“Sure, there are some who would say that preparing before a trip takes some of the magic out of it, but personally? I’d rather have things be prepared and planned, rather than potentially missing my godson’s second wedding for example.” - Celeysria Ambervale, the Blood Demon of Al-Shan, circa 679 FP

After a peaceful winter spent on rest and relaxation with family, Cal finally embarked on the last leg of her trip on the first day of spring. She left early this time, since she planned to be in Al-Shan by late autumn for Xain’s second wedding. With both her godson and her disciple being the groom and bride, there was no way she would miss the occasion.

Her group was mostly the same as the previous year, though this time Fyodor had not joined them, and neither had Martha and Vernon. It was just her, her students and nieces, Dan, Kino, as well as Kyara and Ashani for the trip. Leila joined them once more this time, as had the rest of her family, as both Vark and Krystal were quite curious of the Western Isles.

Ilena, now seven years of age and already quite clever, followed along her parents as she rode on Ida, while Leila did the same on Lumi’s back, the two sisters quite a sight to see as they rode their respective animal companions towards the gate hub.

While most of the gates were too small to accommodate a beast of Lumi’s size, in the recent years a few of them had been enlarged by nations that desired more trade. The gates towards the Great Emerald Forest, the Kingdom Down Under, and the Lichdom were already large enough to fit in whole wagons since their creation, something others had only recently followed.

The culprit was the newest gate which led to Al-Shan, built to the larger specifications from the start as Xain had immediately smelled the profits to be reaped behind trades through the teleportation gates, even with the high fees considered. Their resultant newfound prosperity had lured other nations to similarly “upgrade” their gates, and of late the Union, the Elmaiya Empire, and the Caliphate had enlarged their gates. Talks were on the way with the Jarldom regarding a similar upgrade.

As for Knallzog and the Northern Plains, they were situated close enough to Paradise that it was simply cheaper to conduct larger scale trade by wagons instead, so they had only built smaller gates. There were even negotiations about building gates for direct connection between the different nations as well, but at the moment there had been little progress in that direction.

One major reason was trust, or rather, the lack thereof. Most of the nations had a history of hostility towards each other, and did not fully trust the other nations not to abuse a teleportation gate built between their territories. Paradise’s unique stance as a true neutral party in the world’s politics was part of what made the gate network possible in the first place.

As it was, the recently enlarged gate to Sabaya was more than large enough for Lumi to squeeze through, though it helped that she was more long and slender, rather than bulky like her parent. It still took some coaxing from both Leila and Krystal before the nervous drake finally walked through the gate with her wings tightly folded against her torso, though.

In contrast, Ida just strolled through the gate without a care with Ilena on her back. Cal and Vark had gone through first of course, to forewarn those on the other side of the beast’s arrival and prevent any undesired circumstances from happening at all.

Lumi got through the portal without incident, the young Drake easily in excess of five meters now from her snout to her tail, with a wingspan more than twice as wide at full extension. She looked curiously at the room in Sabaya, but quickly calmed down once Leila returned to her back, and obediently followed the group out of the chamber.

Fortunately when they increased the size of the gate they also rebuilt the whole chamber, and the new gates were large enough that Lumi could leave without any difficulty.

The sight of the massive young drake walking through the city streets was quite something, and got many eyes turned to look at the group in curiosity. Some people instead recognized Willa as the champion of the last tournament, so their group attracted plenty of attention either way.

Fortunately the roads of Sabaya were designed for a pair of elephants to walk side by side, an affectation one of the ancient Emperors had, so Lumi had no issues with her size. The group made a beeline for the western gate of the city, where they departed from after a quick inspection by the guards on duty.

From there they traveled further west, passed by the lakeside town that existed next to Sabaya, and crossed the river offshoot of Lake Sabaya. Most of the group crossed by boat, except for Ilena, Ida, and Leila. They crossed the river by air instead, as Lumi unfurled her massive wings and took flight after a few beats of her wings with the three on her back.

By the time the riverboat finished crossing, Leila and Ilena were already waiting by a food stall on the opposite side, where they were snacking on some local delicacies. Both Lumi and Ida were also feasting on large chunks of meat nearby, and Cal noticed one nearby therian butcher who was smiling very widely as he closed up shop for the day.

Before long, the whole group joined the sisters as they sampled the local foods. Some local children also came towards the two beasts, if gingerly at first, intimidated by their large size. Notwithstanding Lumi, even Ida was approaching the size of a horse by then, if one with a longer, sleeker torso and limbs.

Finally one of the kids - a little girl probably around Ilena’s size, though probably younger since therian children supposedly grow up a bit faster - gathered her courage and tiptoed towards Lumi, before touching her with one paw. Lumi noticed it and nuzzled gently against the girl in return, making her laugh, which opened the floodgates and made the rest of the children run over to join the fun.