I awoke to screams, which is not my preferred alarm clock. I leapt to my feet, and nearly fell over as I realized I was still on Ran’s back, along with my companions. I looked around and found that we were in the central square of Heracleum, having landed on top of a massive garden I’d taken the time to admire just a few weeks ago. I saw a number of men and women running away, screaming, or simply standing frozen in terror. I saw several guards run toward the commotion, see the dragon, then very quickly run away. Ran began very gently removing each of us from her back and placing us down in the street in front of her. By the time she was done placing each of us, the guards had discovered their backbone, and roughly forty men were approaching us in a column.

I looked over at Tristus who I’d been placed down next to. “Any particular reason we landed in the center of the city?” I asked.

“It wasn’t exactly my plan, I just pointed the city out to her and she dove before I could say anything else.”

One of the guards stepped in front of the others. He had a scar over his right eye, and his toga was buckled at the shoulder with a silver buckle rather than the bronze on sported by the rest of them. He puffed up his chest despite the obvious fear on his face. “Dragon, I must ask you to leave, otherwise we’ll be forced to engage.

Ran tilted her head back and began to laugh, it was a booming, musical tone, and as she did, she began to shrink, going gradually from the massive rainbow scaled creature she was into a smaller, but still substantial woman of around ten feet tall with flowing white hair that shone like a rainbow from the front, and with eyes that changed color every time she blinked. “Are you proposing to me? I assume that’s the kind of engagement you meant considering the obvious danger of the alternative.”

The guard stood for a few moments, but then stepped forward, terrified. “If that’s what it takes to keep the lives of citizens and my men intact, then I offer myself in that way, yes.”

She smiled. “I’m afraid I’ll have to refuse. I prefer my men to be a little taller.”

The man let out a relieved breath. “Thank the gods, my wife would’ve killed me.”

“I would accept an escort to meet with your…” she looked questioningly at Tristus.

“Consuls and Senators. She’s signed a treaty with us.” Tristus pulled a wax seal from his waist and presented it to the less frightened, but still very confused guards. “I’m a priest of peace in service to the empire.”

The head guard looked confused and was still pale as a sheet. “She signed a treaty?”

Tristus nodded.

“I…uh.”

Tiberius stepped forward. “Soldier!” He yelled in a voice I’d never heard him use before that immediately made me stand at attention, and the guards as well. “To the Curia Argenti, march!”

The man nodded, a bit of color returned to his cheeks and he turned to his men. “You heard the man. March!”

We followed the guards through the wide roads leading into the northern portion of the city. We passed dozens of confused men, women, and even other guards as we were escorted. I imagined the confusion of hearing people scream ‘dragon!’ run past you, and then seeing our motley procession would be enough to surprise just about anyone. We eventually made it to the Curia, a massive marble building surrounded by statues of what I assumed to be prominent historical figures, painted in bold colors. When we reached the front entrance, the guards formed two neat rows for us to walk between and their captain gestured for us to walk between them, which we did, with Tristus and Ran in the lead.

I could hear a number of people arguing and saw what looked to be dozens of old men in heated disagreement with one another just ahead of us. Before we stepped into the middle of them, a young man in a lavender toga took a few cautious steps in front of us and looked over to Tristus.

“Uh, Tristus, what’s uh… What’s going on?” he asked, looking all of us over, his eyes spending the longest time on the ten foot tall woman in our midst. I couldn’t blame him. I was almost certain she could take a form that drew less attention, but I was equally certain, based on every experience I’d had with her so far, that she would never do so.

“You know the dragon we’ve been having trouble with?”

He nodded.

Tristus raised a small leather tube he had belted to his waist. “She’s signed a treaty with us.”

“A…a treaty?”

“Yes, non-agression, restitution for the villagers, returning our adventurers, some ceded territory, just needs senate approval.”

“Uh…right now?”

Ran bent down to look the man in the eyes, her own becoming red as she blinked. “That would be preferable.”

Some of the color drained from the man’s face and he stepped out onto the senate floor in the midst of some yelling that, from what I could tell, had something to do with taxes for an aqueduct. He took a breath and spoke, projecting his voice expertly across the Curia. “Consuls, Senators, Priest of Peace Tristus has arrived with a treaty from the dragon to the East.”

There was a brief hush, followed by a slow build of noise until I heard a boom that brought the building again to silence. “Tristus, enter and present.” The voice was calm and deep, with a rumbling quality to it.

Tristus walked straight out with his best smile on full display, Ran on his arm, and the treaty in his hand. The rest of us followed behind him, doing our best to look impressive, but having some difficulty considering the enormous amount of travel and fighting we’d all been doing non-stop for weeks.

Tristus stood in the middle of the room, and unrolled his treaty, reading it line by line in a crisp clear voice that perfectly projected across the room. I looked around as he spoke. The senators were, unsurprisingly, mostly older human men, but I did notice a smattering of other races, and younger faces scattered throughout. I was particularly surprised to find that one of the two consuls, the one I assumed had just spoken, was a man in his early thirties at the latest. He wore a black toga, and a silver laurel threaded through long black hair. The other consul was older, perhaps mid forties, and shared several facial features with the younger man, though his hair was more of a dark gray than a black, and his face threaded with wrinkles and sun damage. My guess was that they were father and son. I know that both Tristus and Tiberius had taken the time to give me some specifics on their government, but Tiberius was so focused on dates it made him a terrible teacher, and Tristus only emphasized the things he found important, leaving everything else in the background even if it was vital to an outsider.

When Tristus was done he rolled the treaty back up and handed it to a young man, who ran the document up to the consuls. The younger of them glanced at it briefly, then handed it to the older one who nodded. “We will commence a vote on this immediately.”

Several senators began to complain, and one stood and looked at the Consul, he looked familiar, with a sallow complexion and slight sneer on his face. “Should we not attempt to negotiate further? Perhaps attempt to get better terms? How do we even have confirmation that the dragon actually signed this document? Perhaps Tristus is lying, wouldn’t be the first time his family acted against the best interests of the city.”

The younger consul stood and I could see his expression turn angry, but the older one put his hand on his shoulder and gently sat him back down before standing himself. “Senator, you may not be aware of this, but a dragon landed in our city square mere minutes ago, and if I’m not mistaken, is the woman standing there next to Tristus.”

“The woman…” The man looked at her, confused.

“Perhaps ten foot tall women with eyes that shift color, rainbow hair, and small patches of scales are more common than I realize. If so, we need to be offering more of them positions in the legion. Seems like a waste of good talent.”

That drew a laugh from the other senators. Marcus, his sallow skin tinged pink with embarrassment, sat down.

“Let’s not keep the good dragon waiting. All senators, send your vote.”

Each of the senators reached into their seats and pulled out a small stone. They each threw them into the air, and each stone dissipated into a green or red powder that floated in the air. Eventually the air was full of green with only a handful of red patches all throughout.

The younger of the two consuls stood. “The treaty is approved. Your dragonness is welcome as a guest of our city. If you’d like, I’d be happy to host you in our palace.”

Ran nodded. “I’ve heard you have coliseums, I think I’d rather like to see a fight first, I do love a good entertainment.”

The younger consul nodded. “I think that can be arranged.” He moved to slam a perfect wooden sphere on a stone table in front of himself, but the older one stopped him.

“I have a few more questions before we convene, not to mention the the session has more than two hours of business remaining.

The younger of them looked strained for a moment, but reigned it in. “Ah, of course.”

The older Consul sighed, then took his own wooden orb and hit it on the stone himself. “I dismiss this meeting of the Heraclean senate.”

The younger one smiled, and practically danced down the steps to Ran. I looked over at Zev to see if he was disappointed or jealous, but noticed no change in his expression, he seemed to still be deep in thought.

“I want to see all of you in my office.”

I jumped a bit, and was surprised to see the elder consul standing in front of us.

“I presume we need to discuss the reward, and I need to know a few more details about the new friend of the city.”