Lin says "Alright, then it should be fine. Thank you for inviting me."

Once that is decided we go back to talking about magic and enchantments. She teaches me what she knows about them and then I teach her what I have learned. When we put our knowledge together we actually have a lot of information.

As we are talking Nala and Albion come over to us and start begging for attention. Of course, we give them pets while we continue talking about enchantments. Then I use mana to create a model of the ship and show Lin the enchantments I did on it.

Lin says "How do you have this many enchantments without having a matrix?"

"A what?"

Lin says "A spell matrix. It is a node that connects all the enchantments and allows them to be controlled."

"Oh. I've seen one of those once, but I have no idea how they are made."

Lin says "It is amazing that this many enchantments are working without one."

"Why wouldn't they?"

Lin says "When enchantments are created with spells they tend to interact negatively with each other."

"That implies that the enchantments bleed energy and that is how they interact. My enchantments don't have that problem. Would a matrix improve the efficiency?"

Lin says "If your enchantments don't bleed energy, then maybe not. But it would allow them to be turned on and off as needed instead of always being on."

"Do you know how to make one?"

Lin says "Yes, but it may not work if you plan to add a lot more enchants."

"Why is that?"

Lin says "Because a matrix has a limit to the number of spells it can control."

"Really? The one I saw had thousands of spells."

Lin says "What?! If so, then whoever made it is way more advanced in magic than we are."

To answer her, I tell Lin about the tower and what I know about the mages who built it. Lin gets excited and starts asking a whole bunch of questions that I can't answer. The more questions that I can't answer, the more disappointed that Lin looks.

"Don't worry, when we reach the peninsula I will take you to the tower. If you can pass the trials you could even become the owner of the tower."

Lin says "What trials? I will do anything for knowledge!"

"Anything?"

Lin says "Well, no, not anything. But there is a lot I would do for it."

"To pass all of the trials, you would have to risk your life."

Lin says "That is fine by me. As long as it is by my own choice, I will have no regrets if I die."

"Well, I won't force you, so it will definitely be your choice."

Lin says "That is all I can ask. The greatest fear in my life has been being controlled by someone."

"I can understand that. My freedom is also important to me. Maybe not to the same degree, but I can understand a little at least."

Lin says "Just trying to understand is enough."

A little embarrassed by the conversation, I turn the talk back to enchantments. I turn to talking about my ideas for making the ship fly and the problems I need to solve. Some of the spells Lin knows have given me some ideas on how to solve some of them.

For example, one of the wind spells she knows would work really well as an enchant on a propeller. I figure if I can make some propellers, between them and the sails our propulsion should be good. Or, if they are vertical, it could help with the altitude control for the airship.

The main thought behind that is the original airships from the early Final Fantasy games. The problem with that is that I would have to remove the sails to make room for propellers. The more I figure out the more options I have to choose from, too many options.

Lin tries to help me out, but too many of my ideas require a lot of explanation. Before I realize it, we have been talking for hours and would have probably talked all night. However, Mulan and the drake wake up and start making noise, putting a stop to our talk.

The noises stop as soon as I move into their line of sight and they both look at me. They both calm down and when I move close enough they start rubbing against my face. I offer them food, but they aren't interested, so I give them some attention instead.

As I am petting them, they are moving around quite a bit and after a few minutes Mulan jumps down. She then goes over to greet Lin, Nala, and Albion, but the drake stays near me. A quick check shows that my mana is full so I hold out my paw and let the drake climb onto it.

"Little one, from now on your name shall be Mushu!"

Lin hears what I am saying and quickly covers her ears against the crack of thunder. Nala and Albion don't have that option, they just give me grumpy looks. Mulan gets scared by the sudden noise and runs to hide in Lin's arms.

Surprisingly, Mushu isn't scared at all by the thunder, if anything she looks happy. As I name her, her body glows red for a second and then erupts in flames. The flames dance across her body for a few seconds before they disappear.

Once the flames are gone I notice that the color of her body has changed a bit. Before I would have described it as a normal deep red, now her scales look like tiny rubies. It isn't that the color has changed all that much, but the look is a large difference.

Mushu says "Daddy?"

"For all intents and purposes, yes."

Mushu looks a little puzzled, but still lets out a happy sound and rubs against my face. At least she isn't calling me mama like Ekard did, it took forever for him to stop. He now calls me dad just like the others, which is a lot less embarrassing for me.

Mushu cuddles against my face for a few minutes before climbing down to wander around. Soon Mulan and Mushu are running around and playing together while we watch. The two of them are absolutely adorable, but they soon run out of energy.

Once I see them slowly down, I refill the coal for the fire and build it back up. Then I move the two of them to the fire, feed them, and then pet them until they fall asleep. Then I take out a bunch of dishes for dinner for the four of us and we eat together.

After we are done eating, Lin asks me about Mulan and Mushu's names. So I end up telling the three of them the story of Mulan from the animated movie. Just for entertainment's sake, I even sing the songs from the animated movie.

Mulan and Lion King, the songs from both are permanently etched into my memory. Surprisingly, the three of them are highly entertained by my bad singing. Next I tell the plot of Lion King and some of the best lines so that Nala knows the origin of her name.