After the brief battle, the small group returned to the village and spent the night at a cozy inn. There was a large stall for a dragon among the smaller stalls for horses in the inn's stable, and Rex spent the night there with Karla. She used a horse brush she found to give Rex a brushing, mostly as a way to tease him, as he didn't need brushing, having no hair. Rex for his part, enjoyed Karla's playful antics and felt comforted by having her with him in this unfamiliar stable.

The horses that filled the other stalls were fidgety about having a small dragon next door, but as they were much larger than Rex, they didn't see him as a threat. Rex wasn't sure he agreed, the horses smelled odd, and some part of him felt lonely away from the familiar smells of the stable he'd spent every night until now. It was reassuring when Karla curled up next to him, providing warmth and a familiar scent. Rex was able to drift to sleep by resting his head on her arm, and she very generously didn't move him despite the fact that her whole arm was numb by the time they woke up the next day at dawn.

The next day the small group returned to the manor riding a carriage. Rex was forced to trot alongside for the short journey, but that was not a difficult task for him. Much of Blake’s job was simply to spend all morning supervising the daily exercise routine of all the dragons under his care. This is why it was not surprising that as they neared the estate at midday, they encountered one of those dragons being ridden by the stablemaster.

The stablemaster and his ride landed near the carriage and walked alongside. This was a messenger dragon, a different breed of dragon than Rex. Messanger dragons were smaller when compared to a war dragon of the same age, lacked the formidable breath weapon, but they are cheaper to feed, willing to accept some oats and grains along with their meat, and were more docile. They were used mostly because they were willing to allow anyone to ride them, while Rex, a war dragon, was a breed renowned for only allowing their bonded owners to ride them.

Blake mustered a false smile, “Welcome back, young master, how did the hunt go?” he asked, loudly enough that Eric felt obliged to open the carriage window and address the man.

“Well, thank you.” Eric replied, politely. Then feeling the need to add some additional detail as Blake didn’t seem inclined to leave, he added. “Karla leveled up.”

“Oh,” Blake said, his false smile never wavering, “What great news. Perhaps you will allow me to take her back to the stable? I’ve prepared some training for her. A little test to see if the extra level has improved her ability to talk to dragons.”

Karla was not inside the carriage, rather she was seated next to the carriage driver. She had been having a great day until now, but if Eric could have seen her suddenly pale face, he might have come up with some excuse to turn the stablemaster down. “Ok, sure.” Eric said instead.

“Come along, my little stablegirl,” Blake said, still in a cheerful tone, “hop on my dragon.”

Reluctantly, but obediently, Karla hopped off the carriage and then clambered onto the messenger dragon. “Be sure to bring your dragon to the stable after he’s been fed, young master, he looks poorly cared for, all dusty.” throwing a disappointed look at the catgirl to imply this was somehow a terrible failing on her part. “I’ll make sure Karla does her job and cleans him properly.”

Eric nodded, then closed the window as Rex anxiously watched Karla get on the other dragon, taking a spot on the large saddle directly ahead of the stablemaster. Rex said angrily.

Idea inwardly agreed, sharing Rex’s low opinion of the stablemaster, but the AI tried to come up with some reply that would calm Rex. Idea said reassuringly,

Rex asked wryly.

Idea had no reply.

The messenger dragon glanced at the smaller war dragon, and a small shiver passed into Rex’s core. Odd looking dragon, you smell like horse, the other dragon told him. Rex was shocked, and did not react until the dragon had already leapt into the air and left, carrying the stablemaster and catgirl.

Rex said, surprised.

Idea pondered.

Rex said.

Idea said,

Rex complained,

Idea said, reprimanding Rex lightly for his laziness.

Rex shot back.

Idea had no reply. They walked the rest of the way in uncomfortable internal silence.

At the front of the mansion, the two humans and half elf dismounted the carriage. “I guess you can’t answer me now,” Eric lamented, “But you said you wanted to try touching the purified dungeon core?”

Rex nodded, reminding Eric that they still had a limited amount of non verbal signals Rex could use to express himself. “Well come on then,” Eric said, leading the dragon towards the shrine.

It was a well fortified building that was meant to also be a refuge for manor’s inhabitants in case of a major beast incursion. Which is why, upon reaching the heavy iron front door, Rex suddenly found an invisible force preventing him from entering. Idea tried to get a reading on what it was, but could only tell that it was magic of some sort.

“Oh, I forgot,” Leonard admitted apologetically, “The shrine is warded to keep beasts out. Sorry Rex, I sometimes forget you are actually a beast. I’m afraid you will have to wait until we find you an alternative before you can touch a purified dungeon core and see what it can tell you.”

“There’s some PDC that aren’t glued to an altar, we’ll find you one of those,” Eric promised as he led Rex towards the kitchen, where a meal was being prepared for the young dragon.