The next four farmergons came in pairs on the fourteenth and fifteenth day. One of them was Steinack, who claimed to be “old but not a primordial” and who held up the conversation solo with talk of his prior careers. The other three were dour dragons who refused to countenance travel, leading to the surprise outcome of Steinack signing up without his mate. Aleicree was secretly relieved that their flock of travelling dragons hadn't grown even larger. The return trip was going to be exhausting for a reason entirely apart from flying all day. All these dinners with strangers pushed zir tolerance as it was, though Aleicree continued recording their names, descriptions, and something of their interests in zir notes about this trip.

Denziu kept notes of zir journeys, zie thought. Now zie was doing it. Their family would be richer if the price of paper went down.

The Ascent of Shattered Knives beckoned during the day. It was hard to classify as fiction or nonfiction. It didn't claim to be fiction or write with a narrative, but it described somewhere that was clearly not on Theoma. It described a place where dragons lived "like animals in the wilderness" amidst "the ruins of less glorious worlds". "No paths can be charted there, but some places can be found nonetheless."

The path to the Ascent was found by running from conflict with other dragons. It was found by hiding and cowardice, as well as by cunning unbefitting the wilderness. Attempting to build among the ruins could find it, but only in the aftermath of failure. There were no literal paths in the wilderness the book described, but there were paths of thought.

Before the Ascent, there were other places described earlier in the book. They were all very fanciful. Aleicree was pretty sure zie was transcribing a work of fiction. Zie persisted. The land gods had sent zir a dream indicating this book held some importance, and zie was determined to extract whatever value it had for zir.

Was this how Querent-Querent had so many books?

It was a strange book. If not for that dream of climbing a staircase made of broken knives, Aleicree would never have stuck with this work, nor suspected it of magical significance.

On the morning of the sixteenth day, Limist and Azosta stayed home, while Vrekant flew out only briefly and then returned to find Azosta, Limist, and Aleicree playing again that board game about merchant trading. Vrekant went out to work in his garden.

When they were done with the board game, Aleicree pouched zir blank book and zir copy of The Ascent of Shattered Knives. Transcribing a book during a play would be a decent, quiet fallback in case it wasn't very fun to watch after all. Then zie went out to fetch Vrekant from the garden, and the four of them flew into town.

They didn't go directly for the theatre as Aleicree expected, but rather Vrekant directed them to the beach! The weather was finer that day and there were many dragons out on the beach, though there was such an amount of beach that it still was not packed.

They went to the mushroom-shaped structures with the shower nozzles under their caps. They were in use by other dragons, and Vrekant had them stand in line. While the group waited, he said, "The theatre is two hours in close proximity with strangers. Taking a shower before attending is polite, and the facilities here are free."

"Are any of these attending the theatre?" Limist asked, gesturing at the three dragons in line and the four under the nozzles.

"They might be," said Vrekant.

Most of the group were wearing only pouches, but Aleicree had to doff zir entire windmage uniform to shower. Zie left Vrekant holding it and braved the cold water from the spout. Brr! It was even worse to go from being dry to being doused in cold water. Zie hadn't already gotten used to the ocean this time.

Zie wasn't afraid to put the windmage uniform back on while still wet (zie wore it during bad weather too, after all) so zie got redressed again immediately. "I felt the weight of books in these," said Vrekant while handing the pouches back. "Reading is also impolite in the theatre, though you're apt to get away with it."

"I'm sorry," said Aleicree, smiling weakly at Vrekant. "I just don't know what to expect from the performance."

"Neither do I. It took me this long to think about attending. I don't follow their schedule."

The group set off through the air, and were shortly landing outside the theatre. Aleicree fretted all through the flight. Would zie enjoy the play? Could zie? Zir brain felt full of worries and dreams alike. The book that zie was reading and puzzling over seemed more pressing than a play. At least in theory the book was supposed to teach something of magic. What was the good of a play? Would zie learn more by studying the play, or the book?

Aleicree had never even heard anything of plays, and as they went inside with Vrekant handling the ticket-seller in their booth, Aleicree nearly despaired of reading. For it was a dark building, though clean and elegant, reminding zir of visits to the Temples of Uttermost Dark. Zie hadn't been in one since childhood, but they had been like this building, with winedark carpets and black-painted walls. The walls were too close for that they were hardly alone, but a crowd of dragons hemmed them in as they went deeper into the dark, fine theatre building.

They came out into a much larger space. The back half of the theatre building reared up before them. What had been a great titanic barrel seen from outside was a vast open space seen from inside. Three stories of cushioned seating places were arranged in ascending bleachers around a stage. Nearly half the places had dragons in them, vrash and vashael reclining on their haunches with their tails curled around inconspicuously. A few places had izerah standing on the cushions. Aleicree saw two swaivshon in the rows, sitting next to each other and nestled into one another's fluff. Zie saw a single kalla, leaning against the side of a vrash and looking out of place.

All or nearly all of the other dragons were in groups. Aleicree could tell. They were talking to each other, sometimes touching each other, and the whole theatre was a hubbub of conversation with dragons still pouring in and percolating down the aisles. There was too much noise.

Aleicree, Vrekant, Limist, and Azosta took up four seating places in a row, sitting rather high up in the stands for that they had not arrived before half the crowd. They sat in that order, with Aleicree at one end and Azosta at the other. The four turned towards each other. Aleicree asked, "How will we hear the performance over this much chatter?"

Said Azosta, "They'll all go silent, don't worry."

Limist asked, "You've never been to the theatre, then?"

"Not once," replied Aleicree. "Why do dragons attend the theatre?"

Vrekant said, "Better question. Why do dragons write plays?"

Limist said, "To make dragons laugh."

Vrekant grinned like someone had taken the bait. "Broader. To make dragons feel," he said. "But there are other reasons, anyone else want to guess?"

Azosta said, "Many plays are instructive. They're meant to influence."

Vrekant said, "Like morality plays. Not usually the best watching, but I can't say I didn't bring you to one. Nor that I did. I don't know this play."

"What is the play called?" asked Aleicree.

"It's called The Whisper in the Forest," said Vrekant.

The entering crowds turned from a pour to a trickle. It would've been nice if that meant the play started at once, but it didn't. The many conversations that filled the space continued.

"How long will we wait?" asked Aleicree.

Vrekant sought Aleicree's tail with his own. He seemed to regard this gesture casually, but it still set zir heart aflutter. "I'm not sure," he said, "I don't know exactly the time, and they might not start just at the moment. Shouldn't be too long though, I think when they see most of the theatre is full they may even start a touch early."

Several boring minutes stretched. The air in the crowded theatre stands was stifling. There was too much background noise for conversation. Talking in public places was like this; when thousands of other dragons tried to talk in the same room, it was futile.

Two dragons stepped onto the stage. The whole place was still loud, and Aleicree wondered if the performance was starting, but then zie watched as boards painted with trees and bushes were wheeled onto the stage and set up there. Around the theatre, it got a little quieter as others saw the stage being set.

The two dragons finished setting the stage and stepped off.

Then, the lighting changed. The stage brightened while all else dimmed. All the conversations fell to a swift-spreading hush.

The first actorgon stepped onto the stage, his blue scales twinkling sapphire in the light. He recited a poem of love in a powerful voice.

Another actorgon stepped onto the stage. His green scales too light a hue, so that they washed out in the stagelight, but he answered with two couplets in a beautiful voice. He accepted the love poem with wit and rhyme. The two briefly danced together.

This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

It was a love story. The blue one's name was Alesh. The green one's name was Enquo.

There was a brief darkness as "the forest" boards were wheeled out and new boards were wheeled in to set a different scene.

In successive scenes, it became a strangling love story. As more characters were introduced, the two lovers from the intro stayed together, but they interfered with each other. Their passions were in different directions, but their lives were entangled. They destroyed each others' ambitions while the theatre watched, hanging on every word.

Much of it was poetry. Aleicree had never heard so many lines of poetry performed. Had Vrekant imagined something like this from Aleicree's writing poems about the sea? Aleicree could never have performed anything like these duelling poems on stage.

Through all of this, Vrekant's tail stayed looped over Aleicree's, pulling zir in next to him just a bit. The touch flushed zir, despite that the play seemed a tale of love gone poorly.

Eventually, there was an intermission. The stage lights went down and the room lights went up. Aleicree was baffled by the lighting; there were no visible lanterns. The building must have a powerful spell to achieve such sourceless light. With the room lighting up again, there was a burst of applause from the audience and a rising noise of chatter in the stands.

Vrekant touched Aleicree's shoulder, drawing zir to look at him, and he asked, "So, how are you liking your first play?"

"Will Enquo and Alesh reconcile?" asked Aleicree. "They seemed adorable together in the opening scene, but now they argue instead of dancing."

"I haven't seen it," reminded Vrekant.

Limist spoke up from past Vrekant, saying, "I've realised that I have, but I won't spoil it."

A concession seller pushed a wheeled cart down the aisles hawking hand pies during the intermission. They were an easy, clean-enough food that wouldn't leave much debris under the seats. Aleicree tuned out the concession seller and was about to ask Limist a question when Limist shouted, "Hoi! Bring those over here!"

Too used to skipping meals on the Serene Chordalite, Aleicree wasn't hungry, and passed on the hand pies. The other three took one each.

"Limist," said Aleicree, leaning to speak around Vrekant. "You said plays were to make dragons laugh, but I haven't heard a titter from this one."

"Oh well, they're not ALL to make dragons laugh. Comedies are just popular. Like lampoons in text, I'm sure a good scribegon like you knows how well those sell!" He laughed, but Aleicree grimaced. Yes, zie did know how well lampoons sold. Waste of paper...

Azosta was watching Aleicree's expression and noticed zir grimace. "We need a better class of popular text," he said. "Every lampoon ridicules something. It isn't healthy to fill our homes with ridicule, I think. Like it isn't healthy to get everything done with magic."

Vrekant smiled brightly. "Come now, you three have been missing out on the best texts. What Do Your Scales Say About Your Soul shows up everywhere on Kanjamund, and that isn't ridiculing anyone," he said.

Aleicree flashed a disbelieving look at Vrekant. "That book-"

Vrekant stilled Aleicree's reply with a raised hand as the lighting changed. Darkened rows, brightened stage. The next act was starting.

The forest setting showed up again many times in the next act. Alesh had grown discontented, and drew them back to the forest. The two of them danced again, hesitantly at first, with more halting love poems performed.

After that, they spoke of ambition. Instead of seeking at odds, they negotiated... in rhymes. At first, they finished each others' rhymes and seemed renewed to each other, but as the dialogues went on they developed in different ways again. Alesh was ambitious and spoke of glory. Enquo was overwhelmed and his replies grew halting again. Enquo drooped upon the stage; Alesh grew agitated.

Departing from each other, Enquo said without rhyme, "At least we have this forest. The wood binds us."

The scene changed. They spoke to other characters again, conferring separately for advice about what to do with their love lives.

"That forest I have grown to hate," cried Alesh to a confidante. "I feel it lives upon my Fate. What binding strain has come of love? This challenge I would break free of!"

"My sorrow has to him no force," Enquo said to one of his friends. "To live in that forest seems my last recourse." If the forest alone was a space where Enquo and Alesh could love each other, his friend proposed that Enquo become a forest scholargon, modifying his ambitions to build a life with Alesh.

The two lovers met again in the forest. Swelled with confidence, Enquo spoke of his new desire, and swore against interfering with Alesh's glories if only Alesh would visit often to Enquo's forest dwelling. Far from being happy, Alesh strained with dismay, trembling back from Enquo and muttering - it was supposed to be muttering, though the actorgon's voice was great enough to carry - muttering against Enquo in dismay and horror.

They departed from each other and for a moment all the lights dimmed, but then they rose up again with Alesh upon the stage. "I will not be chained!" cried out the blue dragon, and then there was a collective gasp in the audience with dragons rising to their feet in shock, for Alesh after that proclamation breathed fire upon the backdrop. The boards with trees and shrubberies painted on them burned upon the stage!

The lights went down, leaving only the burning "forest" on the stage. They burned enthusiastically in the semi-darkness of the theatre, crackling in the quiet of an audience who were either shocked or grinning at the shock of those who hadn't known the effect was coming.

The lights came back up, and one of the stagegons came out bearing a blanket with which to knock down and smother the burning boards. The audience rose in applause while the fire was being smothered.

When the fire was out, the whole cast came out and most of the applause quieted. First one then another of the actorgons stood upon the leading edge of the stage to bow to the audience, their names given by "Alesh" in that dragon's powerful voice. There was a burst of applause for every actorgon. Finally, Alesh's actorgon stood in the middle himself, called his own name, and gave his own bow.

The applause surged anew as the cast all bowed and started to file off the stage. When they'd all cleared, a stagegon came out to haul away the burnt props, and another followed after with a broom to clear the ash. The crowd started to file out of the theatre at this point, leaving the rows and heading out for the street. When the path opened, the four left with everyone else.

They couldn't have talked in the loud theatre itself, but as soon as they were out Vrekant nudged Aleicree. "How was it?" He grinned.

"I've never heard that much poetry recited in my life," said Aleicree. "They really worked to try to make every line alluring."

Limist walked to Aleicree's other side. "What'd you think of the story?"

The whole group circled 'round, taking up a corner of the stone square in front of the theatre. Vrekant sat between Limist and Azosta, and Aleicree sat across from him.

"I'm not sure I understand why Alesh felt so boxed in. It seemed like Enquo was being very..." Aleicree searched for a word. "Accommodating?"

"It's not my favourite play either," Limist said, "But it does have a good finish." He looked over to Azosta. "Oh hey, it was your first time seeing that one, too. How was it?"

Azosta looked grumpy. "Even here, we could not escape seeing magic."

"It's everywhere," said Vrekant.

"I think seeing it in plays is good for the world," Aleicree said.

Azosta half-opened his wings, magnifying his presence. "Why would it be different?" His voice was a demand that held in the air as he folded his wings back up again.

Aleicree smiled at Azosta. "For one thing, I think everyone can see that burning down a forest would be a bad use of magic."

Azosta sighed and nodded. "It would. It would traumatise dragons, leaving them searching for power. More would study magic, and they'd do it in bitter resentment, spawning still more tragedies and still more bitter studies, fraying society until the primordial state was a mercy."

Vrekant said, "I don't think dragons really act like Alesh did. He was an exaggeration for the author to wield."

Limist grinned and nudged Vrekant with a wing. "How many dragons do you think sit around talking about media they've just seen?"

Vrekant laughed and batted back at Limist, so that the two struck each others' wings harmlessly for a bit. And as he was batting he said, "Hey, that's not rare, is it?"

Steel-jawing a gentle blow from Vrekant’s wing, Limist sat upright and said solemnly, "He was an exaggeration for the author to wield." He slipped into a slack posture and patted at Vrekant with his own wing as he said, "I don't think I've heard that before."

"All characters exaggerate something," said Aleicree. "They wouldn't be much fun if they were just ordinary and normal."

Azosta was looking more cheerful and interested in the conversation. He had his head up and was following speaker to speaker. When Aleicree spoke, he raised a hand before his chest, and they looked towards him. "I don't think every author necessarily has the grasp of archetypes needed to create exaggerated characters."

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing? Alesh really didn't behave like a real dragon," said Limist.

A quiet moment as they looked from one to another. Aleicree broke the silence with sudden laughter. "Okay, so we really didn't understand that play," zie said.

"Maybe it had a meaning drawn from magic," said Azosta. He brought his hands into the air as he spoke, emphasising with a harsh movement as he recited, "I will not be chained!" He looked around the four. "Chains is the usual shorthand for a kind of magic theory."

"Good theory makes bad plays," said Limist. "Does it all really have to be magic?"

Azosta looked stunned. "See!" he said. "You get it. Even here, magic is bad."

"Oh dear," said Vrekant.

"Yeah, but it could've used more fire breathing, less 'chains'. Maybe more open conflict. Maybe set the forest on fire for a reason with more foreshadowing," said Limist.

Aleicree reached out with zir wings to tap both Limist and Azosta with them. "I think we should have this conversation where we're being brushed by the tide. Let's go for a swim!"

They walked back to the beach, crossing through town this time rather than flying, because the finely constructed buildings of downtown Sorjek made it a fascinating walk. Were they competing with the view from the air? Beckoning for dragons to walk the streets rather than fly over them? Was this the secret to a beautiful city? Aleicree asked as much and got little answer, but the group spent the walk through the city picking out this facade or that one as particularly delightful, admiring the city's murals and storefronts as they passed a busy district.

When they reached the sea, they went out into the tide, and this time Aleicree was even enticed by Limist to go out into the deeper waters for some true swimming. He was a talented swimmer, he claimed. He promised to keep zir safe from dragging currents. The whole group played games of splash and drag in the sunny waters of the Vendarian Sound, not too far from the shoreline, where other dragons played in the water as well.

The conversation about Whisper in the Woods didn't come back up, but that was fine. Aleicree mentioned it as the first play zie'd ever seen in a burst of letter-writing to friends and relatives, and as usual zie transcribed copies for zirself before sending. Zie would remember something of the play for a long, long time, until the words on zir letters were nothing but inscrutable ink on ancient pages.