”Gosh, I’m going to regret doing this.” The sun, or Khana(I think I’m going to start using that, it sounds cooler and more mysterious since apparently nobody knows about dragons) is rising and starting to cast deep shadows across the plains. Our shelter has its back facing the sunrise so the others don’t get rudely woken by the peeping star. Which is lucky for them. I’m beyond exhausted, though. I let them sleep all night because as much as they acted like they didn’t, they needed it. At some point, Slinks woke up and wandered off without saying anything.

  It also gave me time to trickle healing into Ayre’s wing while she was asleep. She mumbled an indistinct thanks and smiled each time — clearly not awake in any capacity, she sleeps like a particularly dead rock most of the time. Healing her fully is going to take a long time, even with Elysia at my beck and call. Regenerative healing is tremendously taxing for the same reason that synthesizing actual food is. The things involved in making people are just too complex. Luckily Ayre is a bit more essentially simple than a random person would be, but I don’t have any ability to wield Ignia in any capacity so it does me little good. If we find an Ignia specialist in town, maybe I can enlist them…

  Olly, on the other hand, I’ve spent a lot of the night watching. More than I’d like to admit to myself, really. The look on his face when I told him that I couldn’t say the truth is still haunting me. I know that he says he understands, but I still haven’t been able to really look at he and I’s connection since that event. I know it’s not gone because I’m still getting the bits of emotionality occasionally across it, but I’m terrified that I might have somehow made it worse.

  So instead of facing that possibility, I’ve dutifully tried to forget that I know that incantation.

  Yep. Definitely working.

  Not going to use it.

  Well… Maybe a peek wouldn’t be bad.

  It’s just a little bit of information…

  “Watcha doin’?”

  I scream and about jump out of my skin, which causes Ayre to wake and spring to her feet in one smooth motion, with her glaive appearing in her hand and flames licking out of her lips. Olly remains on the ground, snoring.

  “Hey now, woah, chill out.” I turn to see the felid girl from the road yesterday, unarmed, with hands raised in innocence. “Thought it would be funny to be a wakeup call for whoever was in here.” Her voice has a soothing sort of quality to it that brings a measure of calm to the situation.

  For me, at least. Ayre snaps at her, literally. The clack of her jagged teeth snapping together is actually pretty intimidating, even though it’s not directed at me. “You’re lucky she was the one on watch. You’d be missing a good bit of your skin right now had it been me.” She looks like she’s absolutely seething. Ayre hates being surprised awake normally, but after the last couple days she had been out cold, so waking to perceived danger has gotten her pretty fired up. “Who sneaks up on armed strangers?”

  Taking in the girl, it seems that the armor she’d been wearing when we first arrived in town has been reinforced with pearls near enchanting runes. Otherwise, she stands just a couple inches taller than me(Which is pretty annoying, honestly) and has bouncy red hair and an air of nonchalance that seems to be making Ayre angrier.

  “Me. I do.” The masculine voice of Slinks, who I notice now is standing on the wall behind the felid, makes her jump and scream. “I let you walk in because I did not think you were a threat.” He pauses, conjuring a field of metal fragments around the girl for effect. “Not a threat because you are prey. Not not a threat because I would win, though that is true too.”

  She rapidly backs away from the menacing stoat. “Drek! You people are weird! What is that?! I was just playing a little prank. Chill!”

  “Chastising remark: We told you it was a stupid idea. May we enter and retrieve our companion?” The calm voice of the human monk comes in the building from the hole in the roof while Ayre taps the haft of her glaive to the ground.

  “Why not? Everyone else is invading the campsite, let’s bring in the whole…everyone.” Ayre hisses.

  The other three women from the other night poke their heads in and stare gobsmacked at both Ayre, Slinks and I, which makes me realize something very important. I never cast a glamour last night because I never thought that we would run into people here. Which in hindsight was pretty dumb of me because these specific people were heading in the same direction as me yesterday.

  “Oi! It’s the green-eyed girl that that Order knight bought the room for! And the weasel thing from yesterday. And…you look kinda like the girl who was riding the weasel. Wrong size, but you’ve got wings so you must be her.”

  “I think…there’s…uh…been a misunderstanding of some kind.” I add half-heartedly, desperately trying to think of a way out of this situation. Random adventurers are the exact people that Ayre has had a grudge against her entire life.

  “Nah, pretty sure not. What’s your deal? Some sort of shifter?” The felid prods me in the back, which sees a metal fléchette zip across the back of her hand, slicing a clean cut that sees her bounce back and away swearing while staring daggers at the behatted, walk-walking, metal-conjuring stoat.

  “Don’t touch the princess.” It gives me all kinds of warm fuzzies to hear my acerbic friend be so devoted to helping. Father definitely chose right.

  “You people are too damned tense. I don’t want to hurt you or anything. What, do you think because you’re weird, we’re gonna mug you or something?” Her face betrays that she’s apparently actually pretty wounded by the implication, “I saw all the signs of fighting, the wealth of blood outside, and the damage to the structure after watching you riding down the road on that little beast fast as a bullet. I was trying to make sure nobody was dead. Happy now?”

  “Mmmm. Not lying anymore.” Mollified, Slinks drops off the wall with a command to Hat and promptly slinks over to the new group, rubbing against the felids legs like a needy cat.

  After one particularly loud snore, Olly jolts himself upright and rubs his face, gratefully keeping his right arm in his sleeping bag. “What's…going…on? Oh.”

  “Well, I guess since that’s settled and there’s a nil chance of me being able to sleep again, let’s eat breakfast.” Ayre announces with a barely contained and very obvious rage simmering beneath the surface. I nod and hand Olly his repaired sleeve since I know he’s not going anywhere until he has it with people around. “You’re all welcome to stay. I’m not mad at you anymore even if it seems like it.”

  One by one, they filter in, taking up spots on the many benches while Ayre sets up the traveling pot she bought. The room remains fairly quiet except for Slinks purring aggressively, having been picked up by the elf who is loving on him with a level of aggression that has put him in the heavens: she seems to have discovered something new that he likes — repeatedly whacking his rump like banging on a small, furry drum.

  “So, out of curiosity — while it might be crass — but what are you all? For all of my studies I’ve never run into someone like either of you, nor seen a familiar with this degree of individuality.” I realize it’s the first time I’ve heard the elf speak. Her voice is soft, like what one would expect to hear at a quiet restaurant late at night sipping at fine wine — a bit of imagery that definitely suits her erudite white robes.

  Slinks lets out the most tired sigh of the most put-out creature in all of existence. “Male. Why does every person in the world ask this one question? Please don’t stop.” He wiggles in place after the elf seems too stunned to continue giving him the aggressive pats that he apparently needs now.

  “That’s…still not what people mean when they ask that, Slinks. To answer your actual question, since the cat is quite out of the bag. I’m…” Ayre pauses, wearing obvious tension on her face. ”An elemental serpent; a dragon. Ayre’A’Khana.”

  “Slinks. Stoat. Not a familiar, according to Hat.”

  “And I’m Lilidh O’Caelidh, of the Court of Tale and Song.”

  The felid, still nursing her hand, looks over, “So are you actually a princess? Or was the little murder machine lying? If yeah, what should we address you by? We aren’t the kind of people who wind up in front of royalty.”

  I opt to be the one to answer as Ayre starts to ladle out a prepared stew. She used a handful of those flavor cubes again in addition to some special traveling ingredients: mostly specially prepared meats and vegetables, and I’m once more utterly gobsmacked at how common enchanting seems to be. “I am, indeed, the princess of my court. If you can manage my name, then Lilidh is fine. If you aren’t confident that you can without butchering it, then Lilly is fine. I don’t stand much on pomp and circumstance outside of the lands of the fae.”

  “An’ what about ye’ tall, dark and handsome?” The request from the shortest woman in the group by far gets a speculative raise of the brow from Olly.

  “Just a guy, nothing interesting like them. Olly.”

  “Well, that sounds like drek. Travelin’ wit’ a fae princess, some kinda’ 'dragon' and that little monster? No way you’re t’at boring.”

  Olly looks strained, uncertain what to say, clearly. He’s not one to lie, but before I can come up with anything, Ayre chimes in. “Would you believe me if I told you he was a cursed and deposed prince from a far off land and that we’re his escorts on a journey to get to the bottom of the curse?”

  That succeeds in bringing a smile to Olly's and I’s faces as we both nod when the other party looks around at us.

  “Amused: Honestly, yes. Much more than “Just a guy”. I find that people of similar levels of ‘interesting’ tend to flock together. And the full breadth of your party is quite interesting.”

  From that point on, the discussion circles back to more “normal” topics and as we eat, I find myself growing calmer. I’d been terrified of how the average group of kyn might react to me after the cautionary tales that Father gave, especially after what happened with Olly and the smugglers. But… Like Vari said, these people just asked some questions and then started treating us like people. Not oddities.

  Ayre and Olly both open up quickly, with Olly finding conversation with the felid and the elf and Ayre settling in with the boisterous shorter woman. Which leaves me and the blonde with the odd speech patterns to have our own private discussion.

  The meal passes with some honest kinship being formed. The things I catch are that Ayre’s partner has heard of dragons, but only in the historical sense — her homeland once was said to have a great wyrm that presided over them in the mountains. So large that it could be, itself, mistaken for one of the tallest peaks in the range when lying still. This leads to Ayre being the one asking endless questions and receiving answers that are almost certainly apocryphal at best, but she seems satisfied by the end. I’ll have to talk to her later about it.

  Olly and the Elf bond over being apparent nobility, though when the topic of his memories comes up, the elf begins to pull out potions and tinctures, casting the occasional spell and generally doting on him in an almost motherly fashion. I can’t say if anything she did anything, but it had him smiling the entire time, and that’s good enough for me.

  Meanwhile, I learn that the blonde’s strange speech patterns are part of a sort of essence-based disability she’s had since birth. A deep imbalance in her base essence levels towards Ordo. It leads to her being controlled and neutral to a fault. She’s not too bothered, though, apparently. Given that imbalance, she is an incredibly potent Ordo wielder and uses it to “very effectively beat the hell out of things that threaten the things she cares about”. I can get behind the mindset.

  Eventually, it’s decided that we’re all going to travel together since we’re going in the same direction.

  They’re on their way to Kharbon the same as us and inform us that this stretch of road is generally safe, but groups of five or more are seldom if ever attacked by monsters to begin with. Monsters are vicious, but not stupid, usually at least. So sticking together will also have practical benefits — not that it really matters. This group seems the kind who would have probably followed us anyways out of interest just as much as anything else.

  They also inform us as to why we haven’t run into anyone on the roads: apparently people traveling between major population centers is just simply uncommon. Monsters are common enough, and resources in any given region are plentiful enough, that aside from freelancers it’s just uncommon to make journeys casually. Well armed caravans and traders will make long duration, multistop tours, but that’s about the maximum we should expect to find. It’s interesting and is making me even more excited to see the big cities.

  Eventually, the camp is broken, Ayre posts a note on the wall apologizing to future travelers and we set off as one large group. We make a slight detour to check the spot on the map that the hellion gave Ayre and on arriving there — an area by a riverside in the lee of a large outcropping of Aero crystals — find nothing but white powder.

  This, understandably, sets our new companions on edge, but after some assurances of safety, that they gratefully take us at face value over, they acquiesce. Instead of making an issue, they probe us for every detail of the fight that they can, citing the need to report that creature in Kharbon even if it was killed or driven off. Something about their duties to the guild and the crown — it all makes good sense considering how dangerous it was.

  We set off from there, and our new friends inform us that it’ll be a the better part of a week walk to the outermost city limits, where we’ll probably be able to take a “Skyglide” into the city proper to save some walking. They refused to elaborate, saying that it’ll be “more fun to experience blind”, which sets me a little bit uneasy, but I’ll live.

  After around two days, we’re coming within the outermost reaches of the city and start to run into expeditionary freelancers. People who operate out of the big city; taking contracts there and striking out into the rest of the region to do what needs doing. Apparently, this nation considers its prevalence of these “freelancers” to be one of their greatest assets. Each and every one of them seems at least as friendly as the people we’re traveling with and most of them don’t even bother asking after us.

  “Ayre, do you want me to put a glamour on you until we’ve settled? Everyone has been nice, but I think I’m gonna try to be a little lower key for now, myself.” I ask, gesturing to her more obvious features as my wings disappear into shimmering dust, my eyes and hair mute to yellow and blonde, respectively, and my omnipresent essence shedding is contained.

  “Nah, I’ll be fine. I’m gonna put some faith in Vari and these folks. Worst-case scenario we just start doing one later, and you change me more significantly than usual, yeah?” I nod along with her and return to walking.

  Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  Something strikes me as we’re coming in sight of the foretold “Skyglide stop” around midday. “Has anyone seen Slinks?”

  Everyone in the group looks around at one another, everyone clearly expecting someone else to have seen him. It instantly fills me with dread, but my anxiety is cut off at the pass by the felid rogue stating simply. “He left.”

  “What do you mean, ‘He left.”?” I march up to her, which means I still have to look up at her, even if only fractionally.

  “I mean, “He left.” He snuck off about an hour ago. He’d been doing it for ten or fifteen minutes at a time the entire journey like clockwork, but this last one he didn’t come back. My assumption is that he left.”

  “What if he got hurt? When did you last see him? We need to go ba-” Ayre shakes her head with a smile, which shocks me a little bit out of my rising worry.

  “I don’t think you have to worry Lil’. I really didn’t expect him to stay. The petting and scratches are nice, but he’s…really…really not a people person, or stoat, I guess. You did say that he explicitly only stayed with you that night because of Hat badgering him, right? He probably just went back off on his quest.”

  That makes me frown deeply, “I was liking having him around. But…I suppose there’s nothing for it.” I turn my frown around and grin as I realize something. “Then he chooses to remain my rival. And everyone knows that your rival will only ever come around when you’re truly in need or to make your life more difficult. Alright, sorry everyone. He’s a troublemaker, I guess. Let’s see about this purported “Skyglide.”.”

  The felid dances ahead of us looking excited with the elf alchemist in tow with an infectious energy that drags everyone along behind them. Before long we come upon a fair sized standalone building next to the roadway — a roadway that has turned from country cobbles into city concrete.

  The building can be…generously described as a hutch, now that we’re close enough to really take it in. The front face of the deep red brick building is sheet glass, maybe crystal, that allows a full view inside and out. Behind the glass wall, it looks like there’s seating for a dozen or so people inside. Not terribly comfortably, if the strange chairs are anything to go by, but it’s seating at least. Atop it are copper shingles in various states of discoloring, which make for a pretty interesting gradient of greens and reds that obviously makes me think of Ayre. And as I look, she is also looking at the roof with a smile.

  Next to it is a large board, not unlike the one in Silverbrook, that has a gigantic map of the region, but as I get closer it piques my interest and I have to run over.

  It is easily the most detailed map I’ve ever seen. It shows roadways of every scale from main thoroughfares like we’ve been traveling on all the way down to individual animal runs shooting off into wooded areas. Likely travel hazards are clearly marked, monster dens, treacherous terrain…there’s even a weather forecast. It even has the borders of the Court labeled — not even marked as a danger, just a small advisory.

  I call Ayre and Olly over, I can’t not. They’ll both get a kick out of this for sure. “Look! Look at this! It shows everything. In real time, even!” I say, smiling broadly as I point out particularly interesting bits and bobs. Our new companions seem to be giving us space, but they’re all standing around smiling at my reaction. “Think about it, this is just at the city outskirts! What else could we see as we make our way inside?”

  I notice Ayre being about as excited as me, but Olly is staring in a more subdued way at a specific part of the map. Opposite the direction we left out of Silverbrook, down some side roads and eventually to a town in the middle of nowhere. Marked with a stylized purple and gold eye with the words “Probable Calamity, Under Investigation by Vigil”. That makes me frown, but as I look around I see that there’s five others marked with a similar sigil, but with a bold red “X” in the center of the eye. Each one is marked with “Aetheric Instability”, “Calamity Site”, and then either “Recovering” or “Uninhabitable”.

  Putting a hand on Olly’s left shoulder, I spin him away, “Come with me to check out the inside?” I’ll just have to distract him.

  “Ah, yeah sure, Lilly.” His voice is so glum that it hurts me to hear — and feel, for that matter.

  I more or less drag him by the elbow inside with me as Ayre splits off to rejoin the group. Someone shouts that the skyglide should be here in a few minutes, so I need to do this quick. I’m feeling uncharacteristically worried about it, but I’ll just…do it and see how it goes. I do wonder if Olly can feel the tension I’m feeling over my plan, though? If so, he’s not showing it.

  Inside, the air is perfectly comfortable., if just a hair dry. Not cool, but pleasantly warm. The walls are covered in some sort of paneling with a pleasant enough looking flower-and-vine pattern and some nearby crystal emitters seem to be playing a very gentle, inoffensive tune. Their range of sound is…not fantastic compared to what I can even casually manifest, but I guess it’s not bad. In the back I see some odd-looking cabinets that look like a good distraction. They're probably eight feet tall, and are covered in garish displays of color and exaggerated art showing people eating and drinking. The front is covered in an array of runic sigils stamped with names, each next to an individual crystal door with what appears to be nothing behind it.

  “What do you think these are?” I gesture over to them and Olly walks over with me.

  “Well, they’re definitely flashy. All of those names are catchy, too. I think they’re supposed to be drinks or snacks, maybe? Nothing really has any description beyond the names, though. Are we just supposed to already know? How do you suppose it works?” I see his eyes narrowing as he starts to focus, trying to figure out how this thing works, just like I had hoped he might once I saw them. “Hmm, these activation runes look like the ones in the shower at the inn. Try activating one that sounds good, I guess? I don’t see anywhere to put money or anything.” As Olly says it, I notice that near the top of the cabinet is a blocked out bit of text:

  [Provided free of charge by the Kharbon Wellness Consortium]

  “What was the essence you said was really pleasant that the Sidhe had around them?”

  “It was Florii, the essence of bounty, seeds, and propagation.” He recites. “Why?”

  I peer at the row of panels to find something that sounds floral in nature. Finding one that sounds promising, I tap it with a tiny pulse of essence. Unlike most of the other rune markers I’ve seen so far, this one actually just presses inwards and uses its own essence to pulse the runes. Which means someone like Olly could use it! It’s somewhat exciting to see that that’s a consideration for these things. There’s a pleasant bell chime from somewhere inside, and I hear and feel essence being condensed on the air as something rattles around inside the tall cabinet.

  After a few moments of the sound of pouring liquid, a small hatch opens up, extending a sealed container with “Emberdew Tea” printed on the side. The machine makes a displeased sounding, lower, chime, and I see a clock ticking down on the panel I just pressed with the word “Synthesizing” overlaying the title of the drink.

  I take it, read the side, and perform its simple instructions. Twist the top one way to activate a heating rune, and twist it the opposite direction to pop the top off. Doing so, I hear a hiss from inside the little container as it quickly warms to the touch. “Here, take this and try it.” I wonder if Olly can tell I’m improvising. How would he feel if he knew? Would he be happy that I’m trying to cheer him up? Bemused at my efforts? Offended that I’m trying to influence him? Probably the happy one.

  “Lil, I’m happy to, but it’s not like I’m going to taste it.”

  “Then do the thing you’re supposed to do. Nobody is looking and you’ll enjoy it more. Or at all, for that matter. Just do it!”

  At my urging, he smiles a little, inwardly, and holds the drink lower, turning his back to the glass wall. Carefully, he extends a finger into the drink and closes his eyes. Immediately, I watch as the fluid starts to…do the thing it does. Rapidly being drained of all essence, with Olly’s eyes darting behind his lids as he processes whatever he gains from this sort of thing. But importantly, a smile starts to grow. From a small, barely perceptible smile, to a wide, toothy grin.

  “This is probably the most complex thing I’ve…uh, eaten.” He stammers a little, “It had a flavor, I guess. There was fifteen different types of essence involved in its creation. All very small quantities, but it gave it a very satisfying feeling.”

  He trails, struggling to put it into words as always. “That’s great! How abo-” A loud, melodious, series of chimes ring out in the building and an announcement is made in place of the music. The voice is cool and professional, pretty free of inflection, and speaking in clear Eldaran common.

  [Noontime Skyglide Arrival. Will depart in five minutes. Please allow all riders to depart before boarding.]

  “Oh! Time to go! I’ll meet you out there. I think that’s a bin for trash over there.” Olly turns to go at my direction, but I finally work up the gumption to do something I’ve thought about a lot but never done before. Ayre’s done it, but I’m seldom big enough to do it. “Olly, one last thing.”

  As he turns I slide forward and hug him, staying as far from his right arm as I can so he doesn’t feel uncomfortable. His breath catches and he goes stock still for a few moments before wrapping his left arm around my shoulders. “I wanted to thank you. You stopped me getting hurt in that fight. I wouldn’t have gotten out of the way in time, but you stopped that thing from actually landing a hit.”

  “I—Uh—Yeah, of course, Lilly. If there’s anything I can do about it, I don’t plan on letting anything hurt you.” He pauses, and when I look up, I see he is absolutely crimson. “You or Ayre. Either of you. I’d do…everything I can…you know what I mean. I’m gonna get rid of this trash and meet you outside.” His blush and smile started warm, but as he stammered his way through he looked more and more unsure. It leaves me feeling uncertain.

  I knew he’d feel a little awkward about the contact, but I hope I didn’t just do something wrong. I’ll talk to Ayre later. But first, I’ll need to do the other half of my very ramshackle plan.

  I waltz back to the machine and push each other button on it one at a time and wait patiently as each of the little doors open up. One by one, I collect them in a pile in my arms. Thankfully they’re all sealed — I was worried that that wouldn’t be the case.

  My bounty in arm, I hear the machine make a disgruntled sounding rumble as all of the lights on it tick off and “Synthesizing” appears across it's entire front. Whoops. Hope that doesn’t mean it’s broken.

  [Final Boarding for Noontime Skyglide]

  I turn around and make for the glass door and see Ayre standing outside…a thing and staring at a group who just departed with a deep frown.

  I trace her look to them to see what’s got her looking so uncomfortable and feel a grasp of cold in my heart. Six people armored nearly identically to the hellion. Just in different sizes and overall styles of armor. None are wearing their mirrored black helmets and look to run the gamut of age ranges and ancestries: both common to Eldara and more common abroad.

  One, a young human man with tousled brown hair, sees me staring at him and gives me a toothy grin and a wave. Immediately following, I see and hear a very short(Maybe the same height as me. Probably shorter. Definitely shorter.) raven-haired lapin wearing a ruby red armored longcoat instead of the black armor needling him over liking blondes now. He immediately blushes but turns away to engage the shorter knight. As I watch, the lapin keeps casting glances back at Ayre with concern and interest wrought clear on her face. But once they get past the little hut they collectively work into a jog as one. Highly organized despite the variance in height and equipment.

  It leaves me feeling distinctly uncomfortable. Vari said that their order operated near the city, but I was imagining a knightly order of, what? Maybe twenty people? Like a royal guard or something. With that many people, and so many of them young and old, it’s probably quite a bit bigger than I thought. Which…makes sense. If they’re monster hunters, they’d need a lot of people to cover large areas…

  It’s neither here nor there, though. I turn and make my way over to Ayre and get an actual good look at the skyglide-thing. Luckily, it’s sufficiently cool to disrupt my sunken mood more or less instantly.

  It’s like a smooth box. Rounded with an almost egg-like top. The whole exterior is either silver or a similar light and bright metal with the top canopy looking more like a semitransparent blue crystal. All over it, it’s covered in runes for essence concentration, storage and a whole lot more that I don't even remotely begin to recognize.

  All told it looks like the most expensive cart I could ever imagine. But with a single very, very important caveat — and presumably where it gets its name.

  It’s floating!

  It’s got spindly little legs that don’t look like they could support my weight, let alone seven people and a metal wagon, but it’s not currently using them! It’s just floating three or so feet off the ground and I see everyone sitting inside apart from Ayre, who’s looking at me very impatiently while eyeing my prize. “Where did you get all of that? What are those, anyways?”

  I trot up to the skyglide and bend over to look underneath it in awe. “They’re drinks for Olly. Ayre it’s floating!” I all but squeal at her.

  “They’re all for Olly?”

  “I guess I could share with the others too…” Hearing my words, Ayre plucks the top one off the pile and gestures at the small staircase on the side of the skyglide. “After you, princess. Thanks for the drink, Lil, it was very thoughtful.”

  She winks at me and sticks out her forked tongue, which I, naturally, return as I clamber up inside.

  Inside, it looks just as fancy. There’s six couches evenly spread from front to back. Each one is either blue or white, with comfortable looking tall backs. All around the big canopy there’s strips that are emitting Lux essence and some sort of control rod up in the front that the felid appears to be manning, holding her hand suspended over it, looking bored. Every couple seconds, the vehicle shudders, and she sends a pulse of essence that makes the vehicle reply with a disgruntled sounding chime.

  “Eventually, it’s just going to close the doors and go. Can we get the lizard on the skyglide please?”

  “I’m not a lizard, and I’m working on it. Apparently, they didn’t design this for someone with wings, for some reason.”

  Ayre steps in sideways, sidling in like a particularly tall, scaly, winged and horned crab. “Actually, that calls to question. Are there any winged crabs? Or horned crabs? Something to investigate later, maybe.”

  With great difficulty, she moves to the middle couch and sits next to one of the others, which pointedly leaves the only open seats next to Olly. I move over carefully and sit down. Luckily, Olly had the forethought to keep his right arm away from the center of the couch.

  “Finally! I’m gonna make it go fast. I don’t feel like getting whined at by the skyglide when we arrive. I hope none of you get motion sick.” The felid says with several quick pulses of essence into the controls at the front.

  In short order, the vehicle spins in place to orient back the way it came from and starts to accelerate. It doesn’t stop accelerating for a while and I get the feeling it’s being caused by the girl in the front, who has a mischievous smile and keeps sending regular pulses of essence into the controls — controls that keep letting out chimes that sound nearly fearful or worried, but maybe that’s just me projecting because we’re going very, very fast, and I feel fearful and worried.

  I hand out the drinks to a chorus of thanks but keep the last three for Olly when we get to a place of privacy again.

  Left with a lot of uncertainty, I decide to watch out the crystal windows as the terrain speeds by. There’s long rolling hills with large bits of machinery that resemble some golems I’ve seen that are trudging through. Each is painted different colors according to role(Seemingly things like tilling, watering, and harvesting), and every ten or so are being attended by a person making gestures and giving commands. The fields are growing grains in bulk, naturally, but smaller patches are orchards growing fruits and countless other interesting looking crops.

  The fields have preciously little in them though. It must be the last harvest of the season? Which actually, based on what I know of agriculture means that this stuff is growing well into early winter and that that should be very difficult to make happen. Maybe that's the reason for all of the golems?

  Periodically we pass by other skyglides moving at much more sedate paces than ours and much slower moving groups of people who apparently decided to walk. Nobody pays any mind to our skyglide except to start or jump as it goes zipping by. It gives me the distinct impression that how fast we're going might be a little rude.

  It’s…a lot to take in, really. But it’s not really overwhelming because it all makes sense, I guess. A fast cart. A thing that hands out drinks and food. Help with farming on the scale a city needs. They’re not wild concepts, really. But I just honestly had no idea that the world beyond the forest was like this. It leaves me excited and apprehensive in equal measure at what other things we might find out here.

  Father still occasionally leaves the forest but he’s never told me about any of this. It leaves me wondering why, but I eventually settle on the simplest answer.

  He knew I would leave and wanted me to have things to discover.

  Admittedly, that makes me a little miffed. I'm not that predictable, am I? Or, maybe in a more positive light he just knew that at some point in our infinite lives I'd get bored. He certainly does.

  “You’re going to want to pay attention out the front as we go over this hill.” The quiet elf says, wearing a clear smile on her lips as she does. Ayre, Olly, and I all stand, holding on to the couches to balance ourselves.

  And all three of us have the exact same reaction.

  Awe.

  As we crest the hill, I’m exposed to the most fantastical thing I’ve ever seen. So far above and beyond anything that the Court has ever dreamed up that it's nearly indescribable. Maybe fantas-est rather than fantas-y? Because this obvious the coolest thing I've ever seen or imagined.

  Instantly, my decision to leave is validated. Before us, across monumental bridges that appear razor-thin, spanning who knows how deep chasms, and sitting in a valley formed by two dueling peaks that kiss the heavens themselves, I see a city unlike anything I’ve ever even imagined. It’s so big I legitimately don’t even have a word for it: stretching from one nearly sheer cliff face to the other, easily maybe ten miles across at the widest point and much farther deep into the valley. A bastion at a mountain pass! Just like in books and art! Just scaled up massively from any art piece I've ever seen.

  From here, I count a dozen spires spearing into the sky above the city, evenly interspersed through with colossal essence crystals at their tips. The buildings are all cast in stone, I think. Most of the architecture is white, but breaking up the otherwise monolithic white space is countless banners and streamers dangling from every building. Huge sections of color move through the city in smooth loops and within each I see tall trees towering above the nearby buildings. Parks, maybe?

  Each of us seems entirely speechless. And, honestly? That’s fine.

  I think I’ve found what I left home for.