Vonn met Selen's eyes and spoke to her in English. "How much of the truth do we dare say?"

"How much do you trust the Centaur? The one in the room, I mean; let our Earth friend stay anonymous if he wants."

Vonn said, "His curiosity got him to keep asking prying questions about the backpack. He's not going to stop while we're still mysterious. He has power over us, but he and his father are no tyrants. I'm mostly worried the Duke will do awful things to us as though we were aliens to dissect."

Selen sighed. "He scares me, but he's not stupid. They have a version of the 'Golden Goose' story here. So I don't think he'll have us spitted even if the whole truth leaks. I think Ral... uh, the scaly one, is trustworthy. Your Bard friend might be a bigger liability, sorry to say."

Vonn nodded, ears low. "Talk about that later. Right now everybody's listening to us conversing in alien language. So, decision. Do we admit what we really are, in the hope of getting them to see just how useful we can be? I'm willing, but the half-truth about visions might be good enough."

The others in the room were, of course, staring in confusion. Selen took a deep breath, then met Vonn's eyes again. "I say yes. It's the truth and they can believe it or not. Even if it turns out badly, Vonn, I'm happy we're on this journey together."

Vonn finally nodded, and switched to the riverlands tongue. "We'll understand if you decide we're mad. Let me introduce the truth by explaining what a rocket is, and where they were built..."

#

An hour passed. It felt good to reveal the truth to these people he respected, and to have Selen as his tag-team partner. They went from discussing rockets to fuel to factories to an entire civilization, to the exact reason they knew so much about it. Tazo had made her peace with the revelation by now, and mostly seemed interested in gleaning more details that Vonn hadn't mentioned before.

The old Kobold wizard and the young Centaur noble looked like they'd been struck in the face with live fish. They hardly asked a question as the otherworld duo drew sketches, wrote physics equations, and went off on tangents about the Code of Hammurabi, and the Roman Empire, and the Magna Carta.

Ralator said, "All of this is impossible. Or more accurately, outside of anything that seems possible. Even the discussion of the System raises a dozen religious questions. Yet I hear you two speaking some language I've never heard. Selen, please leave the room while I quiz Vonn."

Selen quietly departed. The wizard said, "Translate the following phrase: 'The time of Autumn reminds us to prepare, and Winter to endure.'"

Vonn spoke it in English. Ralator asked him a few trivia questions about the denominations of money and the names and deeds of a few Roman rulers, then kicked him out and brought Selen in for the same treatment. When Vonn returned the wizard cross-examined him in turn. "She used a different word for 'Autumn' than you."

"Ah, she probably said Fall."

"Yes. Your claims are consistent, anyway. But what does all this mean?"

Selen said, "Sir, it means we're here and interested in offering what we inherited. The wisdom of another civilization, such as it is."

Vonn added, "There's a huge difference between knowing about an airplane and really being able to build one, so don't expect to get even half of the technology. But we can get some things started and leave major hints for more."

The Aves said, "More importantly, we know some of the reasons these things happened. The River Kingdom is a rich land, and in some ways it might be on the same path. But there might be centuries of natural change before there's a whole culture like that."

"Natural change, you say. So, you think that over time a society will grow more and more and get these things, and it's only a question of when?"

Vonn said, "Very much no." Selen shook her head, too. He went on, "You can give a wondrous house to someone, with machines powered by copper wires in the walls, and find that he's torn the copper out to sell for scrap. If he doesn't own it and care about it, he won't protect it. Similarly, I can give the kingdom a hundred airplanes, but without people eager and trained in the art, when I'm gone they'll be the last."

Brightstep had been too baffled to speak so far. He finally said, "I knew you had secrets, but this? Why should I believe it? Why would the gods interfere in our world in such a strange way?"

Kotta was coming up the stairs, saying, "To solve the riddle of the Fifth Dragon."

The wizard's Kobold assistant trotted up after him, apologizing to his master. "Sir, he insisted he knew you, and by the time --"

Ralator stood as though threatened, and glared at Kotta. "Entering the home of a magus uninvited is generally unhealthy."

Kotta knelt before him, one hand to the floor. "I know, sir. I also knew you'd be talking about serious things, and wanted to be sure you knew what was at stake."

Brightstep looked alarmed, too. "What is this 'Fifth'?"

Kotta told him, "The Dragon who died and lived again, on one world after another."

Selen looked helplessly at Vonn, and spoke in English. "I thought he was still in Grandbridge. He has this so garbled..."

Vonn answered, "He was urging me to help him spread this sect he's inventing. Says the Scaled Nation is so screwed up with Kobold supremacist stuff, this would be an improvement."

Ralator, meanwhile, was questioning Kotta with obvious aggravation. He asked the youngster, "What would you have me do? Openly challenge the Triad faith on top of whatever it is I'm doing with these supposed prophets of knowledge?"

"They are prophets, sir. Selen knows tales of Dragons and of the church that led her people to greatness. Vonn knows many of the same ones, and so does Polestar."

Vonn smacked his muzzle. "Damn it, Kotta."

The Elementalist smacked the table in front of him. "The pile grows taller! Who is Polestar?"

Selen sighed. "Since he's spilled it... he's a Centaur like us two. From that world."

"I say this politely due to my great age and experience: all of you but Brightstep, leave my home at once and don't come back until tomorrow."

Vonn needed no urging.