The flight to Sorjek was a bit more ambitious than the flight to Mount Ardaziel, but still comfortably within their capabilities. It had an additional stopover in it, too. Korjek, city of bone, ally of Sorjek. They'd get a meal at Korjek.
On a rooftop on the edge of Ardaziel-the-city, the three dragons gathered the next morning. "Have either of you been to Korjek?" Aleicree asked them.
"No," said Limist.
"Nor I," said Azosta, "Though I've flown over it before."
Aleicree said, "We'll be stopping there partway through our flight. We've no business there save to eat and move on, but at least we won't go all day on one meal today."
The wind was blowing fierce, gusting off Aleicree's amicus breeze repeatedly, as what looked to be a storm blew in from the water. They were set to fly in clearer south skies and the wind was not against them in theory, but the instability of it would make for an unpleasant flight. Aleicree would have a hard time countering the uncooperative wind for all three of them. To deal with this, Aleicree dipped into lessons that zie hadn't excelled so well at in academy, but which zie still remembered.
Limist and Azosta waited patiently while Aleicree performed a short geomantic rite.
Rather than native wind meditation, zie was asking for a favour from the land gods. Since the wind zie asked for would need to be stable across multiple theomes, zie was asking for a wind contract: a pledge in the weave of Fate between theomes that there would be a wind to carry the three of them.
The rite itself was a graceful motion between stress positions held for several seconds. It would have been passable exercise were it taught for that purpose. It was instead intended to be a rare set of motions that the land god of the theome would notice and respond to.
When zie had moved as necessary for the rite and felt sure that zie had the attention of Aiden, land god of Ardaziel, Aleicree said, "We three dragons are travelling to Sorjek. Please grant us a wind greater and more perfect than my own, across the many theomes, to last for the next day."
There was no visual sign of the ritual's completion, and no zither of discord in Aleicree's mind; geomantic rites carried a risk of what was known as serenity drain, but this time Aleicree had not suffered it. Instead, there was simply a shift in the wind, so that the top of the building they were on was touched by a wind flowing southwest. It was steadier than the wind calling the storm to Mount Ardaziel.
The three took to the air. Once more, Aleicree led them. They flew between low mountains southwest of Mount Ardaziel, lower than the grand peak yet still higher than they wished to press for altitude. They left behind the oncoming clouds and flew beneath clear skies. This area would be rainy soon, but not yet. There was no rain shadow behind the mountains. Ardaziel-the-mountain was impressive, but the range was otherwise both low and broken. The storm that approached Mount Ardaziel would surely move around the mountain instead of over it.
They crossed the emerald seas of the rainforest canopy, trees rippling in the breeze beneath them. They saw the occasional village community or individual house, but out here they were finally over the interior of northern Kanjamund, and there were few dragons living in the territories they flew over. There were no roads here. Dragons didn't buy stone from Mount Ardaziel here in the island's interior. If they traded with the city at all, they traded what they could carry in packs.
About three hours passed.
There was nothing to do but hang aloft in their artificial wind while the sun beat down on them. Here they had outraced the clouds and the air would have been stagnant if not for the wind spell upon them. Aleicree grew bored and overheated despite the speed at which they were moving. Zie could not even talk to Limist and Azosta. Every word would be a roar and they'd soon enough throw out their voices. All zie could do was watch the landscape ahead and below. Each detail that stood out became a relief from the boredom of a long and easy flight. Zie started spotting molehills in clearings and wondering at flowers spotted in passing, though such small details were easily missed when zie was flying at this speed. There was nothing more worth doing than trying.
The highlight of the day was when they came upon Korjek. It was a famed necromancer city and it showed its dedication openly. Ribcage malls menaced with bones jutting up from the ground between shops. Great grasping hands rose up over buildings, or even clutched them up above the ground. Skeletal dragons larger than any dragon that had ever lived slumbered across the city with buildings housed inside of them. This architecture was why it was called a city of bone, and there was rumoured to be one such city on each of the three isles of Kanjamund.
It was a bit silly, Aleicree thought. There was no particular advantage to working necromancy in a building that looked like a giant skeletal dragon. Zie supposed they were just having fun. They probably had undead constructs to build their unnecessarily elaborate structures for them.
There was a moderate traffic of dragons in the sky here.
The three dragons turned in the sky, slowing and dropping as they approached Korjek. The rib cage malls were likely places to get something to eat, and Aleicree led the three in approach to one.
Zie saw as they approached that wraithe-like or fully suited forms of actual skeletal dragons were visible in the streets. Suited wraithes exposed nothing to the world outside, but looked like strange artificial dragons. Living traffic gave unclothed wraithes a wide berth. It was unusual to see wraithes walking legally in the open without protective suits, their animate bone forms visible through a dark haze of necrotic chaos. They weren't quite ghosts yet, but dragons who were that far into necromantic undeath already had a dangerous aura that could inflict serenity drain on passers-by. Just being near a wraithe was a hazard to the mind. So was staring at one, so Aleicree didn't dwell on any particular wraithe.
The three landed near one of Korjek's malls. It was easy to find a place to land; Korjek wasn't too densely built. The traffic was denser as they approached, and there were lots of dragons on the ground here. This was a destination, Aleicree mused as they entered. It was an obvious place to go and dragons were going to it.
Aleicree's wind charm continued steadily blowing across them as they walked over the ground, right up until they stepped through a gateway into the ribcage. It was quelled then. Aleicree checked on it with a mental refocus on the weave of Fate, finding the charm held in abeyance by a magic upon the ribcage mall itself. A more permanent negotiation kept the weather from this place, pausing zir charm until zie departed the mall. Finding a geomantic weatherward was a surprise. Who was the land god of Korjek?
Even though Aleicree didn't want to buy anything, zie couldn't help but be fascinated by the idea of a necromancer mall. Were they all going to be magic shops? No, they were not. The first store near the entrance was Netanen's Fashion Accessories, which sold clothing for vrash and vashael. It could've been enchanted clothing, but it was displayed densely and priced moderately, suggesting it was just clothing.
The next place for a store held instead "The Everspring", which was a fountain with a sign hung up giving its name and claiming, "Safe for Drinking". Smaller signage by the fountain described it and the stock of bowls at its side as having self-cleaning enchantments, "proving that necromancy can be clean".
Limist went directly to drink from the fountain when they saw it, but Azosta hung back. Aleicree stopped and looked at him, and he said, "Fate and fact are mixed up here. Necromantic enchantments aren't supposed to actually work."
"Can you see the Fate of the fountain?" Aleicree asked.
Azosta nodded. "Yes, and it's ugly. Nobody ever cleans this fountain, so it shouldn't be safe to drink from."
"But it is safe to drink from." Aleicree looked over at the fountain. It looked sparkling clean. "Isn't it?"
Azosta shook his head and said, "It's a little dirty with necromantic energy itself, but I don't think you can get a dose that matters by drinking from it."
So Aleicree walked over and grasped the fountain's lip, then leaned in and dipped zir head directly into the fountain to drink from it, joining several other dragons in doing exactly the same thing. The bowls were for obligate bipeds like kalla.
Shaking water droplets off zir chin, Aleicree went back to surveying the shops of the mall. The most fascinating place was an actual corpse-seller selling clean bones, preserved organs, and dragon-leather. They had a sign up saying, "Summoned materials only. No true corpse-matter. We do not buy!"
Azosta tried to shy away from the corpse-seller, but Aleicree dragged him in to look at it. "The Everspring was safe. Is this safe?" zie asked him.
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"No!" he said, his voice sharp. "Everything at this shop is dangerously necromantic. Don't touch it."
"Aha, so it's a bad magic," Aleicree said.
"It's fine for them, they have protective equipment." Azosta grimaced. "Or hands that have already died and been reanimated, so it doesn't matter anymore."
As the two of them were walking away from the corpse-seller, Aleicree asked, "Is corpse-matter necromantic?"
Azosta said, "No, it's actually not. Meat and bone is just meat and bone. The problem with that shop's stuff is it was summoned in contravention of Fate. It's made of necromantic energy."
Aleicree didn't drag Azosta around any more after that. Zie just took to heart the idea of not touching things, and let him explore on his own.
There were still many shops of interest. There was a glove-seller that seemed to be doing a lot of business. Aleicree had never seen so many dragons wearing gloves, which were not a common article of clothing. The gloves, zie learned by asking why they were popular, were protective equipment for handling necromantic goods. There was a seller of wraithe-suits with an intimidating customer base, as they were all artificial-looking dragons sealed inside of wraithe-suits already. Aleicree feared ambient contamination and didn't want to get close enough to ask any questions of its proprietor. There was a seller of necromantic charms, which were mostly blessings upon the body, such as making exercise easier or guarding against injuries. Those were the reasonably priced charms, but for a very high price, that shop would also sell a charm of water-breathing!
There were also shops of less necromantic interest, such as a scribegon selling books. It was a deserted little shop with high prices, but in the absence of customers the scribegon was busily copying another book at their desk. Aleicree didn't want to browse; zie had zir own copy-projects already and would only be badly tempted by a scribegon's inventory. There was also a vrash armourer with a workshop on the premises. When Aleicree glanced in, the proprietor was moulding metal with her bare hands, using the famed vrash ability to reform surfaces at a touch to do so with hardly a sound, although not without strain as Aleicree could see the smith's bulging muscles.
There were still more shops as well, but Aleicree was intending to buy only one thing at the mall that day: food. In this the mall was a little scarce. The undead mostly didn't eat. Nevertheless, the open centre of the mall was set up with tables and there did seem to be living tourists visiting "the city of bone", too. Working from shop-stands near the centre tables, there was a seller of sauced fried meats, a seller who offered paper bowls full of strange little dots, and a maker of big soft garlic pretzels whose stand advertised, "High in protein!"
Aleicree saw Limist queued up for the line of strange little dots, but just as zie approached zie saw Azosta shove at Limist. "Come away from there," Azosta said. "These are an unhealthy magic."
"You mean they're unhealthy sweets," said Limist, laughing and shoving back. The two stood shoulder to shoulder, pushing at each other.
"No, I mean they're summoned foods. Don't. Eat. Summoned. Foods," said Azosta, pushing insistently. Aleicree wondered what the issue was. Zir mother Praoziu never cooked, but all through zir childhood and whenever zie went back to Nidrio, Praoziu only summoned food. Maybe it was different when an actual land god did it.
Limist sighed and let Azosta shove him out of the line. "Fine," he said. The two of them walked over to the seller of sauced fried meats.
Aleicree lined up at the pretzel stand, intending to ask a question of the seller. The stand had a delicious smell from the oven at its back. When zie got to the front zie asked, "What’s protein?”
The pretzel-maker smiled at zir as though he faced this question every day. “It’s what meat is made of. You have to eat it to form muscles of your own.”
After another sniff at the air, Aleicree said “These smell like bread. Is bread high in protein?”
The pretzel-maker said, “No, bread is very poor in protein.”
Aleicree asked, “Then how can pretzels be high in protein?"
The pretzel-maker reached under the counter and picked up a bag of some manner of powder. He set it on the counter and said, "I buy this protein powder in bulk from Sorjek. There's a vegetarian dragon there who makes it as a food additive. I don't know the ingredients, but I trust the seller. Are you buying or just asking?"
"I'm buying," Aleicree said as the pretzel-maker put the powder back under the counter.
There was a rack of pretzels already prepared and the transaction was quicker than the questions had been. Aleicree stepped away holding a pretzel and looked about to see where Limist and Azosta had gotten to. Zie saw them at a table with their sauced meats and promptly joined them.
"This is a nice little side trip," zie said as zie sat on zir haunches next to the table.
Limist said, "Be nicer if I weren't naked. There's even an armourer here, but I've no budget."
"Maybe that'll be better in a season," Aleicree said optimistically.
Was a season enough? Zie had no idea how long it took to pay off a suit of vrash armour.
Limist only grunted noncommittally.
Azosta said, "Necromancy is even worse than geomancy. This theome is only going to get more unnatural over time."
Aleicree ripped off a piece of pretzel and pointed at Azosta with it. "You are a very unusual geomancer. Is this why you're a plumbergon now?"
Azosta was reared up over his place at the table, and he reared up more under Aleicree's attention, sitting tall as he replied, "I work with physical materials now. My work makes the world less unnatural, where it used to make it more unnatural."
Aleicree nudged Azosta in the side and said, "I wonder if magic might actually be the most natural thing of all. Didn't everything come from magic?"
"That doesn't hurt anything," Azosta said with a frown, "And it doesn't change my point. Dragons can only care about so many creation stories. A stable world needs everyone to care about everything else so much more."
"Well, I care about wind magic," said Aleicree. Zir amicus breeze reached out and gusted at Azosta for a moment.
He was unfazed. "Yes, but do you care about wind? You never appreciate the natural wind, do you?"
Aleicree leaned back, eyes widening. "The natural wind? But I'm a vashael! I would have to deliberately quell my amicus breeze to feel any but the gustiest natural wind. I'm not made to appreciate the natural wind."
Azosta hmmed, and then looked down at the table. "Maybe I would never think the way I do if I were a vashael."
"Don't you change the world where you walk?" asked Aleicree.
Azosta looked at Aleicree with his earfins up and his tail curling.
Aleicree added, “I mean, as a vrash?”
Azosta’s whole posture sagged an inch. "That sounded cooler before you mentioned species. And no, I don't think I do. I'm not in the habit of using the vrash gift."
Limist piped up, "It's not like we seal pipes together by touch or anything. We got wrenches on the job site."
"Why don't you seal pipes together by touch? Wouldn't that be more permanent?" Aleicree asked.
Azosta sat up straight again. "Hey! Don't go adding magic to my job, I prefer it being mundane."
"You don't use enough magic in your job," said Limist, frowning at Azosta.
Azosta took a deep breath, and just frowned back at Limist.
Aleicree said, "If you look around enough, you can probably find vrash plumbergons who use their species gift in their job. Maybe if they figured out how on their own, or were taught by someone who had."
"Maybe," said Limist. "We were taught by an izerah couple. They wanted out of the business after a few decades and were looking for a replacement."
"There you go," said Aleicree with a smile. "An izerah wouldn’t use magic in this job, so you didn’t learn to."
"We should get on our way again," said Azosta. "We've spent enough time here."
"Alright," said Aleicree, and at the same time, Limist said, "Sure."
They left behind the table in the foodcourt of the mall and walked along the path, passing alongside stores and giant stone ribs until they were out of the ribcage mall again. Soon they were out and in the air again, and Aleicree looked back one last time on Korjek, the city of bone. Zie expected to see it again on the return trip from Sorjek to Griolor.
The three flew on.
From Korjek there was a road that went all the way to Sorjek. The two cities shared a specialty that provoked dragons to visit both of them, and they were only a few days of travel from each other by the roads, so the leaders of one or both of them had invested in extending roads through the theomes that separated them. There were villages along the roads to provide for inns to serve the travellers using them. There wasn't quite enough traffic for the impressive domed structures of caravanserai to be built and nobody had sought prestige for their village by doing it anyways, so travelling wagons were simply pulled into one of the several wagon shelters per inn.
Vrash and vashael being flying creatures and the probable majority in every theome of Kanjamund, roads weren't always found, and long-distance roads were usually for hauling cargo rather than the passage of dragons. Still, where they existed, they served izerah and kalla minorities quite well, and Aleicree was amused to watch izerah running along the roadway with or without small carts for their belongings. Some of them were even lashed together sharing the weight of wagons that moved swiftly down the road for having an izerah team pulling them at a run. Teamed izerah were the fastest way to ship a large cargo load. Still, none of the izerah were as swift as dragons with a wind enchantment, so Aleicree swiftly left each of these behind.
The road was a relief from the emerald sea, beautiful as it was to watch the trees ripple with the breeze. There were more dragons here between Korjek and Sorjek, and more little communities built up to take advantage of the bounty of the rainforests. Likely the land gods along this road were more benevolent; it was to Aleicree's embarrassment as a geomancer that zie didn't know exactly whose territory they were flying over. They had long ago left behind Mount Ardaziel's range of stone-selling and the buildings here were predominantly made of wood, likely local.
More dragons meant more flyers in the air as well, and several times Aleicree felt zir swift passage was noticed, as the artificial wind that was carrying zir swept zir swiftly in and out of range of other nearby flyers. There was no chance and no time to play with passing dragons on the wing, but they stayed on their vector flying for Sorjek.