CHAPTER 14 – SMALL WAY

"Do not cry, little star. Even beyond time, beyond that final moment of darkness, your light shall forever be part of the Fire Eternal."

– Ver Lumineo, "A Journey To The Sun"

In the coming days things began slowly to fall into rhythm. Each morning, Veralla rose and had a hearty breakfast, then she went on training until around midday, which was followed by a meal and a short nap, then there was another training session in the late afternoon, and after that she was free to spend the evening however she liked. Usually, she had dinner. Although she started to tire always eating raw meat, yet on Glawlrhain's insistence she munched on it.

Then, she browsed the mesh before going to sleep, as there were still so many things which interested her. She was particularly fond of books and videos, and especially computer games; but the latter she found difficult to enjoy without Airo.

He was constantly away on patrols. Vorzii prowled the skies of Terra Para day and night. The skyship came back to Ilsorin at irregular intervals, sometimes on the morning after its departure, but more often after days of absence. Airo always disembarked for a brief time, just to check on how things went at the base, then he went right back on board. Vorzii remained grounded only long enough to shift cargo and passengers, and to rotate the crew, then it was again in the air and heading for the next dangerous journey into the frozen wilderness.

Every time Veralla went to greet Airo, happy for his safe return, and every time she went on the battlements above the landing platform as the skyship rose on its roaring thrusters and disappeared into the sub-region's exit. She watched Airo's departure with heavy hearts, afraid he will not return one day. And while she desired to be with him, she did not go on any more missions. She did not want to experience any more death.

So she could not be with Airo. It meant she was without him for the first time in her life. It unnerved her, and she often woke up in the morning confused and anxious why she was alone. The change left her feeling lost. So she made an effort to explore and interact with others as much as possible, to make this feeling go away.

***

She tried to eat with others in the dining hall, as part of her decision to interact more. It seemed a simple act, yet in the absence of Airo her confidence had faltered, and she had reverted to her earlier shy behavior.

She stood – on all fours, too stressed to stand upright – at the dining hall's entrance, casting surreptitious glances at the tables taken by Radiant Knights, who were having various breakfasts. There were not a lot of dragons right now, as Veralla had learned their number was quite small, and half of them were out on patrol with the skyship. She spotted the crimson bulk of Lung, sitting with her soulkin, Tehalix, at one of the larger tables along two more dragons and their soulkin, as well as a bunch of other human Knights.

Veralla approached timidly, but before she could say anything, Tehalix noticed her and grinned.

"Hey dudes, the Goddess has graced us with her divine presence!" she exclaimed, drawing the attention of her table companions.

Veralla took a deep breath as everyone focused their attention on her. "Oh, hello all!" she said diffidently.

"Heya, little one," Tehalix said, her grin mellowing to a warm smile. The rest of the Radiant Knights greeted her amiably too. "Come, take a seat."

Veralla did so, and relaxed as the silvery furniture variformed around her for maximum comfort. Still, she was a bit anxious to meet the other Knights' gazes.

"Wanna try some berry pie?" Tehalix asked, pushing a dish toward her. "I might've overestimated my gastronomical capabilities by ordering a second helping."

"Yes, thank you!" Veralla said and chomped on the pie enthusiastically, splattering a few bits on Tehalix' armor. "Oh, oh, sorry!"

"Null sweat, the bots will clean it. Sorry for calling you out. Usually you dragons are quite thick-skinned creatures, with the exception of Smartjaw here."

"Teha!" Lung rumbled, bending her horned head down to look at her soulkin. "Stop calling me fragile! Oh wait, this idiom meant something else, right?"

"It is okay," Veralla said. "I am just... not used to seeing so many large dragons in one place."

"Ha, large!" Tehalix chuckled, then suddenly became grave. "You should've seen the old guard. I love my Smartjaw, but she couldn't hold a candle to one of the real big-leagues. Say, you've met all of us survivors already, right?"

"Oh, I know Richard, Teyalinar, Samantha, and Glosserax from our first meeting in the skyship," Veralla said, pointing to the two soulkin pairs. "But about the rest of you, I, uh... have not been introduced to you."

"Damn!" Tehalix exclaimed. "Where have manners gone these days!?" She turned to the other Knights. "Dudes, why didn't any of you say anything?"

"Well, taking the floor from you is nigh impossible, Teha," said one of the male Knights, who was pink-skinned and completely bald. "We all figured saving our strength for the war was the more sensible thing to do, since that at least is an endeavor we have a plausible chance of accomplishing." The rest of the Radiant Knights burst into laughter.

"Great Cosmos, we have an entry-level comedian here!" Tehalix teased. "Ok, snowflake, then you'll handle the introductions."

"Gladly," the pink-skinned Knight said, rising with a mock bow. "I hereby vow to donate my socializing experience to the Get Cool Foundation, so you all can benefit from better comebacks," he added, again making everyone laugh, including Tehalix.

Drevor Klaggan The Seventh-Cloned Fourth, which was how the pink-skinned Knight was called, presented the other Knights with brief, imaginative wit. Then the breakfast returned to its laid-back atmosphere. The humans discussed training and other everyday topics, while Teyalinar and Glosserax rumbled a comment or two occasionally, more interested in their meals. Veralla was content to just sit and listen too, eating daintily from her dish so as to not make again a mess of herself or her table companions. However, the other two dragons did not have the same qualms.

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"By the Goddess, Taar!" Richard exclaimed. "Are you trying to bury me in sauce and eat me, too?" The conservative-looking Knight had called a hover-bot to clean his armor several times already, as Teyalinar flung massive food-pieces into his jaws, spattering gobbets everywhere in the process.

"It's blood day today," the dragon hrrr–ed between bites. His dark green body seemed engorged, yet he continued to swallow food with determination, tail lashing with restless, sharp motions.

"Rrr, I totally forgot!" Glosserax said, and began to stuff himself too, his ice-blue and cream-colored scales also becoming dirty from rapid feeding.

"Great," Samantha muttered, as her armor and long fire-red hair were assaulted by scattered consumables. "Guess I'll have to call a bot now, too."

"What's the rush?" Lung chided the other two dragons. "You can always eat longer, not faster. It's more efficient, and you can then donate in the evening. Well? Rrrr, Teha, they're ignoring me!"

"You better eat too, Smartjaw. I won't listen to your complaints at two in the night."

"What is 'blood day'?" Veralla asked.

"It's when every dragon present in the base has to give part of their blood," Tehalix explained somberly, "so it can be made into veronite."

"Uh, but how we're able to draw blood from dragons in the first place?" Samantha wondered, giving the munching Glosserax a worried look. "I thought their scales were practically invulnerable."

"Almost invulnerable," Tehalix muttered. "There're some materials or energies which can pierce dragon hide. Like that vile blade the Dragonslayer uses. Consistent pummeling works too, if done long enough. Also, our own armors and armament are made in large part from veronite, which was collected in smaller increments from the older dragons before the Lightbringer came and ravaged us all."

"But I give too much of my blood now! It's not pleasant at all!" Lung added, while the other Radiant Knights nodded with sympathy.

"This whole business with the Dragonslayer bothers me," Damian, a Knight with a serious expression, said. "I don't like the idea of someone like him leading us."

"Are we even sure he's really who he claims to be?" Kathy, another Knight, said. She touched the side of her broad forehead. "According to the Viirt, the Dragonslayer was executed after a public trial way back, while the Transhuman Order still existed."

"You can bet he's the real deal," Drevor said, his pink face locked into a frown. "You should've seen the veronite formula he programmed into the nanofabbers. Not even our own archived research can match the purity of the end product."

"But, what about the rumors of his death? The datalinks seem pretty solid."

"Dude, you should check our databanks! It's buried deep within the archives, but the evidence is there. Magus Dei himself was heading the trial against the Dragonslayer!"

"Wait, Magus Dei is that old?!" Kathy exclaimed.

"Of course, he's one of the founders of our Order after all," Drevor said.

"Whoever the Dragonslayer is, I don't like him, or his methods," Richard said. He put a hand on Teyalinar's huge flank. "I won't tolerate anyone who's mistreating my soulkin."

"He was a war criminal, according to history," Damian said. "I don't know what the elders were thinking when they vowed the Order to follow him."

"Hey, hey, hey, throttle back on the FTL now," Tehalix interjected. "I know Commander Airo is a total jerk, and he can be abrasive like regolith. Because of him my Smartjaw is continuously drained dry, and I won't forgive that anytime soon. But he is helping us to avoid spiraling into the event horizon of fubar the Lightbringer caused, and he's given us a fighting chance. Have you taken a walk 'round the base recently? It's full of refugees – people who've been saved thanks to the Dragonslayer, instead of becoming haunting terrors like the Revenant.

"Also, the Dragonslayer may not be a nice person, but try to remember this sweet little dragon here has chosen him as her soulkin," Tehalix added, nodding toward Veralla.

The other Radiant Knights lowered their heads and murmured apologies. Veralla felt her hearts filling with warmth. She had never considered Airo her soulkin until now; yet the idea was very touching indeed. However, the feeling quickly subsided as she remembered the deep, endless sadness which plagued Airo's soul. She was not sure she could ever banish his loneliness.

"Ok, back to more merrier matters," Tehalix announced, then noticed something. "Speaking of which– Hey, Shpagus, Claw!" she called at the two Radiant Knight who were just entering the dining hall. "Come here, you lumbering airheads!"

"Ah, Tehalix, what a pleasant surprise! I see this fine morning on the brink of the apocalypse hasn't hurt your capacity for careless epithets even one bit."

"You know me, walking erection guy – I'll point out the weird and whimsical 'till the universe's heat death. Veralla, meet Bernard and Zeromon – our resident tech nerds."

"I think you meant 'hardware specialists'," Bernard said as he took his seat. He was tall and lithe in contrast to Tehalix' short and brawny figure; of course, Veralla couldn't actually see the Knights' physical proportions, obscured as they were by their red-gold armors, yet she could sense their appearances through the echoes of their auras. "What're you having for breakfast, Zero?"

"I think I'll try something exotic today," Zeromon said in a friendly rumble. "Perhaps some depleted uranium? No? Oh, right, you smalsies can't handle radiation very well. Ok, then I'll take three cubic liters of ice-cream with basalt chippings." The gray-colored dragon was the biggest so far at the table, and his six-digited claws were giant even compared to his own bulk. Veralla had no trouble understanding the reason behind Zeromon's nickname. However, she could not say the same about Bernard's moniker.

"Why are you called 'Shpagus'?" she asked the human Knight. "And why Tehalix called you so... strangely?"

Bernard paused. "Well, I–"

"...can't keep my dick in my armor for more than a single workshift," Tehalix interrupted, imitating his voice. "I have to wave my meat-sword at every opportunity that presents itself. And thus why I name thee–"

"I think the little one got it," Bernard retorted in an easygoing manner. "So what? I enjoy sex. In the Æther Age, unwanted pregnancy and venereal diseases are problems only to the technologically challenged. True, there's the advent of total-realism virtual reality, but I prefer the charming, often irrational social interactions which come with physical mating."

"But of course, Shpagus, you've a reputation to uphold as the Don Bochello of Terra Para, after all. Kathy and Samantha here can testify."

"Ugh, did you have to bring that up?" Samantha groaned, while Kathy blushed furiously. Glosserax hrrr-ed out a chuckle. "You keep quiet, scaly!"

"What can I say?" Bernard continued. He lounged in his seat and spread his arms on the backrest. "I'm a person of cosmopolitan tastes. I don't discriminate on any grounds, even species. Say, Lung, wanna have a roll?" he asked, winking, but the crimson dragon growled, letting out a small flame from the corner of her snout. "Ok, ok, I get your point. Sheesh."

"Wow, a real firebreath!" Veralla rawr-ed, amazed.

"Haven't you seen one before?" Lung asked, puzzled.

"Glawlrhain showed me once, after I asked him. But I have not seen the firebreath of anyone else. Why do you not use it more often?"

"Well, they say we make too much trouble," Glosserax mumbled between bites.

"Uh-huh," Teyalinar rumbled in agreement.

"In my case, I find no reason to go around blowing my fire all the time," Lung said. "It takes effort, and there's no point of getting tired without benefit."

"Ha, I get to use mine all the time!" Zeromon said. "I mean... while I'm in the workshop. Who would've guessed dragonfire is useful for so many fabrication processes. I learn new ways of application every week!"

"Speaking of learning, I have news for you, little goddess," Tehalix told Veralla. "Since you need formal education, I've been officially appointed as your tutor guide."

"That sounds nice! What are you going to teach me?"

"All kinds of stuff. History, mathematics, physics, biology, ethics; we'll first cover all the basics in each field, then you can choose how to further continue on your own. I suggest we take two-three hours in time dilation each evening after your physical training. You game?"

Veralla gasped suddenly. "Training! System, display time!" A holographic projection hovered before her. "I am getting late for training! Glawlrhain is waiting for me!" She jumped off her seat and dashed toward the dining hall's exit.

"Heyyy, nobody's going to kill you for delayed schedules!" Tehalix called after her. "We're the Radiant Knights, not the Red Tape Knights!"