“Now, let us begin anew, what is your name?”

My name huh…

The question wasn't hard for me to answer, yet it pulled me into deep thought. When I was born into this world as a dragon, I didn't question my name. I just knew I was Juniper, and that I was from another world. But when I tried to recollect my past, all of my key memories were blurred. I couldn't remember or picture my family, my friends, or anyone else who mattered in my life.

So, was I truly Juniper? Or did I inherit these memories from someone else?

My thoughts spiraled as I tried to grasp at the fragments of my former life. Faces and places seemed just out of reach, like shadows dancing at the edge of my consciousness. The more I reached for them, the further they seemed to drift away.

Juniper... Was that really my name? Or was it just a placeholder for an identity I no longer possessed? The idea unsettled me. If I couldn’t remember my own past, how could I be sure of anything? The doubt gnawed at me, filling me with a sense of loss and confusion.

Lost in thought, I barely noticed the dwarf's patient silence. The room around me faded into the background as I delved deeper into my mind, searching for answers that eluded me.

"Juniper," I finally spoke, my voice tinged with uncertainty. The name felt both familiar and foreign on my tongue.

The dwarf's eyes softened with understanding. "Juniper," he repeated, nodding slightly. "Pleased to meet you."

I shook off the lingering haze of confusion, focusing on the present as Morag continued.

“Right, let’s move onto the first order of business then…” He said, straightening up. “Your little friend explained much of your more recent endeavors, and her connection to the Dhurek family gave her a certain amount of credibility.”

Well, I’ve got to thank Ryone when I see her.

I nodded towards the dwarf, who continued.

“Yet, she couldn’t explain why she was being accompanied by a dragon. In fact, she didn’t even know who you were before I mentioned it. You are quite the mystery, Juniper, you could say your kind rarely goes unnoticed for long.” He paused, this time narrowing his eyes. “Where do you come from?”

So that’s where we are starting huh…

“I… well I don’t know… I was born in a forest, you could say I haven’t been around very long.”

I didn’t see a reason to lie about my circumstances, and Morag seemed trustworthy enough.

“A forest? Are you talking about the Vale?” He asked, his curiosity seemingly piqued.

“I don’t know its name, all I know is that it is north of Kyrekeep.” I replied, once again truthfully. I still didn’t know much about this world, in fact, you could say I knew almost nothing.

“Yes, I have heard of your adventures in Kyrekeep from your friend.” Morag mused, stroking his beard thoughtfully. “And what brings you to Gearford, Juniper? What is your purpose for traveling here?”

I took a moment to gather my thoughts before responding. “I just wish to explore and learn about the world. Gearford seemed like a good place to start, according to what Ryone told me.”

Morag stared at me, his expression shifting from curiosity to sheer disbelief. He remained silent for a few long seconds. Then, to my surprise, he let out a genuine, hearty laugh that echoed through the room.

“A dragon wandering the world just for the sake of it!” he chuckled. “That’s certainly a first.”

Despite the oddity of the situation, there was something endearing about Morag’s reaction. He wasn’t mocking me, but rather seemed genuinely amused and perhaps even a bit charmed by my unusual ambition.

“Right, that’s enough of that,” he said while recollecting himself. “I think we better continue this somewhere else, let us go for a walk.”

I watched the dwarf stand up and walk towards the large door, effortlessly opening it and gesturing for me to follow.

As I stepped outside, I was greeted by a bustling corridor filled with various people moving about. The space was wide, with high ceilings that accommodated my size comfortably. As we walked, I took in my surroundings, marveling at the sheer scale of the place.

Why is everything so big here? The corridors are spacious even for me…

“Admiral Morag,” I began, my voice tinged with concern, “how are Ryone and Sodel?”

Morag glanced at me, his expression softening. “Ryone is fine. You’ll be able to see her later today. As for Sodel, his wounds looked bad, but he will live. He hasn’t woken up yet, but our healers are confident he will make a full recovery.”

I felt a wave of relief wash over me. Knowing that Ryone was safe and that Sodel was being cared for lifted a significant weight off my shoulders.

“I’m sorry about Sodel, we put him in danger by traveling together…”

“Don’t be,” Morag cut in, “your little friend told me that he offered to accompany you himself, despite your reluctancy. I know Sodel well, you could say he has a discerning eye for interesting characters.” He paused as his eyes met mine. “He knew the risks and made his decision, and that is that.”

I stared at Morag for a few moments. He had a point, Sodel had made his choice. The outcome was regrettable but at the time we weren’t aware of our pursuers.

We continued walking, exiting the clinic area and stepping into an area that looked more like a military establishment.

I noticed a few mokmire and other dwarves through the corridors and to my surprise, I also saw several individuals with purple skin and bright eyes, just like Ryone. The memory of one of our assailants calling them "luminar" resurfaced, and I turned to Morag with curiosity.

If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.

“Who are they?” I asked, nodding toward the purple-skinned people. “One of our attackers referred to them as luminar. What can you tell me about them?”

Morag followed my gaze and nodded. “You are correct, they are called luminars. They are known for their exceptional magical abilities and their connection to ancient knowledge. Ryone is one of them, as you’ve probably gathered. They have a long history, and their kind has been both revered and feared for their powers, although mostly feared in recent times.”

His last remark piqued my curiosity. But I held my next reply as he suddenly turned and led me through another large door, into what looked like an office. Taking a closer look I noticed the large door had a smaller one embedded into it.

That’s the door they normally use I guess…

As I looked around, I noticed that this time only the entrance was disproportionately large, while the rest of the furniture was normally sized.

I followed him inside and waited for him to settle at his desk, before continuing our previous talk.

“Why are they mostly feared?”

Morag sighed and continued. “You didn’t know about luminars, so I assume you do not know about Sorelion?”

I shook my head as he grunted and stepped towards one of the shelves behind him, pulling out a large scroll of sorts, which he unfolded on top of his desk. As I looked it over, I noticed it was a map of the world, or at least of a continent.

https://i.imgur.com/kzn999p.jpeg [https://i.imgur.com/kzn999p.jpeg]

“This,” he started, while pointing towards the south-eastern side of the map. “This used to be the Kingdom of Sorelion, now a self proclaimed empire after their more recent border expansions.”

I took a good look at the map. Gearford was very apparent towards the middle of the continent, while Sorelion occupied most of the eastern side.

“As you may have guessed, the Empire of Sorelion is almost exclusively populated by luminars, and most of the population has been heavily indoctrinated to the outrageous beliefs of the imperial family.”

He paused as he sat back on his chair, so I continued.

“What beliefs?”

“Beliefs of superiority and world conquest, but I am not going to spend the rest of the day teaching you about politics and history, so let us continue figuring you out.”

So they discriminate towards other races and want to conquer the world? How creative…

I kept looking at the map, most of the cities and kingdoms I had never heard of, although I did recognise Kyrekeep.

“So, you mentioned a forest. The Gleambog Vale is by far the largest and most dangerous forest in this part of the continent, is that where you come from?”

I looked at the large forest. When I left my cave and Tom, I ran southwards, where I encountered Ryone, so everything seemed to add up.

“Yes, that’s where I’m from.”

The dwarf looked at me, seemingly satisfied. “Good, that’s a start. So you met your little friend Ryone in the forest near Kyrekeep, then what?”

“She was running from a group of slavers. I chased them off and then decided to help her…”

“Help her, why? As far as I can tell you two hadn’t met before.” Morag interrupted me as I tried to continue my explanation.

“At the time, all I saw was a wounded little girl wearing ragged clothes being chased by a group of what looked like bandits. I wouldn’t have left her to die, that’s just the way I am.”

Morag looked at me and nodded. “Continue.”

“Right, so I decided to help her, and she told me she had something to retrieve that could get us both into Gearford quickly. That something turned out to be a letter of introduction from the Dhurek household, which we retrieved in Kyrekeep. Then we were attacked as we traveled with Sodel, and you know the rest.”

The dwarf listened to my explanation until it was over. He asked a few more questions to clarify some points, but in the end he looked satisfied.

“Okay Juniper. Your tale matches Ryone’s, and your bracelet has never once glowed red so I know that you mostly spoke the truth.” He concluded with a smile, while I, on the other hand, was more concerned with the last part of his sentence.

“What do you mean by it never glowed red?”

“I must apologize for tricking you. The bracelet I gave you has additional functionality. It is able to detect if the user is blatantly lying, in which case it will glow with a red hue. I hope you understand that I needed to be sure you could be trusted before I could approve your entry into the city.”

I didn’t like being tricked this way, but at the very least I was now deemed trustworthy enough to be free to do as I pleased.

“I understand, admiral. But I hope this functionality can be removed from the bracelet if I am to keep using it?”

“You seem to misunderstand, Juniper. The bracelet is not yours to keep, it is property of the Azure Fleet. I will be retrieving it once our business is done I’m afraid. It is, after all, quite a valuable item. If you wish to continue communicating in this manner, you will have to acquire one on your own; there are plenty of alchemist shops in the city.”

I listened to his words, admittedly dejected. If it was a valuable item, there was no way I could afford one with the few glims in my pouch.

“Right, I’m afraid we will have to part ways now. I have called someone to bring you to the guard office in the city where your registration will be taken care of. I will inform them of your special circumstances, so you shouldn’t encounter much trouble.”

Right as he finished speaking his words, the smaller door opened and a mokmire entered the room. He was wearing a similar uniform to what I had seen the other soldiers wear as we walked through the corridors. The soldier remained silent and bowed slightly upon entering.

“This is Gort, he will escort you to your destination and retrieve the bracelet when you’re done. Until next time, Juniper.” He concluded with a smile.

“Thank you for your help, admiral, and for speeding up our entry process. Until next time then.”

Morag nodded with a grunt and went back to his papers on his desk. I looked behind me and Gort had already opened the door, signaling for me to go through.

“This way, follow me.”

As I made to exit the room, I heard a commotion coming from one side of the corridor. As I poked my head outside, I saw another mokmire guard rushing towards us at incredible speed.

As he neared, he slowed down and entered the room.

“Admiral!” he began, catching his breath in between his words. “Pardon my intrusion, but the dragon’s presence is requested elsewhere.”

Morag looked up from his papers, visually annoyed. “What is this now? The dragon is about to complete her registration into the city records, anything else can wait. You are dismissed.”

The guard didn’t relent and pulled out a sealed envelope.

“Admiral, this was delivered by a Council guard just a few minutes ago.”

The dwarf looked even more annoyed as he took the letter from the guard’s hand, but his eyes seemed to widen as he stared at the sigil. He swiftly opened the letter and started reading its contents.

After a few long moments of silence, Morag finally looked up and let out a loud sigh. “It seems that your registration will have to wait, you have been summoned by someone even I cannot deny.” He said as he tossed the letter to the side.

But this guy is an admiral right? If someone supersedes his authority it must be someone really important…

“If I may, who is it that summoned me?”

Morag shifted his attention towards me, before continuing.

“It appears you are going to meet another of your kind.”