing.  They were wearing bundles of metal on their backs, and their scales were bare of armour.  It was ready to be sold at the market.  Both of them looked much more naked without it.  Vrash weren''t usually bare-scaled.


    Aleicree got to zir feet again to greet them.  "Hallo," zie called to them.


    They dipped their heads and walked over to sit next to Aleicree.  "Hello," said Limist, and then he asked, "Are you returning from here to Nidrio?"


    "I am going on to meet a friend in Sorjek," said Aleicree.  "I wanted to invite you to join me."


    Azosta got a Look on his face at the mention of Sorjek, and he Looked slightly up and away from Aleicree as he said, "What business would we have there?"


    Aleicree giggled at Azosta''s reaction, and said, "Hey, I think it would be a great place to get back on your feet as plumbergons."


    "Do you want us in Nidrio, or on our feet?" asked Limist.


    "Oh, both!" said Aleicree, smiling at them.  "If you pay off your debts before you come, we won''t have angry dragons coming to Nidrio to complain about you."


    Azosta looked at Aleicree with a more focused expression.  "Who is your friend in Sorjek?"


    Aleicree said, "A windmage named Vrekant.  My best friend in correspondence, he works with the farmergons to provide for perfect weather."


    Limist frowned.  "They won''t have much use for irrigation if they''ve got windmages controlling the weather."


    "I think you can still sell it," Aleicree said hopefully.


    "How?" Limist asked.


    Aleicree tipped zir head to Azosta.  "Tell the farmergons there''s a stability in using non-magical solutions.  The occasional really catastrophic weather outcome might make them want stability instead."


    Azosta said, "I hadn''t thought of my perspective as a marketing asset in Sorjek."


    "I think your perspective is fascinating, but I have a confession," said Aleicree, taking a step towards Azosta.  "It makes me want to show off and glory in magic.  I want to weave a flight-wind about us so powerful we go from Shibanyet to Sorjek in a day, skipping over Mount Ardaziel, which would otherwise be on our way."


    Azosta grimaced and pulled his head back, but it was Limist who spoke first.  "Can you do that?" Limist asked.


    "It''s a long way.  It''d be reckless!" said Aleicree.


    "You really shouldn''t do anything reckless."  Azosta looked sternly at Aleicree.  "A bit of flight-wind is fine, but we should still go to Mount Ardaziel on the way.  And glorying in magic is a bad idea."


    "So you''ve said, but I don''t know it."  Aleicree smiled at Azosta.  His white scales were beautiful in the spring light, and zie wanted uncharacteristically to tease at him and his strange philosophy.  "Mount Ardaziel is an easy-ish flight in any case, only a few hours over the coast.  You two should head to the market to deal with what needs to be dealt with."


    Azosta and Limist looked at each other a moment, and then Limist asked, "Yes, of course."  The two turned to leave, and soon were gone from the garden.


    Mount Ardaziel was half a day''s flight away.  Aleicree could spend the morning elsewhere, as Azosta and Limist were spending the morning elsewhere.  Yet the prospect was a bit intimidating to the usually-shy dragon, and Aleicree opted instead to go up into zir room at the Royal.  There zie fetched out zir lev-i-quill and started writing a letter to zir father.


    ¡°Dear Dad, I was harsh to you when we last talked, and I¡¯m sorry.  I¡¯m still thinking about your effort to recruit people to Nidrio.  I do want you to succeed.  I¡¯ve met two people who I think Fate is drawing to Nidrio, and I hope I¡¯ll be able to accompany them to visit you soon.  They¡¯re a pair of plumbergons.  You¡¯ll have irrigation for your garden!¡±


    ¡°One of them is named Limist and of late he¡¯s frustrated because Fate turned against him.  The other is named Azosta.  Azosta is the one that drew my attention.  He doesn''t talk like a plumbergon at all, but is blatantly a geomancer.  Yet he''s a very unusual one who is convinced that magic pulls reality towards primordial degradation, and he used Sorjek (where the weather flinches between perfect and necrotic) as an example of a theome where far too much magic is used.  He cited drama and struggle as important to reality, which was even stranger.  Who could think reality was made of such things, and not of the will of the land gods themselves?  When I talked to him about this idea, I was afterwards left thinking about ''completeness'' and the idea that he was a plumbergon made me think that Nidrio needs a lot of labour to thrive.  Praoziu doesn''t know how to create a building without summoning it from the ether, and I think your immigrants should live in houses that were built mundanely.  Maybe someday, I''ll live there, too!"


    That last line was perhaps an excess exuberance, but Aleicree was in a great mood and zie knew that Taisach would love Aleicree to move back to zir homeland.  Zie wanted him to feel happy reading this letter.


    Writing the letter to Taisach went by in a rush of inspiration, and not a great deal of time was taken by it, so afterwards Aleicree set about writing more letters.  To Denziu, who had a house already in Nidrio though zie was a travelling merchant, Aleicree proposed that zie renovate zir house with indoor plumbing.  To Praoziu zie wrote a more difficult letter that described Azosta''s ideas without criticising Praoziu the way zie had to Taisach, intending thereby to spare zir mother''s feelings though zie knew that land god omniscience would likely see Praoziu reading Taisach''s letter as well.  To Ekis and several others zie wrote brief summations of Azosta''s ideas cribbed from the letter zie wrote Praoziu.  These letters were nearly copied from each other, and zie wouldn''t have bothered save that the lev-i-quill made them fun and easy to write.  Zie was glad to have it, and with such a tool flicking over zir papers the idea of someone seriously proposing drama as a basis of reality was too precious to not share with dragons zie knew might find it interesting.  Most of these went to dragons zie had met in windmage academy, and zie wondered if any of them would reply, for they were connections long gone dark.  One of them went to Kajir.  That one at least would surely yield a response, and zie knew just where in the route of the Serene Chordalite zie should send the letter to ensure it would get to Kajir soonest.


    Finally, Aleicree wrote a very brief letter to Vrekant that told him zie had met two companions who zie was bringing with zir to his home.  Zie wasn¡¯t sure that this would reach Vrekant before zie did, but the flight from Shibanyet to Sorjek could be done in one day.  He¡¯d get a day of warning.  Aleicree was a little self-conscious of impinging on his generosity by bringing in more dragons.  Hopefully Fate was on zir side.


    When zie had filled all these sheets of paper, zie stacked them up and put them in a carrying pouch, then flew to the post office to pay yet another round of their fees for shipping paper about.  Worth it, zie thought as zie flew back to the Royal.  How invaluable it was to be connected at long distance with other dragons!


    At the Royal Lion of the Sun, Aleicree searched the garden and the smoky tavern rooms again without finding any trace of Azosta and Limist, so zie settled into the part of The Royal that was a public house.  Zie waited, breathing in the fragrant spice of the exotic smokes in the room, and didn''t have too long to wait before the two vrash came back again.  Now they were even more naked, without even the bundles of metal at their backs, and they seemed smaller and shyer dragons walking nude like this.  Limist wore nothing but a pouch.  Azosta wore several pouches.


    When Aleicree saw them, zie stood at once and walked to them, saying, "Hello again!  We should fly at once for Mount Ardaziel, the better to arrive before the sun is down and the inns are full up."


    "I suppose we are fasting today," said Limist grimly.


    "You did not eat while out at the market?" asked Aleicree.


    "Nothing was very cheap," said Azosta.  "It will not kill us to fly on an empty stomach today.  We can eat somewhere in Mount Ardaziel itself."


    ¡°If you¡¯re sure, but I¡¯ll pay for you to eat on the other side.¡±  Aleicree frowned with worried eyes.  ¡°Once we are in the air, I will broaden my amicus breeze until it gives us excellent flight winds."


    The three dragons leaped into the air, and flapped hard for altitude.  When Aleicree felt stable in the air, zie reached out into the world with zir wind-sense, doing just as zie had promised with the amicus breeze, until zie felt the air-silhouettes of Azosta and Limist.  Zie grasped at them with the wind, pushing at them, buoying them upwards and laughing again as they spread their wings wide to cup the perfect breeze zie gave them.


    The three flew on to Mount Ardaziel.

 Mount Ardaziel

    Staying oriented on the way to Mount Ardaziel was easy.  The entire journey between the theome of Shibanyet and the theome of Mount Ardaziel was along the northern coast of north Kanjamund.  They just had to follow the coastline of the Sea of Turavia.


    It was a dreary flight.  Aleicree might have played in the wind, but zie knew that Azosta and Limist couldn¡¯t be feeling well on empty stomachs.  The three dragons flew in a steady formation without diverging.  At least they hardly needed to flap with the wind magic supporting them.  They hung above Theoma, using little energy and making great time.


    Still, the dregs of morning became the height of afternoon.  The sun beat down on them from above for a time, heating their backs, wings, and tails.  The sun became a grand nuisance ahead of them as it drifted down towards the horizon in the west.


    They passed theome after theome.  Six coastal theomes flew by underneath their lofted wings.  The northern coastline of Kanjamund contained some of the continent''s little grassland and thus some of its few farms, although even here the ever-present forests sometimes pushed all the way up to the coast.  They flew over roads linking together the region''s many ports.  There were no great cities between Shibanyet and Mount Ardaziel, but there were towns and villages.  Despite the abundance of forests, Aleicree noticed a preponderance of stone architecture.  It seemed like every community had a stone depot piled high with cut stone for construction.


    Mount Ardaziel reared over the horizon ahead of them as they flew.  It was just south of them when they finally neared their destination.  Across the ground between the mountain and the sea, the forests had been partially cleared for a great city of stone, and the foothills of the mountain had quarries cut into them to remove their stone for trade and construction.  The land here was scarred and grey with industry.


    Aleicree slowed their perfect wind.


    The challenge of approaching Shibanyet and not knowing the way around was repeated here.  Zie knew no more where the inns of Mount Ardaziel were than zie''d known where the inns of Shibanyet were.


    Long experience as a seagon sent zir looking to the edge of the coastline, and zie turned to fly in that direction, feeling in zir geomantic sense of the wind as Limist and Azosta banked to follow.  Scanning for a good landing space in the port town of Mount Ardaziel (for that was the name of both the mountain and the great stone city at its foot), zie saw a forum built up atop the roof of a stoutly built warehouse on the waterfront.  There were dragons approaching and departing it in all directions, including from out over the water, where a steady flow of ships moved to carry away the stone and goods of Mount Ardaziel.


    The decorative columns of the forum described a big four-pointed-cross as seen from above, and they were evenly arranged on red circles of inlaid stone, and each one was beautifully painted in an array of red and green shades.  They supported quarter-rings of stone above the forum''s surface, and planters hung from the top stones, supporting dangling vine plants.


    When Aleicree had landed at the edge of the forum, zie saw a city map with "Welcome to Mount Ardaziel" on top of it and a "you are here" pin in the waterfront area.  It was printed up on a simple two-post board that stood on stone footings between two of the columns near the city-side edge of the forum.  Numerous smaller pins in the map each with a little number on its head corresponded to a legend alongside the map, showing local businesses of interest to travellers: inns, taverns, a local cartographer''s office, a temple of Querent-Querent, a market exchange on another warehouse rooftop, and many others.


    Limist and Azosta came up behind Aleicree as zie was looking at the map.  Azosta asked, "Have you ever been here before?"


    "Never.  I haven''t visited Vrekant since he moved south."  Aleicree''s stomach rumbled.  "Let''s focus on picking a place to eat."


    They looked at the map to pick a restaurant.


    "Hmm... I''ve been here before.  I know a good place just off the road."  By ''the road'' Limist meant the stone-paved road that circled the city, leading from the waterfront to the city centre to the quarries on the far side.  It was prominent on the map and labelled as Port Road.  "They have a really good saffron bread there, and it''s not too dear."


    You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.


    "Lead the way," Aleicree said, and Limist went to the edge of the forum to take off again.  Aleicree and Azosta flew after him.  Aleicree''s amicus breeze welled up as usual when zie flew, but this time zie checked it in order to not overtake Limist in flight.


    Port Road was a broad and busy thoroughfare with dragons pulling blocks of stone on wheeled platforms, wagonloads of construction material or gravel traversing it, and individual workers returning home, though not too many of those as most of the dragons in the city had wings with which to make the trip.  The skies were fairly packed as well.  Aleicree got to watch the thick evening traffic by land and air.  The road traffic beneath them flowed towards the ports and depots as the quarries shipped out their last loads for the day.  The sky traffic split for the stone apartments in the city centre and the larger homes in the city''s outskirts.  The three of them were flying against the current.  No trouble in that; plenty of space in the sky.


    When Limist saw their destination beneath them, he landed on a nearby rooftop.  The buildings here were designed for this.  There were many businesses upon the rooftops, and some of those had businesses upon their rooftops, in shrinking pyramids of commerce upon the tops of the residences below.  The business they wanted was at street-level, but this also what the buildings were designed for, with a ramp leading down the side of the building and doubling back on itself to get down to street level.  They passed doors into the apartments along the way.  Aleicree wondered if the apartments with this commercial foot traffic outside sold dearer or cheaper.  Was it a convenience or a nuisance?


    As the three travelled down, they passed izerah and kalla going up.  The ramps were for accessibility!  The rooftop businesses of Mount Ardaziel served even the non-flying customers.


    At last they stood at the street level, in the shadow of great stone buildings that reared up to provide housing for the working dragons of Mount Ardaziel.  Here the commerce faded, and mostly the street led to the addresses of the hulking buildings, but there was one place that looked quite charming built into the ground floor of the building just across from the one where Limist had landed.  Here a red sign declared "The Proud Lantern" to be in business, next to a logo of a stylised lantern.  The three crossed over to enter it with a flow of what looked to be local quarry-workers still dusty from their day.


    There was a menu posted over the queue as they entered.  Saffron bread was up there, as well as cinnamon bread, cheese bread, and puff bread.  The prices for these were good.  They had a stew of the day listed to go with the breads.  They also had preserved meats available at a price that was more eyewatering than mouthwatering.


    "Saffron bread is what you recommended?" asked Aleicree, prodding at Limist''s flank to get his attention in the crowd.


    "Oh yes, try it!" said Limist, speaking up over the crowd noise in the place.


    Service was moving quickly in the place as it seemed to rely on food prepared ahead of time and delivered to buyers just after they paid at the counter.  It wasn''t a long wait to get to the head of the queue.  Curious to try them, Aleicree bought saffron bread and cinnamon bread.  It wasn¡¯t a balanced meal, but zie figured zie could get away with that occasionally.  Zie avoided the meat this time as the price was bad, though it pained zir to stay away from it.  Zie could use the energy for all-day travelling.


    Limist and Azosta ordered saffron bread and stew.  The three of them took their purchases to a table, with the two vrash carrying their food in little baskets that they could carry in their mouths on the way to a table.


    When they were all set up, Aleicree took a bite of the bread, and then several more with unaccustomed hunger.  The other two ate ravenously, and when they were nearly done Aleicree pushed a few coins across the table.  ¡°Go buy more, you needn¡¯t get used to skipping meals,¡± zie said to them.


    They both smiled at that and didn¡¯t object.


    The three finished their meal in... silence, of a sort.  The busy crowd of the Lantern was loud.  The combination of fast service and tasty food had many dragons passing through, and the room wasn¡¯t built for luxury and comfort.  They couldn¡¯t stay and talk here.  It was a place to eat and get out.


    When they were out, they climbed back to the rooftop to get a spot to take flight from, and Aleicree asked Limist, "So since you''re more familiar with this place than I am, where should we spend the night?"


    "Just a cheap hostel I know," said Limist.  "That''s what I''d recommend.  I always used it while out here on a job."


    "I''ve been out here almost as many times, always with Limist," said Azosta.  "Same recommendation from me."


    So they stayed in a hostel that night with four other dragons they didn''t know, and it was nothing but a great bare room with pillows on which to lay one''s head, but Aleicree supposed it was cleaner, safer, and quieter than sleeping rough outside.

 Korjek

    The flight to Sorjek was a bit more ambitious than the flight to Mount Ardaziel, but still comfortably within their capabilities.  It had an additional stopover in it, too.  Korjek, city of bone, ally of Sorjek.  They''d get a meal at Korjek.


    On a rooftop on the edge of Ardaziel-the-city, the three dragons gathered the next morning.  "Have either of you been to Korjek?" Aleicree asked them.


    "No," said Limist.


    "Nor I," said Azosta, "Though I''ve flown over it before."


    Aleicree said, "We''ll be stopping there partway through our flight.  We''ve no business there save to eat and move on, but at least we won''t go all day on one meal today."


    The wind was blowing fierce, gusting off Aleicree''s amicus breeze repeatedly, as what looked to be a storm blew in from the water.  They were set to fly in clearer south skies and the wind was not against them in theory, but the instability of it would make for an unpleasant flight.  Aleicree would have a hard time countering the uncooperative wind for all three of them.  To deal with this, Aleicree dipped into lessons that zie hadn''t excelled so well at in academy, but which zie still remembered.


    Limist and Azosta waited patiently while Aleicree performed a short geomantic rite.


    Rather than native wind meditation, zie was asking for a favour from the land gods.  Since the wind zie asked for would need to be stable across multiple theomes, zie was asking for a wind contract: a pledge in the weave of Fate between theomes that there would be a wind to carry the three of them.


    The rite itself was a graceful motion between stress positions held for several seconds.  It would have been passable exercise were it taught for that purpose.  It was instead intended to be a rare set of motions that the land god of the theome would notice and respond to.


    When zie had moved as necessary for the rite and felt sure that zie had the attention of Aiden, land god of Ardaziel, Aleicree said, "We three dragons are travelling to Sorjek.  Please grant us a wind greater and more perfect than my own, across the many theomes, to last for the next day."


    There was no visual sign of the ritual''s completion, and no zither of discord in Aleicree''s mind; geomantic rites carried a risk of what was known as serenity drain, but this time Aleicree had not suffered it.  Instead, there was simply a shift in the wind, so that the top of the building they were on was touched by a wind flowing southwest.  It was steadier than the wind calling the storm to Mount Ardaziel.


    The three took to the air.  Once more, Aleicree led them.  They flew between low mountains southwest of Mount Ardaziel, lower than the grand peak yet still higher than they wished to press for altitude.  They left behind the oncoming clouds and flew beneath clear skies.  This area would be rainy soon, but not yet.  There was no rain shadow behind the mountains.  Ardaziel-the-mountain was impressive, but the range was otherwise both low and broken.  The storm that approached Mount Ardaziel would surely move around the mountain instead of over it.


    They crossed the emerald seas of the rainforest canopy, trees rippling in the breeze beneath them.  They saw the occasional village community or individual house, but out here they were finally over the interior of northern Kanjamund, and there were few dragons living in the territories they flew over.  There were no roads here.  Dragons didn''t buy stone from Mount Ardaziel here in the island''s interior.  If they traded with the city at all, they traded what they could carry in packs.


    About three hours passed.


    There was nothing to do but hang aloft in their artificial wind while the sun beat down on them.  Here they had outraced the clouds and the air would have been stagnant if not for the wind spell upon them.  Aleicree grew bored and overheated despite the speed at which they were moving.  Zie could not even talk to Limist and Azosta.  Every word would be a roar and they''d soon enough throw out their voices.  All zie could do was watch the landscape ahead and below.  Each detail that stood out became a relief from the boredom of a long and easy flight.  Zie started spotting molehills in clearings and wondering at flowers spotted in passing, though such small details were easily missed when zie was flying at this speed.  There was nothing more worth doing than trying.


    The highlight of the day was when they came upon Korjek.  It was a famed necromancer city and it showed its dedication openly.  Ribcage malls menaced with bones jutting up from the ground between shops.  Great grasping hands rose up over buildings, or even clutched them up above the ground.  Skeletal dragons larger than any dragon that had ever lived slumbered across the city with buildings housed inside of them.  This architecture was why it was called a city of bone, and there was rumoured to be one such city on each of the three isles of Kanjamund.


    It was a bit silly, Aleicree thought.  There was no particular advantage to working necromancy in a building that looked like a giant skeletal dragon.  Zie supposed they were just having fun.  They probably had undead constructs to build their unnecessarily elaborate structures for them.


    There was a moderate traffic of dragons in the sky here.


    The three dragons turned in the sky, slowing and dropping as they approached Korjek.  The rib cage malls were likely places to get something to eat, and Aleicree led the three in approach to one.


    Zie saw as they approached that wraithe-like or fully suited forms of actual skeletal dragons were visible in the streets.  Suited wraithes exposed nothing to the world outside, but looked like strange artificial dragons.  Living traffic gave unclothed wraithes a wide berth.  It was unusual to see wraithes walking legally in the open without protective suits, their animate bone forms visible through a dark haze of necrotic chaos.  They weren''t quite ghosts yet, but dragons who were that far into necromantic undeath already had a dangerous aura that could inflict serenity drain on passers-by.  Just being near a wraithe was a hazard to the mind.  So was staring at one, so Aleicree didn''t dwell on any particular wraithe.


    The three landed near one of Korjek''s malls.  It was easy to find a place to land; Korjek wasn''t too densely built.  The traffic was denser as they approached, and there were lots of dragons on the ground here.  This was a destination, Aleicree mused as they entered.  It was an obvious place to go and dragons were going to it.


    Aleicree''s wind charm continued steadily blowing across them as they walked over the ground, right up until they stepped through a gateway into the ribcage.  It was quelled then.  Aleicree checked on it with a mental refocus on the weave of Fate, finding the charm held in abeyance by a magic upon the ribcage mall itself.  A more permanent negotiation kept the weather from this place, pausing zir charm until zie departed the mall.  Finding a geomantic weatherward was a surprise.  Who was the land god of Korjek?


    Even though Aleicree didn''t want to buy anything, zie couldn''t help but be fascinated by the idea of a necromancer mall.  Were they all going to be magic shops?  No, they were not.  The first store near the entrance was Netanen''s Fashion Accessories, which sold clothing for vrash and vashael.  It could''ve been enchanted clothing, but it was displayed densely and priced moderately, suggesting it was just clothing.


    The next place for a store held instead "The Everspring", which was a fountain with a sign hung up giving its name and claiming, "Safe for Drinking".  Smaller signage by the fountain described it and the stock of bowls at its side as having self-cleaning enchantments, "proving that necromancy can be clean".


    Limist went directly to drink from the fountain when they saw it, but Azosta hung back.  Aleicree stopped and looked at him, and he said, "Fate and fact are mixed up here.  Necromantic enchantments aren''t supposed to actually work."


    "Can you see the Fate of the fountain?" Aleicree asked.


    Azosta nodded.  "Yes, and it''s ugly.  Nobody ever cleans this fountain, so it shouldn''t be safe to drink from."


    "But it is safe to drink from."  Aleicree looked over at the fountain.  It looked sparkling clean.  "Isn''t it?"


    Azosta shook his head and said, "It''s a little dirty with necromantic energy itself, but I don''t think you can get a dose that matters by drinking from it."


    So Aleicree walked over and grasped the fountain''s lip, then leaned in and dipped zir head directly into the fountain to drink from it, joining several other dragons in doing exactly the same thing.  The bowls were for obligate bipeds like kalla.


    Shaking water droplets off zir chin, Aleicree went back to surveying the shops of the mall.  The most fascinating place was an actual corpse-seller selling clean bones, preserved organs, and dragon-leather.  They had a sign up saying, "Summoned materials only.  No true corpse-matter.  We do not buy!"


    Azosta tried to shy away from the corpse-seller, but Aleicree dragged him in to look at it.  "The Everspring was safe.  Is this safe?" zie asked him.


    The author''s tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "No!" he said, his voice sharp.  "Everything at this shop is dangerously necromantic.  Don''t touch it."


    "Aha, so it''s a bad magic," Aleicree said.


    "It''s fine for them, they have protective equipment."  Azosta grimaced.  "Or hands that have already died and been reanimated, so it doesn''t matter anymore."


    As the two of them were walking away from the corpse-seller, Aleicree asked, "Is corpse-matter necromantic?"


    Azosta said, "No, it''s actually not.  Meat and bone is just meat and bone.  The problem with that shop''s stuff is it was summoned in contravention of Fate.  It''s made of necromantic energy."


    Aleicree didn''t drag Azosta around any more after that.  Zie just took to heart the idea of not touching things, and let him explore on his own.


    There were still many shops of interest.  There was a glove-seller that seemed to be doing a lot of business.  Aleicree had never seen so many dragons wearing gloves, which were not a common article of clothing.  The gloves, zie learned by asking why they were popular, were protective equipment for handling necromantic goods.  There was a seller of wraithe-suits with an intimidating customer base, as they were all artificial-looking dragons sealed inside of wraithe-suits already.  Aleicree feared ambient contamination and didn''t want to get close enough to ask any questions of its proprietor.  There was a seller of necromantic charms, which were mostly blessings upon the body, such as making exercise easier or guarding against injuries.  Those were the reasonably priced charms, but for a very high price, that shop would also sell a charm of water-breathing!


    There were also shops of less necromantic interest, such as a scribegon selling books.  It was a deserted little shop with high prices, but in the absence of customers the scribegon was busily copying another book at their desk.  Aleicree didn''t want to browse; zie had zir own copy-projects already and would only be badly tempted by a scribegon''s inventory.  There was also a vrash armourer with a workshop on the premises.  When Aleicree glanced in, the proprietor was moulding metal with her bare hands, using the famed vrash ability to reform surfaces at a touch to do so with hardly a sound, although not without strain as Aleicree could see the smith''s bulging muscles.


    There were still more shops as well, but Aleicree was intending to buy only one thing at the mall that day: food.  In this the mall was a little scarce.  The undead mostly didn''t eat.  Nevertheless, the open centre of the mall was set up with tables and there did seem to be living tourists visiting "the city of bone", too.  Working from shop-stands near the centre tables, there was a seller of sauced fried meats, a seller who offered paper bowls full of strange little dots, and a maker of big soft garlic pretzels whose stand advertised, "High in protein!"


    Aleicree saw Limist queued up for the line of strange little dots, but just as zie approached zie saw Azosta shove at Limist.  "Come away from there," Azosta said.  "These are an unhealthy magic."


    "You mean they''re unhealthy sweets," said Limist, laughing and shoving back.  The two stood shoulder to shoulder, pushing at each other.


    "No, I mean they''re summoned foods.  Don''t. Eat. Summoned. Foods," said Azosta, pushing insistently.  Aleicree wondered what the issue was.  Zir mother Praoziu never cooked, but all through zir childhood and whenever zie went back to Nidrio, Praoziu only summoned food.  Maybe it was different when an actual land god did it.


    Limist sighed and let Azosta shove him out of the line.  "Fine," he said.  The two of them walked over to the seller of sauced fried meats.


    Aleicree lined up at the pretzel stand, intending to ask a question of the seller.  The stand had a delicious smell from the oven at its back.  When zie got to the front zie asked, "What¡¯s protein?¡±


    The pretzel-maker smiled at zir as though he faced this question every day.  ¡°It¡¯s what meat is made of.  You have to eat it to form muscles of your own.¡±


    After another sniff at the air, Aleicree said ¡°These smell like bread.  Is bread high in protein?¡±


    The pretzel-maker said, ¡°No, bread is very poor in protein.¡±


    Aleicree asked, ¡°Then how can pretzels be high in protein?"


    The pretzel-maker reached under the counter and picked up a bag of some manner of powder.  He set it on the counter and said, "I buy this protein powder in bulk from Sorjek.  There''s a vegetarian dragon there who makes it as a food additive.  I don''t know the ingredients, but I trust the seller.  Are you buying or just asking?"


    "I''m buying," Aleicree said as the pretzel-maker put the powder back under the counter.


    There was a rack of pretzels already prepared and the transaction was quicker than the questions had been.  Aleicree stepped away holding a pretzel and looked about to see where Limist and Azosta had gotten to.  Zie saw them at a table with their sauced meats and promptly joined them.


    "This is a nice little side trip," zie said as zie sat on zir haunches next to the table.


    Limist said, "Be nicer if I weren''t naked.  There''s even an armourer here, but I''ve no budget."


    "Maybe that''ll be better in a season," Aleicree said optimistically.


    Was a season enough?  Zie had no idea how long it took to pay off a suit of vrash armour.


    Limist only grunted noncommittally.


    Azosta said, "Necromancy is even worse than geomancy.  This theome is only going to get more unnatural over time."


    Aleicree ripped off a piece of pretzel and pointed at Azosta with it.  "You are a very unusual geomancer.  Is this why you''re a plumbergon now?"


    Azosta was reared up over his place at the table, and he reared up more under Aleicree''s attention, sitting tall as he replied, "I work with physical materials now.  My work makes the world less unnatural, where it used to make it more unnatural."


    Aleicree nudged Azosta in the side and said, "I wonder if magic might actually be the most natural thing of all.  Didn''t everything come from magic?"


    "That doesn''t hurt anything," Azosta said with a frown, "And it doesn''t change my point.  Dragons can only care about so many creation stories.  A stable world needs everyone to care about everything else so much more."


    "Well, I care about wind magic," said Aleicree.  Zir amicus breeze reached out and gusted at Azosta for a moment.


    He was unfazed.  "Yes, but do you care about wind?  You never appreciate the natural wind, do you?"


    Aleicree leaned back, eyes widening.  "The natural wind?  But I''m a vashael!  I would have to deliberately quell my amicus breeze to feel any but the gustiest natural wind.  I''m not made to appreciate the natural wind."


    Azosta hmmed, and then looked down at the table.  "Maybe I would never think the way I do if I were a vashael."


    "Don''t you change the world where you walk?" asked Aleicree.


    Azosta looked at Aleicree with his earfins up and his tail curling.


    Aleicree added, ¡°I mean, as a vrash?¡±


    Azosta¡¯s whole posture sagged an inch.  "That sounded cooler before you mentioned species.  And no, I don''t think I do.  I''m not in the habit of using the vrash gift."


    Limist piped up, "It''s not like we seal pipes together by touch or anything.  We got wrenches on the job site."


    "Why don''t you seal pipes together by touch?  Wouldn''t that be more permanent?" Aleicree asked.


    Azosta sat up straight again.  "Hey!  Don''t go adding magic to my job, I prefer it being mundane."


    "You don''t use enough magic in your job," said Limist, frowning at Azosta.


    Azosta took a deep breath, and just frowned back at Limist.


    Aleicree said, "If you look around enough, you can probably find vrash plumbergons who use their species gift in their job.  Maybe if they figured out how on their own, or were taught by someone who had."


    "Maybe," said Limist.  "We were taught by an izerah couple.  They wanted out of the business after a few decades and were looking for a replacement."


    "There you go," said Aleicree with a smile.  "An izerah wouldn¡¯t use magic in this job, so you didn¡¯t learn to."


    "We should get on our way again," said Azosta.  "We''ve spent enough time here."


    "Alright," said Aleicree, and at the same time, Limist said, "Sure."


    They left behind the table in the foodcourt of the mall and walked along the path, passing alongside stores and giant stone ribs until they were out of the ribcage mall again.  Soon they were out and in the air again, and Aleicree looked back one last time on Korjek, the city of bone.  Zie expected to see it again on the return trip from Sorjek to Griolor.


    The three flew on.


    From Korjek there was a road that went all the way to Sorjek.  The two cities shared a specialty that provoked dragons to visit both of them, and they were only a few days of travel from each other by the roads, so the leaders of one or both of them had invested in extending roads through the theomes that separated them.  There were villages along the roads to provide for inns to serve the travellers using them.  There wasn''t quite enough traffic for the impressive domed structures of caravanserai to be built and nobody had sought prestige for their village by doing it anyways, so travelling wagons were simply pulled into one of the several wagon shelters per inn.


    Vrash and vashael being flying creatures and the probable majority in every theome of Kanjamund, roads weren''t always found, and long-distance roads were usually for hauling cargo rather than the passage of dragons.  Still, where they existed, they served izerah and kalla minorities quite well, and Aleicree was amused to watch izerah running along the roadway with or without small carts for their belongings.  Some of them were even lashed together sharing the weight of wagons that moved swiftly down the road for having an izerah team pulling them at a run.  Teamed izerah were the fastest way to ship a large cargo load.  Still, none of the izerah were as swift as dragons with a wind enchantment, so Aleicree swiftly left each of these behind.


    The road was a relief from the emerald sea, beautiful as it was to watch the trees ripple with the breeze.  There were more dragons here between Korjek and Sorjek, and more little communities built up to take advantage of the bounty of the rainforests.  Likely the land gods along this road were more benevolent; it was to Aleicree''s embarrassment as a geomancer that zie didn''t know exactly whose territory they were flying over.  They had long ago left behind Mount Ardaziel''s range of stone-selling and the buildings here were predominantly made of wood, likely local.


    More dragons meant more flyers in the air as well, and several times Aleicree felt zir swift passage was noticed, as the artificial wind that was carrying zir swept zir swiftly in and out of range of other nearby flyers.  There was no chance and no time to play with passing dragons on the wing, but they stayed on their vector flying for Sorjek.

 Sorjek

    It was another three hours to Sorjek from Korjek, but soon the rainforests beneath them gave way to grasslands broken up by many farms. This meant they were close.  There was one last grassy theome to pass over before reaching Sorjek upon the coast.  The waters of the Vendarian Sound glittered to the south of them as they flew southwest across the grasslands.


    It was by the light of the early afternoon sun high overhead that they got their first glimpse of Sorjek.  The farms intensified and consumed the plains.  Between the farms were sometimes woodlets, miniature clumps and trails and lines of forest of the sort planted chiefly to prevent the wind from blowing away the soil.  The skies above were a patchwork quilt, too neatly divided.  Rain and sun fell on different fields, a sure sign of weather magic being used in this place.  Natural weather had been replaced with something as artificial as Aleicree¡¯s amicus breeze.


    As with many theomes, there was Sorjek-the-theome which in this case was all of farmland, and there was also Sorjek-the-city which was the destination they actually sought.  The three veered south now to the shore of the Vendarian Sound to seek the port where Sorjek had grown a city to send its produce out into the oceans of Theoma.


    Being chiefly concerned with the farms, Vrekant lived on the northern edge of the city.  He had said as much in his letters.  To that was added that Aleicree knew the address, but zie knew it only as one might know the name of a famous street in a distant city.  Knowing not the map of the city itself, zie sought out some landmark that would yield up a city map.  A post office would be ideal; a temple of Querent-Querent would suffice.  Aleicree recognised neither from the air and settled for a solid third place by directing the three to land in the courtyard of what looked to be the city hall.


    When the three had landed, Azosta stepped up to Aleicree and said, "I have been here before, though many decades prior.  If you landed us here to ask for directions, I may be able to guide us."


    Aleicree asked, "Can you point me to 3 Tavanth Street?  I know it''s in the north of the city, far from the port and near to the farmlands."


    "That shouldn''t be too hard.  I don''t know Tavanth Street itself, but I know a tavern in the north of the city, and if Tirivolt''s is still there we can ask for directions."  With that, they were off again.


    Shortly after (for distances in a city are quite short if one can fly directly), they landed in an empty lot near a busy commercial street.  The empty lot appeared to be so for the specific purpose of ensuring that flying traffic had somewhere to land and take off from.  Just down the street past a general store and an intriguing place called Hotwasher whose icon showed a dragon standing in a waterfall with a blissful expression, there was a business set back somewhat from the road with its front yard covered in a yellow canopy sheltering tables from the sky.  In big yellow letters over the door and front windows, the legend Tirivolt''s made it clear that this was the business Azosta had referred to.  There were lanterns set with glowing yellow crystals in their hearts that glowed under the canopy, across its front, and inside through the windows.  Aleicree was a little disturbed to see that the ones outdoors were locked into cages.


    The interior wasn''t exactly a picture of prosperity, with bare walls and a lack of seating pillows, but there were a few dragons at the bar nonetheless and the bar looked well-stocked.  Evidently they served food as well, for there was a menu posted on the wall near the bar proclaiming the prices for soup and hand pies.  They had two kinds of hand pies (liver was an upcharge) and the soup seemed unexpectedly pricy.


    Behind the bar was a yellow-scaled izerah of the exact same colour as the canopy and the lettering over the door, which made Aleicree wonder if zie was looking upon the eponymous Tirivolt.  Azosta took the lead and went right up to the bar saying, "Ho there old friend, glad to see you''re still in business.  I need three liver pies and a round of ale for my party."


    "Nix one ale," Aleicree said, coming up to the bar after Azosta.  "I''ll just drink water."


    "Three liver pies, two ales, and a water.  Coming right up," said the izerah, who was already filling bowls from a tap.  Those first two bowls went down the bar to a different party, and then the yellow izerah vanished through a door for a moment before returning with three hand pies on a plate and a pitcher of water.  He set these down in front of the group, then stepped away to fill two bowls from the tap for Azosta and Limist.  He glanced down the bar.  Seeing nobody looking like they needed his attention, he lingered.  "Need anything else?" he asked.


    "Directions," Azosta said.  "Do you know the way to Tavanth Street from here?"


    "I do," said the yellow izerah, and launched into a short list of streets to watch for along the way.


    It itched at Aleicree to think of him as the yellow izerah, but zie couldn''t very well interrupt the directions he was giving to satisfy zir curiosity.  When he''d finished zie asked, "Are you Tirivolt?"


    "I am," said the izerah behind the bar.  "Pardon the bare furnishings.  I keep a humble place, but my food has good reviews."  Tirivolt left then, moving down the bar to serve someone else.


    Aleicree bit into zir hand pie then, and said, "He''s right, this is good."


    "Just pub food.  Easy to serve, prepared in large batches.  Try the soup sometime," said Azosta.


    "No, zie''s right," said Limist with a grin.  "This is a good liver pie."


    Aleicree looked over at Azosta and said, "''Many decades'' you''d said, but Tirivolt is still here.  So little changes, sometimes."


    "I''m a little surprised."  Azosta took a big swig of ale.  "Ahh!  But not complaining.  It''s only been, what, sixty years?  That''s not a long time."


    Aleicree laughed.  "That''s most of as long as I''ve been alive!"


    "Most of?" asked Azosta, tone lifting in surprise.


    Limist said, "Yeah, you didn''t seem that young."


    "I''m 75," said Aleicree.


    "That''s very young," said Limist.


    Which was true by the everlasting standards of Theoma, where dragons were Fated to live forever.  Aleicree was even still on zir first career as a sailing windmage.  Zie was even somewhat awkwardly young.  Breaking into a second career was a major life milestone that Aleicree had yet to fly over, and some dragons spurned relationships with anyone under a hundred.


    Aleicree said, "We should head on our way.  Vrekant knows we''re coming."  The coastal courier should''ve taken the Shibanyet to Sorjek flight in one connection without a night of rest at Mount Ardaziel, so the mail should have arrived first.  Aleicree was hoping zie was correct about that.


    They left Tirivolt''s and went out to the streets to walk along them, making first one turn then another, and going several streets north until they passed a signpost saying "Tavanth Street".  The houses here had large yards, so there was a good little walk between each one''s mailbox, where they could see the house number.  Soon enough however they found 3 Tavanth Street, and Aleicree got zir first look at the house of Vrekant the Raincaller.


    The front yard was an empty lawn, good for landing and taking off.  Off to the right of the house was a garden, currently sprouted and not yet fruiting.  The house itself was a one story wooden building with a sprawling footprint, with its exterior painted farmhouse red like a barn in the countryside, and a green pitched roof above it.  There was a path two dragons wide made of smoothly fitted stones which ran through the lawn from the postbox to the front door.  A narrower path meant to be walked by only one dragon at a time went from the front door around to the side with the garden, which it entered by a trellis gate.


    The three dragons went up the path with Aleicree in the lead and the other two walking abreast behind zir.  Aleicree knocked on the door hopefully, but too timidly.  After a minute of waiting zie knocked harder.


    "It is still the middle of the day," said Limist.  "He may not be here."


    Azosta added, "Rain-calling geomancers often have to fly afield to summon rain, he may be quite a ways away."


    They waited at the door.  Aleicree fretted.  Zie couldn''t quite bring zirself to keep knocking.  "He''ll likely be back in the evening, if he''s not here now," zie said.


    "If he knows we''re coming," ventured Limist, "We might just let ourselves in."


    "Oh, surely not!" said Aleicree, shocked.


    Limist shrugged and gestured at the door with a hand.  "Y''know, it''s not like theft is a big problem most places.  The door may not even have a lock."


    Aleicree touched the knob of the door and very hesitantly gave it a wiggle.  Locked.  Zie was relieved.  No need to rudely step into Vrekant''s house and await his return indoors.  Zie looked at Limist and said, "It''s locked.  Do you remember the cages on the lanterns outside of Tirivolt''s?  I think there''s enough theft in this theome to keep locksmiths busy."


    "We should come back in the evening," said Azosta.  "He should be home then."


    "What should we do in the meanwhile?" asked Limist.


    Azosta said, "I think we should visit the Temple of Querent-Querent and acquire an up-to-date city map, but that won''t take long."


    Aleicree smiled.  "Oh, we can disperse from there... and I might just stay there.  I''ve been copying a book, and I think I could spend a few hours on it at a library-temple."  For library-temples were what every temple of Querent-Querent was.


    They did exactly that.  Azosta led them.  Of all the buildings that might change in the theome, this was an improbable one to change over time, and indeed it had not.


    The local Temple of Querent-Querent was a seven-story building of grey stone that took up an entire city block.  Across the first five stories it had great windows between massive stone buttresses.  The sixth and seventh floors were considerably smaller than the first five, perched centrally atop the building, and jutting through the roof atop those was a metal spire.  The windowless upper floors reminded Aleicree of the architecture of the Temples of Uttermost Dark, though of course this was not one.  Above all save the metal spire, the roof of the temple was a slope of dark slate.  Aleicree thought now that zie knew which building it was, zie''d never fail to recognize it from the air again.


    The streets near it were thronging with dragons and provided no safe landing zones, but the three landed upon a great landing strip upon the second floor of the temple itself, and went inside from there.  Inside the building was clearly a library, with shelf after shelf of books, floor after floor of books, all rearing up over vibrant red carpets.  It was lively with dragons of every shape and colour, many of them travellers visiting the library-temple to seek information about Sorjek or some potential destination theome to which they were travelling.


    In bare spaces on the walls of the Temple of Querent-Querent there was religious iconography, but it was varied and eclectic.  Here there was a gryphon rampant, and under it the legend Iskold.  There, an abstract shape of metal edges and gleaming curves, and under it the legend Skrakaer.  Upon another wall a burning tree, and under it the legend Tremthein, and this one had an izerah crouching low before it, his tail out in the walk path as he prayed.  Had zie never been to a Temple of Querent-Querent, Aleicree would have been mystified by the icons, and would have sought one of the librarians to ask about it.  Zie had done so in childhood, long ago!  Zie remembered well the answer.  The symbols belonged to other land gods in the same region as Sorjek.  Each one provided a small prayer space for pious travellers to connect with a beloved land god.


    Aleicree wondered if zir mother Praoziu would hear, if Aleicree prayed to her.  Zie hadn''t practised much.  There was something demystifying about being born of a land god.  It was easy to love Praoziu and hard to venerate her.  She was special like family, not like a greater divinity.


    The three of them together went down a magnificent staircase from which they could clearly see the main information desks, a great rounded square of desks staffed by dragons in elaborate geomancer costumes with bright colours, dangling holy symbols, and exotic hats.  Their attires were mostly well-coordinated with their underlying scale colours, though some choices were a bit overbright.  Aleicree, accustomed to the windmage uniform worn by most sailing geomancers, thought that the diverse land-side geomancers put too much stock in their outfits.


    Regardless, here and now the geomancers behind the information desk were just librarians, and a moment''s ask got the three pointed to the city cartographer''s office, conveniently located down a wide hallway off one of the ground floor entrances to the temple-library.  It was close at hand for foot traffic.


    The map itself wasn''t free - scribegons felt ill-appreciated when pressed to work for free - so the three just got one map between them.  Aleicree let Limist carry it off, since zie was most interested in retiring to a study room of the temple-library for zir own scribe-work.


    Several hours later, Aleicree was another tenth of the way through that farming manual.  The lessons of the book were not applicable to zir own life, nor to any future zie planned to have.  Zie was not going to be a farmergon any time soon.  Zie did not care for the balance of sand and clay in soils, nor for the catalogues of which plants favoured which environments and what yields they could expect.  Yet there was an achievement in having two fifths of a useful book copied, and because zie looked forward to completing an entire copy of the book, zie had read intently through something whose applicability in zir own life was wholly improbable.


    Someday, a farmergon in Denxalue would read this book, and become wealthier than they would otherwise have been. It would affect a few acres for the better.  It might even be shared around in a small community of farmergons and affect several farms.  Now, if only there was some way to copy books faster and in greater numbers, maybe even more than that could be affected.


    Every book is a Fate of erudition, thought Aleicree while taking a momentary break from the copying.  It takes me a certain number of hours to copy the book, but it is only days of labour in the end, and then I can cast a charm of Fate out into the world without any geomancy at all.  The land gods might even bolster the book and protect it so that its potential to help others gets fulfilled more completely.  Oh, I hope this book does somebody good!  And with that thought, zie returned at once to copying pages, zir lev-i-quill whirling through the air as it put ink down swiftly on the page.


    If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.


    These quiet hours were eventually interrupted by Azosta knocking on the door of the little study cell that Aleicree had borrowed from the helpful geomancers of Querent-Querent.  Aleicree guessed who had knocked before zie looked, and being right made zir feel for a moment as though zie''d glimpsed the strands of Fate.  So zie smiled broadly at Azosta and said, "Is it time to try again at the door of Vrekant?"


    "I think so," said Azosta, and Limist dipped a wing from alongside him.


    The three flew back to 3 Tavanth Street again, and once more walked up the path to Vrekant''s house.  The house''s red walls welcomed them in the declining light of the evening, and this time when Aleicree knocked, the door opened a moment later.  Vrekant stood there, a violet vashael with emerald eyes, and Aleicree felt small and overwhelmed on seeing him.  "H-hi," zie said, dropping nearly to all fours.


    He hugged zir.  He put his arms around zir and tugged zir gently back upright.  "Welcome," he said, letting go and stepping back from the doorway.  "My house is your house."


    Zie stepped over the threshold into the house of zir old friend, and saw a living room of roughspun cushions.  Scratchy, humble, better than a bare floor, not too bad on a scaled body.  Where the stereotype of the land-bound geomancer was a clutter of symbols and colours like the geomancers of Querent-Querent, Vrekant wore a light brown shirt and a matching hat.  Of the room that Aleicree stepped into, zie saw a harvest tapestry on one wall between two windows, depicting autumnal colours under a gleaming stone light that kept it illuminated.  The other lights about the room were likewise enchanted stones.  Some shelving held a few more harvest trinkets that may have been magic or mere symbols.  There were books on the shelves, but very few; Aleicree saw five texts in blank bindings, and wondered at their contents.  Doubtless every book here was read and cherished.


    Vrekant gestured them all in and towards the living room, waving his arms and smiling at them as he said, "Come in, come in."


    Limist and Azosta entered and went over to places in the living room, sitting down and looking about.  Aleicree did likewise.  Vrekant sat with them.  "Aleicree!  It has been absurdly too long.  You should have visited sooner.  Tell me, who have you brought to me?"


    "These are Limist the Pipeseller," Aleicree said, indicating them each in turn, "And Azosta the Endseer."


    "Endseer!  What a title!"  Vrekant perked up.  "What does it mean?"


    "I think I know why the world will end," said Azosta.  "And it''s why I try to avoid magic now."


    "Do you really?  You''ll have to tell me more sometime," said Vrekant.  He stood up then and asked, "Have you eaten?  I have a hospitality charm that may let me summon up some meat, or if you''ll spare my magic I can serve you bread, cheese, and autumn greens."


    "Please, no summoned food," said Azosta.


    Vrekant dipped his head and stepped out of the room.


    "Not even when it''s meat?" asked Limist, grinning at Azosta.


    Azosta sighed.  "I''d rather eat salad than summoned meat.  The harvests are amply bountiful, and the farmergons poor enough already.  Let''s not impoverish them further by summoning delights at every meal."


    "Do you think... it leads further towards the end, to summon food?" asked Aleicree.


    Azosta nodded and lifted his head.  "When we struggle to find enough food, we are driven into the world.  It is a pure and strengthening trouble, especially given that none starve, as is the status quo already."


    Aleicree studied Azosta.  He was a pure white vrash with no colour beyond his brown eyes.  Wearing nothing save his travelling pouches, stripped of the presence that the traditional vrash armour gave him, he looked... not small, but unassuming.  He was a mage, not one of raw might.  Aleicree thought he looked better without his armour.


    Limist moved as though to say something, and Aleicree glanced to him and held up a hand for silence.  Zie looked again to Azosta.  "I think you are someone I dearly want to introduce to Praoziu, but I think you''ll have to bend on your rule against summoned foods at least a little.  She does not cook.  Would you eat food summoned by a land god?"


    "I usually make exceptions for land gods.  It''s not a good habit for a geomancer to stand firm against them in anything, really," said Azosta, but then he shook his head.  "I still think it''s a bad idea.  Even the land gods should not just summon food, but if they wish to eat they should give thanks to the labour that went into their meal."


    Aleicree smiled.  "I think Praoziu is preserving things from prior worlds when she summons foods.  I''ll ask her to summon for you what she summons for family, so that you''ll get the most of your exception."


    Azosta leaned in towards Aleicree.  "Even if she is summoning things from prior worlds, shouldn''t she be out there building up in her dragons the ability to make those things again?"


    Aleicree matched his body language.  "I think you''re right, and that''s why I want you to meet her."


    Vrekant returned then, and Aleicree half-expected him to be carrying dishes, but he instead said, "Come, come.  I''ve set a table.  Let''s eat and speak more."


    As they were walking through the hall, Aleicree spotted Limist trailing the group and looking down.  Zie thought to cheer him, and wondered what was dismaying him, but there was no chance in a brief passage through a wooden hallway to gossip.


    Vrekant''s table was a simple thing in a simple room, and Aleicree had the sense that Vrekant had attained no great prosperity as a weathermage.  He set out an abundance of greens for them and a modest though delicious bread, and some cheese of which Aleicree ate a small amount for politeness'' sake.  He seated Aleicree next to him, and after years of writing poetry to him and then being greeted by a hug, Aleicree had fantasised that zie would find his tail touching zir own as they ate.  It was a storied little gesture among dragons, but it didn''t happen.


    Instead, Vrekant said, "I''m glad to see you arriving in company, Aleicree.  I''ve been worried.  Your letters have made little note of you making friends or pursuing projects outside of your work."


    "W-well, I haven''t, I admit," Aleicree said, caught out by Vrekant''s piercing green eyes.


    "Nothing at all?" he asked.


    "I''ve copied a few books, and of course written all those poems I sent you.  I was rather upset when you said I should stop writing them," Aleicree said, dipping zir head.


    Vrekant sat proudly, voice rising in exuberance, "I hope you''ve kept copies.  You could give performances of such poetry, or publish it as a collection."  He took little notice of the way Aleicree quailed at the mention of performances, and instead looked over to Limist and Azosta.  "Have you heard any of zir poetry?  Zie''s been writing of the sea and of sailing for decades now."


    "No," said Limist.  "Not a word."


    "Perhaps we could hear a recitation," Vrekant said brightly.


    Aleicree''s mouth went dry.  "No," zie said softly.  "I have kept copies, but I have not memorised the work..."  It was true, but moreover it had the power of a ready excuse to ward off the unwanted performance.


    "Sad, that.  Your poetry includes some real gems," Vrekant said to Aleicree.  "I imagined you were a poetgon to all your friends."


    No, just you, thought Aleicree, clutching zir drinking bowl to zirself.


    Azosta said, "We''ve only just been acquainted.  We met Aleicree by Fate in Shibanyet, and trusted in that Fate to have a good end for us if we pursued it."


    Vrekant sobered.  "I hope you don''t bear that habit too strongly if you stay here.  Sorjek isn''t a model city like Shibanyet, and here it''s said you meet dragons by chance, not Fate."


    "I''m aware," said Azosta.


    Limist said, "We''re planning to follow Aleicree to Nidrio, whenever that will happen."


    Vrekant looked towards Aleicree.  "A trip home, next?  How long will you stay?"


    "I defer to you," said Aleicree, "But I had imagined that Limist and Azosta might have time to do some irrigation work while they''re here."


    Vrekant smiled as he said, "Ah, you''ve brought a competitor for my rain calling."


    Aleicree''s mood brightened again to see Vrekant smiling.  "You don''t mind?"


    "No, I don''t.  The farmergons here are my friends.  I want to see them prosper."  Vrekant glanced upwards.  "It has been so long since I saw you last, that I think you may stay for a month if you like.  I will even host my own competitors for that long.  How''s that?"  He looked across the table with that smile again.


    "I would like that very much!" Aleicree said.


    So it was set.


    After dinner, the four returned back to the sitting room near the front door.  It was dark outside by now and the cold glow of the lights didn''t help with the slight chill of the room, but the four were alert after dinner and there was more time to talk.


    Vrekant, for instance, dearly wanted to know why Azosta was "Azosta the Endseer".


    Aleicree had heard the story already.  As much as zie wanted to introduce Azosta to Praoziu so the two could talk about magical and non-magical endeavours, zie was only half-attentive as Azosta explained his title.  Zie noticed instead that Limist seemed shut out of the conversation.


    He was a bulkier dragon than Azosta.  Without his vrash armour, he was still a stronger presence than Azosta.  At a glance, he looked like he ate more and valued his strength more, though he wasn''t some matchless titan.


    Aleicree walked over and tapped him on the shoulder, then tipped zir head to draw him to the side of the room.  They went as far from Vrekant and Azosta as they could get within the same room, dragging two of the seating cushions into new locations as they went.


    When they were both seated, Aleicree said, "I know we just met, but...  You look kinda down."


    Limist nodded, "Yeah, no sense hiding it.  Azosta overshadows me.  Nobody really cares about plumbing, but everyone wants to hear about the ex-geomancer''s weird viewpoint."


    Aleicree''s eyeridges went up.  "You''re pretty open."


    "What, am I just supposed to grunt at you?"  It was a joke, to go by Limist''s smile as he said it, but he followed it up with a sigh.  "I''ll feel better once we''re out in the field.  Farmergons will listen when we''re talking irrigation, especially if Vrekant will do a few introductions.  Do you think he will?"


    "There''s a good chance," Aleicree soothed, rubbing at Limist''s shoulder.  Zir hand dropped after a moment.


    They sat in a brief silence.  On the other side of the room, Azosta and Vrekant were still going strong.  Vrekant had just pointed out something about necrotic weather outbreaks in Sorjek, and Aleicree had only picked up the part of it that was said during the gap in zir own conversation with Limist.  What were they talking about?


    Zie refocused on Limist.  "How old are you?" zie asked.


    "457," he said without a moment''s hesitation.


    "Surely you''ve got your own interesting tales from a life that long," said Aleicree with an encouraging smile.


    Limist shook his head, and his gaze sought the floor again.  "You''d be amazed how dull my life must seem to an outside observer.  I''ve been several kinds of manual labourer, like one of those wagon haulers who goes theome to theome carrying goods on the roads, but there aren''t any books about that profession."


    Aleicree said, "My sibling Denziu recently did a stint of wagon hauling.  Zie wrote me letters about the journey, like the time zie met an undead geomancer in Inaildoro."


    Limist looked up at Aleicree with his jaw hanging open.  "Undead?" he asked.  "How can a geomancer be undead?"


    Aleicree giggled and said, "I didn''t know it was possible, but if Denziu says zie met one, I believe it."


    "I don''t know where Inaildoro is, but I never saw anything quite that interesting while hauling wagons.  I''m just a big, stout lug," said Limist.  "Plumbing''s the smartest work I''ve ever done.  And it was the most profitable too, for a while."


    "Until Vesset decided to send you somewhere else.  A few accidents cost you all your savings?" Aleicree asked.


    "I didn''t have a lot.  Labourers live, they don''t thrive."


    Quietly, Aleicree thought that Limist must have been living without frugality.  Then, a different thought.  "Is the cost of living high in Shibanyet?"


    "Well... yeah," said Limist.  "Ton of dragons want to live where everything is Fated to go well.  So every service ends up packed.  That''s good for the service-providers.  There are lots of queues where the prices won''t rise, lots of high prices where they will.  Things get slow or they get pricey.  Sometimes the model city is at war with its own attractiveness."


    "What kind of life do you want?" asked Aleicree.


    Limist took a deep breath and said, "I just want to be comfortably well-off.  Give me a nice house, decent friends, and a job that pays for all necessities.  That''s a good eternity to me."


    "Nidrio may be good for you..." said Aleicree, but zie was thinking, Your humility would be good for Nidrio.


    Limist settled down.  "Yeah?  How so?"


    "Praoziu doesn''t know how to make life hard for settlers.  She''ll give you a nice house and a comfortable lack of bills," said Aleicree.


    "How many dragons live there?"


    "Just 3," Aleicree admitted, dipping zir head.  "But I''ve heard there''s another 21 incoming."


    Limist stared at her.  "I don''t think 3 or 24 dragons need a plumbergon yet.  That''s too small.  Especially if a land god is making life easy."


    "You''re 457," Aleicree said with a smile.  "You''ve worked lots of jobs.  Maybe you don''t need to be ''the Pipeseller'' in Nidrio."


    "True..." said Limist.


    Vrekant stepped over to them then.  Azosta followed after him.  "Would you like to see the guest rooms?" he offered.


    "Is the evening so far gone?" asked Limist.


    Vrekant clapped his hands together.  "By all means, if you wish to stay up, you may.  I would just caution that I had a late night last night and an early morning today, so I would like to get to bed soon.  I can''t very well send you off without telling you where to find your rooms, so I''m doing that now."


    "Of course," said Limist.


    "Right," said Aleicree.


    Azosta just went along quietly.


    The four of them trooped through the house.  There were few doors in the house of Vrekant.  Aleicree glimpsed dragon statues in a pantheon room, a stone-floored meditation chamber, a deck that looked out onto the fields behind the house through large glass windows, and a larger gathering room with a fire pit under a central chimney.  Vrekant stopped to tell them about these rooms, and then they moved on again.


    Where there were doors, it was mostly because of the house''s abundance of guest rooms.  Aleicree thought that Vrekant must be popular with the local community if he was ready to host so many of them.  It was like the house had been expanded to host community events.


    There was something that stood out interestingly from room to room.  The build quality was different.  Aleicree was no trained eye, but past the well-built core of the house it grew drafty.  Simply-patterned tapestries and rugs started appearing on the walls and floors in rooms that needed the insulation.  The guest rooms were likely freezing in winter.  They were a bit cold on an autumn night, too.


    Vrekant led them to a closed door and said, "This is probably the best room for the three of you, though you''re free to spread into more rooms if you please, as I''m not entertaining any other guests right now."


    While Limist and Azosta went into the room, Aleicree hung back to ask, "Do you often entertain large numbers of guests?"


    Vrekant laughed and said, "Do I!  The local farmergons''ve paid for some of my work by expanding the house, and when they''d made it big enough, they started flocking to my place for seasonal events."


    Aleicree said, "Oh.  That sounds...  Stressful to host."


    "They''re good dragons," said Vrekant.  "Not too wild.  They keep me fed, I keep their weather working.  You know how weather-magery works."


    "I do," said Aleicree, although quietly zie thought it meant weather-magery would not be a good future career for zirself to pursue.  "Goodnight, Vrekant."


    "Goodnight, Aleicree."


    As zie went into the guest room, Aleicree saw that it had one vast bed in it, covered with a thick quilt so big that it left Aleicree wondering how it was ever washed.  The room was cold, and the quilt was obviously necessary.


    One bed? Aleicree thought with dismay, but while zie stood there thinking about how Vrekant had obviously expected zir to sleep with Limist and Azosta, zie was interrupted by Azosta speaking up.


    Azosta said, "I think we should use more rooms."


    Aleicree smiled.  "Yes, I think we should."


    Checking other rooms, they found a mix of one bed and two bed rooms, and a lot of quilts to cover for the draftiness of the rooms.  They abandoned the room that Vrekant had shown them entirely in favour of taking smaller beds.  Azosta and Limist shared a room with two beds.  Aleicree took one alone.


    Zie thought about Vrekant while laying in bed.  Zie hadn''t realised he had such a social circle.  He''d spoken glowingly of plenty of farmergons, and if zie scraped zir memory zie knew of this-and-that house expansion project being described, but he''d never sent a floorplan of his home or a detailed account of a seasonal celebration.  There wasn''t much to Aleicree''s life that hadn''t gone into the letters zie sent to Vrekant.  There was clearly more to Vrekant''s life than zie knew.

 Vrekant

    Aleicree got up when zie woke, and climbing from the quilted bed into the morning chill of a drafty room, zie went out into the hallway at once to find Vrekant just opening the door into the now-vacated room he''d offered them the night before. "We didn''t use that one," Aleicree said with a smile, inwardly thanking the land god for the well-timed awakening that let zir catch Vrekant.


    Leading zir old friend to the room used by Limist and Azosta, Vrekant and Aleicree gathered up the other two. They went to the dining room again, and Vrekant passed around a disappointing breakfast of boiled grains. Aleicree scowled as zie licked up wheat berries. No escaping the basics in a farming community, zie reflected.


    "I can hardly take a day off without the weather turning foul, so I''ll be soon on my way to tend my work," said Vrekant. "I hope I can trust the three of you in my house."


    "Will you leave the door unlocked so we can get in and out?" asked Limist.


    "I''ll take that risk, but I hope you don''t all leave at once."


    Vrekant left after breakfast, as did Limist and Azosta. Aleicree was left alone in the house. Zie had no idea what to do in the city, and Vrekant had said he hoped they would not all leave at once, so in protection of zir friend''s property Aleicree decided to set up in the living room near the front door with zir books.


    All day zie worked on that farming manual, intent on getting it copied. Another fifth of the book fell to zir lev-i-quill''s insistent scratching.


    If all three of my companions are going to be out all day, thought Aleicree, in a few days I will need another book to be copying. I suppose I can finally finish Sea Gods'' Laws, but even that will not take a month.


    Was zie going to spend zir vacation working as a scribegon? Well, why not? It would be profitable. Courtesy of the lev-i-quill, it wasn''t like zie could get hand-cramps.


    What else was zie to do? Recruit for Nidrio? There was probably no recruiting that zie could do. What kind of dragon would cross continents on the advice of a stranger? If there was a skill for achieving such outcomes, Aleicree didn''t know it. The only way recruiting would work would be if zie got lucky and found someone who was disaffected already. Admittedly, Taisach and Praoziu would be much more impressed with a success at that... and it''d get zir in contact with the local community.


    Zie wondered if zir coin pouch would survive the sabbatical with what zie''d put into it. That was an argument in favour of scribing. Books were expensive and having one on hand to sell would help guard against the expenses of travel. There were no armies of copiers who could make books in large numbers. Doubtless even the temple-libraries of Querent-Querent would have empty shelves at times if they were not packed with geomancers who could be pressed to scribework.


    At least there was no fee to travel by wing, and no slowness in the choice. Aleicree wondered if the unwinged dragons - the izerah and the kalla were the ones who occurred to zir - ever felt oppressed by the challenges of travel. They did at least have the sea voyages, and those were still sped by wind magic.


    Limist and Azosta were first to arrive back home. "We pinned up notes on community boards," said Azosta.


    "Pipes and irrigation,¡± said Limist. Soon we''ll start trying to meet farmergons."


    When Vrekant arrived that evening, Aleicree met him at the door and asked, ¡°Do you think you could introduce us to any of your neighbours?¡±


    ¡°Oho? Tired of my company so quickly?¡± asked Vrekant, laughing as he entered his front room. He held up a hand to forestall Aleicree¡¯s apology. ¡°I can. I¡¯d be glad to. But your letters painted a picture of a withdrawing nature, so what inspired this request?¡±


    Aleicree fidgeted with the pouch where zie was storing zir in-progress book. ¡°My father Taisach has been unsuccessful at recruiting for Nidrio. I think he needs some help.¡±


    Vrekant smiled. ¡°Going to lure away my friends, are you? You¡¯re welcome to try. I¡¯d be glad to have the excuse to visit Nidrio myself.¡± He glanced back towards the door. ¡°I actually called off my dinner plans to be here in the evening for you, so nobody is expecting me tonight. That said, I do know someone who is particularly unlikely to have evening plans; he lives nearby and I¡¯ve mentioned him a few times in letters.¡±


    There was one neighbour of Vrekant¡¯s who had come up in a special way. Aleicree perked up. ¡°You don¡¯t mean Dylori, do you?¡±


    Dylori was the ghost who lived near Vrekant. Ghosts were tremendously rare. They had dangerous auras and a reputation for insanity, but they were truly, truly immortal, standing at the pinnacle of necromantic self-preservation. Like vohntrai, ghosts could only be dissipated temporarily. Unlike vohntrai, they had no ordinary needs.


    ¡°He might say no,¡± said Vrekant, ¡°But there¡¯s no harm in trying. I¡¯ll be back shortly.¡±


    Stunned, Aleicree just nodded along to this idea, and soon Vrekant departed again. Aleicree paced the front room, wishing zie¡¯d asked to go along. Should zie try to recruit a ghost to Nidrio? Ghosts existed outside of the weave of Fate.


    Aleicree stepped outside. It was a warm, summery evening and there was just a bit of falling damp in the air. Zie glanced down the street to either side, wondering which house belonged to a literal ghost. The houses looked fairly ordinary, and Aleicree could only see the nearest of them, for there was something of a forest growing in the backyards of the houses on this side of Tavanth street. The trees encroached between the houses.


    There was no sign of Vrekant for a few minutes, and then Aleicree spotted him stepping out of 2 Tavanth Street next door. A very unusual dragon followed after him. Dylori - for zie assumed that was Dylori - greatly resembled a mechanical vashael with a protected core, his components all in some shade of white cast orange by the evening sun.


    Aleicree raised a wing at them from near Vrekant¡¯s door, and Dylori waved back at zir. As he neared, he came to a clattering stop and said (in a great hollow voice), ¡°Aleicree! Vrekant has told me of you! It¡¯s good to finally meet you!¡±


    ¡°Likewise,¡± said Aleicree. ¡°Is that your actual voice?¡±


    ¡°I haven¡¯t had an actual voice in two centuries,¡± said Dylori. ¡°Everything is a spell or construct at this point.¡±


    Vrekant stepped up to Aleicree. ¡°Let¡¯s go inside,¡± he said, sweeping towards the door.


    Dylori hung way back as they entered, and he kept hanging back once they were all in the first room of Vrekant¡¯s house as well. He moved like his bubble was as wide as his wingspan, though there wasn¡¯t quite room for them to be that far apart when they were inside.


    Once they were inside and seeing by the light of Vrekant¡¯s magic lanterns, Aleicree could see that Dylori¡¯s suit was actually a very faint blue. It was nearly white.


    Azosta and Limist were in the living room, reading books. The collection on the shelves was down to three. Both of them looked up as more dragons entered the room. Azosta went wide-eyed and stiff.


    ¡°Whoa,¡± said Limist, closing the book he¡¯d been reading. ¡°Did someone lose a golem?¡±


    ¡°A what?¡± asked Aleicree, and looked towards Dylori when Limist gestured that way.


    Dylori rapped himself on the chest with a clunk. He said, ¡°This body is something like a golem. I am Dylori, one of Vrekant¡¯s neighbours.¡±


    Azosta said, ¡°You¡¯re a ghost! This is too much magic for anyone!¡±


    Dylori¡¯s mechanical face and hollow voice carried little emotion, but Aleicree thought zie could still hear the disappointment as he said, ¡°You know, ghosts can offer boons. Shouldn¡¯t you be polite?¡±


    Azosta shook his head. ¡°I don¡¯t want any ¡®boons¡¯. Your magic is a rending force. All magic leads to the primordial state, but you¡¯re the primordial state incarnate,¡± he said.


    Limist echoed, ¡°Primordial state.¡± He sighed. ¡°That didn¡¯t take long.¡±


    Dylori tapped his chin with a finger. ¡°I want to break the tension with a laugh, but I¡¯m not quite in the mood. Still, there¡¯s some wisdom in you. What¡¯s your name and title, boon-refuser?¡±


    ¡°Azosta the Endseer.¡±


    With his hands clasped together, Dylori said, ¡°I promise to do you no harm, Azosta.¡± Dropping his hands, he glanced towards Vrekant¡¯s dining room. ¡°I wasn¡¯t coming here to offer gifts in any case. Just to meet a friend of a friend over dinner.¡±


    Limist walked across the room to reshelve the book he¡¯d taken. ¡°Can you actually eat?¡±


    This time Dylori chuckled. ¡°No, I can¡¯t, but don¡¯t worry. I won¡¯t envy you too much. I ate plenty while I lived, and my memory¡¯s keener than ever.¡±


    Vrekant said, ¡°Since we¡¯re already discussing dinner, I¡¯ll be sure to get started on preparations promptly. You can talk here or in the dining room. Want me to get out a board game?¡±


    ¡°Shouldn¡¯t be any need of that.¡± Dylori stood taller. ¡°I¡¯m surely enough of a conversationalist and a rare enough commodity to hold attention for one night with strangers.¡±


    So Vrekant left them to talk with Dylori.


    ¡°So, uh¡­ Ghosts is dead, right? How¡¯d you die?¡± asked Limist.


    Dylori said, ¡°In a ritual. That¡¯s how it usually is for the kind of ghosts you¡¯ll actually meet. The other kind get drawn away to the Deathwall for everyone¡¯s sake.¡±


    Limist took a seat on one of the roughspun cushions in the room. ¡°What¡¯s a ritual like that entail?¡±


    ¡°Now, that¡¯d be a spoiler. You¡¯ll find out when you¡¯re older,¡± Dylori said, laughing.


    Azosta grimaced. ¡°I suspect he will not,¡± he said.


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    ¡°Do you now?¡± asked Dylori.


    Ignoring the rejoinder, Azosta asked, ¡°Do you ever regret the ritual?¡±


    ¡°Not often, but I know the feeling.¡± Dylori raised his arms and spread his canvas wings, taking up half the room as he spoke. He held his wings like that, and with his hands he gesticulated. ¡°You see, I¡¯d already been a wraithe for a long time, so at the time I thought I hadn¡¯t anything to lose. That wasn¡¯t quite true. The last function of a wraithe¡¯s splintered geomantic interface is to hold their mind together. So when I deliberately ground my interface to dust and became a ghost¡­¡±


    Dylori put his wings back down. ¡°I¡¯ve had to take ever so much care of my thoughts since then.¡±


    ¡°So the rumoured madness of ghosts¡­¡± said Aleicree, trailing off.


    Dylori nodded. ¡°It¡¯s real. Sometimes it strikes wraithes, too.¡±


    ¡°What¡¯s a geomantic interface?¡± asked Limist.


    ¡°A non-physical object that connects between land gods and lesser divinities. No interface, no geomancy, no Fate. I am almost pure chaos to auguries.¡±


    ¡°Almost?¡± asked Azosta.


    Dylori rapped his chest again with another clunk. ¡°This suit exists in Fate, even though I don¡¯t.¡±


    They continued peppering Dylori with questions until Vrekant returned to the living room to summon them to dinner. All thought of recruiting was forgotten. As they ate, the roles reversed. Dylori got their names and professions, and from Aleicree he extracted that zie had a hobby of copying books. ¡°And what have you been copying lately?¡± Dylori asked.


    ¡°A farming manual,¡± Aleicree said. ¡°I think I¡¯ll bring it to Denxalue and see if I can sell it to the farmergons there.¡±


    "Farming? Yields are adequate, I should think," Azosta said.


    "Yeah, how about a plumbing manual?" said Limist, laughing.


    Aleicree smiled at Limist. "I would, I really would. I just haven''t found any plumbing manuals yet. Maybe you should write one, so I can copy it."


    "Huh," said Limist, sitting up straighter. "I suppose I did teach Azosta."


    When they¡¯d eaten, Dylori said to Aleicree, ¡°There¡¯s another necromancer in this area who you might want to meet. A novice relative to me, but nearer to you in many ways. He¡¯s known as Rhis the Quiet.¡±


    Aleicree raised an eyebrow. ¡°That¡¯s a remarkably unremarkable title.¡±


    Dylori chuckled. It was very exactly the same chuckle that he¡¯d emitted earlier, which made Aleicree frown. What an unnatural likeness. ¡°Yes, remarkably unremarkable is the first impression Rhis gives off, but he¡¯s more remarkable than he seems at first,¡± said Dylori.


    The next day, Limist and Azosta flew off to continue trying to get work for the month, but Vrekant stayed home. ¡°Yesterday, I went around talking to other windmages in the area, and they agreed to cover my part of the sky for a day. That¡¯ll prevent anything chaotic from happening while I¡¯m out.¡±


    Aleicree cast a glance out the window. It was another day of partly cloudy rain, a common weather in Sorjek. The resulting combination of bright and wet was ideal for crops. ¡°I summoned weather sometimes growing up in Denxalue, and nothing happened when I let it go.¡±


    Vrekant shrugged. ¡°Different theomes. Denxalue, I assume, doesn¡¯t hire weathermages on the regular. The more you do it, the more chaos is waiting to be unleashed. The weather out here can get destructive when we slip up or get overwhelmed.¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m torn between hoping I see it and hoping I don¡¯t,¡± said Aleicree, smiling.


    Vrekant frowned. ¡°Hope you don¡¯t. Some dragons won¡¯t visit Sorjek, just because once or twice a decade someone dies to bad weather.¡±


    ¡°Then I hope I don¡¯t,¡± Aleicree said, but zie didn¡¯t mirror his negativity. Undaunted, Aleicree kept smiling at Vrekant. He was staying with zir all day! ¡°What are we going to do?¡±


    Vrekant walked deeper into the house, leading Aleicree down the hallway into the guest rooms. ¡°I was thinking I could show you my art collection today.¡± He opened the first guest room and ushered Aleicree into it.


    This was the room that he¡¯d offered to the three on their first night. That time, Aleicree had only noticed the exaggerated and surprising three-dragon bed. This time, Vrekant gestured towards one of the walls. A mural sprawled over the wall depicting trees rearing up in a misty blue forest. The green plants painted at the base of the mural were naturally-colored; the foliage of the trees was a more fantastical hue. The shadows in the forest were tinged violet, while the top of the painting faded to a clear white sky.


    ¡°I have too many rooms,¡± said Vrekant, ¡°But one of the satisfactions is that while I¡¯ve been here, I¡¯ve accumulated paintings for them. This is one of the better ones. The artist visited to paint this. Shyrkin the Chained. A bit expensive, actually.¡±


    Aleicree held a hand up towards the wall, reaching towards it mentally as though trying to be the wall. There was a self-mending charm on the wall, and something else. Something faint and twisting, a fraction of a spell without apparent purpose. Zie put zir hand down and looked at Vrekant. ¡°Why is the artist called ¡®the Chained¡¯?¡±


    Vrekant laughed. ¡°I know the reference, but I don¡¯t want to repeat it. It¡¯s presumptuous, immodest, and - I¡¯ll tell you this much - related to a kind of magic popular with paintergons.¡±


    Aleicree stared at the wall with a frown of concentration. ¡°There¡¯s a trace of spellwork on this wall. Something besides a preservation spell.¡±


    ¡°When I was hosting zir, Shyrkin talked about how all painting, maybe all artistic work, is an exercise of magic.¡± Vrekant reached up towards the ceiling as he said those words. He grinned at Aleicree. ¡°I think zie believes that little spell does something, but I think it¡¯s just a signature.¡±


    ¡°What was Shyrkin like?¡± asked Aleicree.


    ¡°Quite polite, but greedy. I had to point out that the commission fee was already enough to live on for a little while to get Shyrkin to back down on attempts to raise it further. Zie wanted twice as much.¡±


    Vrekant led Aleicree on to different guest rooms. The rooms were a bit drafty with unskilled construction, but there was a painting in almost every room, and two in some. A parade of artist names came through, with stories repeated about their titles.


    ¡°You remember all these artists?¡± Aleicree asked Vrekant after three such stories.


    Vrekant nodded. ¡°Painting is a wonderful way to make a name for oneself. Good paintings, like good books, are treasured forever, and everyone wants to know, ¡®Who painted this?¡¯ So the owners of the art introduce the artists again and again.¡±


    A theme emerged in the paintings themselves. Vrekant had purchased or been gifted landscape painting after landscape painting. They were all natural environments very different from the artificiality of the landscape in Sorjek. There were rainforests and rivers, swamps and hillscapes, even a tropical beach featuring plants that could only be found in Southern Kanjamund.


    ¡°These rooms have no definition without the paintings that are hung in them,¡± Vrekant said when they had gone through most of the guest rooms and finally entered a room without a painting hung. It was the second to last guest room in the hall. ¡°With the paintings, each one has an individual character.¡±


    ¡°It must have been expensive sourcing all of these,¡± Aleicree said, touching an empty place on the wall. It was just a blank wall, but after seeing room after room with paintings hung, Aleicree could visualise the spot as clearly as though a blank canvas were hanging on the wall. This room awaited a painting.


    ¡°It was, but it¡¯s worth it.¡± Vrekant stood by the door, arms folded and head high, his tail swaying behind him. ¡°As fast as I am on the wing, I can fly still farther looking at the paintings I¡¯ve collected.¡±


    A mischievous thought struck Aleicree. ¡°Landlubber,¡± zie said.


    ¡°What?¡± Vrekant¡¯s jaw dropped.


    ¡°This is such a landlubber hobby. I could keep maybe one painting in my space aboard the Serene Chordalite, and I¡¯d have to renew the mending charm every few weeks as all the theome transitions robbed it of its magic.¡±


    Vrekant shrank, his fins drooping. ¡°Do you dislike my collection?¡± he asked.


    Aleicree stepped in and nuzzled him briefly. ¡°No, it¡¯s beautiful,¡± zie said.


    Vrekant¡¯s stance rose again, and his fins were all peaking. ¡°I¡¯ve got one more painting to show you,¡± he said, and he led out the door. He didn¡¯t go to the last guest room, but went through the halls of the house to his own room, which he opened the door of and ushered Aleicree inside.


    At once zir eyes were caught by light and motion, for the room was lit by a wall mural that glowed like sunlight. It was sunlight! The wall of the room had been replaced by a natural scene as real as a portal to another place. There was a forest visible through the wall, with birds in the trees and a fox passing by in the grass.


    A wind in the room pushed against Aleicree¡¯s amicus breeze, contesting it as though blowing in from outside through Vrekant¡¯s wall. Zie walked up to the wall wonderingly, and touched it¡­ and touched it. It was solid. The texture was of a wooden wall. Zie put zir snout up against the wall and sniffed it, smelling forest scents but feeling wood under the tip of zir nose.


    ¡°There¡¯s real paint under it, but the painting itself is simplistic. Just something to hang the enchantment on,¡± said Vrekant. ¡°It¡¯ll be a disappointment if I ever see it again.¡±


    ¡°Does it show the stars at night?¡± Aleicree asked, turning to face Vrekant.


    ¡°And the sunrise every morning,¡± said Vrekant, smiling.


    Aleicree willfully quelled zir amicus breeze to feel the wind from the painting. It wasn¡¯t a steady wind nor a heavy one, but was a gentle breeze that matched the swaying of the trees and carried the scents of the forest. ¡°Does it show the seasons?¡± Aleicree asked.


    Vrekant laughed and said, ¡°It does, and a range of natural weather. No precipitation comes through it with the wind, but that breeze drives me under two quilts in wintertime! Very occasionally, I find I must sleep in a guest room.¡±


    Aleicree turned to face Vrekant, zir amicus breeze springing back to life around zirself. Zie looked at the rest of the room. Vrekant¡¯s bed was fit for two dragons and had a quilt piled messily atop it despite the early autumn warmth. Zie could easily imagine him huddled under two quilts while a snowy vista blew cold air into the room. ¡°You must love nature,¡± zie said.


    ¡°I do,¡± said Vrekant. ¡°Sometimes, in my fantasies, I work with weathermages over a natural theome, using more varied weather as we care for the trees and wildlife. I love storms; farms have no use for them.¡±


    Aleicree took a step towards Vrekant. ¡°Would you want to come to Nidrio with me? Praoziu might like weathermages tending the wilderness.¡±


    Vrekant shook his head, his fins lowering. ¡°I don¡¯t want to leave my house behind, nor my friends.¡± He perked up. ¡°Ask again should you find yourself with two dozen weathermages and still a great deal of surface wilderness. I might come to Nidrio then.¡±


    Maybe in a century, Aleicree thought. Zie glanced at his bed. I wonder¡­


    ¡°You didn¡¯t bring me into your bedroom for anything special, did you?¡± zie asked.


    Vrekant was caught off guard, one hand back and up. ¡°It¡­ it wouldn¡¯t mean anything if we did. I don¡¯t think it meant anything in the academy either.¡± He put his hands together, but his tail lashed.


    Aleicree thought for a moment. It wasn¡¯t like zir to be forward, and¡­ zie wasn¡¯t interested in being unlike zirself. That was a path of stress without reward. Zie smiled to Vrekant, swaying zir tail gently. ¡°Alright. Nevermind that. Seeing your paintings was amazing, and you picked such a good finishing touch.¡±


    Vrekant dipped his head, slowing his tail. He took a step towards Aleicree. They could almost touch. ¡°I missed you all these years, Aleicree. Our letters were never enough¡­¡±


    ¡°But what we did in academy meant nothing?¡± Aleicree asked with wide eyes. Zie was tempted to nuzzle at him, his mention of missing zir was such an invitation, but the consciousness of mixed signals stopped that.


    ¡°Did it mean more to you?¡± asked Vrekant. He looked at the wall as he spoke, looked out into the forest view.


    Aleicree hesitated for a moment, then sighed. ¡°It was fun,¡± zie said. ¡°You were one of several, you know. Yet you were the one who always replied to my letters, all through the years, promptly as though it mattered to you. I thought it meant more to you.¡±


    Zie clasped his hand and pulled his attention back to zirself. ¡°Show me your garden, and the trees behind your house,¡± zie said, wanting this awkward conversation in his room to be over.


    ¡°Gladly,¡± he said, and the two went outside where Vrekant recited the names of the plants beside and behind his house, bending down to show Aleicree the features of leaves, stems, and flowers. Aleicree tried to look attentive, but really zie kept looking at Vrekant and remembering him as zie saw him in the academy, so that zie was a bit flushed. He might¡¯ve picked that up in zir scent, for at length there was something of an answering call in his own, but neither of them said anything immodest. They only kept studying the plants outdoors, and buried their snouts in the scents of the flora.

 Introductions

    The next day, Aleicree copied more of the farming manual. The next evening, Vrekant brought back a farmergon to introduce to his visitors, just as Aleicree had requested. He was a dusky purple vrash named Farard. Aleicree thought he was quite attractive, well-muscled with a strong but not exaggerated jawline, and wearing a fashionable silver armour that contrasted nicely with his underlying dark colour.


    He proceeded to shock Aleicree by greeting Vrekant with a kiss. When the group sat for dinner, zie noticed that the two had twined tails. There couldn¡¯t possibly have been an unmentioned romance all these years, so zir mind went instantly to thinking that the two were in an ¡°it means nothing¡± kind of relationship, just as Aleicree and Vrekant had been in academy.


    Somehow, Aleicree was the one who had changed. Vrekant was just the same.


    Farard was interested in visiting Nidrio, though he said, "I''m unlikely to pull up stakes, you understand. I''m doing well enough here and Nidrio sounds like poor farmland."


    ¡°So why visit? Are you just interested in attending a feast?¡± asked Aleicree.


    Farard grinned as he said, ¡°No, not for the feast! For Praoziu! I¡¯ve never met a land god incarnate before.¡±


    Farard gradually escalated his affectionate behaviour towards Vrekant, so that the two were sitting hip to hip and nuzzling each other by the time dinner was over. Vrekant had the grace to look embarrassed, but the passion to not resist when Farard led him out of the room after dinner.


    When they were gone, Limist burst out laughing. ¡°Well, that was interesting to watch. Guess Vrekant¡¯s got a paramour!¡±


    Aleicree smiled and said, ¡°I think they¡¯re just friends.¡±


    Azosta sighed and said, ¡°So that¡¯s Vrekant¡¯s evening. What about us?¡±


    Fortunately, Aleicree knew from letters with Vrekant that he had a modest collection of board games. Aleicree expected that they were all somewhere near the dining room, because they were group games for entertaining guests with, and after a brief search zie had pulled several boxes out. Each one was a wooden box that folded out into a game board with playing pieces.


    One of the boxes was gold-lettered with ¡°Expedition to Axorus¡±, and that caught Aleicree¡¯s attention most of all. Zie offered the other two boxes to the group to look at (They were ¡°Eternal City¡± and ¡°Nisky¡¯s Merchants¡±), but zie pushed ¡°Expedition to Axorus¡± into the centre of the table and virtually insisted on it.


    Axorus was a famed and dangerous place far, far to the north that drew explorers from across Theoma. Aleicree had never been there, but zie¡¯d received a letter from Denziu, who had crossed it earlier that year. From that letter¡¯s description, zie knew it looked like a bunch of different horizon-spanning abandoned cities connected by portals. Denziu had speculated that it was a museum of prior worlds maintained by a reclusive land god. Most expeditions to the real Axorus found nothing, but it remained one of Theoma¡¯s few known sources for relics of prior worlds.


    The three spent several hours on a game about exploring Axorus with rope, temporarily valid maps, and hired gargoyles. The game had ¡°lost in Axorus¡± rules that ate pieces if exploration plans fell apart. It also had dubious returns from the expedition sites that left them risking negative returns if they relied on hired gargoyles. At the end of the game, Azosta had a slight negative score, Aleicree had a slight positive score, and only Limist had made consistent profits.


    The fourth day at Vrekant''s house, Aleicree finished copying the farming manual zie had brought. Zie finished up with some transmutations of the blank book that zie''d copied it into. The excess pages were sacrificed and the binding transmuted so that it seemed as though the blank book had always had exactly the number of pages in it that the farming manual itself contained. A difficult geomantic meditation saw the cover stamped with the title... and then Aleicree was serenity drained and could not have kept working on something so boring as scribing if the world depended on it. Fortunately, zie was done for the day. Zie danced and ran about the house and explored Vrekant''s garden.


    Zie was still poor on serenity when zir host and new friends returned from their days at work afield. Vrekant once more brought back a farmergon; Aleicree impulsively greeted zir with a lick to the cheek. To the geomancers in the room, it gave away that a geomantic spell had gone a bit wrong. Limist was the one who looked at zir funny. The farmergon in question was momentarily stunned, but didn¡¯t turn away from joining them at dinner.


    ¡°I¡¯m Rettle,¡± zie said at the table as they waited for Vrekant to finish cooking dinner. Zie was a black-striped green vrash wearing a minimum of armour just across zir shoulders. ¡°Vrekant is a miracle worker who has kept the wild weather off my crops almost every time for years now.¡±


    ¡°Do you want to live somewhere without ¡®wild weather¡¯?¡± asked Aleicree, hopefully. ¡°Maybe try your hand at something other than farming?¡±


    Rettle shook zir head and said, "Oh, I couldn''t! I am well-established here. You know, it''s a nuisance really, I feel enmeshed in the local community."


    Limist peered at Rettle. "Surely not," he said. "Can''t be anything wrong with having good friends. I wouldn¡¯t be here if I''d made friends in Shibanyet."


    "It''s not a thing wrong," said Rettle, "So much as it is a thing half-right. I can hardly go a-travelin'' without having friends worry where I''ve gone, much less contemplate a change of career."


    Nobody does the same thing for centuries, Aleicree thought. Few dragons, at least. Rettle may have been farming here for too long.


    Azosta said, "We''ll be here for a month, if that changes your plans any. You can warn your friends that you''re going to Nidrio."


    Aleicree chimed in, "Invite them along! I''m pretty sure that Taisach would host as many dragons as were interested in a visit. Praoziu would be willing to summon a feast if need be."


    "How long is the flight to Nidrio?" asked Rettle.


    Aleicree was used to travelling by ship, and was caught out not knowing. Fortunately, Limist came to the rescue. He said, "Nidrio is by Zyrine, right? So the route''s the same, or close enough. It''d be three days. One day to Shibanyet, one day to Fathesti, and then to Nidrio itself on the third."


    "Oh, Zyrine!" Rettle said with a giggle. "If anyone I know hasn''t been to Zyrine, this trip can knock that off the ''someday'' list. Maybe I could bring a friend."


    Aleicree asked, "Where''s Fathesti? And what kind of theome is it?"


    Limist said, "It''s a missing theome by the Graggle Cliffs, which are west of the river Joylim. There''s nothing really in Fathesti but a stopover point for flyers. Still, it does a good business in food and lodgings for travellers."


    "I could''ve flown back myself, but not knowing the optimal route I think it would''ve taken 4 or 5 days," Aleicree said. "I''ll be trusting you to lead us to Fathesti."


    "No problem," said Limist with a smile.


    They ate with Rettle, and afterwards Vrekant suggested the five of them play board games together. He led them in a game of ¡°Eternal City¡±, which was a city-building with shapeshifting pieces. The carved vashael pieces took on an outfit characteristic of whichever job they were placed at, but every four turns they¡¯d refuse to work at their job anymore, shapeshifting into a refusal posture when placed on the board tile for that job. This led to a juggling act as new jobs had to be found to keep the pieces employed over time. New jobs in turn had to be unlocked by funding their tiles. Each player had only a few worker pieces and their city evolved as job potentials were used up or opened.


    Aleicree played embarrassingly badly, having several of zir pieces unemployed for a lot of the game after overstaffing critical jobs early. Rush productivity had a penalty; a single worker over four turns would produce more than four workers over one turn. Aleicree¡¯s city seemed flush with resources in the early game, but then it stopped being able to produce basic resources, and eventually it used up its stockpile and couldn¡¯t fund the opening of new job tiles.


    Limist did a little better, but not a lot better. He had some unemployment in his city, too. Azosta played well for a first time and had his pieces moving fluently so that they kept working throughout.


    Rettle and Vrekant were clearly most familiar with the game. They knew how to keep their pieces working steadily and competed with each other over the board¡¯s prestige accomplishments. Their victory point totals rivalled each other. Eventually, in a key turn near the end, Rettle took a small lead and held it.


    This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.


    The game had taken quite a while, so it was dark when they finished. Rather than take a risky flight home in the dark, Rettle asked for (and Vrekant granted) a night in one of Vrekant¡¯s guest rooms. Zie also had a few final questions. ¡°When will we be leaving for Nidrio, and who else is going?¡±


    ¡°26 days from now,¡± Vrekant said. ¡°It might be a crowded flight. I¡¯ll bring in another dragon every day who might be interested in visiting Nidrio.¡±


    Aleicree sat up straighter. "Praoziu could host all of them," zie said. "And Taisach is eager to meet dragons who take an interest in Nidrio. I''ll recruit as many as I can."


    Vrekant nodded and held his hands open. "Then let''s plan a bit of a feast at my house, too. I''ll host a potluck with everyone who joins the trip to Nidrio on your last day here."


    Limist cheered. "Hey hey! We''ll have a party before we go!"


    The fifth day, Aleicree wrote a letter to Denziu boasting of having finished copying a farming manual. Zie guessed a market price and offered it to Denziu without the faintest discount, giving zir sibling the first chance to buy it at the price zie thought zie could get from a scribegon. "I know you''re moving on from soil-selling, but you might find this book nostalgic," zie wrote to Denziu. "This book talks of soil with some of your old love for it. It''ll remind you of your childhood if you keep it, and you might give it as a gift to one of your beloved farmergons in Denxalue."


    After a quick trip to post the letter, zie started on Sea Gods'' Laws. The introduction was just as it was, but Aleicree suffered through reading it again. Zie had decided that this was also an important book deserving of being copied. Copying books was an excellent excuse for staying inside all day and not exploring Sorjek. Aleicree thought that vacations might be a poor fit for zir nature; zie did not want to go to new and unfamiliar places.


    Limist and Azosta returned that evening with a tale of an actual work contract being ordered. One of the more successful farmergons had taken them up on building an irrigation system in the fields. ¡°This is exactly the kind of pipework we wanted to be doing with the farmergons,¡± Limist boasted. ¡°The rain here is reliable enough that we had to offer a pretty cut-rate deal on our labour, but just putting up something new like this is exciting. Maybe this farmer wants to switch to growing rice or something.¡±


    The farmergon of the fifth day was named Saranz. He was a bronze vrash with a brown metallic sheen even under his armour. Despite his metallic scales, the most memorable thing about him was that he was invasive of Aleicree¡¯s bubble. He tried to greet Aleicree with a nuzzle, didn¡¯t immediately back off when zie dodged it, and brushed against zir side as they went towards the dinner table. He sat next to zir and tried to touch tails with zir. Aleicree wished that he¡¯d been touchy with one of the others instead of zirself. He seemed to get the message when Aleicree wouldn¡¯t tolerate their tails in proximity, and Aleicree let it go as the conversation around the table turned to Nidrio. Zie extended the invitation to Nidrio and he accepted it. As Saranz specifically requested it, they played ¡°Eternal City¡± again, and this time Limist made terrible errors and withdrew early, while Aleicree did much better and played quite competitively. Zie kept up with the more experienced players all the way to the end-game, though Saranz ultimately won.


    The farmergon of the sixth day started out as a repeat of Saranz. Zie went right in for a nuzzle, and Aleicree backed off even more sharply this time, saying, ¡°Stop! Why are you trying to touch my face?¡±


    ¡°A friend of Vrekant¡¯s is a friend of mine,¡± rumbled the blue-striped white vrash. ¡°Pardon, we¡¯re pretty affectionate here. My name is Relevar. What¡¯s yours?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯m Aleicree. I¡¯m not used to affection, so please keep a fair distance.¡±


    ¡°Sure,¡± said Relevar, but as Aleicree turned to lead in towards the dining room, Relevar sniffed audibly at Aleicree¡¯s tail. Aleicree¡¯s entire body froze at that moment, the blue vashael caught grimacing. Relevar looked up and then stepped back a pace. ¡°Uh¡­ Sorry.¡±


    Cringing, Aleicree shook zirself out and hurried to the dinner table. Zie made sure that Azosta and Limist were sitting to either side of zirself this time rather than letting Relevar sit next to zir.


    When the topic of Nidrio came up, it wasn¡¯t because Aleicree had broached it, but zie still extended the invitation to Nidrio. Relevar was excited by the idea of both the potluck at the end of the month and the subsequent feast at Nidrio, and agreed to join up.


    There was another round of board games that night, another wooden board and pouch of game pieces fetched from Vrekant''s chest of games. They played ¡°Nisky¡¯s Merchants¡±, a simple dice game based on merchants racing to get goods to market ahead of each other. Aleicree¡¯s thoughts weren¡¯t really on the game. Zie chose poor routes and zir score matched the attention zie was putting into the game. Zie just didn¡¯t care about the board game with Relevar.


    Zie was thinking instead about the seagons of the Serene Chordalite.


    None of them were affectionate with zir. Zie had lived without affection of any kind for decades. Only Shiowatha challenged this perspective. Heavily built by the slighter standards of the vohntrai, Shiowatha nevertheless had a gentle touch. The daily unbinding had been a ritual between them for a long time, and when Aleicree ate at the galley, it was usually with Shiowatha.


    Shiowatha¡¯s stories had changed over the years. They were all of places that Shiowatha had visited on naval journeys four centuries prior. Vohntrai were truly unkillable, but they had limited memories: four hundred years of memory was their limit. So Shiowatha had talked about the memories of four hundred years prior, memorialising in conversations with Aleicree the things that zie was about to lose. Zie claimed to be a dedicated journaler, too.


    The years on the Serene Chordalite were wearing away Shiowatha¡¯s memories without contributing much novelty, but Shiowatha had a plan. Zie was accumulating funds to take a journey around all of Theoma. Along the way, zie would hit up a bunch of places zie had visited centuries ago, and zie would write a new journal to compare the places across a span of so many centuries. It would be the vacation of four centuries, to give Shiowatha fresh memories to dwell on.


    Thinking about how Shiowatha had considered the Serene Chordalite to be a drag, Aleicree felt horrible. How had zie kept zir head down and just worked for so many years? How could anyone do that? Zie had resented the party they threw at Hiakoreska, but what madness that was. It should¡¯ve been a break. It should¡¯ve been a chance to build up some kind of rapport with the others.


    The next three days saw the return group swell by another two farmergons, by the names of Soltia the Mender and Naburyen the Digger. Soltia was a green-mantled yellow vrash with green eyes; Naburyen was a black-brown vrash with orange eyes. By this point Limist, Azosta, and Vrekant were all in gear as recruiters and looking forward to a feast awaiting them in Nidrio. Vrekant seemed to be enjoying it despite the risk that some of his friends might move out.


    Soltia was an avid collector of tailrings who showed up wearing several and dropped them on the table to talk about them. Apparently this was a difficult interest for a farmer owing to the expense of the tailrings, but Soltia worked several jobs to earn enough to keep collecting. ¡°My own plot is so small I¡¯m practically just a gardener,¡± Soltia claimed, ¡°But I do work with the others when it¡¯s time to bring in the harvest.¡±


    Limist looked up from the tailrings on the table. ¡°With several jobs on the plate, do you actually have time to visit Nidrio?¡±


    Soltia grinned. ¡°Oh, I¡¯m not a contract worker. I take my pay by the job. Nobody will miss me, I¡¯ll just miss out on a few paychecks.¡±


    Azosta hmmed. ¡°Kinda sad to go unmissed, isn¡¯t it?¡± he asked, touching his chin in thought, his tail curling beside him.


    ¡°Nah!¡± said Soltia brightly. ¡°My friends are all farmers.¡±


    Aleicree was a bit self-conscious on the subject of tailrings, because zir own tail was scrawny with too many skipped meals. A thick tail was considered attractive! Being on vacation might help. Zie wasn¡¯t skipping meals out here.


    Naburyen in turn had a question to ask after Aleicree was introduced. ¡°Why are you called The Windlost?¡± he wanted to know.


    Limist and Azosta both perked up. Limist said, ¡°Yeah, I want to know that too.¡±


    Aleicree smiled and started into a familiar story. ¡°When I was young, I loved my amicus breeze. I discovered that I could control it extensively, and if I sat very still and focused very hard, I could make it a big, strong wind. I took to sitting very still and focusing very hard for long periods of time, until I was playing with the clouds. Everyone knew then that I would be a windmage, but they found it disconcerting. I was such a quiet child that they called me Windlost.¡±


    Naburyen asked, ¡°Are you still Windlost?¡±


    That question brought a moment of hesitation. A name that had stuck since childhood didn¡¯t have to last forever. Aleicree thought about it, and said, ¡°Yes, I think so. Why are you The Digger?¡±


    Now it was Naburyen¡¯s turn to regard zir with a smile. ¡°Well, it¡¯s a pretty similar story to yours, except in my case I was a dirty child because I was always digging holes. I loved digging pits and digging up stones. I once dug a tunnel between two pits in a fallow field of my parents¡¯, I was so proud. Now, I didn¡¯t become a miner or anything and this isn¡¯t ordinarily the kind of thing that¡¯d stick to an adult, but I¡¯m not as old as a lot of the farmergons around here and I grew up in Sorjek. Plus, I still do some digging work. Dragons come to me when they need something dug up.¡±


    Naburyen left after dinner without a round of board games, and that evening Aleicree wrote a long letter to Taisach and Praoziu, telling them that zie had found an opportunity to recruit for Nidrio from the farms around Vrekant''s house, and started listing the farmergons who had agreed to visit. Zie set about including a sentence from the backstory of each, trying to make them all unique and promising. Not that zie had learned much from them... and for that matter, all zie knew about Farard was that Farard and Vrekant were affectionate with each other. Zie couldn''t well talk about Farard''s affectionate nature to Taisach. He''d get the wrong idea.


    After struggling with this list for half an hour and growing quite embarrassed, Aleicree brought the list to Vrekant and asked for his help. Together, they wrote a second, better letter to Taisach and Praoziu, using Vrekant''s familiarity with his customers to fill out the list the way Aleicree had intended for it to be. Hopefully, taking the opportunity to write out all these names would also help Aleicree remember them.


    So happy was Aleicree to collaborate on a letter with someone that zie overcame zir shyness enough to rub tails with Vrekant as they worked. He seemed to accept the gesture without pressure, comfortable in closeness with Aleicree.


    Zie got a brief letter in reply from Denziu. "It sounds like you''ve copied a fascinating book and I would have loved to have read it at any point in the last five decades," wrote Denziu, "But I think I''m moving on from that interest now. Bring it back to Denxalue and sell it to a local scribegon, would you? There should be a scribegon somewhere in Denxalue. The theome isn¡¯t entirely illiterate."

 The Storm

    On the eleventh day, a heavy rain hit the house of Vrekant.  There had been light rains throughout the week, but hardly anything worth noticing upon the scales of a dragon.  Then suddenly there was a rain that cut visibility with winds that made flight perilous.  The whole sky was frightfully dark.  Vrekant stayed home that day, and recommended that Limist and Azosta do likewise.  They refused, saying they needed to keep their contracts on schedule, since they weren''t going to be here long and had to finish everything up on time.


    When they had departed, Aleicree looked to Vrekant and asked, "How can weather like this happen if the weather is managed by windmages?"


    "I don''t know why," said Vrekant, standing near a window and listening to the heavy rain.  "I don''t know why," he repeated, "But overcontrolled weather occasionally breaks.  Too much magic in any theome causes occasional weather breaks, too."


    "I''ve only seen farmergons so far," said Aleicree.


    Vrekant said, "Sorjek is famous for its reckless use of magic.  The local land god encourages the local magic academies.  A lot of magic items are produced here.  They''re a major export.  The necromantic academy is particularly famed, they train ghosts.  Ghosts are like living magic."


    ¡°I really wonder what Dylori looked like inside of his core,¡± said Aleicree.


    Vrekant shook his head.  ¡°There¡¯s nothing to see.  Dylori¡¯s true form is invisible and intangible.  His core¡¯s interior is just full of oil and levers.¡±


    ¡°Why oil?¡± asked Aleicree.


    ¡°So the levers don¡¯t stick.¡±   Vrekant sighed and pulled over one of the roughspun cushions to sit down on it.  ¡°Anyways, I was saying about ghosts, they also cause weather breaks when they congregate.  The weather can get worse than this.  Sometimes necrotic decay rips through the theome on the wind, undeterred by physical objects."


    Aleicree leaned in, staring at Vrekant.  "How do dragons survive that?"


    "In small doses, necrotic decay only causes aches and pains.  A bit of withering.  It heals.  Idsemper - our land god - is doing his best."  Vrekant gave a wan smile.  "The worst losses are usually to perishable goods."


    "Is that why you only have what''s in season?" asked Aleicree.


    Vrekant looked up at zir with widened eyes.  "Well spotted," he said, smiling.  "That''s exactly it.  There was a necrotic windstorm a few days before your arrival.  The wind blew right through the walls without touching them, and everywhere things shrivelled."


    Aleicree pulled up another of the cushions and sat next to Vrekant, by the window.  "How is your garden intact?"


    "I rushed into the storm to meditate in my garden.  I went right out into the whirling blackness."  Vrekant tipped his head back.  "It worked, but my larder perished instead."


    "Would it be better to not have weather magic in this theome?"


    Vrekant waved a hand as though to bar the way.  "Certainly not.  The weather would break even more.  The real problem is the necromantic academy."  He sat up straighter.  "You know, Sorjek is just one of at least a dozen theomes in Kanjamund that has this problem."


    "Really?" Aleicree asked, taken by the thought.


    So Vrekant told zir of the others, and wove a tale of Kanjamund as the necromancer continent.  Although separated by great gulfs of water, the three islands of Kanjamund were similar in being covered in forests and mountains.  The forests here grew thick by the will of the land gods, and some of them were dangerous sacred forests that ate trespassers, like the legendary Keltia-Aneya on Tachamund, or as Nidrio once was.  In this isolation, a small and heavily magical population developed among mages travelling away from civilization.


    ¡°There are many geomancers here, though their presence is a mystery.  Why necromancers sought privacy is easier, for they are commonly opposed.  The three isles of Kanjamund thus became, collectively, the continent of necromancy. You''d think Kanjamund would tend to grow barren with destructive weather," continued Vrekant, "But the land gods in these isles put the forests back together rapidly when anything damages them."


    "You mentioned isolation, but Sorjek isn''t an isolated place," said Aleicree sceptically.  "This place is right on the trade routes.  It has a food surplus and it exports magic items everywhere in Theoma."


    Vrekant dipped his head.  "You''re right, of course, but Sorjek also has a large population.  There isn''t much undeveloped space in this theome.  The many dragons here may be even harder on Idsemper than the small, highly magical populations common in Kanjamund."


    Aleicree frowned.  "It''s really peculiar to hear Idsemper treated as less than omnipotent, you know.  That''s bizarre.  Is that just you, or is that common in this theome?"


    "I''ve never canvassed to see if my opinion is common," Vrekant said.  He got up again. "How have you been spending the days here?  I haven''t seen anything out of place while I''ve been away in the day."


    So Aleicree fetched out of zir travelling pouches the fresh copy of the farming manual and the mostly-complete copy of Sea Gods'' Laws.  Zie flipped to where zir copying of Sea Gods'' Laws ended and held the page open there towards Vrekant.  "I''ve been scribing," zie said.  "Copying books to sell them on, though I might be copying this one to keep it."


    Vrekant read the opened page, then gestured at the book to take it.  Aleicree relinquished it, and Vrekant skimmed through several pages.  "It''s a book about geomancy at sea," he said, handing it back.  "I can see how you''d be interested in that."


    "I borrowed it from a colleague aboard the Serene Chordalite."  Aleicree put the two books away in zir pouches again.  "I think I might finish it today, unless you mean to borrow me away."


    Vrekant stared out the window at the hard-falling rain.  "I... don''t know how to spend today," he admitted.  "I just knew from the weather that I''d be no use to my customers today unless the rain cleared up on its own."


    Aleicree joined Vrekant in staring out the window.  The rain was appealing to watch and to listen to.  The roof above them rattled with it.  Zie smiled as a memory from childhood occurred to zir. "You know, I did weather-magery before I even went to the windmage academy."


    "Did you?" Vrekant said, returning his attention to zir.  "That isn''t usually a skill one uses untrained."


    Aleicree held zir smile as zie met Vrekant''s gaze.  "Oh, I know!  It''s been so long since I thought about it, but I believe I was even considered ''a prodigy''.  I would just slip into deep trances, spreading my awareness through the sky, and the rain would fall on schedule."


    "Do you think you could do something about this storm?" Vrekant asked.


    "Surely I wouldn''t outshine the actual weathermage," Aleicree said, but now zie was on the verge of giggling.


    "Did you ever do paired meditation?"


    "I did some with Rhaokir - the temporary windmage hired to replace me while I''m out here - just before setting out to come here."  Aleicree took zir travelling pouches off entirely and got up from the cushion zie was sitting on.  "Want to see if we can break the storm together?"


    Aleicree dropped zir pouches in Vrekant''s living room, and then shrugged out of zir windmage uniform.  There was no need to get it all soaked in the storm.


    The two vashael paused a moment at the door to Vrekant''s house, and wove of their hesitance to go out into the pouring rain a small wind charm out of their amicus breezes.  The wind whirled about them though they still stood indoors, no longer two breezes but one shared.  It was a little proof that they could try what they intended.


    They stepped out the door, and their shared wind turned aside the rain.


    "How far out should we go?" asked Aleicree.


    "There''s a stone platform in my garden," answered Vrekant.


    They walked down the little path to the garden.  The stone was not dry underfoot; nor did their scales stay wholly dry under their allied wind.  The rain fell heavily about them.  The feral wind beyond their little bubble of relative dryness could not challenge them, but they could see its gusting in the trees on neighbouring properties.


    A flash of light preceded a crash of thunder, a sound rarely heard in theomes with controlled weather.


    They passed through the trellis gate into Vrekant''s garden.  It was a vegetable garden, all in rows.  Leafy greens grew up from the deep brown soil in bunches, half their row harvested already. Green bundles from the leafy crowns of radishes and carrots likewise stood in partially harvested rows. The slick, shiny leaves gleamed jewel-bright with the water falling on them, water that puddled and ran in little rivulets down the rows.  All around them there was a pat-pat-pat of rain falling and an earthy, living smell released from the moist soil.


    They walked down the path through the centre of the garden to a cleared circle of grey stone, slightly elevated and remarkably level.  The stone seemed exactly assembled with each piece fit flawlessly to each piece next to it.  Aleicree thought it seemed like vrash-work modified on the smallest scale by the touch of a vrash artisan intent on making the platform level and exact.  Stonework was often not complete until it had a vrash meditant-labourer to fix it.  Aleicree crouched low, running zir hands along the slick stone.


    "I assure you," joked Vrekant, "It will not fall out from under us."


    Aleicree looked at Vrekant.  Zie did not mind a bit of wet upon zir back and hands, and zir tail where it extended just a bit out of the bubble of diverting wind.  "We meditate to change the air.  Vrash meditate to change the earth.  Is it really different?"


    Vrekant looked at the stone circle under their feet a little more thoughtfully.  "The land gods gave us this insight into what it is like to have their powers, I think.  Just a taste, but in-born."


    "Then let''s see if we can be like Idsemper over this storm," Aleicree said.  Zie settled into place, laying on the stone platform next to Vrekant.


    Aleicree became the wind.  It was a tumult!  Gusting and chaotic, Aleicree''s expanding bubble of self was scoured with new airs sweeping through it constantly.  Zie gripped at the wind, channelled it, but could not quite stop its momentum.  The flow of the wind became zir world.


    To this world was added another presence, also gripping at the wind and channelling it.  Another bubble of self burgeoned up within the space where Aleicree was being the wind, and it also was the wind.  The tumult of the wind increased between them as they pulled in different directions and reacted in different ways to the great flowing gusts that moved through them.


    Both presences kept expanding, reaching towards the horizons and the clouds above.  Swiftly they raced, grasping everything, struggling for harmony between themselves.  Where the two agreed, the effect was greater than where they clashed.  They were not pulling separately on purpose.


    They first agreed with the flow of the wind, for there was an underlying regularity and direction that the winds were most inclined to take.  They sought this regularity and enforced it, quelling gusts and twists in the flow of the air.  From there, they started moderating it.  Now they were pulling together.


    The wind died in the garden.


    Across the city of Sorjek the wind started dying too.  The rain began to fall straight down.  The rain as well was Aleicree and Vrekant, albeit far less so.  It was so solid and swift that they could hardly touch it.  It moved through them bringing its chill to the air.


    They reached the clouds.  Here the tumult was greater.  Updrafts and downdrafts drove the moisture through the sky to form the raindrops.  Again they sought first to make regular the storm, calming chaos in the flow of the wind and water.  Vrekant was far superior at this.  Aleicree did zir best to follow along, pulling belatedly where Vrekant pulled, reinforcing flows that were already obvious.  Zie was once more a student.


    They brushed up against and then pressed through dozens of other presences in the sky.  By unspoken consensus the weathermages of Sorjek were working together to quell the storm.  The sky was a patchwork quilt of vashael spirits extending their utmost to find the patterns of the storm and own them in calm and dissolution.


    There was nothing so dramatic as a break in the clouds.  The sky was full of water.  The land god could have done more than the weathermages could.  The weathermages could not affect the water in any greater way without risking backlash on their spell.  What happened instead was that the storm became mild.  The clouds evened out.  The great piling weatherheads started collapsing into a thick sheet of clouds that kept right on drizzling, and which might drizzle for days as the upper level winds blew them onwards into new theomes.


    There was then a kind of conclave ethereal.  Three dozen weathermages had spread through all the sky to be the wind together, and the air trembled all over Sorjek with little wordless motions of agreement and disagreement between them.  Eventually new winds started blowing, a tremulous playing, some near the ground and some higher up.


    There were no words to this game, but they could all feel the curves of the upper cloud deck.  They whipped it up in frosting patterns and garden furrows, and shapes more abstract as well.  The wind became a dozen wild pencils doodling in the cloud deck and for a moment Aleicree thought they would start writing messages to each other, but no such sense emerged.  Were those shapes symbols?  Was there some hidden meaning to the patterns that were drawn with the wind on the clouds?


    All the shapes blew out swiftly from the turbulence of the play.  Wherever the playing with the wind created new cyclic patterns in the clouds that might have become new storm development, the consensus of the group stilled them.


    After a few minutes of this, individual presences started dropping out of the clouds as first one mage and then another decided the job was done and the playing was over.  Aleicree came back to zirself stunned by the game that had transpired when the storm was tamed.  Zie had never thought that weathermages could play together that way at all.  How often were the shapes in the clouds put there by creative weathermages?


    This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.


    Aleicree opened zir eyes to a grey, drizzly day with unchurned clouds from horizon to horizon.  It was safe, acceptable weather, but rather ugly from the ground.  The storm had been more beautiful.  This, however, was not going to damage anyone''s crops.


    Zie looked over to Vrekant.  "That was amazing," zie said.  "I''ve never participated in anything like that.  Doing this should be on the syllabus in wind magic academies!"


    Vrekant smiled to her.  He said, "It''d be an advanced course.  Every bit of dissonance threatens the trance."


    "I didn''t notice," said Aleicree.


    "Then you''re talented," said Vrekant, "But I can tell you''ve never worked a storm in company, because you put some strain on me at the start."


    Aleicree dipped zir head, abashed.  "I''m sorry."


    Vrekant beamed at her.  "Hey, no big deal.  Doing this together was amazing."


    The two of them nuzzled briefly in shared excitement.  It was an impulse.  Noses touched, cheeks rubbed.  Aleicree wasn''t sure who started first.  Zie felt a thrilling temptation to dip zir head and nuzzle under Vrekant''s chin, but zie felt that would be going too far.


    Would he forgive zir if zie kissed him?  Zie didn''t test it, but withdrew with a flush when the thought occurred.  Too much nuzzling, zie thought in embarrassment.


    "I suppose you need to go meet with farmergons now," zie said.


    Vrekant shook his head, and gave Aleicree an easy smile.  "The weather''s all the same across Sorjek right now, so there''s not a thing for me to do.  Some of my colleagues have ''gone to work'' for sure, but odds are they''ll just be pretending to do work while drawing in the clouds all day.  I''m off."


    The two of them stood and walked down the garden path again.  There was no strong rain to deflect, so they disentangled their amicus breezes from each other.


    "What are we going to do today?" asked Aleicree.


    The two reached the front door of Vrekant''s house.  Instead of going inside, Vrekant turned to face Aleicree again.  He said, "Why don''t I show you around Sorjek?  A third of your visit is gone and we haven''t had a chance to go into town together.  I feel I''ve been a bad host, working every day while you''ve been here."


    Aleicree glanced upwards.  "Were you counting on the land god to give you an excuse to stop?"


    "Nothing so disorga..." Vrekant trailed off, and then he shook his head.  "I kinda was.  The weather needs to be tweaked every day once you start controlling it.  Maybe the other weathermages and I should organise a local weather office so it''s easier to take a vacation every now and then."


    Aleicree nudged Vrekant with a wing and then stepped clear of him again.  "Let''s just take off.  I''ll follow you, and you can guide me down wherever there''s a landmark you want to show off."


    The two dragons leapt into the air.  Sorjek spread below them as they flapped for altitude.  Violet-scaled Vrekant took the lead.  His wings spread wide, Aleicree admired him in flight.


    Aleicree flew closer than strictly wise for following after, for zie couldn''t resist playing in the air.  The two gyred at turns; Aleicree overheard Vrekant laughing as he dipped to get some distance.


    It was a brief pursuit.  They were over the city already, and Vrekant dipped in a smoother turning descent over another building of notable design.  The fore half of the building was angular with a great peaked roof rising like a spike into the sky, while the back half of it was broad and rounded like half a barrel at titanic scale.  It was a bit more than three stories high with this peculiar shape and looked to be made of stout timber construction.  Rampant lion statues flanked the grand main entrance to the building, and there was a dragon statue seated on its hindquarters by the path to the door of it.


    An open stone square stood before it, and Vrekant landed there, so Aleicree did likewise.  They were next to a promenade street.  There were elegant lantern posts all up and down the street, and the other buildings here were decorated with stone inlays forming colourful abstract patterns on open stretches of wall.  There was a trace of horror vacui - the fear of negative space - in the complexity of the architecture.  The buildings were a mix of shops and private addresses, and it seemed like every address had its own elaborate lantern hung up by its door.  The street must have been ablaze with light in the evenings, though of course on this dreary midday in the grey drizzle falling from above all of these lanterns were currently off.


    Although Aleicree got distracted looking down the street, the building with the angular roof and the broad back was clearly Vrekant''s destination, and zie hurried to catch up when zie noticed he''d started to walk towards it.  "What is this place?" zie asked him.


    "This is our theatre," Vrekant said.  "They do shows nightly, and four-a-day on the weekends."


    "You could''ve been taking me here."  Aleicree butted zir head at Vrekant''s shoulder.


    "Ticket prices are high, and I''ll have to buy them for your friends, too," said Vrekant.  "Maybe once this month, I''ll bring the three of you to the theatre.  I need to mention it to Azosta and Limist as an option."


    Vrekant''s attentiveness to hosting all three of them was charming, but in this moment disappointing.  "So you''re not proposing we attend the theatre this evening?" said Aleicree, crestfallen.


    "I do live to a schedule," said Vrekant.  The three of them walked down the promenade, enjoying the complex designs on the buildings here.  Many of the buildings had fancy lintels and coiling plate traceries over their windows, though the shops favoured wide bay windows in which were set products to better advertise their wares.  The glass of the shop windows was made of great, clear plates that must have been quite expensive, while the homes often had little pieces of colourful translucent glasses in the spaces between their coiled traceries.  The designs were mostly monocolour glass, but the numerous small pieces showed the same construction principle as used in stained glass windows.


    "Being directly near the theatre must be to have a desirable address," Aleicree said.


    "Quite," said Vrekant, "Though I think it''s a waste of money for the private residences.  The shops here get quite a lot of foot traffic, but the private residences pay a lot for unusually noisy accommodations."


    Aleicree stopped walking and touched a wall.  "Look at the architecture here!  I doubt these buildings have thin walls."


    "That''s true," said Vrekant, stopping with Aleicree, "And the inhabitants can probably afford noise reduction.  Although I''ve heard silencing charms are predominantly necromantic."


    "Why would they be necromantic?" asked Aleicree.  The two continued down the promenade.  "It seems like the principle would be not so different from our own wind meditations."


    Vrekant shook his head.  "I don''t know," he said.  "It''s not my kind of magic, and I''ve been studying farm lore more than magic lore."


    Aleicree leaned on Vrekant playfully, slowing them both for a moment.  "Are you becoming a farmergon?"


    Vrekant laughed and danced away, leaving Aleicree to stagger as zie regained zir balance.  "Not by choice!" he said, "I''ve nothing to farm save a vegetable garden.  It''s just that''s what all my friends know, and I like them quite a bit."


    At the next intersection, Vrekant turned down another street.  The shops here still had nice bay windows and metal lanterns hung by their doors, but the walls were made of stout wooden timbers instead of stone.  The wealth level was just a little bit lower.  The street traffic seemed no lower here.  "Where are we going?" asked Aleicree.


    "Towards the beach," said Vrekant.


    "We''re going for a walk on the beach?  You are a romantic," said Aleicree happily.


    Vrekant laughed, and Aleicree got chills even before he spoke.  "It''s not like that," he said, and Aleicree''s heart fell.  "It''s just a beautiful beach.  If Limist and Azosta hadn''t insisted on going out to work today even in that awful storm, we could''ve all gone to the beach together."


    Aleicree had a ready reply, so zie used it.  "Well, I think they made the right call.  It wasn''t an awful storm for very long.  You dealt with it."  Privately however, the joy was out of the beach walk, and they hadn''t even seen the beach yet.


    A few dreary blocks later, they arrived by the beach.  The yellow sand extended along the waterside for block after block, and the street facing it was heavily developed.  It was a very urban sort of beach with all the businesses, but it was still beautiful.  There were sea-facing murals on many of the businesses, with clean hues of blue and white, and where there was no mural these were also the colours that the buildings themselves were painted, so that the whole stretch of the beach was a bright place.


    There were white stone mushrooms on the beach sprouting from square bases with nozzles on the underside of their caps.  They were just at the edge of the street.  Aleicree was drawn to one in surprise at seeing it.  "Is that a public shower?" zie asked Vrekant.


    "It is!" he said.


    "How expensive!  It''s free to use?"  Aleicree walked over to one of the shower buildings.  There was a turn-handle on the stone.  "Do dragons need that?  Is there something wrong with coming out of the sea smelling like water?"  The water does not smell bad, zie thought.  They weren''t even getting waterfront stink, for they were far from the piers here.


    Vrekant smiled at Aleicree.  He said, "I can try to come up with excuses.  I think salt is damaging to some materials, so perhaps wealthy visitors want to rinse off before going back to lounging on fine silks.  Perhaps having regularly showered locals is healthy for the area.  Perhaps there''s some stinging fish in the water and washing off heals the wounds it causes.  I''ve never needed the showers, but I''ve used them before.  Would you like to try it?"


    "Perhaps after a bit of playing in the tide.  Maybe I''ll find out why we need showers."


    The sand was bright, but it was damp with rain, so it was not too hot underfoot.  Aleicree took zir time walking to the water''s edge, dropping to all fours and pressing zir feet firmly into the damp sand so that the grainy stuff pressed up between zir toes.  The waves for their part crashed in and receded, crashed in and receded, rhythmic as can be.


    The beach wasn''t quite deserted, but it wasn''t populated very heavily.  The weather was ''bad'' for tourist activities.  Aleicree didn''t mind having the beach to zirself.  The water was still pretty, stretching out to the island only to the southwest.  To the south Aleicree could see across the Vendarian Sound to other theomes, and west zie could see across to a very large island.  The Sound was saltwater, but the waves of the Sound weren''t quite the waves of the ocean; they were sheltered from the full force of the sea.


    Unwarmed by the sun that day, the sea was cold about Aleicree''s feet, but zie splashed right in certain that zie would get used to it swiftly enough.  Zie was not actually a very good swimmer - seagons often weren''t, and winged dragons have quite too many limbs for it - so zie stuck to the shallows, but from there zie waved at Vrekant, who hung back and laughed from the near-dryness of the sands.


    Aleicree fell to all fours and grasped at the sand in the sea, feeling the waves lift and drop zir body, pushing and pulling, pulling zir from zir grip upon the loose sandy seafloor.  Zie got zir wings into it, and stepped along the beach soaking everything but zir head.  The waves lifted zir from the sand and deposited zir back again.  Finally zie squeezed zir eyes shut and ducked low, immersing zirself entirely in the water.  Only for a moment.  Zie popped back up again and splashed back towards the shore, laughing.


    Abruptly, a great surge in the water rose up next to zir, and as zie jumped back in surprise from the splash there was Vrekant joining zir in the water.  Aleicree laughed, then grrrarred and splashed back at him.  The two set to scooping up water at each other for a few more rounds of splashing, then Vrekant went out a little deeper into the water, leaving Aleicree behind in the shallows.


    He turned around seeming surprised when he realised zie hadn''t followed.  "Can''t you swim?"


    "Of course I can swim," said Aleicree, aghast.  "I just don''t want to.  Come on, what if the current drags me out to sea?"


    "Haven''t you magic for that?" called Vrekant.


    "No!  Have you?" asked Aleicree, now taken by curiosity.


    Vrekant swam back in, and stood again when the water grew shallow enough.  "No, admittedly I don''t," he said, "Though I''m not used to fearing that, and I rather thought a seagon would have a bit of sea magic."


    The two of them played together in the shallows after that.  They kicked up clouds of sand underwater with their feet and tails.  They immersed themselves and grasped at the sand to pluck up seashells and smooth rocks gleaming with the polishing of sand and sea.  Eventually, they went back to the shore.


    Trusting in Fate to protect his property, Vrekant had just doffed his pouches on the beach.  He went back to them and picked them up again.  Aleicree ran up the beach behind him as he was putting them back on.  "That won''t always work, you know," zie said.


    "Even when it fails, it''ll serve a greater purpose," said Vrekant.  "Come on, geomancy includes divination.  We can find stolen pouches and the local government will want to know who went stealing."


    "Even that won''t always work!" said Aleicree.  "There are charms against detection."


    "I''ll take the risk.  I''m not exactly carrying my life''s savings here."  Vrekant smiled at zir.  "You know, I would''ve brought you here sooner if I''d realised you enjoyed it.  I kind of thought you had enough of the sea for a while."


    "We don''t swim in it!" said Aleicree.  "We haul it up in buckets to bathe in it, but we don''t go swimming.  It isn''t safe in the open ocean, and a ship with full wind behind it will leave behind a swimmer frightfully fast.  We can''t take flight directly from the water."


    "Do you think you''ll come here more for the rest of your vacation?" asked Vrekant.


    "Oh, maybe once I finish copying Sea Gods'' Laws," Aleicree said.  "I''d planned to buy some third book at a scribegon and copy that as well, but I could spend some part of the month going to the beach."


    "If you can copy books, I''m sure you''ll have the attention span for a play," Vrekant said with a smile.


    The two of them made tracks in the beach, going up along the beach and watching other dragons playing in the sea or sand.  Eventually they reached another of the mushroom-shaped buildings with the nozzles under their caps.  Aleicree approached it and stood off to the side as zie reached in to turn one of the turn-handles on the stone central column of the thing.  One of the nozzles activated and began pouring down a steady rain.  What splashed on zir feet was cold, but Aleicree braced zirself, jumped in, and got under it.  It wasn''t terrible once zie got used to it.  When zie was done, zie finished off by making sure zir feet got rinsed as well, then turned the handle the other way to shut off the flow of water.


    "I''m surprised we don''t have to at least contribute to pumping it," said Aleicree.


    Vrekant pointed across the street at the nearest building.  It was fairly utilitarian in shape, just a boxy structure of white-painted brick, though it had one of those beach murals in colours of sand and blue to liven it up.  "That is a public pump-house," said Vrekant.  "Local businesses can hook up to it if they pay a fee to its operation, but the beach showers are free."


    "I''m surprised the pipes aren''t ever drained by dragons leaving the shower open."


    "Idsemper preserves us," said Vrekant with a grin.  "This may not be a model theome, but it''s still got an urban Fate.  Some things are very rare."


    Aleicree said, "Cities in Missing theomes can''t give away as much.  It''s a wonder dragons live in them."


    "It''s a wonder your Azosta doesn''t," pointed out Vrekant.  "Where the land gods are absentee, cities look however they must to accommodate the unmodified behaviour of the dragons who choose to live in them.  Azosta might be very pleased to someday study that.  I think he''d be happier in one of those than in Shibanyet."


    "Perhaps that was why Shibanyet rejected him," Aleicree mused.


    The two walked along the street as long as there was beach beside them.  It was a fair walk.  Untroubled by natural geography, Idsemper had created however much beach he wanted his city to have, and then guided the city to beautify it to this urban style.  They passed empty stretches of beach.  Perhaps it wasn¡¯t overcrowded even when the weather was excellent.  There was enough of it.


    When they ran out of beach, they found piers and fisheries that put up an unappetizing smell, so they turned and flew away in a blast of amicus breeze.  Returning to Vrekant''s house, they ate a modest lunch.  Vrekant broke out the board games again, and they were well-occupied for a few hours trading fictional goods along an abstract trade route on a wooden board.  This game was familiar in its theme and mechanics.


    "You know, I heard a legend," Vrekant said after a while.  "There''s a lot of dragons in Kanjamund who claim there were worlds before Theoma, did you know that?  Obviously, nobody has ever visited one, but supposedly they existed.  The legend I heard is that there was a divine principle known as The Knife on a prior world, and that world was consumed by dragons living and dying in violent conflicts.  But on Theoma, The Knife was shattered, so we have more merchants and little violence."


    "Mm.  I don''t know about all that.  It seems a bit strange to talk about worlds before Theoma.  If nothing remains of them, why does it matter that they existed?" Aleicree asked.


    "Didn''t you talk before of Praoziu summoning strange foods for family?  You promised a feast of them if we recruited visitors for you," Vrekant said, leaning over the table as he pushed a game piece in the far corner of the board.


    "That''s true," Aleicree mused.  "The land gods will have been from other worlds, then.  Some of them.  All of them?  Praoziu seems to be."


    "Those worlds are not so gone at all," Vrekant asserted.


    Aleicree laughed.  "No, I think they still are," zie said.


    They played in silence for a while.  Eventually, Aleicree asked,  "We have spent today on trivial pursuits.  Would it really have been less productive to spend the day drawing in the clouds?"


    "I think so," Vrekant said.  "We could not have talked, you know.  I''ve enjoyed our conversations today."


    "I have too," Aleicree said, and zie wished they were sitting next to each other rather than across the table playing a game.  Vrekant had denied romance, but zie still wanted to touch him.


    They played several rounds before Limist and Azosta got back from a day''s labour in the drizzling damp, but Aleicree didn''t think the question of who won mattered in the slightest.  No farmer visited that day, for which Aleicree was glad, though curious.  Was it not a planned thing at all?  Did they just visit each other at the least suggestion?

 Orisons

    The twelfth day of Aleicree''s visit to Sorjek was four days from the weekend, when the four would go back to the theatre.  It took only another two days for Aleicree to finish copying Sea Gods'' Laws.  The last part of the book described rituals supposedly intended for gaining the attention of the sea gods.  Unhelpfully, the rituals presumed the ability to survive underwater without breathing.  Aleicree wouldn''t be able to use them any time soon.  Zie also doubted the rites were truly universal.  Many land gods eschewed universal contact rites and responded only to custom rituals that they taught to very few dragons.  Why would the sea gods be any different?


    Vrekant kept dragging in his farmergon friends to eat dinner with them and they kept playing games from his collection.  Aleicree got better at the games.  Zie didn''t get better at the conversations with strangers.  Zir initial enthusiasm to help zir parents recruit for Nidrio was developing into a case of new dragon fatigue.  How could zie remember all these new dragons?


    Well, zie could take notes.


    In the third blank book that Aleicree had brought, zie recorded the names of all the farmergons that they''d talked to.  Zie retrieved zir copy of the letter zie''d sent to Taisach boasting of a few of them and wrote a little description of features of each dragon.  They were all vrash, but vrash could vary in their arrangement of horns and spikes, the presence or absence of barbels, their preferred armours, and of course their base scale colours, among other things.  The farmergon from the twelfth day, who opted against visiting Nidrio, was a purplish red dragon with four straight horns and a row of spikes all down her back and tail.


    That was the first farmergon Aleicree took notes of, which left Aleicree holding notes about someone who wasn''t visiting Nidrio at all.


    Aleicree intercepted Vrekant early the morning after that and asked about the farmergons who hadn''t come along as well, making the notebook a little more like a catalogue of the farmergons that Vrekant knew.  Why not?  These dragons knew each other.  A few more pages filled under Aleicree''s swift-flowing quill.


    It felt a little sacrilegious to use expensive paper and ink this way.  This wasn''t a book being written.  It was just notes that zie was taking.  Maybe it was okay.  These were notes about potential founders in Nidrio.  Maybe Aleicree could find out who the 21 dragons that Taisach had mentioned were, and add them to the book.  Maybe it could become a book being written... about Nidrio.


    Zie didn''t have a clear idea what zie was writing just yet.  For now, this blank book would fill with disorganised notes about dragons visiting Nidrio.  Zie could rearrange the material later by copying it into a new book, or to be thriftier at some risk to zir sanity zie could rearrange it by casting little transformation spells.


    The second evening that Aleicree took notes, the farmergon who attended with them was frozen silent through much of the evening.  When he spoke at all, he did so with a stammer, and seemed to be trying to say as little as he could without being rude.  Aleicree wrote down his name, but his title was ¡®the Quiet¡¯, and zie didn¡¯t think anything of him.  He gave zir nothing to record, and zie thought, This farmergon is not going with us.


    When Vrekant proposed the board game chest, the quiet farmergon surprised everyone in the room by pulling a fold-up board out of a travelling pouch and beginning to unfold it on the table.  ¡°L-let¡¯s play th-th-this one, please,¡± he said.


    Intrigued, there was a general nod of assent.


    It turned out to be a board of yellow-painted fields and grey-painted castles.  There were little pegs and holes in the board to mark territory, and there were big pegs carved into little vohntrai wielding swords.  When the farmergon had set the board up, he unfolded a piece of paper and handed it around the table mutely.  It came with instructions.


    It was a territory-taking game.  The pieces in the game were fighting over farmland.  The winner was whoever held the largest territory at the end of the game.


    Once they were set up around the table and had made their opening moves, the farmergon said, "If Theoma had famines, w-we might f-fight over food supplies, too."


    "What''s a famine?" Limist asked.


    "Ex-exactly," said the farmergon.


    Limist frowned.  "No, really.  What''s a famine?"


    The farmergon looked at Limist, that stammering anxiety visible in his eyes.  "O-oh, you don''t know.  A famine is a mass food shortage.  It''s... not something that happens in this world..."


    Limist asked, "Then how do we have a word for it?"


    "It''s, it''s not in, our language," said the farmergon, shrinking in his place at the table.  "It''s from a p-prior world."


    Vrekant nudged Aleicree with a wing.  "See?  They''re not all gone."


    Aleicree batted at Vrekant''s wing, and he withdrew his wing with a grin.  Zie said, "Of course we have words from prior worlds.  The land gods taught the first language to the primordials.  It''s not like we had to make up language all on our own."


    The primordials were the first dragons.  They were different from more recent dragons, tending to have smaller, simpler patterns that they got set in, leading to a stereotype that primordials spent centuries in the same job without promotion or change.  Teaching all the primordials the same language made it rock-steady across Theoma.  For better or for worse, they rarely changed the way they talked.


    Azosta moved one of the units on the wooden board for his turn, disrupting ownership of the painted map and necessitating a bunch of little pegs to be shifted around.  He asked the farmergon, "What do you know of prior worlds?"


    "I''ve heard..." the farmergon licked his lips.  "I''ve heard that a book of translations was found by an expedition to Axorus that found a few books in alien languages."


    "I''d love to find something like that," said Limist.  "I could buy a house with what that would fetch at auction."


    Aleicree said, "If you ever do, let me have it for a month first.  I''ll copy it!  Several times, for rarity''s sake."


    "Won''t be as rare after that," said Limist.


    "No, but more dragons will get to learn alien languages."  Aleicree smiled and raised a finger.  "It might even spark a community writing in those languages just because they can."


    "Eyes on the game, Allay," said Vrekant.


    Oops!  It was Aleicree''s turn.  Zie made a move just to keep the game going.  Winning was unlikely and not very interesting.  The conversation around the table appealed far more.


    Limist nudged the farmergon.  "Aren''t you just a basic labourer here?  Why do you know about expeditions to Axorus?"


    Since he might know something about magic, Aleicree decided it was time to stop thinking of this one as ''the farmergon'' and took another look at the vrash across the table.  His scales were a delicate pink, and he had a mask and stripes in grey.


    Zie had his name in zir notebook; he was Rhis the Quiet.  With a start, Aleicree realised that this was the necromancer Dylori had said zie should meet.  He¡¯d seemed so unassuming at dinner that zie hadn¡¯t noticed.


    Rhis said, "The dragons here are v-very nice.  Magic is stressful.  I find the farmwork r-relaxing."


    Vrekant leaned in.  "Are you a geomancer, then?"  Aleicree was surprised.  Wasn''t Vrekant familiar with all the local farmergons?


    But then, Rhis did seem pretty quiet.


    "N-necromancer," said Rhis, dipping his head.  "I probably shouldn''t go with you to...  to Nidrio.  Most land gods don''t like necromancers moving in."


    Limist laughed.  "Necromancer?  Why, you look perfectly lively!" he said.


    "I''ve been¡­ v-very careful.  I want to be a l-living necromancer."  Rhis stared at the game board as he spoke.


    Aleicree took more notes on Rhis.  He was the second necromancer zie''d ever met, with Dylori being the first.  By legend, necromancers were all reality-warping undead horrors rebelling against the land gods.  Dylori was definitely a reality-warping undead horror.  Rhis didn¡¯t seem to fit that mould.


    The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.


    "You might visit anyways," Aleicree offered.  "A careful necromancer who finds farmwork relaxing doesn''t sound like a bad kind of necromancer."


    "Let, let''s just play," said Rhis, making another move on the game board.


    Even though Rhis had surprised them all by presenting the game, his territory was middling by the end.  Vrekant won the game handily, while Azosta came in second.  Aleicree, having only been playing to be polite while having little interest in the game itself, did predictably awfully and was glad to see the game and all its little pegs packed up.


    Aleicree never got a clear yes or no answer from Rhis on whether or not he was going to go to Nidrio, but zie got a mumbling head shake when zie pressed the point, so zie marked him down for "probably not".


    Day 12 seemed like a bit of a bust.  Dylori¡¯s recommendation of Rhis came to nothing, Aleicree thought.  Rhis seemed harmless, but too shy to learn from.


    On the thirteenth day of Aleicree¡¯s visit, zie went over to 2 Tavanth Street and knocked right on the door.  Zie could hear clanking indoors, and after a minute passed zie knocked again, thinking zie might not have been heard over whatever machinery was being used inside.  The clanking neared the door, and a moment later Dylori¡¯s blue-white mechanical vashael suit pulled it open.


    ¡°Aleicree,¡± said Dylori.  ¡°To what do I owe the honour?¡±


    ¡°I met Rhis,¡± Aleicree said.  ¡°He¡¯s so shy!  But he talked, not of necromancy, but of prior worlds.¡±


    Dylori stepped back from the door, but still held it open.  ¡°Hold a moment, let¡¯s not talk on the threshold.  Would you like to see my home?¡±


    ¡°I¡¯d be fascinated!¡± Aleicree said, stepping through the door.


    Dylori¡¯s home was not a home.  There was a small seating area near the door, an office with a stout door leading off, a door for necessities with a marking upon it such as one might see in a business, and then an open floor full of machinery.  It was a rubber-floored space full of a shocking value in metal.  It was ugly.


    Some of the machinery had an obvious relevance to Dylori.  There looked to be two spare blue-shelled suits in different conditions of dismantlement, one splayed upon a counter, another erect but ripped open in an assembly station.  Other parts of the machinery didn¡¯t look so relevant.  There was a section of the workshop dedicated to a great stationary engine next to a hopper of coal.


    Aleicree¡¯s jaw dropped.  There was so much money being shown off here; Dylori was clearly wealthy.  At the same time, there was no taste or culture being shown.  It wasn¡¯t wealth in the ostentatious sense.  It was simply expensive.  The components must necessarily be of the finest make if Dylori worked on his own bodies here.


    Dylori looked at Aleicree for a moment, and then said with satisfaction, ¡°Nobody would dare steal from me.¡±  Aleicree wondered if he could read zir mind.


    ¡°Is¡­  Is this common for the most advanced necromancers?¡± Aleicree asked.


    Dylori laughed.  It was a great, hollow laugh again, indistinguishable from the last time zie¡¯d heard it.  It¡¯s being repeated somehow, zie thought.


    ¡°No,¡± said Dylori.  ¡°This is not, but it is my passion.  I would live in Wraquo where this is more common if only Wraquo were tolerant of ghosts.  I do well enough here instead.¡±


    ¡°May I..?¡± Aleicree took a step away from the seating area.


    Dylori clicked loudly.  ¡°Please stay in the entrance area.¡±


    Aleicree turned to face Dylori again.  ¡°I want to know more about your suit.  It¡¯s obvious you built it yourself.¡±


    Dylori stood tall with his arms folded.  ¡°Yes, but it¡¯s simpler than it looks.  I can reach intangibly through the machinery and shift the parts that way when I need to.  Still, I¡¯ve done my best to make the machinery real, and I spend my days researching better machinery.  I sell these suits, perhaps in a thousand years you¡¯ll buy one!¡±


    Aleicree leaned in.  ¡°Who buys them now?¡±


    ¡°Why, the ghosts of Sorjek.  Ghosts need some kind of insulation from the outside world, for everyone¡¯s safety.  Living in one of my suits is popular here.  I have five whole customers!¡±  Dylori burst into laughter.


    It was, again, the exact same sound.  I wasn¡¯t imagining it.  How uncanny, Aleicree thought.  Dylori¡¯s laughter was artificial.  Zie shrank from the possessed machine, and for a moment the conversation lapsed.  Dylori waited patiently for Aleicree to continue.


    Remembering what had brought zir here, Aleicree asked, ¡°What¡¯s your relationship with Rhis?¡±


    ¡°Oh, we¡¯ve talked a few times,¡± said Dylori in his hollow mechanical voice.  ¡°He¡¯s a long way from where I am, and he wants to see how far he can get without suffering undeath.  I sympathise, but it¡¯s too late for me.  What¡¯d you think of him?¡±


    ¡°He¡¯s interesting, but he mumbles when pressed.  I feel like I¡¯ll never see him again,¡± Aleicree said, grasping one of zir hands with the other.


    Dylori nodded with a bit of a groan of metal parts moving.  ¡°You need to fit into his research somehow, I think.  He really lights up if you can get him talking about magic.  Do you think you might know anything he won¡¯t?¡±


    Aleicree held zir palms out.  ¡°I don¡¯t know.¡±  Zie smiled.  ¡°I know I¡¯d love to see him ¡®really light up¡¯.  Maybe I can search for something at the local Library of Querent-Querent.  They have a section on magic, right?¡±


    ¡°I wouldn¡¯t know.  It¡¯s deeply impolite for me to go to a nexus of geomancers like that.  I imagine they¡¯d be sickened by all the Fate-warping that happens in my proximity.  So, I haven¡¯t been in a Library of Querent-Querent for a very, very long time.¡±  Dylori tapped his chin in a thinking pose.  ¡°Say, did you come here entirely to ask about Rhis?¡±


    ¡°I did,¡± admitted Aleicree.


    ¡°Well, that¡¯s fine.  I think you¡¯ve got the best answer you¡¯ll get, so I¡¯d like to get back to work now.  All of Theoma is astonishingly primitive compared to some of the prior worlds, and though our guiding principles have changed, a great many things still work.¡±


    Are you also primitive?  Aleicree wondered this about Dylori, but the question seemed impudent, so zie kept it to zirself.


    The visiting farmergon that evening was a bright-hued red-orange vrash, strong like an experienced labourer, with broad earfins and horns that curved around behind them.  Her name was Ardent, and she asked, "Are you copying down what I''m saying?"


    Aleicree froze for a moment, then lifted zir head from the notebook to look at Ardent again.  "Not exactly what you''re saying, but some of the sense of it."


    "Why are you doing that?" Ardent asked.


    Aleicree did zir best to smile at Ardent, but zie was nervous and thought it probably wasn''t a very good smile.  "W-well, I''m hoping you''ll move to Nidrio, and I''m taking notes on potential founders."


    Ardent''s eyes widened.  Her earfins splayed with interest.  "So this isn''t just a social event.  You''re hoping for settlers."


    Aleicree nodded.  "Nidrio is unpopulated right now, but Praoziu hopes to change that."  Forestalling a question, Aleicree added with a weak laugh, "Praoziu is my mother, the land god."


    "That''s quite a parentage!" said Ardent.


    Aleicree clammed up shyly.  Azosta rescued zir by saying, "Aleicree is humble about it, don''t worry.  Zie''s been a seagon for decades now, just working in a basic productive job."


    "Thank you," said Aleicree, smiling at Azosta.  Zie felt more relaxed.


    "I''m not really looking to move," said Ardent, glancing again at Aleicree''s notebook.  "Although I am excited to meet a land god.  I never have in all my years.  I didn''t do the geomancer thing.  It seems a bit impertinent to waste the time of such important beings."


    "Impertinent?" asked Aleicree.  "It might be impertinent."  Zie looked to Azosta.


    Azosta waved a hand over his plate.  "I don''t think their attention can be exhausted.  Not them.  They are omnipresent, you know."


    Limist said, "Really!  Isn''t that a standard geomancer opinion?  Since when do you have conventional attitudes?"  And he laughed heartily at that, his head back with it.


    Azosta shrugged and said, "Well, I don''t think they will ever end.  It''s the rest of us who might see the end of the world someday if we aren''t careful."


    Ardent sat up straighter.  Her plate was largely untouched, her meal forgotten.  "The end of the world?" she asked.  "You think the world will end someday?"


    "I think it has before and will again," said Azosta.  "I think magic does it in every time."


    "But the land gods are made of magic," protested Limist.


    Azosta just smiled, and Aleicree grinned at Ardent.  Zie gestured to him and said, "Meet Azosta the Endseer, who is going with us to Nidrio."


    "I think that secures it."  Ardent reared and clawed once at the air.  "I''ll at least attend!"


    Aleicree wrote in zir notebook of Ardent, "Not a geomancer, but enthusiastic about geomantic lore.  She denies interest in moving, but I think we may have found a settler.  Perhaps she would like to study geomancy under Praoziu.  Perhaps she would like to live simply while having Azosta as a neighbour.  I am no diviner who can say this with confidence, but I think Azosta will join us, and that Azosta and Ardent will enjoy each others'' company."


    The flicking speed of the lev-i-quill kept Aleicree in the conversation, which flowed around familiar terrain as Azosta spoke of his peculiar anti-magic ideas.  Limist grumbled at yet another encounter dominated by Azosta, but he''d heard these things and been fascinated well enough on other occasions, so he contributed as well.  And it was mage-lore of a kind that neither Aleicree nor Vrekant were familiar with, so they were attentive listeners, as was Ardent.  When at length Azosta said he was "a student of dissolution," there was a ripple of laughter at the table and Aleicree decided to open a page of notes for Azosta as another founder of Nidrio.


    "Theoma has lasted a thousand years, but we will be lucky if Theoma lasts another thousand years.  Sometimes I think we are in the final century, and nobody will write the story of the world''s collapse back into primordius," Azosta said, and Aleicree copied the words verbatim as a quote in his page.


    "You are going to live with us, and I will make sure Praoziu shows you that you are wrong," said Aleicree, leaning towards Azosta.


    They didn''t play a game that night, but conversation about mystic nonsense occupied the five of them until an apologetic Ardent said that she wasn''t looking forward to a trip home in darkness, but they had bought one for her with their conversation.  "I should at least get going before it becomes a sleepy trip home in darkness," she said.


    ¡°No, by all means,¡± interrupted Vrekant.  ¡°I have many rooms and you¡¯re welcome to take your night here.¡±


    So they talked a little while longer, and Ardent bedded down in Vrekant¡¯s house overnight.

 The Broken Lore

    Aleicree slept soundly that night and dreamed of a steel staircase. Zie looked closely at the steps, was drawn to look closely at the steps, could hardly ascend without examining every step in detail, and zie saw that every step was completely made of broken knives. The knife fragments fit together perfectly, and no sharp edges were exposed upon the stair, so that it was cold but safe under Aleicree''s feet.


    Zie woke with a sense of lingering chill, and the world seemed darker. It was some strange illusion, and it reminded zir of the faith of the Uttermost Dark. Was this feeling sacred to them? Did they have such clinging, dark dreams?


    With a shake of zir body, zie let go of the thought, and pulled on zir customary windmage uniform to face the day. It was the fourteenth day of zir stay. Zie was marking the days now, looking forward to the sixteenth day when they would go to the theatre. In years of shuttling back and forth on the Serene Chordalite, and in years of attending at academy before that, and in a muddy childhood in impoverished Denxalue, Aleicree had never been to a theatre play before. Zie knew they acted out stories. Zie looked forward to it as a very new thing, and wondered at Vrekant describing it as fit to the nature of a scribegon.


    Aleicree was used to the regularity of constant work. The Serene Chordalite had an unstoppable progression that demanded daily attention to the wind meditations. Scribing books burned away hours and yielded valuable possessions if pursued regularly. These were isolated endeavours. There was a rift between Aleicree and all others. Surely zie was who zie was, and should continue? It was a question, not a confidence.


    The next morning at breakfast, Aleicree said, "I''m feeling overwhelmed with the success we''ve had in recruiting visitors to Nidrio. Do you know thirty farmergons for thirty days?"


    "More, but by chance we''ve missed two significant others already, and I think this''ll be a crowded table the day we meet Fiata the Fireheart, who has two paramours." Vrekant smiled and gestured across the table. "Just keep writing letters to Taisach. There''ll be time to get replies, and to update our plans if he''s not ready to play host."


    "I''m sure he will be, I''m more worried about the trip there," said Aleicree. "What a flock we''ll be! Will we be overwhelming accommodations on the way?"


    "No harm in a night spent sleeping under the stars," said Limist.


    "Am I going to have to pay for everyone''s trip?" asked Aleicree. "I don''t want to buy meals for two dozen dragons."


    Vrekant shook his head. "I think, if you''re feeling overwhelmed, warning dragons that they''ll be on the hook for food and expenses may shave a few visitors off and save your funds, too."


    Despite zir complaint, Aleicree quietly wondered about the purpose of zir decades of savings. All those years of going back and forth with the Serene Chordalite had left zir wages accruing, and the fact that zir hobbies earned more than they cost only made the ''problem'' worse. Aleicree didn''t know what to do with that money. It was just... saved. Someday, zie supposed, zie would be glad to be a dragon with a hoard of gold.


    When they had finished breakfast, Aleicree walked ''round the table to approach Vrekant. "May I have the key today?" zie asked. "I would like to go into town."


    "Be back before I am," Vrekant said, frowning. "I don''t want to be locked out of my own home."


    "I''ll return in the early afternoon," Aleicree promised, and Vrekant walked off briefly. He returned with the key in hand.


    Once everyone else had gone off to work, Aleicree set out into the city of Sorjek. Although zie knew where zie intended to go, zie walked rather than flew, deciding to get acquainted with the city streets. The streets near Tavanth Street were residential. Houses reared up over good-sized lawns or were hidden under small forests of trees. Some were stout timber and some were stone. Many reared up two stories tall. Others like Vrekant''s house were lightweight constructions only a single story tall, and some of those were quite small. They were in various colours and mostly quite beautiful.


    Aleicree thought about the worth of houses. Zie could buy one. Did zie want a permanent address? What would zie do with zir life if not being a seagon? Become a scribegon? A weather-mage? Those were the professions zie thought zie could get into without retraining. If zie did anything in Nidrio, Praoziu would never see Aleicree impoverished by buying a house. Likely Praoziu would never see Aleicree impoverished at all. Was that unfair?


    Poverty was pretty rare. Ugliness and misery were two things most land gods tried to minimise within their theomes. Even when dragons did poorly, they moved to somewhere they could do better. The plans of the land gods incorporated everyone who came to them, so nobody had to be stuck being surplus and unwanted.


    Usually.


    It''d happened to Azosta and Limist, hadn''t it?


    Did the planning of the land gods extend so far that they even planned for dragons to emigrate from their theomes? Aleicree wished zie were a better geomancer who knew more of the mysteries of the world zie lived in.


    Zir feet had carried zir into a commercial district. Unwittingly, zie had been walking towards Tirivolt''s. Zie decided to stop in for another steak and liver pie. It was early, so the place was abandoned. Aleicree walked right up to the yellow izerah behind the counter. "Am I your first customer?" zie asked.


    "Not quite," he said with a smile. "There''s a couple who like to start their days with a bowl of my soup sometimes, and they were by right as I opened the door. What can I get for you?"


    "Another steak and liver pie, and more directions."


    He disappeared briefly into the kitchen and came back holding a pie. He handed it to Aleicree and asked, "Where are you trying to go?"


    Aleicree asked, "How would you get from here to the Temple of Querent-Querent?"


    Tirivolt regarded zir with that great smile of his. "Oho!" he said. "Looking to get an izerah''s eye view of the city, are you? Walk a mile in my claws?"


    "I never could," zie said. "Izerah are tireless. That''s not a small gift."


    Tirivolt looked solemn for a moment. "We cannot fly. That is not a small loss." He brightened up. "Don''t worry about that though, of course I''ll tell you how to get to the Temple of Querent-Querent! It''s very centrally-located, you only have to cross half the city from anywhere, haha."


    As Aleicree savoured the steak and liver pie in small bites, Tirivolt recited a list of street names to watch for.


    "Thank you," zie said when he finished, then chomped down the last of the hand pie and reached into zir pouches to draw out coin to pay for it.


    A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.


    Zie was on zir way in moments, ready for a more ambitious walk across Sorjek. There were gaps between the buildings and the lots occasionally had trees in them, but this faded as zie went on towards the city centre. The buildings got taller and started to run together, taking up all available space, leaving straight main roads and little alleyways. Peering down some of the alleyways, Aleicree could see that there were businesses which opened onto some of them, as well. It would take far more than a few days to explore the whole of Sorjek. Zie expected that zie never would.


    Aleicree passed no parks or statues, but zie did see some sign of urban beautification. Mostly there were murals on the walls. Some of them were ugly, but all of them were vibrant. One that really stood out to Aleicree was a fox-headed biped in a robe who stood overlooking a snowy cliff view that sprawled across a wall. It looked like a cold, out of place image with its blue palette of ice and sky, but it was a well-rendered and memorable mural, so zie suspected it was good for the businesses established near it. Doubtless "near that icy mural with the robed fox" could be useful when giving directions or asking for them.


    As for the businesses themselves, there were accessory shops, eateries, spicegons, tool shops. Aleicree saw a hatgon, a scribegon, a pipegon, and that last zie wondered: if zie told Limist about it, would the pipegon be a supplier or a competitor? There were countless businesses in every city, so that Aleicree wondered if the land gods loved commerce and blessed the merchants. Was it important to them to have their cities full of goods?


    Where''d all the trash go? Some whimsical part of Aleicree''s thoughts mused about that. All these goods competed for space, and they all eventually broke or became unwanted. Zie hadn''t spotted a city dump from the air in zir overflights of Sorjek. What did the land gods do with trash? That was a bigger mystery of the city than why someone had painted a fox in a robe.


    If Praoziu was an inexperienced land god, how would Praoziu solve trash? She would need to. Would she just zap it all away, unsummoning things once they were no longer desirable? Could there be a better answer? Maybe it mattered that Aleicree thought about these things. No! Surely not. Aleicree wasn''t going to go from seagon to city planner. Anyways, how could unsummoning trash be beaten for an answer? Send the unwanted stuff back to raw energy. That was probably what all the land gods did.


    Aleicree stared at the buildings as they grew taller around zirself, but zie wasn''t seeing them, nor the other dragons on the streets. Zie had abruptly remembered Missing Meteorology, still one of the most memorable textbooks from the wind magic academy. It wasn''t anything from the book itself that brought it to mind. It was just a serious study of a phenomenon in a Missing theome where there was very little magic. Life went on where magic stopped. There were whole cities in Missing theomes. They almost certainly couldn''t unsummon trash. There was a landfill zone in Relny, not far from Zyrine.


    Praoziu needed help in finding out the ways that theomes ran, Aleicree decided. If Nidrio was going to get off the ground, someone needed to be Praoziu''s geomancer. She needed a geomancer other than Taisach, who was all too happy tending a garden next to a fine house. She needed a geomancer more like Azosta, who saw the toils of life as necessary for life to be fulfilling. If Praoziu made life in Nidrio too easy, it''d remain underpopulated forever. Dragons didn''t want to be living in a fanciful world where everything necessary was summoned in.


    To really lure in settlers, mom needed to make life hard.


    Aleicree was still thinking about this as zie came upon the giant stone structure of the Temple-Library of Querent-Querent. It reared up over the street, occupying a whole city block. This time Aleicree approached while looking up on it from street level rather than down on it from above.


    With a wave at the rounded square of information desks, Aleicree bypassed them. Zie had time to kill and wanted to learn the library zirself. Zie was literate. How hard could it be? The mahogany shelves beckoned.


    Browsing the shelves that day went nowhere fast. Aleicree was looking for books that would be of interest to Rhis, or else that would be of interest in city planning. Neither was really what the libraries of Querent-Querent were for. They were for promoting trade and travel between theomes. There were a whole lot of books about what was produced where. Historic records on the prices of goods were available for many goods in many theomes. Valuable information for sure, but hard to augur city planning information out of.


    There was also a lot of ink shed in these tomes for the question of what amenities were available for travellers and what local appeals might draw a traveller to see them. Aleicree scoffed at the books. How unfathomably trivial! Querent-Querent must commission them, for zie couldn''t imagine that they would exist otherwise. Books were expensive. Why did the land gods want shelf after shelf of trivial books to be maintained by Querent-Querent?


    Searching alone grew frustrating. There were five floors of books across a vast footprint! Querent-Querent was a creation of the land gods. Their libraries were the fruit of a thousand years of authorship!


    A blue dragon behind the counter at the information desks told Aleicree, "We don''t have anything on how cities are organised, but we do have some esoterica that might help you understand the land god''s perspective. It''s less central to our purpose; we keep it on the top floor."


    So Aleicree walked up several flights of stairs, first departing up the grand open stairs behind the information desks to reach the second floor, and then going past aisles of shelves for the smaller stairs that went up the outer wall. When zie reached the top floor, zie went first for the centre of the room again. The information desk had a great open space above it, so that from every other floor it was possible to look down on the information desks in the middle of the first floor. It was a grand view with dragons going hither and yon over the red carpets of the temple, many of them carrying books.


    Five stories up, zie wondered if wingless dragons found this kind of view frightening.


    Aleicree went back into the stacks. The books up here were more interesting, if only because they were more strange. They were organised into schools of thought with names that Aleicree didn''t know. The sections of the fifth floor of the library in Sorjek were Chime, Weld, Rift, Dissolution, Garden, Chains, and Hydra.


    Aleicree had no idea which of these would help Rhis or Praoziu, though zie recalled that Azosta had recently called himself ¡°a student of Dissolution.¡±


    Trekking five floors back down to talk to the information desk was a distinct possibility, but zie decided to start by plucking a book from a nearby shelf. As it happened, the nearest section was Hydra, and the book was titled The Flight of Lodran. The legacy page inside said it had been authored in the year 926 by Audran the Unsimple. Reading a few pages revealed fiction from the point of view of one Lodran the Mired, and flipping ahead through the book revealed chapter after chapter of that fiction.


    This was a book on geomancy?


    Zie put it back, walked down the aisle, and picked up another one. Dreams of Division, also a book in the ''Hydra'' section. Written in 783 by Frellen the Restless. This one had a table of contents. Each chapter was a different dream. Aleicree was intrigued, but not impressed. What could be learned by reading about someone else''s dreams?


    Zir mind flickered to the memorable dream zie''d had the night before. It was unusual for zir to remember dreams. Was this Fate warning zir to study this book? If zie were in Shibanyet, zie''d really think so. In Sorjek, Fate was less tuned, and dreams were probably just dreams.


    Zie put the dream journal back, and walked back to the index. Picking a section at random, zie sought out the Rift section. Running a taloned finger along the spines, zie read the titles. Crime of the Silent Tourists, The Daughters of the World that Was, Dark Shadow, Death of the Horned Lynx. None of them meant anything to Aleicree. Then zie stopped, suddenly breathless, as zir finger landed on The Ascent of Shattered Knives.


    The dream!


    Aleicree grabbed the book and started down the stairs to the front desk. Dreams could definitely be Fated. Even if the theome was Fated lightly, zie might have come to someone''s attention. Zie didn''t know Idsemper of Sorjek''s predilections, but it didn''t have to be Idsemper''s attention that zie came to. The land gods negotiated Fate at long distance. The dream could have come from a distant deity.


    Registering the loan of the book, Aleicree took it away from the library and went out into the streets to walk several blocks back to the scribe zie had noticed along the way. One more blank book was acquired. If zie were Fated to read this book, zie should copy it.


    Any other dragon would have spent a vacation at the beach. Aleicree spent it with a lev-i-quill.

 Theatre

    The next four farmergons came in pairs on the fourteenth and fifteenth day. One of them was Steinack, who claimed to be ¡°old but not a primordial¡± and who held up the conversation solo with talk of his prior careers. The other three were dour dragons who refused to countenance travel, leading to the surprise outcome of Steinack signing up without his mate. Aleicree was secretly relieved that their flock of travelling dragons hadn''t grown even larger. The return trip was going to be exhausting for a reason entirely apart from flying all day. All these dinners with strangers pushed zir tolerance as it was, though Aleicree continued recording their names, descriptions, and something of their interests in zir notes about this trip.


    Denziu kept notes of zir journeys, zie thought. Now zie was doing it. Their family would be richer if the price of paper went down.


    The Ascent of Shattered Knives beckoned during the day. It was hard to classify as fiction or nonfiction. It didn''t claim to be fiction or write with a narrative, but it described somewhere that was clearly not on Theoma. It described a place where dragons lived "like animals in the wilderness" amidst "the ruins of less glorious worlds". "No paths can be charted there, but some places can be found nonetheless."


    The path to the Ascent was found by running from conflict with other dragons. It was found by hiding and cowardice, as well as by cunning unbefitting the wilderness. Attempting to build among the ruins could find it, but only in the aftermath of failure. There were no literal paths in the wilderness the book described, but there were paths of thought.


    Before the Ascent, there were other places described earlier in the book. They were all very fanciful. Aleicree was pretty sure zie was transcribing a work of fiction. Zie persisted. The land gods had sent zir a dream indicating this book held some importance, and zie was determined to extract whatever value it had for zir.


    Was this how Querent-Querent had so many books?


    It was a strange book. If not for that dream of climbing a staircase made of broken knives, Aleicree would never have stuck with this work, nor suspected it of magical significance.


    On the morning of the sixteenth day, Limist and Azosta stayed home, while Vrekant flew out only briefly and then returned to find Azosta, Limist, and Aleicree playing again that board game about merchant trading. Vrekant went out to work in his garden.


    When they were done with the board game, Aleicree pouched zir blank book and zir copy of The Ascent of Shattered Knives. Transcribing a book during a play would be a decent, quiet fallback in case it wasn''t very fun to watch after all. Then zie went out to fetch Vrekant from the garden, and the four of them flew into town.


    They didn''t go directly for the theatre as Aleicree expected, but rather Vrekant directed them to the beach! The weather was finer that day and there were many dragons out on the beach, though there was such an amount of beach that it still was not packed.


    They went to the mushroom-shaped structures with the shower nozzles under their caps. They were in use by other dragons, and Vrekant had them stand in line. While the group waited, he said, "The theatre is two hours in close proximity with strangers. Taking a shower before attending is polite, and the facilities here are free."


    "Are any of these attending the theatre?" Limist asked, gesturing at the three dragons in line and the four under the nozzles.


    "They might be," said Vrekant.


    Most of the group were wearing only pouches, but Aleicree had to doff zir entire windmage uniform to shower. Zie left Vrekant holding it and braved the cold water from the spout. Brr! It was even worse to go from being dry to being doused in cold water. Zie hadn''t already gotten used to the ocean this time.


    Zie wasn''t afraid to put the windmage uniform back on while still wet (zie wore it during bad weather too, after all) so zie got redressed again immediately. "I felt the weight of books in these," said Vrekant while handing the pouches back. "Reading is also impolite in the theatre, though you''re apt to get away with it."


    "I''m sorry," said Aleicree, smiling weakly at Vrekant. "I just don''t know what to expect from the performance."


    "Neither do I. It took me this long to think about attending. I don''t follow their schedule."


    The group set off through the air, and were shortly landing outside the theatre. Aleicree fretted all through the flight. Would zie enjoy the play? Could zie? Zir brain felt full of worries and dreams alike. The book that zie was reading and puzzling over seemed more pressing than a play. At least in theory the book was supposed to teach something of magic. What was the good of a play? Would zie learn more by studying the play, or the book?


    Aleicree had never even heard anything of plays, and as they went inside with Vrekant handling the ticket-seller in their booth, Aleicree nearly despaired of reading. For it was a dark building, though clean and elegant, reminding zir of visits to the Temples of Uttermost Dark. Zie hadn''t been in one since childhood, but they had been like this building, with winedark carpets and black-painted walls. The walls were too close for that they were hardly alone, but a crowd of dragons hemmed them in as they went deeper into the dark, fine theatre building.


    They came out into a much larger space. The back half of the theatre building reared up before them. What had been a great titanic barrel seen from outside was a vast open space seen from inside. Three stories of cushioned seating places were arranged in ascending bleachers around a stage. Nearly half the places had dragons in them, vrash and vashael reclining on their haunches with their tails curled around inconspicuously. A few places had izerah standing on the cushions. Aleicree saw two swaivshon in the rows, sitting next to each other and nestled into one another''s fluff. Zie saw a single kalla, leaning against the side of a vrash and looking out of place.


    All or nearly all of the other dragons were in groups. Aleicree could tell. They were talking to each other, sometimes touching each other, and the whole theatre was a hubbub of conversation with dragons still pouring in and percolating down the aisles. There was too much noise.


    Aleicree, Vrekant, Limist, and Azosta took up four seating places in a row, sitting rather high up in the stands for that they had not arrived before half the crowd. They sat in that order, with Aleicree at one end and Azosta at the other. The four turned towards each other. Aleicree asked, "How will we hear the performance over this much chatter?"


    Said Azosta, "They''ll all go silent, don''t worry."


    Limist asked, "You''ve never been to the theatre, then?"


    "Not once," replied Aleicree. "Why do dragons attend the theatre?"


    Vrekant said, "Better question. Why do dragons write plays?"


    Limist said, "To make dragons laugh."


    Vrekant grinned like someone had taken the bait. "Broader. To make dragons feel," he said. "But there are other reasons, anyone else want to guess?"


    Azosta said, "Many plays are instructive. They''re meant to influence."


    Vrekant said, "Like morality plays. Not usually the best watching, but I can''t say I didn''t bring you to one. Nor that I did. I don''t know this play."


    "What is the play called?" asked Aleicree.


    "It''s called The Whisper in the Forest," said Vrekant.


    The entering crowds turned from a pour to a trickle. It would''ve been nice if that meant the play started at once, but it didn''t. The many conversations that filled the space continued.


    "How long will we wait?" asked Aleicree.


    Vrekant sought Aleicree''s tail with his own. He seemed to regard this gesture casually, but it still set zir heart aflutter. "I''m not sure," he said, "I don''t know exactly the time, and they might not start just at the moment. Shouldn''t be too long though, I think when they see most of the theatre is full they may even start a touch early."


    Several boring minutes stretched. The air in the crowded theatre stands was stifling. There was too much background noise for conversation. Talking in public places was like this; when thousands of other dragons tried to talk in the same room, it was futile.


    Two dragons stepped onto the stage. The whole place was still loud, and Aleicree wondered if the performance was starting, but then zie watched as boards painted with trees and bushes were wheeled onto the stage and set up there. Around the theatre, it got a little quieter as others saw the stage being set.


    The two dragons finished setting the stage and stepped off.


    Then, the lighting changed. The stage brightened while all else dimmed. All the conversations fell to a swift-spreading hush.


    The first actorgon stepped onto the stage, his blue scales twinkling sapphire in the light. He recited a poem of love in a powerful voice.


    Another actorgon stepped onto the stage. His green scales too light a hue, so that they washed out in the stagelight, but he answered with two couplets in a beautiful voice. He accepted the love poem with wit and rhyme. The two briefly danced together.


    This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.


    It was a love story. The blue one''s name was Alesh. The green one''s name was Enquo.


    There was a brief darkness as "the forest" boards were wheeled out and new boards were wheeled in to set a different scene.


    In successive scenes, it became a strangling love story. As more characters were introduced, the two lovers from the intro stayed together, but they interfered with each other. Their passions were in different directions, but their lives were entangled. They destroyed each others'' ambitions while the theatre watched, hanging on every word.


    Much of it was poetry. Aleicree had never heard so many lines of poetry performed. Had Vrekant imagined something like this from Aleicree''s writing poems about the sea? Aleicree could never have performed anything like these duelling poems on stage.


    Through all of this, Vrekant''s tail stayed looped over Aleicree''s, pulling zir in next to him just a bit. The touch flushed zir, despite that the play seemed a tale of love gone poorly.


    Eventually, there was an intermission. The stage lights went down and the room lights went up. Aleicree was baffled by the lighting; there were no visible lanterns. The building must have a powerful spell to achieve such sourceless light. With the room lighting up again, there was a burst of applause from the audience and a rising noise of chatter in the stands.


    Vrekant touched Aleicree''s shoulder, drawing zir to look at him, and he asked, "So, how are you liking your first play?"


    "Will Enquo and Alesh reconcile?" asked Aleicree. "They seemed adorable together in the opening scene, but now they argue instead of dancing."


    "I haven''t seen it," reminded Vrekant.


    Limist spoke up from past Vrekant, saying, "I''ve realised that I have, but I won''t spoil it."


    A concession seller pushed a wheeled cart down the aisles hawking hand pies during the intermission. They were an easy, clean-enough food that wouldn''t leave much debris under the seats. Aleicree tuned out the concession seller and was about to ask Limist a question when Limist shouted, "Hoi! Bring those over here!"


    Too used to skipping meals on the Serene Chordalite, Aleicree wasn''t hungry, and passed on the hand pies. The other three took one each.


    "Limist," said Aleicree, leaning to speak around Vrekant. "You said plays were to make dragons laugh, but I haven''t heard a titter from this one."


    "Oh well, they''re not ALL to make dragons laugh. Comedies are just popular. Like lampoons in text, I''m sure a good scribegon like you knows how well those sell!" He laughed, but Aleicree grimaced. Yes, zie did know how well lampoons sold. Waste of paper...


    Azosta was watching Aleicree''s expression and noticed zir grimace. "We need a better class of popular text," he said. "Every lampoon ridicules something. It isn''t healthy to fill our homes with ridicule, I think. Like it isn''t healthy to get everything done with magic."


    Vrekant smiled brightly. "Come now, you three have been missing out on the best texts. What Do Your Scales Say About Your Soul shows up everywhere on Kanjamund, and that isn''t ridiculing anyone," he said.


    Aleicree flashed a disbelieving look at Vrekant. "That book-"


    Vrekant stilled Aleicree''s reply with a raised hand as the lighting changed. Darkened rows, brightened stage. The next act was starting.


    The forest setting showed up again many times in the next act. Alesh had grown discontented, and drew them back to the forest. The two of them danced again, hesitantly at first, with more halting love poems performed.


    After that, they spoke of ambition. Instead of seeking at odds, they negotiated... in rhymes. At first, they finished each others'' rhymes and seemed renewed to each other, but as the dialogues went on they developed in different ways again. Alesh was ambitious and spoke of glory. Enquo was overwhelmed and his replies grew halting again. Enquo drooped upon the stage; Alesh grew agitated.


    Departing from each other, Enquo said without rhyme, "At least we have this forest. The wood binds us."


    The scene changed. They spoke to other characters again, conferring separately for advice about what to do with their love lives.


    "That forest I have grown to hate," cried Alesh to a confidante. "I feel it lives upon my Fate. What binding strain has come of love? This challenge I would break free of!"


    "My sorrow has to him no force," Enquo said to one of his friends. "To live in that forest seems my last recourse." If the forest alone was a space where Enquo and Alesh could love each other, his friend proposed that Enquo become a forest scholargon, modifying his ambitions to build a life with Alesh.


    The two lovers met again in the forest. Swelled with confidence, Enquo spoke of his new desire, and swore against interfering with Alesh''s glories if only Alesh would visit often to Enquo''s forest dwelling. Far from being happy, Alesh strained with dismay, trembling back from Enquo and muttering - it was supposed to be muttering, though the actorgon''s voice was great enough to carry - muttering against Enquo in dismay and horror.


    They departed from each other and for a moment all the lights dimmed, but then they rose up again with Alesh upon the stage. "I will not be chained!" cried out the blue dragon, and then there was a collective gasp in the audience with dragons rising to their feet in shock, for Alesh after that proclamation breathed fire upon the backdrop. The boards with trees and shrubberies painted on them burned upon the stage!


    The lights went down, leaving only the burning "forest" on the stage. They burned enthusiastically in the semi-darkness of the theatre, crackling in the quiet of an audience who were either shocked or grinning at the shock of those who hadn''t known the effect was coming.


    The lights came back up, and one of the stagegons came out bearing a blanket with which to knock down and smother the burning boards. The audience rose in applause while the fire was being smothered.


    When the fire was out, the whole cast came out and most of the applause quieted. First one then another of the actorgons stood upon the leading edge of the stage to bow to the audience, their names given by "Alesh" in that dragon''s powerful voice. There was a burst of applause for every actorgon. Finally, Alesh''s actorgon stood in the middle himself, called his own name, and gave his own bow.


    The applause surged anew as the cast all bowed and started to file off the stage. When they''d all cleared, a stagegon came out to haul away the burnt props, and another followed after with a broom to clear the ash. The crowd started to file out of the theatre at this point, leaving the rows and heading out for the street. When the path opened, the four left with everyone else.


    They couldn''t have talked in the loud theatre itself, but as soon as they were out Vrekant nudged Aleicree. "How was it?" He grinned.


    "I''ve never heard that much poetry recited in my life," said Aleicree. "They really worked to try to make every line alluring."


    Limist walked to Aleicree''s other side. "What''d you think of the story?"


    The whole group circled ''round, taking up a corner of the stone square in front of the theatre. Vrekant sat between Limist and Azosta, and Aleicree sat across from him.


    "I''m not sure I understand why Alesh felt so boxed in. It seemed like Enquo was being very..." Aleicree searched for a word. "Accommodating?"


    "It''s not my favourite play either," Limist said, "But it does have a good finish." He looked over to Azosta. "Oh hey, it was your first time seeing that one, too. How was it?"


    Azosta looked grumpy. "Even here, we could not escape seeing magic."


    "It''s everywhere," said Vrekant.


    "I think seeing it in plays is good for the world," Aleicree said.


    Azosta half-opened his wings, magnifying his presence. "Why would it be different?" His voice was a demand that held in the air as he folded his wings back up again.


    Aleicree smiled at Azosta. "For one thing, I think everyone can see that burning down a forest would be a bad use of magic."


    Azosta sighed and nodded. "It would. It would traumatise dragons, leaving them searching for power. More would study magic, and they''d do it in bitter resentment, spawning still more tragedies and still more bitter studies, fraying society until the primordial state was a mercy."


    Vrekant said, "I don''t think dragons really act like Alesh did. He was an exaggeration for the author to wield."


    Limist grinned and nudged Vrekant with a wing. "How many dragons do you think sit around talking about media they''ve just seen?"


    Vrekant laughed and batted back at Limist, so that the two struck each others'' wings harmlessly for a bit. And as he was batting he said, "Hey, that''s not rare, is it?"


    Steel-jawing a gentle blow from Vrekant¡¯s wing, Limist sat upright and said solemnly, "He was an exaggeration for the author to wield." He slipped into a slack posture and patted at Vrekant with his own wing as he said, "I don''t think I''ve heard that before."


    "All characters exaggerate something," said Aleicree. "They wouldn''t be much fun if they were just ordinary and normal."


    Azosta was looking more cheerful and interested in the conversation. He had his head up and was following speaker to speaker. When Aleicree spoke, he raised a hand before his chest, and they looked towards him. "I don''t think every author necessarily has the grasp of archetypes needed to create exaggerated characters."


    "Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Alesh really didn''t behave like a real dragon," said Limist.


    A quiet moment as they looked from one to another. Aleicree broke the silence with sudden laughter. "Okay, so we really didn''t understand that play," zie said.


    "Maybe it had a meaning drawn from magic," said Azosta. He brought his hands into the air as he spoke, emphasising with a harsh movement as he recited, "I will not be chained!" He looked around the four. "Chains is the usual shorthand for a kind of magic theory."


    "Good theory makes bad plays," said Limist. "Does it all really have to be magic?"


    Azosta looked stunned. "See!" he said. "You get it. Even here, magic is bad."


    "Oh dear," said Vrekant.


    "Yeah, but it could''ve used more fire breathing, less ''chains''. Maybe more open conflict. Maybe set the forest on fire for a reason with more foreshadowing," said Limist.


    Aleicree reached out with zir wings to tap both Limist and Azosta with them. "I think we should have this conversation where we''re being brushed by the tide. Let''s go for a swim!"


    They walked back to the beach, crossing through town this time rather than flying, because the finely constructed buildings of downtown Sorjek made it a fascinating walk. Were they competing with the view from the air? Beckoning for dragons to walk the streets rather than fly over them? Was this the secret to a beautiful city? Aleicree asked as much and got little answer, but the group spent the walk through the city picking out this facade or that one as particularly delightful, admiring the city''s murals and storefronts as they passed a busy district.


    When they reached the sea, they went out into the tide, and this time Aleicree was even enticed by Limist to go out into the deeper waters for some true swimming. He was a talented swimmer, he claimed. He promised to keep zir safe from dragging currents. The whole group played games of splash and drag in the sunny waters of the Vendarian Sound, not too far from the shoreline, where other dragons played in the water as well.


    The conversation about Whisper in the Woods didn''t come back up, but that was fine. Aleicree mentioned it as the first play zie''d ever seen in a burst of letter-writing to friends and relatives, and as usual zie transcribed copies for zirself before sending. Zie would remember something of the play for a long, long time, until the words on zir letters were nothing but inscrutable ink on ancient pages.

 Statuary

    The dragon Fiata visited Vrekant on the seventeenth day. She was the one that Vrekant had warned had two lovers who would be visiting with her. With seven dragons at his dinner table that evening, he used the hospitality charm that he had offered to use for Azosta and Limist, generating a dinner of steaks that had never been part of any living animal. Azosta rejected a portion of the summoned meat, but everyone else took it gladly.


    "Just as well you haven''t had me using it," said Vrekant as he set out steaks on the table. "I''m not sure how many more uses this old charm has in it."


    Fiata was a bright orange vashael. Vrekant hadn''t mentioned that detail; most of the farmergons in the area were vrash. She was bright in every sense, energetic and attentive. When the idea of taking a trip to Nidrio was presented to her she took no persuasion at all, but brightly said, "Sure! The crops aren''t in planting or harvest. They can keep for a while if we fly off!"


    "Does farming really give you so much free time?" asked Aleicree, impressed and suddenly understanding why so many of the area''s farmergons had agreed to travel to a feast in Nidrio.


    "We-e-ell! Not in planting or harvest time," said Fiata, laughing. "Then the hours are long. When everything''s just growing, farming is nothing but guard duty."


    "Fate willing, we don''t need to guard the crops," said one of Fiata''s two lovers, whose name was Medem. She was a dark grey vrash with silver rings in her earfins and, more unusually, in her eyebrows as well. Like most vrash, she wore armour. Hers in particular was polished, setting off her dark scales with silver.


    Fiata''s other lover was named Wrevaskel, and he was a pearl red vrash with grey lines sweeping across him. He wore a fairly light armour of a minimised design that covered the social expectation for vrash to be armoured, but didn''t look like he was investing in strength training. Perhaps it was a cheaper design with its reduced use of metal, but then perhaps not. Wrevaskel had an elegant look for a farmergon.


    Both of Fiata''s lovers seemed to have armour that stood out as being very finely cared-for. The other farmergons they''d been hosting had rougher armours. These three entered the room with grace and presence. Aleicree wondered if they''d been something else before they''d been farmergons.


    They ate steak like any other dragon.


    Well, almost any other dragon. Denziu had written of meeting a vegetarian  on the Tachanigh-Kelkaith, and there had been that one mentioned by the seller in Korjek. It seemed very strange to Aleicree.


    "How long have you been farmergons?" asked Aleicree, when the conversation across the table had a quiet moment.


    "A few years," said Wrevaskel.


    "A few decades," said Fiata.


    "A few years," said Medem. When Aleicree''s head swivelled between Fiata and Medem, she clarified, "We didn''t enter this career at the same time."


    Azosta was picking at his food without much appetite, but following the conversation avidly enough. He asked, "What did you do before you farmed?"


    Wrevaskel looked over at Medem, and then said, "We were jewellers."


    Fiata smiled and said, "I was a miner."


    Limist leaned across the table. "A miner and two jewellers? Did you work together?"


    "By the time we knew her, she was already a farmergon," said Medem.


    "What''s mining like?" asked Aleicree.


    Fiata raised a hand and swept it high. "Terrible work is what it is!" she said, dropping her hand. "It''s ferociously hard on the body, far from all light... At least we weren''t far from the wind with the amicus breeze. Vrash do the work better, but everyone loves a vashael for bringing fresh air into the deeps."


    Vrekant asked, "Do you ever miss it?"


    Fiata shook her head. "No. Not really. There''s only one thing to miss about mining. Nobody wants to do it, so the wage is good. But it''s not worth it. I was always exhausted."


    Medem grumbled. "We could use a higher wage in our household. Farming verges on charity work. When the harvest is always good, a lot of food just goes to waste."


    Aleicree ventured, "Maybe there should be more miners?"


    "More perpetually exhausted dragons?" asked Fiata, wearing a sceptical expression and holding up a flat palm.


    "Maybe something could be done to make the work less exhausting," Aleicree said.


    Azosta made a ''bleh'' expression. "Without using magic, preferably. Machinery is rarer and more clever."


    Wrevaskel took an interest in Azosta. "What''s wrong with magic?"


    Which set off yet another round of Azosta''s claims that magic would end everything if overused. Aleicree took the opportunity to add to zir notes rather than participate in the conversation, zir lev-i-quill flicking away. "Azosta is obsessed with taking opportunities to warn dragons that magic is a threat to everything that is. I''ve heard him today praising machinery instead. If we can lure an architect of particular cunning to Nidrio, we''ll have Azosta for sure."


    Aleicree understood by the way it had come up every night with every new dragon why Limist was fatigued with Azosta the Endseer''s eponymous obsession, but zie was still convinced that Azosta was going to be the perfect new geomancer for Praoziu.


    It turned out that Fiata knew a little bit about machinery, because the mines had used pumps to keep from being flooded. She described piping capped by a rotating machine powered by draft animals walking in a circle. Azosta took a keen interest. "But it was still an evermine?" he objected at one point.


    "It wasn''t," she said. "The mines northeast of Sorjek are naturally depleting, and must constantly dig further into the mountains to keep putting out ore. I think the land gods want us to explore the stone."


    Aleicree thought of Denziu''s letter about a trading journey to the underworld. "I wonder if you''ll ever connect to the deep-under," zie mused.


    Fiata perked up at that, and laughed. "No, surely not! The Deep-Under is far below the surface, and the mine''s maximum depth is limited by the flooding, you know. We can''t dig it any deeper than our pumps can remove the water from."


    This flummoxed Aleicree. "If digging depths are limited by water, how is the Deep-Under not flooded?"


    The dragons around the table looked at each other. Nobody knew the answer to that, but after a moment Wrevaskel asked, "Do you have an interest in the Deep-Under?"


    Aleicree nodded. "I do! Temporarily. I have a sibling who is embarking on a trade journey to the Deep-Under. Zir name is Denziu, and zie''s a merchant who I believe is seeking to get into the magic lantern trade."


    "But magic lanterns are common," said Limist, who had been fairly quiet in the conversation so far.


    "Denziu''s previous fixation as a merchant had been on trading soil." Aleicree giggled. "I think it''s a very humble step up for ''Denziu the Clayseller''."


    Fiata asked, "Will we get to meet this humble merchant in Nidrio?"


    Aleicree said, "I believe Denziu will be gone away to the deep-under when we get there."


    When they¡¯d talked for a while, Vrekant proposed to fetch out his chest of board games. Fiata responded in a way that made Aleicree''s heart skip a beat: she kissed Vrekant on the cheek and said something in a voice too low to hear. Vrekant grinned, but shook his head. "The subject hasn''t come up. For politeness sake, we must assume our guests too shy," he said.


    "Such a disappointment," said Fiata. "I suppose board games are fine for a night."


    The board games were not fine, in Aleicree''s estimation. Fiata, Medem, and Wrevaskel couldn''t be swayed from playing as a bloc. They kept touching tails and bumping hips, and making plays that only made sense when they played together. Everyone endured a storm of lost games, and the only silver lining was that each game was over more quickly than usual.


    Aleicree wondered what Fiata had proposed, for which they were "too shy". Zie drafted a letter to Denziu that night and made a point of mentioning it, so that detail of the conversation would go into the pile of papers zie was keeping of letters zie had written. Zie mentioned as well that zie wanted Denziu to send word if zie met any machinists, because Azosta would love to meet one. The dragons of the Deep-Under had more machinery than the dragons of the surface.


    The next day, Aleicree copied The Ascent of Shattered Knives with some glee, as it turned out to be a very fun book. It was just a dream journal and nothing zie would ordinarily have copied, but it described a map of imaginary spaces that sounded intriguing and exquisite. Zie would not ordinarily have read any such book, and was left wondering if there had been a little manipulation of zir Fate just to give zir a fun experience.


    As for the academic merits of the book itself, zie had to categorise it as fiction, even though it referenced with shocking clarity a dream zie had. Zie could not imagine why Querent-Querent had placed it among the books of Geomantic lore. It had been in the Rift section, zie recalled.


    Hoping to resolve zir confusion, zie wrote letters. The first one zie addressed to Ekis, who had gone to the geomantic academy of wind with Aleicree. Zie spoke of the dream zie had experienced and the dreams that The Ascent of Shattered Knives described. Zie did zir best to give credence to its dream geography, describing a kind of map of dreams that mentioned its landmarks. In a strange way, it was all for zir own notes. Zie wasn''t used to taking notes of zir own, but zie transcribed a second copy of every letter that zie wrote, so this letter to Ekis became a piece for zir own records.


    From there zie wrote other letters, to everyone else zie could remember from the academy, hopeful that some of them would remember something related to magic lore that might help demystify the dream journal zie¡¯d picked up. These letters were very similar to each other, so for zir records zie kept one letter with many names recorded on it. Most of these were to dragons zie had met in that weird alchemical elective. They''d done things zie blushed to recall now. Nothing illegal, of course... If zie cast a wide enough net, zie hoped to catch at least one dragon that had gone from wind magic into proper geomancy, and who might know why the Rift section of the Querent-Querent library had a dream journal in it.


    The farmergon they met that evening was dreadfully unassuming, and a little awkward. He tried to nuzzle on Aleicree, and seemed sad when zie shied away from him, but nothing came of that. They talked of Aleicree''s siblings, and he agreed to come visit Nidrio, and then as usual they played games from Vrekant''s collection. It was a peaceful dinner.


    If you encounter this story on Amazon, note that it''s taken without permission from the author. Report it.


    Zie had another dream that night. Zie was in a cold and dark place, but it was wonderful somehow. It was all okay. Everything was okay. Nothing really mattered, but the divides between all things were necessary and beautiful. It was a long, dark dream of flying in a void, and there was no geography of dreams that would ever hold it, because there was no geography to the dream.


    When zie awoke, zie appended a description of the dream to the letter to Ekis. It wasn''t a complicated dream, but zie asked in the letter, "Should geomancers pay attention to their dreams? Do the land gods speak to us in dreams? It''s the only way that I can think of The Ascent of Shattered Knives as properly a book of geomantic lore. I assume that other geomancers believe very much in the significance of their dreams."


    Ekis didn''t send Aleicree too many letters, but zie hoped to get a reply to this one. It would be something to look forward to. The bundle of other letters zie posted at the same time would hopefully garner replies as well. Zie felt Fate-favoured. Fate wouldn¡¯t let zir forget to mail the right dragon.


    After that, zie went back home and copied more of The Ascent of Shattered Knives. The task soaked up days, word by word and page by page. It was full of otherworldly descriptions. Aleicree wondered if studying the books on magic turned dragons into poetgons and paintergons eager to frame new images in new ways.


    The farmergons Vrekant met were not exciting dragons, not even when one of them kissed Vrekant after dinner. Another Farard! Aleicree wondered just how close Vrekant had gotten to the locals out here in Sorjek. The dragons he introduced agreed to go to Nidrio or they did not, and Aleicree was a little overwhelmed either way, but did zir best to carry forward being a recruiter in Taisach''s name. It was a self-assigned duty, but worth it if they got even one new settler in Nidrio out of the effort to draw these random farmergons of Vrekant''s acquaintance into visiting Nidrio.


    After a few more days, Aleicree wrote another letter to Praoziu, expressing the hope that some of the farmergons they were recruiting would stay in Nidrio. "They will not stay this season," Aleicree wrote, "Because I know they have the responsibility of the harvest awaiting them. It would be a peculiar farmergon indeed who would abandon an incomplete harvest. Yet as we are offering them a verdant new home, I think we may keep a few of them in Nidrio, particularly as we have offered this journey to an entire social group. It may be profitable to come back and visit Vrekant again SOMEDAY. I do not think Vrekant himself will join us."


    That last word passed through Aleicree into zir lev-i-quill before zie had quite thought it through, and zie stalled in sudden horror. Vrekant... would not join them. Zie did not think so. The dragon zie had written so many poems towards would not join them.


    Well, of course he wouldn''t. He didn''t see Aleicree as a potential romance. He''d been forthright about that. He didn''t love Azosta''s prophecies of the end, either. He tolerated them as dinner table conversation, but it was Aleicree who had found Azosta fascinating.


    In that moment, Aleicree first thought that zie liked Azosta a little more than Vrekant. Zie resolved, somewhat whimsically, to try nuzzling him in the evening before dinner, and then zie went back to writing the letter to Praoziu. "If I could pick one of the dragons I have met to very definitely join us, it would be Azosta the Endseer," zie wrote. "I have a confession. I think I left Nidrio on a bad note last time I was there. I thought things about ''a paradise of diligence'' that were rather negative towards you. Azosta might be able to understand those thoughts and help you make use of them."


    The next trip to the post office revealed replies having been sent to Aleicree at zir temporary address. Taisach had finally replied to zir letters, saying that he was thrilled to host however many guests Aleicree could recruit to visit Nidrio. A most intriguing letter came from one of the dimly-remembered dragons from that infamous alchemical elective in the wind magic academy in Griolor. "Oh Aleicree!" wrote Raddra, "Where did you go after you left the academy? We should have corresponded more over these last few decades! My life has been cold since you left it." Which was a little odd, because Aleicree thought they had not been close, but zie certainly read on.


    Raddra wrote that the land gods rarely tamper with dreams, but also that, "Some geomancers believe that their dreams show their individual sensitivity to Fate, and have built dream geographies similar to your Ascent of Shattered Knives in order to try to augur Fate without divination. I think they''re being foolish, because dreams also show distortion from anything you obsess about enough, and so the geographies become self-fulfilling.¡±


    ¡°Still, there are strongly recurring themes, and the shattered knife theme in particular is foundational to the arcane principle of Rift. Rift is a dangerous principle and its influence shatters relationships, but it''s also why violent conflict is so rare on Theoma.¡±


    Beyond the unexpected cry of loneliness with which it opened, the letter went on about ¡®Rift¡¯ spells in a way that made Aleicree suspect Raddra had continued on from the Wind Magic academy to become a practising scholargon of some description. Aleicree read the letter thrice in confusion.


    It wouldn''t help Praoziu, Aleicree thought. A magic of shattering relationships seemed the furthest thing from helpful for establishing a city. A sense of disquiet settled into Aleicree. Maybe zie was doing something wrong. Maybe zie was going to harm Praoziu''s new city project somehow. Could a dream of ''Rift'' mean that?


    There was no room in zir plans for a change of direction, zie decided. Too many farmergons had signed on already. Azosta still seemed too perfect for Praoziu''s service. Zie would continue copying The Ascent of Shattered Knives even now that it disquieted zir. A dream could be just a dream.


    After several more quiet days of scribing by sunlight and entertaining farmergons in the evening (Aleicree¡¯s favourite was the almost-unspeaking Rokalenth, whose purple scales were just too handsome), Aleicree had nearly finished duplicating The Ascent of Shattered Knives. It was the 23rd day and thus another weekend, but like the 2nd day and the 9th day, it passed unremarked. Vrekant was out meditating and/or flying to manipulate the weather almost every day. Azosta and Limist weren¡¯t on vacation at all, but were driven by their sense of poverty to finish the month¡¯s work. Aleicree didn¡¯t mind. Zie fit into working daily. Zie enjoyed having a comprehensible, consistent task to focus on all day. Both being the wind and scribing books fit into that.


    When zie finished The Ascent by midday, zie used magic to modify the blank book to more exactly duplicate the original. Although the duplication was perfect and the spell was familiar, there was a backlash from the spell that left Aleicree''s head spinning. The colours of things fluctuated when zir attention was off of them. The world''s exact dimensions seemed to waver, so that the rooms in Vrekant''s house seemed full of strange angles, and Aleicree couldn''t help seeing all of them as zie paced through the house with fervent nonsense in zir head.


    Zie wandered into Vrekant''s pantheon room.


    This was a taboo thing to do. It was a very private space, even without a door blocking it off from the rest of the house. Ordinarily, Aleicree would never have done it. It was the drain from the spell affecting zir wits that led zir to pace through all of Vrekant''s sprawling one-floor house. Zie went to every other room before going into his pantheon room, but then zie didn''t hesitate before barging through the last uncrossed door in the house.


    It was a little hall of dragon statues. Five places had a dragon sitting in them, and the sixth was empty.


    Aleicree scanned the room briefly and frozen when zir eyes landed on a statue of Aleicree zirself. Zir jaw dropped open. The blue stone of the statue was even a fair approximation of Aleicree¡¯s colour. The neck of the statue was adorned with prayer charms.


    Putting a statue of someone in one''s pantheon room and praying to it was a way to influence the Fate of someone from afar. It wasn''t spell-casting. It was "merely" an activity that the land gods noticed at great distance.


    Six was a pretty normal size for a pantheon room. Such a room would hold statues of the half dozen dragons one really wanted to see live forever. Occasionally, a statue or two in a pantheon room would be in memorial of someone who one had wanted to see live forever, but who did not.


    And Vrekant had placed a statue of Aleicree into his very private devotions room. Zie was shocked. He cared this much about zir and he''d denied romantic interest? No wonder he''d put zir up for a month when zie visited. The duration had seemed a bit long.


    Did the local farmergons know that Aleicree sent regular letters to Vrekant, too? Had he shared on the poems zie''d sent to him?


    Aleicree pressed zir snout into the floor in frustration, squeezing zir eyes closed. Zie had so many questions, and wouldn''t politely be able to ask any of them. Zie wanted to see this room and study every statue in this room, but every moment in this room was forbidden. Anything zie learned about Vrekant while having gone in here without asking was something zie could not ask about.


    Zie ran for the entrance without examining the other four statues.


    Standing on the other side of the pantheon room''s open door frame, zie resolved to ask permission to enter it, and wondered if zie should admit that zie had already seen the statue of zirself.


    The flawed spell was still plaguing Aleicree with a terrible restlessness. Zie took off zir uniform and stowed it in zir room, resolving to spend the rest of the day at the beach. As much as the world looked a bit strange right now, it didn''t stop zir from taking flight. Zie spent the rest of the day at the seaside digging holes in the sand and splashing in the tide. It took a few hours for the serenity drain to wear off, but it was reasonably harmless.


    When zie got back, Vrekant rebuked zir for leaving the door unlocked, and an abashed Aleicree hung zir head. You need more than one key, Aleicree thought, but zie wasn''t quite bold enough to say so.


    Over dinner with yet another rough-armoured farmergon, Aleicree was bold enough to ask Vrekant, "May I enter your pantheon room?"


    "I''d rather not share that," said Vrekant, smiling unbothered by the request. "I need to get a proper door installed on that room. The open door frame is just too inviting; dragons sometimes wander in. But it''s a very private room, you know. It''s just between me and the land gods who I venerate."


    Why do you have a statue of me?! Aleicree thought, frustrated by Vrekant''s refusal to consider the topic. They''d gotten along at the academy, but there had to be a story here! It didn''t seem like a story Aleicree would become privy to. If it was just between him and the land gods, zie couldn''t very well say that zie had just happened to wander in.


    It was weird. It was technically very good for Aleicree''s health to be in someone else''s pantheon room like this, and zie''d have been flying with the stars if this discovery had happened before Vrekant denied romantic interest, and... zie was staring at him. Abashed, zie looked at the table instead.


    "You already looked," said Vrekant. "Let''s talk about this tonight in private."


    Azosta frowned at Vrekant. "You can''t expect someone left alone all day to respect the sanctity of an open door frame."


    Vrekant shrugged. "You''re right, of course. I won''t be harsh."


    After they bid farewell to the farmergon for the night, Vrekant beckoned for Aleicree to follow him, and he led zir to the big room with the indoor fire pit under a central chimney. "Sooo," he started, turning to face Aleicree. "I bet you''re wondering why I commissioned a statue of you."


    "I didn''t even look at the other ones," Aleicree said.


    Vrekant recited, "Raddra the Baker, Professor Inkacha, Zoeskkel the Longfin, and Letasos the Golden, who is one of my parents." Raddra was the acquaintance of Aleicree''s who had written back to zir recently. Professor Inkacha was one of the professors at the Griolor windmage academy. Zoeskkel was a name that Aleicree didn''t recognize.


    Aleicree tilted zir head. "Should I ask about them, too?"


    "Please do."


    Aleicree dug for a question, and asked, "Why only one of your parents?"


    Vrekant sighed. "Because Kelend the Loud yelled at too many dragons while I was nearby. It''s not that I want zir to die, mind you. I just don''t have this kind of respect for zir."


    Aleicree had another question in mind. "Who is Zoeskkel the Longfin?"


    Vrekant tilted his head. "You don''t remember him? He was in several of our classes, and he had very long fins."


    "So you have statues to three of your friends from windmage academy, plus Professor Inkacha!" Aleicree saw the pattern now. "You really had a good time studying wind magic at school, didn''t you?"


    "I really did," said Vrekant with a nod. "And in your case specifically, I wanted your talent at wind magic to survive at sea. Being a seagon can be dangerous, you know. Rogue waves are real."


    "They''re a silly thing to worry about," said Aleicree. "They''re the wrath of the sea gods. How often do passing ships upset the sea gods?"


    Vrekant dipped his head. "Well," he said, "there are pirates and shoals, too."


    "Most pirates have necromancers on board. Fate affects them very weakly. But, thank you for worrying that my ship might run aground on a shoal." Aleicree stepped in and touched noses with Vrekant, then dipped zir head under his and pushed upwards on his snout.


    "W-well, you''re welcome," said Vrekant, and Aleicree smiled to see that zie''d finally raised a blush from him.


    They nuzzled a bit more. "That can''t be all," zie murmured. "Vrekant, most of the academy trains to go to sea..."


    "There were also fond memories and special extracurriculars..."


    They kissed. It wasn''t a long kiss, but neither was it just a peck. They stood by a dead fireplace in a big room and the air was warm with the last of summer. Aleicree thought their kiss couldn''t mean very much, but that was okay for an awful lot of dragons. Their relationship was still special. Every respectable house had a pantheon room, but only one had a statue of Aleicree.

 Rhis

    Completing the duplication of The Ascent of Shattered Knives left Aleicree excited on the 24th day of zir stay with Vrekant.  Zie wasn¡¯t sure if it had truly taught zir anything about how to be a better mage, but this book certainly had a purpose and a destination.


    Zie had met zir first necromancer (not counting Dylori) the week before last: Rhis, who zie had first thought of as just another farmergon.  He was, as Limist had put it, "perfectly lively".  Aleicree wanted to meet him again.


    Zie packed both copies of The Ascent of Shattered Knives.  The original should go back to the library today.  Maybe if zie gave Rhis the new copy, he would talk about magic with zir.


    With this hope in mind, Aleicree waylaid Vrekant on his way out the door.  "Before you fly to wherever you go during the day to work on the weather," zie said, "Could you take me to the home of Rhis?  I want to meet him again."


    Vrekant stopped, looking at Aleicree.  "I could.  Rhis may be at leisure today.  Beware though, showing up in the morning at a near-stranger''s house is quite irregular, and he can be very shy."


    "I have a gift for him, a book I copied from the library of Querent-Querent," said Aleicree, fishing the book from a pouch zie was wearing.


    Vrekant went "Hmm" as he leaned in to read the title.  Lifting his head to meet Aleicree''s gaze again, he said, "It''s enough of a gift.  Are you sure it''ll be relevant to him?"


    "It was from the fifth floor of the Querent-Querent library."  Aleicree packed the book away.  "It''s supposed to be about magic, though it seems to be just a dream journal."


    Vrekant hesitated, tapping his chin with a claw.  He looked like he almost had something, so Aleicree waited.  At length he said, ¡°A lot of the entry-level materials are dream journals.  Many mages have gotten their start from chasing their dreams.¡±


    ¡°Why would dreams mean anything?¡± Aleicree asked.


    ¡°Dreams are privileged from the land gods, who can observe them, but not alter them.  Many of them arise from the most essential influences of Fate, things that even the land gods are bound to observe¡­ Since even the land gods typically obey the forces that alter dreams, they can be a great source of mystic insight.  Surely you learned about this in academy?¡±


    Aleicree hung zir head.  "I did badly in all of my classes save wind manipulation," zie said.  "I''m just... someone who meditates a lot, and made zir amicus breeze get very, very big."


    Vrekant stepped in and touched Aleicree''s cheek gently, then took a step towards the door and cast his arm.  "The broken lore is more necromantic than geomantic.  If you''ve been dreaming of shattered knives, maybe you need to meet Rhis.  Just don''t try to drag him to Nidrio.  We''d miss him, and I don''t think he does well in new settings."


    "No promises," said Aleicree, following Vrekant out the door.


    The weather outside was a drizzly day over Vrekant''s house, though distantly the clouds showed the usual patchworks of Sorjek''s weather.  The efforts of the several dozen weathermages who worked the theome broke up the clouds.  It made the theome a bright place where the sun was never gone; it made the theome a wet place where the rain was often present.  Aleicree thought zie would remember the many sun showers of Sorjek forever.


    The two of them took flight and flew over the fields that spanned behind Vrekant''s house.  There were farmhouses every so often on the rural roads.  Aleicree understood now why Vrekant knew so many farmergons.  Although they were mighty enough to pull their ploughs themselves, the plots they tended were not so large.  They worked together in a friendly community, but they were largely subsistence farmergons.


    The two dragons landed in the road outside one of the farmhouses in particular.  It was a grey wooden building made with cracked planks, looking smaller and drearier than most of the farmhouses. Rhis clearly hadn''t invested in his house.  The nearby fields were as vibrant as the others in the area, suggesting the problem wasn''t a lack of competency as a farmergon.


    "Why does this house look worse than the others we flew over?" Aleicree asked Vrekant.


    Vrekant said, "Someday the rest of the farmergons here will pull this building down and put up something better in its place, but that¡¯s a big task.  Rhis is still too shy to have befriended everyone."


    As the two walked to the door of the small house, Aleicree asked, "Do you think he''ll be too shy to accept my gift?"


    "He does keep books."  Vrekant knocked on Rhis'' door.


    The two waited.  A minute later, the door opened just a little, and a grey-masked face peeked out at them.  When he saw that Vrekant stood there, the door opened further, but Rhis held it partly closed and stood blocking it.  "H-hi Vrekant," he said.  "Wh-what brings you here?"


    Rhis was a vrash, and vrash are not small.  Still, there was a smallness in Rhis'' posture.  He tended to hold himself low to the ground.  He did not hold his head high, so the very curve of his neck carried shyness.


    Aleicree was often the same way.  That was why zie touched the ground sometimes.  Vashael could walk on all fours too, but to do so was a shy or shameful posture.  It was like looking at a vrash version of zirself.


    As Aleicree studied Rhis, Vrekant was saying, "When you visited, you made a good impression on an old friend of mine.  Zie wants to give you a gift."


    Rhis shook his head.  "I don''t know if I should accept gifts..."


    "It''s a book," Aleicree said, pressing into the conversation.  "I recently copied a book that''s supposed to contain mystic knowledge.  Would you take a look at it?"


    Rhis looked at Aleicree for a long, quiet moment.  "Alright," he said.


    Another dragon might have invited them inside at that moment, but Rhis stood still blocking the doorway.  Aleicree took The Ascent of Shattered Knives out of zir pouch and held it out towards Rhis.  He accepted the book and sat down so he could bring both of his hands to the task of holding it up and flipping the pages.  (Although they are said to have hands, vrash are quadrupeds, and must seat themselves to use both hands at once.)


    When he was satisfied with what he saw, he walked tripodal away from the door, holding the book in one hand as he went.  Without his touch upon it, the door drifted towards closing behind him, but before it closed he came back having set the book down somewhere inside.  "I think I recognize what this book is talking about.  I''ll read it.  Would you like..."  Rhis stopped and swallowed.  "Would you like to come inside?"


    "Sure," said Vrekant.


    Rhis pulled the door fully open, giving their first glimpse of the interior.  There was more unpainted grey wood inside and a sparseness to what they saw, without any cushions for comfort, but there were bookshelves partly laden.  The two dragons entered and saw nothing that defied that first glance.  There were no adornments on the shelves.  There were no books out of place around the room.  There were no little tables, no rugs, and most especially nothing of colour.  The next room over was a kitchen, without sign of a dining room in between.


    Such a barren house, Aleicree thought.


    "I''m not used to, to making a good impression," said Rhis, facing them with a weak smile.


    Aleicree returned it self-consciously, picking up on Rhis'' anxiety.


    His grey mask and grey stripes were like his grey room, like a sap upon his colours, bleeding them towards the sameness.  His otherwise pink scales were a hue that was comely on many dragons.  Zie was fixated on him.  This wasn''t a beautiful room and it wasn''t a beautiful sight to see him standing within it, but zie wished that zie could immortalise the sight nonetheless.  "You''re clearly a very interesting dragon, and I''m looking for insight in magic."


    "Can''t just go to the magic academies?" Rhis asked.


    Aleicree shook zir head.  "With only a short time present, what could I gain?  I can''t attend classes on vacation.  I doubt they''d let me into their libraries, and I don''t have the basis to gain more than I would gain from the library of Querent-Querent, which is open to the public."


    Rhis sighed.  He sat on the floor, curling his tail around himself, and looked at Aleicree.


    He stared at Aleicree for a little too long, and Vrekant interjected, "I need to get to work.  Do you mind if I leave you here?"


    "Go ahead," Aleicree said.


    Rhis spoke again when Vrekant had left.  "I mostly study the void," he said.  "I think there are ways to reach across it, and maybe those are studied in the academy, but I don''t study that.  I just seek... stability.  And quiet."


    Aleicree had no idea what ''the void'' would be in context, and was wondering what zie''d gotten into.  "Is studying the void useful?"


    "No, but...  I don''t want to be more than second-rate."  He stood up again.  Aleicree hadn''t sat down.  Perhaps he was mirroring zir.  "Your name is Aleicree, right?  Am I saying that correctly?"


    "You are," Aleicree confirmed.


    "Aleicree, I''m just a farmergon.  I didn''t wash out of necromancy or anything, but there are ugly costs to making a career out of it."  Rhis paced the room once, then turned to face Aleicree again and continued speaking.  "I just want to live, and think, and have enough to eat I suppose.  Necromancers aren''t always good at living, and that takes care of needing enough to eat, but I use my magic very lightly.  It won''t kill me."


    "What are all your books?"  Aleicree glanced over the bookshelves in the room.


    Rhis dipped his head.  "M-magic texts, admittedly..."


    Aleicree smiled.  "I have a few days before I go home to Nidrio for the rest of my vacation," zie said.  "I''ve been filling time by copying books.  I could start another one, but I''d rather spend that time talking to someone who can tell me more about the mysteries of magic.  You''re obviously steeped in it."


    Rhis tapped his claws on the floor until Aleicree looked down, and then a spreading patch of colour started expanding from underneath him.  The wood became vibrantly perfect, healing all cracks and warps as it changed into a warm brown.  The floor-healing wave nearly touched Aleicree''s feet when it stopped expanding and another wave started spreading from under him, draining the floor''s colour back to grey and breaking it with dreary damages.


    When he''d finished, nothing had changed.  He hadn''t looked at the floor during this, but remained focused on Aleicree.  "That was vrash surface reformation, expanded by meditative discipline," he said.  "Same as wind magic is usually the vashael amicus breeze, expanded by meditative discipline."


    If Rhis could fill his home with colour just by thinking about it...  "You''re living in a dreary house by choice," said Aleicree.


    "I am," said Rhis, dipping his head in acknowledgment.


    "But... why?  Wouldn''t you rather surround yourself with beauty?"


    Rhis smiled.  He seemed a little more confident now.  "I am surrounding myself with beauty.  Bleak, simple beauty."  Aleicree didn''t know what to say to that, so a quiet stretched between them until Rhis continued, "Paintergons go to a lot of trouble to arrange scenes.  Why can I not want to live in this one?"


    "I guess... there''s no reason you can''t," said Aleicree.


    "Magic is a slow path," said Rhis.  "Every adept becomes mired in what sustains them emotionally.  Even trying to dissolve attachments and live simply is a mire of its own.  That''s my mire."


    Aleicree focused zir amicus breeze and gusted Rhis, who startled and took a step back, his wings rising for a moment and then resettling on his back.  He looked at zir in surprise, and Aleicree said, "Magic is a fast path.  Ships travel much faster because they all carry several windmages each. Magic is how great things can be done instantly, like when Boghegd in Griolor raises a new building in a single day of work."


    Rhis stepped to his former position and sat down, his tail curling once more around his feet.  Aleicree mirrored the gesture this time, and the two sat facing each other in Rhis'' library.  "Even the land gods do that rarely," he said, "and lesser adepts not at all.  More feasibly, a great magic can break a building, yet you almost never hear of a building broken by magic.  For some reason, they''re usually demolished by workcrews instead.  It''s technically faster to break a building by magic, but in practice it''s faster to hire and manage a work crew than to find a mage willing to do the work in that fast way."


    "Why would that be?  Wouldn''t the world be a better place if buildings were just packed up by mages?"


    Rhis frowned at Aleicree.  "The serenity drain alone would result in a great deal of misery among mages, and then everyone would have to spend eternity studying mysticism to keep up.  Do you want to do that?"


    "I think it could occupy me for a long time..." said Aleicree, though internally zie wasn''t sure.  It all seemed hard to fathom.  Talk of eternity studying mysticism tempted zir to go back to being the wind aboard the Serene Chordalite.  That was magic, but it was a very familiar and stable magic that didn''t cause serenity drain.


    Rhis must have been able to see that Aleicree was struggling with an internal thought, because he didn''t interrupt zir by speaking.  He waited for some unknown sign in Aleicree''s expression, then said, "Then perhaps you will become a great adept, and lead a new era of magic.  Or perhaps not.  Even though I do so far like to study mysticism forever, I suspect I will still only be a farmergon.  The world will always need farmergons."


    The phrase had an air of finality to it, like the ending note of a conversation.  Still they sat facing each other.  At length, Aleicree said, "We''ve talked quite a bit, I feel I''m asking this out of order now.  Would you teach me?"


    Rhis nodded.  "I will," he said, and he still seemed confident.  "A book is a good gift for a teacher, although I suspect that a dream journal contains only very basic lore.  Still, I''ll give you a few days.  Just don''t expect me to risk my health with demonstrations."


    He got up and fetched two waterskins from the kitchen, and came back wearing one on a loop about his neck.  The other one was held out to Aleicree.  "Let''s walk my fields.  A bit of rain won''t hurt us, and I''ll make sure the soil is in good order."


    So they walked the fields, and Rhis spoke of the passions of the land gods, from which the whole world was formed.  The subject seemed basic to Aleicree.  It brought back dim memories of classes in the Griolor Wind Magic Academy.  Aleicree imagined it was a kind of Mythology 101 that might be taught to an entry level geomancer.  Zie didn''t stop him to ask the application of this, for that zie knew well enough.  Geomancers sought alignment with the passions of the land gods; necromancers sought their own passions in dissonance with Fate.  He told zir these things as well.  He was treating zir as knowing nothing, but that wasn''t too far off.


    He didn''t stutter anymore.  Not on the subject of magic.


    Every so often he stopped and closed his eyes in brief meditation, though unlike the dramatic demonstration in the house, the only obvious result this time was the erasure of their footsteps between the rows of plants.  This soil was already rich and dark with regular maintenance by a vrash farmergon of - Aleicree gathered - unusual talent.  There were no weeds in the field, and no patches of flagging weak growth.  Rhis clearly tended the fields regularly.


    "You''re wasted on the farm," Aleicree said after one of the meditation breaks.


    "N-no, I''m...  I''m not."  Rhis'' confidence wilted.  "Ev-everyone studies magic eve-eventually.  Th-th-Theoma needs dragons w-willing to study magic and then st-still do manual labour."


    They walked on in silence for a while.  Aleicree felt bad for disrupting the lesson.  Eventually, Rhis resumed.  There was a little hesitation in his voice at first, but it soon faded.


    They patrolled the field for four hours.  Rhis didn''t talk the whole time, but took breaks to spare his voice as well.  When he did speak, Rhis was soon dipping into territory that Aleicree had always struggled to recall when he started to give specific land gods as examples.  They were drawn from the northern Kanjamund isle, so there were a lot of land gods who loved the chill-yet-sodden weather stereotypical of northern Kanjamund.  It seemed rather fitting for a day of walking in damp fields getting rained on, but Aleicree kept that thought to a smile and didn''t say it aloud for fear of setting Rhis to stammering again.


    Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.


    Aleicree''s stomach was rumbling by the time they finished.  Zie''d skipped breakfast that morning.  When the two went back inside Rhis'' home, he took the waterskin from Aleicree and said, "I hope you like peas.  That''s my usual lunch."


    True to his word, he showed up moments later with a bowl of peas and set it on the floor of the front room where his books were held.  They were peas in the pod of a variety where the pods were expected to be edible as well.  That made them wieldy enough for them to share a bowl and eat without utensils.


    Rhis laid on his belly next to the bowl, and gestured for Aleicree to join him on the floor.


    Somewhat reluctantly, Aleicree lay on the floor across from him on the other side of the bowl.  "Wouldn''t you rather have a table?  It''s uncomfortable laying down to eat, isn''t it?"


    Rhis shifted in place and was slow to answer.  "I...  I don''t...  usually entertain guests.  O-on my own, I''d, I''d just as likely hold the bowl..."


    They picked at the peas together.


    Aleicree said, "Your voice was much stronger when you were talking about magic."


    That only got a "Mm" from Rhis.


    That stymied Aleicree, who wanted to talk about that subject specifically.  Eventually zie thought to say, "You were teaching me about geomancy, weren''t you?"


    "You''re n-not interested in n-necromancy," Rhis said.


    Aleicree frowned.  How had Rhis decided that?  "About that book I gave you.  Someone I knew at my academy told me the shattered knife thing is essential to the principle of Rift."


    "Y-you are interested in Rift?" Rhis seemed surprised.


    "I had a dream about it," said Aleicree.  "Before I picked the book up.  That was why I picked the book up."


    "R-rift is one of the necromantic principles," said Rhis.  "But it''s integral to Theoma, so geomancers can study it as well.  They just...  usually don''t.  Rift splits communities and f-founds new ones far away."


    You mean it doesn¡¯t just shatter relationships?  Aleicree smiled.  "That''s what I''m trying to do.  I want to lead dragons to Nidrio."


    Rhis looked thoughtfully at Aleicree.  "Then...  It''s not surprising you would have such dreams.  The principles of magic... rule so much more than just spellcasting.  Almost everything can be analysed in their terms."


    Aleicree asked hopefully, "Does that dream mean I''ll succeed at getting dragons to move to Nidrio?"


    Rhis shook his head.  He pushed the bowl of peas towards Aleicree and stood up from the floor, then started looking at his shelves.  They didn''t all have names on their spines, and he tipped a few as if forgetful of where he''d shelved something in particular, but after a close examination of a particular shelf he came back bearing a book titled, "The Tansy Heresy".


    "This is a history," he said as he held it out to Aleicree.  Aleicree sat up to take the book and look at it curiously.  "There was a city named Kintos in a theome on Southern Kanjamund.  That city no longer exists.  It fell into some disfavour with the land god who ruled the theome, and a group of Rift adepts were allowed to test their theories upon it, warping Fate until they caused the dissolution of an entire city.  M-may have caused.  It''s not strictly clear."


    "Are you giving this to me?" asked Aleicree.


    "N-no," said Rhis, "But I might let you b-borrow it.  Do you think you can copy it before the end of your stay in Sorjek?"


    Aleicree frowned, weighing the book in zir hand.  It wasn''t that thick.  "I''m not sure, but I''m sure I could read it in that time, and have it back to you."  Zie pouched the book.


    Rhis nodded and started to say something, then looked away.  After a long moment, he said, "I...  don''t want to teach you, after all.  This morning over-overwhelmed me, and I''ve never taught a st-student before.  But maybe we can share libraries, if you e-ever visit Sorjek again."


    There was one last thing to ask, or rather to ask again.  "Would you be willing to go to Nidrio with the other farmergons?  You could meet Praoziu."


    "No, I can''t.  I''m n-n-not that for-forth, um, outgoing," said Rhis, dipping his head.  "I won''t visit, because I know I won''t move to Nidrio.  It doesn''t matter to me where I l-live, but moving is a... a lot of trouble."


    "You won''t even visit to attend a feast with your friends?" asked Aleicree.


    Rhis wilted so much that Aleicree thought for a moment he''d hide behind his wings.  "There''s st-still a reserve between me and... the other farmergons..."


    Aleicree smiled to Rhis and reached out towards him.  When he actually did hide behind his wings, zie blushed and kept zir hands to zirself, but zie still said, "I''ll have to come back someday.  I think you''re the most interesting dragon I''ve met in Sorjek."


    Rhis lifted his head from behind his wing.  "H-how?  Vrekant lives here."


    "I met him decades ago in Griolor.  You''re the most interesting dragon I''ve met here."


    Rhis stood up a little straighter... relatively speaking.  "Y-you''re welcome back any, any time."


    Aleicree departed then, flying towards town from Rhis'' house.  Zie stopped by Tirivolt''s for a hand pie, because a meal of nothing but peas was a little too humble for zir tastes.  A quick trip to the scribegon picked up another blank book, and then zie went into the Library of Querent-Querent to return the original copy of The Ascent of Shattered Knives.  Zie spent the rest of the day at the library occupying a quiet space, getting a start on The Tansy Heresy.


    Most of the rest of Aleicree''s visit to Vrekant fell into the now-familiar pattern of scribing for most of the day and trying to sweet-talk farmergons into visiting Nidrio in the evenings.  This was alleviated by daily flights to and from the seaside for a bit of swimming, after which Aleicree showered off the seawater scent and flew back, getting back each day before Vrekant returned so that he wouldn''t discover zie''d briefly left the door unlocked to go out.  (He really needs a second key, Aleicree thought.)


    Nothing came of the unlocked door.  Despite the appearance set by having seen Tirivolt''s lanterns in cages, it seemed like the crime rate in Sorjek wasn''t that bad.


    The copying of The Tansy Heresies went well.  The book was improbable.  It was about a theome called Akalban that contained a city called Kintos.  It described rites of Fate manipulation that involved a great deal of wind-watching of the sort Aleicree had always been glad to not perform aboard the Serene Chordalite.  The Rift adepts spied on countless dragons to discover how they needed to act in order to achieve their ambitions.  If every adept needed so much wind-watching, were vashael better at advanced magic than other species?  Was it really wind-watching, or was Aleicree misunderstanding?  Fate had to be observed before it could be changed.  Some of it sounded like auguries, with the usual risks to the mind of geomantic rites, and Aleicree didn''t understand from the descriptions how the knowledge was gained.


    Whatever the method, there was a great deal of studying dragons and then a great deal of using distant magics to inconvenience them.  Small delays were created throughout the city.  The good order of the city was modified to create unpleasant patterns of packing and vacancy.  Aching curses were dispatched upon dragons to make them grimmer or more discontented at key moments.  There were claims of dream-sendings to quite a few dragons, though this was noted as ''a forbidding necromancy which injured several adepts by spell-wasting''.  There were also accounts of the occasional meeting with seemingly irrelevant dragons who had been identified by auguries as significant to Fate.


    It seemed to Aleicree like the city of Kintos was already coming apart as the Rift adepts worked at it.  The land god didn''t want it to hold together, so its Fate was unweaving in petty conflicts that would ordinarily be averted by the prosperity written into a city''s Fate.  The adepts just accelerated the Fate, and wove it apart into a grand splintering that produced three tribes.


    The final working of the Rift adepts - Aleicree couldn''t help thinking of them as a cult, having read so far into their workings - was in two parts.  The first was a grand ceremony that honoured a foreseen negotiation and asked the land god to bless the foreseen conclusion.  The second was the negotiation itself, which established a treaty between the conflicting parties and saw the three tribes ALL seek lands far from the shore of the theome itself.  In the end, the Rift cult was lauded by the outgoing dragons of the city for preventing a great conflict from breaking it, as though they had done anything but break the city themselves.


    Struck by a thought, Aleicree checked the front of the book for its publishing date, and compared the dates in the story itself.  While it contained numerous professed interviews, it was published two hundred years after the splintering of Kintos.  Zie wondered how many ex-Kintosians had actually acquired copies of the book and suddenly wanted to keep the book just to see if zie would ever meet one.  How would they react to this hidden history?


    Sure, Kintos splintered six hundred years ago, but that didn''t stop dragons from that era from still being alive.  There''d been zero or near-zero casualties in the splintering of the city itself.  Fate kept almost everyone alive over the long-term.  "Studying necromancy and dying of spell-wasting" was a leading cause of death across Theoma, at least if Aleicree''s geomantic academy could be believed.  As strong as the allure of changing Fate could be, plenty of dragons could live six hundred years without necromantic lore.


    The evening conversations went mediocrely.  There were no disasters, but they had no further successes in recruiting for the feast in Nidrio.


    None of the other farmergons were distinctive to Aleicree.  They were more quiet dragons who had ''always'' been farmergons, and they were discomforted by the idea of flying a long distance to look at a new theome that was recruiting.  Were these primordials?  Yet as far as Aleicree knew, nothing blocked primordials from going to new places.  Aleicree dutifully recorded names and descriptions for them, since they were at least friends of Vrekant and thus presumably friends of those who were going.


    Zie wondered if Rhis liked the quiet farmergons, if Fiata drew them out of their shells in some way, and if Ardent got them talking about their interests.  Surely all these dragons couldn¡¯t just be quiet.  It must have been some awkwardness with Vrekant¡¯s invitations.


    On the 29th day of Aleicree''s visit to Vrekant, zir copying was briefly interrupted by a group of dragons.  Five of the ones who Aleicree had marked down as "quiet" and "not visiting" showed up in a flock led by Rettle, who said she had persuaded more of the locals to join the trip.  Aleicree hadn''t been thinking about Rettle much that month, but the black-striped green dragon said she''d lured several of her friends in with promises of a side trip to the great big clifftop city of Zyrine, where Raul''s sigil burned eternally in the sky.


    Aleicree struck out the "not visiting" line in zir notes and wrote for each of them, "visiting Nidrio to visit Zyrine".  Zyrine was a famed destination.  If word got out that Nidrio had become safe to visit, the proximity of Nidrio and Zyrine could bring them travellers in the future.  Doubtless there were dragons who would love staying at a quiet hillside hotel in Nidrio more than they would love a crowded urban hotel in Zyrine itself.  It was something to suggest to Praoziu.


    Would any of the dragons who flew to Nidrio with Aleicree actually opt to stay there?  Obviously, none of them would stay immediately, because they would all have to come back to the harvest.  Would any of them pull up roots?  Aleicree truly expected to lure only two dragons: Azosta and Limist, who had nowhere else to go.  This whole flock of farmergons would only be a bunch of tourists to Praoziu''s charming-though-empty land.  They would come back with the tale of the reformed land god Praoziu, who was seeking residents, but they almost certainly would not become residents themselves.


    All Aleicree could do the days of that last week was to study The Tansy Heresies and wonder, was there some working of Rift that would help?  If Rift tore apart communities, would it be ethical to use if there was?  Had Vesset, land god of Shibanyet, worked some Rifted Fate upon Azosta and Limist to free them up for Nidrio?


    Was Rift just a magic of misfortune?


    But then, it wasn''t any magic at all for Aleicree.  Zie had no idea how to do auguries, did not want to do wind-watching, and hadn''t a sensitive intuition for dragons other than that.


    There was one dragon who Aleicree thought understood Rift well enough to tell Aleicree if it was something zie could use, and that was the very dragon who had proposed that Rift might help in establishing a new settlement.


    Rhis.


    There was a good excuse to talk to him again, for zie finished up copying The Tansy Heresies on that day.  Pouching the two books, zie flew back to Rhis'' house.  That grey house soon came into view among green and vibrant fields of vegetables being grown in the perfect, tended soil that Rhis gave them.


    It was a dreary day, but the misting rain felt good to Aleicree, and as zie dropped at the edge of the field where zie saw Rhis tending his crops, zie thought the grey air suited Rhis well.  His mask of grey and stripes of it disappeared into the backdrop, leaving his blue eyes luminous.  His overall pink coloration stood out well... where it wasn''t covered by armour.


    Oh, that vrash armour, what a misfortune it was sometimes!  Rhis wore rough armour roughly worked.  Any armour spoke of a baseline of resources, but this armour spoke of meeting social needs cheaply.  If it announced a virtue, it was ''not overspending''.


    "I''ve brought back your book!" Aleicree called out, waving with an arm from the edge of the row.


    Rhis came over to zir.  "I''m glad!" he called ahead, and it might have been the loudest thing Aleicree had heard him say.  When he got to the edge of the row he said, "Let''s talk inside out of the rain."


    They walked into Rhis'' house.  That front room was still a bleak, empty library with nothing in it but open space and the shelves of books.  "D-did you... l-learn anything from it?" Rhis asked, with unusual eagerness shining despite his halting speech.


    Fetching the book from zir pouch, Aleicree handed it over to Rhis.  "What a terrible story," zie said with a laugh.  "Rift seems like a magic of terrible dragons who cause trouble for others.  And after doing all that, the Rift cult was lauded?"


    "S-saviours of the former K-Kintosians," said Rhis earnestly.  "They went into a m-mess and h-helped everyone find their t-t-true f-friends."


    Aleicree was brought upright like a string had been pulled, so surprised was zie.  Rhis read the same material and had interpreted it totally differently.  "You believe in this magic?"


    "Ev-everything has its dangers, but this was, was not a story of misuse," Rhis said.


    "But they spied on dragons, created inconveniences, and amplified discomforts.  They broke things that otherwise would have kept working," said Aleicree, and as zie did zie thought of Azosta and Limist again, having their plumbing business dissolve in expensive mishaps.


    "Sort of working."  Rhis smiled at Aleicree.  It was pleasant to see the nervous dragon wearing that expression.  "Kintos w-would have kept sort of working for a long time, and nobody would have been very happy with it.  They went on to places where they were much happier."


    Rhis walked over to a shelf and slotted away The Tansy Heresies.  He kept talking.  "Spied on dragons though, I''ll g-g-give you that.  If you think magic shouldn''t be used to sp-spy on dragons you''ll have a hard time advancing as an adept.  If auguries don''t tell you more than you wanted to know, you''re not... doing them very well yet."


    "I don''t do auguries.  I don''t know how," Aleicree said.


    "You''re not a real geomancer then," Rhis said, turning to face zir with a serious expression.  He reared up and tapped his cheek thoughtfully.  "You could be a necromancer without augury."


    Aleicree frowned at Rhis.  "I don''t know any necromantic spells."


    Sitting down and curling his tail around his feet, Rhis asked, "Have you heard of an a-abstract?"


    "The land gods summon them," said Aleicree.  "They can look like anything the land gods imagine, and have any function.  The only thing linking them is that they''re summoned creatures."


    Rhis smiled again.  "Anyone can summon an abstract.  You only need to be able to focus your passions... well enough... to create an entity from them.  Like all major spells, it''s a matter of knowing what you want, and being so certain that you inspire the principle of mercy."


    Aleicree thought about this for a moment, then wilted.  "I wouldn''t know where to begin with that.  This sounds like something to learn from a semester at the academy."


    "It is," said Rhis.  He looked distracted, lost in thought.  He wasn''t quite focusing on Aleicree as he spoke, but the stammer had evaporated from his voice a few sentences prior.  "It is.  Sorry, I shouldn''t be mentioning this, but there''s a creature called a wolejerrup.  They''re powerful in Rift.  If I summoned one, an abstract of a wolejerrup, I could instruct it to splinter the local community, and across the next year you might get a few migrants to Nidrio.  I wish...  I wish I had a payment for summoning one.  Something worth exposing myself to the risk of injury and madness involved in necromantic spellcasting.  The backlash from the wolejerrup would hit me and hit me and hit me, every time it used its powers."


    Aleicree tilted zir head.  "If you really think it''d be okay to... summon a creature for the purpose of, um, ''splintering the local community''...  Although I really think you should talk to Praoziu.  Maybe she''d give you... something."  Aleicree cringed.  Zir lack of knowledge of geomantic lore was painful here.  Why hadn''t zie paid more attention in school?


    Rhis focused on Aleicree directly.  "You know, what I would really like is a catch."


    "Beg pardon?" Aleicree asked.


    Rhis smiled.  "A catch.  A promise from a land god to resurrect me instantly if I should ever die.  I would like her to, um, catch me if I fall.  That''s... very empowering for a necromancer."


    "I can''t promise that on her behalf," Aleicree said, putting a hand over zir cheek and one eye in chagrin.


    Rhis lifted a hand out towards Aleicree.  "What is your relationship with Praoziu?  If you''re not a geomancer working for a land god, why are you trying to recruit for a land god who wants tenants?"


    Aleicree lowered the hand from zir face.  "She''s my mother," zie said.  "I want her project to succeed."


    "That''s v-very p-promising!" Rhis sat suddenly more upright for a moment, then rose to all fours.  "I might get that catch if I help you.  I''ll j-join the party to Nidrio.  I won''t move there, but I''ll visit."


    Aleicree dropped to all fours.  It wasn''t a normal standing posture for a vashael, but brought zir quite low.  "I don''t know about this.  I didn''t interpret The Tansy Heresies the way you did.  Dragons here seem happy enough.  Why is it okay to mess with them?"


    Rhis frowned.  "Maybe I''m g-getting too excited...  Um, how many dragons live in Nidrio right now?"


    "Three, counting Praoziu herself," Aleicree said.


    "Or maybe I''m... n-not," said Rhis.  He laid down on the wooden floor before Aleicree, lowering himself even below Aleicree''s four-legged stance.  "A-anyone who goes wi-wi-with you m-might end up i-in the h-h-history books.  They won''t... as farmergons... in Sorjek."


    Aleicree thought of the notebook zie had of Nidrio''s potential founders.  Vrekant had brought in a different farmergon every evening on most of 28 days, and some of them had brought their loves with them, so that Aleicree had met 33 farmergons in Sorjek.  Zie had recorded each of them by name and description, along with a few things that had come up in conversation around the dinner-table or afterwards while playing board games from Vrekant''s collection.  They weren¡¯t all going to Nidrio, but they were all in zir notebook as potential founders of Nidrio.


    "So if you change their Fates with a wolejerrup..."  Aleicree stepped a little closer to Rhis.  "They''ll go from having a mediocre but happy Fate here... to having an impressive, but unknown Fate in Nidrio."


    "That''s r-right.  But that''ll probably be a happy Fate, too.  The land gods do their best to keep dragons happy.  So it''s a h-happy Fate here, or a happy F-Fate there, only the Fate there will be remembered for h-hundreds of years.  Maybe thousands."


    Aleicree rose back to two legs again.  "Just don''t do it before you''ve talked to Praoziu about it," zie said.  "If it''s something she wouldn''t reward you for doing, you''ll have offended her by starting it."


    Rhis stood up as Aleicree did.  "Oh, d-don''t worry.  It''ll t-take me a w-week to summon a wolejerrup.  I w-won''t do it in a day, just b-before you leave.  But I guess n-now I''ll see you t-tomorrow w-when ev-everyone shows up to Vre-Vrekant''s place.  I was p-planning to skip the c-celebration.  Too many dragons.  But now th-that I have a rea...  A, um, a reason to go all the way to Nidrio, that means...  I''ll be there."


    "I''ll see you tomorrow," Aleicree said.  Zie hesitated on the way out, holding one wing extended.  Zie wanted to hug the stuttering vrash, but that seemed too much of an invasion of space against someone shy.


    He didn''t obviously react to the raised wing, and Aleicree put it down reluctantly and headed back out the door, then to fly back to Vrekant''s place.

 Pre-Flight Festivities

    At last came a day that Aleicree was dreading: the potluck at the end of zir month with Vrekant.  The month had felt like a long time, and so it wasn''t the parting itself that zie dreaded.  Rather, it was all the dragons who would be attending.  The many rooms of Vrekant''s sprawling house would see their use when a whole bunch of dragons came in to visit.  All month they''d been inviting everyone who said yes to going to Nidrio.


    It promised to be a fun time for dragons more extroverted than Aleicree zirself.  The whole house would be crowded with vrash.  The big room with the firepit would fill and overflow.


    The first guests arrived before Aleicree woke up, so that as zie came out of a bedroom not far from the centre of the house zie realised that there were already noises of life out there.  Vrekant was up and about, but following the sounds of conversation Aleicree found two other dragons whose names zie had to fetch out zir Founders Notebook to look up. They were Steinack and Rokalenth, who were green-scaled with blue stripes and a dark metallic violet respectively.  Steinack was the one who had a mate in Sorjek with a peculiar hatred of flying long distances.  Rokalenth meanwhile was still too pretty to be a farmergon, but his particular quirk explained a lot.  He''d said hardly anything in a conversation full of long pauses.  Aleicree''s notes were sparse on Rokalenth.


    A great table was set up in the big fire pit room, and two stew pots had taken places on it next to a great pile of trencher bread.  The stewpots had temperature gauges painted on the side, suggesting they had warming charms on them, and likely they had keepfresh enchantments.  Who would place one without the other?  These were very expensive pots.


    The sounds of conversation came from Steinack and Vrekanth; Rokalenth was just standing nearby looking pretty.


    "You oughta have guests over more often!" said Steinack as Aleicree entered.


    Vrekant said, "You lot are the ones feeding me.  Are you sure you don''t mind feeding dragons who aren''t contributing?"


    "Pshaw!" scoffed Steinack, grinning broadly.  "We''re mostly paying you in food anyways and the harvest¡¯s usually perfect.  We''re happy to share the surplus."


    Aleicree came up to the conversing dragons.  "Why do you put so much land under cultivation if the result is wasted food?"


    Steinack smiled at Aleicree.  "Market grows a little every year, and which part''s most demanded shifts all the time.  Farmergons around here grow a variety of crops, too.  Sharing keeps us from eating the same thing all the time."


    "Share a bit more with Rhis," Aleicree said, "I went over to his house yesterday and he had a lunch of nothing but peas."


    Steinack''s eyes widened.  "Nothing but peas?  That poor fellow.  I think we might''ve been forgetting about him, but he''s just so shy it''s easy to do.  I''ll put word around."


    Vrekant asked, "How''d gifting a book to Rhis go?"


    Aleicree took zir copy of The Tansy Heresies out of a pouch and held it up.  "He loaned me a book to copy.  It''s pretty fascinating, too!"


    "Ah, wonderful!" said Vrekant.  He turned to Steinack.  "I think Rhis got into farming to have time to read through the summer."


    "Did he now," Steinack said.


    Aleicree peeled off and looked towards Rokalenth, who had been apparently listening without speaking all through the conversation.  If I were a bolder dragon, I''d tell him he should meet a paintergon, Aleicree thought.  The world could use more portraits of violet dragons.  He returned zir gaze and zie blushed, leading him to tilt his head quizzically.


    Aleicree fled the three rather than admit what zie was thinking to Rokalenth.


    Zie wasn''t sure what to do with the morning, but zie had a copy of The Tansy Heresies and was intending to keep this one, so zie settled near a wall in the big fire pit room and flipped through it.  Rhis'' interpretation of the Rift cult had been so different from zir own...  Zie re-read bits of it, trying to find hints of heroism.


    Gradually, as Aleicree read, vrash arrived carrying stew pots and ladles strapped to their backs.  With a little help from Vrekant, who stayed posted near the table talking to whoever was nearby, the pots from the arrivals were placed on the food table, so that it filled up with things to eat.  Nor were all of the stewpots bearing stew, but two of them brought potted roasts and one brought a pot full of fish fillets.  Vrekant brought out platters for the meat items; the roasts were carved and the fillets were laid out.


    Azosta and Limist woke up as well.  They hadn''t eaten breakfast yet, and weren''t accustomed as Aleicree was to skipping meals, so zie wasn''t surprised to see Limist take a trencher and peruse the first stews on the table.  A slice of meat took its place on that bread-plate as well.


    Azosta however gravitated towards Aleicree and asked, "How is that book?"


    "It''s interesting," Aleicree said, "But I don''t understand how magic lore really works, so far.  This is supposed to teach something of the arcane principles, but I don''t get it."


    Azosta said, "I don''t want to advise.  You''re better off not getting it, and using non-magical means to solve problems."


    Meeting Rhis made Azosta''s anti-magic attitudes less appetising.  Azosta believed in, what, narrative underpinnings of reality that could be undermined by magic?  Aleicree swallowed a rebuff to Azosta, and said instead, "I''m still looking forward to seeing what Praoziu makes of your anti-magic attitudes."


    Azosta smiled at that and glanced out a window.  "I''m looking forward to the flight, then.  This''ll be the first time I''ve had a land god listen to my ideas."


    "Seeing you meet Praoziu should be good, but today is gonna be awwwful," moaned Aleicree.


    Azosta peered at Aleicree.  "What''s so bad about today?"


    Aleicree sighed.  "Thirty three near strangers, and I''ve no idea what to do with myself."


    Zie ended up hanging out with Azosta for a while.  Some of the farmergons avoided him.  Others sought him out.  They''d heard him before, now several wanted to know whether he considered vrash surface reformation to be magical; he clarified that he did not.  "What about weather magic?" came the follow-up question, and Azosta sighed and said he didn''t count that either.


    "The in-born magical gifts don''t cause serenity drain or spellwasting, and their use can''t be limited.  Weather magic is an extension of the vashael gift," explained Azosta.


    "I think you''re just taking the easy way out on a flaw in your ideals," said one of the farmergons.


    "Wouldn''t we be richer with the stories of food shortages?" asked another, laughing.


    The knot of farmergons dissolved around Azosta, who wilted.  "I''ve been digging out wells for them all month, and they aren''t friendly with me at all," he said.


    Aleicree patted Azosta on the shoulder.  "They see magic as integral to their daily lives," zie said.


    "They might actually be richer with stories of food shortages," said Azosta, quietly.  "The higher food prices would make this less of a poverty wage."


    That sounded chaotic to Aleicree.  "Some would be richer, others would be poorer, and the world would contain much more misery.  If we can''t find good stories in happy times, how can we hope to live forever?"


    Azosta sighed, shrugged, and went off to get some food.


    Without the now-familiar Azosta standing next to zir, Aleicree felt alone in the growing crowd.  Zie pulled out zir founders notebook again and tried to see individuals in the crowd, but it was just too many dragons.  Zie felt overwhelmed, and the farmergons weren''t even all here yet.  How was zie going to lead these dragons to Nidrio?  Was zie going to have to introduce ALL of them to Praoziu?


    To escape the crowd, zie went outside.  The big room with a firepit also had a double door that led outside.


    The backyard itself was a small forest.  It was much the same as when Vrekant had showed it off that day he got off from work.  The mostly bare dirt was a healthy colour like the dirt in Rhis'' field, and it was hoisted by the roots of trees, presenting a rumpled ground.  The tree canopy was well above them and the underbrush had been kept clear of the bushes and fallen branches that would grow in a wild forest, leaving only some weeds and grasses clinging tenaciously between the trees.


    Aleicree spotted shelf mushrooms on the sides of some of the trees and was drawn nearer by the sight.  Each of them was black near the tree and red-banded across the middle, with a yellow ring around the edge that faded nearly to white.


    Alas, it was only a momentary distraction from Aleicree''s great nemesis: the party itself.  There were still dragons out here - Aleicree saw a game of ringer under way, in fact - but the openness of the back forest did wonders to ameliorate the sense of crowding.  The shade of the trees was pleasant, as was the swishing sway of the branches overhead in the light wind.


    There was almost always a bit of wind in Sorjek.  The tampered weather was forever seeking to get back to equilibrium.


    Aleicree went over to that game of ringer.  Farard was over here, along with (Aleicree checked zir notebook for names) Naburyen and Soltia.  There were too many dragons here zie''d hardly met.  Despite zir pretence of writing the Founders Notebook, zie thought zie wouldn''t likely meet most of these dragons again.  Farard was only memorable for making out with Vrekant most of a month ago, though his dusky purple coloration was still attractive.


    Unfamiliarity didn''t have to stop zir from flinging bent pieces of iron at a stake.  Zie watched for a round.  When they were picking up the irons after, Aleicree walked right up and asked, "Can I join?"


    This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.


    "Sure!" said Farard.  "We¡¯re glad to have you.¡±  He gestured to a box full of pieces of metal that had each been bent into a U-shape and then painted.  A rod of metal extended horizontally from the box to mark the throwing position.


    Aleicree watched as Farard moved into position, sat up to free his forelimbs, and gently lobbed a red iron at the stake.  It went off to the side and landed nowhere close to the stake.  The queue was Farard, Naburyen, Soltia, then Aleicree.


    "So...  Are all-day events normal just before travelling?" Aleicree asked, by way of making conversation.


    Soltia said, "Before harvest, yeah."


    Naburyen took Farard''s place and lobbed a blue iron.  It was closer to the stake than Farard''s, but not very close to the stake.


    "What do you do at these events?"


    Soltia stepped into position.  "Besides play irons?" she said.  She tossed a green iron and it fell just short of the stake.  "We say farewells between those who are and aren''t going."


    Aleicree took zir place to toss a pink iron... and cringed as it went off to the side.  It clanged into Farard''s iron.  They didn''t have to get close to the stake to score this round; it clearly went to Soltia.  Soltia started down the course to pick up the irons.


    Naburyen grinned at Aleicree''s throw.  "We also gossip about where we''re going.  This little trip to Nidrio will spread beyond just who you recruited."


    "You mean there''ll be more dragons?" Aleicree asked, aghast.


    There was surprise and laughter in the group, and Naburyen rushed to explain, "No, no.  I mean we''ll tell each other all about it.  This is a close-knit community."


    The queue reformed for the next round, same order as before.  This time, Farard''s throw was true, but short.  The iron landed just short of the stake.


    "I''m not actually going," Soltia said.  "I know I said I would before, but I don''t think I want to meet a land god at all.  I just like a quiet life."


    Naburyen took their attention by stepping into the throwing position.  He lobbed the iron hard, but not at the stake.  The whole group flinched as Naburyen''s throw bounced off a nearby tree.  "Careful with those," said Farard, walking over to grab the out-of-bounds iron.


    An abashed Naburyen drooped at tip and tail.  "Sorry."


    Soltia took the next throwing position. "I want to hear about Nidrio from everyone else though, so I still showed up today."  She threw the iron lackadaisically, and it went well short and off to the side.


    Aleicree stepped up.  "If anyone actually moves there, they''ll be making history," zie said.  "There isn''t a society in Nidrio yet.  It''ll be up to the first residents to make one."  Zie threw the pink iron, and threw it perfectly, jumping in shock as it landed right on the stake.  Spinning about the stake on impact, it rang out.


    "Ringer!" cried Farard.


    Since Aleicree had won the round, zie walked out to pick up the irons.


    They played a few more rounds.  This was a low-stress activity out in the yard away from the crowd, and Aleicree was grateful for it.  They remarked on who won each round, but didn''t bother keeping track; it clearly didn''t matter who was winning.


    Eventually, a small crowd of other dragons gathered about the stake, and Aleicree gave up zir spot so someone else could play.  There were too many dragons again.  The whole month had been a parade of strangers, but at least it''d been in smaller numbers!


    Aleicree was tempted to retreat to zir own room to write a letter.  Dear Dad, zie composed in zir head.  I think I''ll be returning to the sea soon.  I''m not fit for life in the city or the countryside.  There are too many dragons in the world and I am very introverted.  Even out at sea, I didn''t meet everyone in that much smaller maritime world.


    This letter''s chance to exist was dashed when zie got back to zir room and found that Rettle had taken it over.  Zie was playing zir favourite game with a full party in the room Aleicree had been sleeping in.  The room was full of dragons sprawling on the floor around the Eternal City set with its shapeshifting game pieces.


    Rettle lifted zir head to look at Aleicree.  "Oh hey, we''re full up this round," Rettle said, "But if you want to stick around we can maybe give you a slot in the next round."


    "No, that''s okay.  I was looking for a room away from the crowd," Aleicree said.


    Rettle sat up.  "Oh, just keep looking down the bedrooms.  A few of them have Vrekant''s board games being used like this one, but you should find an empty room eventually."


    Aleicree ducked out again.  An empty room without my letter paper, zie thought with a sigh.


    There was no escaping other dragons.  The sprawl of Vrekant''s house made sense now; clearly the locals had descended on him on other occasions, too.  The house was built to give a place to gatherings.


    Aleicree wanted none of that.


    These dragons were saying farewells, gossiping, and "being close-knit" with each other.  Aleicree felt like an interloper anyways.


    Zir stomach rumbled, so zie went for the trencher bread and stews, but then zie carried it around looking for Vrekant.  When zie found him, he was deep in conversation with another of the local farmergons whose name Aleicree hadn''t memorised, and this time zir hands were too full to go for the notebook in its pouch.


    Zie waited nearby for an opportunity to speak to Vrekant.  When he looked towards zir, zie asked, "What''s our travel plan?  Will we be going around gathering dragons tomorrow?"


    "No," said Vrekant, "No need of that.  I have a great surplus of bedrooms for this reason.  We''ll gather together the farmergons who are going with us and we can set out from here at first light."


    Aleicree gestured with zir spoon.  "After I eat, I''m going to go for a flight.  This place is too crowded, and I don''t know these dragons."


    "Take Azosta," said Vrekant.  "I''m afraid he''s miserable today."


    So Aleicree wandered the house between bites of stew, and eventually found Azosta holding the gnawed-on remnants of a trencher slice.  Zie beckoned to him, and he perked up.  "Let''s go out front," zie said, and soon the two stood on Tavanth Street finishing their food.


    The two of them were soon flying over Sorjek, getting away from the crowded house of Vrekant to enjoy a long flight together.  They roared and swooped and eventually went down by the seaside to skim the water and swim together, and the low density of the seaside district in Sorjek was a relief after the crowding of thirty three local farmergons descending on the house of Vrekant.


    Vrekant''s house was still uproarious when Aleicree got back that evening.  Well...  Uproarious was an unfair word.  The farmergons weren''t wild dragons.  There wasn''t even any alcohol being served.  Still, it was noisy and packed, with only a few dragons having left already.


    Aleicree and Azosta had dinner from what remained of the potluck after it''d been grazed on all day, and then checked on the room Aleicree had been staying in.  Discovering that Rettle had left it, the two set up in there with the door tightly closed.  It wasn''t really time for bed yet and at first this was awkward; the two were mutual outcasts avoiding the party, but that didn''t mean they knew what to do with each other either.


    After a few false starts at conversation, Aleicree settled on telling Azosta the story of Kintos and The Tansy Heresies.  Azosta''s reaction to the story was much more similar to how Aleicree had reacted than it was to how Rhis had reacted, with Azosta agreeing that the Rift cult were obviously the villains of the tale.  He went so far as to say, "Theomes ought to have some kind of defence against organisations like that manipulating them."


    "I don''t think that would''ve worked here," Aleicree said.  "The tansy cult was operating with the approval of the land god.  Kintos was out of favour."


    Azosta set his jaw.  "Well, it won''t happen anywhere else.  They were using necromancy, weren''t they?  That¡¯s why so many theomes try to root out necromancers.  This kind of activity is 99% criminal."


    Aleicree didn''t mention Rhis'' offer to summon a wolejerrup.  The conversation got a little uncomfortable then, although Aleicree pushed on talking about Rift as ''the broken lore", leading up to asking Azosta, "Do you really want to condemn something that starts with ''the shattering of the knife''?"


    Azosta huffed.  "It''s still the lore of conflict, and the only magic lore that doesn¡¯t lead dragons into disharmony is the merciful lore, which I still don¡¯t recommend.  The safe magics are the inborn gifts, or the spells based on them, which don''t involve delving into mystic lore to achieve.¡±


    Aleicree grinned at Azosta.  "If I set you up in Nidrio, are you going to be keeping everyone harmonious?"


    Azosta looked at zir with a surprisingly earnest expression.  "I''m very likely to move in, but when I do, what do you want me to do there?"


    At this, Aleicree realised that zie hadn''t shared with Azosta zir thoughts about how he could ameliorate Praoziu''s inexperience.  How his anti-magic ideals could help Praoziu build a settlement with satisfying challenges.  "I want you to be a new geomancer for my mother," zie said, and then raised a hand in placation when Azosta''s expression soured, adding, "And a new kind of geomancer.  I want you to talk to Praoziu about how magic drains the stories of the world, and help her to shape Fate in Nidrio to have less of magic giving away easy answers for free."


    "You really believe in my position, then," Azosta said, sitting taller.


    Aleicree pulled back from him, zir gaze sliding away.  "I''m not sure," zie said, drawing the I¡¯m.  Zie felt pulled between their two ideologies, one of them against magic and the other in favour of it.  "I just think Praoziu really would benefit from your influence."


    Azosta said, "It''s strange to think of a land god as needing the influence of a lesser divinity."


    Aleicree looked directly at him again, and smiled.  "Well, that''s Praoziu.  She was a brutal loner before Taisach reached her.  She''s only newly begun at weaving Fates to try to create a future with dragons settling in Nidrio.  So far, the theome''s future is still pretty empty."


    Azosta nodded.  "I''ll do my best.  Hey, Vrekant said that we''re leaving at first light, right?"


    Aleicree said, "That''s what he told me."


    Azosta walked towards the door of the room.  "I''m going to go see if my own room is free, and maybe chase out whoever is in there if it isn''t.  Goodnight, Aleicree."


    "Goodnight, Azosta."


    That left Aleicree alone in the room.  Zie thought of Rhis again.  Zie hadn''t seen Rhis at the party.  He was supposed to be here somewhere.  The party was dying down outside as other dragons also went to bed to be ready to travel in the morning, but it wasn''t quite dead yet.  Aleicree decided to leave zir room to make one last canvas to find Rhis.


    This time, zie asked where he''d gone.  Zie greeted loitering farmergons by name (with zir Founders Notebook in hand to get them right) and asked if they had seen Rhis.  A number of them had seen Rhis, but nobody reported having talked to him.  "Oh, he''s so shy," said one.  "Such a wallflower!" said another.  "I think I saw him outside, all the way on the edge of the yard," said a third.


    Following that tip, Aleicree went outside and walked through the miniature forest that was Vrekant''s back yard.  Zie saw a dragon through the trees, seated on the edge of the field just past the trees, all limned in starlight.  Rhis?


    Aleicree crossed through the trees, and the dragon at the back edge of Vrekant''s yard glanced up at zir.  Zie waved a wing (hoping the gesture would be visible, shadowed by the trees as zie was) and called ahead, "Rhis?  Is that you?"


    When zie got close, zie saw that it was Rhis.  His pink scales were drained of colour by the starlight; his grey mask was a deeper darkness on his face.  "A-Aleicree," he said.  "One of the o-only dragons here I c-care to talk to."


    Aleicree frowned in concern.  "Are the locals unfriendly to you?" zie asked, thinking about how Azosta had gotten along poorly this month.


    "No, they''re f-fine.  They just... aren''t studious," Rhis said.  "And I thought I didn''t n-need to talk about my s-st-studies, but... I haven''t been gifted v-very many books, either.  It was nice to, um, have someone sharing my interests."


    Aleicree bumped zir nose at Rhis'' snout, and he pulled his head away.  Aleicree stayed close.  His speech impediment made him seem so harmless, but he was proposing to use a strange and dangerous magic.  "I''m really curious what Praoziu is going to say to your proposal to use a necromantic spell on her behalf."


    "I-I-I hope she doesn''t h-hate me for it," said Rhis.


    "I''m sure she won''t."  Aleicree pulled back again.  "You''re staying here tonight, right?"


    Rhis glanced back towards the house.  "Y-yes, of course."


    "Come join me in my room.  There are two beds, and I can spare you sharing a room with someone else."


    Rhis looked at Aleicree for a moment, then looked upwards at the stars.  "I''ll...  I''ll be a bit," he said.  "I like being outside at night."


    "I''ll stay out here with you, then.  Otherwise, you won''t know which room is mine."

 Fathesti

    The next morning Vrekant refreshed the supply of trencher bread from his pantry and there was a very informal breakfast on another two dozen slices of trencher bread and what remained of the stews.  The first two pots were not the only ones with enchantments on them, but rather they all had them, and the food was just as fresh today as it had been the day before.  The only thing making it less appealing was that the best recipes had already been consumed.


    The emptied stewpots were completely clean.  There was no sense stopping short in the enchantments, and it wasn''t like vrash farmergons would keep compost.


    Aleicree wasn''t skipping or delaying this meal.  They''d be all day on the wing to Shibanyet.


    The crowd wasn''t reduced just yet.  Even as zie wondered why so many of the farmergons had come back the next morning, Aleicree met Soltia at the serving table.  "Why are you here again?" zie asked.  "I thought you decided against going."


    "I''m going to keep two of these stewpots safe while their owners are away," she said to Aleicree as the two of them were loading trencher bread for the morning meal.  This was a theme, as the group departed with the stewpots strapped to different backs than those with whom they''d arrived.  The enchanted crockery was either too valuable to leave behind, or else it was something of a communal resource in the first place.


    Nobody was carrying their enchanted stewpots to Nidrio.  Carrying enchanted goods across theome boundaries risked spontaneous disenchantment.


    Eighteen farmergons gathered in Vrekant¡¯s front yard, nearly all vrash, trodding four-legged on every corner of the grass.  They crowded the yard with scales of every colour, some of them catching the light with metallic sheens or polished armour.  Vrekant, Azosta, Limist, and Aleicree joined them, a knot of de facto leadership with every eye watching them.  Aleicree cringed from all the attention.  Azosta and Limist shied back from Vrekant and Aleicree, stepping out of the limelight as they did.  Only Vrekant seemed comfortable with so many dragons watching him.


    ¡°Give each other space,¡± Vrekant called, turning to face the milling crowd.  ¡°Space out!  Space out!  None of us are used to flying in large groups, so take off one at a time, but don¡¯t delay!  Take off promptly when the dragon next to you has done so!¡±


    Under his direction, the dragons lined up in rough rows, the first few standing with their wings half-mantled as they crouched, thighs tense for a great spring into the air.


    ¡°Aleicree, take the lead!¡± called Vrekant, returning to the front.


    Aleicree leapt into the air, summoning zir amicus breeze to lift zir into flight.


    Behind zir came a steady flapping of wings, one after the next as the dragons leapt into the air.  Aleicree did zir best to extend the breeze, an enchanted head-wind ruffling the grass and trees to give them better lift.  Zie could feel Vrekant on the ground helping with the wind.  Zir awareness of the wind gave zir a disembodied perspective as the farmergons strung out in a long line of takeoffs, until finally Vrekant took off last at the rear.


    The wind slewed gradually into a tailwind that would be better for the speed of their flight, and their line was somewhat disarrayed as the travelling group came together into a more imminent formation.  When zie could feel through the wind itself that they were all flying steady in the breeze, Aleicree gave into a certain temptation, and flew faster ahead of the group to turn in the air and look back on them all.  The travelling dragons crowded the sky.


    The long flight made for a quiet day.  They couldn''t talk in flight.  There was some playing, with Fiata in particular using her independent amicus breeze to fly circles around the rest, but most of the travelling dragons conserved their energy.  Aleicree and Vrekant worked together to adjust the wind as they flew, keeping the journey swift as they flew over the rainforests of Kanjamund, over the pass of Mount Ardaziel, and then over the northern coastline to Shibanyet.


    When they arrived after a day on the wing, the flock of twenty-one other dragons descended behind Aleicree, who was going towards The Royal Lion of the Sun again.  Zie didn''t know any other inns in Shibanyet.  They went inside, and the maitre d'' offered them rooms at a group rate, knowing exactly how many rooms to offer as though it''d all been predetermined.


    A few of the farmergons recoiled from the offered price, decrying it as too expensive despite the discount.  They flew away to find rooms elsewhere.  Aleicree trusted that Fate would bring them back together again without confusion.  Most of them took up rooms at the Royal Lion of the Sun.


    Perhaps this had all been pre-ordained.  Perhaps this was why the room here had been given for free earlier.  Giving Aleicree, Limist, and Azosta free lodging on the way out brought back a paying flock a month later that filled the rooms at the Royal Lion.


    The public hall of the Royal Lion of the Sun was completely packed that evening, and observably less smoky this time due to all the non-smoking dragons packing it tonight.  Several friendly local dragons tried to offer pipes and could make no headway, but they got drawn into conversations nonetheless, and it was a friendly night¡­ at least, for dragons less introverted than Aleicree.


    Zie stayed instead near the shy Rhis, and the two were wallflowers together, sitting at a table near the edge of the room with Azosta, who appreciated the bastion of relative silence.  They ate roast fish together, and between bites Aleicree thought to ask, "Do model cities hurt necromancers?"


    Rhis'' eyes widened.  "Don''t mention necromancy in a model city," he said.  "There are anti-necromantic organisations in all of these."


    "So they do!" said Aleicree.


    Azosta said, "The theome itself does not.  Only mystic theomes are that reactive.  Yet the land gods who work Fate as hard as they can - have you ever heard of land gods being rated by their level of Fate control? - they¡¯re also the most tolerant of anti-necromantic agitation."  Aleicree wondered if he included his own anti-magic views under the category of "anti-necromantic agitation".


    They returned to eating in silence, Aleicree now rather frowning at Shibanyet.  It was such a pleasant-looking place, but if it was dangerous to Rhis, zie didn''t like it anymore.  Azosta and Rhis both seemed potentially vital to Nidrio''s future.


    Aleicree shared a room with Azosta and Limist that night.  They were zir guests and they were destitute, so zie was responsible for paying their way.  Inviting them into zir room was the cheapest way.  They slept on a rug on the floor, although the Royal Lion of the Sun was generous enough to offer extra pillows for them.


    The next morning, the twenty-two travellers gathered again like the gears of a machine meshing together.  Shibanyet''s tightly controlled Fate had woken them all on schedule and made it so that finding each other in the air was as trivial as looking around, for they had all taken off at once and in the same direction.  Few of them had any breakfast, but they felt strong and able as they took flight over the Rainy Straight to the north and west of Shibanyet.


    Limist led the flight to Fathesti, with Aleicree and Vrekant behind him maintaining the wind.  It was a rainy day on the aptly-named Rainy Strait, and they might have been turned back if not for the two windmages creating a great wedge of helpful wind for the group.


    There were clouds all along the shoreline of Tachamund.  It took hours to fly out of the damp and gusty airspace.  They saw the grasslands and farmlands of the Tachamundi coast beneath them, plaiting the land in shades of green and yellow from the crops.  The ocean stretched out to their right and behind them as they followed the coastline northeast.


    Eventually the land started rising gradually upwards.  The terrain remained largely grasslands, but now instead of the land running to the ocean there were cliffs and escarpments.  They passed over an unsettled region of grassy hills.  Without suitable places for a port to be founded, these areas were isolated from the trade routes of Nidrio, and few dragons came to them.


    The winds rippled the shining grass far below the flying dragons, a reminder of the emptiness of much of Theoma.  All this land was unclaimed by any save ruminant herds feeding on the grass and the terrestrial predators that preyed on them in turn.  Had their travel party been destitute, they might have descended on one of those herds to feed, but they left them alone.  Dragons could be pretty wide-ranging.  The open, unclaimed look of the land might have been deceiving.  There could easily have been the occasional hunting party coming through here to claim bone, hide, and meat from the herds.


    They pushed on towards Fathesti.


    The cliffs gave way to grasslands that ran to the ocean again for a while, and then the land rose up more dramatically than before.  These were the Graggle Cliffs, a region of highlands that abutted the ocean like an impassable boundary for a great distance.


    Yet sparse forests touched the cliff tops here, and the land was still green and verdant in this region though the land gods had lifted it up well over sea level.  Aleicree wondered what kept the forest sparse, and what kept it off of the grassy hills farther southwest.  The trees grew and spread, didn''t they?  What kept them from taking over all of this uninhabited territory?


    The obvious answer was "the land gods", but that was unsatisfying.  These were nature gods who hadn''t invited in civilization yet.  All the land gods worked with subtlety.  The nature gods usually had some carefully worked ecology waiting to be discovered by someone with an interest in that kind of thing.


    The land gods didn''t just set the world just-so and force it to stay that way.  They created self-maintaining systems that made the world work the way they wanted it to.


    Aleicree wasn''t really interested in the ecological systems, but zie wondered what "self-maintaining systems" looked like in the construction of the Fates of cities.  The land gods must have ideas for how whole cities could grow and change over time.  They were the ultimate gardeners, whether they worked in urban or natural environments.


    They didn''t go far over the Graggle Cliffs before Limist started descending.  Looking ahead, Aleicree saw a small complex of buildings attached to no roads at all.  This place must be supplied entirely by flyers.  The multistory buildings looked very modern and well-built as they rose up white against the grassy backdrop of the land here, standing upon a hill with a dramatic view off the cliffs to the southwest and over a great decline in the landscape to the northeast.


    The flock landed before the hotel.  Black letters on the left side of the front of the building read Fathesti Lodge, one word above the other.  Across from the hotel, there was a butcher''s shop and a general store with hides on display.  There was (thankfully) no tannery in the vicinity, but these shops as good as confirmed Aleicree''s guess that the herds on the uninhabited coastal grasslands southeast of Fathesti were hunted.


    The journey was a little shorter than the trip between Sorjek and Shibanyet, and the heavy winds of their wet start had sped them on their way.  It was only afternoon when they  flooded into the Lodge.  As with the Royal Lion of the Sun, the first floor of the Fathesti Lodge was dedicated to a dining area.  This one was empty, but the twenty-two visiting dragons changed that in a hurry.  They went up to the front to negotiate an overnight stay in ones and twos (and in Fiata''s case, a trio), then found places to sit amidst the tables.


    Menus written on leather lay dormant on each table waiting for guests to pick them up and review them.  The pricing was unusual; meat was cheap and vegetables were dear.  A great deal of steak was ordered that afternoon by ravenous dragons who hadn''t eaten a thing all day and who weren''t used to meat being the cheap part of the menu.


    There was no alcohol on the menu, which Aleicree saw with surprise and enthusiasm.  Did they not want to haul it in, or had the hotel''s operators decided they were too far from civilization to deal with drunken dragons?


    Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.


    Feeling a sense of responsibility for the group and being at peace with zir own hunger, Aleicree paced the hall checking in with the different tables.  Each group greeted zir enthusiastically.  Several of them - sitting in groups of three around four dragon tables - offered zir a seat that zie waved off.  Aleicree resisted the temptation to search out Rhis or Azosta... or tried to, but couldn''t help spotting them across the room anyways.  They had sat with Ardent, who Aleicree hadn''t heard from since just that one meeting.  Those three were probably fine; Ardent was ardently interested in arcane lore.


    Rettle''s party occupied two adjacent tables and had a "spilled over" look with the group clearly paying attention to each other on both tables.  They didn''t look so quiet this time.  Limist was sitting with Relevar, Saranz, and Farard.  The four looked to be getting along embarrassingly well, nuzzling and joking, with a flushed Relevar as the centre of attention.  Vrekant was sitting with a cluster of dragons who Aleicree would have to fetch out zir notebook to actually identify.  Some of these farmergons just did not catch my attention, zie thought guiltily.


    Aleicree ended up sitting with Fiata, Medem, and Wrevaskel, just because zie came to their table last while walking the room.  "Welcome!  Sit, eat, this place is wonderful," said Fiata in greeting zir.


    Aleicree raised the menu-hide to flag down the waiter, who was also the counter staff.  This place was running on a small staff.  After zie''d put in zir own order for a serving of steak, zie looked across the table and asked, "What are the odds the three of you move to Nidrio as new founders?"


    "Such a thing could not be probable," said Medem, "But it''s not inconceivable."


    Wrevaskel leaned in towards Aleicree.  "You''re the child of a land god.  Does that make you royalty?  Are you looking for a jeweller?"


    "I didn''t know you wanted to get back into jewellery," said Fiata, nudging Wrevaskel.


    Aleicree shrank.  "I''m not royal," zie said.  "I''m just a seagon."


    Wrevaskel sat lower in sympathy.  "Oop.  Sorry, Aleicree.  I didn''t mean to make you uncomfortable."  He sat up again.  "I know it''s only been a few years, but I want out of farming.  Treading water is an uncomfortable experience."


    Medem shook her head.  "We weren''t profitable as jewellers either."


    Wrevaskel pointed at Medem.  "The reason we stopped being jewellers is the reason I want to stop being farmergons."  He looked over towards Fiata and added, "If jewellery is ever profitable again, I want to get back into it."


    Aleicree un-shrank in curiosity.  "Why were you unprofitable as jewellers?"


    Wrevaskal smiled.  "Rings for fingers, fins, ears, tails.  Necklaces and neck-loops, bracelets and wing-piercings.  You''d think there''d be enough work, right?  And there was, just barely.  But those things are bought rarely.  Precious metals are just too expensive."


    "Too many farmergons, not enough miners," said Medem with a laugh.


    "Or not enough trade with the Deep-Under," Aleicree said, thinking of the letter zie''d gotten from Ekis about a trade journey with Denziu.


    Fiata frowned.  "The Deep-Under is a myth."


    Aleicree''s eyes widened.  There was a momentary silence about the table.


    Medem nudged Fiata.  "If our host mentions the Deep-Under as a place to trade with, it''s presumably not a myth."


    Aleicree''s order arrived.  Ripping off a piece of steak, Aleicree decided the secret to their cheap meat had to be local hunters, because it was a gamey mammalian flavour, with the fat worn off by the fear and scarcity of wild living.  Zie looked across the table to Fiata.  "The Deep-Under is real.  One of my siblings is going there.  Although, unfathomably, zie''s picking up magic lanterns.  As though they weren''t already the most common magic item."


    Wrevaskel asked, "Do you know why zie''s choosing that?"


    Aleicree shook zir head and sighed.  "I think Denziu is just humble to a fault.  Instead of going for something expensive, zie''s fascinated with a basic commodity.  You know, zie used to literally sell dirt, and zie was fascinated with that, too."


    They chatted about the Deep-Under as they ate.  Aleicree shared what little zie knew about it, telling them it had its own land gods, and that zie had no idea how many of them there were down there.  Zie''d heard they did have unique lanterns, powerful enough to light farms and parks so that plants could grow far from the sun''s life-giving energy.  The other three dragons at the table were an attentive audience, even Fiata, who seemed willing to believe that if Denziu was going down there, it must be a real place to visit.


    When the meal had been cleared away, some of the farmergons went out of the lodge to walk, fly, or browse the nearby general store until the sun went down.  Fiata and her paramours were among them.  There was little to do in Fathesti.  It was a hunting lodge and a stopover point, with perhaps five residents.  Staying in the dining room and looking out the window, Aleicree wondered if Nidrio would spend a while as a welcoming stopover point where visitors came by in transit to other places.  It was near enough to Zyrine for flyers to stay in Nidrio while visiting Zyrine.


    Aleicree extracted from zir pouches paper and zir lev-i-quill.  This lodge was a fine, sheltered place to write letters, and the crowd was tolerable given that zie was at least facially acquainted with everyone in the room.  Zie started writing to Shiowatha and Jazhou.  Zie knew where the Serene Chordalite was in its journey, for having perfect wind at all times took it at top speed through its entire circuit, and so zie knew where to address the letters to have them delivered promptly.  As for the contents of the letters, Aleicree had already told them years ago all about Praoziu and Nidrio itself.  Now zie told them zie was leading back a flight of twenty-two dragons to visit Nidrio for a feast, and that organising the flight was how zie had spent zir vacation in Sorjek.


    "You''re welcome to visit any time," zie wrote in a passage shared between both letters.  "Indeed, we may need to find a new way to stay in contact.  Staying out here for this past month has made me realise that I have lived a lonely life aboard the Serene Chordalite.  I am no raucous celebrant when we have shore leave.  I haven''t connected with many of the seagons.  By some quirk of my psychology, I have worked long without thinking of myself, and I have not been happy these past five decades.  We have made over three hundred and fifty circuits of Tachamund''s shores, and I earned no memories worth keeping.  I have nothing to show for my work save a coffer full of coinage.  I will not do many more empty circuits as the windmage of the Serene Chordalite.  It''s time my life became fuller."


    Returning from their excursion, Fiata, Medem, and Wrevaskel found Aleicree still seated at the same place, still drafting letters to Captain Kagnir''s ship with zir lev-i-quill.  Fiata and her two vrash lovers surrounded the seated Aleicree.  "Do you know who you''re rooming with tonight?" Fiata asked.  "There are two beds in each room here."


    "I had thought to room with Azosta and Limist, who I am paying for on this journey," Aleicree said.


    The three dragons about zir looked at each other, then Wrevaskel said, "Would you consider joining us for the night?  We''d love to get to know you better.  Any friend of Vrekant''s, you know."


    Aleicree blushed.  "But if there are two beds and four dragons in the room..."


    Medem said, "You''ll spare us having to make someone sleep alone."  She clearly didn''t get the problem that was making Aleicree blush.


    Fiata was more percipient.  "If you''re not comfortable with that, you don''t have to.  I would even be willing to sleep on the floor."


    "Don''t do that," cut in Wrevaskel.  "That''s more comfortable for a vrash than it is for a vashael.  Let me sleep on the floor if Aleicree won''t share a bed with one of us."


    Aleicree smiled.  "I could join you for a while, at least.  To talk in private.  Let me go talk to Limist and Azosta, first."


    Zie got up.  Wrevaskel moved out of the way so Aleicree could move out into the dining room of the Fathesti Lodge.  Zie discovered then that zie could not find Limist, nor Relevar, Saranz, or Farard.  Asking a nearby table that still had loitering dragons sitting around it, Aleicree was told that the four of them had already retreated to a room.


    Something similar proved true of Azosta, Rhis, and Ardent.  They hadn''t gone upstairs together, but they had gone out for a shared flight.  Asking the dragon at the front counter, zie was told they had registered for a shared room.


    Aleicree returned to Fiata.  "They both have other rooms already," zie said.  "So I''ll have to pay for a room alone if I don''t join someone else."


    Fiata smiled.  "We''d love to share the cost of a room with you.  We''re not rich.  A one fourth share will cost you less than a whole room to yourself.  Join us!"


    So Aleicree joined them.  They talked for a while of sailing, and Aleicree found zie had a few more memories to share than zie''d thought.  They talked for a while of magic, and Aleicree wondered if zie would in zir next career be a mage of some description.  Lastly, when the window had long darkened and they were up by lamplight, they talked for a little while of affection.


    Fiata, Medem, and Wrevaskel said they were all very open.  They had respected Aleicree''s boundaries all evening, but they were used to cuddlier nights.  Aleicree for zir part said that zie hadn''t much practice with affection since a few attempts in zir academy days, and zie certainly wasn''t used to being very open.  Yet after a little thought, and a few friendly nuzzles, Aleicree said zie might, while on land, be persuaded to try.


    Standing next to the bed they¡¯d shared, Wrevaskel nudged Aleicree awake the next morning.  The hour was impossible to judge, because the grey light through the window came through overcast skies.  No glorious sunrise on a morning like this.


    Wakefulness came slowly.  Aleicree yawned, stretched, and climbed into the warm spot in bed that Wrevaskel had vacated.  That got him to laugh and shove at zir with both hands.  "Wake up, expedition leader.  You need to be downstairs."


    Aleicree groaned, "Do I need to be downstairs already?"  Despite zir words, zie clambered out of bed and strapped on zir harnesses to go downstairs.


    Across the room, Medem was rousing Fiata, who looked similarly inclined to sleep in.


    As it turned out, Aleicree did not need to be downstairs that early.  Fiata, Medem, Wrevaskel, and Aleicree came downstairs into an empty first floor dining hall.  There was a sleepy-looking waitergon up already, and the four of them ordered a platter of fried meats with gravy to share.


    "We''re the only ones up," Aleicree said.


    Fiata said, "I guess nobody else woke with the dawn."


    ¡°Was that dawn?¡± Medem asked.  ¡°I just woke when I heard Wrevaskel stepping out of bed.¡±


    Wrevaskel looked around the empty dining hall of the lodge.  "Why''d everyone wake up at the same time in Shibanyet, but not here?"


    Aleicree knew this answer!  "Because Shibanyet is a model city theome where Fate interferes constantly," zie said.  "We were being blessed to come together.  Fathesti is a missing theome.  Fate didn''t wake us up."


    Medem said, "Guess we have some time to kill."  She tapped her claws on the table.  "Kinda makes me wish we''d brought a board game."


    They talked about whatever came to mind for an hour, then two.  The hall gradually filled with dragons as they woke up and came down.  Whenever they woke, none of the dragons skipped breakfast that day, taking advantage of the delicious cheap meats while they had the opportunity to eat on them.  Even Aleicree ate more than zie usually would, pushing for more of the fried meat and then adding a large honey tart to the table to share.


    The dining hall was full again of loitering dragons and conversations, though a few of the farmergons had wandered outside to the general store again.  Such a little tourist trap this way.  Aleicree was more curious about the butchery.  Fathesti Lodge suggested that dragons came here to hunt, even in its name.  Were there also dragons who came here to stock up on meats without hunting?  The farmergons seemed enthusiastic about the meats in the Lodge''s dining hall.  Some of them would likely stop in at the butchery during the return trip.


    After all this waiting for the last of the dragons to come downstairs, Aleicree went over to where zie saw Limist and Relevar had come down to order their breakfast.  Zie set a hand on the table near Limist and said, "Hey, could you start knocking on doors?  We need to get moving.  It''s just as far from here to Nidrio as it was from Shibanyet to here."


    "Sure," said Limist, disappearing up the stairs.


    A few minutes later the whole flock was downstairs and the late-risers were ordering their breakfasts.


    Having already eaten plenty, Aleicree stepped outside to get a last look around Fathesti.  Zie stepped into a breezy, wet morning.  Clouds had rolled in overnight.  Aleicree leapt to the air and flew to the roof of the Fathesti Lodge, with zir amicus breeze lifting zir to make the climb trivial.  The roof turned out to have low stone walls surrounding it, as well as a partial roof to keep the rain off, looking very much as though it were intended to serve as a viewing platform.  There was an access from the building''s stairs, but Aleicree had come up by the air.


    Being at the top of a multi-story building on a hill near the Graggle Cliffs, the view was pretty amazing... by the standards of being on the ground.  Aleicree saw farther every time zie took to the air.  Still, this view was here, and it was part of being here that zie hadn''t appreciated, so zie looked out over the forests and grasslands that stretched inland as the land sank away from the Fathesti Lodge''s highpoint.  There was a wedge of forest reaching for them, stretching off north and west.  The grey light from above dimmed the whole countryside to a dark green.  Aleicree wondered what untapped resources existed in those forests... or were they untapped?  After all, the Fathesti Lodge was here.  Perhaps dragons already flew through this area to explore it.


    After a few minutes, Aleicree climbed up onto the stone wall, spread zir wings, and went for a brief rounding glide to come back to the lawn before the Lodge.  Zie walked inside again and went into the dining hall, and went from table to table telling dragons it was nearly time to go.


    Soon, the whole flock was gathered out front of the Lodge, and they took off again, this time due east with Aleicree in the lead.

 Bonus: Glossary

    Dragon: Person.


    Geomancer: Magic user empowered by alignment with Fate and the land gods. Their power is considered to come from the land, hence the geo- prefix. Geomantic magic is considered divine or priestly magic, but cannot be used to heal.


    -gon: Suffix. A dragon of a particular kind or trade.


    Izerah: Izerah have a theropod body structure with horns and earfins; they are ''raptor-dragons''. These dragons are seen in every theome that is not inimical to life, as they instinctively prefer to travel widely and settle far from their origins. Izerah lack innate magic, but they are virtually immune to fatigue. Although they cannot fly, their ability to maintain a sprinting pace for up to two days straight ensures that they can still cross continents in record time. In emergencies, izerah can run even longer than that, but they begin suffering hallucinations when they have been awake for more than 48 hours.


    Kalla: These somewhat rare obligate bipeds have avian beaks, triangular feathered ears, equine hooves, and no wings. They were created in Kelkaith with the swaivshon, but have diffused from it somewhat more. They are capable of summoning lightning, their scaled hands are unburnable, and they can see through glare. There is some prejudice against kalla because of the perception that their innate magic is bizarrely violent, but kalla know they can weld metals bare-handed.


    Land god: The spirit of a land, locally omnipotent.


    Lesser divinity: Unusual term for anyone who is not a land god.


    Necromancer: Magic user empowered by dissent with Fate. Known for working with flesh. As dragons in Theoma are Fated to live forever, dissenting with Fate means that all necromancers risk death. They are thus ¡®casting from their own demise¡¯.


    Pfod: A hand that is also a foot. Vrash and swaivshon have pfods. Arguably, vashael also have pfods, as they are capable of walking on all fours, but it is typical to consider vashael to have hands.


    If you stumble upon this tale on Amazon, it''s taken without the author''s consent. Report it.


    Serenity drain: The consequence of using any magic other than innate magics is to suffer a temporary madness that grows with continued use of magic and recedes over 4-16 hours after cessation of magic use. Energizing, but dangerous. It is easy to make mistakes while afflicted with serenity drain.


    Spellwrack: The consequence of using necromancy specifically. In addition to serenity drain, necromantic spellcasting also causes the body to rot away painfully. In small doses, this hurts, but it heals. In large doses, it is fatal, but necromancers have ways to animate themselves past this ''death''. Long-dead necromancers claim that bouts of spellwrack never stop hurting, even long after all the nerves of their body have rotted away.


    Swaivshon: Most of these furred quadrupedal dragons live in a small number of hyper-dense cities in the cold northern extreme of the world. They are rare sights outside of Kelkaith. Swaivshon have no innate magic, but they resist many things. They often shrug off spells with which they disagree; they do not need to be consciously aware of the spell for this to work. It is very difficult to burn, freeze, or shock a swaivshon. Their eyes can see through glare.


    Theome: The territory of a land god. Etymologically, a theological biome, hence theome. These are the usual units of territory on Theoma.


    Vashael: The second most numerous kind of dragon. Vashael have a theropod body stance with wings. Most of them have pronounced and expressive fins. They have the ability to control the wind in their proximity; this is called the amicus breeze.


    Veserus: A technically numerous kind of dragon, but rarely seen above the surface of the water. Veserus breath only to speak, and their native language is signed. Most veserus appear to be vrash mixed with fish or cetaceans, but some can pass for common vrash.


    Vohntrai: The rarest kind of dragon. Obligate bipeds like kalla, vohntrai have a wide variety of appearances within what is termed ''draconic''. They reform five years later if killed by any cause. Their bodies regenerate rapidly from lesser injuries. However, they are almost totally incapable of necromancy, and they can never remember more than the most recent four hundred years of their lives. Vohntrai who spend too long in one theome start turning transparent, becoming what are known as ¡®ghost vohntrai¡¯.


    Vrash: The most numerous kind of dragon. Vrash are quadrupeds, but their forelimbs end in dexterous pfods. They have wings. They are known for their tendency to wear armor as a form of fashion. They can reform surfaces by touch, making them superior artisans and farmers.

 Nidrio

    They hung in the air over the sea as the Graggle Cliffs bent north away from them, and although the coast approached them again as they passed the mouth of the River Joylim, they didn''t come back over land again until they were over Daubsyid. The grey swamps of Daubsyid were alive with dense fields and trees, broken up occasionally by farms. Only soil-altering vrash farmergons could farm here where the soil was all sodden clay, but Daubsyid was a settled area so a few dragons did farm it. They passed over small communities whose names Aleicree didn''t know.


    They flew out under the clouds most of the way through Daubsyid. What little sunlight broke through caught on the fields of hardy swamp plants and the great gnarled root trees that thrust themselves up out of the wetness. It was already afternoon and the sun was behind them; it warmed their wings without getting in their eyes.


    The swamps of Daubsyid continued in Denxalue, marked only by the transition from a greyish clay soil to a healthier though no less vibrant brown. Even just from seeing what little differed across the border, Aleicree knew they had just passed into the territory of the land god Lauvera. It was nostalgic to fly over Denxalue. Lauvera had watched over Praoziu''s children in their childhood, in metaphor at least. Lauvera was a swamp god; she adored Denziu for that he had adored mud growing up.


    There, to the south! The city Yunven, where they had met regularly with tutors as soon as they were old enough to fly. Housing most of the stone construction in Denxalue, it had the theome''s governing offices, a little half-sunken ziggurat for a Temple of Uttermost Dark, and permanent flood walls along its northern boundary to guard against a nearby waterway. Farther in and to the north, Denxalue''s other "city" Zhaoze passed through their sight. Absolutely wet and surrounded by waterways, Zhaoze was a swamptown built up on poles. Denziu loved it. Aleicree didn''t understand the attraction.


    On the eastern horizon rose green mountains. That was the sight of their destination, Nidrio. All of those hills and mountains were Praoziu''s domain, rising high and plunging low in dramatic valleys. It was wooded high and low, and no snowy reaches lay before them.


    On one of the high mountains stood a tower a few stories tall. On the ground next to that tower, two dragons stood looking west. Praoziu''s white scales and white mane fairly gleamed in the sunlight, and Taisach was a less brilliant presence next to her with his orange scales. Aleicree dipped in the air to bring the whole flock lower on the approach... and was shocked to see Praoziu leap into the air!


    Her thin, long-bodied form fairly swam through the air as she approached. Flying through the air without wings was a stark declaration of a land god''s powers. There was a stir in their flight as she approached, dragons wheeling off out of her flightpath as she rounded. They needn''t have bothered; her motions were exact. "Welcome to Nidrio," cried Praoziu, and then flew alongside Aleicree. "You''ve brought me an unusual gift!"


    Aleicree didn''t usually talk in flight, but Praoziu was flying exactly nearby and matching zir speed. "This was done by Vrekant," zie said. "It was Vrekant''s decision to bring over a different local every night, and I had the idea of seeing if any of them would consider visiting us."


    "Clearly they would," Praoziu said, dipping down and back to fly towards the farmergons. She matched speed with one, then another. Several of them veered away again, their flight instincts too strong to let them fly close to her, but she briefly exchanged hellos with several others despite the altitude.


    When the incoming dragons were close enough that Aleicree knew he could tell that they were looking at each other, Taisach waved his arm at the flyers.


    They landed on the mountaintop, just past Taisach''s garden. Aleicree and Taisach embraced. "Aleicree my dear," said Taisach, grinning. "Since when do you bring back so many visitors?"


    "I want Nidrio to grow," Aleicree said. Zie turned and watched the farmergons landing. "Dragons need to hear about your efforts at recruitment."


    "Do you think any of them will actually join?" asked Taisach, likewise turning to watch and wave to the arrivals.


    "Two of them are destitute, and will join us if we''ll have them. I think we should!"


    "You mean, you think I should," Taisach said, hesitantly looking back at Aleicree again.


    Aleicree smiled and dipped zir head. "I think¡­ I said what I meant. I''m going back to Captain Kagnir for at least another circuit, maybe several, but I think this is my last year aboard. Sailing is a lonely profession for me. I need to find something new."


    Taisach leaned forward with his hands together over his chest. ¡°You need something new?¡± he asked. ¡°Your mother and I will do whatever we can to help you find your place.¡±


    ¡°Just meet Rhis the Quiet with me later,¡± Aleicree said. The moment was wrong for talking about it more than that, because they were being mobbed on all sides by all the landed farmergons from Sorjek.


    Taisach turned to the crowd and held his hands up. "Aye! Hey! Hello everyone, welcome to my house! I am Taisach of Nidrio. Can I get Vrekant the Raincaller up here? I need a lot of introductions. After you¡¯re introduced, please go inside, where you''ll find there''s already a table set out with post-flight refreshments."


    Aleicree felt like zie should be present as part of the family, so zie stood nearby with Praoziu while Vrekant introduced all eighteen of the Sorjek farmergons who''d taken up the invitation to Nidrio. Zie waved to each of them as they were introduced. Zie may have waved a little harder to Fiata''s group, and to Rhis when he shyly came up near the end of the line.


    Finally, at the very back of the line of introductions, there were two dragons with whom Aleicree was marginally better acquainted than was Vrekant. Aleicree stepped forward to take Vrekant''s place for the last two introductions. "Dad, this is Limist the Pipeseller," zie said, offering up a brownish-red vrash. "I met him in Shibanyet, where he was down on his luck. I think he''ll actually move to Nidrio if there''s a place for him."


    "Pipeseller?" said Taisach with a smile. "We''ll have to make sure our plans use actual pipes, then. I think Praoziu was inclined to start with summoning-based waterworks, but pipes are much more scalable."


    "I''ll be glad if there''s a place for me, though I''ve never been employed in such an undeveloped location." Limist sat back on his haunches before Taisach to lift his pfods from the ground so they could shake, then went inside following the flow of other guests.


    After him came Azosta, whose white scales were not so far from the colours of Praoziu herself. "This is Azosta the Endseer," Aleicree said, presenting him to Taisach.


    "Endseer!" said Taisach.


    Aleicree grinned. "Endseer. He''s a plumbergon like Limist, but he''s also a studier of magic lore who is against magic. I''m really hoping he gets into all manner of interesting conversations with Praoziu, because I think he could really shape the future here in Nidrio."


    Azosta moved in before Taisach and lifted a pfod to shake with Taisach. "If I come this way and start spending my time talking to a land god again, I suppose that means I''ll be back to trafficking as a geomancer. I''ve never influenced the founding of a settlement before."


    "Not many have," Taisach said. "But that''s what we''re doing here in Nidrio."


    "Interesting." Azosta moved past Taisach to go into the house, following after the rest of the party.


    Taisach looked at Aleicree. "Those last two were the destitute ones you''d mentioned?"


    Aleicree nodded, and he glanced over to Vrekant.


    Vrekant said, "Aleicree brought them to my house. They''re zir responsibility. I''ve no complaints though, they''ve worked with my friends all month handling water issues."


    Praoziu stepped lightly over to Aleicree, and brushed her fluffy tailtip over Aleicree''s side. "You surprise me," she said. "You brought a geomancer to me, intending to influence my decisions. I didn''t expect you to do that."


    Aleicree asked, "Mom? You can see my Fate, can''t you?"


    "Very clearly," Praoziu said, "Now that you stand within me, it would be very hard for you to surprise me. I knew you would visit Sorjek, too. That much happened within Fate. Yet not every twist of thought is foretold, and for instance, you were foretold to go back to work as a seagon."


    Aleicree tilted zir head. "If you knew I would visit Sorjek..."


    Before Aleicree could get zir thoughts in order on that question, Vrekant cleared his throat. "We should go inside and have a bite. I''m curious what was set out for us."


    Abashed, Aleicree shut up and walked inside with the other three, with Praoziu bringing up the rear as they entered.


    The first room past the lower door was a great open room next to wide floor to ceiling windows that looked out on Taisach''s garden. The flooring in here was a swathe of wood near the door with a scrapy-rough rug on it, then an ever-soft beige carpet of a sort that screamed magic for that it was impossible to dirty. Usually there was also a rack of gardening tools against the wall by the door, but duly warned of a flock of guests descending on his hospitality, Taisach had put the gardening tools away somewhere else.


    Across one wall of the room, a table had been set up, and likely it had been summoned from the ether by Praoziu for the purpose, just as had everything set upon it. There were little blue baskets with bowls in them at one end of the table, and the rest of the table was covered by larger platters bearing party foods. The visiting vrash were holding the baskets in their jaws and occasionally sitting up on their haunches to bring their pfods up to retrieve a serving to put in the bowl.


    Across the room, there were little knots of vrash in conversation with each other, sitting up facing each other.


    Aleicree felt intimidated just walking into the room. So many dragons! It didn''t help that zie''d met the whole of the varicolored crowd. Being around so many dragons was miserable. The Serene Chordalite could be crowded, but most of the time everyone had work to do. This was just a minefield of potential awkward conversations.


    Taisach and Praoziu dove right in, walking past Aleicree to start mingling.


    Aleicree hung back, thinking about how to approach the party strategically. Well, that had to be "clues to a new profession," which just made zir want to spend the whole party with Rhis and Azosta. Maybe Ardent. Actually, come to think of her, Ardent was probably their best bet to secure a settler without Rhis'' scary Rift-magic plan, so that served multiple purposes.


    Doing everything with purpose was how normal dragons attended parties, right?


    Aleicree searched the room for the burning orange colour of Ardent''s scales, spotted her examining the food table, and made zir way across the room. "Ardent!" zie called ahead of zirself.


    "Oh, Aleicree!" Ardent said through a mouthful of basket handle. She took the basket out of her mouth long enough to say, "Just give me a minute, would you? I''m a mite peckish from the flight."


    After a brief wait while Ardent filled the bowl in the basket, Ardent turned to Aleicree and nodded.


    "Let me show you the model room," Aleicree said.


    The two trotted off down a brief hallway into the room where Taisach and Praoziu planned for the future of Nidrio. The scale model on the table was just as it had been when Aleicree saw it last, but it was new to Ardent. Stopping at the edge of the table, she reared up and transferred her basket to a pfod. "Wow," she said, eyes scanning over the model of the hills of Nidrio. "Is this the future of Nidrio? It looks beautiful."


    "Praoziu won''t let anything be built here that would ruin her perfect theome," said Aleicree. "Upside, anything that meets her standards is going to look wonderful."


    Ardent turned to face Aleicree and dropped back to her haunches. She gestured with a piece of fried cheese from her basket as she said, "You know, I''m not enthusiastic about a two day flight when I want to meet my friends back home."


    Aleicree blinked. Then, slowly, smiled. "Already thinking that far ahead?"


    "When I saw Praoziu flying up to meet us, it really sank in that we''re being headhunted by a land god," Ardent said. "Geomancers kill for this kind of opportunity. Speaking of, why don''t you just recruit a bunch of geomancers? I don''t think it''d be the first time a theome got its start by recruiting a community of geomancers to start out."


    The author''s content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.


    "It wouldn''t," said Aleicree, glancing away. Zie shrugged as zie looked back to Ardent. "Praoziu doesn''t want to. Maybe it wouldn''t even work. She used to kill geomancers."


    Ardent was silent for a moment, grimacing. Eventually she asked, "So how did Taisach survive?"


    Aleicree said, "He''s not a geomancer. At least... He wasn''t then. He just thought the landscape was very fetching, and he snuck in to see views other dragons couldn''t."


    "I didn''t know Praoziu was an anti-geomancer," said Ardent, disappointed.


    Aleicree perked up. Hurriedly zie replied, "She isn''t! At least, I think she isn''t. I think mom doesn''t really know what she''s doing with magic, so far. Maybe that''s another reason she doesn''t want to start with geomancers. They''d try to lead her." Like I''m doing, Aleicree thought guiltily.


    Blessedly, Ardent didn''t know about that, and couldn''t challenge zir on it. Zie ate a few more pieces of unhealthy summoned party food, making ''mmm'' noises at the salty stuff. Then zie said, "Well, I can tell you I won''t be leading Praoziu, but I do have to go back for a while. I have to bring in the harvest, sell as much as I can, say my farewells, gather my stuff. It''ll be winter before I can move in. Do you think there''ll be a place for me when I do?"


    Aleicree smiled. "I think once she knows there''s new residents showing up for sure, Praoziu will summon buildings in to meet their needs. Tell her you''re coming and you''ll have a very beautiful house awaiting you when you arrive."


    Ardent tapped by her eye. "But not a house whose design I get any say in. Has to fit the land god''s perfect garden, aye. Everything has a catch." She smiled back to Aleicree. "Sounds worth it to me."


    "May I tell others that you''re joining us?" Aleicree asked. "I think knowing they''ll know someone might help..."


    "Oh, go on! I''ll be talking about it, too. Now that I''ve decided to join Nidrio, I want to see if I can lure anyone else in!" Ardent glanced back towards the door of the model room, then gestured with an empty basket. "I think I''m going to go get more food. This stuff is delicious, though it''s SO SALTY." She laughed at that, and Aleicree did, too.


    Aleicree and Ardent headed back into the party, and stayed together a little longer since they both went to the food table. This time Aleicree picked up one of the baskets and secured a small collection of food. Praoziu hadn''t only set out fried foods, she had also set out red-dusted boiled eggs, tiny egg pastries smaller than a muffin, and asparagus dip pre-spread on small crusts of hard bread. Aleicree picked up stuff from that end of the table for zirself. Zie''d tried before the various fried salt-bombs on the table and found them a little one-note, but these were good.


    Ardent went elsewhere with a basket of fried foods in zir mouth, leaving Aleicree in need of someone else to talk to. Zie scanned the room trying to decide who to approach. Over by the great floor to ceiling windows, zie saw Fiata and Wrevaskel, and for a moment thought, I hope they join us! Then zie blushed, and decided not to talk to them. Zie didn''t really have much in common with Fiata, one night notwithstanding.


    Instead, zie saw Rhis hunched in a corner. The pink vrash was eating something, but he seemed to have chosen the absolute farthest point in the room from everyone else to do so. All alone in the crowd? Aleicree walked over towards Rhis, and found that Praoziu seemed to have had the same idea. The two approached him.


    "Hey Rhis," Aleicree said, glancing at Praoziu but putting most of zir attention forward. "I can tell you''re not a big fan of large gatherings, huh?"


    Rhis looked intimidated by the approach of Praoziu. He stopped eating and shrank a bit more into his corner. Aleicree flinched in sympathy with his retreat and stepped aside. Praoziu mirrored the motion, so that now they were on either side of Rhis and the direct route out of the corner was wide open. Praoziu said, "I''m sorry for my aura. I know it can be a bit much to meet a land god."


    Rhis said, "I-I s-should be used to it... I do summons..."


    "Summons are very different," Praoziu said. "As complex and powerful as they may be, they are an extension of yourself."


    "Y-yeah," said Rhis, looking away from Praoziu.


    Aleicree raised a hand in a little wave. "H-hey. Rhis. Maybe you should stay a few days before going back. I think you should talk to Praoziu after everyone else has left."


    "Because of my plan?" Rhis said. He looked at Aleicree, then at Praoziu again. "W-what do you think of n-n-necromancers?"


    Praoziu said, "You''re the first one I''ve met... at least physically. As a Fate manipulator, I find a little chaos refreshing. Necromantic influence does things like bringing Aleicree back from being a seagon forever." She smiled at Rhis.


    "Was that necromancy?" asked Aleicree.


    Praoziu looked over at Aleicree. "Technically, it''s necromancy every time someone decides not to do what Fate decrees they will. We only have so much influence. Puppeteering would be no fun."


    "S-some of the l-land g-gog-gods disagree with that," said Rhis, swallowing hard. "The so-called ''mind control'' theomes..."


    Praoziu sighed. "Well, I''m a long way from that. I''m only a level 1 Fate controller. Rejecting my control of Fate doesn''t require willpower, much less actual magic. I would have actually preferred The Serene Chordalite had not swept up my dear Aleicree."


    "A-are you g-going to stay a l-level 1 Fate controller?" asked Rhis.


    Praoziu frowned for a moment, then shook her head. "No, that''s more lack of practice than ideology. I don''t want to run a ''mind control'' theome, but I am going to try to increase my influence over Fate. Speaking of which, would you like me to try to correct your stammer?"


    Rhis looked at her wide-eyed.


    Praoziu dipped her head. "I''ll take that as a no."


    Aleicree slunk in closer and nosed at Rhis'' shoulder. He started, but zie stayed there and rubbed zir nose against him, then looked up at him after a few seconds. "I like you," zie said. "You''re safe here. I think I want to study necromancy with you, but after I''ve had a while to catch up with the basics."


    "D-do you w-want us to be the-the necromancers of Ni-Nidrio?"


    Aleicree asked, "Does that mean you''re considering moving in?"


    Rhis thought for a moment, and then fingered one of the fried cheese wedges in his basket. "Um... No," he said, and ate the piece of fried cheese.


    Aleicree giggled, taking the fact that Rhis ate something as meaning he was calming down. Zie stepped back to give him a little space again. "I think I want to be pen pals, and every so often I''ll fly to Sorjek to visit."


    "W-we can do that," Rhis said.


    Aleicree asked, "Will you stay here for a few days after the party?"


    Rhis nodded.


    "Great! I''ll get back to... Uh, looking around awkwardly trying to think of who I should be talking to next," said Aleicree.


    "A-always g-good to h-have a plan," said Rhis, smiling.


    Aleicree walked away from Rhis. Praoziu followed. "Be very careful with necromancy," said Praoziu, surprisingly grim. "Your first incarnation died studying necromancy."


    "My... first incarnation?" asked Aleicree, baffled.


    The two walked away from others, seeking a place quiet enough to talk. They stepped outside. There were a few dragons out here for similar reasons, but only a few. "There¡¯s something about you that¡¯s been kept from you," Praoziu said quietly. "Specifically, you''re the reincarnation of a dragon who was incarnated at the creation of Theoma. One of the first primordials."


    Aleicree looked wide-eyed. "I didn''t know reincarnation was real."


    Praoziu sat back, looking down and away. "It''s... rare, and... kind of difficult, but nothing is harder than doing something you don''t know how to do. I knew how to reincarnate souls, but not how to incarnate fresh souls. So that''s what I did when I had children. You, Denziu, and Taltios are all reincarnates. And either one of the other land gods is going to give me instructions on fresh incarnations, or Nidrio is going to become a hub of second chances in Theoma."


    Aleicree had leaned in with fascination to this talk of something so unusual. When Praoziu mentioned getting instruction from the other land gods, zie tilted zir head. "You meet each other? Land gods can instruct each other?" zie asked. It seemed impossible. Praoziu was physically unable to leave Nidrio.


    Praoziu looked at Aleicree, and her face went impassive. After too many seconds of just looking, in which Aleicree wondered if zie''d asked the wrong thing, Praoziu said, "We have our own society, the location of which is hard to explain."


    "Oh," said Aleicree.


    Praoziu laid down on her belly in the grass. "If necromancer is your next career choice, that worries me. Primordials focus too hard. Necromancers need chaos. The combination isn''t safe. If you work at necromancy every day the way you worked on wind meditation every day, you''ll die to it. Again."


    Aleicree listened closely, and nodded along, but then zie scratched at a fin and said, "You know Mom... If you say I''m a primordial, I believe it, because primordials are a real thing and you would really know. Yet when you say I''m a reincarnate, I wonder. What does it mean to have a past life that I can''t remember anything about? Wasn''t that just someone else''s life?"


    "It''s okay to think that," Praoziu said. "If you never care, your past life can be someone else''s life. But if you instead pursue it in magic, you''ll remember it. It''s up to you. I just had to tell you, because the primordial-necromancer combination is inherently risky."


    "You didn''t have to tell me that I''m reincarnated."


    Praoziu smiled. "Maybe I did. If you get good at necromancy, I may be willing to pay you to retrieve souls from the deathwall far to the north, and run errands to the hidden gems of that morbidly hostile land. That will help me reincarnate other souls."


    "But... You can''t go there." It was Aleicree''s turn to stare at Praoziu. "How did you..? Did Taisach... No. Not Dad."


    Praoziu''s eyes twinkled. "Maybe Dad," she said.


    "I should talk to him," Aleicree said.


    Praoziu said, "He''s in the model room pitching Nidrio to a group. He''ll pitch it to a different group afterwards, and another after that, until one of us pulls him away. I think we should leave him to it for a while. He''s happy imagining they¡¯ll join him."


    "Will they?" Aleicree asked.


    Praoziu shook her head. "I don''t know," she said. "Many of my recent auguries end in tatters of necromantic energy. I think - and I have to think about it as you would, logically rather than by looking at Fate - that Rhis will change Nidrio''s future quite a bit after I give him the catch that he''ll ask me for tomorrow. Speaking of which..."


    Praoziu sat up, then reared, bringing her cloven hooves together. She pulled them apart with a green ceramic token sitting on one of them. "Aleicree. Take this and give it to Limist."


    Aleicree stepped forward and took the token from Praoziu. It held a winged heart emblem on one side. The reverse side displayed a complex golden knotwork all made of squared-off edges. "Whosoever owns me shall once survive true destruction," said tiny text under the knotwork. There was a loop atop the token, as though it were meant to have a string of twine threaded through it to create a simple necklace.


    "Is this a catch? Are you giving Limist a resalable catch? Whatever for?" Aleicree asked, shocked. Most catches had a restriction specified upon the catch itself that destroyed their resale value, but per the text on this one, it would protect ''whosoever owns me''.


    Praoziu smiled. "There''s no money in moving to Nidrio, but Limist and Azosta have already decided to do so. This will ratify their decision by giving them something that will pay off their debts when Limist auctions it."


    Aleicree held the catch carefully to zir chest. It was a precious item, and for some moments zie just looked down on it thinking about how much it was worth. Then zie looked up and asked, "If you can just make these, why does anyone die? Why not give everyone a catch, and then another one if they ever need it?"


    Praoziu went wide-eyed as Aleicree spoke, and then when Aleicree was done she laughed and shook her head. "No, no," she said, laughing. "No, Aleicree. I can''t just make them. This will ruin my day if it activates. And these are... Oh, goodness Alei, I''m not supposed to give away secrets to my kin! Most land gods don''t have kin." She shook herself lightly and said, "Here, a half-truth that you can share. They''re powered by nature. There. I can make catches because my theome is engulfed by trees and inhabited mostly by wild animals."


    "Is that why geomancers go adventuring in wild places to meet land gods of dubious virtue?" asked Aleicree.


    "Yes!" said Praoziu. She danced up and bumped shoulders with Aleicree, who went ''gah'' in surprise and stepped back. "Now go give that to Limist. Or bother your father, if you think he shouldn''t keep entertaining guests in the model room."


    Aleicree nodded. "Dad¡¯s fine, I''ll go look for Limist."


    Praoziu gave Aleicree a brief nuzzle, then went inside again while Aleicree looked around the grassy lawn outside. Of the other dragons outside, zie found that Limist and Relevar were out in Taisach''s garden. They were far enough away that the two had separate conversations, and close enough that Aleicree saw them at once when looking around for Limist. Clearly, Praoziu had foreseen this eventuality.


    They looked to be being sweet on each other, with tails entwined as they talked. Relevar had a flower tucked behind an earfin, and as Aleicree walked up zie overheard Limist saying, "The sight of you in the air distracted me all the way here."


    Aleicree blushed and almost couldn''t step in, but the catch in zir hand helped a lot. This was a gift so big that Limist was sure to be exuberant about receiving it. "Limist," zie called ahead of zirself. Limist glanced over, still tail-twined with Relevar. Aleicree held up the ceramic token. "I have a gift for you from Praoziu."


    "If it''s from a land god," said Limist, and the two dragons untwined from each other. They stepped apart. Limist walked over to Aleicree, who passed over the catch. He sat up, turning it one way and then the other, and he frowned intently at the text on the other side. "What is this?"


    Relevar looked in curiously, and Limist passed over the token. After a moment of studying it, zie passed it back and said, "It''s some kind of promise from Praoziu."


    Aleicree said, "A transferrable promise. This is called a catch. Praoziu will ''catch'' its owner, and bring them back to life in the event of their demise."


    Limist tilted his head as he looked at Aleicree. "Do I need this?" he asked.


    Aleicree shook zir head. "No, you don''t." Zie smiled. "You''re to sell it! If you take it back to Shibanyet and put this up in an auction house, it''ll be worth a very large amount of money. Praoziu is covering your debts in exchange for you moving in to Nidrio."


    "Huh," said Limist. He pocketed the catch in a pouch. "I guess that means I''ll have to build a pump house by the lake, or some such solution. I''ll talk to Taisach." He nuzzled Relevar''s neck. "Tomorrow. For tonight, want to go get lost in the forest?"


    "S-sure," said a blushing Relevar, sweeping zir tail.


    The two dragons flew off, leaving Aleicree behind again. Zie went back inside feeling good about getting so much done at a party. This was better than the wild affair that had been thrown on the Serene Chordalite. The dragons here were more zir speed. Even if they were mostly farmergons from Sorjek, they still had more dragons with a deep interest in the lore of Theoma. The seagons had been interested in... Aleicree didn''t even know, zie''d avoided them so thoroughly during shore leave.


    In hindsight, zie really needed this vacation. It offered a perspective zie''d been missing.


    Zie went back inside to get a bit more food and maybe talk to someone. Maybe. Whether zie did or not, zie was home.

 The Rest of the Vacation

    The Sorjekgons stayed overnight at Taisach''s house.  It was a big house, built with the intention of recruiting like this, and it had a bunch of guest rooms for exactly this kind of thing.  A few didn''t report in that evening, but Praoziu said they were sleeping outside under the stars, and would be just fine.


    The next day, there was a gathering for breakfast.  Praoziu filled the table with summoned breakfast foods.  They had cinnamon rolls and honey-glazed grains, sweeter than any breakfast served in the hotels of Theoma.  They had eggs wrapped by crepes and pancakes that had been cooked with crumbled meat and onions for the lovers of more savoury foods.  The open room from before had been by Praoziu''s magic converted overnight into a dining hall, and the vrash sat at tables to eat together this time.


    Taisach and Aleicree sat to either side of Praoziu at the head of one of the tables, and Aleicree had invited Azosta to sit next to zirself.  Aleicree started with eggs and pancakes, but followed it up with sweeter fare, pushing zirself to eat more than usual.  Zie was self-conscious of zir scrawny tail... and wanted to take advantage of the free food, too.  "Are you going to keep summoning foods forever?" Aleicree asked Praoziu at one point during the meal.


    "Oh, probably," said Praoziu, who wasn''t eating, but sat smiling at the table.  "It''s such a luxury.  I understand that there are dragons who enjoy cooking, but unless we host quite a lot of them in Nidrio, I think I''ll keep appreciating that I can bring forth foods from anywhere in space and time."  She giggled.  "You don''t know what meat you''re eating in those pancakes."


    Several nearby dragons gave her worried looks, and Praoziu hurried to add, "Don''t worry!  It''s nothing bad.  It''s summoned, so in fact it didn''t come from anything that ever lived.  I just mean I picked the most delicious meat I could think of, and I didn''t have to worry about sourcing it."


    Taisach asked, "You said, ''unless we host a lot of them''.  Would your preference to summon food change if we recruited a lot of chefs in Nidrio?"


    Praoziu nodded.  She said, "Everything in this place is my substance, and everything that changes a land god''s substance changes the land god."  She frowned with a thought, then smiled again as she said, "Of course, you literally can''t take away ALL of my affinity for summoned foods.  Chefs will never bring back foods from prior worlds as exactly as I can."


    With a gesture of a cloven hoof, a colourfully wrapped candy bar appeared in the air over the table near one of Rettle''s friends.  It fell to the table.  "That''s a gift," called Praoziu to the surprised farmergon.


    "I''ve seen you eat before," said Aleicree, looking at Praoziu''s empty place and then up at Praoziu.  "Why aren''t you eating today?"


    "I am the biggest glutton in this room, you can be sure," said Praoziu, sitting dignified as a statue.  "I know these flavours intimately."


    Azosta asked, "If someone brings food into Nidrio, do you immediately know what it tastes like?"


    Praoziu looked at him with some surprise.  He''d been quiet through breakfast.  She shook her head.  "No, not automatically.  I can duplicate it and try it myself, of course.  I suppose that''s one advantage to encouraging non-magical cooking.  In theory, I can still be surprised with new flavours."


    "If you let me," Azosta said gravely, "I will do my best to encourage non-magical everything."


    Praoziu frowned at him, repeated that hoof gesture from earlier, and a large chocolate ball suddenly appeared in the air over Azosta''s plate, which sat empty having held two pancakes earlier.  The chocolate ball crashed down into the plate.  On impact, it broke into a bunch of regular slices.   "Eat that," Praoziu said.


    Azosta looked appalled.


    "It''ll do you no harm.  I just wanted to remind you that there''s only so far that you should take your opposition to magic."


    Azosta dipped his head.  "Of, of course," he said, picking up a slice of chocolate.  "I wouldn''t challenge your summoning of food in your own household.  I just... hope you can understand how much more... coherent the world is, if it runs more like in the Missing theomes, where most processes have no land god interfering with them."


    "No observable land god," corrected Praoziu.


    It was hard to tell on Azosta''s white scales, but Aleicree thought he looked ashen.  "This may be a difficult relationship."


    "Oh, please get along," said Aleicree.  "Azosta, Praoziu is paying your debts.  I think she wants your counsel."


    Azosta sighed and shook his head.  "Debts that were inflicted by Vesset''s will.  I feel bounced along between land gods.  Passed from one to another.  At least it''s apparent that there is a plan for me, I suppose."


    Aleicree swiped a piece of chocolate from Azosta''s plate, and then licked his cheek before pulling back and devouring the swiped chocolate.  He started and then laughed, touching his cheek.


    Taisach gestured across the table at Azosta and said, "Your idea that we were proposing to use too much magic isn''t one we''d considered, but given that we''re recruiting non-geomancers it makes sense.  Of course, that means you''re signing yourself up for some hard work.  We''ll want you to design a waterworks to supply a fair-sized settlement with clean, running water."


    "You''re still offering unusual luxury, just now you''re reducing the magic you''re using to offer it," Azosta said.  "Most theomes don''t have any waterworks at all."


    Taisach nodded.  "Most places are also dirtier than anyone enjoys thinking about, even if they''re used to it.  Someday every theome will have waterworks, and Praoziu wants us to lead the way."  He leaned forward across the table and swiped a piece of chocolate from Azosta''s plate.


    Azosta didn''t actually eat very many pieces of the chocolate Praoziu gave him.  Everyone sitting nearby had at least a slice.  It had a citrus flavour!


    Aleicree sat back nipping pieces off a cinnamon roll and listening as Taisach and Azosta talked plumbing.  It wasn''t as interesting as listening to Azosta talk about magic, but that topic was a bit fraught in Praoziu''s presence.


    Soon breakfast was over, and the farmergons were all prepping to leave.  Even Azosta and Limist were readying to go.  The whole flock gathered on the lawn outside.  Aleicree wasn''t going with them on the way back.  Zir vacation from the Serene Chordalite had another twelve days to go before the Serene Chordalite would be back in port at Griolor, and zie was staying with Nidrio.


    Zie said a lot of farewells to dragons zie hardly knew, and mostly felt a bit stressed and empty.  The odds were pretty good that zie''d never see any of them again.  The farewells were just a gesture.


    But then Fiata, Wrevaskel, and Medem shared a glance with each other, then all nuzzled on Aleicree at the same time, and Aleicree laughed and retreated from them with a grin, hoping that zie''d see at least a few of them again.


    The flock soon departed.  Aleicree watched from the ground as the dragons who''d come with zir all flew away.  Only Rhis stayed behind.


    Taisach flew away next, saying, "I''m going to go invite Taltios to visit while you are here.  I''ll be back with zir, or with zir apologies."


    It was a short flight, and Taisach was back before too long had passed.  "Taltios can''t visit.  There''s a sickness in zir livestock, and zie''s caring for them closely.  In fact, I''m going to go fly back with some herbs I think will help, and I''ll be overnighting there."


    That left Aleicree, Praoziu, and Rhis as the only souls in Nidrio.  Although zie hadn''t spent twelve straight days here for decades, Aleicree still felt an obligation to be entertaining rather than entertained, and zie wasn''t sure how to entertain someone for several days in this place.  What could zie do with Rhis?


    Zie ended up inviting Rhis out to swim in the great lake of Nidrio, which took up most of the theome''s largest valley.  They swam for a while, and spent hours afterwards exploring by foot and wing, and Rhis said at one point, "Is Praoziu s-sure sh-she wants to invite settlers into this place?"


    To which Aleicree knew the answer at once was, "She''s convinced she can invite in only the most beautiful of settlements."


    The next day, there was a much-anticipated conversation between Praoziu, Aleicree, and Rhis.  Aleicree found it strange to attend.  Praoziu had already told zir that Rhis was going to get his catch.


    They met over another breakfast the next day.  It was a weirder breakfast held in the dining room of the upper house.  They had dry, sweet red pastries with a dry, sweet white paste filling them, and fizzy brown beverages to wet the thirst that the entree induced.  Praoziu had summoned stuff they couldn''t make, as though feeding only her own family, though Rhis was at the table.  Aleicree didn''t think this one was a masterpiece of prior worlds, though zie didn''t say so.  The food must mean something to Praoziu for it to be summoned, zie thought.


    Rhis was the first to broach the topic.  "I-I think I can help you with the, the recruitment process."


    Praoziu smiled.  "I would appreciate that.  What are you offering?"


    The question surprised Aleicree, who knew that Praoziu knew Rhis was a necromancer.


    "I...  I can cast a spell," said Rhis, his words tumbling out.  "It''ll fray social connections in Sorjek.  Some of the dragons it hits will start looking for somewhere else to be!  They might come here!"


    "To clarify," Praoziu said, "This will happen outside of Fate, breaking Fated bonds in order that dragons might join us in Nidrio?"


    "Y-y-yes," said Rhis, crouching down before Praoziu.


    Praoziu stopped and beckoned Rhis ''up, up'' with a hoof.  When Rhis had stood again, she said, "There are so many theomes you could live in where I would reject breaking Fated bonds.  So many of the land gods would be offended by that spell.  Fortunately, you live in Sorjek, where such things are expected.  I accept.  What do you want in exchange for your spell?"


    This last question really surprised Aleicree quite a lot, because zie knew that Praoziu knew Rhis wanted a catch.  Was Praoziu simply listening through the conversation despite having augured it in advance?


    "I want a catch," said Rhis.  He took a deep breath before continuing.  "Up front," he said emphatically.  "This spell could, in theory, with a miniscule probability, actually kill me.  I want the catch before I c-cast it, a-and I want to keep it as my p-payment if all goes well."


    The risk of death from necromantic spells was a big mystery to Aleicree, who had no idea how it worked.  Zie didn''t exactly look forward to learning, but if that was on the path of lore...


    "Granted," said Praoziu.  Zir tail flicked, and zie glanced over at Aleicree.  "Auguries describe the self as well as others.  Self-conforming is the path of least resistance, as the augury itself defines a Fated path."


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    Aleicree''s jaw dropped.  "You read my mind!?" zie asked.


    "Always, my dear.  But you will be doing auguries yourself, someday.  I think."  Praoziu blinked, and looked about the room for a moment before her gaze fixed on Aleicree again.  "Oh dear, I''m not sure!  I can''t peer into any future where you learn those spells.  I can only see the start of those paths, but there are so many of them."


    Rhis looked across the table at Aleicree.  He spoke slowly, "That''s how land gods look at necromancers.  Many paths... no predictions."


    "Am I already a necromancer, then?" asked Aleicree.


    Praoziu smiled and shook her head.  "No, Allay.  Not yet you are not.  There is a bright, clear strand of Fate that directs you back to the Serene Chordalite."


    Aleicree nibbled on a pastry in silence, pondering Praoziu''s words.  Zie was baffled by all this talk of precognition.  At length zie said, "How far can you predict, mom?"


    Praoziu grinned as zie said, "My current predictions estimate that Taltios will outlive Theoma itself.  I can predict Taltios indefinitely...  although if I talk about zir, I can foresee my error rate rising, because you start to want to change some aspects of Taltios'' future, and I can only predict you for... four decades?  I can''t even tell.  There are lots of branch points in your future that remain predictable for centuries, but you might not take any of them."


    Rhis asked wonderingly, "Is this fun to talk about?"


    "It''s a highly chaotic subject," Praoziu said.  "Oh, you should just take this now."


    She clicked her hooves, and a token appeared in front of Rhis.  He grabbed it at once.  "My catch!"


    Praoziu sat primly, with her tail curled around herself.  "Let me talk about chaos.  Land gods can be aligned to order or chaos.  Idsemper of Sorjek is chaotic.  I am chaotic.  Dessor, if you remember the god of Qianjek''s homeland, is an orderly god.  So is Vesset of Shibanyet.  This assignment is not an essential trait, but it''s something that changes with circumstance and experience."


    Aleicree leaned forward, breakfast forgotten.  "Why are you chaotic?"


    Praoziu smiled.  "Right now, Nidrio''s Fate is highly simplified.  I want to change the future, so I need to inject chaos to create more complex futures.  Contacting a necromancer for support is, by the way, simply wonderful for this.  Thank you so much, Allay."


    Aleicree thought about all that zie''d heard from Praoziu.  I really could''ve been learning more from Praoziu than from a geomantic academy, zie thought.  Aloud zie said, "I''m starting to understand how lucky I am to be born into this family."


    Praoziu giggled.  "You three have been amazingly humble in your first careers.  Taltios, farmergon.  Aleicree, seagon.  Denziu, mudgon.  I think you''ll all be very quiet immortals at this rate."


    Aleicree glanced at Rhis, then grinned at Praoziu.  "I don''t know...  The seagons I knew weren''t quiet dragons, and some of the farmergons in Sorjek weren''t very quiet either," said Aleicree.


    "Do tell," Praoziu said, and she looked so interested that Aleicree almost forgot, as zie was talking about the farmergons who had been affectionate with Vrekant or even tried to sniff at zir own self, that Praoziu was something like omniscient.  Almost.


    Zie didn''t talk about that night with Fiata, but zie didn''t doubt that Praoziu knew.


    What drove Praoziu to be sociable when all the conversations were Fated, everyone''s mind was open to her, and she already knew all the answers?


    The rest of Aleicree''s vacation was spent on a mixture of nature exploration and paired meditations.  The bulk of the nature exploration was with Taisach, who ranged the forest tending to plants of unusual value.  The bulk of the paired meditation was with Rhis, who spent the days in Nidrio largely holed up in his room.


    It was the paired meditation that took up most of Aleicree''s thoughts.  A few hours with Taisach every morning showed zir only forest; it was good exercise in a wonderful place, but zie didn''t feel like zie was learning anything from it.  The time spent with Rhis showed zir things zie was desperate to comprehend, and that was time zie could not stop thinking about.


    Rhis was busy being things very different from the wind.  The guest room he had borrowed for his ritual was completely distorted while he was using it.  Nothing was damaged, yet everything that was supposed to be in the room had been blasted back from the centre, tripling the size of the room without touching its neighbours, and in that centre stood a black stone platform above a void that emitted a shrouding black mist.  Most unsettlingly, the amicus breeze failed on entrance to the room.  For the first time since zir hatching, Aleicree was surrounded by an unfriendly air.


    The first day that Aleicree joined Rhis, zie got to see the room undergo this transformation, stretching away from the centre as a platform formed underneath them and the floor ripped open to let in the black mist.  "Being here is unhealthy," Rhis said, his voice uncharacteristically cool.  Steady.  "The land gods can''t see into this mist.  They can''t repair your body while you''re here.  The mist is making your own misunderstandings manifest within your flesh.  You can''t possibly know enough about fleshworking to gain from that."


    "Should I leave?" Aleicree asked.


    Rhis said, "You wanted to see this."  And that was all.  He didn''t tell zir to stay or go.


    Zie stayed.


    All Aleicree knew how to be was the wind.  There was no wind here.  Meditating on the platform, Aleicree felt the air in the middle of the room and around its edges.  Zie felt zir own breathing and zie felt Rhis'' breathing.  The air was full of a strange energy.  Aleicree attuned to it as best as zie could, while Rhis did the real work.


    First sporadically, and then with gradual confidence, zie became aware of a kind of connection between Rhis and the black mist.  It seemed to be coming from the void beneath the platform, but it was actually more like the amicus breeze than that.  It was coming from Rhis himself.  So was the platform.  Rhis was generating this space that they were within, disrupting the land god''s creation somehow.


    In a true paired meditation, the two meditants focused on the same becoming.  To do this right therefore, Aleicree would have to be the black mist... at a bare minimum.  Assuming that Rhis was not also doing something else that Aleicree could not yet perceive.


    With a heart of perfect calm, Aleicree focused on achieving oneness with Rhis'' strange magic.  Zie could not contribute, but zie did not disrupt him, and so he let zir stay with him at length as he worked.


    Shapes formed in the void.  They could not see them with their eyes, but they could feel them with their shared becoming.  The shapes formed and shifted at Rhis'' direction, but to Aleicree, the shapes remained alien and meaningless.  They were nodules forming in the void and connections between them, some tenuous and others meaty.  Here and there a light flared into being in the void, then stretched and broke into a thousand shards of fading gleam.


    Whenever Rhis went into this room, Aleicree joined him.  Across the course of days, a kind of landscape took form beneath them, a barren earth with a forest of inky nodules reaching up from it, something that could be seen only by becoming one with the void that Rhis emanated into the room.  Aleicree could not ask questions, for to do so would disrupt Rhis'' meditations; zie had the discipline to watch in wonder, and try to anticipate the fluctuations by which Rhis adjusted the landscape.  It seemed less like a crafting and more like something that had always been there, being exposed in the non-light of the constellations of broken shards that increasingly gleamed beneath and seeped up into the room through the torn hole that Rhis had conjured.  Whatever its origin, Rhis was changing it as Aleicree changed the wind, adjusting the nodules without adding or breaking their connections, creating a path somewhere to the ground in that place.


    On the sixth day, a hole formed in the ground of the landscape far beneath them, and a fox formed from the black mist within the hole.  It began climbing the forest of nodules.  It stood like a kalla, two feet and two arms, and it was made with a robe of shadow already about it.  Where it touched the nodules, they gleamed and rotted, the connections between them fraying.  Once one of them lost its connections to the others around it and floated away, gleaming and reaching into the void with new tendrils until it touched another ''tree'' and knotted in thickly.  The fox did not stop to watch, but kept climbing.  Twice it leapt to get higher in the structure that had formed, leapt as the nodules collapsed under it into new configurations, leapt to escape rotting connections that could no longer hold its weight.


    Finally, it reached the highest point within the nodule forest, and leapt upwards to grasp at the edge of the black stone platform, hauling itself over.  The shadow-cloaked fox knelt before the two meditating dragons, and joined them in their meditation, its hands folded prayerfully.


    The black mist coalesced thickly on Rhis in this next section, clinging to him on the sixth and seventh day, worrying Aleicree, but zie dared not interfere.  The nodules beneath them lit up in groups, Rhis'' awareness questing across them.  Some of the connections rotted away, sizzling and corroding into nonexistence.  Tenuous connections vanished without drama.  Surprisingly, a few new connections formed and stood fast, gleaming like starlight in the inky forest.  Aleicree watched as Rhis lost interest very quickly in nodules with starlight connections.


    Eventually, some of the nodules were worked free of all connections.  They rose towards the room, shining grey in the black mist.  Still meditating, Aleicree was the room, as the fox stood and grasped the freed nodules and pulled them in under its cloak.


    It started towards the door, but Rhis came out of the meditation and said, "Hold.  You cannot.  We will travel together."


    Aleicree opened zir eyes as well.  The black mist seeping up from the torn floor around them was unchanged.  Zie was almost surprised to see the fox standing there physically before them.  The fur upon its face was red.


    The room started undistorting.  The mist retracted into the floor, and the floor sealed intact as though it had never been torn.  The room shrank to its usual dimensions, and was just a guest room again.


    Rhis looked at Aleicree.  "This is a wolejerrup," he said, gesturing at the robed fox.  "It''s formed of my substance, like this theome is formed of Praoziu''s."


    "I think I''ve seen one of these before, in a painting," said Aleicree.


    Rhis said, "Those paintings are illegal in many theomes, though artists get away with it often enough."


    "Does it talk?" asked Aleicree.


    "Yes, but you shouldn''t talk to it," said Rhis, shaking his head.  "It casts auguries constantly, like Praoziu, but unlike Praoziu it has a hostile intellect."


    Aleicree focused on Rhis with a frown.  "How?  Do you have a hostile intellect?"


    "I understand how a wolejerrup is supposed to think, so I can form that shape with my mind.  It''s actually an abstract, but formed of my will instead of the will of a land god.  This is how necromantic summoning works."


    Aleicree had heard the term ''abstract'' before, decades ago in geomantic academy.  Zie had also done poorly in zir classes, so zie asked, "Wait, what are abstracts?"


    Rhis laughed and said, "Summoned entities!  It''s just a term for a summoned entity."


    "Why not just call them a summon?" persisted Aleicree, needling at an old annoyance from zir school days.


    "I don''t know," said Rhis.  "It''s just the practice.  Maybe it''s because when the land gods make them, they can look like anything, even abstract shapes.  Necromantic summons are usually more tightly patterned.  Varying from the template only makes them more dangerous to their caster."


    The wolejerrup walked over to Aleicree.


    Rhis glared at it.  "Don''t speak to Aleicree," he commanded.


    "Why?  I''m curious what it wants to say," Aleicree said.


    Rhis shook his head.  "Wolejerrup exist to ease apart the connections between dragons.  If it wants to talk to you, it has augured a future where you are broken of your connection with someone."


    Aleicree studied the wolejerrup intently.  It still reminded zir of a kalla in the way it stood upright.  "The principle of Rift starts with the Broken Knife, doesn''t it?  The world is more peaceful because of the Rift principle, isn''t it?  So let it speak to me.  There''s a connection between me and someone else that the world would be more peaceful without, isn''t there?"


    Rhis stood measuring these words for a few moments, then shrugged and said, "It''s your heartache.  Speak freely, wolejerrup."


    The wolejerrup said to Aleicree, "Taltios'' lifespan depends on you.  The more of an interest you take in the life of Taltios, the earlier Taltios dies."


    Aleicree''s eyeridges shot up.  "Praoziu said that Taltios'' probable lifespan exceeds that of Theoma."


    There was a nod from the fox-being, and it said, "That is true if you grow estranged from Taltios.  This is a likely future which Praoziu has already accepted, but if you resist it, Taltios will die."


    Aleicree looked over at Rhis.  "Does it usually just talk directly about what will change the future?"


    Rhis shook his head.  "No, it doesn''t.  These things are cast out of most places, even in Sorjek they''re considered pests to be destroyed.  The wolejerrup works by dream sendings, aching curses, and other necromantic spells.  It only speaks when it feels unthreatened."


    "Don''t send me any dreams," Aleicree said to the wolejerrup.


    The wolejerrup said, "I will not."  It walked over to Rhis.  "Will I be joining you for dinner?"


    Rhis thought about this, and then nodded.  "You m-may.  Let''s see what Praoziu th-thinks of you.  But let me wr-ite this as a stricture, you are forbidden from breaking up this family."


    "I have already broken the only breakable bond within it."


    Rhis departed the next morning with the wolejerrup upon his back.

 Taltios

    Azosta and Limist returned from Shibanyet wearing proper vrash armour again, and jewellery besides.  "Well, we couldn''t carry a chest of coin," Limist said when Aleicree asked about it, "So we converted the surplus from selling the catch into something easier to carry."


    Contrary to Aleicree''s expectation that the first settlers in Nidrio would live in summoned homes, the two of them were to be living out of one of Taisach''s guest rooms for a while.


    They set about busily planning a pumphouse by the lake and a series of underground tunnels.  If they could build underground without cutting swathes through the trees above, that made Aleicree wonder how much of the theome''s development would end up underground.  "Building underground might help Praoziu spare the surface more effectively," zie said that evening at dinner, setting off a round of interested agreement.


    Building underground had risks and difficulties, but nothing that couldn''t be overcome with a land god''s support.


    The last days dragged.  Aleicree hadn''t brought another book with zir.  Zie spent more time ranging the forest with Taisach, and he seemed glad enough to show zir things, though zie was no use to him.  Zie also spent more time catching up on letter-writing.  There was actually quite a lot of it to do, because zie was serious about giving up being a seagon, and needed to update everyone who might want to send zir a letter that the post-box in Griolor would now be the sole and correct address.  There was no postal service to Nidrio itself yet; a day-flight to and from Griolor to pick up mail was fine, though eventually zie might move to a closer post-box in Zyrine or Denxalue.  All these minor letters taxed Aleicree''s memory of who zie''d corresponded with over the years, and zie couldn''t actually complete the task.  Zie just couldn''t remember everyone.  Zie''d need to go back to the Serene Chordalite and re-read zir chest of stashed letters to pick up on all the old correspondences and update everyone about zir change of address.


    Zie owed Captain Kagnir a few more circuits to reward him for the generosity of letting zir go on vacation at all, but zie would warn him as soon as zie got back that zie didn''t want to stay a seagon.  Each circuit of Tachamund was a little less than two months...  maybe three more circuits?  That''d be an additional six months of service to Kagnir as a windmage.


    Zie wrote to Vrekant as well.  Zie told him to stop tracking the voyages of the Serene Chordalite and just send his post to the post-box in Griolor.  And then...  "Last month was life-changing.  A few of the farmergons who live and work near you are very intelligent dragons.  I had thought in the Griolor Wind Magic Academy that I would want to be a-sailing forever, but then I had been studying wind magic surrounded by brilliant peers.  The seagons weren''t up to that mark!  Even a few contacts with dragons who could share my love of books has ruined me for returning to Captain Kagnir.  I think you made the better career decision for happiness'' sake, even though I believe I''ve earned more in coin since we parted ways after academy."


    A brief letter was authored to Rhis as well.  This was zir first-ever letter to Rhis, and zie was excited to write one!  "I miss you already," Aleicree wrote.  "Send me lots of letters, if a planter''s pay permits the postage.  I hope you aren''t suffering too much from the backlash from the wolejerrup''s spells.  I believe Praoziu likes you and you''re welcome in Nidrio any time."


    Fiata and Ardent both got brief letters, though zie wasn''t sure they would want to correspond going forward.  Zie wanted to open the door to such correspondence by telling them about zir post-box in Griolor.  Likely neither of them would want to pay postage fees, but zie also extended the offer to visit any time, and said this wasn''t the last time zie would go to Sorjek zirself.


    On the evening of the 51st day since Aleicree had asked for a vacation, when on the next day zie would have to fly back to Griolor to resume service with the Serene Chordalite, Taisach knocked on the door of the guest room zie was staying in.  "H''lo Allay," he said when zie opened the door for him.  "You''ve been spending so much time in your room.  I feel we''ve been failing as hosts."


    "You''ve shown me all over Nidrio in the day," Aleicree reassured him with a nuzzle.


    "And you''ve hardly taken an interest," said Taisach with his head low.


    Aleicree wrapped zir wings about him.  "I''m not the most nature-seeking dragon, I''m sorry..." zie murmured.


    "Haaah...  Neither was Denziu, and Taltios moved away," said Taisach, but he smiled at the hug. The two stepped back, and he kept talking.  "Poor Praoziu.  I think she would have rather had a family of forest rangers living in these hills.  Now she''s going to have to build a city just to lure back her children."


    "Oh?  Is she trying to lure us back?" asked Aleicree.


    Taisach nodded.  "That and keep you happy.  I don''t think your return will stop the city, because she knows you won''t love the forest without a library in it.  She needs to bring in enough dragons to support a scribegon... and no matter what Azosta says, I think she''ll supply another lev-i-quill.  Or you will."


    Aleicree''s eyes widened just a hair, and zir head lifted.  "You think I''ll start enchanting items?"


    "We don''t know," Taisach said.  "Praoziu is still healing invisible injuries on you from the time you spent meditating with Rhis.  That was your first-ever excursion off the Fated path.  If you pursue this, we don''t know what will become of you."


    Zie thought of Denziu, who had come back from zir journey on the Tachanigh-Kelkaith with reports of having experienced a necromantic vigour spell near-daily on the journey out, and said, "Denziu has been toying with necromancy, too.  Is Nidrio going to become a necromantic theome?"


    Taisach said, "We''re not going that far, but I know Denziu''s looking into the trade in necromantic enchantments.  Praoziu''s excited.  Nidrio didn''t have much of a Fate to any augury, but now that you two are experimenting with fate-breaking spells, those auguries are turning into rubbish.  Something better than was Fated may arise here."


    "Hey, Dad?" asked Aleicree, pitching zir voice down.  "Why did Nidrio have a bad Fate?"


    Taisach was quiet for a moment, then turned away.  "Because Praoziu agreed to a bad role.  Theoma needs a lot of wild theomes.  I don''t understand why, but it''s very important to the land gods.  Building here breaks a lot of agreements that were written into Fate a thousand years ago."  He started walking down the hall.


    Aleicree hurried after.  "Are the other land gods going to be against us?"


    "It''s complicated, but...  not necessarily.  I think they like Denziu.  You might be a little less popular.  You''ve already set in motion some challenges."  They came out into the open room near the garden, with its big glass walls looking out.  "You should talk about that with Rhis.  He''ll know more than I do about what challenges necromancers face from their activity."


    The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.


    "Am I really... just going to be a necromancer?" Aleicree dropped to all fours in shyness.


    Taisach paused a moment and nudged at Aleicree, trying to lift zir stance.  "I think you''re Praoziu''s first court necromancer, the very dragon she needs to break Nidrio''s bad Fate.  Isn''t that exciting?"


    "I just wanna read books," mumbled Aleicree, blushing.


    Taisach said, "Well, you''ll have an excuse to read a lot of them.  Now let''s go have dinner, Praoziu sent me to fetch you.  Not that I mind talking."


    Aleicree stood sharply upright, mortified.  "You mean we kept everyone waiting around the dinner table?"


    Taisach laughed and led on.


    The next morning, Aleicree woke to an irresistible compulsion to go directly to the dining room, and zie smelled cooked liver and heartmeats as zie approached.  Foregoing anything otherworldly, but still using her food-summoning talents, Praoziu had filled every place at the table with a rich breakfast of meat fried in butter with onions.


    The compulsion had clearly been a summoning via Fate.  Aleicree could have resisted had zie any reason to do so, but it was just the same as the pressure in Shibanyet to wake up at the same time as everyone else.  Indeed, that applied here as well, for within a three minute span there arrived Limist, Azosta, and Taisach.


    Oddly, there were six places prepared.  If one place was for Praoziu, who was their sixth visitor? Then, to Aleicree''s shock, two more dragons appeared.  Taltios with zir spouse, Grazil.  They approached the table together.  None of the places were for Praoziu; they had unexpected guests.


    "Taltios!" Aleicree said, rushing over to the great brute of a vashael.  Red-scaled Taltios fairly loomed with zir muscular build and zir vrash-like coat of armour.  Zir curling horns and large fins contributed to the look, but Aleicree had grown up with Taltios and was used to this sight.  The two embraced by the table, and Aleicree took the place next to Taltios.


    "It''s good to see you again," said Taltios, zir voice deep.  "We couldn''t leave our dear beasts to suffer alone, but fortunately they''ve recovered this week!  And it looks like we''ve arrived in time for an excellent breakfast."  Taltios speared a piece of heart and ate it.


    Zie looked across the table at Grazil.  Grazil was a stout grey vrash who wore black iron armour that looked excessively weighty.  She looked back at Aleicree with violet eyes.  The blacksmith''s daughter, Aleicree thought, remembering letters with Taltios.


    Grazil broke their gaze to focus on the meal in front of her.  She ate heartily, befitting her build and the richness of the food.  Right, thought Aleicree.  Taltios said she doesn''t talk much... Aleicree wondered at the relationship between the boisterous Taltios and the quiet Grazil.


    Aleicree picked at the meat in front of zir.  Not wanting to seem ungrateful, zie said to Praoziu, "This is a good send-off meal.  Thank you for this."


    "Someday, you will learn to summon food as well," said Praoziu.  "It has a price, but the price is paid in regenerative resources."


    "Oho!" said Taltios, nudging Aleicree.  "Back to studying magic again, are you?  Who''s gonna keep the ships swift?"


    Aleicree blushed.  "There are other vashael...  Windmage is not too hard a job."


    Azosta looked away at the discussion of magic.  He ate with reluctant hunger.  The platter of meat before him was too good to be disgusted at.


    Limist nudged at Azosta and gestured across the table at Taltios and Grazil. He said, "So who''s this?  We haven''t been introduced."


    Taisach gestured with a wing towards the two.  "This is Taltios, the bulkiest of my children, and his spouse Grazil."  He looked towards Grazil and said, "Grazil, we don''t see you much!  Welcome to my house."


    "You''ll forgive me, I hope.  I don''t know what to say with a land god at the table," said Grazil.


    Praoziu''s ears twitched.  "Baggil watches over you, you know."


    Grazil dipped her head.  "It''s not the same."


    Taisach looked between Grazil and Limist, then said to Grazil, "I used to be the same way, then I met Praoziu.  If we hadn''t struck up a relationship before I knew she was a land god, it never would''ve worked."


    Praoziu said, "Sometimes I wonder if I should hide that I''m a land god to make guests more comfortable.  But then, I''d be stuck serving far worse meals to my family."  She tapped a cloven hoof upon the table.


    That inspired another round of praise from the dragons at the table, but Aleicree thought instead, There were some memorably bad pastries...  Guiltily, Aleicree tried to shut the thought down, but it had its own momentum and finished, the morning we discussed precognition.  Zie knew that Praoziu would overhear the thought, but there was no sign of acknowledgement from Praoziu this time.


    Grazil and Taltios cleared their plates first.  Taltios sat tall, looking across the table to Praoziu as zie asked, "Would it be too rude to ask for seconds?"


    "Of course not," Praoziu said, and more meat appeared in front of the two.


    "Free is a great price point," said Taltios as he dug in.


    Azosta sighed.  "Be glad summoned meat isn''t more common.  Livestock farming wouldn''t be worth much," he said.


    "Nonsense!" said Taltios.  "Summoned meats will never be common enough to swamp the meat market!"


    "They probably won''t be," agreed Praoziu.


    "Only probably?" wondered Aleicree, and then zie started.  "Flesh work is necromancy.  You can''t augur the summoned meat market."


    "By Fate!" burst Limist.  "This place will make a mage of me too, won''t it?  I don''t want to hear it."


    Azosta perked all the way up.  "Hah!" he crowed.  "If you don''t want to hear it, I''ll make an anti-mage out of you yet."


    "You''re still a mage in my book, Azosta," warned Limist.  "Going on about the dissolving tendency of magic is magery to me."


    "I ought to write a book," Azosta said.  "I''ll either get it out of my system, or else I''ll get a lot more consistent in how I present the information."


    Around the table, first plates were being finished and pushed away without other requests for seconds.  It was a fair amount of meat, and Aleicree didn''t want to fly while overfed.


    They sipped water from an endless jug on the table, and everyone but Aleicree and Grazil was involved in conversation that went on past the clearing of the plates.  For Aleicree, there was one enigma at the table.  Taltios.  Should I really try to stay apart from Taltios? Aleicree wondered.  I want to give zir life-extending items now, just so I don''t have to abide by prophecy.  That''s how necromancers do it.  They take risks with mortality, but they insulate with things like catches.  But I''ve no idea how to do a fitting service for a land god.  Maybe I should keep my distance for now.


    At length, Aleicree stood from the table.  "The Serene Chordalite should be at market in Griolor by now," zie said.  "I need to go to it today.  I think I''ll be back again in six months to stay, but I shouldn''t leave Captain Kagnir''s service immediately after taking my first vacation."


    "Hah!  Even at six months'' warning, he''ll wish he''d argued more," said Taltios, standing up and giving Aleicree such a heavy pat to the shoulder that zie staggered.  "I''ll visit often once you''re here, you''ll see.  Even if you won''t go to Tekagol, I''ve nothing against a flight to Nidrio now and then!"


    Aleicree shouldered off Taltios'' hand and stood taller.  "I''ll look forward to it, Tios," zie said, which wasn''t quite true.  "Don''t stop writing me letters.  I keep them forever.  I have a whole chest of letters that I''m not sure how I''ll get home!"  And another one with my life''s savings in it, Aleicree thought.  The solution to one would be the solution to the other.


    Praoziu stepped in with a smile.  "By six months from now, Denziu will be home again, and we''ll coordinate then.  A quick trip with a flying wagon will get that chest home."


    Aleicree hugged Praoziu, then Taltios, then Taisach when he stood to hold his arms open for a hug.  The whole group stood and walked with Aleicree out to the platform atop the spire, and waved as zie took to the skies and flew southwest to Griolor.

 Returning

    The sea was full of sails to the horizon. The perpetual flow of traffic through Griolor was as awe-inspiring as usual. Much of the import/export of the nearby city of Zyrine flowed through Griolor on its way out, for Zyrine''s clifftop prominence was very impressive, but did not give it access to a port.


    Aleicree flew over the wharfs of Griolor looking for one ship in particular. The Serene Chordalite! Zie murmured a prayer to Boghegd, land god of Griolor, for guidance to the ship. Zie knew it wouldn''t work here, but such little prayers could tip Fate in so many theomes, that they were a harmless habit while searching. Every ship of a kind looked the same, but they flew different pennants, different flags, and had different lettering on the side. Eventually, zie spotted the name of the Serene Chordalite, and flew down to land aboard.


    Zie was greeted there by Calira, officer of the watch of the morning shift, whose heightened pay came with an obligation to continue on her shifts during market days. The blue vrash hailed Aleicree. "Welcome back, Aleicree! Good to see you''re well and whole."


    "I wish I could say it''s good to be back, but time off has me rethinking my employment," Aleicree said candidly as zie walked up to Calira.


    "Oh, the officers of the ship will miss you! You''ve been a reliable worker and never a troublemaker, all these years," said Calira. "How long will you be giving the Captain to find a replacement?"


    Aleicree said, "I was thinking three circuits, or half a year. How has Rhaokir been in my absence?"


    "Zie raises a stern, steady wind and we''ve no complaints officially," said Calira. She glanced about deck and then said, "But Kajir and Jazhou say that Rhaokir has been poisoning our Fate, and we''ve had a terrible time with crew conflicts and price fluctuations all through this circuit."


    "Crew conflicts?" asked Aleicree.


    Calira laughed and said, "So much griping! Everyone wants something and suddenly nobody is satisfied. It seems superstitious to blame the wind for that, but it seems like something has been driving a great big rift between us!"


    Aleicree went cold at the word rift, thinking of the fifth floor of the library of Querent-Querent in Sorjek. Rift, one of the categories of arcane lore.


    Zir studies! The wolejerrup! Zir own withdrawal from the ship! Was it all being powered by fate manipulation? How much of what changed in Aleicree''s life was zir own will, and how much of it was Fate?


    The thought hardened Aleicree''s resolve to study necromancy. For necromantic spells were un-augurable, they were the breakers and violators of Fate. Necromancers followed their own will, fair or foul.


    "Rhaokir may be combining wind magic and... something that''s probably actually called rift meditation," said Aleicree, looking worried. "I remember the strange modifications that Rhaokir''s meditations invoked when we worked together for a few days."


    Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.


    Calira sobered up from her earlier laugh, and peered at Aleicree. "You just got here, and you already agree with our other two windmages? I guess we hired a dud." Calira glanced towards Captain Kagnir''s cabin, then back to Aleicree. "I''ll tell the captain you''re here when he gets in, but I believe he''s negotiating something in the market right now."


    ¡°I need to go into the market myself,¡± said Aleicree. ¡°Not that I think I¡¯ll meet him by chance, but¡­ I just do.¡±


    "Sure," said Calira.


    Aleicree''s taste for copying books definitely hadn''t changed and needed to be fed. Griolor was a treat, too. It had a bookstore! It wasn''t a large store, but even a small specialist bookstore had an astonishing wealth of paper. It was built up next to the Griolor Wind Magic Academy and, in addition to a broad selection, had a whole aisle dedicated to student textbooks.


    All the shelves in this store¡¯s tightly-spaced aisles were packed full of books. The wall behind the counter was decorated with a colourful tapestry wider than it was tall depicting readers with their snouts buried in untitled books. One of them was even a kalla, beak likewise buried in a book. After browsing the aisles for a while, zie bought another book and another blank to take back to the ship. Zie also bought a copy of Missing Meteorology, being glad to discover that the old textbook was still being distributed.


    Notwithstanding the gift for Kajir, Aleicree was by zir purchase of a book and a blank well-equipped for yet more ignoring zir colleagues while pursuing a hobby that gave zir nothing in common with sailing culture. Nobody aboard cared one whit that Aleicree copied books. Zie flew back to the ship.


    The ensuing days were utterly unextraordinary. It wasn''t that Aleicree was bored per se. Zie did zir hobby thing. Zie flew for exercise. Zie performed perfect, clean wind meditations all day. Zie went to meals with Shiowatha, who zie did quite like. Zie just didn''t like anyone else on the ship. Zie could have really gotten along with Kajir and Jazhou, if zie''d met them in wind magic academy, but they were on different shifts. They were busy when Aleicree wasn''t, and vice versa. And anyways, what was the point of striking up friendships during zir last three months?


    That defeatist thought occurred to zir a few days into the journey, and zie reminded zirself that meeting dragons even briefly in Sorjek had been life-changing. Zie started trying to figure out where Kajir and Jazhou went during their market days. Kajir was soon revealed to be a bar-hopping extrovert. That was out. Jazhou was a sober poetgon who found quiet cafes and occasionally performed in them. That was interesting. It didn''t change Aleicree''s determination to move away from the ship, but it leavened the remaining time.


    Which was, on the whole, unextraordinary. Aleicree still thought of Fate sometimes and didn''t like feeling that this regularly-shaped life was being pre-ordained. Zie had a few oddly familiar dreams, reminding zir of the dream-map in The Ascent of Shattered Knives. Zie didn''t meet anyone who could talk of arcane lore, though talking of Rhaokir with Jazhou and Kajir was briefly interesting, for they agreed that "rift meditation" was a great phrase for what they suspected Rhaokir was doing. That bit of rumour didn''t help Aleicree''s new resentment of Fate.


    Rhaokir, of course, had gone back to the wind magic academy. The irregularities that Rhaokir had introduced all faded once Rhaokir was out of the picture. Everyone found their place in the crew again. They went out to have fun together on market days. They took their pay and were thankful. They made the kind of expensive far-in-the-future someday-plans that unaging dragons make as they accumulate funds. They stayed with the ship, their Fates  bound to a place that contented them.


    The Serene Chordalite scudded swiftly from port to port, being loaded and unloaded as fast as possible according to a pre-arranged supply route that yielded a modest, reliable pay for everyone aboard.


    Aleicree dreamed of Fate unmoored.


    THE END