I have a confession to make:

I really enjoyed my time with Kuro last night.

Flying a few yards behind her, I watch the graceful movements of her wings as they cup the air, rising and falling against the updrafts with an effortless grace. When I still lived in Varecia, I often thought, ‘Where in the Kingdom is the Animal destined to be my partner?’ Could the creature I see before me, this misunderstood huntress of the Snowfell Flock, really be them?

I admit it — when Kuro asked me if I wanted to discuss our night together, I had no trouble saying ‘yes.’ But I’m still not comfortable being in a relationship with her. There are so many things we have to discuss first. Like, will the flock really accept two girls being mated together? What happens if I discover a way to turn back to normal? Or If I return to Ellyntide and make contact with my family?

But as much as it pains me to admit it, I simply can’t deny my feelings for her any longer. When I imagine my life without Kuro on my wing — always looking after me, always pleased to be around me — it breaks my heart into two. She feels as close to me as my family in Ellyntide, if not more. I haven’t forgotten about my responsibilities to the throne, but how can I set aside someone who means so much to me?

I might not be ready for a romantic relationship with a Dragon. But for the first time ever, I think I could live with it.

The snowstorm that encumbered our wings and forced us to spend the night with some rock-hounding Loner cleared, giving way to a delightfully sunny morning. After we departed the mad Loner’s den, I was able to catch some meager prey and share it between the three of us. It’s provided enough strength to ride the thermals while Enyll scans the ground, trying to recall from memory the sunken landscape he saw as a fledge — the location of my vision from Gust.

As the morning drags on, Enyll makes little progress. With the sun in the sky and a setting Maki on the horizon, the thermals have been strong, allowing us to lazily glide through the air for hours, surveying countless snow-blanketed valleys. But as soon my stomach begins to remind me of our meager breakfast…

“Asha…” Enyll trails off, a tinge of hope on his fangs. “Asha, I think that’s it!”

Flying to my left, Enyll flicks his ears downward, pointing toward the bottom of a V-shaped valley. There, the conifers are spread thin, growly sparsely between themselves near the point where a frozen mountain stream connects to an icy valley river. To the left of the junction is a copse where the late morning shadows reveal a distinct, bowl-shaped depression in the ground. My excitement reaches a crescendo as I notice fallen trees poking conspicuously through the snow.

“Finally,” Kuro grumbles, noticing my excitement.

“This must be the place!” I announce. “Let’s land and take a look!”

SKREEAK!

I call our landing and circle down from the sky with Enyll and Kuro on my tail. As the finer details become visible, I become convinced we’re in the right spot. The trees are exactly as I remember them from my vision! We land a short distance from the copse in nearly the same spot where Gust first showed me this scene.

“This looks familiar,” Enyll says, shaking his wings of snow.

I open my muzzle to agree before quickly clamping it shut. Enyll can’t know about my vision from Gust. Instead, I play dumb and ask, “How confident are you?”

Cerulean eyes narrow to slits as he scans the trees. “Pretty confident. Let’s move forward.”

We approach the copse, dragging our tails across the surface of the snow drifts. It’s just as I remember it, down to the position of the trees and the shadows cast from their branches. In the center of this scene is the circular depression in the snow, far too symmetrical to be anything natural. What would we discover if we melted the snow away? Another building foundation? Perhaps a courtyard where ancient Animals prayed to the deities? The fir trees groan as a gentle breeze blows through the valley. Should I be listening for the sound of shifting feathers, as well? Surely, Gust is here with us, watching this scene unfold with great anticipation. Could the Dragon deity himself be watching?

I stand at the rim of the snow-lined depression and gaze across it. “Kuro, would you do the honors? You have more flame than I do.”

She nods, then moves to stand beside me. She rears her head back and unleashes a blowtorch of flame against the ground, suffusing clouds of cold steam into the air. As the snow begins to drop, a shape takes form in the center of the depression. A rectangular object a few yards in width, its composition indeterminate.

“Kuro, wait.”

I brush my wing against her flank, and a moment later, Kuro extinguishes her fire. Instead of explaining what I see, I lope into the depression and sink against the wet snow until it’s up to my underside.

“Asha?” Enyll calls out.

I ignore him, continuing on my way until I’m standing directly in front of the rectangular object. With the very top now poking through the snow, I can make out it’s some sort of stone pillar or monolith. Though weathered by time, it’s clear this stone is as unnatural as the depression it sits in. Unwilling to scorch it, I begin digging out the area directly in front of it with my talons. It’s a warm-colored stone, grainy in appearance, and different from the stone that composed the ancient building in the southern part of Felra. As I sense Kuro and Enyll approaching from behind, a series of inscriptions become visible.

“Oh my Goddess,” I whisper. “This… I can read this! This is the Goddess language I’m familiar with!”

What?! How can this be?! Written in the stone before me is the modern-day Goddess language, the one I’ve known my entire life! How did it get so far north in Felra?! I steady myself against the snow and read the first few words inscribed on the stone.

‘We, the members—‘

The rest is cut off, obscured behind a layer of wet snow sticking to the stone monolith. With renewed excitement, I begin digging furiously, using my hind legs to kick out snow from behind me. A few moments later, Kuro and Enyll join me at my side. With the three of us at work, it’s not long until a space is cleared, revealing the whole inscription, beautifully preserved by the frigid climate of the north.

I retreat a step and observe the stone monolith as a whole. The entire stone is covered in the Goddess language, a paragraph’s worth of text. In contrast to the tool-carved inscriptions we found in the forest, these letters are long and jagged, carved in a much more primitive way. Truly, ancient Animals did not carve these letters — a Dragon did!

“What is this?” Enyll muses with a touch of wonder. He angles his head close to the stone and sniffs it inquisitively. “They’re like guiding tree symbols, but… there’s so many of them!”

“That’s because they’re Farlander symbols,” Kuro explains. ”Asha, what do they say?”

Kuro and Enyll are speaking to each other, but I have no idea what they’re talking about. I’m off in my own little world, trying to comprehend the gravity of what’s written on the monolith. I already read it from start to finish, repeating the words over and over again inside my head. It’s the most profound thing I’ve ever read, and it changes everything.

We, the members of the Lordanou Clan, commemorate our accomplishments in this place of honor. It was from this grove that we harnessed the power of the Chimera, the sacred ritual to change form and ascend to Dragonkind. We used this power to tame the land, ending the scourge of Dragon infestation and claiming the crown of the first Kingdom of Ellyntide. The Chimeric Stone, the vector for our noble deeds, forged from the inhospitable moon in this tempered land, sleeps in the first Kingdom.

I lower my head and rest it against the surface of the snow, using my right wing to brace myself upright. Using my left, I reach forward to run the barbs of my feathers across the monolith, cold as ice. My body winces as I touch it; for the first time since I flew from Ellyntide, I feel the influence of my family. The Lordanou Clan. Unbidden, my eyes clench together, and tears fall from my face. Everything makes sense!

“Asha?!” I sense Kuro’s head near my own.

“It’s for me!!” I burst into tears. “My ancestors left this for me!”

I whip my head around and bury it into Kuro’s chest. My ancestors created the Serpentine Diamond and used it to become Dragons. When they were finished with it, they returned the diamond to Ellyntide so it could protect the newly crowned royal family in the event of a crisis. They knew that one day, an heir might transform, so they left this message for them to discover the truth. Why else would an inscription in the Goddess language be left in the middle of Felra?

It doesn’t explain everything about my transformation. What’s the power of the ‘Chimera’? Why did they call the Serpentine Diamond the ‘Chimeric Stone?’ And what became of those first Lordanou Dragons? But the most important truth, that which I’ve yearned to discover since the moment I transformed into a Lithan, has finally been revealed to me. I know why I’m a Dragon.

As I weep, Kuro’s head nuzzles against my own. She intones a soft and reassuring growl, hoping to lull my joyful sorrow. Even Enyll is allowed to join in, nuzzling his head against my flank while keeping a measured distance from Kuro. With warmth surrounding me, I sob into Kuro’s feathers until no more tears are produced.

When I finally regained control of myself, I translated the monolith for Kuro and Enyll, dutifully explaining everything it revealed. As Enyll was keen to point out, it doesn’t match the flock’s account of history as told to them by Keuvra. Ancient Farlanders becoming Dragons and taming Felra? Even I have to admit it sounds far-fetched. But then again, a Lemur Princess transforming into a Lithan when her life was in danger sounds equally implausible, yet here I am. Despite finding the closure I so desperately longed for, I have no fewer questions for the Dragon deity when he finally reappears.

“So, this is what you were looking for,” Enyll says, his head hovering above the frozen bark of a fallen tree. Disparate patches of ice have thawed to reveal a glaze of green and black, fuzzy-looking lichen.

Yes, you heard me right: I FINALLY found pilophorus acicularis!

I really can’t believe it! The devil’s matchstick lichen itself, only a few months late and on an entirely different continent! While explaining the inscription on the monolith, I noticed some twigs poking through the snow. We turned around and began digging until we uncovered a tree lying on the ground. When I pushed it over with my talon, I could hardly believe my eyes — thousands of wooly strands of the rare black lichen perfectly preserved under a blanket of snow! A layer of ice has grown to cover most of the log, but I can see more of the lichen preserved inside. As long as it stays below freezing, we can easily transport it back to the Grandfather Tree!

“It feels like I’ve been searching for his lichen for months,” I joke, standing beside Enyll. “I can’t believe I finally found it here, of all places.”

I can, of course, believe I found it here. It’s plainly obvious that Gust left it for us to discover. But we don’t need to go on about that little detail with Enyll.

He pulls his head back and ruffles slightly. “How are you going to bring it to the Grandfather Tree if you’re…”

A breeze drifts through the trees, capturing Enyll’s voice with it. He frowns, and his eyes fall away from me. I never told him about my expulsion from the Grandfather Tree, so it seems he heard about it somewhere down the wing. It makes me uncomfortable knowing how fast my infamy spread through the flock.

“First,” I say, squaring my wings. “I think we should fly to Flat Rock and talk to Frecci. As a healer, she’ll understand the value of a rare ingredient. I’d like her to join us at the Grandfather Tree.”

“And what about Nakino?” Sitting to my left, Kuro deadpans a growl.

“That’s the other reason I want her to join us. Unlike Nakino, I think she’ll actually stand up for me in front of Sefri.”

Kuro inclines her head; she seems satisfied. With the promise of a treatment and two Dragons backing me up, maybe we’ll be able to convince Sefri how featherbrained it was to expel me.

“We should be on the wing,” Enyll says, showering snowflakes into the air as he draws his wings open. “And fly quickly. The longer we wait, the more Kin grow sick.”

“Right,” Kuro nods in a rare show of agreement with Enyll. “Asha, is there anything else you want to do here?”

I gaze past Kuro and stare at the monolith. There could be more stones like these just beneath our talons, ones that explain the power of the Chimera or the fate of the Lordanou Dragons.

“Perhaps another day,” I smile. “We’re leaving the place standing this time.”

Kuro smirks and Enyll looks confused. We could continue to melt the snow and learn about the past. But for now, I’ve sated my curiosity. All I’ve ever wanted to do was return to normal and see my family again. To that end, I’m satisfied. Perhaps I’ll return here in the spring when the weather’s warmer (And we don’t have to melt any snow!)

The three of us step away from the ancient site, and Kuro calls our take-off.

ROAARRR!

We leap into the air, causing a flurry of snow to fly in all directions. Once we rise above the tree line, I circle around and gingerly snatch the fallen tree from the ground like I was swooping down for prey. My foretalons grip the wood and squeeze tight, but the rotten trunk remains intact with only a few loose splinters. I climb into the sky, following Kuro and Enyll as they locate a thermal blowing up the sides of the valley. As sun-fueled air ruffles my tail feathers, I gaze across the valley and wonder just how much things will change by next spring, both here in the valley and in my life as a member of the flock.

The snow-capped peak of White Mountain stands silent as we glide into the Great Valley, lowering ourselves into the warmer, southerly currents blowing from the plains to the south. Besides the clouds that invaded the sky and blocked out the sun, nothing of consequence happened on our return trip from the lands to the north. The leisurely flight gave me plenty of time to reflect on the ancient monolith and what we learned from it.

Dragons must have been a real scourge to ancient Animals when the floating continents were still moonbound. Perhaps they built ocean-faring vessels and sailed to Felra? That would explain how Animals arrived in Felra. But what really set my mind ablaze during the flight was the mention of the ‘Chimera’. What’s the deal with that, anyway? Was it a lost technology? Some kind of ancient magic? The power of deities?! I’ve thought of all sorts of possibilities, and I’m unsure which of my theories could be correct.

Regardless of what it is, my ancestors were awfully clever if they were able to become Dragons and ‘tame’ the Lithans (whatever that means.) As usual, the more I learn about my transformation, the more questions I uncover. But for the first time, it feels like I’m stalking closer to the truth.

SKREECH!!!

A Dragon’s cry echoes through the valley, intruding on my errant thoughts. This would be a mundane event if it weren’t for the fact it was directed at us.

“Who was that?” Enyll calls out from behind me.

Kuro scans the sky and flicks her ears to our left. “There. Someone’s flying from below.”

Another Dragon, clad in a dirty blond plumage, is winging towards us fast. “Kuro!!” he cries out.

Wait, I recognize that voice! “Ykuvi?! Is that you?”

“Kuro, something’s happened!”

The soot-plumaged drakaina rears her wings back to come to a halt. “What!?”

Ykuvi banks right to insert himself into a thermal and rises to our altitude. As he draws near, Enyll calls out with a touch of concern, “Blue Skies, Ykuvi?”

He shakes his head quickly. “Kuro, it’s Frida. She’s been attacked!”

Kuro’s eyes bulge. “What?!”

Ykuvi wings forward and flies alongside Kuro. “I—I don’t know all the details, just that she was ambushed. I think she’s at Flat Rock.”

At that moment, something visceral comes across Kuro. Her flight becomes erratic, and she snarls in a sinister voice, “Relmoon.” She rears her body back and lunges forward, changing direction to fly as fast as possible towards Flat Rock.

“K-Kuro!” I shout, still shocked by the drastic change of events. The three of us set off after her, pounding our wings to keep pace with my distraught friend. What is going on? How could Frida be ambushed?! And what are we going to discover when we arrive at Flat Rock?