Pledged In Blood - Chapter Forty Six: Smoke (Patreon)

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Chapter Forty-Six

Smoke

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I got comfortable upon my belly, resting against some of Melakar’s old cushions. The others joined me, with Ayrah on a chair and Lir sitting cross-legged on a small cushion. The gryphons settled down on either side of Ayrah. I knew I needed to tell Ayrah everything about my dream, but I was suddenly unsure of just where to start. She showed patience, however, and simply waited while I collected myself. Before we delved into our discussion of dreams, Nesh insisted he be allowed to examine me. I begrudgingly agreed.

The others talked amongst themselves as Nesh got started, but now and then they all snuck looks in our direction. It must have been quite an unusual sight to see a human medic examine a dragon. Nesh began with his stethoscope, a tool that despite the fact I had seen it before, still took me several attempts to pronounce the name correctly. Nesh pressed its flat end to various parts of my body. With it, he listened to the sound and rhythm of my heartbeat, the clarify of my breathing, and so on. Each time he changed his tool’s placement upon me, he jotted down numbers in a little notebook. Sometimes, he compared the measurements to numbers recorded in previous examinations.

When he was finished with that, he took my paws in his hands. He felt my fingers, then turned my paws over to examine my pads. He poked at the skin, watching the lightly pink-hued skin grow pale, and then swiftly rebound. Nesh felt the warmth of my throat, my ears, and looked into my throat. He muttered under his breath about missing his thermometer. Eventually, he returned to my eyes again. This time he examined them in greater detail, using lamplight and a device with tiny magnifying lenses that allowed him to see deeper inside my eyes. He also looked inside my ears, then asked me to spread my wings. Once they were draped across the floor, Nesh poked and prodded them, examining a few of the veins running through the sensitive membranes.

All during the bevy of tests, he made more notes for himself. Now and then he crossed something out and scribbled a new line in its place. Despite the bevy of tests, I had the distinct impression there were many other examination techniques he wished he could have employed. I could help but wonder how many of those I had deprived him off when I made him cast aside some of his tools and supplies.

“Alright, Ella.” Nesh scribbled down a few more notes, then packed away his supplies. “I’ve examined you best I can, considering…” He waved at the bulk of my body. “All this.”

I narrowed my eyes, hissing playfully. “What’s that supposed to mean? You’d better not be suggesting obesity.”

“Oh, Gods, no.” Nesh quickly shook his head, reddening slightly. “I wouldn’t even know how to begin measuring a dragon’s body fat level, let alone what the healthy percentage would be.” He poked at my scales, smirking. “Besides, you certainly feel quite strong, and fit, for whatever that’s worth.” Nesh turned and waggled a pen at me. “I was referring me to the general differences in size, my lack of appropriate tools, and my generally indadequate knowledge of dragon physiology. I certainly can’t fit a blood pressure cuff on you. And even if I did have a thermometer, I’m not sure where exactly I’d have to…” He cleared his throat, looking away. “And even if you let me, I wouldn’t have any way of knowing if you were feverish or not. What is a dragon’s body temperature? What’s your usual blood pressure, what’s your heart rate and rate of respiration like?”

I tilted my head, shrugging my wings. “I’ve no idea.”

“Exactly.” He scrunched up his face. “Unfortunately, I rather doubt anyone does. I’ve made what I hope are accurate baseline observations, previously. After your fight with our new friends, for example.” He waved at the gryphons. “Once you were fully unconscious and your breathing was even. That’s about as baseline as I can get, right now.” Nesh glanced between Sparrow and Blue Jay. “I’m sure the Legion has a few doctors who have specialized in the field of gryphon medicine, is that correct?”

Sparrow idly preened a wing while she replied. “There’s a few, yes. Probably a few dozen, in total. Mostly humans, though I believe a few gryphons are being trained in medicine, themselves.”

“Which,” Blue Jay said, swishing his tail. “Compared to the hundreds and hundreds of human doctors, is a paltry total. But one I’ll take over none at all.”

“Indeed.” Nesh tapped his pen against the book he’d been scribbling in. “I’m sure there are probably at least a few internists and surgeons specializing in gryphon anatomy, as well. I should like to talk to them, given a chance. While I’m sure your respective average vitals are quite different than those of the average dragon, such a knowledge pool would be helpful just the same. They’d be the comparison we have to dragons, after all.”

I snorted, tossing my head. “I’d rather have your opinion than some bird doctor, Nesh.”

Nesh chuckled, turning back towards me. “As much as that means to me, Ella, that ‘bird doctor’ might be better suited to diagnose any serious problems you may…” He held up his pen. “Or may not, have.”

“If I don’t have problems there’s nothing to diagnose.” I thumped my tail.

Nesh only shrugged. “It’s just a figure of speech. We don’t like the patients to think we’re assuming they have a problem, before we ourselves are certain they do. It’s a moot point, anyway.” He glanced over his shoulder at Ayrah. “As given your lack of gryphons, I shall also assume you’ve a lack of gryphon-specializing physicians.”

Ayrah took her coat off, as the warmth from the hearth and the heating pipes gradually penetrated the rest of the room. “You’d assume correctly.”

Lir fiddled with a golden tassel at the corner of the cushion she sat on. “There’s a few urd’thin doctors, a gnoll healer, and a few humans who specialize in treating us. But that’s about it.”

“I doubt they’d be much help with Ella, however…” Nesh twirled his pen around his fingers. “I’d not mind having a chat with them, just the same. But for now, Ella is our focus.” He peered down at his book. “Compared to the previous rough baselines I established for you, your heart rate was noticeably elevated, and your respirations as well. Your blood pressure may be elevated as well, but that’s conjecture based on the color of your pads, and the speed of that color’s return, as well as the visual pulsing of the veins in your wings. But I certainly am in no place to say for sure. I can’t really check your blood pressure, but I’m going to see if I can’t figure out a way to do so. Might have to spend some of that dragon treasure on having a very large, sturdy cuff built.” He turned towards the gryphons. “Actually, the legion doctors you mentioned. Do they have tools for measuring gryphon blood pressure?”

Blue Jay ground up his beak. “Unfortunately.”

“Perhaps then, I could have some of their equipment shipped to me.” He tapped his writing utensil against his chin. “If they measure your bicep, I’d probably have to fit it around Ella’s wrist.” He chewed his tongue, murmuring to himself. “A worry for later.” Nesh glanced at his notes again. “So, your eyes looked good, Ella, and that’s important. No sign of blown pupils, unexpected dilation, or bleeding. Now, just to be sure, I’d like to run you through a few cognitive tests.”

I wriggled against the cushions, adjusting my weight. “Do what you must, Nesh.” I cocked my head as he took a few big steps back. “But if you do believe something is amiss, what will you do about it? If my brain is…” I scrunched my muzzle, forcing myself to speak the words. “Bleeding, how do you stop that?”

The way Nesh grimaced and looked away made me shudder. “I don’t know, Ella. I’d need to relieve the pressure, but I’d need to know where the bleed was first, and…” He rubbed the back of his neck. “Let’s just hope it isn’t.”

“Relieve the pressure?” I gazed at him, confused. As soon as it hit me, I gasped, jerking my head back. “You will do no such thing!”

Nesh gave me a long look. “Ella, honestly? If you were suffering an idiopathic cerebral hemorrhage, there’s likely extraordinarily little I could do for you here and now. If we were lucky, the seizure would be the worst of it.” As that settled over me, and my frills fell, Nesh offered me a smile. Feigned as it was, it did bring me some small measure of comfortable. “Thankfully, while I am concerned, I’m not seeing any other symptoms. You’re not slurring your words, your trembling has stopped, and you don’t seem to be suffering any sort of cognitive impairment. Tell me, do you have any sudden changes in your vision in the last little while? Spots, blurriness, brightness, dark blotches, seeing stars, anything at all?”

The more Nesh talked, and the longer everyone else remained silent, the more seriously I realized they were all taking this. Just had badly had I been shaking, while lost in the throes of nightmare? “No, Nesh, none of that.” I looked around the room, just to test my vision. “Everything looks fine.”

“Good, good.” Nesh made a note. “Sense of smell? Do you detect anything unusual? Burned bread, or any other odd, burning smells? Disregarding the fire, and the lamps, of course.”

I sniffed at the air, flattening back my ears. “Other than those things? No.”

“Alright.” Nesh wrote a little more. “Any ringing in the ears that wasn’t there before?” I shook my head, and Nesh continued. “Funny tastes in your mouth? Or even, lack of taste? Do you want a drink to test it?”

“No, Nesh,” I said, keeping my voice even. Annoying as this might be, it was clear enough now I had best take it as seriously as the rest of them. “Nothing like that.”

Nesh swirled his pen. ‘What about sensations? Any strange feelings? Pain, or nausea, tingling in your extremities? Lightheadedness? Anything?”

I considered it, even glancing at my paws as if expecting them to start ferociously tingling at any moment. “No, not really.”

“Good.” Nesh jotted down a little more, then turned towards Blue Jay. “Help me out, will you? I want you to let her squeeze your paws.”

“Only his paws?” I perked my ears, glancing at the male gryphon.

Nesh sighed, rolling his eyes. “Make jokes later, Ella, this is serious. I need to make sure all your limbs are functioning, and haven’t lost any strength.”

Blue Jay pushed himself up to his feet, offering me an open beak smile. “I’ll behave if you will.”

“Deal.” I pushed up onto my haunches. “What am I to do?”

“Squeeze his forepaw.” Nesh pointed his pen at my left front leg. “With that hand, then with other. Blue Jay, tell me if either grip feels unusually weak.” Then he glanced at me, scowling again. “Firmly, Ella, but don’t hurt him.”

I lifted a foreleg and held it out. “I’m not going to hurt him.” Blue Jay put his paw in mine, and I did as Nesh asked. I closed my fingers around Blue Jaw’s paw, adding firm but not crushing pressure. After a few moments, I let go, and lifted my other leg. Blue Jay returned to his paw to mine, and I repeated the process. I soon released him again, and set my limb back down. “How’s that?”

Blue Jay looked over at Nesh. “Her grip feels fine to me, doctor. Neither felt any weaker than the other.”

“Good!” Nesh wrote that down. “Now, hold a paw up, and put her push against it with her front leg, one at a time. Then do the same with the hind legs.”

We did as the doctor ordered. I pushed against Blue Jay’s forepaw with each of my front legs. Then I rolled to my side to lift up a hind leg. Blue Jay padded along my body and settled next to me. As promised, he behaved himself, and kept his eyes where they belonged, even when my hind legs were splayed before him. I pushed against his front paws with each back foot, and he reported to Nesh that I seemed plenty strong, and each limb provided equal force.

When Blue Jay’s task was finished he moved aside, and I rolled back to my belly. Nesh asked me to stretch my wings, next. I did so one at a time, testing their strength and maneuverability. Neither seemed hindered in any way, though I could not be certain without attempting to fly. If Nesh’s worries were not so serious, his tests would have tried my nerves. His concerns, however, gave me plenty of additional patience.

After jotting down a few more notes, Nesh held his pen up in front of muzzle. “Alright, Ella, follow the pen with your eyes. Try not to move your head at all.”

Nesh moved the pen from left to right, then up and down, and eventually in a few more directions. I followed it with my eyes best he could. He never moved it beyond the edge of my vision, but came close a few times. He wrote something down, then twirled his writing utensil around his fingers without speaking. I stared back at him until the silence grew uncomfortable. Just as I opened my mouth to speak, Nesh beat me to it.

“What’s your name, Dragon?” The pen froze between his fingers.

I snorted at him in growing frustration. “You know damn well what my name is.”

Nesh only chuckled. “For the record, please. Your name?”

“It’s Ellamyriss, of course.” My tail flicked back and forth in sharp, quick movements, as if suffering its own agitation. “Queen Ellamyriss, at that.”

“Good.” Nesh scribbled down my name. “And where were you born, your majesty?”

“Nesh, is this really necessary?” I glowered down at him, rumbling low in my throat.

Ayrah glanced at Nesh’s notations. “Just answer his questions please, Ella.”

I heaved a growling a sigh. “I was borne in the Valley of God’s Blood and Earth. Shall I recite my entire ancestral history for you, next?” I swirled a paw. “Or perhaps you’d like to hear where I experienced my first mating.”

Nesh ignored my sarcasm. “Do you know where you currently are? Both the city, and the country, please.”

“Tivos, inside Diandrios.” I tilted my head, flattening back my ears. “Are you convinced nothing’s wrong with my brain, yet?”

“No.” Nesh underlined something, but then offered me a comforting smile. “But you’ve taken several big steps in the right direction. Your cognitive functions don’t seem impaired, you’re not showing any obvious signs of muscle weakness or diminished motor skills. Your pupils are equal and reactive, best I can tell. You’re not slurring your words. So I would be convinced if I hadn’t witnessed the seizure firsthand.”

Ayrah set her hand on Nesh’s shoulder. “Are you sure that’s what it was?”

Nesh shook his head. “I can’t be, no. But that’s certainly what it looked like, short lived as it was.” He turned the page in his notebook, glancing up at me again. “Ella, have you ever experienced anything like that before your last dream about the god? Ever feel like you’ve fallen asleep without realizing it?” Nesh waved off my reply before I could give it. “I don’t mean dozing off when you’re feeling lazy and lounging around on your bed, or sprawled in the warm sun, either. I mean, say you passed out while you were hunting. Or you were staring at the sky, in the middle of the day, then blacked out. Or perhaps you woke up somewhere unexpected, with no memory of how you got there. Anything like that?”

“Not that I know of.” I pushed up onto my haunches, curling my tail around my paws.

“Any family history of that, that you’re aware of?”

“No, but that’s not really something I imagine dragons would talk about.” I considered it, licking my muzzle. “I have vague memories of stories in which the old Singers of the Stars would go into a trace, but that’s it.”

Nesh made a worried noise, writing something down. “I see. I don’t think you mentioned that before.”

“I didn’t think of it until now.” I gazed around the room, looking at old portraits and new silvergraphs alike. “I might have heard it from Melakar, but you know how much attention I paid half of his lectures.”

“Indeed.” Nesh turned to Ayrah. “Did he ever mention anything like that, to you?”

Ayrah scowled, running a hand through her hair. “I don’t remember him talking about seizures, no. Trances, maybe. I never saw anything like that happen to him, though.”

“No, I’d imagine not.” Nesh turned to a fresh page. “Alright, Ella. Last one. When you had your previous visit, we’ll call it, you were alone. You were outside that fortress, correct?”

“That’s right.” I lifted my paw to glance at the scar signifying the blood I offered to the stars, after I first heard their song. “I was in that plaza, gazing at the stars. And when I turned around, there he was.”

Nesh held a hand up. “Details in a moment. I’m focused on the medical possibilities, right now. You assumed that you fell asleep, correct?”

I nodded once. “That’s right.”

“Because when the dream ended, you woke up on the plaza?” Nesh twirled his pen around his fingers again. “With no one there to see you, we don’t know for sure that you weren’t suffering a similar experience. You might well have been seizing in that dream, and collapsed when it was over. This time, it could have been our touch, our voices, that drew you out of it earlier.” Nesh quickly held his notebook up as if to ward off any disagreement. “I am absolutely not discounting the possibility of both the gods, and Melakar visiting you.” Nesh pursed his lips, looking around. “In fact I’m on record as concluding that is what happened. However…”

He closed his book and set it down, sighing. “I’m also forced to admit that it’s highly possible that such a visitation has a profound neurological effect upon you. We simply have no medical concept of what might happen, when a biological brain, a mortal consciousness, brush up against an actual deity, or the spirits of the dead. It…” Nesh clasped his hands together. “It’s possible that such an experience is simply beyond the capacity of your brain to handle, and so it starts to shut down. Or that it sends all sorts of unexpected ripple effects through your nervous system.”

I arched my neck as dread tingled at the base of my spines. “That is a disconcerting possibility.” I flattened my frills.

“It is.” Sparrow ruffled her wings, her gaze wandering from person to person. “But it also sounds like we have no real way of knowing, one way or another.” She brushed her wing tip across me. “This could have been an isolated event, or it could be a worsening symptom.”

“Exactly.” Nesh rubbed his chin, scrunching his face. “For now, there’s not much more I can do. I’ll see if I can find any research materials on related subjects. Probably need to focus on the medical side of things. Don’t want to get myself in trouble by poking around into too many potentially blasphemous subjects. In the meantime, everyone needs to help me keep an eye on Ella. Watch for any kind of unusual unsteadiness, any signs of blood in her eyes, any slurring of her speech, trouble with her balance, weakness, and so on. Ella, obviously, I need you to report any kind of symptoms and problems to me immediately.”

I tossed my head. “If I must.”

Nesh shook his finger at me. “That goes double for you, should you have any more such dreams. In fact, if you do, I want to examine you immediately after again, and I want you to tell me how you feel, and so on.” He scowled for a moment. “Even if nothing bad comes of it, it’s still potentially invaluable research into dragon physiology, and the potential side effects of contact with higher powers.” Nesh glanced at Sparrow when she clicked her beak. “Or at least, what may be contact with the gods. I certainly wouldn’t want anyone to feel as if I’m trying to force my beliefs on them.”

“Yes, yes, Nesh,” Blue Jay said, waving a paw. “You’re quite thoughtful, we get it. I believed her from the start.” He stretched a wing forward, nonchalantly preening it. “You already know my people believe in spirits, and so on. At this point, I think we’re all coming around to the fact that Ella’s gotten herself wrapped up in something supernatural.” Blue Jay gave Sparrow a pointed look. “Whatever that may be. I’ve got no better explanation than a god, so I shall assume it to such until proven otherwise.”

“You make a good point, actually.” Nesh stood up and turned towards Blue Jay again. “Since your people havelong believed in that sort of thing, do you know if they ever experienced anything like that?” He gestured at me with his pen. “Seizures, or trance-like states, unconscious singing, trembling, and so on? With regards to potential otherworldly visits, I mean.”

Blue Jay tilted his head, his crown feathers raised. “Not that I know of.” He settled his wing back, but left his black-tipped crown feathers up. “Mind you, we believe that spirits of our loved ones visit us, not gods. And it usually happens in our dreams. As in, when we’re asleep. So whatever just happened to Ella is already different than what our people experience.”

“It was different for me, too.” I licked my muzzle, arching my neck to peer down at Nesh. “Your people believe in some…” I paused, unsure how best to phrase things without blurting out Nesh’s secrets. “Specific interpretations of your religion, correct?”

Nesh chuckled. “Correct, Ella. I think it will be alright to talk about that front of the others now, as long as we’re in private. But why do you ask?”

“Two thoughts. One…” I flicked a single claw out into the air. “Have your people ever had experiences with gods visiting you, and causing these…” I scrunched my muzzle. “Seizures?” I did not like to refer to it as such, but I had to admit the word fit. “You said the gods sometimes appear to your people, yes? So have they had the same reaction?”

Nesh furrowed his eye ridges, and worried creases overtook his face. “Not usually. Most stories of such visitations fall into two categories. Most of them end up deemed to be unreliable, and likely false. A few, however, hold more water, and may be investigated by agents of the Church. In such cases, any story that turns out to be true, will likely be deemed a minor miracle, and spoken of by priests and bishops. It may even get added into the church’s yearly historical canon. Any…” He waggled his fingers, grunting. “Unsavory elements to the story are likely to be pruned away before it’s canonized and allowed to be spoken of as fact. So if a true visitation did cause a potentially harmful seizure, we’d never hear of it. However…”

When he trailed off into a soft murmur, Lir gave an irritable snarl. “However, they don’t like to talk about the ones that do have trances, cause that’s blasphemous, right?”

I glanced between them a few times. “Explain.”

Nesh sighed, rubbing the back of his head. “I suppose I’m hardly one to accuse anyone of blasphemy, at this point. But just as my sect believes…” He gave Lir an odd little smile. “What we believe, there are others that believe otherwise.”

“Gods, sharpshooter.” Lir rubbed her head beneath her horns. “Your vagueness is giving me a headache.”

“Yes, Nesh, just spit it out already.” I idly flicked my tail tip.

“There is an isolated sect believe they communicate with the gods while in a trance, yes.” Nesh shrugged. “Some of them even shake or stumble about, speaking in strange languages, or singing odd melodies.”

Ayrah slugged him on the shoulder. “Gee, I wonder if that’s relevant? So good of you to tell us that immediately.”

Nesh rubbed his shoulder, glaring at her. “Actually, most of them have been proven to be charlatans. Not all, admittedly, but most. In particular, their so-called High Priest has spent the last decade in jail, because he admitted to making the whole thing up, to prey on people’s generosity. The donations of those he conned into believing in his trickery paid for a damn palace for him, and his family. My guess?” He pivoted on his heel amidst us. “That there are few people who’ve experienced visitations, and had a reaction like Ella. And this priest just decided to use that as the basis to make up his own Church, with whatever rules he wanted, in order to bilk his poor, misguided followers. Unfortunately, there are always going to be those who would twist such a miraculous event for their own ends. When people want something to believe in, it’s all too easy to take advantage of their hope. Over time, some of them likely began experiencing a psychosomatic event. That is, they believe their priest is genuinely experiencing it, and he convinces them of the same thing. The more people who believe they’re going through it together, the more newcomers in turn will be tricked into believing the same.” He folded his arms, clucking his tongue. “It’s how cults get started, I imagine.”

“Funny,” Blue Jay said, tilting his head. “That’s how I imagine all religions get started.”

Sparrow nipped him on the neck hard enough to make him squawk in pain.

Blue Jay shoved her beak away, jerking back his head. “Stop it!”

“Then watch your damn beak!” She nipped at his paw.

“Anyway,” Nesh said, his voice sharp enough to cut the two of them off. “We certainly can’t discount the possibility, but I don’t believe the existence of that sect alone proves anything.” He turned back to me. “You mentioned you had two thoughts. What was the second one?”

“I did.” I licked my nose, shifting my weight. “We spoke a while back about the god-child occasionally revealing himself to your people, in dreams and otherwise. But are your people ever spoken to by…” I growled to myself. “Other entities?”

“You mean like the other gods?” Nesh chewed on his lip. “There’s stories of occasional visits by the Mother, and the Father, yes. Why? You think this was one of them, this time?”

I took a deep breath, and let it out slow. “I don’t think this was any of them. This was…” My eyes flitted about, from shadow to shadow. I suddenly expected smoke to start pouring into the room. “This was as if Melakar was warning me, this time, but…it was already too late.”

Nesh lifted his brows. “What was he warning you about?”

“I have no idea.” I turned my head, staring at the photograph of Melakar amidst all the flowers. “His words made little sense, this time. But they seem so urgent. Something about smoke.”

Blue Jay perked his ears. Lir cleared her throat with a growl. The two of them shared an odd look, but neither spoke up.

Ayrah moved in front of me, holding up her hands. “Ella, it seems like everyone in here but Lir and I know all about these dreams you’ve been having, and these gods you claim to have met. Why don’t you start there? Tell Lir and I about meeting the god. And then we’ll move onto your…” She scowled. “Dream, this evening. Or whatever it was.”

Lir tilted her head to Ayrah. “Boss’s right. I don’t think any of us should be making any kinda judgement or guesses without havin’ all the facts.”

“Very well.”

I began by recounting not my meeting with the god, but an earlier dream still. I experienced it the night after my first battle with the gryphons. Nesh had used Sparrow’s leftover chemicals to ease me into an unconscious stupor, to better treat my wounds. There was darkness first, quiet and peaceful. But eventually, the unnatural sleep gave way to the traditional sort, and dreams returned to my slumbering mind. I found myself seated at the edge of our valley, alongside Melakar. His body was rent, broken, and battered, and life had long since fled him. Yet death did not prevent him from speaking calmly, and casually. He questioned me, wondered aloud if I planned to let Nesh die. Warned me that allowing him to die in vain attempt to protect me was still letting him die. Then he asked me to forsake my duty, and flee the valley while there was still time, just as he had in his final moments alive. But by the end of the dream, it was too late. A great, unstoppable wave swept across the land, obliterating everything in its path. The Valley was lost, and Nesh and I were lost with it. I tried to tell him that I still loved him, but the tsunami struck me before I could fully get the words out.

Speaking that dream aloud now chilled my blood. I had come to accept that I really was seeing Melakar in my dreams. That somehow, his spirit found its way back to me, from time to fleeting time. It was even possible that I was really seeing him my waking hours, when he appeared to comfort me, when I spoke to him. It stood to reason then, that even if only one such vision or dream was truly him, that they all were.

I wondered how long since his death he had been visiting me. Not long after his pyre, I found and slew his murders. And while their fresh blood slowly froze in the snow, I watched the sunrise paint the horizon. I imagined him there, watching it with me, silently cradling me under his wing. At the time, that was all it was. My imagination. But now I could not help but consider another possibility. That it really was him, already returned to me, to watch over me in a trying time. Perhaps to try and convince me to leave the valley before I joined him in death.

Maybe that was too far a stretch. I could not deny my own desperation for answers and explanations. Nor could I deny that not long ago at all, I would have discounted the entire possibly as childish nonsense, and stories for hatchlings. But a lot of things had changed, very quickly. And now it seemed absolutely true that Melakar hadvisited me. Melakar had brought me a song in my dreams, that I had no other way of knowing. A song Ayrah recognized. And the god appeared to me in a form I should not have recognized, with sand and other images I could not have guessed. If nothing else, I was convinced that dream was real.

So maybe they all were.

Did that mean Melakar thought Nesh was in danger? Or had things changed already, now that I had given up the idea of trying to protect the Valley by force? I had embraced Melakar’s methods wholeheartedly, and now sought to finish building the alliances he started, that we might forge an empire for dragons. I had to assume that what happened with the god meant Melakar approved, and believed the wisdom of the stars would guide me to success. But I also knew I was grasping at smoke and shadows. I had no real answers, only wispy theories and hazy guesses.

Throughout my explanations, the others listened in relative silence. They shared glances and quiet words, but that was it. When I paused and lost myself in rumination, the gryphons and Lir whispered to one another, while Nesh and Ayrah softly conversed. I could not recall if I had told Nesh the specifics of that specifics dream before, but he did not seem overly worried about it. I imagined that I had, but the particulars of the moments that followed my waking were hazy at best.

When I’d collected my thoughts, I continued on, and spoke of the moment I met the god. Though it took came within a dream, no longer did I consider it to be just that. While I had not spoken with the god, I considered myself to have met him just the same. He smiled at me, sang with me, and conducted for me the symphony of existence itself. When I gazed into the god’s eyes, I saw all the vest cosmos held within them.

I offered Ayrah and Lir as full a recounting as I could. Until now, only Nesh had been privy to the vision’s every fine detail. Sparrow and Blue Jay knew of most of it, but I may have omitted a few elements when I first told them about it. I did not recall exactly what, if anything, I had left out. They both listened with rapt attention, as though it was their first time hearing the tale in any form. Even Nesh focused on my words as if the story was new to him. Lir kept her eyes swiveled towards me the whole time, scarcely blinking. Ayrah rubbed her face and sighed into her hands several times.

When I was finished, Nesh was the first one to speak up. He cleared his throat, and turned towards Ayrah. “Before we proceed, I’d like to make it clear that everything Ella just told you is a match for previously confirmed visitations by one of the Gods.” He held up a hand. “Obviously, not everyone believes in them as most of Diandrios does. Nor do they have to. But…” He glanced back at me. “The moment Ella told me the god child was an urd’thin pup, I knew it was real. Most teachings profess the Child to be human, but let’s not kid ourselves. A god could appear as whatever they wished.”

Lir beamed at him, folding her arms. “You’re one’a them, ain’tcha Sharpshooter!”

Nesh pinched the bridge of his nose. “Don’t start with me, Lir.”

“Well, aren’tcha?” She tilted her head. “One of them that believes the god are urd’thin?” She flicked her tail, her smile growing wider still. “Don’t be shy! You’re right, of course. They are urd’thin.”

Before Nesh could reply, Ayrah spoke up. “Is that why you quit the Empress’s service?” She gave Nesh a playful shove. “Cause you’re part of that urd’thin worshiper cult?”

Nesh glared at her. “It is not a cult.” He adjusted his coat sleeves, grimacing. “It is a legitimate arm of the original Church of the Three Gods.” He ticked off a finger. “It’s exactly the same as what’s come to be called the Church of Diandrios.” He counted another finger. “Which is and of itself, a branch of the same tree that grew the Golden Union. In fact, a large number of the world’s human religions, and more than a few of it’s known urd’thin religions…” Nesh gestured at Lir. “Are all descendants and variants of the original beliefs and scriptures revolving around the three gods, and their creation of this world.”

Ayrah only grinned at him. “That’s an awful lot of words to say, yes, you’re in the cult.”

“It’s not a gods-damned cult!” Nesh snarled his words through his teeth, face reddening.

“That’s enough, Ayrah.” I eased to my haunches and curled a foreleg around Nesh, pulling him back against my chest. “This is meaningful to him, and I shan’t have you making light of him for it.”

Ayrah’s face fell, and she gave another little sigh. “No, you’re right. It’s just…” She glanced down at Lir, then back at me. “Very unusual to hear anyone actually admit they follow that particular, shall we say, set of beliefs. Not that I’m one to talk.” She scowled, idly fidgeting with a button on her blouse. “I dunno that I ever really believed in any of that crap. At least, not until recently.”

Nesh gently stroked my enclosing foreleg. “See, Ella? This is why we don’t usually admit our beliefs around people who don’t agree. We get accused of being in a cult. Or being blasphemers, or heretics, or what have you.” He waved his hand. “Despite the fact that in almost every other way, our beliefs are identical. It’s just that, at some point, someone got it in their head that people shouldn’t be worshipping an urd’thin. So they changed it to a human, and over time that become the dominant representation. That’s…that’s practically the only difference!” Nesh ground his teeth, still glaring at Ayrah. “That hardly constitutes a cult!”

Ayrah stepped closer to put her hand on Nesh’s shoulder. “You’re right, Nesh. I apologize. What I said was very insulting, and I should not have uttered it. I’ll not say it again, you have my word.”

“Very well.” Nesh nodded once. “While offense was taken, I appreciate, and accept, your apology. Let’s move on.”

“Besides.” Lir ran a hand back across her oversized ears, smoothing them back. “Sharpshooter’s right. The three gods are urd’thin. Believing otherwise doesn’t change that.” She pointed at Blue Jay. “I could draw a picture of him as a blue-scaled dragon, and then tell I everyone I met that he is a dragon. If they only ever saw the picture I drew, they’d probably believe me. And yet, that wouldn’t makehim a dragon. He’d still be a far more majestic gryphon, no matter how many people believed otherwise.” She shook her head. “Belief doesn’t constitute truth.”

“Wisely spoken, Lir,” I said, arching my neck. I spared Blue Jay a sly look. “Aside from the part about gryphons being far more majestic than dragons. Because that part is an obvious fabrication.”

Blue Jay stretched out his black-barred wings, offering an open beak smile. “I suppose I could settle for being only slightly more majestic than you dragons.”

“You’ll settle for remaining my pillow.” I tossed my head, then gently patted Nesh’s middle. “I believe you were making a point about my vision?”

“That’s right.” Nesh leaned against me as he spoke. “Since it’s out in the open now, yes. My sect does believe the gods appear to us as urd’thin.” He shook a finger. “Mind you, we don’t believe they are urd’thin, only that they appear that way. As I explained to Ella, look at it like a test of faith. As sickening as it is, humans have often looked down upon urd’thin, and considered them to be a lowly species.” He turned towards Lir. “Please don’t think I also feel that way, or that I’m speaking in any sense other than historical.”

Lir shook her head, tail flicking. “Nah, I give you plenty of shit, Sharpshooter, but you don’t really strike me as the racist type.” A smirk crossed her muzzle. “Plus, you think the gods themselves are urd’thin, so I’d say we’re good.”

Nesh chuckled. “Again, I don’t think that the gods are literally urd’thin, but I’m heartened to hear it.” He glanced around at the others. “What I mean to say is, the gods present themselves as urd’thin on purpose. As a test, you see. For if they would not accept wisdom from one so lowly, then wisdom they did not deserve.” He gestured in a little circle. “To the same end, if they show kindness towards the lowliest amongst us, then kindness they themselves deserve.”

Ayrah crossed her arms. “Suppose that’s a good a reason as any to appear to people as urd’thin.”

Nesh bowed his head. “It certainly is. More important for our present discussion, Ella described exactly what one of my faith would expect to see, should the god-child ever visit us. And just as Ella knew a song that she could not possibly have known before, so to did she describe to me things she could not possibly know.” He held up a single finger. “Unless, of course, she truly did meet not only the god, but Melakar. Therefor, I genuinely believe she did both of those things. Afterwards, she pledged herself to the gods themselves.” Nesh patted my forepaw, and I turned it over to show off the little scar that marked it.” Nesh traced his finger across the little scar on my paw. “On her very blood.” He sharpened his voice, turning his unblinking gaze back to Ayrah. “So when she tells you she’s met a god, I advise you to believe her.”

Ayrah coolly met his eyes, then slowly looked up at me. “Honestly, what’s convinced me is that shebelieves it. The Ella I knew all those years ago would have had some very foul words for the very idea of pledging herself to gods.” Ayrah reached out and took my paw in her grasp, running her thumbs across my pads. “So if you’ve done just that, then I know things have changed. So if you think you’ve met a god, Ella, then I believe you.”

“Technically,” I said, licking my nose. “I pledged myself to the stars that sing, not to a god.”

Nesh chuckled, stroking my foreleg. “Be that as it may, Ella, but are those stars not the equivalent of the gods, to you dragons? Besides, it makes more sense to say you’ve met a god, than to say you’ve met the stars. At least to a human.”

I shrugged my wings. “I suppose so.” I tilted my head towards the gryphons. “I’d already told the birds the gist of it. But now…” I flicked my tail tip towards Ayrah and Lir. “You two are caught up as well.”

“At least up until today, hmm?” Ayrah scratched her forehead. “Didn’t you say earlier you’d been imagining yourself talking to Melakar, too?”

“Oh, she might be imagining him,” Blue Jay said, chirping. “But she’s not imagining the talking part. I think we’ve all caught her doing that.”

I ignored the gryphon’s playful jibe, tapping a claw tip against the floor. “He’s been there for me, when I’ve needed guidance, or comfort. I’ve assumed it was all in my head, of course. Imagined or not, it helped me center myself, helped me make a few decisions. But…” I trailed off, unsure how best to explain it. “When I see him, it’s almost real. As if he’s genuinely there, and I could reach out and touch him.”

“Maybe he is.” Lir perked her ears, rubbing her hands together. “Who says he only gets to visit you in dreams?” When everyone just stared at her, she bared her little fangs. “Oh, don’t give me those looks. If the dragon believes she’s really met a god, and believes she’s really met Melakar, why should it only be in dreams? Maybe he’s always with her now. Maybe his spirit’s here, listening to us babble about him, and muttering to himself about how we’re getting it all wrong.”

Blue Jay shifted his weight, ruffling some of his feathers. “It’s not the craziest theory I’ve heard. While we generally believe spirits can only visit us in dreams, that’s not necessarily because we don’t believe they might be roaming the world, from time to time. It’s more that we believe only when we’re dreaming that our minds open enough to accept their presence, to realize they’re with us.”

Nesh idly stroked my foreleg scutes. “It’s not outside the realm of possibilities in our beliefs, either. I’ve been…steadfast in my assertions that you need to accept that Melakar is gone, forever.” He patted my front paw. “And I remain convinced of that. But, I also accept that his spirit persists, somewhere, and the possibility exists that the Gods have deigned to allow him to linger with you a little longer. In such a case, theoretical as it may be, perhaps it’s simply easier for him to commune with your slumbering mind than your waking one.” He nodded towards Blue Jay. “Just as his people profess. But to that same end, Ella, the more open your mind becomes to the idea that he’s out there, the easier it may be for him to appear to you.”

I shook myself, scales clicking. “Normally I should like to point out that such ideas sound like utter gryphon bollocks.”

Blue Jay clacked his beak. “Excuse me?”

“You’re excused.” I waved a paw at the bird, and continued. “But given everything else I’ve come to believe, I’m certainly willing to accept that maybe he is out there, right now.” I curled my neck to gaze back at myself, imagining Melakar seated next to me. “Draping his wing across me, wanting ever so badly to over-explain the entire situation to all of us.”

Ayrah laughed, a bittersweet sound. “Absolutely.” She smiled at me, a wistful sort of smile. “If he is really still around, in whatever form, he must be going absolutely mad about his sudden inability to lecture us endlessly.”

I scrunched up my snout. “If Melakar begins lecturing me again, I shall be forced to banish him from my dreams.”

“Speak for yourself!” Nesh twisted around in my protective grasp to grin up at me. “If you’re kicking him out of your dreams, tell him he’s welcome to come lecture in mine. I’d love to hear about dragon history, and spiritual beliefs, and-”

“Yes, yes, Nesh.” I gave him a gentle squeeze. “I’ll be sure to ask Professor Melakar to stop by your mind some night.”

Ayrah smirked, turning her attention towards Melakar’s long rows of half-filled bookshelves. “Now there’s a mental image. I can just imagine him with some dragon-sized spectacles, and a great desk. Perhaps draped in some sort of elaborate scholar’s regalia. Giving a lecture to a packed university classroom.”

“Oh, yes!” Nesh twisted around towards her. “I like that idea! But are his students other dragons, or are they people?” He blinked, then clapped a hand over his mouth. “Oh!” He dropped his hand back down. “I’m terribly sorry Ella, that was not how I meant that.”

I snorted, easing my foreleg back from Nesh. “I know, Nesh. Don’t worry about it.” I made myself comfortable on the cushions again. “Melakar would have been ever so happy to get to teach at some human university, I am certain of it. Perhaps, if I am successful, somedays humans will travel to my empire, to hear lectures given by dragons.” I swiveled my ears towards Lir. “You said some of the schools in Shevar allow more than just humans to attend, correct?”

“That’s right.” Lir flicked her tail around, and caught it in a hand, tugging her fingers through the soft white and gray fur. “They’re still mostly humans, but some of them also have gnolls, va’chaak, kobolds, urd’thin, and so on.”

“There are a few Universities in Diandrios that have some gryphon students,” Sparrow said, lifting her crown feathers. “Only a few dozen gryphons per school, probably. But I think there’s one that even has a gryphon professor, now.”

I smiled at her as innocently as I could. “What do they teach, Basics of Nest Building?” I laughed, then gave in beneath her smoldering glare. “Alright, alright. I’m sorry, Sparrow. I actually think that’s a good sign though…” I drummed my fingers against a cushion. “Given how long you’ve been part of their society, I should think they’d be happy to let you into their schools, both as scholars and as professors.”

Sparrow fluffed up her wings. “It’s a start, at least.” Sparrow’s glare softened, and she tilted her head. “We weren’t really supposed to be discussing societal issues, though. We were talking about your dreams. So, have been over all of them, until today?”

“All of the ones worth mentioning, at least.” I eased down onto my belly, crossing my forelegs. “I’m not sure I’d call this one a dream, though.”

Nesh gave me a worried look. “I’d call it an episode, given what we all witnessed. But we’ve been over that, so why don’t you take us through what you saw, whilst you were seizing?” He scowled. “Or whatever was happening?”

I stared down at my paws. They were steady now, but they’d been shaking ever so badly when I first broke free of the vision. As I thought back on it, the images faded slightly, dissipating into my subconscious like smoke dispersed by the breeze. Smoke. That was key. I seized at the concept, the image, and clung to it. I dug my claws in, refusing to let it skulk back out of my mind until I’d spoken of it to the others.

“Smoke.” I licked my nose, lifting my head again. “There was smoke.”

Again, Blue Jay and Lir shared a strange look. This time, the indigo gryphon inclined his head towards Sparrow.

She caught his eye, and nodded. “Once,” Sparrow said, waving her paw in a grand gesture. “There was flame. Now, only smoke.”

I arched my neck. “Dare I ask what that means?”

Sparrow ruffled herself. “Nothing, hopefully.”

“It’s cult talk.” Lir folded her arms, giving a little growl.

“Cult?” Nesh turned towards her. “What cult?”

“Bird cult.” Lir flashed him a toothy smile, then gestured at me. “Go on. Don’t get distracted. Tell us your vision, first. There’ll be time to make a lotta proclamations that probably won’t pan out afterwards.”

I chuckled to myself, kneading a cushion. “I suppose that’s true.”

Blue Jay perked his ears. “So, you saw smoke?”

“Not at first.” I forced myself to focus on it, to grasp every last fragmented image while I could. “It’s strange. All my earlier dreams with Melakar remained with me even after waking, as clear as day. But this one is fading away, the harder I think about it. Almost like a real dream, or…or like it’s trying to hide, from me.” When no one interrupted me, I continued. “It started with the silvergraph Ayrah showed me. Melakar, in the flowers.” I scanned the shelves, and found the picture in question. “It was beautiful, to be sure. And Melakar looked so regal, sitting amidst all those flowers. Ayrah and him looked so happy there, so peaceful. I didn’t want to look away, and then…” Something cold curled in the pit of my stomach. “Then I couldn’t look away. It was as if it entranced me. I could smell the flowers, feel the warm breeze. And then I heard the song.”

Ayrah nodded. “I was humming it to myself. That photo was from last summer, so Melakar probably sang it, while we were out there.”

“It was Melakar’s voice I heard it in. Soft at first, but growing louder, and louder.” I looked around the room, suddenly oddly nervous about putting words to this frightening vision. “It took hold of me, carried me away with its melody. As if dragging me into the world inside the photograph. Until I was with Melakar, and only Melakar. But he was distant, and everything around us was gone. Only darkness remained. Melakar was singing but…not to me, this time. To the stars, perhaps, hoping they would return and bring their light with them. I tried to call out to him, to sing back to him, but could give voice to nothing but silence. I fought and struggled, and finally found my song. But this time, when my voice erupted into the emptiness and joined with Melakar’s, the sound frightened him! Suddenly, he was right in front of me, grasping my muzzle!” I lifted a forepaw, snatching at the air. “And then he begged me…” I trailed off, trying to recall his exact words. Their memory made me shudder. “Don’t listen to the smoke, Ella. Don’t listen to the smoke.”

Nesh’s face twisted in confused dismay. “What the hell does that mean?”

“I’ve no idea.” I shook my head. Dread tingled through my frills. “But no sooner had he said it, than he was gone, and I was back here, staring at his photo. But the dream was not over. For I still could not move, and the photograph was different now. Its peaceful beauty was gone, replaced with death, and ruin. All the flowers were dead, all the buildings charred and decaying. Ayrah wasn’t there, anymore. Melakar remained, but his paws were caked in blood. And he…” I swallowed, the cold thing in my belly creeping up my spine. “He looked at me. Turned his head and looked at me! As though I was looking not at a still image, but watching him through an open window. He stared at me, and there was something cold, and familiar in his eyes.”

“Gods, Ella.” Nesh wrung his hands. “That sounds terrifying.”

“It had only just begun, Nesh. For try as I might, I still could not tear my eyes away from the photograph. And when Melakar exhaled, smoke poured from his maw. Black, noxious smoke, writhing around him like a living thing. It pooled in the photo, curling around him. And then it came for me.” I squeezed my eyes shut, suddenly wishing I’d just let the dream escape my memory after all. “It streamed out of the picture, no longer held back by glass and frame. It coiled over my paralyzed fingers, wound its way up my forelegs. And where it touched me, I dissolved. As though it were not smoke at all, but nothingness, erasing me from existence.”

I started at a paw, imagining my fingers disintegrating away, and joining with the smoke. “Somewhere, at the edge of my consciousness, I heard Melakar singing again. I seized upon the sound, desperately hoping it might pull me from the mire in which I found myself. I thought to sing back to him, that Melakar might find me! But the smoke would not let me. It coiled its tendrils around my muzzle, binding it shut, seeking only my silence. But it could not silence my mind, and in my head I held tight to Melakar’s song, I focused on the sound, and I sang it back to him. Till the binding coils collapsed, and I was able at last to sing my song! The same song I found with Melakar, the night I met the god. The sound struck the smoke like a weapon, tearing it apart, freeing me from it.” I took a deep breath, and held it till my lungs burned. Even then I forced myself to let it out slow before taking another deep breath. “Then I awoke, and dropped the picture.”

Nesh ran his hands back through his hair, his face drawn. “That sounds horrifying. I’d have woken up in a cold sweat if I had a dream like that. Let alone to have experienced such a hallucination whilst wide awake. Or…” He trailed off, his scowl deepening. “Whateverthat was.” He dropped his arms, and came forward to hug me, best he could. “You’re with us now, Ella, and whatever it was, it’s over. And I promise, whatever’s happening? You won’t have to face it alone.”

“Thank you, Nesh.” I curled a front limb around him to return his hug. His warm comfort swelled my heart, and brought a hint of bleariness to my eyes. “Your companionship is always appreciated.”

“He’s right, Dragon.” Blue Jay came forward and set his paw atop mine. “We’re with you, now. So whatever you’re facing, whether it’s a brain injury, or some wrathful spirit of smoke, we’ll face it with you.” He turned his head and gave Sparrow a pointed look. “Right?”

Sparrow tossed her head. “No, Kraas, I’m secretly planning to betray her, and turn her over to the Empress.” She clacked her beak at him, then stretched her wing to brush it across mine. “Yes, Ella. Despite my desire to return to my position and continue to serve in the Legion, if you’re in need of help, I certainly won’t turn my back on you now.” With her wing still touching mine, she lifted a forepaw to hold up a single unsheathed claw. “On the condition, of course, that should I be court martialed you promise to free me from prison.”

I laughed, shrugging my wings. “I shall do my utmost.” I bowed my head to them, blinking back a few heart-warmed tears. “Your friendship, unexpected as it may be for all of us, means a lot to me. Thank you.”

“I’m sure you know you can count on Lir and I, as well.” Ayrah came forward and I lowered my head so she could hug me, too. She gave me a firm embrace, then pulled back. “Though, if you really do have some kind of…” She tapped her head. “Injury up here, I think your concubine there’s the only one who’s really going to be able to help you. The rest of us are just moral support.”

I snorted, licking my muzzle. “I shall take whatever I can get.” When Nesh eased away from me, I turned my head down to regard him. “Be honest. Do you believe I’ve suffered that kind of injury? Do believe these visions are caused by bleeding on my brain, or other problems?”

Nesh slowly shook his head. “No. I believe the visions, up until today, have been genuine. I believe you are seeing Melakar, and I believe you have met the God-Child. But I also know that no one has ever studied the neurological effects of repeated contact with spirits, and deities. I’ve never heard of anyone having a seizure during such an experience, aside from the cultists previously mentioned. But I’ve also never heard of anyone describing…” He scrunched his face. “What you just did. Even when we’ve occasionally had documented visitations from deities other than the god-child, none of them fit that description.” Nesh chewed his lip a moment. “Has anyone else?”

Blue Jay slowly lifted a paw. “I have.”

Nesh turned towards him. “Which part?”

“All of it.” He glanced at Sparrow, who nodded. “So has she, but…never in such detail. Just…” He waved his paw. “Little bits and pieces, here and there.”

Lir thumped her fist against her palm. “The bird cult.”

“Wait.” Ayrah sucked in a breath. “The Servants?”

I gave a low, rumbling growl. “Would someone kindly explain to the poor, addled dragon just what the hell you’re talking about?”

“There’s a group of gryphons, in Shevar.” Blue Jay shook himself, rustling up his indigo feathers. “A religious organization, you could say. The sort of group Diandrios considers extremely heretical.”

“It’s a cult.” Lir flattened her oversized ears, baring a few fangs. “Like I said. Shevar tolerates their presence because they’ve been helpful. They call themselves, the Servants of the Sun-Feather. So named because they tend to believe they’re working for some kind of…” She flicked a hand through the air. “Golden-feathered gryphon goddess.”

Nesh furrowed his brows. “I can’t say I’m familiar with them, though I shouldn’t be surprised. As much as I love my home, I also begrudgingly admit we’re terrible at allowing for the propagation of other beliefs. I’m sure any knowledge of this so-called goddess is immediately smothered. Dare I ask why you call them a cult? Worshipping a different god does not a cult make, after all.”

“No, it doesn’t,” Blue Jay said. “But believing that goddess sent them on a mission to save a dying world certainly qualifies.”

“Oh.” Nesh’s face fell. “Thatsort of cult.” He turned towards me. “Ella, a cult is when-”

“I know the word, Nesh.” I lowered my head to nose at him. “But thank you just the same.”

“You’re welcome.” He rubbed my muzzle. “I suppose you’d probably heard it from Melakar.” As he caressed my snout, he glanced at the gryphons. “So why do you two know about this group?”

Sparrow flicked a wing towards Blue Jay. “Because we were assigned to investigating them a few years ago. Diandrios wanted to know if they were a threat, or not.”

Lir shook her head. “Not directly.” A smirk crossed her muzzle. “At least, I’m assuming that’s what you determined.”

Blue Jay splayed his ears, glaring at Ayrah. “You know, since she’s not even trying to hide it anymore, it’s very unbecoming of a mayor in Diandrios to hire a Shevarrian spy as her personal assistant.”

Lir only smiled at him. “I ain’t Shevarrian.” She flicked her tail. “Besides, I’m Ayrah’s spy. As long as she’s got my loyalty, you ain’t got nothing to worry about.”

“I understand the bird’s concerns.” I snorted, glancing at the gryphons. They had an entire nation to look out for. I did not, at least not yet. “But Melakar trusted her, and that’s good enough for me.”

Blue Jay stretched a wing, idly preening it. “I do trust her, actually. I just dislike secrecy I’m not involved in.”

“Agreed.” Sparrow gave an irritable chirp. “However, Lir is correct. Our initial assessment was that they did not pose any direct threat to Diandrios. Best we could tell, they did not possess hostile intentions towards us. However, we also discovered evidence indicating they may have secured their place within Shevar by providing them access to foreign plans, and materials, that Diandrios does not have access to.”

I cocked my head. “Were you not previously saying that some of Shevar’s advances may have come from the scientists of other races?”

Lir nodded, swirling a hand in the air. “Some of the cult gryphons may have acted as a go-between among nations, simply because they’re not affiliated with any one government. For Diandrios, their beliefs are almost immediately a non-starter. Their prefer their gryphons to believe the same way as the rest of their citizens.” She pointed towards Sparrow. “Like her.” Then she indicated Blue Jay. “Or at least, willing to pretend they do. Right big guy?”

Blue Jay grunted. “Something like that. And there is validity to what Lir says. It’s part of the reason Diandrios has started trying to make a few more inroads overseas. They realized that if they allow Shevar to be the one to make alliances with the rest of the world’s great nations, it won’t be long before Diandrios is completely isolated. If Shevar convinces the Empire of the Black Star or the Golden Union to join some kind of military treaty, Diandrios could find themselves facing an invasion from across the seas, as well.”

Lir slowly nodded. “They’ve already got the remaining gryphon lands on their borders.”

Sparrow made an irritable squawk. “I’m sure there are Servants there, as well.”

“Of course,” Lir said. “Shevar would be more than happy to let gryphons build a little cult-city on their lands, if it meant a chance to make an alliance with enemies on Diandrios other border. Especially gryphons already used to acting as a go-between, and to making long, treacherous journeys.”

I tilted my head. “Your people might find them distasteful, but they certainly sound as if they could make for useful allies.”

“That’s exactly what Melakar thought.” Ayrah paced a small swath of floor. “That’s how I know about them. Because Melakar wanted to meet with them, and see if they might be able to help him locate trustworthy contacts in Shevar, and elsewhere.”

“That sounds reasonable enough to me.” I scratched my neck with a wing. “At least on the surface. Hell, if they were useful and loyal, I’d happily offer them a place in my empire in return for their services. I don’t care what silly bird-god they worship.”

Nesh rubbed his chin. “I suppose there are varying levels of culthood, and inherent danger.”

“Yanno, over in Shevar?” Lir perked one ear, and splayed the other. “They think your people are in a cult.”

“Fair point.” Nesh gestured at me. “Still, Ella, I’d advise you to be incredibly cautious with anyone like that. Although…” He turned towards Ayrah. “Did Melakar meet with them, or was he just planning to do so?”

“As far as I know, he did.” Ayrah peered towards the bookshelves. “I should be able to catch you two up on most of what Melakar did, as well as sort through all his notes and records. Though he did not keep all of them here.”

I flicked my tail against a cushion. “We have access to a lot of it ourselves, though you know how well organized his note keeping was.”

Ayrah laughed, a bittersweet sound. “Indeed. And yet, somehow he could always find whatever needed, whenever he needed it. His systems only ever made sense to him.”

“He tried explaining some of his organization methods to me, once.” I scrunched my muzzle, a headache building beneath my horns at the memory alone. “Nearly tied my brain in knots. If anything gave me a brain bleed, it was probably that.” I drummed my claw tips against the ground. “So this cult, as you called it. Blue Jay, you’d heard of things like I described, from them?”

“To an extent.” He held up his forepaws. “I don’t want to sound as if I have answers, or know exactly what happened to you. I don’t. But some of the things this cult believes, some of the ideas they express, they do fit some of what you spoke of. They believe they follow some gryphon goddess, working to save people from their dying worlds.”

I blinked, staring at the gryphon. “Worlds. Plural.”

Blue Jay nodded once. “Yes.”

Sparrow ruffled herself. “Like we said, Ella. They’re considered a cult for a reason.”

I stretched foreleg to brush my paw across Nesh’s back. “Nesh and I talked about that, actually. How his people believe other worlds exist.”

Nesh lifted a hand. “I said we acknowledge other celestial bodies exist. That’s no longer debated, that’s proven. But to say anything beyond that is still debated, and depending on what you say, often quite blasphemous. However, Ella posited that in her dream, she believed she saw evidence of not only many worlds, but many versions of each world. As if the god-child was refining his technique, building a world multiple times until at last he got it right.”

“That’s…” Blue Jay swallowed, glancing at me. “Disconcertingly close to some of the strange beliefs Sparrow and I encountered.”

“The old urd’thin tribes used to believe that sort of thing, too.” She held up a few fingers, walking them through the air. “That our people wandered the whole wide world, and when we’d spread as far as we could, the gods cast us to another world, and bid us to wander it, next.” Suddenly, she turned towards me. “We used to share a belief; you know. Not you, and I, but dragons and urd’thin.” A wistful smile crossed over her muzzle. “I talked to Melakar about it a few times, and…he told me about the Stars That Sing. And I told him my mother used to tell me stories about the very same thing. In urd’thin, of course, but the translations was the same. The Stars That Sing. Now, for you dragons, I guess that’s what you called the cosmos. A whole group of stars, singing to you.” She sighed, her ears drooping ever so slightly. “Sounds beautiful.”

I lowered my head to speak to her on her own level, in what I meant as a sign of respect. “We are both an elder people, so I am not totally surprised that our ancestors may have held similar beliefs. But what did your people use the title for, if not the stars themselves?”

“To us,” Lir said, coming forward to gently cup her small hand just under my chin. “The Stars That Sing was the name of our god. The Pup, specifically. Doesn’t matter that it sounds plural, in the common tongue. Long ago, we called The Pup, The Stars That Sing. His family had names too, but those were forgotten to almost everyone but the old desert priests. I think they were something like, The Sand That Shapes, and The Rain That Remembers.” Her hand dropped away, and she slowly turned her gaze to Blue Jay. “I heard my mom speak one other name, but only once, and only when she was very ill, and wrapped in some fever-dream. I just…” Lir shrugged. “Assumed it was dream-speak nonsense. But when I asked her about it, she slapped me across the muzzle, told me never to speak that name again.”

I waited for her to say it, but Lir suddenly seemed lost in her own thoughts. She winced, rubbing her muzzle as if feeling the pain anew. I gently prodded her with a single finger. “What name?”

Lir turned back towards me, her face drawn, and ears quavering. “Same one your Melakar told you not to listen to. Only, mom called it, The Smoke That Seeks.”

Blue Jay made a startled squawk, fluffing up his feathers. He put his beak by Sparrow’s ear, whispering. Though his reaction was unsettling, it was no more so than the rest of his conversation. I pushed myself up onto my haunches again, turning my attention back to Lir. “So this Smoke. Is that another urd’thin god?”

Lir’s ears pinned back. “Mom didn’t make it sound like this one was a god. I don’t know what she thinks it was, but she sure as hell didn’t want me talking about it.”

I sighed, kneading a spare cushion beneath a forepaw. “Whatever it is, I do not appreciate it twisting Melakar’s image like that.” I tried to force a smile to my muzzle, though my mirth was poorly feigned. “When next I dream of the real Melakar, I shall be sure and tell him this thing has taken to impersonating him.”

Nesh settled down at my side, leaning up against my hind leg. “What I should like to know is, what does it want? This Smoke certainly does not fit the profile of any god I’ve heard of. But…” He tilted his head back, grunting. “As I’ve already said, The Church of Diandrios wouldn’t exactly spread such knowledge, even if they had it. Lir, I don’t suppose you ever heard about it from any of your other people?”

Lir shook her head, her ears twitching. “Nah. Only the basics of the old desert beliefs lasted more than a few generations, once most of us were living in the big cities. My grandma was a big believer, and so was my mom, but…” She shrugged. “I had a lot more to worry about than gods and stars. I kept to the basics, The Pup, The Father, The Mother, that stuff. But I never really studied the deeper intricacies or paid much attention to those who did. I had other things to worry about that stars, and sand. I had to worry food, and shelter, and survival. Hell, I only started looking into it again thanks to Melakar. But the Smoke?” She shrugged. “Never really heard him discussed much. I’m not sure that many of our people even know about him.”

An unpleasant thought slowly wormed its way into my head. “Did Melakar?”

Lir nodded once. “Yeah. Though he didn’t wanna talk much about him, either.” She glanced up at Ayrah. “Unless he talked to you about him?”

Ayrah only scowled. “I’ve heard the phrase from him. But there were a few things he usually kept even from me. He…” She paced a few steps. “He did mention some dreams to me, he’d been having. Towards the end. Talked about feeling like something was closing in on him.”

I lifted my head as cold fingers squeezed my heart. “He said as much to me, in his letter.”

“Letter?” Ayrah pivoted on her heel. “What letter?”

“He…” I swallowed, glancing towards our gear piled nearby. “He wrote me a letter, before he died. In which he confessed that…” I trailed off, staring down at my paws. How much did I want to tell Ayrah? Would it further bruise her heart, to know that Melakar still loved me? Surely she knew it was not uncommon for dragons to love more than one individual, but with the wound so freshly opened, it seemed like salt I need not add. “A lot of things. But among them, he spoke to me of the stars, and how they sang to him in his sleep. But when he woke, he…how did he put it?” I tilted my head, trying to recall. “Something like, he could feel a creeping thing, slinking through the shadows towards him.” In my head, I saw writhing tendrils of smoke, slithering through the darkness, wrapping around his paws. Dissolving him. I shook my head as if to clear the image. “At the time, I assumed he simply meant he feared his own death was imminent. But perhaps he meant something else.”

Nesh shuddered. “You make it sound as if this thing was stalking him.”

“Maybe it was.” I turned my head towards the gryphons. Blue Jay had been uncharacteristically quiet for a while, now. He watched me with a stony gaze, his ears splayed at nervous angles. “That cult you spoke of. You said before that some of my dream was familiar? That these…” I waved paw. “Servants of the Sun-Feather. Use similar imagery?”

Blue Jay clicked his beak. “They do, yes. Now, Sparrow and I are hardly experts on them. We were mostly trying to assess whether or not they were dangerous to Diandrios. But there was definitely talk of otherworldly smoke, and of…” He waggled his fingers. “The way you described Melakar in the photo, as if you were watching him through a window. The cult has made references to things like that, to…Windows into other worlds.” Blue Jay slowly turned his attention to Nesh. “Something even his people have spoken of, if only in hushed tones.”

Nesh crossed his arms. “There are scholarly debates about such things, yes. Though they’re usually held in secret, lest they should cross any dangerous lines.”

“I’d not be surprised if these scholars find receptive ears amongst the Servants.” Blue Jay swished his tail. “Or vice versa.”

Nesh grunted. “I’m not sure if that’s good or bad, frankly.”

The gryphon shrugged his wings. “I don’t think it’s either, on its own.”

“No, I agree.” Nesh tapped his fingers against his bicep. “The seeking and exploration of knowledge is never a bad thing, in and of itself. Like anything else, it can be twisted towards ends both helpful and unpleasant.”

“What else does cult share?” I gestured at Lir with a wing tip. “When she mentioned that name, you seemed startled.”

Blue Jay glanced at Sparrow. She stared at him a moment, then took the lead. “In our investigations, we stole a book from them, containing some of their beliefs and theories and so on. Most of it read like typical cult propaganda, and we turned it over for evidence upon the completion of our mission. But there were sections in which they talk about gods other than their own.”

I lifted my head, a shiver running through me. “He was in there, wasn’t he? This…Smoke That Seeks.”

“So were your Stars.” Sparrow softened her voice, her feathers slightly fluffed up. “They seemed to believe that their own goddess shared an affinity, if you will, with the so-called urd’thin gods. They were so named as, The Stars That Sing, and The Smoke That Seeks.”

A growl escaped me before I could halt it. “Wait. Did I not mention the Stars That Sing to you, sometime ago? When we spoke of the things Melakar believed in, when I told you of our people’s Star Singers! Why did you not mention this then?”

Blue Jay tilted his head, his ears perked. “You’re asking why highly trained counterintelligence agents did not betray knowledge of classified information, to a dragon we did not yet consider fully trustworthy?”

A retort formed on my tongue, acidic and angry. But it died away as quickly as it sprang to life, and I only sighed, instead. “You make a fair point.”

“Not to mention, Ella,” Sparrow said, lowering herself in a show of respect. “The book in question is written in a rather archaic gryphon dialect. The names do not translate directly into the common human tongue. A direct translation would be something more like, A Child That Ever Sings The Stars.” She shook herself. “So the phrase isn’t the same, and hearing it in the Diandriosian language didn’t immediate click in my head. Besides, shared beliefs are hardly uncommon.”

I glared at her, but it was a more playful sort of expression now. “I’ve already conceded the point was fair, you need not continue to make it.”

Sparrow tossed her head and gave an irritable chirrup.

“Oddly enough,” Blue Jay said. “The way it was written made it seem as they acknowledged that The Stars That Sing were so named by another people. The urd’thin, I assume, or perhaps dragons. But it also sounded as if they believed their goddess dubbed the Smoke.”

I blinked, cocking my head. “They think their own deity, named another deity?”

Sparrow shrugged her wings. “At the least, they seemed to feel as if their goddess was the one who conceived of this current moniker.” She held a forepaw up. “As the humans would say, take it all with an enormous grain of salt. This is, after all, an actualcult we’re talking about.”

I shifted my weight, inadvertently jarring Nesh a little. I cast him an apologetic glance as he resettled himself. Everything about this sat ill inside me. I could not help but wonder just what else Melakar had gotten himself wrapped up in, and how much of that now fell upon my wings. “Did you learn anything about this odd entity, besides his name?”

“Not much.” Blue Jay fluffed up his neck feathers. “They’re quite secretive, and alas, the book we were able to get hold of was not exactly filled with their deepest secrets. More a sort of…” He waggled unsheathed talons. “Manual of the basics, they might provide a new adherent. But they seemed to believe that the Smoke and Stars were related. As if they were two parts of a whole.”

Nesh sat up straighter, sucking in a breath. “That’s it! He’s their urd’thin’s devil, isn’t he? Their force of evil? Like, life and death. Creation, and Destruction.” He furrowed his brow when I looked at him. “Although, does not the Father already fill that role? I suppose not for their beliefs, but perhaps-”

“Nesh.” I spoke his name sharply enough to silence him. “You’re rambling, and right now is not the time.”

He reddened, but bowed his head, a hint of a smile on his face. “My apologies, your majesty.”

Blue Jay clacked his beak. “Nesh isn’t totally wrong, though. I believe they do see it as that sort of relationship, but…”

“Not life and death.” Sparrow warbled, a low, oddly mournful sound. “Nothing that cut and dry. They seemed to believe it was more like order, and chaos. Both a viable, necessary part of the universe, and both ever seeking to tip things in their favor.”

“Seeking to tip things in their favor?” I glanced between the gryphons. “What does that mean?”

Nesh suddenly shot to his feet. “They’re fighting for her!” He spun towards me, his eyes wide. “That’s it, isn’t it?”

“What the hell are you talking about, Nesh?”

Nesh gestured, his hands shaking. It was as if he’d stumbled upon some revelation the rest of us couldn’t quite fathom. “Ella, do you agree with me that Melakar brought you the god, that you might do the god’s work?”

I wriggled in place, uncomfortable with the question. My scales scraped the wood. “I’m not sure that’s quite how I would-”

“Ella, please.” Nesh took my muzzle between his shaking his hands. “Yes, or no?”

I sighed against his grasp. “If you’re forcing my hand, then yes. But only in a vague sense, because-”

Nesh stepped back, his voice rising into a powerful, confident tone. I had heard it from before, but only rarely, and only when he was truly convinced of something. “You pledged your blood to the gods, Ella. Melakar brought you to the Creator Child, and the Child accepted your pledge of service. Will you then agree, that Melakar too, serves the god child?”

I ground my teeth together, my tail curling. He was backing me into a corner, but I saw no way out. “The dreams certainly make it seem possible, yes.”

“And now?” Nesh pivoted, speaking to the entire room. “Now we have heard that Melakar too, knew of this…this Smoke That Seeks. That he may well have felt as if it was stalkinghim. But perhaps, it sought only to sway him to its service, to follow Chaos, rather than order.”

I took a slow breath. I knew now where he was going with this. “And now you believe it’s turned to me, in his place?”

“The God-Child certainly did.” Nesh approached me again, and once more took my muzzle in his hands. This time, his grip was firm, almost frighteningly so. “Ella, you offered them your blood that night. You meant it for the Pup who proved to you his existence. But you offered it to the stars, Ella, and I now fear you’ve drawn the attention of all the gods. For good or for ill, for order or for chaos, they will try to make you choose.”

“Choose what?” My own voice trembled. Nesh seemed so certain, it was almost frightening.

“I don’t know, Ella.” Fear crossed his face, followed by steely determination. “But for all your sakes, and for your Empire to be, please. Remember what Melakar told you. Don’t listen to the Smoke.”