Early Morning - Early Winter : Central Valtivar, Siratha

*fwoosh* *fwoosh* *fwoosh* Casually flying over the canopy, I started making my way back to Leif's estate, but I still had a lot on my mind. "Haah..." -Every time I feel like I am getting close to an answer.. ten more questions appear...-

To call it an annoying situation was an understatement since, even though I made some progress, I felt farther from the answers than I did originally. -But dwelling on things like that won't do me any good...-

Quickly shaking my head, I silenced my rampant theorizing and shifted gears. -Grandmother should be done with whatever she needed, so I should meet back up with her...-

Finally making it to Vilulf's treant, I lowered myself to the canopy and changed to my humanoid form.

*skshh* *tap* After sliding down a few absolutely massive leaves, I eventually landed on a small branch and started working my way down through the canopy.

Eventually, though, I landed on a branch with some unusual scars on it. -Claw marks?- It honestly looked like a dragon or wyvern had clawed the branch, but not only were they fresh, they were also too long to be something like an attack. -Did a dragon fall off?-

Using a bit of my aura to keep me pinned to the branch, I walked over the edge and looked at the estate below. -What the hell?-

Laying there in the courtyard with dried blood staining the ground around its head, wings, and legs was a fairly large dark blue dragon.

It looked quite mangled from what I could tell, but it slowly twitched as if it were on the verge of waking up. -Why are Grandmother and Leif just leaving it there?- Although I knew I would have no issue, no matter the reason, I couldn't say I wasn't curious.

Finally continuing to make my way down, I planned to go check out the dragon first, but ended up passing Leif's office and noticed the window was broken. -Hm? I still feel their auras.. what happened?-

Casually hopping over onto the window frame, I motioned Ilios next to me and looked inside to see everyone doing their own thing and not talking at all. -It seems they are done...-

*Vwoom* "So, how did things go?" My voice shredded the silence without mercy, causing everyone, including Leif, to jolt and turn to me.

Grandmother was quick to calm back down, but Leif and Alva were not the same.

Immediately dashing over to the window seal Ilios and I sat on, Leif and Alva groveled in front of me. "Apostle Leif Vilulf humbly greets the Lords!"

"Apostle Alva Aetla humbly greets the Lords!" Alva was visibly shaking as she held her forehead to the ground.

But it stopped the moment I spoke. "You may raise your heads."

Slowly looking up at me, Leif wore a look of worship and pride, while Alva stared at me in awe.

"Miss Asimi, how did things go?"

Grandmother was quick to play along as she stood up and bowed. "I have found what I was looking for and am just waiting on an assistant to fetch a few documents."

Alva and Leif slowly glanced back and shot Grandmother a death stare, likely thinking she was being rude, but I quickly silenced them. "Good. I have also found what I came for so we will be leaving soon."

"As you wish." Finally standing up straight, she smiled and turned silent.

-She cast silencing magic between us?- Generally assuming what she was doing, I surrounded us in silencing magic and looked down at Alva. "So, Miss Aetla.. is there something you wish to tell me?"

She immediately started shaking again as she pressed her forehead on the ground. "I SINCERELY APOLOGIZE FOR HOW I HAVE ACTED RECENTLY! If there is anything I can do to redeem myself, I am willing to do anything!"

Although scared, her will to redeem herself was shockingly genuine. -Hm...- I quickly settled on something as well. "Assist Vilulf in her endeavors, whether that is helping raise the other apostle or helping ease her workload. You two should work together and not against one another. It will be better for both of you and Siratha."

"Y-yes, my Lord!" That was when her shaking finally stopped.

-Good, now that she is hopefully taken care of...- "So, what did I miss outside?"

Leif was quick to jump in and try to explain. "That rude dragon landed in the canopy not long ago, and asked for me to bring out you and Miss Ragnarok." Her expression suddenly darkened. "He even dared to call you a slave, my Lord, so I dealt with him. I plan to interrogate him about his real plans once he wakes."

Slowly turning around to look at the dragon again, I saw his sorry state and compared it to Leif, who didn't even have dust on her. -I hope he didn't have good intentions...- "Alright, be sure to record what you learn from him. Don't share what you learn with anyone but Miss Asimi. Some fishy things are happening in Bahamut currently."

She immediately nodded without the slightest hesitation.

Finally dispersing the silencing magic, I looked over toward Grandmother and continued. "Miss Asimi, we can either stay here until that dragon outside wakes up so we can interrogate it, or we can leave and you can come back to pick up the information gained from it on your own time."

She quickly bowed again. "If you wouldn't mind, I think it would be better to return first. The information I have is quite time sensitive."

-She's a good actor...- "Alright, in that case, we will return now." Standing up in the window, I motioned Grandmother over. "Leif, I will leave things to you. Make sure you exercise caution, especially when dealing with dragons."

"Of course, my lord!"

"Alva, I look forward to seeing your improvements when I return."

"Y-y-yes!" She gave a flustered response but seemed much more positive than before. "I will be sure to not let you down!"

Her oddly childish enthusiasm quickly raised my mood as Grandmother finally got up to the window and followed me out.

Quickly jumping up the estate and running up the trunk of the treant, we started working our way through the canopy until we got to one of the highest branches that could still hold my dragon form. *flash*

Finally letting Grandmother into my paw, I noticed her expression had turned troubled again. -Just.. what did they talk about?-

But that was a question that would be answered not long after we got in the air.

"Vasilias, I'm guessing you spoke with the apostles about what happened?" She wore a conflicted expression as she spoke.

"About the dragon, or about what you two discussed?"

"What we discussed."

I paused for a moment before glancing at her. "No, I actually didn't think much of it. I guess I assumed it was something that was mainly on the draconic side of things."

"Haah... It really should be, but sadly things aren't so simple."

-Hm?- "What do you mean? What did you find?"

"Well, as expected, there were dragons behind the information leaks over the past several years, but after looking at everything together with a timeline and everything, their motive became quite obvious..." Her expression continued to darken. "Whoever the group of dragons is, they look like they are trying to get the people of Siratha to view dragons like people, not monsters..."

-What?- I immediately glanced at her with a confused look. "Why is that so bad?"

Right after I said that however, the answer popped into my head, but it was too late. "It's bad because it means they're trying to integrate dragons into Sirathan society... They're trying to do what the Ouranós family did to the Forgotten Islands all those years ago, but this time.. they have things to gain besides land and money..."

My eyes went wide as I slowly started realizing the implications of her words. -Could they be...-

But my thoughts quickly came to a halt as I looked toward the mountains in front of us and noticed a group of elders the size of Grandmother eyeing us. -What the... A dragon at the estate.. and now here...-

It didn't take much to put two and two together. -Something.. is wrong here...-