"Why are we stopping here?" Felix asked as he and Eri struggled to get off of Kyrith. They landed just outside of where the new town was being built.

"We have to load up the dragons, of course," Eri said matter-of-factly, gesturing over to a spot where the dragons' harnesses and saddles laid. Several small boxes and trunks rested next to them.

Oh… "Now I feel like an idiot," he admitted.

His…wife shook her head in amusement. "Felix, you are an idiot. But…" she leaned into him and gave him a kiss. "I still love you."

He rolled his eyes. "Thanks… I guess." He turned his attention over to the construction site. "Things are progressing quite quickly."

The town was mostly made up of foundations and posts at this point, but there were markings all around indicating paths, roads, and even buildings. If one were to squint hard enough, one could almost see the finished design…

"It is. Hargoth has been hard at work from what you and Oralyn have told me. I still need to sit down with him and Gil though. There are some finer details I'd like to discuss with them."

He squeezed her hand. "Well, I suspect that now with you officially the Queen, they will most likely come to you soon enough."

She scoffed. "Oh, them and everyone else! I know all the Chiefs will want to speak with me the moment we get back."

"Then…" He gestured over to their things. "Let's not worry about it right now. We got bigger issues like, how are we going to get this all loaded with our hands tied?"

"Oh come on– Here." To his surprise, Eri slipped her hand out of the ribbon.

"What about keeping our hands tied until tonight?" he asked, taking the ribbon off and rubbing his wrist.

She gave him that look. "Who but us will know?"

"I will," a new voice said, startling the two of them.

Felix whipped around to find the ruby-eyed woman behind him. "Zeph! What are you doing here?"

"Guiding you to Yarnel's home, of course! Why else would I come here?" she stated, cocking her head slightly to one side.

He blinked before shaking his head. "Never mind… We'll be ready to leave after we get Kyrith and Zira loaded up."

She gave him a sagely nod. "And don't worry about me saying anything. I'll keep it a secret."

"Thanks." I think? "Anyway, this shouldn't take very long."

Zeph studied him for several long moments before responding. "That's fine, that'll give me enough time to finish preparing something for you."

Now it was his turn to study her. "What is it?"

"You'll see!" Her eyes drifted to something behind him. "I think you should go now, Zira is looking rather annoyed."

Huh? He turned back to the two other dragons and found his partner giving the ruby-eyed woman a death glare.

Hurry up, I want to get back into the air, she grumbled before making her way over to where her harness laid…

Time quickly passed as Felix worked on Zira. She was in a mood, constantly shifting in place as he worked.

What's wrong? he asked, stepping back to check his work.

Nothing…

Is it Zeph? he pushed.

No. She let out a frustrated snort.

So it is. Unfortunately, she'll be with us until–

I know that. But… I don't like it. She's weird and she definitely has her eye on you.

He reached up and patted her side, giving a smirk in the process. Don't worry Zira, I have no intentions of replacing my dragon. I quite like this one. Besides, Chief Herrin went through the trouble to make my robe match her scales. I wouldn't want to inconvenience him with having to make a new one.

Zira turned her neck and narrowed her eyes at him. Do not talk about me as if I am some…thing that can be traded or fancied!

I know! That's what I'm saying! She's quite sweet once you get to know her. That's why I refuse to trade her for something better. He let out a laugh as she began to growl, he knew it wasn't real.

Eventually, he began to settle down. Look, Zira, I know Zeph is strange. Believe me. But I don't think she has any ulterior motives– At least, none that I would say are nefarious. In fact, I wish to speak to her more. She knew other bonded pairs. Maybe she can tell us something that we didn't know?

She looked away, letting her more vulnerable side show. I fear she might whisk you away. Even now, she has her eyes solely on you. Not me, not Eri. You.

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He did his best to not look in Zeph's direction. I…understand. I won't get any closer to her than is absolutely necessary. But, I do want to know more about the bond. There's still things we're discovering. How much more is there to learn?

What about Herrin? she asked. He seems to be quite knowledgeable, given his ancestry.

I want to speak with him as well. However, I feel that anything he says is questionable at best. It's all from stories and accounts passed down for generations. How much has been altered or outright fabricated?

And you think she wouldn't lie?

Felix paused as he considered her point. You're right. I shouldn't take anything she says at face value. Yet, that is all the more reason I should speak with her. Then, I can speak with Herrin and, hopefully, between the two I can figure out the truth.

Finally, Zira relented. Okay. Just… Be careful. I don't know why I dislike her so much, but I fear… I don't want to lose you.

And I don't want to lose you. I love you, Zira. And I know I joked a moment ago, but I would never replace you. Not you, Kyrith, or Eri. I'd rather– Wait, I promised I wouldn't say things like that… Anyway, no matter what, I choose the three of you over anyone else.

A moment of silence passed between the two before Felix took a deep breath. Right, I still need to get the rest of our things tied down…

Zephyria watched Felix with nearly all of her focus. She watched as he moved about, slowly saddling and then tying various boxes and trunks to Zira. She watched as he and his partner clearly talked about her.

She held no shame in her fascination with humans, nor did she truly feel they were responsible for everything. They were not absolute monsters. She'd been observing them since before the Holy Triumphant. But there was something more with Felix than simply being human.

He was special.

The only person to ever bond with Fea… Zeph often pondered that, wondering why. That drove most of her curiosity over him. It was unfortunate that she was only now able to meet him. A fact that saddened her greatly.

It's no wonder why she chose him. He's quite friendly and charming, but that isn't all. It's his mana. It radiates from him like heat from a fire, warming and…soothing. His honest emotions are laid bare for all to feel.

Her expression slowly drooped into a frown. Zeph never really, truly bonded with anyone herself. She had the occasional midnight tryst, but the idea of bonding with anyone, including humans, never appealed to her.

Until now.

It was strange to say the least. Her kind needed to form bonds, yet for all her life, she preferred to simply be an observer.

Until now.

And now, she was regretting not getting to him first. Had things played out differently, had she known he would be brought back to life, perhaps she would have offered a bond to him.

But it wasn't meant to be. Now he has bonded with not just Zira, but with Kyrith and his new wife. She felt jealous of such an arrangement. Still, it's not like I can't be 'just an observer.'

She quickly hid her frown with a false smile as Felix finished his tasks and turned back to her. "Finished?"

"Yeah," he answered, strolling up to her. "We're ready to go."

"Perfect! But… Before we set off…" She held up a hand and cast a silent spell. A small flat stone appeared. "A gift!"

She watched as he raised an eyebrow and slowly took it. "Thank you, but what is it?"

"Why, a messaging stone of course!"

"A…messaging stone?"

She gave him a nod, waiting for him to ask the most obvious question.

"And, uh, what does it do exactly?"

She let her smile grow. "Why simple! You can send and receive messages with it!"

Now his eyes widened. "Really? That's–"

"Impressive? I know. The Dragon Queen made them for us– Well, a handful anyway… They weren't easy to make nor are they simple to use."

Now that seemed to really pique his interest. "Fea made these?" he muttered, peering down at the stone with reverence.

"Yep! Unfortunately, she didn't have the time to perfect them… But they work well enough as is."

"Fascinating," he muttered. She could sense his mana flowing through it, testing it. "So…how do I use it? Do I need to think of the message and the person I want it to go to?"

Another nod. "But be warned, it does use quite a bit of mana to work. That, and you have to keep concentration on both the message and recipient. If you lose focus, it could fail– And still eat up your mana. It will also fail if the person doesn't have a messaging stone of their own."

"I see… Do you have one?"

"I do." She called forth another spell and another stone appeared. "I do recommend keeping your message simple and short. It helps with keeping concentration on it."

His expression became one of focus as he poured more mana into his stone. A moment later, hers lit up with faint blue text: Hello.

Zeph held up her messaging stone and showed him. "Well done! It took me several tries before I was able to get it right."

Felix began to look a little unsteady on his feet. "Thanks… But that does use a lot of mana. I haven't fully recovered after yesterday and that nearly wiped me out."

She gave him a sympathetic look. "It does get a little easier once you use it a few times."

He nodded tiredly to her words. "I figured but… I do have one more question– Actually, two."

"Oh?"

"I appreciate the gift, but why now? I feel like this could have been more useful if I had something like this a lot sooner."

"That's because it is actually on loan," she admitted. "Like I said, there's only a handful and we tend to pass them around to whoever needs them. And most are being used by those of us who are protecting the coast."

He winced at that. "That makes sense, and that's my next question. Who all has one? Who can I message with this?"

"That's three questions!" She said teasingly before actually answering his question. "I have one, Yarnel and Lorenzen have one– Wait, that's Lorenzen's… Anyway, a few other dragons and… Oh! The Sages!"

"So that's how they communicate…" Felix mumbled, seemingly putting something together. He suddenly shook his head and pocketed the stone. "Thank you."

Behind him, his partner began to look rather annoyed.

He let out a sigh and wiped at his brow. "Right, everyone is apparently getting impatient. Shall we take to the skies?"

"Absolutely– Wait, uh…" She looked up at the sun, noting its position. It was already past noon. "We'll probably have to stop for the night, if that is alright. We won't make it today."

"That…should be fine," he said with a bit of annoyance of his own. "I suppose we can use the messaging stone to decide when and where to land."

"Exactly why I gave it to you! So we can communicate in the air! Anyway, hurry up! We're burning daylight!"

Zeph waited until Felix was rushing back off to his group before she took a deep breath. With a single command, her form changed.

Where once stood a ruby-eyed woman now was a ruby-colored dragon.

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