All of the geomancers in the city of Dragon's Landing were present at the quarry, cutting standardized headstones into the dark gray rock. Shane stood upon the flank of a seaward hill overlooking the valley south-east of the city. The jungle had been burned away to make room for the quarry and the long trenches filled with bodies. He assumed it was the first of the many mass graves that the war would bring.

The sky was pale gray but hidden from sight behind the dense branches and leaves of the blue crystal tree that loomed overhead. The path below was steep, constructed from stones embedded in the grassy hillside, rarely used and overgrown. Shane stopped on the path and waited. The gentle shuffling of feet and the clatter of a walking stick followed him. Ionathan followed, struggling to descend. The old man wore the white-gold robes of an Elder Cleric of the Lady Ghost.

"Young man," Ionathan rasped. "I need to rest."

"I can use sorcery to carry you down the trail," Shane offered. He turned back uphill to face the man.

The man shook his head. "I will make this journey using my own strength, to show my respect for the dead."

"A fair point."

Far over the hilltop, in the branches on the north side of the town, Shane saw a brilliant flash of cyan light.

"Daughter of Dreams!" Shane said. The Dream Elemental appeared immediately. "If I am not mistaken, there must be a portal up there. Do you know who created it?"

It was created by a daughter of my mother, silly.

Shane sighed. "You know exactly what I was asking. Who is bonded to the Elemental that created that portal?"

That's a secret. I'll never tell.

"A feisty little creature," Ionathan said. "Even among the Wise Women it was said that one must never trust the machinations of the tricky Dream Elementals."

"I have heard the same thing," Shane agreed, "but so far I have yet to suffer a calamity because of this Elemental."

"In my day, I heard a cautionary tale about an apprentice to a Wise Woman who was infatuated with a young man. She Wished that she was beautiful, hoping that the man would love her. The young woman vanished, only to reappear many decades later. Nobody recognized her, because indeed she had become quite beautiful, though she was able to establish her identity with her family. Of course the young man she loved had died."

"Naturally," Shane said.

His eyes still fixed on the source of the cyan flash, he began to make out feathery white wings contrasting against the blue crystal that blotted out the sky. A few rapid flutters later, and the Pegasus began to accelerate toward him. His face must have betrayed recognition, because the old man turned to face the pink-haired figure as she approached.

"Is that a flying horse?" Ionathan asked. "And is that young woman a Quarian?"

"Yes sir. I'm guessing she saw me from the other side. She once told me that my soul shines like a golden sun."

With a spiral and a flip the Pegasus gracefully landed on the soft grass nearby. Alice was looking quite lovely for a woman approaching her middle ages. The first time Shane had seen her, her true age of thirty-seven had been etched into her weathered face. Since she bonded a Life Elemental, she seemed to be slowly aging backwards. Shand would place her age at about twenty-eight or perhaps younger. She still wore her heavily-padded leather helmet, but her riding leathers were more revealing, exposing her thighs and shoulders.

Alice raised her spear high into the air. "Shane! Astrid has sent me to deliver a message!" she announced in Quarian.

"You flew all the way to the south?" he asked incredulously.

The woman giggled. "It's my secret."

"It has been many decades since I have spoken the language of the north," Ionathan said.

"Ionathan," Shane began, "This is my associate, Alice of Black River, Cleric of the Lady Ghost. Alice, meet Ionathan of Dragon's Landing, Elder Cleric of the Lady Ghost."

"A pleasure. Young lady, is it true? Have you been to the other side?"

"Father! It is true, I have been to the other side. In fact, I have met the Lady Ghost herself."

"You are a Prophet then," the old man rasped. "There is no need to address me as Father. In fact, I should be addressing you as Mother!"

"If you are not busy, I can take you to the other side presently. Shane, many Spirits gather in the branches of your crystal tree. You must see them!"

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

"I'm afraid such an adventure must be delayed," Ionathan said. "I must descend into the valley below to pay my respects for the fallen."

With a flash of dark green light, the Life Elemental appeared beside Alice. To Shane's eyes, it looked a bit like a tree that had grown into the shape of a woman. Her head was covered with a mane of verdant leaves, her face was smooth bark, and she appeared to be crying tears of dried sap.

"Then I shall join your quest," Alice declared. "Daughter of the Queen of Life! Give Ionathan the strength to continue his journey!"

The Life Elemental floated over to the old man and touched his shoulder. He began moving again, slowly plodding along down the steps, his walking stick clattering against stone. Alice trotted toward Shane on her Pegasus and offered a sealed envelope. It was sealed with a stamped clump of purple wax. The papers within were of different ages and quality, some yellowed and hand written, some fresh and white and printed with a modern press. The largest page was printed in dark purple ink. Shane began to read as he descended into the valley.

Brigid has discovered a local contact in the Quarian intelligence community and has arranged for the regular delivery of intelligence reports. Alice will handle the physical deliveries to the south. Felix must not be informed of these reports. I have not read them, and I do not know what they contain. I do know that the north is advancing at a rapid pace, and more intervention may be needed on my part in the future. Your performance thus far has exceeded even my most ambitious expectations, and you have my sincerest thanks for your efforts. ~ Princess Astrid of House Anna-Rhea.

Shane shuffled through to one of the more recent reports as he walked. Ionathan was beginning to outpace him, so he let the older man pass.

Lord Paladin: Now that the mission is complete, in retrospect, is there anything about the carrier that you would change to improve the performance of your men on the mission?

General Officer Felix: I had a lot of time to think about this on the flight home. Shane was only able to detect us after we started our engines. I realized that we could have delayed enemy detection even longer if we were able to take off without starting the engines. Here, let me draw it. See, you keep the airplanes stored vertically on the sides of the aircraft carrier, perhaps fixed to long vertical tracks. The pilot climbs into the cabin wearing a harness to prevent them from falling off the airship. Once the pilot is secured, and once the pre-flight checks are complete, the airmen cut the cables holding the airplane in place. It falls nose-first toward the ground and gains airspeed. A few hundred feet above the ground, the pilot starts the engine and begins the attack.

Lord Paladin: Excellent idea my boy! I have an improvement for your design. You can carry a very large number of airplanes this way. As airplanes land on the deck, they can be quickly deposited onto one of the rails on the side of the airship.

General Officer Felix: When we attacked the enemy airplane factory, it made me realize just how vulnerable such factories could be. I devised a second design that I hope would improve the resilience of our factories. Imagine sixteen airships together in a row, and instead of a landing deck, an entire airship factory is built upon the top. As airplanes leave the assembly line, they simply drop over the side of the ship to gain airspeed and then fly away. A fleet of airplanes could guard the airspace around the flying factory at all hours of the day, and it could operate far over the ocean, away from the homeland where the enemy will be unlikely to find it.

Lord Paladin: I can imagine such a thing, though personally I would use the craft more aggressively.

General Officer Felix: What do you mean, commander?

Lord Paladin: I would locate iron, coal, and supply stockpiles in the enemy homeland, as well as the locations of mines and farms. I would send these new vertical takeoff machines to steal enemy supplies and use those supplies to build new airplanes right over the enemy homeland.

Suddenly Shane had an idea. "We can build new factories in the branches of the crystal tree!" he exclaimed.

"That sounds fun," Alice said.

"You won't tell Felix will you?" Shane asked.

"I will do nothing unless commanded by Princess Astrid," she replied.

"I find it unlikely that she would," Shane said. "If the enemy is going to build airplane factories in the sky, then we will need to do the same thing. Protected on all sides by blue crystal leaves, both ends of the factory could be open to the air. Aligned along an axis that follows the direction of the wind on most days. If the enemy gets too close, I can always create new crystal leaves to cover the openings and protect the workers."

"The old man has gained on you," Alice observed.

Indeed, Ionathan had descended halfway to the valley floor in the time it took Shane to read the intelligence report. He connected to the three Realms and used storm sorcery to catch up. Alice fluttered down on her Pegasus as well.

"Young lady, I feel thirty years younger!" Ionathan said.

Shane did not listen as the two Clerics continued their banter. He focused on the older document. The paper was yellow with oxidation and the handwriting had faded.

Our contacts in Riln have agreed to the arrangement. A portion of the incomes of the migrant workers will be paid out to our allies in the south. This will give them a strong incentive to distribute propaganda that portrays the north in a positive light. I want those savages in the south to have a mythological reverence for the north. Immigration should be the only thing they think about. Don't worry about the Red Dragon. I have made an alliance that will secure access to a High Daughter. The monster may already be dead by the time this letter arrives. ~ S

Shane felt a chill. How the hell did Brigid find somebody with access to such a document? He assumed that Sylvester, the Prime Minister, had written the document decades before. Why had it not been destroyed immediately?

The next document contained an engineering diagram. It was labeled: "Vertical Takeoff Rotor-Wing Aircraft." It featured a huge horizontal propeller at the top of a shaft, and a long boom extending to the rear of the craft, where a second vertical propeller was connected to a chain. There was an equation to calculate the speed of the vertical propeller relative to the horizontal propeller, to counteract the torque and prevent the craft from spinning.

The rotor-wing aircraft shows promise, and it is already able to fly straight up and down. However, three-axis control is not yet possible. Engineers are experimenting with schemes to allow for individual and collective control of the pitch of each rotor blade. Felix says that the rudder pedals should be used to control the blade pitch of the rear propeller.

He stopped and floated in place. Alice and Ionathan had already reached the valley floor and were about to reach the mass graves. He turned around and began to ascend up the slope, leaving them behind. Astrid was right, the north was advancing too quickly. Every single minute was important. The dead could wait.