Radio communication log:

Rex: Eric, I am sending to you, I found a way to let me hear what you are saying for the next day. Karla and I are safe for now, we just found a cave to take a rest. She can hear us both, and I am sending your voice to her as well. Um, call it a three way sending. Anyways, we wanted to ask, what do you think we should do now?>

Eric: Thank the gods you are safe, can you hear me?>

Rex: Yes we can hear you.>

Karla: I can hear you too!>

Rex: That’s what I meant by we.>

Karla: Oh, I thought you meant…>

Idea, interrupting using Rex’s voice: Should we head back to the duke’s manor, or should we keep running west towards the Republic?>

Eric: This is amazing, I’ve never heard of a three way sending before. Karla, I’m so glad I can hear your voice. Please, tell me what happened with Blake.>

Karla, upset: I don’t know why he died, it wasn’t me! I was trying to rescue Rex, and this scary lady gave me a knife, woke up Blake, then left. When Blake tried to whip me, I stabbed him. But it was just a shallow wound! He started gasping a bit, but I just ran past him and got the collar off Rex. I didn’t kill Blake, you have to believe me!>

Idea, still pretending to be Rex: The knife was poisoned. That same knife was used on me when they captured me. I used my magic to cure it, it was a strong paralysis poison. I think that poison made Blake suffocate.>

Rex speaking right after Idea finished speaking:

Karla, in horrified tones: Everyone thinks it was me that killed him though!>

Eric: I’m afraid so, but I think Rex is right, he deserved it. I don’t blame you for it at all.>

Idea: There were lots of witnesses. A lot of caravan guards watched that fight.>

Eric, with a sigh: Yeah. It’s a problem. I know you guys don’t understand politics, but the Merchant’s Guild is very powerful. They handle the slave trade as well as caravans and when the caravan master gets to the next city he’s going to report that one of the people traveling in his caravan was killed by an escaped slave. They’ll be after you. The Merchant’s Guild takes this sort of thing very seriously and the fact that you didn’t know the dagger was poisoned won’t change their minds about wanting to catch you and punish you. My father won’t try to protect you from them. If you go back to the manor, he’ll turn you in as soon as they come asking for you.>

Karla: So what should I do? Is there no way we can ever be together again?!>

Eric: It could still happen, but it won’t be easy. First you need to run away to the Republic. The Republic is the sworn enemy of the slave trade, and they offer amnesty to escaped slaves that killed their owners while trying to escape. They’ll give you an amnesty too if you become a citizen. Then over the next three years you need to make a name for yourself. Earn a recommendation to the academy. The academy is on neutral grounds, part of the Dragon Wilds, many nations send their dragon riders to be trained there. If you are a representative of the Republic, the Merchant’s Guild won’t be able to claim you. We can be together again there.>

Karla: But what about Rex? Don’t you need him to be your dragon?>

Eric, hesitantly: I would like to have Rex as my dragon, sure, but you need him more. The two of you need to be together in order to be able to get a recommendation to the academy.>

Karla: But what will you do?>

Eric: I’ll get a new dragon, it only takes a dragon two years to grow big enough to fly, so I still have enough time.>

Rex: I feel a bit jealous. Are you sure though? Doesn’t feel fair, aren’t you basically giving Karla your dragon?>

Eric, laughing: Am I? Feels more like I’m just accepting the fact that Karla needs you more than I do. Rex, as soon as I realized you are your own person, I had to accept that you might choose to leave me some day. My father and I already talked about that, it’s strange, because he’s part of the slavery faction, but he said, "It doesn’t feel right to try to make a smart dragon a slave." You were always free to go, Rex. I’m only sorry that Karla was the one that was forced to run away as a fugitive. If I could have given her her freedom, I would have.>

Karla, tearfully: I didn’t want to be free, I wanted to be with you and be free to serve you as a free woman.>

Eric: Make a name for yourself in the Republic, we’ll meet again in three years, as equals. Both of us students at the academy. From there, well, we’ll figure out a way for you to become my vassal if that’s what you really want, but it will be your choice, not because my father owns you.>

Karla: I will! We’ll get that recommendation! We’ll see you again, in three years!>

Eric: One last thing though, that caravan you escaped from? It was heading to the port city that handles most of the trade with the Republic. I am not sure, and I will try to get more information out of Rueban, but I think he was planning to take you to the Republic.>

Rex: Why would he take Karla to the Republic? Aren’t slaves illegal there?>

Eric: He may have planned to get rid of Karla, or sell her first. Rex, you are the one they are really after. I think, whomever Rueban was trying to sell Rex to, lives in the Republic. The two of you don’t have much choice about where to run to, but you need to be careful. They might try to steal Rex again, and they won’t hesitate to kill one catgirl to do it.>