Even after getting the dragon to join the crew, along with Keeshar, a new addition from the Raptor island, they still had several problems to finish before they could restart their journey.

Due to the efforts of the engineering team, the steamship was up and running faster than expected. However, the waiting and the delay caused by the dragon started to dwindle the ship's supplies, which included important supplies like raw food and oranges to something less like tea and smoking leaves. The dragon, already understanding her role as part of the crew, hunted some of the animals on the island after consulting the crewmember responsible for the pantry on meat supplies. The crewmember in question was scared by her presence but told what he needed after being accompanied by Hans. The Raptors also helped with some fruits and herbs gathered or cultivated from the village, especially those that knew of fruits beyond oranges that could prevent scurvy after consultation with the ship doctor. The combination of both helped replenish the ship's supplies just like when it departed Angla. They did not need to worry about coal since they used firewood to fuel the boilers.

Some of the passengers decided that risking the unknown seas was not worth it and decided to stay on the island. Jamie respected their wishes and gave them a backup radio equipment and one of his wireless operators to help them call for ships to take them back if they so wished. With the consent of the Raptors, they also started constructing an outpost for shelter and communication station. It would take time for those alighting from the ship to feel comfortable around the reptilian people, but it was a progress.

On the seventh day of their stay on Raptor island, Hrashiran and many of the Raptors met with Jamie and all of his crews, who by this point had mostly become friends. The shaman approached Jamie, then gave him a box.

"A gift," he said. "For mutual respect and friendship."

The werewolf captain opened the box and examined its content. He chuckled.

"'Tis a good mix, Hrashie," said Jamie. The box contained a tobacco mix native to the island, along with a pipe modeled after the Raptor's own, which had a longer and thinner tube compared to the pipe already in Jamie's mouth. It was also made out of coconut shell.

"The island is always open for you and your fellow brave travelers." Hrashiran, guided by a female Raptor, asked to be led to the dragon, who was near the ship.

She noticed the Raptors approaching and said, "Hrashiran, old one. I haven't had a chance to thank you for your advice."

"Advice on what?"

"On following my own heart, and break the barrier in my heart," she said. "It is a bit late, now that I decide to return home, but it is better than never."

Hrashiran chuckled. "I did not expect you to actually hear this old Raptor's advice, given how much older you are." He then sighed. "I still need to understand that you will no longer be our permanent guardian, but 70 years of knowing you can do that to me. Maybe, in a way, I am scared what the future will bring."

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"You and I both, Hrashiran," said the dragon. "But I do not leave without bearing gifts. Use that knowledge well, Hrashiran, and I do hope I am doing the right thing. Magic can be a gift and a curse, and I would hate it to be the latter."

"I will teach my people until the last of my breath," said Hrashiran with a sigh. "Well, dragon...I suppose this is a farewell. For now."

Hrashiran took out an object from the medicine bag he slung over his shoulder. It was the blowing horn he lent to Hans to summon the dragon. The shape and the color fitted with one of the dragon's broken horn. However, due to its use as a horn, it had been hollowed out, and decorated with Raptorian markings.

"I still think it is unwise to give us your horn," said Hrashiran. "You could have use one of our horns."

"Then, it won't be special, would it?" said the dragon with a smirk. "And it is also part of me, which makes its enhancements easier to apply and last far longer without the need to reapply it. In any case, keep it. It may be time for me to return my land, but this island is, and will always be, a place I call home, and you Raptors, my family."

"I am honored," said Hrashiran. "I must thank you, guardian of this island."

"Azureath," said the dragon. "Call me Azureath."

"Azureath," said Hrashiran. He smiled and bowed once more, before he returned to Jamie and talked with him.

Hans, who was nearby and heard the dragon declaring her name, approached her and said, "That's a beautiful name, Azureath. It describes your appearance well: an azure blue dragon with beautiful eyes, tempered by age."

She chuckled. "Is that an attempt to woo me, little one?"

"Woo...?!"

"I jest, I jest. Yes. It is a name that you can understand, and a name I chose to represent a time when I trusted the little races of the Main continent. I do have a true name, one that is draconic and unpronounceable and untranslatable by the Gift of Tongues, for it is a name with a power of its own. Ah, but enough of draconic names. What about yours, little wolf?"

"Hans Rezmirn. Nothing fancy," said Hans. "The spectacled one is Ulster Baldwin, and the noble and proper red-furred one is Adeline de Rochefort. Ask her more about her titles, though I doubt she likes to be addressed like it is a royal ball or something. Noble stuffs. Not something that a village hunter like me can understand, anyway."

"Do not exclude yourself out yet, Hans Rezmirn," said Azureath. "Take pride of what you do, and always believe that life always has something for you, even if it doesn't follow any plan you made. I can say it from my own experience, though I do hope you, and the rest of you, do not suffer the same things as I do."

Azureath's speech made Hans pondered about his own life and his own ambitions. True to her age, and her role as a guardian and advisor to the shamans, she was wise and weathered by experience. Even so, while she seemed to be strong, the fact that even she was a victim of trauma proved that dragons were like humans and werewolves: they could be vulnerable, except only after they suffered things that would usually kill the rest of them.

Taking on her words, Hans considered recruiting Azureath to be an accomplishment, even if parts of it was due to the dragon's own choice. If she was still stubborn, they might not even get to that conclusion and things would stay the way it was, never to change, never to proceed. Her role as a guide even made it unique in its own way.

With the dragon prepared and the rest of the Blackjack's crew and passengers readied their hearts and souls against the unknown obstacles ahead of them, they bid a farewell to the Raptors and those who chose to stay on the island, all of which cheered the 60 or so people on the ship, plus a dragon, for safe travels and readiness to face the unknown seas. The dragon let out a roar, alongside the Blackjack's foghorn, as a reply.

And thus, they traveled on, to the unknown, and an uncertain future.