A small army of the Green Dragon's followers escorted the other members of the Elder Books Aviation Club up the many switchbacks leading to the workshop campus. The wings of the craft had been removed, and the body and wings were both stored on a horse-drawn cart. Shane had heard the roar of the engine from within the chasm, so he used his storm sorcery to fly Cliona over the city because she wanted a better view. The craft was just a small dark shape against a pale cyan sky, moving faster than any drake. The flight must have gone well, because Felix was walking tall.

"It looks like they are returning," Cliona said. The gray-robed geomancer shuffled up beside him as he looked over the railing into the chasm. "As I was saying, it was under the sixteenth guild master that the last of the true geomancers were lost to us. The guild of fire mages in the land of the Gold Dragon secured their long-desired monopoly." Her voice was soft and high-pitched and Shane found it very easy for his mind to wander while she was talking, which was unfortunate because he found the topic very interesting.

"Are there any good books on this topic?" Shane asked.

Cliona shook her head under that pile of gray cloth. "Our histories are not in print. In fact, the leadership of the guild would not approve of me telling you about all this."

Shane said nothing for a moment as he pondered this. Then he said: "You want to go to the Realm of Fire."

"If it's not too much trouble, yes."

"Sure, why not? Just dress in warm clothes. Furs, gloves, snow boots."

"As you wish," Cliona said. She bowed and shuffled away.

The gate to the compound creaked open and King Cyneric marched through, followed by Deorwine and Felix. Alice was sitting on the side of the cart with her legs hanging over the side. Shane joined the group as they passed.

"Astrid did not return with you?" Shane asked.

Felix did not answer.

"Felix? FELIX!?"

The huge Quarian man jolted and then turned to Shane. "Sorry, I am having trouble hearing right now."

"Did you shield your ears with wind magic?"

"What?"

"I warned you to use wind magic to protect your ears!" Shane shouted.

"I didn't practice enough," Felix replied.

King Cyneric retired to his quarters to change into more comfortable clothes, so Deorwine led them to a small kitchenette while they waited. Felix snatched up an apple and sat down in one of the cushioned wooden chairs. Alice walked up behind the man and began to rake her long fingernails through his hair. Felix feigned perfect relaxation even though his arms were covered in goosebumps.

"Hold still," Alice said. Then she placed her hands over his ears. Shane did not feel any connections, but he saw the unmistakable green-gold light of sorcery emanating from below her palms.

"What type of sorcery is that?" Shane asked.

"I am a cleric of the Lady Ghost. This sorcery combines the Realm of Light and the Realm of Life. It can be used to cure minor wounds and ailments."

"Combat medics are always some type of cleric," Felix said. He tapped one finger to his ear. "It's getting better."

"There you are," a soft feminine voice said from the doorway to the kitchenette. Cliona stood in the doorway, dressed in thick fur coats. "I am ready to leave, if it pleases you."

Felix looked at her suspiciously but said nothing.

"Do you need me to go with you?" Shane asked. She shook her head. In response, Shane stood and opened a portal right in the middle of the kitchenette. Cliona must have known how to use it, because she touched the portal and then vanished in a flash of red-orange light.

"So now that you can hear me, I will ask you again. Where is Astrid?"

"Probably dining at some fancy restaurant," Felix said, his mouth filled with bits of half-chewed apple. "She told me the craft still needs 'refinements,' so she sent me away."

Eventually Deorwine led them to a room filled with easel-like stations. Dozens of engineers stood at the stations, drawing diagrams on huge sheets of paper with black pencils. King Cyneric stood in one corner, by an empty station.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

"So, how can we improve the design?" the Green Dragon asked.

Everyone turned to Felix.

"I think the biggest problem is that there is no way of knowing airspeed. Usually when I shapeshift, I can feel the force of the wind on my wings. It took me three full attempts to land because my airspeed was too high and I could not descend." Felix grabbed a pencil from the station and drew a thin, vertical rectangle on the blank page. Then he put some horizontal lines on three places within the rectangle. "These lines would be discovered through testing. The far bottom line is the stall airspeed. The middle line is the upper airspeed limit in bad conditions. The upper line is the airspeed limit in perfect conditions."

"I surmise that these three speeds are significant when shapeshifted?" Deorwine asked.

"You can fly faster in perfect conditions," Felix said. "In perfect calm there is less risk of injuring your wing. If the wind is changing directions violently, you risk spraining your wing and maybe losing control. There are histories of Paladins from the early days who flew too fast and then fell to their deaths."

Deorwine took the pencil and began drawing a long tube with a cone at the end. There was an elbow, and then a vertical pipe ending at the rectangle. Then he drew a circle inside the rectangle.

"Air comes in through a hole in the tip of the cone, which sits outside the craft, perhaps on one or both wings. The air pressure pushes this ball up in the tube."

"Oh!" Alice said. "Like those devices that they give to people with breathing problems."

"Just so. With this indicator, I can see how it would be easy to test the stall speed. But what about these other limits?"

"It is easy," Felix said. "I'll nose dive and pick up speed until the wings rip off."

"That sounds like a very bad idea," Deorwine said.

"Nonsense." Shane felt Felix pat him on the shoulder. "Shane here. His fate is tied to mine. He will save me with his sorcery, or Astrid will consume his soul."

He is not wrong, Shane thought with a shiver.

"I suggest that the engineers should calculate a pessimistic upper limit," Deorwine said.

"No, these are military craft, if we end up in a fight we need to know the actual limit. An enemy is not going to slow down to accommodate flaws in your calculations. Also it is unethical. If the engineer makes a mistake, they don't die. The pilot dies and the engineer keeps on living and making more mistakes."

"There is wisdom in that," King Cyneric said. "Allow the soldier to test the limits of his weapon himself."

"As you wish, my King."

"There is also the problem of engine noise," Felix said.

"That's your own fault," Shane said. "You and the other Paladins are all able to practice wind magic. You just need to create a barrier around yourself to reduce the sound."

"Changes to the engine are difficult," Deorwine said.

Felix grimaced. "Your words are true, even though I hate to say it. The Metal Elemental wants to make specific shapes."

"What's this about?" Shane asked.

"Cliona took me to see the Elemental. She told me that the shape of this engine was common during some ancient war. She mentioned the Binding of Ashe."

"That must have been when the Lady Ghost freed Ashe from her prison," Alice added.

Deorwine sighed. "As much as my instincts tell me to ignore these religious superstitions, I am forced to admit that the design for this engine is far, far more technologically advanced than the most advanced civilization in the world is capable of designing. Now that we know the principles behind why it works, I estimate that it would take one hundred years of research before any modern civilization developed such a thing."

"Hold on a second," King Cyneric said. "You spoke with a Metal Elemental. Did she have other designs that she knows how to make? If so, we could advance our civilization greatly with her help."

"I think so," Felix replied. "She has been forbidden from making those shapes."

"By who?" the Green Dragon asked.

"By Ashe."

Alice closed her eyes and clasped her hands. "Forgive Ashe," she whispered. "The power she guards drives her to madness. Only an Elemental Queen can guard that power. All alternatives are worse."

"Tell me," Deorwine sneered, "why would this Ashe creature forbid the Metal Elementals from making certain shapes?"

"Because Ashe hates it when we fly," Felix replied.

Deorwine rubbed his temples. "Enough hocus pocus. Felix, is there anything else we need to do to refine the design?"

"We need to think about weapons. I want to test using my Draconic Flame while flying. I want to try to cast the flame from a point just in front of the propeller. It would make it easy for me and the other Paladins to adjust. We already have decades of practice shooting fire straight ahead while flying in a circle."

"I can teach you how to maintain sorcery at a position that is fixed relative to yourself, at an offset," Shane said.

Deorwine flipped the sheet of paper over the top of the easel and began scratching a diagram of the craft on the center of a fresh page. Then he drew a plume of flame leading away from the propeller. "The heat from this plume would get sucked into the engine intake on the bottom of the craft," he said.

"Is that a problem?" Felix asked.

"The design of the engine assumes that the incoming air is very cold. Our engineers theorized that the engine actually works better at high altitudes where the air is colder. If we assume the converse is true, the engine might stop working altogether if the air is too hot. Hot air rises, but the low-pressure zone in front of the engine intake might counteract the rising motion."

"May I draw something?" Shane asked.

Deorwine handed the pencil to Shane. He stepped up to the easel and began sketching out a long, wide cone in front of the propeller, flattened into the correct perspective. "You can cast a thin, cone-shaped slice of wind barrier below the plume of flame. The cone will prevent the hot air from reaching the air intake. I can teach Felix how to simultaneously cast two spells at the same time."

"Sounds good to me," Felix said.

"We will need to coat the propeller with a heat-resistant material," Deorwine said. "I will have the engineers get started on these problems right away."

"Shane!" Cliona cried from across the room. Shane turned to look at her. She was still wearing furs, and those furs were caked with fresh snow. "Shane! Come look! I can make lava!"