A few minutes later there was a massive crowd gathered around the dragon, as well as a bunch of other dragons, their pilots, and some of their crews who had all come out to see the most unlikely dragon bonding in recent memory.

Sally Marshall stood there, glaring at us, her hand on her hips and the odd leak of flashing energy causing her hair to frizzle as she fought her temper.

“I told you to keep an eye on her! What the heck am I going to do with a dragon?! You have any idea just how big a dragon gets? How much they eat?! It’s not like that pet cloud cat she picked up last year, I can’t very well tell her to just train the dragon to hunt skeebats! The woman shrieked.

Gina was laughing and bouncing on the young dragon’s head as it turned its snout around in an odd contortion, still keening at her and occasionally licking it’s long forked tongue while letting out excited snorts of steam. Her father was there next to her looking at the girl’s newest companion with a dazed expression of shock. I had always wondered what it would take to surprise that old sweat. I supposed I had found something that finally did the trick.

“Well we can’t take her with us Sal!” I cried gesturing to the dragon, then to my own Sweetwind and miming claustrophobia. The dragon, could possibly fit if it curled around the mainmast, but it’s weight would be ruinous for the craft’s flight characteristics, speed and efficiency. I shuddered to even contemplate the power consumption.

Tony’s twin sister glared at her brother in grim accusation and gave a sigh followed by a hysterical laugh that ended with a sob. “Why… just why…I just wanted her to get out from underfoot for a bit! All I wanted was for my stupid brother to keep an eye on her for us and stay out of trouble!”

Rolling my eyes, I mentally congratulated myself for nailing the real motivation of Sally’s sudden need to inflict her daughter on us. It had been spot on. I swear, when I looked closely I could see there were a few early strands of grey in her hair, at least what hadn’t been frizzled and split by angry power surges.

“The Argos is the largest ship in the family! Unless you want to leave her at the academy for training you’re going to have to look after your own daughter!” I snarled and I blanched as I saw how pale and drained my cousin looked. She gave me a look of deep pleading and I rubbed my eyes.

“I can’t haul that stupid dragon around! I wouldn’t be able to take any cargo, or at least nothing worth mentioning! And I’m trying to build a crew!” My bellows of pure rage at her expectations on me drew a few stares. There was a polite cough next to us and I glanced over a very disapproving glare from the Academy Aeronautica’s Comandante who had snuck up on the lot of us.

“Ah I do have to interrupt for a second here, but I must interject. We have a treaty with the dragon clan that young Kantar is from. I’m afraid that the concept of a sky folk Dracon never occurred to them, and you would have to sit down and negotiate any changes to our agreement first, or they may just take their young hatching back with them along with your daughter to their holdings in the Hattrack expanse.”

I saw all the color drain from Sally’s face and my own blood froze at the thought. I hadn’t even considered the implications this odd occurrence had on the dragon clan’s treaty.

We all turned to see the very annoyed sun dragon patriarch staring all of us down with a look that promised nothing good. My heart nearly stopped and I felt dizzy with horror as I considered just what it would mean to piss off a dragon that was one of the oldest and largest sun dragons that I’d ever laid eyes on.

Sally squeaked and I saw her own look of complete and abject terror in her eyes as eyes the size of dinner plates stared intently at her directly deeply set in a head that was so massive, it could easily bite the entire bow off of Sweetwind in one gigantic snap of it’s jaws.

We all winced as the dragon’s mind voice drove us to our knees. Gina let out a shriek and hugged her new friend tightly, pain etched across her features.

In my entire life I had never actually heard a dragon speak, as it was so rare for anyone without the right ability to actually talk to a dragon, and only the eldest of dragons had developed enough ability to talk with anyone they wanted.

I tried to pull my shattered mental barriers back together, but the dragon just sniffed at all of us with abject contempt before I felt it try to reduce the power of its projections after seeing the effects it had on every soul around us. Only the strange novice from the great library of sorrows seemed completely unfazed. She grinned up at the dragon and put her hands on her hips and the two exchanged a silent conversation. As they conversed, the girl was shaking an admonishing finger at the dragon.

“Is she scolding a dragon the size of a warship?” Allister Roark asked, rubbing his temple and coming to stand by his wife, helping Sally up with one strong arm.

Watching the heated exchange and the expressions flickering between the two, I had to agree with the man’s assessment. It really did seem the case.

At the end of the exchange I saw a snort of wry amusement cross the dragon patriarch’s horrific muzzle followed by a blast of mirth as it fixed its gaze upon Amka. The steamy, smoking cloud washed over us all and I realized that the dragon was laughing.

Amka’s own dragon seemed to be trying to do the draconic equivalent of a face palm as it shuddered with snorts of laughter as well.

I looked at the mischievous and happy expression on Amka’s round face, her eyes danced in triumph as she giggled and turned to me.

“They all the same… so very grumpy.” She giggled and it was a bit odd as she was the only one laughing. We were all staring at her with a mix of awe and barely concealed panic.

Neil was standing next to me and shaking his head. “So, it’s not going to eat us?” He asked and got a look of frustrated consternation from Amka who rolled her eyes at him.

“Despite what you may have heard traveler, we do not taste good with ketchup. Too stringy, or at least that’s what I’ve heard them say.”

She laughed at Neil’s expression and I had to grin at the good-natured novice and wonder just what it was like to actually be able to converse so openly and casually with something that made me want to pee my pants every time it looked at me cross-eyed.

“They tried to eat someone with ketchup?!” I heard Gina pipe up and she walked over to hug her mother. Her new dragon nearly bowed the both of them over with its snout before the girl gave it some attention to distract it, scratching just under its muzzle. It cooed, then snorted at her, right before Gina made the mistake of tweaking a nostril.

The dragon seemed to scrunch up it’s nostrils, sucking in a bit of air, shuddering. When I saw Amka dive to the ground I followed her, Neil landing in the grass beside me right before it gave a massive sneeze showering everyone with steam and dragon snot.

“Yep… best not to do that around the nostrils, they are sensitive there.” Amka chided the girl and I saw Sally, Allister and a very surprised Gina all with identical looks of shock that rapidly resolved into disgust as they flicked heavy mucus off in giant globs.

Neil burst out laughing for one of the very first times I had actually seen my typically somber apprentice laugh at anything as he pointed at Gina, then stood up and fished around in his flight jacket to hand the girl a large rag.

Gina let out a peal of laughter even as the grease from the rag left spots around her face as she tried to soak up the mucus, beaming at her dragon as if it had performed the best prank ever. I looked at the pair and a deep feeling of foreboding entered my mind as I realized just what sort of mischief that this little brat could get up to with a monster like that at her side. I exchanged a knowing look of horror with Tony as he pulled off his goggles, and tried to clean them with perhaps the only dry spot he could find on his clothing.

It looked like most of the crowd had escaped the blast radius of the sneeze, including the venerable Comandante of the Academy Areonautica who must have also known what was coming, his face peaking out from behind one of the other dragons he had dived for cover behind.

He shook his head and rubbed his eyes as he smirked. “Just be glad it is not an adult dragon…” He gave a shudder as if from past experience and cocked his head, studying the Gina and the dragon.

“I remember my first time too…” He sighed and gave a wry chuckle. I looked at the man, whom I had been introduced to so many years ago and realized that he was talking about his own famous dragon that had fallen in battle nearly fifty years ago. He seemed lost in the memory for a bit before he crouched down to look at Gina closely.

“Young lady, this is a grave responsibility you have stumbled into. Do you understand what it means to be a Dracon? You will have to teach and guide Kantar. He is not your pet, or just a lifelong companion. He will learn from you child, and grow along with you.” He said solemnly, making sure that the girl’s attention was fixed directly on him as he spoke.

The girl considered his words for a moment, then nodded as some of what had just happened was slowly starting to sink in.

“Are they going to take me away? I’ve heard stories, is it true?” She said, her own eyes wide with fear as she looked between all her family members and then at her dragon.

“They may and they will if their terms are not met. I know Saranska very well. The honored patriarch is shrewd and discerning. This is no wild dragon foisting her brood off on humans to be shown the art of war, she is well educated and has had generations of Dracon serve her over the years. For the last century she has led her clan with both wisdom and honor.”

The Commandant’s words seemed to sober the normally freckless girl. “Am I going to have to attend the academy now?” She stammered, and I was disappointed in the girl when I saw the familiar look of distain most sky folk shared when considering anything about the academy. As much as I hated the academy, I wasn’t sure I’d turn the man down myself.

The wizened old man shrugged and gave her a fixed smile. “I did not study with my Falanaka at the academy. I was found by a wild dragon when I was your age. She was much older than young Kantar here, like you, our paths crossed by mere chance.”

When he saw her piqued interest, he continued.

“What you may learn here is something that I never had and it costed us dearly as we fought to survive on our own. I doubt I would be here if not for Falanaka’s own fighting prowess, even for a dragon that had never had a rider before… she was formable. There are many dangers for a young dragon abroad. That is why Saranska will take you to live with her clan until she is satisfied you are ready. That is if you do not choose to stay with us, at least until Kantar is a little bit stronger. Even so, you will both be tested with the trials of her clan before she will be satisfied.”

Frowning I gazed across the field at the old patriarch dragon and saw that she had slunk back to rest in the shade of the massive hanger across the field, her massive eyes still narrowed as she stared as if in warning and wariness at our conversation.

“What sorta stuff they gonna test me on?” She said, her eyes lighting up with a slightly bloodthirsty gleam. I shook myself, and considered that this little girl had grown up on what was for all intents, a combat vessel. It wasn’t for nothing that Uncle Rorark had the best troubleshooting vessel in our family.

It was likely the girl was already an accomplished battle magi, even the young on such ships were taught how to fight and defend themselves. The man grinned at the girl’s attitude with a toothy smile then looked at her father’s icy expression. You only had to glance into the hanger behind us to see the scars of a recent battle that was being patched up as the Argos sat like an old warhorse. Aboard her was one of the toughest and most savage crews I had ever laid eyes on.

There was a reason the girl was such a handful, and behaved as she did. I wondered if her dragon knew what he had gotten himself into when selecting the girl. The more I thought about it, the more I wondered if that was exactly why the dragon had chosen as he had.

Turning away to let the two speak, I pulled Neil along as I left the Roarks to settle their own matters, and walked back to the hanger to make sure Cid wasn’t taking notes about dragons rather than working on my ship.

Natasha called down to us as she slid off the mainmast, her spyglass clinking into a pocket. “That was something else! Who’s the lucky girl?” She asked and motioned for her to follow me as I pulled myself up into the refractory to watch Cid work. I wasn’t sure if he had even noticed anything, so fascinated he was with the chance to work on Sweetwind’s systems.

“Trouble…” I muttered to Natasha when she continued to pest me for Gina’s name.

“Wait… she isn’t from the academy?” She cried as she gripped her little communication crystal, no doubt attuning herself with a gossip network I was coming to respect, made up of her former classmates and other students of the academy.

“Nope, she’s a cousin of mine.” I affirmed and the look of confusion on Natasha’s face was comical.

“I didn’t even know that was possible.” Natasha muttered at me and I shrugged. I hadn’t known any of my family were dragon sensitive until today, but I did look a bit askance at Natasha’s comment.

“You know I’m not the biggest fan of the academy, so I’ll be the first to point out that there are over fifty known species of dragon, on Prime alone and they inhabit almost every part of the world. It’s not like the academy has a monopoly on pilots or anything.”

Natasha gave a forlorn look, and then a bit of a chuckle. “Well I suppose, it’s just that I thought that sky folk were just airship pilots and the like.” I laughed and shook my head.

“I need to show you Swapper’s Needle sometime. In actuality sky folk are a bit thin in number around these parts ever since the Yamania civil war. No, there are a lot of different types of flyers within our ranks, and more than a few dragons. Although, I’ll admit I can’t recall there being any Dracon in the last couple of generations of our family.”

“Swappers Needle?” Natasha asked and I nodded.

“It’s a… unique location that is pretty much only accessible by air. A titanic spire that tends to wander between several locations. Some sort of pre-cataclysm artifact that has a mind of its own, or so I’ve noticed from our visits. It’s one of the very few places you will find sky folk who manage to live anywhere near the ground. All of us can instinctively feel where it is, at any given time.”

I cast my mind out for the needle and smiled. It actually wasn’t too far away, considering it normally preferred to haunt the great northern oceans. About 400 miles northwest or so from where I was standing.

The rather… unique place didn’t get its name from the fact it was a titanic spire of rock, but because if the sky folk have a center to their culture and lives, the needle was where the heart of us all resided. Every family had a vault on the needle and we were all bloodbound to defend it in times of need.

Not that it was very easy to attack considering that everyone lived near the top of the needle, and the damm thing towered thousands of feet above see level, and was… difficult to climb. You almost had to attack from air and, then you would have to cope with both the ire of the needle itself, and the best fliers in Endaria not to mention the layers of wards that successive generations of Sky Folk had laid into the structure. The thing had so much power coursing through it, that it was sentient, with a very capricious will of its own.

“Only thing I’ve heard about it that it’s a nest of sky pirates.” She muttered, causing me to laugh again and nod my head.

“Well not all of the folk are merchants or sky farmers, we are more often than not mercenaries or privateers. Outright piracy though will get you outcast and branded with the mark of dishonor.” I explained and she sighed and apologized.

“I did not mean to disparage your kin, accept my apology Captain Marshall.” I nodded and smiled at her. She couldn’t help growing up on stories of the sky folk. I knew that more often than not the stories that spread were the more infamous ones, and that was the way with all things. It didn’t take more than a few bad apples to muck a reputation up.

“Ah I do know how it be so don’t apologize. I’ll be the first to admit there is good reason to be wary when I meet another of the folk. We don’t all get along you know.” I shuddered at some of the age-old feuds and a few of the rogue families I had the misfortune of stumbling into over the years.

“I’ll be stopping by the needle on my way north, its actually closer than normal for the time being.” I explained and she gave me a quizzical look.

“It’s the only place where we store our lore, and I need to get something from our family vault.” I explained and Cid looked up from his work in distinct interest at the mention. Brushing himself off, he gave me a fanatical look.

“Viss zit true? Vut they says on the needle’s construction yes?” I nodded and his feline eyes flashed in wonder as his tail twitched.

“Yes, each block fits together nearly seamlessly. The interior of the needle has some… very odd properties.” My stomach twisted at just the thought of making the change over at the eye.

Neil perked up when I started to describe how the needle twisted gravity around the walls of the inside, and he asked a few very specific questions.

“Do the buildings curve around the inside? And build out of the walls towards the central part of a circle? He drew a finger around the air in a circle and I nodded.

His eyes lit up as if in sudden understanding, and then, not long afterwards he vanished back to his world. Startling us as his body dissolved into green motes of light.

“I am never going to get used to him doing that.” Natasha grumped as she handed Cid a tool as he worked.

I turned my thoughts away from travelers, and we worked the morning away. We completed the repairs and refurbishment work to Sweetwind shortly before the noon day bell sounded from the Bagliona chrono tower.

Neil returned and pestered me with endless questions about Swapper’s Needle as I tried to describe it as best I could.

“It really does sound like a spacehab…” He muttered and I looked questionably at him as we walked across the aerodrome field. My intention was to go into town today and find a buyer for the wyvern stuff, and secure a few more storage crystals for our power bank. There was also a myriad of other things I needed to replace on Sweetwind. Over the past few days I had written up a long list of parts and equipment that I knew I could find on my own, rather than incur the added expense of having Costas track them down for me with his runners.

Tony was still distracted, sitting in on the negations that were going on between the dragons and his family when I checked in on him before I left. I made sure that both of us had weapons with us and a fully stocked battle harness. There were no illusions to be had about the very real possibility that a bounty had been placed on my head.

My head was beginning to pound as Neil was trying to describe what he thought Swapper’s Needle was and I asked him to stop, his eyes going wide as he saw my state and he winced.

“The great seal, really that powerful?” He asked and I nodded.

“What is the great seal anyways? It’s like it prevents me from trying to describe anything from my world to you, among many other things.” I groaned and clutched my throbbing head.

“It’s part of the fabric of Endaria, you could say that everything is the great seal. It is bound into the fabric of all power everywhere. It is not just in what we say or do, but in every aspect of all things.” I tried to quote what my own grandfather had told me of the seal when I had asked him.

Remembering the rhyme, I had been taught as a child, I recited it to him.

“One to bind us, one to blind us, all to seal us and Endaria keep us.” I said, and my skull pulsed in time to the words as I winced.

“I’ve heard that truth stones are made by using the great seal to compel the truth.” He said and I nodded. Picking up a small pebble from the side of the road as we walked, I explained.

“The great seal has many direct applications. Truth is only one aspect, you can also use your own blood to bind yourself to an oath or others. The blood has to be given willingly and in good faith. The gods themselves are the only ones that can resist the power of the seal.”

He looked at me in wonder for a minute then hit his head with one palm. “I’m so freaking stupid… my respawn point! You have an altar, right?” Neil grinned like a lunatic and I nodded, wondering what he was talking about.

“Yes, I have a consecrated altar aboard Sweetwind It is primarily dedicated to my patron, Zeus but I do honor the other winds with it.” I couldn’t see where this was going.

Directly outside the wall around the aerodrome, there was an expansive market dedicated to the needs of the flyers, both from the academy and the messenger’s guild. I made sure to stay on the main street, and keep my personal shield strong as I scanned the crowd and walked towards a massive wreck of a crashed airship centuries old. It had been remodeled into a large store that everyone in Bagliona who considered themselves a true flyer frequented.

I could feel the powerful wards envelope me as we walked under the ornate sign and entered the Wandering Spirit. I gazed around for the proprietor and spotted the little gnome arguing with another flyer over an enchanted set of boots.

Both looked up as I walked in and I recognized the flyer, my eyes narrowing. “As I live and breathe the sky, if it isn’t the Rusalka!” I said, and the mercenary woman grinned at me and fingered one of her throwing knives as she shot me a nasty expression. Rus was one of the most infamous characters I had ever had the misfortune to run into, and was also one of my childhood friends.

“Why Becky, good to see you again.” She said and I flinched as I rubbed the side of my shoulder where I still had a scar from our last encounter. She grinned manically at the reflex as she sized up my apprentice when he stepped from behind me to see why I had frozen in my tracks.