Riennaia leveled her wings and slipped from the updraft into a gentile glide. Far below her, the weathered red granite of the Rust Keep bathed in mid afternoon sun. The Keep was a sprawling mess of buildings that seemed to flow over the hills that penned Kathistea, the capital town, to the coast. Originally not much more than what was now the great hall, the Rust Keep had found itself pressed into service as the seat of power for the newly independent Southern Isles. Multiple times, buildings from Kathistea been subsumed into the keep to provide housing and offices for all those seeing to the workings of the new government. Every expansion had seen the newly acquired building covered in the red granite which gave the rust keep its name, and then attached to what was already there by a series of new paths and walkways before finally being surrounded by the fortress walls. The capital town had, of course, responded in kind, and grown rapidly with new shops eager to serve both locals and the foreign dignitaries who now visited the once sleepy little town. Once the process had repeated several times, the Rust Keep had grown like lichen across the northern cliffs of the bay, and the town itself had filled the available land nearly to capacity.
In these mid autumn days heat flowed from the red rock mixed with the cool sea air thrown against the cliffs and billowed upward like shimmering smoke. The Keep's Breath. Some other dragons knew how to ride the twists and eddies of the Breath, but few had lived at the keep all their lives. Most other dragons would simply choose to throw themselves skyward by wing or channeled fire, but most other dragons in the air below her had not been on the wing for nearly six hours making endless circuits between the capital town, the shipping lane, and the highway down towards Sungate. Instead, most would have ended their watch, relayed reports to the harbor master, or the gate staff, or whoever required their observations from on high, and then left grab a warm meal or possible a brief nap in the afternoon glow. Because other dragons were not the crown princess of the Southern Isles.
As Riennaia stared out once again towards Sungate, the stone roofs of it's tallest building only barely visible on the southern horizon, three winged shapes detached themselves from the clouds over the ocean, making for the Rust Keep. The three dragons were traveling at good clip, channel fire accentuating the benefits of their shallow dive. Try as she might, she could not entirely suppress the seed of anxiety taking root in her chest. Not yet 17, she was yet to begin her training with the tools of the rider corps. She had no channels with which to direct her inner fire, nor any rider with whom to share her magic or rely upon for defense at range. Should she find herself against a hostile in the air, she would need to dive for the Keep's defenses and hope she made it in time. Still, she had her duty and so she placed herself on course to intercept.
It soon became clear however that her concerns ought not be focused on a conflict in the skies but rather on one that might develop over the next few days of feast and talk. As she approached, the dragons' forms broke from a mass of golden hues into individual reflections blazing off the lead dragon's scales. They were color of polished pewter at their base but lightened into a bluish silver that caught the afternoon's light around their trailing edges. On the dragon's back sat an akeirnan draped in the emerald green of the wolf folk's royal house. He sat unmoving except for his eyes, which tracked her approach.
"Giagras. King Imenten" She addressed dragon then rider before looking back at the other two pairs. There was a clear family resemblance between the first two dragons, as well as their riders. Such was to be expected of one the older states, and Akeirna was one of the oldest, the only one to still share a name with the race hailing from it's lands. They would often see the dragons who called the land their ancestral home take riders from the royal families, centralizing power. The southern isles were the exception in the practice, as they were in so many other ways.
Riennaia did not recognize the third dragon by face or by pattern of scales: a guard likely, high enough in status to be granted the honor of watching the king and one of his sons, but not from one of the major families. "Only to Neytith and Oryan, and not to the rest of your families, have I been introduced." She used the common tongue, feeling both too unprepared and too tired to risk offense if her Akeirnan didn't hold up. Still, she followed the Akeirnan pattern of speech and placed herself last out of deference.
"That would be so." Giagras said. "It has been a number of years since my daughter Neytith and her rider made the visit with us to your father and his islands." My son Sintas, only reached only his seventeenth year in the spring. Making this trek without the aid of channel fire would require considerable time and effort that I did not feel were warranted at the time. Now, however, he and Velden wish to earn their claws at one of the continental academies and I thought it prudent that the two of them see the world outside Akeirna." Gaigras cast an eye back towards the smaller dragon following in his wake. "Riennaia, daughter to Duke Chiros." He said, introducing her.
"A pleasure to meet you. Sintas, as my father mentioned." The dragon spoke.
"And mine as well." Said his rider a moment later. "Velden, third prince of Akeirna."
The third rider pair stayed silent. Riennaia noted immediately that the younger royals were far more comfortable in the common tongue than their parents… and that they weren't quite as able to hide their fatigue from the long flight. Seeing that Giagras was already heading towards the keep's forecourt she prepared to signal the keep horncallers to announce their new arrivals. Before she could, she saw to her mild annoyance, the red-gold horns and blue-black scales of her father, unmistakable even in kyndform, amongst a crowd now emerging onto the forecourt. It seemed as though the arrival of the Akeirnan royals was not as unexpected as she might have thought. "Yet more that I haven't been told over these last few days."
The horncallers began their duty, announcing the new arrivals and drowning out any chance Riennaia had to inquire further. She resolved to find the younger pair sometime over the next few days; their parents might still feel the echos of bad blood from generations past, but her path would be sure to cross with Sintas and Velden again, and it was worth getting feel for how eager they were to leave the past behind.
Reaching inside her mind, through the labyrinth of memory and finding that point where mind, body, and spirit met she found her kyndform. She did not need more effort to bring it forward and impose it upon her body; whatever being, or god, or collection of unknowable forces had given it to the dragons as one of their gifts, along with their fire, and innate connection to the magics of the world. Her body shrunk, taking on a form to roughly match those of the four-limbed races. A full rider would never change so, lest their equipment, unable to chance with them, crash to the ground at speed. Riennaia, however was draped only in kyndcloth which pulled magic from her body to change in kind. Though her kyndform wings were slightly too small to lift her on their own she could still glide without issue. Riennaia navigated the buffeting currents stirred both by the keep's breath and the three dragons landing next to her on the forecourt with an ease grown from a lifetime of practice.
She landed just in front of her father, who stepped clear of the group around him. Giving the group behind him a once over, she was surprised to see the Tessian ambassador, an Ojirian by the name of Lesta watching their new arrivals with narrowed eyes.
"Deciding to show off a little for our guests?" Her father asked quietly as he made his way to her. His tone was firm but Riennaia recognized the hint of approving amusement in his gaze.
"Yes." She whispered back falling in step beside him. "Casual mastery over the elements of one's domain and all that."
Her father gave her a quick smile. "I see your flight instructor has not been neglecting his history lessons. Good." He said, smile fading. "Those lessons may be the more important ones over the coming days."
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Riennaia looked out across the forecourt at the two dragons now being helped out of their channels and other flight gear by a swarm of attendants. Her father did not yet approach, giving their guests time to find themselves in order. "Last you had told me, the summit would have a small number of extra guests come to discuss some particularity strong amalgams that had been causing issues in the sea lanes." She said with some annoyance. "I had thought we were facing some minor incident in the neutral lands, a Eudrian convoy carrying charged ore that had been subsumed, or something of the like… until the third delegation of theirs arrived a couple days ago. Now, we have guests arriving from the other side of the continent. Don't try and tell me the autumn summit got turned into an informal quorum over some missing ships."
Her father gave another small laugh. "You know, in some small way it did. Though it would be wrong to say one set of missing ships could cause this. Let me apologize for now by admitting things have accelerated quickly over the previous few days as old distrust was easily inflamed by new uncertainty. For now, let us greet our guests. I'm sure a number of your questions can be answered there. As for the rest, our current guests should be the last set arriving, and I will give as much of an overview as I am able at the dinner tonight. Hopefully everybody can calm their fears over chaos in the hinterlands… and go back to their slightly more comfortable fears of each other."
With their riders disembarked and gear removed, Giagras and Sintas shifted to kyndform. Taking his cue, Duke Chiros straightened his back and walked towards his guests, a careful elegance in his movements that contrasted against the military precision shown by Giagras and Imenten and imitated, almost successfully, by their children. Riennaia thought to follow her father's lead as well, before instinct told her to reconsider. She met Velden's eye for a moment before allowing her shoulders to visibly relax. He hesitated a moment before noticing his father's full attention lay squarely on the duke, and relaxed in kind. Good. Riennaia thought. The old folks might still clutch their long held animosities, but the other aren't burdened so.
"Duke Chiros." Imenten began, stressing the title. Riennaia was unsure if the barb was aimed her father or the government of the Isles as a whole. "Answers, or at least information I have been promised as to the string of recent attacks on shipping lanes and border towns. I hope you can provide me with more than an excuse for the Eudrians to start ramping up their armies once again. Interesting Riennaia thought. Whatever's going on isn't limited to the sea lanes. That would suggest something more than a single amalgam spinning off imprints. A single storm wouldn't cover than much distance, or cover both sea and land that easily.
"Let me first welcome you to the Isles, King Imenten. Word from Akeirna was one of the main forces spurring this meeting. My initial chats with the Eudrians had lead us to thinking that we were dealing with an inflamed amalgam or other phenomenon. Such events as have come from your land ruled that out, at least in isolation."
"At least in isolation." Giagras said slowly. "I felt an… indigestion in the currents of the earth when we travel over the afflicted lands. Such magical events I would not rule out."
"Indeed. I felt much the same, hence my earlier theories. Well. Let us continue inside. The party from Tessia has informed me that an expedition was sent to a recently attacked town up in the western range, and returned with samples of soil and water given to the Tessian Royal Institute for study. As for us, well, the Southern Isles uses it's fall summit to test all students aiming to advance in their studies. In addition to the faculty from the Sudford and Royal Lyceums that help administer the tests, we also have a number of scholars, both retired and those normally occupied with research, who come to ease the burden. I figured we would be wise to make use of their knowledge should we have it available."
"That is all very well, but I do not find my mind totally eased. The Akeirnan court cannot help but find itself wondering if such problems have been allowed to thrive thanks to the draw down in forces across the realms after Brujiea fell." Imenten said, eyeing Chiros.
"An understandable conclusion… from a state with such close ties to it's military. My people tell me they have quite enjoyed not seeing their harvests raided to feed squads of soldiers half a world away. And even then, I recall those soldiers mainly acted in reaction, and did not preempt many of the problems they faced."
"Aah yes, I do seem to remember being on the receiving end of many of the Brujiean state's pet projects across the early days of the Silver Dawn.
The Silver Dawn was the Akeirnan name for the series of uprisings, coups, and small conflicts that eventually culminated in the Brujiean offensive and their subsequent destruction. Riennaia knew. The name came from the first separatist groups to take action. It had also resulted, nearly five years later, in The Southern Isles gaining independence from Eudrial. Riennaia wondered at Imenten's implication.
"A tragedy all around." Said the Duke. "Though I'm not sure what other actions you're implying should have been taken. To allow another power to see all of one's secrets would feel akin to loosing sovereignty all together."
"Oh, of course. But I do think states would benefit from being somewhat more selective in who they deem worthy of carrying the power of the state."
Aah. Thought Riennaia. That's his issue. The duke's decision allowing a number of human apprentices a formal mage's education had been controversial at home. I guess news would spread abroad as well eventually. She thought, resigned.
"The state must also keep a realistic view of how it's people will behave. Chiros parried the jab with practiced calm, likely having fielded this exact argument tens if not hundreds of times before. "A child with the Innate Gift loses neither it, nor his ability to cause harm because the state would object. It is through education, not suppression, that we see to the safety of all.
"You always have been thorough in your reasoning." Imenten said, dropping the argument while making it clear he was still unconvinced.
With that duke Chiros turned and the group made for the main hall, the frosted glass doors already swinging open thanks to the efforts of servants unseen. Riennaia wondered at how her father planned to navigate this particular argument going forward. Many of the human students would be at the keep, taking the tests with their fellows. The two crowds should hopefully be kept somewhat separate, yet accidental, or perhaps deliberate contact would be unavoidable. Her father had certain expectations of all those in his sphere, and she would not put it past him to use confrontation as one of his many test. He's met with all of the human students one on one at some point or another before granting them admittance. Does he know their measure well enough to be sure they would succeed? Would he have invited them if he didn't? Even if the ire of a hostile court would find them at one point or another, did that make it fair to deny a promising student an education on factors so divorced from their capability as a mage. Riennaia was left to ponder as her father dismissed her to complete the report at the end of her watch.
