The fringes of a civilization began to appear around them: huts on the ground and treehouses suspended above. While dragons flew amidst the leaves, it was not too long until Fia, Viliant, and Diwa encountered humans as they walked. These men and women were dressed in more feathers and leathers than the cotton-based clothes of the humans of the Syenic plains. The feathered shirts made the people more colorful: bright reds, deep blues, and rich oranges. The humans' teeth flashed when they opened their mouths to let out raucous laughter amongst themselves.

Humans! Viliant barked in their minds and ducked in an alleyway between two shacks.

Without a sound, Fia slipped behind him and peered distrustfully through the holes in his wings.

Diwa stood out in the open, looking between the group of humans who walked closer and the dragonets who stayed out of view. "It's all right," she told Fia and Viliant. "You don't have to hide. The dragons and humans don't hurt each other here."

Agitated, Viliant swished his tail in a volatile manner. The end of it taped against Fia's forelegs. Don't let your guard down, he instructed her.

Conflicted, Fia stayed behind Viliant and observed him and Diwa. She trusted both of them. While Diwa probably had a better understanding of her own homeland, it mattered more to Fia that she stuck by Viliant's side.

"I can even talk to them," Diwa said. To prove herself for good measure, she stepped forward and blocked the trajectory of the humans' walk.

The humans halted in front of Diwa and huddled their heads closer to share in some whispers.

"Hello!" Diwa said, unfazed by the suspicious behavior of the humans. "I have two shy dragonets with me, but they like your hair decorations. Can they say….?" Diwa did not bother to finish her question because the humans had already given her a wordless response.

The small, piggish eyes of the humans drew wide. They immediately turned around and went back the way that they had come. None of them wanted to cross paths with the dragon, or so it seemed. Only one woman in the group dawdled behind, confused, but a man around her age tugged her arm to come with them.

"See!" Diwa huffed a big snort with her nose up to the air. "The humans are harmless here."

Now that they were gone, the dragonets stepped back into the open. I wonder how long that will last, Viliant thought wryly. We shouldn't test their patience—or mine.

The dragons continued down the dirt street once more. Fia and Viliant walked warily after Diwa. Their wings hunkered over their backs, and occasionally they looked back to make sure none of the humans on the street had crept up behind their drooping tails. However, the next time that they crossed paths with humans, Fia and Viliant did not hide. The spines on Viliant's back bristled so that he looked twice his size—and even more dangerous. A low grumble caught in his throat, and his aggressive posture did not lessen even as the humans steered clear of them. At least the humans know to get out of our way, as they should.

"Relax, Viliant," Diwa hissed close to his eardrum. "There's no need for you to be so on-edge. Malakow has laws which both humans and dragons must abide by—"

A willowy young man neither gave into fear nor gave the dragons a wide berth as he passed by them. His focus remained straight ahead, hurrying with books in his arms.

A snarl ripped from Viliant's mouth. His barred fangs split open and latched onto the man's leg. A yelp curled from his lips, a higher pitched sound than normally heard from male humans. Fia flinched, but she neither moved a claw to join Viliant's attack nor stop him.

Though the man tried to run, his leg was caught firmly in Viliant's jaws. The dragonet held his ground and caused the man to fall. The stack of books fell from his arms with the pages aflutter. On the ground, the man became more vulnerable to Viliant who jumped on top of him. His claws aimed to pierce the human's eyes, squeezed shut tight. The man could only muster to lift his book as a flimsy shield.

"Viliant!" Diwa's voice boomed over the terrified man's scream. Her claws intercepted Viliant's blow and flung him backward. The dragoness pushed him with enough force to make his claws drag long lines through the ground.

Once Viliant recentered his balance in a low crouch, he growled menacingly.

"Why would you do that?" Diwa yelled. She had her feet braced on either side of the man, standing over him protectively. Her dragon paws pointed away from the human at an unnatural angle so that her claws would not scare him any further. Every muscle trembled in his body as he tried to scoot away, only to look back and see the underside of Diwa's terse jaw. "This human did nothing to you!"

It's a human that got too close! That's more than enough reason for me. Viliant did not let up the growl from deep within his chest.

"Fia," Diwa gasped. "Can you calm Viliant down?"

The pink dragonette stood off to the side, her talons biting into the ground. Although she had not joined in Viliant's assault, she also no longer felt compelled to dissuade him from attacking humans. Nevertheless, Fia slunk over to Viliant per Diwa's request. She turned to join him and face off against the green dragoness who fretted over the bitten human. No emotion entered her wings or tail, she merely stood by Viliant's side as Diwa had asked, doing what she knew would help the dragonet relax best.

Fia bumped her left shoulder into him—the same one that had almost killed her from infection. Just between him and her, she shared, It's all right, Viliant. I understand what you did—and why you did it.

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"Huh?" His surprise made his wings lose some appearance of aggression. The rips in his leathery flaps sagged and closed to some extent. His wings once again returned to their limp position against his ribs. Viliant tilted his head so that he could better regard Fia through his emerald eyes. You're… not going to take Diwa's side?

No. After what the humans of Syene had done, Fia could not align herself with humans. Her pitied, perplexed eyes watched Diwa hover over the human with undeserved concern.

"I am so sorry, mister," she spoke down to the human. Her flared nostrils and big eyes must fill the man's vision, who looked at her upside down. "I had no idea he would hurt anyone. Let me heal your leg." The green light of her magic flickered to life.

"Get away from me!" The man swiveled his head to look at all sides, but Diwa had him trapped. He could only crawl forward, but the injured man would not move closer to the dragonet perpetrator.

Viliant glared as he watched his teeth marks in the human's flesh meld over to smooth skin.

"I can heal you," Diwa insisted, "so it will be like this never happened."

"Stop! I'd rather see a real healer. Help!"

Diwa finished restoring the man to his previous condition and backed away. She rejoined the dragonets, pushing Viliant aside so that she could stand in the middle. Her wings draped over both of them protectively. To Viliant, she hissed, Apologize. Now.

No! I'm not sorry for what I did. Viliant replied with vehemence filling his mind. You're still healing more things that aren't my wings!

Only because I have no other choice! Diwa growled and snapped in front of Viliant's face.

Fia stared at the ground, not wanting to have any part of this. She just wished this altercation with the human would be over already.

Now healed, the human should get up and run away. Though the man picked himself to his feet, brushed the dirt from his clothes, and recollected his books, he was in no hurry to get away from the dragons.

Two more dragons descended from the treetops. Their wingbeats drew the attention of the dragonets. Fia looked to her left, where a dragon landed with scales blue as the sky that they could not see beneath the trees. Viliant jolted and moved closer to Diwa. The other dragon on their right had green scales a shade darker than the dragoness. The strange dragons had two sashes of golden-colored threads which crossed over their ridged breast plates.

Why do those dragons have clothes? Fia asked. Since she did not feel safe to speak aloud, she shared this question with only Diwa and Viliant.

These dragons are the Malakow guards, Diwa explained. Her head hung in shame. "This is a misunderstanding," she said aloud to the two dragon guards. "As you can see, the human is perfectly fine."

The blue dragon nodded to acknowledge Diwa, but he lowered his head to speak to the human. "We saw the black dragonet nipped you. Do you intend to seek justice?"

The human clutched his books to his chest and narrowed his eyes at Diwa, Viliant, and Fia. "Yes, I do. It might have looked less severe from the trees, but the dragonet nearly ripped my leg off. He even tried to kill me!"

Neither dragon guard seemed fazed by the human's report. Instead, the dark green dragon stepped to the other side of the human. "Are you sure that's what you want to do? The dragoness already healed you."

The human clenched his jaw and gripped his books tighter. His lips curled upward at an odd angle, and he hefted a sigh through his nose. "I'm positive. I need this incident documented for the university."

The blue dragon addressed their group. "In that case, we'll have to ask you to come with us." When the blue guard reached out to invite them into a telepathic connection, his annoyed thoughts filled Fia's mind along with Viliant and Diwa. This human should know better to press charges, but don't worry. We'll get you off light. Were you headed into the city or out of it?

Oh, thank you. A sense of relief surged through Diwa's mind after the guard had reassured her. We were headed in. I think the human was headed out….

In that case, we'll take you to the trial along the lake. Aloud, he asked Diwa, "Do you need help carrying your dragonets, miss?"

"Yes, please. Neither of them can fly."

"Not even the black one?" The blue dragon looked down at Viliant with a skeptical gaze. "Ah," he murmured once his eyes noticed the dragonet's shredded wings, tucked tightly against the scarred, black scales.

While the blue dragon laid down and invited Fia onto his back, he needed to pick Viliant up to carry him. The adult, male dragon of the jungle did not compare to the sage's vast size, so he struggled to get into the air as much as Rokirith had after losing his tail.

Meanwhile, the dark green dragon bent his knee to let the human mount his back. "Follow my lead," he said and flew ahead, rushing toward the leafy canopy.

After him, Diwa beat her wings and drew closer to the trees. She could keep a comfortable pace with the guards. No longer did she seem like a weak flier when compared to dragons of her own kin.

The blue dragon brought up the rear. His breath huffed with each pound of his wings. His balance wobbled, especially as he weaved through the branches after the dark green guard and light green dragoness. The flight helped Fia cheer up, especially as this was her first time flying upward through the leaves. Wow! she thought. At last, they burst through the top layer and entered the sky.

Her amazement was shared through the telepathic link with Diwa, Viliant and the guard who carried them. Her claws gripped against the white spines of the dragon's back. His light blue scales, a near-perfect match against the sunny skies, made her feel like she soared all by herself. The guard's turquoise eyes rolled back to glance at Fia. A smug satisfaction flitted through him, but he said nothing. The dragon guard focused on their flight.

Now that they had risen above the wall of trees, Fia had an aerial view of the city. From the top-down view, she realized how much bigger the treehouses were compared to Diwa's simple nest. They spanned multiple trees, and rooms opened above the canopy which were clearly meant for sunbathing. Not too far ahead, the massive trees thinned out around the edges of an expansive lake. A plethora of bridges connected the water's fringes to tiered platforms at its center. Some islands seemed unstable, rising and falling with the lake's subtle waves, almost as if they were floating.

So this is the capital, Fia marveled.

In addition to the houses in the trees and hovels on the ground, immaculate mansions over the lake rose to form a city. A stationary island lay at the center of the lake, and upon it a giant pyramid had been erected. At its flat top, an idol of a golden dragon had its wings spread wide. A silver figurine of a human stood at the base between its claws, smaller but true to proportions. Numerous bridges intersected this pyramid from all directions. The capital of Malakow spanned far enough that the hazy, far side of the lake she could barely make out.

Even if the dragons were brought to stand accused of a petty crime against a human, Fia could not help but look forward to entering the city. The sparkling waters and shining city upon the lake made some hope return to her eyes. I'm that much closer home, she thought. The dragons had completed the first leg of their journey.