The celebration was held in a large hall designed to host such events. There was one large chamber for eating and another as a ballroom. Multiple other smaller rooms attached to these two large rooms could be used for more private gatherings. There were even special facilities for guests to relieve themselves in - bathrooms with toilets.

It was also a new building, which surprised Azara. She had known that the king had invested in extravagant projects for the past fifteen years, lavishly spending to create some modicum of beauty within the old and dingy northern city, but she hadn't ever seen the effect of it. Her drive in a carriage through the city had yielded little to her eyes but a fair number of beggars and the sight of a dilapidated cathedral. It was good to see something more beautiful out of the capital of a large kingdom.

Still, the celebration itself was not the sort that Azara liked. Everyone present was dressed nicely, and they were all polite company. It wasn't the show of wealth or the presence of powerful people she didn’t like. She liked that. Rather, it was the constraints that came with it. Acting elegant was fun for just so much time, and the joy that came from the company of rich and noblemen could only last so long. Besides, considering how they used their wealth and power it would probably be better that they did not have it anyway. Of course, as she thought this Azara was simultaneously thinking about how much she'd like to have that wealth herself.

Nevertheless, Azara obliged the fancies of those gathered. She stood straight and walked with grace rather than in a hurried fashion. She kept a regal and respectable presence to herself, and as she entered the main ballroom she stood off to the side to watch the people dancing. As she looked around the room for Valerius, she mentally reviewed all the research she had Elise do on the young prince.

Valerius was the son of the king and the king's second wife. The king's first wife had fallen ill and died. The king had not gotten along well with his second wife, and after some years she had gone with the young prince to live in the province of Souster. She returned to the capital in time but left the prince there with his aunt and uncle. She would also fall to illness afterward, causing some to think the king poisoned her. The prince had been 5th in line to the throne and thus kept apart from the royal family's affairs compared to his brothers. He had been in line to receive very little in the way of titles, lands, or anything else. In recent years that had changed, due to a couple of deaths in the family, and now he was 3rd in line to the throne. Thus, he had become more active in state affairs. This was much to the chagrin of his father.

Worse, a secret about the king's late 2nd wife had come out. Valerius' mother had been part Veyorn. This meant that a royal, rather close in line to the throne when all things were considered, was part of a people who were spurned by most of Ursulam.

Azara thought of the implications of this in regards to the meeting he had arranged with her and the threat in the north. Other than the chance that he wanted her to help him go slay a dragon, a ridiculous notion if not one of the only plausible explanations, what business did he have with that? Even should he go out and slay the creature, what would be the point? Fame and fortune? Unlikely. For the sake of saving lives, nobility, chivalry, and all that? Maybe, but he didn't strike her as the type. Not quite anyways.

She felt a finger tap her shoulder and spun around in surprise. It was not the prince standing there, but rather a young man about her age with short, messy blond hair and blue eyes. His build was lanky. He was dressed as one of the servants attending to the guests, though his clothes were slightly big on him, and he smiled as Azara turned around to face him.

"Prince Valerius would like to see you, follow me," he said, before walking away.

Azara noted that he was much less formal than usual Urusulan servants had been to her, but did as instructed. Soon the servant had found one of the smaller guest rooms in the building. Inside the space was a round table laid out with food and drink, several seats, a bright chandelier hung above them. The Prince sat at the table, a young woman beside him and a large armored bodyguard behind him. He gestured for Azara across form him, as the servant who had escorted her pulled out her chair.

After sitting down, eyeing the bodyguard and the servant, Azara spoke. "Well then, you wished to see me?"

"I told you already didn't I?" the prince replied. "There is a dragon in the north, and that has caused the king to reject your proposals completely. You would prefer him not to do that, yes?"

"Certainly, I would prefer him not to, but...but how has that caused him to reject my proposal? You haven’t explained that part," she asked.

"Father is frightened of rebellion. The kingdom is not doing well financially. He would rather be rid of the Veyorn lands because that is where rebel groups gather and those wastes have never been of use. However, if he let them go it would make him look weak at a crucial time. The rumors of a dragon in the north worsen this problem. You get rid of that, I think he will accept your proposal." he explained.

"Oh, and how are we going to do that? Kill the thing?" she asked, her tone sarcastic, even though she expected that to be his request.

"Of course, what else?" The prince said, eyeing her suspiciously. It was evident he was confused about her sarcasm, and Azara examined him for a moment to make sure he was being serious. Then, she did perhaps the last thing would want to do in the face of royalty.

She laughed.

The laughing wasn't easy to stop either. She couldn't believe it. Elise was right. He was going to ask her to help slay a dragon. This prince was going to ask a foreign ambassador to slay a dragon. Worse, he was going to ask her, the worst being in all of Caelerra to propose the idea to. He had to be crazy. Even if he knew of Azara's prowess in mage craft, a skill taught to her by her Archmage mother, just the nature of her current station would make this sort of proposal ludicrous.

On the prince's part, he was stumped for a moment. It was clear even to Azara that he had no idea what to make of her laughing in his face. It took several minutes of side-clutching, table-beating laughter before she started to get a hold on her self again.

"You can't be serious?" Azara asked as she began to regain her composure."I'm very serious," he replied, his tone flat and stern.

"Do you even know this is a real dragon and not some unsubstantiated rumor?"

He glared. "I was in Issawast a few weeks ago, visiting. I saw it soar through the sky over the city with my own eyes. I'm the one who even brought the knowledge of its confirmed existence back to this capital, ambassador. I would also appreciate a little more respect from you."

Now Azara was all ears, but she was still smiling in glee. She just couldn’t help it. This was all too ridiculous. This Prince was an idiot, and she kind of liked that. It was amusing.

"I've brought together some people who are good fighters, I shall soon have a method of tracking the monster - if it doesn't just show up in a major city and destroy the place, and I am prepared to do my part in all this - but there is a problem."

"What is that?"

"I've studied how dragons have been killed in the past and prepared accordingly, but the only person knowledgeable in magic I could find, and who I could trust, is not experienced. I'm worried they won't be enough, at all."

This explanation caused some things to make more sense. However, it also made Azara feel some pity. He was pathetic. This prince was trying to turn himself into a dragon slayer of sorts. Yet it was clear he had no idea what he was dealing with, at all.

"Well, how do I factor into this? You don't intend to ask me to join you in this pursuit do you?"

Prince Valerius was taken aback by the suggestion. "Of course not! Why would I ask that? You’re a foreign diplomat, not a mercenary!"

“Oh, really?” she replied and felt just a bit disappointed. So that hadn’t been the reason he’d asked to meet with her.

"I'm well aware that the request would not be likely to succeed. I'm just offering you a chance to continue your stay here for a while and train our mage until she is ready to face this beast. Afterward, we can go about dealing with this monster. Then, I will advocate for you and mention your part in slaying the beast, and perhaps arrange something with my father regarding your demands. I'm well aware that you are a member of the Ignis Evigan, and daughter of one of the greatest masters of magecraft in our time, Ezmeralda Elefthera. I also know you’ve been trained by her well. I'm certain you'd be able to teach our mage many things about the use of magic in combat, and I assure you she is eager to learn"

Azara realized as he was talking that the girl sitting with them at the table was likely the mage he was talking about. This girl had light olive skin, bright green eyes, and brown hair. She was a Veyorn, almost for certain, which Azara could tell from her eyes. It was not rare to find blue eyes or blonde hair in the north, but colors aside from brown and blue were rare. The Veyorn however, were almost always darker-haired and possessed bright eyes of strange colors and hues.

Therefore, this girl was someone from the very lands that Azara was trying to barter off of Ursulam to Aruslan. She seemed like the kind sort. Azara had noted that the girl suppressed a snicker when Azara first laughed. Yet despite this, she wore a thin circlet around her head, with a small eight-pointed silver star attached to it in the middle of her forehead. That meant she was a Starlit, also known as a Lumarin. She was also rather devout to be marking herself with a symbol of it in a land that did not appreciate followers of Lumira - the god of light - and its angels, the stars. Azara wondered if she would see how crazy the prince's plan was.

"Is this her?" Azara asked, pointing to the girl.

Not waiting for the prince to respond she nodded and smiled.

"Yes, my name is Irinia Koronen, though I am also known as 'Moss'. It is a pleasure to meet you Azara."

It was an odd way for someone to introduce themselves, but Azara recognized it. She was surprised that Irinia was even willing to be so open about her heritage.

"It is a pleasure to meet you Irinia. I am Azara Elefthera, though I am also known by the name of Dusk," she said.

Irinia's eyes lit up and she smiled. "A ceremonial name?! A Veyorn name?"

The prince also seemed surprised, looking at Azara in confusion. "I'm sorry but...but are you one of the Veyorn? I didn't think that any other people introduced themselves in that manner."

She shook her head. "Not directly. However, my mother, Ezmeralda, is half Veyorn. Thus, she gave my sister, my brother, and I, ceremonial names like the Veyorn do, names out of nature."

"Then I apologize." The prince continued. "I introduced myself as Valerius, however, I am Prince Valerius son of Orvaar Flamebreather, also known by River. I was given this name by my mother, one of the Veyorn people herself."

So, as Azara had suspected, he had been quite connected to his mother. Some things were starting to make sense. There was probably more to Valerius contacting her than just the issue of a dragon and some wild escapade. This likely had to do with her mission to Ursulam in the first place, and the Veyorn people as a whole. Perhaps he simply didn't trust her yet and was waiting to explain himself further. What did he have to gain by killing a dragon, and by letting most of the Veyorn lands fall into Arussan and potentially Aerician hands?

"So then, we are a meeting of similar peoples here, even if I have a lot less of the Veyorn blood in my veins," Azara said.

“I suppose so,” Valerius replied. “And, that does explain some things, like those strange eyes of yours. Golden. I’ve never seen a color like that, even among Veyorn. It is beautiful.”

Azara smiled, and though she was careful not to let it influence her, she soaked in the flattery for a moment.

“You won’t find them anywhere else,” she said, and winked at him, before getting back to the topic at hand. “So, before I consider anything else about this...farfetched scheme, I have to ask a bit about you. What do you think of this plan? How experienced are you with magic Irinia?"

Irinia looked up at the ceiling for a second, thinking for a moment before speaking. Her tone was cheerful when she answered. "Well, to be honest, I've been a friend of Valerius for many years now, and so helping him out with this isn't really in question. So I’m not too worried about the plan. As to my magical experience, well...I will be honest I have little formal training. A shaman in my family taught me some things, and I tried to get formal training in Aericia, by joining the Magi of Lumira actually, but they wouldn't have me."

Azara was somewhat shocked by this revelation. The Magi had never been friends to the Veyorn, and during the Aerician invasion of Ursulam many years prior the Magi had been responsible for several atrocities against the Veyorn. The two people followed the same religion, but the Veyorn practiced it in a way considered heretical to the Magi. Thus, they had been treated even worse than the average Ursulan. "You tried to join the Magi? The very people that took so many Veyorn lives?"

"Yes," she said and directed her gaze away from Azara in shame. " The lack of formal training here, and my inability to go to the university of Aethera, which has formal magic instruction - unlike any of our schools - left it as my only offer. They wouldn't accept me though, because..."

"Because you are a Veyorn Lumiran, and they find your beliefs heretical," Azara said, stating the obvious, and yet felt a tinge of regret as the girl's expression fell. She felt bad for her. Azara was lucky in her raising. In a world often prejudiced against magic, those with an affinity towards it were often left without proper nurturing - leaving their gifts unable to be accessed.

Irinia began again, trying to explain herself. "I don't know why they had to be so - I mean we both follow the teachings of light, we both worship the stars as Lumira’s angels and messengers. I thought that maybe-"

"I know that seems bad." the prince interjected, "but I promise you she is very skilled. You will find she can learn anything you can teach her. She already knows Veyorn, Ursulan, and Aerician as languages. She has read countless tombs on the subject and practiced a great deal. I'm sure she can pick up what you could teach her."

"Well, I'd rather have her say that than you," Azara replied. He may have been royalty, but that didn't give him a right to speak on subjects of magic, much less for Irinia. There was more to it than just intelligence too, and he clearly didn't understand that. "So, Irinia, what can you do and what do you know? Do you know how to access magic, have you ever used magic, do you have a consecration seal, etcetera?"

"Yes, yes, no," she responded succinctly.

"Alright then," Azara said. It was a good sign that the girl had been able to answer those questions so easily. She then took her necklace off and gave it to Irinia. "What do you make of this."

She took it and held it in both hands for a moment. After a bit, she closed her eyes and focused. Her mouth opened in awe and surprise, and then she spoke after a few moments. "Well...it is enchanted."

"How so, what does it do?"

"I don't know," Irinia said, looking puzzled. "I can feel the magic, but I don't see how that would tell me what it is doing."

Azara's heart sank. This was terrible. Irinia possessed magical affinities, but if she couldn't tell what a trinket like that was worth, what it could do, she was very behind in her practice of magic. Granted, encountering magical artifacts that were enchanted was rare - even some experienced mages would never even get the chance to hold one in their life, much less possess one, but they would still be able to analyze it and know what it did if given the chance. Even with training for some time, Irinia would stand no chance against a dragon, Azara knew that all too well. If she was going to follow Valerius to the ends of the earth, she was going to die, and that would be a shame. Azara was already a little fond of her. She was a little fond of Valerius too, for that matter. He was an idiot, but a handsome idiot with good intentions.

"Valerius, are you set upon this adventure?" Azara asked.

"Yes," he replied, serious again. His ‘serious’ seemed just a bit like an act to Azara. It was like he was trying too hard and being too brooding.

"How long then, considering time is not a luxury, do you intend for me to train Irinia?

"A month, maybe two if you need the time. Does that suffice? The dragon has shown no signs of attacking any large settlements. The last time it attacked anyone was two months ago, but it has not shown its face very often since. It appears and then flies away."

Azara wanted to laugh yet again, but she knew it wasn't appropriate These people were truly naive. It was both sad and endearing.

"No, it could never be done. She is too inexperienced, I'm sorry. I can't let someone go to their death with a month of my training as their hope."

He shook his head. "I cannot take that as an answer, we will be undertaking this regardless of whether you help us or not. You aren't going to be helping any of us by not agreeing to this."

"Why would you want to do this anyway? What do you stand to gain? Furthermore, how are you going to even track this dragon? It can fly great distances in a single day, lay waste to towns and then leave. What are you getting out of this?" The interrogating tone she used punctuated her frustration with the incompetent and ambitious young man but also concealed that she was a bit partial to his side of things. Who didn't like the idea of a quest such as this?

As the line of questioning became intense the prince interrupted. "This is my business, not yours."

"I demand an answer from you, or are you going to let someone innocent like this, a friend of yours, die on some ridiculous quest, you foolish little prince," she said firmly, standing from her seat.

"Little prince? What is that supposed to mean?" the prince said, confused, before turning to the two men behind him. "Kasper, Joakim."

The young servant behind Azara drew a dagger, and the large bodyguard behind him put his hand upon the mace at his side. The prince then continued.

"Don't mistake your place, ambassador. Calm down."

Azara's face became grave and she frowned. Then the room became very warm. It was hot like a fire had engulfed the walls.

"You speak to me now, not as an ambassador, but rather as a mage and member of the Ignis Evigan. It would not be wise to hurt me in either capacity. Either of your little goons makes a move and I can flash roast you all. Without lifting a finger."

Valerius looked over to Irinia, who was quite shocked by the whole ordeal. Her eyes were wide and she looked terrified. He spoke to her, inquiring. "How much danger are we in exactly."

Irinia shook her head. "Valerius that was very unnecessary...and I'd listen to her. As she said I'm not very experienced but...but I can feel the energy in the air right now. Stars help us, it is overwhelming. What is this?"

Without waiting for the prince's response, the young man behind Azara sheathed his dagger, and the large bodyguard also took his hand from his mace. The fact that they had not waited for a command, but trusted Irinia's word, told Azara something.

"So these are the people you've assembled to do this, isn't it? These two are friends of yours, aren't they? What is this some sort of childhood get together?"

The prince sighed, then glared at all three of his companions, before he finally glared at Azara. After a moment of stubborn refusal, he nodded.

"Yes, I a sense it is. The man in armor is Joakim and behind you is Kasper. They are two good friends I've had for some time, and skilled individuals, who have agreed to help me."

"Then on their lives and yours, I would like to know what you are doing this for. It can't be just I who is benefiting. Are you perhaps trying to lift the Veyorn out of misery and oppression that has been suffered so long?"

Valerius shrugged. "I suppose it cannot hurt to say, though some outside this room would consider it too ambitious and even treacherous in its implications...The Veyorn deserve more than what they've been given. For that matter this kingdom does. With the death of my two brothers, I have more prominence within the family and this country than I used to. If Aruslan can claim the piece of the Veyorn lands you wish, at least then they will not be neglected to bandit raids. My father has been accepting bribes from those bandits to allow them to do their evils with impunity. I know your mother enough to know at least this much is true - she cares for those under her. I had never known she was of Veyorn ancestry till my father mentioned it and you confirmed it, but this assures me all the more that she would be more suited to rule all those lands south of the river Mirth. As for me, I was hoping that, considering my place in the line of succession, that if I could slay this dragon I could demand compensation in the form of the governorship of the remaining Veyorn lands - and possibly give them a degree of independence from Ursulam they have not had in the past. I already stand as the Earl of Souster. I want to have power enough to challenge some of the policies of my father, to keep in check the bandits on the Aerician border, and so on."

"In other words, you want to gain enough favor with the people to tip the balance of power in this country from the throne to your hands. Are you sure you aren't organizing a challenge for the crown, a veritable coup? Even if the people and commoners supported you as a hero, none of the nobles of the court would like one person controlling the Souster and the Veyorn territories, much less your two remaining brothers of the king. I mean, by the stars, your father has been quite the tyrant in his time - taxing the people for his spending, it wouldn't be hard to gain enough support from commoners to overthrow him even without being a hero and slaying a dragon."

Valerius eyed Azara with suspicion and then shook his head.

"I'd rather you not speak of such things Azara. Now - will you train Irinia or not? This is the final time I'm asking this question."

"These are friends of yours, not operatives or agents. Friends aren't the best to accomplish things you need skill in, they are people you need to accomplish things that you need trust in." Azara said. She shook her head and smiled. It amused her that when she had arrived she had thought Valerius was going to ask her this, and now, she was offering it.

"No, I will do more than train her. I want to come with you." she declared.