Jack wasn't looking forward to what was coming. S'haar had told him all about the ceremony and what would be expected of him, and to be fair, it wasn't going to be nearly as long or drawn out as Jack had feared, but this next part didn't seem like it would be fun.

S'haar carefully inspected the ceremonial knife. Angela had insisted they use a knife she made just for the occasion. Officially, it was because the knife was supposed to be a special knife, explicitly crafted for the ceremony and never used again unless the oath was broken. Unofficially, her reasoning was that if Jack was going to be cut by any knife, Angela wanted to make sure it was the cleanest and finest knife possible. Sharp enough to make a clean-cut, but not so sharp it would cut deeper than intended.

For once, Jack was glad to be disabled. Normally he'd be expected to make his own cut, and he'd been afraid he'd somehow screw it up. Instead, given his current plight, everyone agreed that S'haar making the cut for him was a reasonable accommodation.

Jack was doing his best to focus on enjoying the sensation of having S'haar hold his hand while also trying not to think about the knife's blade she was starting to lower into his upturned palm. With a quick movement, it was over before Jack realized what was happening. As the blood was beginning to seep through his wound, Jack spoke the words everyone had agreed on, while S'haar translated for everyone gathered. "All who swear on my blood will keep sacred the secrets of myself and my household, except in the event of danger to friends, family, or home."

Following those words, Jack placed his palm on the stone that had been presented to him. Above the mark his blood left on the stone was a carving of the symbol of Jack's 'house.' Not that he'd had one before now, but he'd taken the time to design one for the ceremony's purpose. Since it would have to be carved into stone, he kept it simple. It consisted of a circle surrounding a triangle whose sides represented human, AI, and argu'n, and a line came from each side to meet in a circle in the middle, symbolizing their unity as a family.

Thankfully, Jack's part of the ceremony was completed. S'haar took his hand and applied the gel Angela had provided, then wrapped it in cloth so Angela could look at it later.

As she was attending to Jack, Fea'en took up the knife and cut her own palm. Jack winced inwardly, thankful he'd gotten to go first, and trying to remind himself that it was highly improbable that any pathogens he carried would be able to affect the argu'n. The old craft master spoke her own straightforward lines. "On pain of death, I so swear!" She then placed her own palm on top of Jack's mark, mixing her blood with his.

One by one, all the workers present repeated the solemn oath. Jack thought the whole 'pain of death' part was a little extreme, but S'haar told him it was customary for any significant pledge to include that statement. In the event of a broken oath, Jack had the right to crack the stone then use the knife to claim the life of whoever had failed to keep their commitment. This was considered one of the highest laws of the land, superseding any individual village or clan laws. Not that Jack had any plans to claim anyone's life if they failed to keep their oath, but it certainly added a degree of credibility to the pledge that the workers were willing to put their lives on the line as collateral against their words.

Once everyone finished their oaths, Fea'en took the stone and knife and handed them both to Jack to keep. The ceremony complete, the atmosphere in the room lightened, and everyone seemed to breathe just a little easier.

Lon'thul stood towering over Jack and rested an easy hand on the wheelchair-bound man's shoulder. "So, how much longer before you're back in charge of this camp?"

Jack tilted his head to the side. Only S'haar knew him well enough to know that the troubling grin on his face meant he was about to say something unexpected, but even she was unprepared for the words that followed. "You know, from what I've seen so far, S'haar has done a remarkable job leading this camp while I was unconscious. She seems to hold everyone's respect naturally and easily, and I think it might be best if she remains in charge. I've always been happier as an idea man rather than a leader anyway. I'll still be involved, offering advice, technology, my thoughts, and ideas, but I think S'haar is by nature a better leader than I could ever be."

There were expressions of shock on everyone's faces as S'haar translated Jack's words, and none more so than S'haar's. It took her more than a moment to speak after he was done. "But this is your camp, your home! I can't just take over!"

Jack carelessly waved away her concerns. "My goals are the same as ever, to secure the safety and happiness of my friends and family. After the time we've spent together, I'm confident you share those same goals. I'm not going anywhere and will be happy to continue to help guide the camp's development, but ultimately this is turning into an argu'n camp, and I think it would be best if an argu'n was in charge. You're a perfect bridge between my goals and your people's needs. Additionally, you'll naturally command the kind of respect from new or visiting argu'n that I would have to spend a significant amount of time and effort to acquire. I think this is the best path for everyone's objectives for the camp."

S'haar remained quiet, but the look she gave Jack clearly said, 'We'll talk about this later.'

Lon'thul had an exaggerated expression of worry on his face. "Awww, man! You were a lot easier to keep happy than S'haar. She's always demanding that I 'stop daydreaming,' and 'get back to work!'"

Jack's grin grew a little more toothy as he imitated the more predatory smile of the argu'n. "All that tells me is that I've made the right choice! If S'haar can keep you in line, running a camp like this should be easy!"

Lon'thul had the good grace to act hurt at Jack's words, but his impish grin belied his performance.

That was when a familiar voice spoke up from Jack's headset. "Ahem. Now that your little club has sworn their oaths, isn't it time you introduced me?"

Jack raised an eyebrow at her phrasing but decided it was a good time. They'd agreed it was best to get this out of the way as a whole group rather than explaining it one at a time as the workers were brought over to the ship, and right now was as good a time as any. He cleared his throat, and as usual, S'haar translated. "So now that you all have sworn your oaths, I figure it's about time we introduced you to the dragon you've heard so much about."

Lon'thul's eye ridges shot up toward his forehead. "Wait, you mean it's real? I'd finally decided it was just a code word you all used for 'human tech.'"

Angela laughed in Jack's headset. "Well, in a way, he's not wrong..."

Jack nodded at her words as he answered the hunter. "As is often the case, the situation's reality is more complicated than any simple answer I can offer. But rather than try and explain things, how about I show you instead."

With that, Jack pulled out one of the emitters he was carrying from the ship, ran a cable between it and his headset, and thumbed it on.

Almost immediately, the room exploded into light. Soon, every inch of empty space was filled by the immense form of a classic earth dragon, complete with thick scales, massive teeth, and sharp claws. Part of its body seemed to pass into the hallway, but Jack knew this emitter couldn't reach that far, so it was just a bit of clever illusion on Angela's part.

Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

The argu'n in the room all stood stock still, the only movement being their eyes trying to take everything in, and their tounges rapidly tasting the air to confirm what their eyes were telling them. The first one present to respond was S'haar. "Really? Isn't this a bit dramatic?" Her voice seemed unheard by the other stunned argu'n.

The dragon's form quickly began to shrink and morph, stopping briefly at the size and shape of a 10-foot tall argu'n. As it continued to shrink, it stopped again at the appearance of a 7-foot tall human. Finally, Angela finished shrinking down into her standard size or a single-foot tall human.

With a wave and a smile, she greeted the stunned workers. "Hiya! I'm the dragon you've all heard so much about! Call me Angela. It's good to finally speak with you all!"

Everyone remained frozen in place for several moments, unsure how to respond to the impossibilities that had unfolded in front of them. Angela was looking around at everyone with her characteristically impish grin. Predictably, it was Lon'thul who first broke the stunned silence and cautiously approached the tiny woman. He bent down at the waist and gently poked a finger into the AI. His finger passed through without any resistance. "You can transform at will, fly, and speak our language... Are you a spirit?"

Angela floated up, forcing Lon'thul to stand up to his full height before she 'flicked' him on the nose. Expecting the feeling of impact but receiving none, Lonthul blinked a few times. Angela responded in an overly cheerful voice. "Well, yes and no. This is simply how I usually appear to speak to people. However, I have a real body, and It's actually significantly larger than even the first form I showed you, but that body is badly damaged right now. One of the reasons Jack and S'haar started this whole place was to get what they needed to help heal and free me of my prison."

Lon'thul looked over at S'haar with a single raised eye ridge. "If what she's saying is true, should you really be working to free such a massive creature? From the sounds of things, she could devour our entire village if she so chose..."

Angela flew in between the two with her hands on her hips and a reprimand evident in her voice. "It's not polite to talk about someone in the third person while they're in front of you! And for your information, I don't eat animals or even plants for that matter. When I'm whole, I eat stars like you see in the night sky, and even a single star will last me more than a hundred of your lifetimes!"

Lon'thul looked even more confused than before as he turned his attention back to Angela. "I'm not sure what three people you're talking about, and how can a star fill you up for so long? They are so tiny!"

Angela looked pleased to have a new student as she began one of her lectures. "'Third person' is when you refer to someone as if they aren't present. The use of words like 'she, her, herself, etc.' are most often the third person, but if that person is involved in the conversation, it's more polite to address them, or in this case me, directly! As for the stars' size, they only seem small because of how far away they are. For example, think of this mountain and how much smaller it looks from your village than from this camp. Stars are also like that, but they are significantly further away from here than this mountain is from your village!"

Lon'thul looked at the tiny woman floating in front of him, beaming back at him like she was one of his old hunting masters. His face was scrunched up as he tried to understand what she'd explained to him before he gave up with a shake of his head. "You sound too much like Jack does when he starts getting way too excited about something boring! Though I suppose we have little to fear from you if you and Jack are so much alike..."

S'haar let out an overly patient sigh indicative of untold tales about her long-suffering experience with the duo. "You have no idea how alike those two are... They're actually brother and sister."

Jack and Angela replied at the same moment, both of their voices indignantly defensive. "We're not that much alike!" They both glared at the other, silently accusing each other of proving S"haar right with that outburst.

Lon'thul looked even more confused than before. "They're brother and sister? Does that mean Jack will grow to an immense size as well?"

Jack and Angela were too caught up in their little squabble to answer, so S'haar continued the explanation. "They're not related by blood, but they were both raised by the same man. So despite being as different from each other as humans and argu'n, they think of themselves as brother and sister."

S'haar's head tilted to the side as she struggled to remember some of what she'd been told back when she had first been wrapping her own head around this strange new world of theirs. "And to answer one of your previous questions, I don't think we have any more to fear from Angela than we do from Jack. From what I understand, her people are as advanced in comparison to humans as humans are compared to us. They even fought a war to protect and preserve humanity's survival and individuality. I suspect Angela would do the same for us. She seems to hold all 'intelligent life' as sacred."

Jack interrupted the squabble to interject. "Well, I wouldn't say the AI are quite as far ahead of us as all that... but you're more or less correct."

Angela was haughtily inspecting her fingernails as she offered her counter to Jack's claim. "Says the meat-for-brains human, only capable of processing roughly thirty-two bits of information at any given time."

Jack was not about to be so quickly or easily dismissed. "We may only be able to process thirty-two bits of information at a time, but we do so at speeds that are impossible to calculate. Our brains are practically supercomputers!"

Angela dove back into the ongoing debate with relish. "Impossible for you to calculate, perhaps, but my brain is literally a supercomputer!"

The fear slowly drained out of the onlooking argu'n as the pair reignited their squabble. The workers could only keep up with half the argument since only Angela was speaking their language and S'haar had stopped bothering to translate for Jack, but the grins and vocal tones made it evident to everyone watching that this was more affectionate ribbing than an actual argument. Somehow seeing such a petty sibling rivalry between these two 'advanced' people made them both a little more relatable.

Fea'en had been watching the whole ordeal with a keen eye. Finally, she approached the small AI. Stopping just short of the tiny woman, she waited until all conversation had stopped, and Angela addressed her directly. "Fea'en, how can I help you?"

If the older woman was surprised the AI knew her name, she didn't show it. Instead, she addressed her concerns in her usual direct manner. "Dragon, I've heard a lot of assurances that you mean us no harm, but I want to hear it directly from you. What do you intend regarding myself and my people? What are your plans from this moment forward?"

Angela's expression eased from giddy excitement to a more somber, though still friendly, manner. "Well, I can't partake of the same oath ceremony you all just did for Jack since I have no blood to offer, but I swear to you by all my honor that I do not intend to bring harm to you or your people. Instead, I hope that our presence here will ultimately bring about advancement and prosperity for everyone, though I acknowledge the path we're treading will have many obstacles in its way."

Angela continued her speech, though her expression and voice both grew heavy with concern. "The raiders are an obvious danger, even some of the local lords may see us as a threat to their power, and I'm sure there are even more problems impossible to see from where we now stand. Although we will fight for our friends and family, Jack and I will never seek to conquer or subjugate anyone. All who join us will do so of their own free will and retain the ability to leave at any time they so wish. To that end, I agree wholeheartedly with Jack's decision to leave S'haar in charge of this camp. Argu'n should lead argu'n, we will be content to fulfill the roles of guides and advisers."

Angela's voice softened as she finished her speech, echoing some of Jack's own thoughts from his debate with "death." "For all of my abilities, I can not see the future. I'm not certain if the path we've chosen will end well or in disaster. All we can do is offer our knowledge, experience, and hope, but with a bit of luck, maybe we can help your people avoid some of the pitfalls our own fell into over the ages."

Fea'en glared at the AI for several long moments, and the rest of the camp held its collective breath, waiting to hear what the craft master would say.

With crossed arms, Fea'en passed her judgment on Angela's words. "Good enough for me. I'll stay. It's up to the rest to decide what they'll do."

A series of assents began to spread through the workers but were interrupted by Lon'thul's excited cheer. "WOOHOO! This is gonna be so much better than I'd hoped! And, we all got in on the beginning! They're gonna be telling stories about us for ages to come! We're all gonna be legends!"

As the hunter's energy permeated the room, an impromptu celebration broke out, and food and drink started making the rounds. S'haar was quick to whisk away any food or drink that found their way into Jack's hands but was heartened to see the somberness of the last week replaced by celebration and cheer. Throughout it all, Angela was flittering to and fro, getting to know everyone "face-to-face" at long last.