Lilly spoke with the wise ones for an hour while they waited for Valindra to return. She was given some salty biscuits to go with her tea and instructed in the purpose of the wise ones. The Doan were made up of over thirty major clans and a dozen smaller ones. Each clan provided a woman of at least forty summers who was seen as a voice of wisdom. Their true purpose was to deal with conflicts between the clans, which were rather common. Once a woman became a wise one, she was no longer considered a part of every clan, transcending the normal divisions.

“It's fairly easy for a woman to accept,” Jhandi said. “As a woman is forbidden to marry within her clan.”

“What does that mean?” Lilly asked as she nibbled a biscuit.

“It means that when a woman marries or is taken as a wife, she becomes part of her husband's clan,” Jhandi explained. “A woman never belongs to the same clan her whole life unless she chooses to be a chastine.”

Lilly wasn't sure she understood the difference between marrying or being taken as a wife. She was about to ask when another of the wise ones, a red-haired woman named Savindris, asked how dragons married.

“Well,” Lilly began as the women waited to hear her answer. “Dragons don’t marry or form family units. We are normally very isolated and prefer not to mingle, even with our own kind.”

“Then how do you mate?” Jhandi asked.

“Females mate when what we call the calling comes,” Lilly explained. She went into detail explaining how the calling drove a female wild with need and sent her hunting for the first male she could find. Some women laughed at the idea of a female dragon stalking a male and asked what happened next. Lilly was honest about it, explaining how they mated in a brutal and short way, and then the female left, returning to her lair to lay her eggs. They were amazed to learn that dragons always became pregnant when they mated but had no desire to do so. This revelation made some of the women giggle as they tried to imagine going a week without mating.

“So the father has nothing to do with his children?” a woman asked.

“None,” Lilly said and picked up her tea. “A mother dragon raises her children alone. She would attack and kill any male who tried to enter her lair while she had a brood.”

“What is a brood?” Lacindra asked, so Lilly explained the concept of a brood and what broodlings were. Valindra returned in time to hear Lilly say how a mother didn't properly name her children and that dragons often went a thousand years or more before choosing a name. She told them how Gersius had given Lilly hers, and she treasured it as his first gift.

“So, how was the fool?” Jhandi asked as Valindra poured tea.

“The irritable man is up to something,” Valindra grumbled. “He is stirring up dissent that we are harboring an enemy despite publicly agreeing to allow her to stay. I have dealt with his rumblings, but I suspect this was only the beginning of his plans.”

“He is eyeing the title of grand chieftain,” Lacindra said. “He will do whatever it takes to make the clans see him as their head.”

“Yes,” Valindra agreed as her eyes took on a faraway look. “He wants to weaken our authority so he can take the clans to war and prove he deserves the title.” She turned her firm eye's on Lilly and let out a long sigh. “You must do all you can to observe our ways. Grelm will be watching and will turn a single misstep into grounds to challenge us. We cannot risk our authority being weakened at this critical time.”

“I understand,” Lilly replied, wondering for the hundredth time if she was making a mistake. By trying to open a dialog with the Doan, she might very well cause the war to accelerate. The only thing holding the clans in check was the wise ones, and their authority was tenuous. Lilly's presence was risking their hold, and blood would be spilled across the empire if it broke.

The conversation switched to plans for some festivities and a display of Doan culture for Lilly. This opened the door for Lilly to ask why they wore colorful dresses. She learned that every Doan woman wore a skirt, and the colors had meaning. They received some to mark their age, with the blooming of her body symbolized by a red stripe. A married woman had a golden stripe, and a mother added a deep orange. There were many colors for various achievements, with forty summers of age being shown as a silver band. Every woman in the wise ones had a prominent silver band to show they had achieved the age. However, as a wise one, they also had a blue band inside the silver, marking them so others would recognize their rank.

“It is one of our greatest crimes to wear a color a woman has not earned,” Jhandi said.

Lilly looked at the skirt she had been given with its array of yellow and tan bands with two lines of silver. Jhandi urged her not to worry as she was not expected to have a proper skirt. One had been chosen for her that carried the mark of great age. Two silver bands was a woman of eighty summers, considered a great wise mother.

“I am much older than that,” Lilly said as the women nodded.

“Yes, it is a great gift that dragons can live to such long years,” Valindra said. “But our culture has no colors for a woman older than one hundred summers.”

“May we ask how old you are?” Cindri asked as she studied Lilly carefully.

Lilly answered their question honestly, telling them she was over five hundred years old. She took the opportunity to point out that in all that time, she had done almost nothing with her life. It was a testament to the pointless life of dragons, and she lamented the time as wasted.

“It is the proper way of dragons,” Cindri insisted as others nodded.

Lilly understood their points and explained that until Gersius rescued her, she had felt the same way. He showed her the world of humans, and Lilly began to appreciate just how empty her life was. She held up a biscuit and explained that dragons had no idea food could be cooked and that flavors could be enhanced. They ate animals raw, swallowing them down with little concern for taste. She was trying to highlight how limited a dragon's life was, but it started to have an unexpected effect. Several wise ones defended the dragons, arguing that Lilly was wrong for her opinions. She realized that they revered dragons and Lilly was tarnishing their image as she challenged their beliefs. To them, a dragon was almost a divine, a light of perfection, and yet Lilly kept speaking as if they were flawed.

“The taint of Balisha clouds her mind,” Cindri offered.

“I am not clouded,” Lilly insisted. “Would you be happy living as a dragon does?”

“I would cherish the choice to live for thousands of years,” Cindri said.

“But you would do nothing,” Lilly insisted. “You can't look at that thousand years through the eyes you have now. You have to throw this life away and see how dragons live. You will be in a cave for hundreds of years at a time, where you will sit alone and do absolutely nothing but sleep.”

Cindri looked hurt by Lilly's words, but she didn't care. She pressed the point that all Balisha wanted was to give dragons the right to do more than exist. Solesta originally agreed but changed her mind when dragons grew too close to humans.

“What good is a life spent sleeping?” one of the women asked.

“I don’t know, I wouldn’t mind spending more time asleep,” Jhandi laughed.

“You want to spend more time in Dumon’s arms,” Lacindra teased.

“Dumon?” Lilly questioned.

“My husband,” Jhandi replied and gestured to the others. “We are all married.”

“Oh,” Lilly said and thought to ask another question. “How many wives do your men take?”

“Most only take one or two,” Jhandi replied. “A man is expected to take no more wives than he can reasonably support. A strong clan leader might have three or four.”

“And do the wives love each other?” Lilly asked.

Jhandi smiled and looked at Lacindra as some of the other women laughed. Lilly watched as the two women leaned toward one another and shared a kiss.

“What do you think, Lacindra? Do I love you?” Jhandi asked.

“You had better,” Lacindra replied. “Or I will seek a new wife.”

Lilly was pleased to see their display as it showed the Doan were not so very different from the empire. If they could form loving bonds, then why couldn't they find a peace between them? The problem was the dragons who meddled in their affairs. The dragons were blinded by Solesta's curse and drove the Doan to war. Years of their influence had affected the Doan's perceptions, and changing those would prove challenging.

The conversations moved on to various parts of Doan society, and Lilly learned that women were treated very oddly. They were expected to be able to fight and were trained in weaving from a young age. This seemed to indicate that women were treated well, but they were expected to marry once they reached maturity. At this point, they became the property of their husbands and were expected to begin having babies. Lilly had come to realize that humans deeply valued procreating, with men often leading in this desire. It was the men who wanted children more so than the women, as there was some measure of pride in passing on their heritage. She thought of her own family and how strong Gersius's desire to have children was. She had been so moved by this need that she begged Balisha for the blessing and laid her first egg years before she should have.

After a while, the wise ones paused their discussions to speak with some men who approached. They carried letters and messages handed around the group causing a mixture of reactions.

“Why are they behind?” Jhandi asked as she waved a letter. “The timing is critical.”

“They will reach the site as planned,” Valindra replied and glanced at Lilly with a narrow gaze.

Lilly didn't like that look or the implication of what this location was. She assumed they were discussing the position of their armies, and her presence made them wary. She had given her word that she would not fly off to warn her family and would remain until some plan unfolded. Now she began to worry that this plan might be the missing third army. If she could discover their location, she could end the useless hunting in the north and bring Gersius west. But did she want that? She was here to stop the war, and bringing Gersius west would accelerate the bloodshed by allowing him to go on the offensive.

“You should not be discussing this before the soma woman,” one of the men said as he handed them another letter.

“That is our business to decide,” Valindra replied harshly. “We have her word that she will remain with us until the task is done. Even if she did learn of things better kept, she could not warn her allies.”

The man didn't look impressed with the explanation as he glared at Lilly with distrust. Still, he bowed his head to Valindra and walked away, leaving the women to discuss the dispatches. Lilly overheard them discussing the timing of three attacks and how one, in particular, was special. It was meant to deal with what they called the threat and leave the empire crippled.

Lilly tried not to frown at the news and felt a hand on her leg. She looked up to see Lacindra looking sympathetic as she offered Lilly some consolation.

“Do not let it trouble your heart,” Lacrindra said. “You are a dragon and when this war has ended, you will see we were right.”

The shock of how callous those words were touched Lilly profoundly. She knew it wasn't their fault, but it didn't take away any of the sting. Gersius was right; these people felt perfectly justified in their actions and were not going to stop over a plea to reason. More, the best route forward seemed to be to undermine their opinion of dragons. However, they resolutely denied that the dragons could be anything less than perfect. Despite her insistence that they lived pointless lives, the Doan saw them as divine.

The women decided that a message needed to be sent to urge a group, one of them referred to as the fang, to strike as soon as they could. Lilly could only sit and listen as they gave the orders to attack, and she wondered what to do. They decided to show Lilly a little more of their culture when the debate was over. A group of women led by Valindra headed into the camp where Lilly could see how the Doan people lived.

Lilly saw how they lived in tents, much like the marching army Gersius led. The tents were primarily made of animal skins and not canvas. They were more barrel-shaped or pointed depending on the tent, with few being very large. Many tents sat in clusters with a cooking fire between them, indicating the people did most of their own cooking. Lilly wondered why they didn't use kitchen wagons like Gersius did but didn't raise the point. Outside of almost every tent was a small banner of colors and symbols. She asked about these and was told they marked the tent's owner often by clan, then family name.

Lilly saw children running about as women sat together, working on strange projects. Some wove things out of fibers, while others seemed to be grinding grains. Meats dried on racks made from sticks while others were set over fires to smoke. Chores of every kind were shared as the people worked in groups to complete tasks in bulk. If a task needed doing, a dozen people or more sat down to complete it and toiled together for the sake of the community.

Everywhere Lilly was taken, the people looked at her with distrust. She stood out among the people with her striking silver-blue hair and was easily recognized. Lilly thought it fascinating that so many of the Doan women had red hair, which she associated with being a dragon. The men tended to have much darker hair, and almost all wore short beards. The Doan people looked strong and hardy, with nearly all the men and some of the women being as tall and stout as Gersius.

Finally, they arrived at a small rocky hill where some additional blue tents had been set along the side. Lacindra explained that they used this spot to address the camp, and tonight they would meet. Lilly was invited to sit as a fire was built, and clay pots were set out to heat water. Meats were cooked, and a type of bread was made by heating dough over a flat stone.

As the sun set, women gathered to one side with strange devices in hand. As the food was served, they began to use these devices to make music in an unusual fashion. Lilly found it hauntingly soothing as some women sang in words she didn't recognize.

“What is this song about?” Lilly asked as she sampled some of the bread.

“This is about the fall of the world,” Jhandi replied. “They sing about the age of beauty that was lost when Balisha turned against her kind.”

Lilly hated how everything always came back to Balisha and her supposed treachery. Valindra tried to make a point to Lilly, expressing how cultured the Doan people were. She took great pride in the musical talents of the women, but Lilly countered that the people of the east had all the same skills.

Women laughed and pushed her comparison aside, joking that none could rival their skill at song. Other people gathered as the night went on, and a few men stood to give an oral recounting of historical events. It was done in a poetic way, with the speaker often gesturing with his hands as he reached critical points. Lilly was told that these were the clan's lore keepers and they were telling the stories of their clan's greatest achievements. It was important to the Doan to keep their history and they were recounting these events for Lilly's sake.

It was more of the same, how the clans endured the chaos of the dragon war and came out stronger. They declared that they sided with the proper goddess and rebuilt their strength despite her loss. It often included accounts of bloody battles fought for hundreds of years with their neighbors, with men proudly boasting of how many women were dragged away as wives.

“Wait,” Lilly asked as she listen to one account of how five hundred were brought back to become Doan women. “You forced them to marry?”

“Not marry,” Jhandi corrected. “They were taken as wives. As part of the conquest.”

“But what if they don’t want to be wives?” Lilly asked.

The wise ones looked confused and whispered among themselves until Valindra spoke up.

“It is a just and proper action for a man to take women as wives,” she said. “We honor these women by taking them into our blood and teaching them to appreciate the strength they will now share in. I am sure your husband would appreciate our methods.”

“Gersius would never force a woman into his bed,” Lilly argued. “Thayle has tried to bring them in voluntarily, and he won't allow that. He says his vow to us is sacred and does not wish to soil himself with a woman who is not his wife.”

“But she becomes his wife when they mate,” Jhandi corrected. “So he would not be betraying anyone.”

“And your Gersius is foolish to turn down a woman his wife wishes to invite in. He is missing a chance to spread his strength,” Cindri said.

Lilly was lost as to how they could see it this way. Were they saying it was proper to kill a man and drag his grieving wife away because they were not Doan? She heard Gersius's words echo in her head as he tried to tell her that the Doan were not like them. He had said their ways were proud but cold-hearted, with no tolerance for weakness or the ways of others. She began to see just how true those words whereas Cindri pointed out that she had once been from a province to the south.

“I was taken when I was seventeen,” she said proudly. “Jurlin made me a woman the same day they saved me from the farm.”

“You see,” Valindra said. “When a woman sees how a strong and proper man behaves, she has no regrets about her place. She is grateful to have been rescued from her prison of weakness.”

Lilly didn’t see but chose not to argue the point. She almost felt they were being hypocritical by saying these women needed to be rescued and brought into a better life while also saying a dragon's wasted life was proper. She knew she could argue the point but chose to let it go as it was too soon to directly challenge their beliefs. Instead she

As the night wore on, Lilly was treated to more songs and a few recountings of ancient glories. Finally, when the hour grew late, the people left to settle in for the night, and Lilly was taken back to the wise one's tents. She was given a small tent to the side, but Jhandi and Lacindra pulled her aside with a smile.

“If you wish to learn more about our ways, you are always welcome to join our tent for the night,” Jhandi said. “Dumon would not hesitate to show you how a real man pleases a woman.”

Lilly shook her head in shock at the idea of being invited to join their bed. She did her best to politely decline, stating that she was already married and could not betray his trust in her.

“Bah, an eastern marriage is worthless here,” Jhandi replied. “If you want to find a true man, you should look among the Doan. Maybe at the dance of moons, you will understand more.”

“She is not one of our kind,” Lacindra reminded. “It would be an offense to ask a mother of the scale to lower herself to our blood.”

“She does so already,” Jhandi pointed out. “But I will respect your concerns.”

Lilly waved as they went to their tent and quickly retreated to the one set aside for her. She sat just inside the door on a pile of skins, wondering what she should do. Part of her wanted to flee and run home to Gersius to tell him he was right. These people were very different, and their values were not aligned with the empire. However, she had made a vow to remain, and Gersius said vows were sacred, but what about this plan that was ordered to proceed? She wished she hadn't been so hasty to agree to their terms, but what could she do about it now?

“Sarah,” she said to herself and thought about the dream. It was hard for two people to link across the dream unless they shared some common point of reference. Surely Sarah would have thought about trying to reach Lilly this way and would be waiting in the valley.

Lilly quickly looked out the door to see a few guards at the far edge of the tents. She then went to her bed of skins and sat down as if she were going to meditate. She focused inward, holding on to the vision of the valley as she slowed her breathing. She tried to feel the emotional connection to the place as her focus left the waking world and, in an instant, she was standing on a hill in her valley.

“Sarah!” Lilly called out as loudly as she could and ran to where the house should be. She was disappointed to find it wasn't there and neither was Sarah. For an hour she walked aimlessly, hoping Sarah would appear, but the flaw in her plan slowly dawned on her as she realized Sarah wasn't coming.

Gersius was hunting the north for the Doan army, and Sarah would likely be pressed to scour the land from the sky. Even if they did want to try and make contact with Lilly in the dream, having Sarah asleep at this critical moment would be dangerous. She knew Gersius would prioritize the empire's safety over a fleeting hope to meet in the dream. As she started to feel despair, she suddenly had another thought and closed her eyes once more.

She opened them to a little room with two beds and a single door. She quickly threw the door open and stepped into the temple hall in the city of Eastgate. She smiled when she saw the dark-haired woman fading in and out as her hair and clothing kept changing.

“Ayawa!” Lilly cried and ran to her.

“Lilly?” Ayawa called back and looked directly at her. “Lilly, are you alright?” Her form faded and shifted as Lilly nearly burst into tears. She reached Ayawa as the woman managed a degree of focus and solidified for a moment more.

“Ayawa, you must get a message to Gersius,” Lilly pleaded. “Tell him I am fine and being treated like an honored guest then tell him the Doan have ordered some kind of plan to begin.”

“What plan?” Ayawa asked as she started to fade again.

“I don't know the details,” Lilly insisted. “All I know is it is meant to deal with their greatest threat and cripple the empire. Please, you must warn them. The Doan are moving!”

Ayawa nodded and then called out, her image fading to a mist.

“Lilly? Lilly, I can't see you anymore,” Ayawa said right before she vanished.

Lilly had no idea if the woman had heard the entire warning or not, but she prayed the message would get through. If only they had more time to practice the dream walking, Lilly could convey so much more. Still, it was a start and a means of communication if somewhat abrupt. Hopefully, the warning would mean something to Gersius, and he would spoil whatever they were planning.

When morning came, Lilly was offered water to bathe and was shocked to see the women gathered in one part of the yard, naked and wiping down. She didn't like the idea of stripping before half the camp and declined by saying her dragon transformation would cleanse her skin.

She got to see more of the daily life of the Doan as the women took her to see what they called a trial of might. A number of men competed in tests of strength, from hurling stones to dancing with large swords. Few wore shirts, preferring to put their muscular frames on display as women smiled and pointed with delight.

“What are they doing this for?” Lilly asked.

“These are young men seeking to show a prospective wife what they offer,” Lacrindra explained.

“It is good for you to see the strength of the Doan people as well,” Jhandi added. “This is why your blood kin chose us to be their followers.”

Lilly watched as one man lifted a large log on his shoulder, groaning as he stood with trembling legs. Then, to her shock, he suddenly fell to one knee, the log coming down and breaking a shoulder before crushing one arm.

Men ran to lift the log off the pinned arm as Valindra snapped to Cindri and pointed to the fallen man. The woman ran to him and knelt beside him as he cried out in pain, shattered bones broken through his skin.

The woman began a soft song that Lilly recognized as she called on the blessings of Vellis. The man's skin began to glow as his arm straightened and his shoulder loudly popped. In moments her song ended as the young man got to his feet, and the injury melted away.

“She’s a priestess of Vellis,” Lilly exclaimed as the woman walked back.

“Shush,” Valindra said with a harsh tone. “She is a priestess of Solesta.”

“But that was a song to Vellis,” Lilly insisted. “Many of them travel with our army. I know their healing songs well.”

“I said be quiet,” the stern woman said as Cindri joined their side. Valindra asked Cindri who she worshiped, and without hesitation, she said Solesta. Lilly didn’t respond to the statement except to look Valindra in the eye. She could only assume they would not accept the notion that they acknowledged the other divines.

“So you brought the soma woman to see what real men look like,” grumbled a deep abrasive voice. Lilly looked away from her staring competition to see the barrel-chest Grelm. He walked up to the women, his eyes falling on Lilly as he smiled. “Have you seen one you like?” he asked as if Lilly were looking for a husband.

“I am not here to admire your men,” Lilly countered. “I was simply being shown that your people were strong.”

“Stronger than the weaklings in the east,” Grelm boasted. “When we crush your lands, we will free your women of their worthless men.”

“Gersius will stop you,” Lilly replied and folded her arms. “We have men every bit as strong as those here.”

“Ha!” Grelm laughed and walked to the same log that had just crushed the man. He lifted it from the ground in a great display of power and threw it over his shoulders as she glared at the women. “Can your men do this?” he growled.

Lilly glared back at him as several of the wise commented on how strong he was. Despite his abrasive demeanor, they were impressed by his display, but Lilly knew better. To be boastful, she smiled and announced that Gersius could lift ten times that weight.

Grelm's eyes told her instantly that she had made a mistake as he tossed the log aside and came right up to her face pointing an accusatory finger.

“Do not lie, soma witch,” he spat angrily. “To mock the strength of the Doan is punishable by the whip. I should invoke my right as a clan chieftain and have you disciplined before the entire camp for mocking us and speaking the name of our enemy.”

“Stand back,” Grelm. “Valindra commanded. “You speak to a mother of the scale and not some outland woman.”

Grelm smiled and stepped away, holding his hands wide to draw attention.

“And yet she walks among us in our form and pretends to honor our ways. She has already admitted to soiling her blood with that of an eastern weakling, so why should we honor her fallen heritage?”

“Stop your foolish prancing,” Jhandi shouted. “She is here to learn about us and mend her ways. As one of the dragons, we must honor her wishes.”

“She is an enemy to the Doan,” Grelm argued as other men shouted in agreement. “Her presence here is a corruption of our ways. The wife of our most hated enemy is in our midst, and we are expected to look away. How many of our people have died because of her family? How long will you shelter her as if she were an ally? Perhaps the wise ones have become blind to the path ahead. Maybe it is time someone with more vision took the leadership.”

“Maybe inviting her in was a mistake,” Lacindra whispered as some others agreed.

“If he uses this to undermine our authority, he might force the attack prematurely,” another said.

“Be silent,” Valindra called and strode out to address all who were listening. “We do not hold you in check because we think it is best. We do so because the ancient masters have requested it. If you wish to argue why you have not been turned loose, take it up with them. As for the soma in our midst, it is her blood as a dragon that we honor. It is not our place to condemn her.”

“And have you sent word to the masters?” Grelm asked. “Do they know there is one they need to condemn?”

Valindra let out a low rumble of discontent as she locked eyes with the aggressive man. “We will tell them in the right time,” she replied. “Until then, you must accept that she does not know our ways. As a dragon, she must be given some measure of error.”

“And when she understands them she will take that knowledge back to her cursed family to use against us,” Grelm countered and pointed at Lilly. “I know she swore to stay until the plan was through but mark my words that soma needs a leash, and if you don't leash her, I will.”

Lilly watched him storm away as her stomach turned in knots. Valindra grabbed her by the wrist as the wise ones hurried her away, scolding her for her outburst.