WSP027

On the Trail

Dragons rarely built anything, and by default were more loners than anything else. However, every now and then dragons would form a stable family group. These, more often than not, were nomadic in nature and never stayed in one place for long.

And then there were the Brightwings, who had essentially settled down. They still didn’t build anything—without significant infrastructure building anything designed for daily dragon use was generally unrealistic—but they had cleared out several caves and clearings to create a Wild Kingdom of their own. There were only a few dozen dragons in the entire Brightwings, but the area they covered was among the largest of the entire Wild Kingdoms. Long ago, they had realized that overhunting would remove their food sources from their home, and the Brightwings really liked their massive hot springs. As such, the Brightwings became not hunters, for the most part, but ranchers. They had domesticated many large animals, ranging from things that looked like they should be domesticated, like the massive pig-like Smiffers, which were essentially just fat blobs with big noses that turned small plants into meat and fat. But as they were dragons, the Brightwings were also able to domesticate some truly unusual creatures that, were a human to try to tame them, would just end up with them being a snack.

As such most Brightwings had a pet panther. Which were only domesticated in the sense that they trusted the dragons, not that they wouldn’t go out of their way to eat other people.

“Augh! Big cat!” Jeh flailed as she ran from the predator chasing her.

“She just wants to play!” the white dragoness they were talking to called down to her.

“I doubt that very much!” Jeh called back, jumping into a nearby tree and using her momentum to jump around behind the panther. This was enough to keep her from being caught, but not enough to lose the panther as it was very used to prey being slippery. If it gets me she’ll notice I’m immortal and that’ll lead to questions and we can’t have that…

Margaret must have had a similar thought, because she rushed forward and thrust her fist into the panther’s neck. There was no obvious injury or blood, but the panther fell over and started squirming uncontrollably. After about a second of this, it stood up and ran away as fast as its four legs would carry it.

“Thanks,” jeh said.

Margaret turned away from her without another word.

Okaaaay…

“Interesting technique,” the white dragon said, lowering her head. “Might make it easier for training them. She has been notoriously difficult to get into the panther show, unlike all the others.”

Jeh paused. “The others?”

“Oh yes, Similirix was just the least disciplined, I have dozens.”

Jeh glanced around at the clearing they were in, finding it alarming how many eyes she could see peeking out of the darkness in the various trees, staring at them intently. Clearly, they were all only staying back because of their dragon master’s presence.

“Regardless, you all came here with a request.” The dragon lowered her head. She was what dragons would consider middle-aged, which was to say she was large enough to house a sizeable house on her back while still having enough of an attribute to maintain flight. “Now, we Brightwings are not a delivery service, and the only reason I’m considering this is because it’s you.” She pointed at Jeremiah. “I have heard about you from travelers who pass through our lands, you show them all great kindness. Never have I heard a tale of one who met you speaking lowly of you. But I also know that you never left your estate… and I sense mild desperation in you four.”

Jeremiah nodded. “The estate was attacked by rigids. We are fleeing with these nice people to a more… defensible land.”

“Hmmm.” The dragon narrowed her eyes. “I feel like there’s more to it than that…”

“What he says is true,” Envila said. “We seek to go to Kroan. Or Shimvale. We aren’t picky.”

The dragon lifted a claw and started picking her teeth. “Hmmm… I am… willing to fly you there.”

“Oh thank goodness,” Jeh said, groaning. “We’ve been at this for ages…”

“I’m surprised one of my brothers hasn’t eaten you yet, to be honest.”

One of them tried… Jeh thought. I don’t think he’s enjoying that wound Kirkkok gave him…

“But all I said is that I was willing. I will need some form of payment.” She grinned. “And no, I don’t mean money. Money out here in what you call the ‘Wild Kingdoms’ is worthless. I want something… tangible.”

“We could offer you the gardens we left back at our estate,” Jeremiah offered.

“Hmm… seeing as you’re no longer there, I could go take that now without any effort. No.” She grinned malevolently. “One of the things I would accept is… a snack. All four of you look quite delicious.”

Jeh blinked. I wonder what it’s like to be eaten by a dragon.

Envila narrowed her eyes. “You do not strike me as a devouring monster.”

“Devouring monster? Please, you wound me so.” She chuckled. “You may relax, I only eat those who insult me, and you have done no such thing. And besides, a meal from one of you four? While delicious, not very filling and worth very little in the grand scheme of things. I’d get more out of one of my panthers.” She opened her mouth and released a short burst of white light from her mouth. “But I do need something.”

Envila reached into her cloak and pulled out a large red crystal, not of the magic variety either. “I have come across more than a few treasures on my travels. Are you interested in such things?”

“Ah, you are well traveled?”

“I come from the opposite side of the world.”

“Then I know what I want. We Brightwings have no use for ‘shinies’, unless you’re my niece Yvonne. No idea what’s wrong with that brain of hers, she acts like a Qorvid… what I like to hear is stories from distant lands. And you, Envila, sound like you’re from further away from anyone I’ve previously encountered. My price… is that you tell me of your home and your journeys as we fly.”

Envila smiled. “That is a price I am eager and willing to pay.”

“Good, glad we’ve come to an understanding. You may call me Vapor, and I will be your transportation across the Wild Kingdoms this day. We do have to make a pit stop along the way, though, I need to get my brother to watch my animals. They get so rowdy when I’m gone…” Vapor swung her tail around, stopping it just in front of the four travelers. “Climb on.”

All four of them did so. Jeremiah, Jeh, and Maragaret were all completely silent. Jeh knew there were things that needed to be said. She wanted to say so much herself. But she had to stay quiet. Nobody wanted to hear it, and Vapor didn’t need to be put in danger.

It felt so… wrong to have traveling companions and not be able to talk to them. To have companions who resented her for the situation they were in. Who might have been a little right…

When they had accepted the invitation to dine at Jeremiah’s estate, they had only considered the danger to themselves. Not Jeremiah. Not Margaret. Just themselves.

She didn’t like the feeling. She wanted to talk about it, to figure out where… where she should stand. But it wasn’t an option.

She pulled her legs to her chest and laid down on Vapor’s back. This was a little bit of a mistake, for Vapor was not used to carrying passengers, and as she took off Jeh slipped off her skin—only for Envila to catch her. “You’ll need to hang on, Jeh!”

“Got it…” Jeh said, gripping onto one of Vapor’s spikes as she rose higher and higher into the air. Their dragon turned north and continually beat her great wings, soaring over the natural beauty of the forest below. Great trees poked out of the ground, with the occasional giant mushroom around. The variety in the plant life was astounding, great jungle trees next to evergreens, giant ferns that rose high above the treeline, and even a few floating green orbs with long hairs that seemed utterly weightless. Jeh watched as a bird landed on one of these orbs, pecked at it, and prompted it to explode in a plume of bright flame.

It didn’t capture Jeh’s imagination. She wasn’t in the mood. Nothing felt quite… right. She was pretty sure it was more than just the fact that she was being forced to keep silent, but she didn’t know what. However, in a way, it didn’t really matter right now. They had a mission to complete, and they were on their way to do it.

As they flew across the sky, they came across a group of younger, much smaller dragons of multiple colors—though most of them were green or bluish—flying in a group, talking and laughing. There was one other species in the group—some kind of yellow plast creature with three heads that was casting some kind of party trick with Purple magic to entertain everyone else. This plast was the only one wearing anything, and that was just a pack for Colored crystals. Clearly a wizard of some sort. The dragons treated this obvious foreigner as one of their own…

Jeh found herself projecting onto the plast, wondering if maybe she was like her. Unique and alone, but found by great people and friends, trained to be a wizard… of course she knew it couldn’t be literally true, the plast no doubt belonged to a race of other three-headed flying creatures. But then, didn’t Jeh belong to the race of humans?

“I see Michelle is still around,” Vapor said, a low grumble coming from her throat. “Filling the young dragons with her ideas.”

“Such as?” Envila asked.

“Trying to turn the lot of them into mages. As if we’d have enough Colored crystals to make that worthwhile…”

As they began to drive away from the young dragons, one of them caught Jeh’s eye. Was that Alexandrite? …No, that was a girl, and the blue wasn’t quite the right color. But for a moment there she had been so sure, so elated…

She even missed him. And she barely knew him.

I can’t get home fast enough…

She realized that, while she’d missed them all, she’d basically been fine traveling through all this until now. She’d lived alone in the forest for longer than she could remember, it wasn’t an issue to be alone, just annoying. Now she had companions and she felt more alone than ever.

Even though Envila started telling Vapor stories, for the most part Jeh couldn’t bring herself to listen. Such amazing stories of the great city of Descent and blimp people from distant lands couldn’t get through to her.

She almost wished the panther was back. At least that hadn’t felt… like this.

~~~

Alexandrite landed in the backyard of Vaughan’s Cabin.

“Letter for Wizard Vaughan!” he shouted at the top of his lungs.

Vaughan thrust his head out the window, glaring at the dragon. “Alex! The sun’s barely up! What are you doing?”

“Following Blue’s request to deliver the message loudly and rudely at the break of dawn.” He reached into his bags and pulled out a very large roll of paper.

“Of course she would…” Vaughan, despite himself, grinned as he got ready. He threw on his robe and put on his “precious foot fluffers,” all but running down the stairs after this. He grabbed the roll of paper, moved to open it, and the noticed a note on the front.

Hey Vaughan, probably best to exercise some restraint and open this in front of everyone, hmm? –Blue.

“Oh, okay, fine, I’ll bring it to the meeting,” Vaughan grumbled as though he was addressing Blue. “Why is it so big…?”

“I believe that’s supposed to be a surprise,” Alexandrite said.

“You’re no fun.”

“On the contrary, I am being quite fun. Delayed gratification, Vaughan, and the looks on all your faces.”

Vaughan waved a dismissive hand and said nothing. The complaints he wanted to make about the situation were rather moot, considering as there was already a meeting scheduled not only for that day, but in a couple of hours. Usually, he tried to wake up just before it so he wouldn’t have to sit around for that time, but Blue had apparently decided he needed to be up. He wondered how much she was laughing right now, thinking about her long-distance prank.

In the hours before the meeting, he just sat in the meeting room. His breakfast did not last long, nor did his morning chores, which he usually did in the afternoon on these days because of the meeting. It was just… silence. Boredom. Nothing. But there wasn’t enough time to go get involved on a project… and the project he would want to work on was writing up a report on how much progress they’d made for Blue to read. But in that report he’d want to reply to whatever she had in this letter. Which meant he was stuck.

He realized with some amusement that he was deeply annoyed at this. When had he become so wound-up? He was what people would generally consider a “laid-back” person, and he was well aware of this. Things tended not to worry him, he just went with the flow, and what happened… happened. He had spent many days doing nothing at all. And yet, here he was, desperate for something to do.

Should probably talk to Lila about this… might be a sign of something.

He was not able to come to any conclusions on this, but the thought did keep him somewhat occupied until meeting time. Naturally, everyone showed up. Suro, Lila, Seskii, Mary, Krays, Big G, and Alexandrite.

Krays naturally spoke up first, ignoring all procedure, as was normal for her. “Mary and I got so much done! You have no idea how many cool properties hover clover has! Not only is it a super dense food source that can last forever, it’s a great insulator and it might be more effective at stopping those tiny rocks than metal!”

Mary coughed. “It also needs air to survive… and we can’t make enough of it to serve as walls…”

“It’s still cool though! And that’s just the beginning of what we discovered.”

“That sounds amazing,” Vaughan said. “But I have something better.” He threw the massive roll of papers down onto the table. “Behold!”

Suro rolled his eyes. “Dramatic, much?”

“It’s from Blue.”

“…Okay, that might be worth beholding.”

Lila nudged her husband playfully.

“What’s in it?” Big G asked.

Vaughan shrugged. “That’s just it, I don’t know, because Alex is being a tight-lipped stingy dragon.”

Alexandrite lifted his head. “I am simply respecting the wishes of a client.”

“Sure you are.” Vaughan used the Orange in his scepter to snip the rope tying everything together, unrolling the papers. There was a lot in there, but there was one little letter in an envelope that had the words READ THIS FIRST painted on it in bright red.

“I dare you to open something else first,” Krays said.

“Dare denied.” Vaughan opened up the letter and started reading it.

Hello everyone! Blue here. I’m actually not sure when I’m writing this in relation to you, since I’m just now starting to collect everything together. I’ll send this all off at some point when I feel like I’ve collected enough or there’s a break in the stuff that’s been happening or if I just feel like it. As I write this I have no idea which one it will be, but I do know that I’m going to put an inventoried list of everything I’m sending just below this. So this is your guide to everything here!

Thirteen personal letters to various people.

“She crossed out the number several times, incrementing it,” Vaughan said. “She apparently had two at the start.”

“Maybe she shouldn’t have insisted on keeping the same starting letter,” Suro suggested.

“Would she have done anything else?” Vaughan asked. Receiving no response, he continued.

Some refined mathematical tricks I worked out that might make your jobs easier in the letter marked with a “+”.

A series of papers authored by Pepper, myself, and a few others involving a solution to the cooling problem! Be excited! It only works in space but I’ll let you guys figure that out from the paper and my notes on it.

“A solution to the cooling problem?” Big G was suddenly at paying rapt attention.

“It only works in space…” Suro said.

“Even if it only works in space, it will have invaluable utility. Freeze something up there, heavily insulate it, bring it back down…”

“It is a huge deal,” Vaughan said. “If the cooling problem can be solved in space, that’s even more reason to go there.” He rubbed the back of his head. “I knew it was an issue for us, but if it’s solved…”

“Also, Blue’s name is on something published!” Seskii said. “Something that’s not yours, Vaughan! We should celebrate!” She produced a fizzy drink and held it into the air.

“Nobody else has a drink to toast with you with,” Suro said.

“Look again.”

Suro glanced at a fizzy glass sitting to his left. “I don’t have thumbs.”

Seskii chuckled. “Welp, I’m not giving you hands to sell the bit, guess it has to fall flat.”

Vaughan went to the next item on the list.

Some snacks Princess Via insisted I send back to you. They are delicious.

Vaughan pulled out the little bag and opened it, revealing a few dozen colorful cookie-like treats. Mary grabbed them before anyone else. “You’ll all get your opportunity to eat, I’m going to try to figure out what’s in them first. For… science, I guess.” She began carefully investigating the cookies with her eyes. “…I think this is wintermelon…”

Next up on Blue’s list wasn’t actually part of the list, but was haphazardly added into the middle.

Of course, I just realized I should also have a spot for big news so… here’s where those will go. 1: Skyseed building going smoothly, it’s amazing how quickly things can get done in the middle of a big city. 2: Pilots are being trained from volunteers in the Royal Guard and Army. 3: The Skyseed II is complete, but no flights have been performed yet. 4: The Crown has approved expenses for making the Moonshot, so you guys better start putting your orders in!

“With the cooling problem solved we might have a lot more workable plans than we realized…” Vaughan said, scratching his beard.

Lila nodded. “We should consolidate our work and finalize the shell at least, it’s the largest part that needs to be ordered. No offense to your husband, Krays, but I don’t think he can forge an unbroken sphere of metal that size.”

“Obviously not, he couldn’t even make the model,” Krays agreed. “Heck, the layabout would probably get the number of spoke-handles wrong. Eight, by the way, eight is the optimum number for control.”

“There should still be six, like the windows, I think,” Suro said.

“No, no, no. You want the numbers to line up, but think about the aesthetics mister jeweler. You think someone who made such beautiful things would notice it… but try to set up six equidistant points, and then six other equidistant points that are still equidistant from the previous six on a sphere! Doesn’t work! So instead treat the windows like the sides of a cube and the handles as the corners! Like so!” She pulled out a glass sphere and rolled it onto the table. Inside of it was a metal cube with corners touching precise edges. “Tah-dah!”

“How long have you been waiting for that?” Suro asked.

“I forgot it last week!” Krays slammed her hand into the table. “Clearly I was thinking seven moves ahead to this meeting!”

“I think the actual number of moves was seventy-two,” Seskii said.

“Not enough sevens. Seventy-seven.”

“I’ll take seventy-seven.”

Vaughan decided now was a good time to return to the list of major events. 5: There was a test flight of the Skyseed II, but I wasn’t there to see it due to reasons.

“I wonder what reasons…” Suro flicked one of his ears. “And surely it wasn’t a full test, the laser is still a danger.”

6: Astronomers here are pretty sure the satellite has gotten brighter, and it’s taking slightly less time to orbit.

“Probably slow atmospheric drag,” Vaughan commented. “There is some air up there, we’re pretty sure. Guess that this confirms it won’t be up there forever.”

“Aww…” Mary drooped. “But I like looking at it every night…”

“Then we just have to get another one up there!” Seskii declared.

7: I wrote down this number thinking there was news but there’s not so have this, I guess.

Everyone had a good chuckle at that. After this, the letter got back to a list of contents.

Some diagrams about a new theory I have involving the way the sun heats Ikyu.

More mathematical tricks that honestly you probably won’t be able to make sense of but I’m sending them anyway because they’re exciting.

Vaughan frowned. “The next thing here is really crossed out… I can’t even tell what it used to be.”

“Maybe she made a note for her shopping list on the wrong piece of paper,” Krays suggested. “Girl can be quite scatterbrained.”

“True… there are a few things left.”

Legal documents and nonsense that Seskii can probably deal with so we don’t have to.

“On it!” Seskii said, picking up those papers. “Oooh, I can already see a contradiction, what fun… I’ll let you know if there’s anything you need to look at, Lila.”

Whatever message from Gronge Alex is going to stick in here.

Alexandrite grinned. “Ah, she did put that in at the end. Yes. To summarize what she will not, apparently, Gronge has made an underwater Skyseed he called the Seabloom. Included in that bundle are a few of his papers on the difficulty in constructing glass underwater, and tests proving that it does keep things pressurized and controllable at different depths. He was unable to make it entirely out of glass, though, there… look, just read it, it’s a complicated mess. They have not dared to test the leviathans yet, though.”

“They are the biggest obstacle,” Vaughan said. “We are quite fortunate not to have to deal with giant sky monsters keeping us from getting to space. Sky serpents don’t live around here.”

“I thought those were just a myth?” Mary asked.

“They do exist, I’ve seen some in the Tempest.” Lila said. “They’re just animals, though, not spirited.”

“…Then how do they fly?”

“Good question. But as Vaughan will tell you, getting research done in the Tempest is… difficult.”

“Is it because of the wind?”

“That’s the… main reason, yes,” Vaughan admitted. “The chaos in there, though, makes it so much worse.” He scratched the back of his head. “Still not sure what I was thinking back then. Of course it’d be a great place for a new Journeyman wizard to go. Excellent opportunities.” He snorted. “Anyway…” He returned to the letter.

And I was originally going to write up a whole letter to put at the end here but I think I’ve said all I need to say in the other things. Everything’s fine, going smooth. Academics are idiots. Annoying things are annoying. Stuff. Yeah I’m just going to wrap this up and send it out.

Vaughan put the letter down and frowned. “That was abrupt.”

“Was she in a hurry when you picked this up?” Lila asked Alexandrite.

The dragon shook his head. “No. She seemed to be just… sitting there, actually. Looked kind of tired.”

“Anything happen to her?”

Alexandrite shrugged. “I’m not aware, actually, Gronge had me ferrying messages to the coast for the last week, I was only in Axiom a few hours when I picked this all up.” He frowned. “She did seem a bit distant, now that I think about it…”

“Must be hard up there, for her,” Mary said. “Does she have friends?”

“Surprisingly, she’s gotten on good terms with both of the Princesses.”

“Oh, well that makes me feel better. She’s not all alone.”

Vaughan scratched his beard. “Still, I hope she can come back soon… but I guess there’s more that needs to be done with the Skyseed work, for now.”

“Idea!” Seskii said. “What about, when we finally get all our designs ready to send in the order, we go visit her?”

Vaughan brightened. “Great idea! Lila?”

“I think it’s a wonderful idea, but not all of us can go, and it will probably take a few weeks to finalize enough plans to be worthwhile.”

“Once it’s finalized, I can go,” Vaughan said. “You and Suro probably have to stay, though…”

“I’ll go!” Seskii called.

“I… I think I can get someone to look over my farm…” Mary said, putting her finger to her chin. “It’s a lull in the season right now…”

Krays groaned. “I have glassblowing to do…”

“Glassblowing that you have been putting off for materials tests,” Big G pointed out.

“Yeah, well, you can’t come either, your mines need you.”

“The difference between you and me is that you want to go to the big city.”

“I’ve never been to a big city…” Mary said, eyes widening. “Oooh… I better make sure I know my stuff…”

“Such as those snacks?”

“Oh, yes, right!” Mary tossed the snacks back into the center of the table. “They are mostly cookies seasoned with expensive fruits, though there are a few other things, such as what I’m pretty sure is a beef flavored roll.”

Vaughan examined the snacks with curiosity. “Should I be on the look out for bones?”

“I have no idea. There aren’t any bones on the outside.”

“There’s only one way to find out…” Krays picked up the roll and threw it into her mouth. There were no bones, but there was a nut inside that gave her a scare for a split second, which naturally got everyone to laugh.

~~~

Shimvale was large. Most of the northern parts of the nation were sparsely inhabited, but they were nonetheless part of Shimvale. This included Kaykayzee’s hometown, Powderbluff, the closest settlement to the Purple Cube’s crater. Naturally, it was an entirely human settlement, and one far enough North that it was reasonable to build houses out of tightly packed and treated snow, and prior to contact with the rest of the civilized world that is how Powderbluff had lived. However, once contact had been made and easy access to arcane heaters granted, other structures started to be built, largely out of wood, for that was a resource that was in ready supply. As the icy structures needed to be maintained to continue existing, most of them had fallen into disrepair over the years, with only a handful still standing tall. One such building was right in the center of the small town, a massive dome with squares carved into it, indicating it as a temple to Cora, goddess of magic.

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Curiously, for a settlement devoted to a goddess of magic, very few people actively used Colored crystals. There was a jeweler, to be sure, but that was clearly a very recent construction and was manned not by a native human, but an orange greater unicorn. There was a sizeable population of non-native humans currently—though this was less because they lived here and more because this was the closest settlement to the Purple Cube’s crater and so it was where the Shimvale camps were set up. They were clearly a minor strain on the people, but the government was going to great lengths to keep everyone fed without imposing on the people’s hospitality. Hyrii, Wyett, and Kaykayzee’s group arrived with a very sizeable amount of provisions, as well as compensation for the people.

Speaking of the people, all of them were short for humans and with very pale skin, and most had light blue hair similar to Kaykayzee’s. It was difficult to tell more about them than that seeing as all of them were always bundled up in nearly identical gray fur coats that made it impossible to tell them apart. Kaykayzee herself was only identifiable by her blue and gold-rimmed of coat that marked her as a Council member.

When they arrived, the first thing Kaykayze did was pull out her violin.

Hyrii quickly held her hands up to her earmuffs, ready to press them into her ears at any moment.

“Welcome to Powderbluff,” Kaykayzee said. “Allow me to welcome you.” She started playing. Hyrii deafened herself. However, the song was over a lot sooner than it had been before. Confused, Hyrii removed her hands.

“—we are a little packed at the moment, but a tent has been set up for you, complete with a feast of local delicacies. Go there, eat, and sleep. Remain until morning, we will reconvene in the morning.”

Everyone in Hyrii’s group immediately turned to do what she said. Hyrii quickly realized that was an order, albeit a very subtle one that didn’t quite sound like it. Nonetheless, Hyrii decided that it was best to keep up the illusion she was under her control and just moved with everyone else.

Nobody else seemed to think it was odd that everyone started moving at almost the exact same time.

…Everyone was also humming. She pressed her hands to her earmuffs again to block it.

The tent was huge, round and set up in an area that was artificially devoid of snow due to several Red devices that were being manned by a single human. He had no coat, for the devices were quite warm, and as such revealed a toned but not all that muscular build for the native humans. He gave them a smile that could not, under any circumstances, be called warm. It made Hyrii shiver.

The tent itself was red. There were short tables inside with padded cushions on the ground, but no chairs. There was a faint aroma of something pleasant burning, likely coming from the metal cannisters at the back that were softly steaming. Incense of some kind, Hyrii decided.

The table was already set as well. There was a mixture of raw and cooked food, almost half and half, and much of the raw foodstuff was bitingly cold and clearly still had ice crystals on it. This made sense, a people living this far north would definitely make use of the full spectrum of food temperature. Hyrii sat down and took her hands off her earmuffs, finding that nobody was currently humming the song—they were all digging in, making it quite impossible to sing.

They were digging in rather effectively, too. Almost like they’d been ordered to eat.

Hyrii shivered, but once again said nothing. And nobody really called her out either—conversation during the meal was sparse. If she didn’t know better, she would have just said it was because everyone was tired from the journey—she sure was. However, knowing what she did, it was eerie.

This did not stop her from enjoying the food. Her favorite was some kind of diamond-shaped fruit that looked like ice and was certainly as cold as ice, but when she bit down it melted into a fizzy liquid. She could have eaten those forever.

“Goodnight, Hyrii,” Wyett said.

“Oh, goodnight Wyett. See you in th—” She stopped, noting that he had already passed out on the cushions. Everyone quickly followed after.

Hyrii clicked her tongue and looked around. Nobody inside was from Powderbluff, and as such she was the only one still left awake. The closest person watching them was the man on the Red devices, and he was outside. Things in the tent were private.

So instead of pretending to fall asleep to keep up appearances she kept eating until she was quite full. Sure, maybe there were better uses for the food, perhaps it could have been stored for later use in this frozen environment… but eating calmed her down and she was this close to freaking right out.

Eventually, she was satisfied, and she let out a long deep sigh. Everyone else was still sleeping.

She was fairly certain she wasn’t going to be able to sleep in this situation.

Which meant… she could do something. If she wanted. But if she left, they would probably be very suspicious…

Except… wait. Everyone out there was bundled up in huge coats. There were a lot of coats in here, including extras left for them by the people of Powderbluff. She could bundle up in one… if she made it tight enough and wore goggles, she could probably pass for a human, and since there were a lot of people from out-of-town at the moment, it could work.

But what exactly would she gain from sneaking around? She wasn’t exactly the most stealthy, though she did have the ability to just walk into a place and act like she belonged, it was a skill that gotten her far in Axiom. But that was more of a “blend in by standing out” method than actual stealth. Besides, where would she even go? There probably wasn’t anything to see anyway…

…Except, Kayz had ordered them to stay here. There must have been a reason. There was something she didn’t want them privy too. Something that was, probably, wherever she was.

Should I put myself at risk? Hyrii wondered. …Kroan already knows about me, surely my letters have gotten back at this point. By doing nothing I don’t learn anything else… she looked down at the peacefully sleeping, but very awkwardly positioned, Wyett. And we still don’t know how to cure him…

With newfound determination, Hyrii bundled herself up in fur coats, very careful to use only coats provided for them and not their own. She even got an entirely different pair of earmuffs. The only thing she had to borrow from their own stores were the goggles, but she had seen some natives using similar things, so hopefully it wouldn’t stand out.

The humans here tended not to care if their hair spilled out of their wrappings a little bit, but Hyrii’s hair was bright orange and would give her right away, so she made sure to hide it away. Fortunately for her, she was one of those gari who wore her hair short, so there wasn’t any outrageous design to keep down under the hood. Soon, all anyone would be able to tell about her from her outfit was the fact that she was a humanoid ever so slightly taller than the average human. She would have to watch how she walked, though, her gauntlet and greave spikes could give her away if she made any movements that were too sharp. Gari coats generally had holes or secondary sleeves for the spikes, but today they were all bundled up. She would not have full range of motion.

Fortunately taking small steps in bundled up coats was normal. She considered putting on snowshoes just to make the awkward walking even more normal, but anywhere she intended to go had probably had the snow packed already due to regular travel.

She left the tent through the back. There was no flap, but it was just a tent. Hands in pockets, taking slow steps, she walked off. Nobody had seen her come out. The moment of truth was when she circled the back of the tent and passed the man on the Red devices.

He paid her no mind. Not even so much as a nod as she set out onto the tightly packed snow that made up Powderbluff’s “roads.”

Hyrii made sure to always keep walking—never stop to “look around” or “take in the sights,” that would be obvious. Just keep moving, like she owned the place, like she had no interest in it. Like she knew it like the back of her hand.

Her heart was, of course, racing. Which might have actually helped her stay warm in the midst of all this, now that she thought of it.

Her goal was simple: find Kaykayzee and see what she was doing. She expected this to be difficult. It was not.

“Dang it!” Kaykayzee shouted at the top of her lungs. A plume of fire shot into the air that turned into a bunch of perfectly smooth green spheres that fell back to the ground. Hyrii now knew exactly where she needed to go, to the front of the temple.

“Patience, little one,” the voice of an old man said. As Hyrii rounded the corner, she could tell almost nothing about him visually, for he was bound up in coats much like she was. However, he was holding some kind of stringed instrument with a square base and a long neck. He was plucking it with his fingers—they were in gloves, but the gloves had metal tips on them to allow easy access to the instrument. “Our ancestry requires practice.”

“Our ancestry shoots us in the foot,” Kaykayzee said, holding her violin up. “One wrong note and Cora knows what will happen.”

“But we must accept the unexpected in order to learn, little one”

Kaykayzee nodded. “You know, as a member of the Council, I do outrank you.”

The old man chuckled. “You will always be my little one even if you transform into a giant right this very minute, Kaykayzee.”

“Right, right…”

“Now, try it again. The Song of Searching.”

Hyrii knew this wasn’t the same song as before, for Kaykayzee’s bow was moving far too slowly for it, so Hyrii took a risk and let herself hear it—covering her ears now would be suspicious and require potentially too fast of a motion. Fortunately, the Song of Searching didn’t seem like something worthy of mind control.

It was… beautiful, but not all that creative, Hyrii had to admit. And it was quite slow. There were only ten distinct chords, but from how quickly Kaykayzee’s fingers were moving, it wasn’t an easy song to play. She wore no gloves, either, since a violin did not exactly lend itself to being played with gloves, even those like the old man was wearing.

“Good!” the old man said.

“…But nothing happened.”

“Did you forget to think about something you wanted to search for?”

“Oh.” Kaykayzee sighed. “Right…”

“Now, try it again.”

“My fingers are going to freeze off.”

“If you learn to do it with freezing fingers, you will never fail with warm fingers. Try again.”

“I don’t have to listen to you.”

“True. Try again.”

Kaykayzee grunted and started playing the song again.

At this point, Hyrii had walked far enough away that it was not easy to hear their voices. However, the music still carried, and she could tell that Kaykayzee had made a mistake. The moment this mistake occurred, her vision went pink and she swore she could taste cheese for a split second.

“Dang it!” Kaykayzee shouted.

Hyrii had no doubt the old man’s response was “try again” even though she couldn’t hear it.

Hyrii decided that was enough spying for one day and she went back to the tent, entering through the back of course. She took off her coats and laid down.

She had learned much. And it definitely wasn’t going to help her sleep. She had more questions than answers.

What is Kayz searching for…?

~~~

There was a deep, undulating, enraged roar that made bones shake…

Blue woke up screaming in a cold sweat. She jumped out of the bed and started running around in circles until her heart stopped pounding so hard in her chest it felt like the world was trembling. After this initial panic, she pressed her hoof into the window and looked outside.

It was the middle of the night. The stars were out. The light of Axiom kept it from being all that spectacular, just a few dots of light here and there. Both Qi and the moon were up.

She stood there, staring outside, for the longest time.

She knew she should get back to sleep. She also knew that wasn’t going to happen.

With a grunt, she put on her tail bow and set out. It was a rather warm night, all things considered, but she still gave a slight shiver as she crossed the threshold to the outside. For the first few minutes she looked at the sky as she walked, but the few stars she could see made her more than a little depressed. She wouldn’t even be able to see the satellite like this.

The rest of the journey she kept her eyes straight ahead. She made her way dutifully to the warehouse that held the Skyseed II. She didn’t turn on any lamps, she just sat down in the dark, letting the moonlight come through the window.

It was complete. Skyseed II. Drive and everything. It had even been taken out on a successful test drive to a small height while she had still been caught up in legal nonsense. The enemies she’d made in the court did not want her to walk free, and Tenrayce had, understandably, refused to just decree her freedom and instead followed all the proper channels and trials required in addition to covering up the presence of a real kancathi. The girl had gone above and beyond, and Blue owed her for it. She claimed that Blue had saved her, but Blue didn’t really feel like that was true.

She’d partially gotten them into that mess, after all.

Blue glanced behind the Skyseed II. Already more were being made—multiple large jars had been obtained, and a few of them were of different shapes, iterations on the design that would be tested to see which was the most stable for pilots. None of them were close to done, but they were being built in tandem. She was admittedly rather excited to see if the cubic one really would have a problem or if it would make it easier for people to orient themselves, or if the spherical one would be too difficult to seal properly. There were already plans to start using the ships as a messaging service, keeping them at lower altitudes to avoid giant energy beams.

Suddenly, she was overcome by an overwhelming urge to get in the Skyseed II and take it into the sky…

But she was no wizard, not really. She did theory, sure, but she couldn’t cast magic. She didn’t even have her hat on right now, she’d just forgotten it. She remembered her tail bow, but not her wizard hat.

She would never be able to pilot a Skyseed.

She clenched her jaw. She had a new destination in mind now. She locked up and walked out. Once she left the Palace area and entered the city proper, it became clear that Axiom never truly slept, and not just because of the handful of naturally nocturnal races that lived within its bounds. Many streets were a stage for lightshows, singing, dancing, and celebrations. She passed by some Green Seekers and Aware Keepers having what looked to be a battle of the bands… to raise money for the poor?

Had she been in a different mood, that might have given her pause. She might have joined in the festivities and forgotten everything. In fact, she almost did.

But she had a destination in mind, and she wasn’t about to change it.

She left the bustle of the city, walking along a road to the outcropping where Pepper’s lab stood. She had a key from her time working closely with Pepper, so she got in easily. The interior was well-lit, as always, and as noisy as ever. She wondered how any of the captured monsters managed to sleep in here.

There was one cage she specifically sought out. The one that held the kancathi.

She was not sleeping. She stared right at Blue as she approached.

Blue sat down and stared back.

Neither blinked for the longest time.

The kancathi gave in first. Blue did not consider this a victory.

They spent several minutes in absolute silence.

“I have no idea why I’m here,” Blue said, suddenly.

The kancathi made no visual response.

“What’s the point in looking at you? You’re trapped. Trapped by Pepper, the absolute master of trapping monsters.” She gestured with a hoof at the massive boulder-creature literally screwed to the ground. “I should be a lot more worried about that thing getting loose! But no, it’s you. You who are tied up so effectively you can barely move. You whose existence has been kept hidden from the world. You. It’s always you.”

Silence. Not that the kancathi could respond, she had no Purple to write words and a bunch of Magenta loops were wound around her chest where her lights were. But she could have moved her head—even that, apparently, was too much for Blue.

“They need you. You are an invaluable asset to the kingdom.” Blue tilted her head to the side, confused. “I should want you dead. I could probably find something in this lab that could end you real quick, any number of these haphazard Red devices could probably be set to overload or do something bad. I could probably figure it out.” Blue tapped her hoof on the ground. “Tell me, why don’t I want you dead?”

This got a visible response out of the kancathi—eyes opening wide in surprise.

“Yeah, you don’t get it either, shocker.” Blue started pacing in a circle. “By all intents and purposes, I should. You are haunting me every waking moment, I jump at the slightest sound, and maaaaan the nightmares are terrible. You tried to kill my friends and I was quite literally brutalized by you. But I don’t want you dead.” She frowned. “I want to be able to look at you.”

Blue thought the kancathi looked slightly unnerved. Good.

“It’s not some kind of moral imperative, either,” Blue said. “Sure, it’s probably the right thing not to murder you in cold blood, but that’s pretty low on my list of concerns right now. My other thought is that maybe you did something to me, but you seem confused. So…” Blue tapped her hoof. “What is going on here?”

The beast let out a growl. Was it anger? Laughter? Blue had no way to tell. It probably wouldn’t have been helpful even if she did understand.

“…Maybe I just want to see you suffer,” Blue considered. “A hunter, bound and forced into servitude. Yeah. Yeah, that makes sense. That…” Blue frowned. “No… egh.” She kicked the ground. “Why can’t my brain just be a math problem, huh? Huh? Where are the numbers I can assign to what I’m doing and reach the solution? Where’s the model, the function, the line?”

The kancathi was back to giving no response.

“Now, here’s something I know… I may be a confused mess right now, but you definitely like to watch me suffer.” She growled. “Hope you’re enjoying the show.”

The plast dragon winked at her.

Blue quickly got out of there, breathing heavily the whole way. It was like she couldn’t get enough air near that… monster.

~~~

They stayed at Powderbluff less than two days, then they were off to the Purple Cube’s crater. This last leg of the journey was into complete wilderness without any semblance of roads or directional signs, and as such they obtained a new form of transportation: sled dogs. Teams of six to eight wolf-like canines eagerly pulled large sleds filled with people, all of whom were bundled up not only in their normal layers of coats, but also tangles of blankets and supplies designed to make sure everyone’s heat remained in place. There was, ostensibly, a pilot for each sled, but the dogs of Powderbluff were trained well enough that they generally didn’t need one continually controlling their direction. They knew where they were going and they knew to stick with the group.

It was a surprisingly smooth ride across the kilometers upon kilometers of snow, snow, and more snow. The land here was forested, though sparsely, so the dogs had no trouble navigating between the trees. Nobody had hit anything. Yet.

Hyrii was waiting for the other shoe to drop.

“You seem nervous,” Wyett said from next to her.

“I’m still thinking we’re going to crash into a tree…” she muttered. This was true enough, though the true source of her worry was something she, for his own safety, couldn’t tell him. Her worries were compounding in nature—were her letters getting back to Kroan? Were they being led into some kind of trap? Had she really managed to go on her walk without arousing any suspicion? For all she knew there were magic songs that did things like keep mail from being read or something and she would be eternally alone in her struggle…

“Surely we’ve been traveling long enough that you trust the dogs?”

“They’re dogs. I wouldn’t trust them with anything.”

“You know, across the sea I hear there are doglike spirited…”

“Wouldn’t trust them with anything.” Hyrii said. “You didn’t have a dog growing up. I did. Ate everything.”

“We did have a ferret. She tried to eat us.”

“Was she big and large and pulling your sled across unknown wilderness?”

“Well… no.” Wyett smirked. “I suppose not…”

With that the conversation died once again, though since they were on a sled blasting through the tundra, things didn’t exactly become silent.

Hyrii sensed that Wyett wasn’t about to ask again about what was worrying her, and she really did want to talk about it, but that wasn’t an option so he needed to distract him. “So… how are you doing? Still worried that they aren’t being open with us?”

Wyett frowned. “Very much. I haven’t mentioned this to you yet since there hasn’t been time, but we did get the report back about tracing the Purple in Shimvale. It took a long time to track it down since someone in the government was falsifying records—however, it does not appear to be Kayz who is doing it. It might not even be a member of the council, it could be one of their higher secretaries—though it would have to be one with a fair amount of power.” Hyrii couldn’t see his face very well with all the coats and furs, but she knew he was furrowing his brow and getting deep in thought—therefore meaning he was not fixated on her. Usually this annoyed her. Today, though, it was a lifeline. “I suspect the Shimvale government strategy is fundamentally unstable and they’re fracturing. Kayz is on her side, whoever’s buying the Purple is on another, and it’s possible that none of them are really aware of each other. All we could confirm for sure was that, yes, Shimvale was definitely importing a lot of Purple crystal, even more than we realized, and then quickly disappearing it from the books. No doubt to feed this Purple Cube…”

“But to what end?” Hyrii asked.

“I do not know. Shimvale does not have a large population of Purple Seekers, they’re predominantly Blue, Green, Yellow, and Red. However, Purple Seekers have been known to be secretive, so it is possible they’ve hijacked everything intentionally using the bureaucracy to continue growing their god to mammoth proportions. But the Cube herself obviously wants something… but Purple Crystalline Ones are the most mysterious of the bunch. There’s a reason the Color is associated with secrets, and it’s not just because advanced Purple wizards can go invisible. They like riddles and secrets. This could all be some big game…”

“Then why the desperate energy beam?”

Wyett scratched his chin. “The obvious answer is that she didn’t want to be seen. But why she wants to remain hidden is a mystery. A Crystalline One that large…” He slowly nodded to himself. “Maybe… maybe she fears retribution against what she is. Most who knew of such a large Crystalline One would see her as a threat to entire cities, or more, and may attack. But if that were the case… why obsess over becoming bigger? Why not just stay in secret?”

“Gathering enough power until nothing could oppose her?” Hyrii suggested.

“That… is an unpleasant but reasonable thought.” Wyett shuddered. “I can only hope there is some other explanation…”

At this point, Kaykayzee’s sled pulled up to their own. “Hey!” Kaykayzee called. “We’re pulling aside for the night, prepare to stop!”

“Oh no not again…” Hyrii gripped the sides of the sled as tightly as she could. She hadn’t fallen off during the slow-down yet but the spiraling motion the dogs did as they came to a stop always made her nauseous.

And only her. Not anybody else.

This annoyed her greatly when she wasn’t feeling like losing her lunch.

~~~

It was evening over Axiom once again, and it was time for a very special test flight. So special that King Redmind himself had come out to see the proceedings.

Blue had known he was coming, but Blue had not put two and two together that when she went to sit by Tenrayce that the King Himself was going to sit on the other side of her until it was too late.

“Y-your Majesty! I-I’m sorry, I’ll ju—”

“My daughter’s friend is welcome at my side,” King Redmind said, taking a moment to adjust his robes so they didn’t bunch up under him. His seat wasn’t special at all today, just one of many chairs set up outside the unofficial “launchpad,” which was just a flat paved area outside the main warehouse the Skyseed II and the other incomplete craft were stored.

“Be-bw-ba…”

“Calm down,” Tenrayce said, not looking up from her book, as per usual. “You’re in the big leagues now, Blue, you can’t stammer and stutter every time he shows up.”

“Yes, well, um…” Blue still tried to bow. Being a unicorn currently in a seated position, this didn’t go very well, but she managed not to fall off her seat. “Thanks for coming out.”

“It gives me an excuse to block off the night and watch the night sky,” Redmind said, looking up at the stars. “And it is the least I can do, considering the risk he is taking.”

“I was surprised someone volunteered,” Blue admitted. “All we know is that the Purple Cube isn’t in the same spot anymore, she could still shoot at us for all we know…”

“Markus does not see it that way. He is more than willing to put himself in danger for the kingdom.” The King glanced at one of the many rings adorning his fingers. “I tried to talk him out of it, but he is a loyal knight, and he sees this as a chance to do something.”

Blue frowned, a sickening feeling crawling through her stomach.

“Something is on your mind.”

Blue froze. “I… really shouldn’t…”

“Speak your mind, Blue. This is no official meeting, we are simply discussing current events.” He leaned forward, looking at the empty place the Skyseed II would soon be placed. “You will not be punished for criticizing my actions. Please.”

“…Can’t you… stop him?”

“I could. But in a sense, Markus is right. There is a danger to the kingdom. I would send a soldier to death were we in a war, perhaps even if that soldier were unwilling. While this is not a war, there is real danger, and I do believe it is in the best interests of the kingdom that we know as much about the danger as we can. If I have a volunteer, I will not stop him. He will provide an invaluable service.” He folded his hands together. “Be glad that you sit in the realm of academia, Wizard Blue. Your duty will never involve needing to send people to their deaths. This is nowhere near the worst moral quandary I have found myself in.”

Blue swallowed hard. And here I am freaking out about a plast dragon…

King Redmind changed the subject. “The nobles have given up trying to pin you to the murder, you are in the clear in that regard. However, this means they will return to other tactics to try and ruin your reputation.”

“It’s not ruined already?” Blue tilted her head.

“They are a rather petty bunch, and your consistent results make them even more so. Fortunately for you, I do not believe your constant presence will be required much longer. As they get the ball rolling against your reputation, you will return to Willow Hollow.”

“Right… go back to Willow Hollow.” Despite herself, Blue smiled. “That… that’ll be nice.”

“It is a much friendlier place,” Tenrayce admitted. “Much more open to being rustled.”

“Sometimes I wonder if we need to do more to steer the people away from rigidity,” Redmind mused. “Keep them malleable, able to see things from multiple angles… but such things do not come quickly. Perhaps we just need a newer generation.”

“Working on it, Dad.”

“I know you are. Keep it up.”

At this point Rigelia threw open the warehouse doors with her Orange magic while at the same time levitating out the Skyseed II. “Let’s get this show on the road!”

Right on cue, Markus arrived. He was a rather ordinary-looking middle-aged human man with a bald head and scruffy black beard. His weapons of choice were axes, but he quickly set these and his armor aside—he would not be needing them for this mission. He turned to bow in Redmind’s direction. “My King.”

“Rise,” Redmind said, and Markus obeyed. “I will remind you that we do not know the full dangers of this mission. No mortal has been sent to space before, and our unknown enemy may still lie in wait.”

“I am aware of the dangers, my Lord.”

“Even the temperature dangers?” Blue asked. “And the rocks?”

“I have read all the relevant reports. I will use Green to repair the glass and any injuries to myself. I will maintain the action in the air restorer. I will increase my temperature with Red and lower it with Blue acting on part of the ship. I have the prerequisite level of will, and the strength to maintain focus. I am qualified, Wizard Blue.”

Blue decided that she liked being spoken to by someone who actually respected her and didn’t use the title like it was a disgrace to the Academy. “Well, he sounds ready.”

“Good,” Rigelia said, looking extremely bored as she floated there, unscrewing the lid with her magic. “Now get in and do it.” Markus quickly hopped in.

Blue coughed. “You’re supposed to do a countdown.”

“We didn’t do a—”

Blue interrupted her. “You didn’t do a countdown last time because I wasn’t here to tell you that’s what you do, but if you read the reports you’d see it, every time before a major launch, we count down from ten the moment Jeh got inside. So. Ahem. Markus, are you good in there?”

Markus gave a thumbs up as Rigelia screwed him in.

“Okay, so then we count down. Ahem. Ten! Nine! Eight!”

Tenrayce finally joined in with her at “Seven! Six! Five! Four!”

The King decided to just go with it. “Three! Two! One!”

Blue rammed her hoof into the ground. “Zero!”

The Skyseed II lifted into the ground, very slowly and steadily, with far more methodical control than Jeh bothered with. The upward speed increased at a linear rate, going higher and higher into the night sky. Soon, it looked no different from the original Skyseed—an orange speck lifting up into the sky.

“I wonder what the citizens think of this…” Redmind wondered.

“Most of them probably won’t notice,” Tenrayce said—for once without her nose in a book. “The launch is somehow both more and less impressive than I imagined.”

“It’s weird how slow it is, huh?” Blue asked. “It gets going really fast once it’s up there, but the easiest way to get up is controlled and steadily. It was one of the first things we figured out—go slow instead of go fast.”

“But once you’re up there, you can outdo even our fastest messengers,” Redmind said.

“Yeah. And now you have a ship that can do it.” Blue frowned. “Assuming he doesn’t get shot down…”

The three of them fell silent, staring at the sky. Rigelia quickly grew bored with this and floated back inside, presumably to do some work. Or eat or something, Blue wasn’t sure and she didn’t care. She just stared up at the orange speck.

Come on… we could use something good right about now…

All she could do, though, was wait. Wait and stare at the sky. Wait and hope nothing got shot down again.

Markus won’t be coming back…

She didn’t have to stay out here. She could have gone and done other things. But right now, in this moment, she couldn’t bear to take her eyes off the sky. Hours passed. Eventually, though, the Orange spark began to get brighter and brighter. It was coming back down.

There had been no laser.

Blue watched the satellite pass by the moment she realized everything was going to be fine. Even though it had crossed her eyes multiple times already, there was something about this pass that made her break out into a grin.

As the Skyseed II approached the ground closer and closer, Tenrayce stood up and walked over to her father. She slapped him in the face with a book, waking him up.

“Wh—wha?” he stammered.

“Wake up, he’s back.”

“Oh, right. Ahem.” Redmind coughed. “Let’s give him a round of applause when he returns.”

Markus landed the Skyseed II expertly and flatly. Since Rigelia wasn’t present, Blue used her own telekinesis to screw off the lid and set it to the side. Markus climbed out, standing proud, but shaking a little.

Blue, Tenrayce, and Redmind clapped.

Markus bowed. “Thank you, I have done but my duty.”

“Any sign of the Purple Cube?” Redmind asked.

“None, Your Highness. As intel suggested, there is a faint outline of a square where she used to be. There is no sign of her anywhere else.”

“Perhaps she learned to hide herself from above as well,” Tenrayce considered.

“Such a massive cloaking spell… would it be visible through the jeweler’s lens?” Redmind asked.

Blue shook her head. “Air is not perfectly clear to magic. It gets a long ways, yes, but it’s blocked at large distances, the lens wouldn’t be able to see anything.”

“Still, something that large moving… it should have left some kind of visible trail, even from that high up…” Redmind scratched his chin. “Concerning, but beyond our control for now. Anything else of note to report immediately, Markus?”

Markus nodded. “I experienced the chills while lifting up, but after some point I began to get to warm. I can confirm, the use of Blue was effective in cooling the Skyseed down.”

“Good. Very good.” Redmind stood up. “Take a rest, Markus. Your report is not expected until tomorrow evening. I believe the rest of us should turn in as well. Let this be known as the first successful flight carried out of Axiom, and a proof of concept. I will consider additional missions. And Blue… do you think your colleagues will be sending orders in for the Moonshot soon?”

Blue nodded. “I sure hope so. I sent them the approval a while ago.”

“Good. I look forward to that mission.”

“I… do have a request. We would like to launch it out of Willow Hollow rather than Axiom.”

“Granted,” Redmind said. “Tenrayce, do some research into what would be required to set up a proper laboratory there.”

“It will be done,” Tenrayce said.

Blue smiled. “Sweet.”

She was forcing the smile, and she knew it. She should be elated that they were considering building a devoted lab in Willow Hollow of all places, it should have been amazingly exciting. Heck, just having Markus return alive was exciting!

However, she wasn’t feeling it. She kept thinking about Purple Cubes and plast dragons.

She did not sleep well that night.

~~~

It was a square hole, all right. A square hole in the ground so large that it was impossible to take in at once.

Hyrii and Wyett were insideof it. All around, massive earthen walls that rose higher than any building in Shimvale or Kroan, extending from horizon to horizon.

“There was definitely something here…” Wyett said, looking around with wide eyes.

“And there’s no sign of where she went!?” Kaykayzee shouted at a Shimmer who had been working here for a while, a blue-white ice dragon much larger than her who nonetheless still looked ashamed and afraid when Kaykayzee was shouting at him.

“None at all, I’m afraid… none of the trees along the edge have been disturbed, and the ground smooth…”

“No Purple debris either?”

“None. The ground is devoid of all Purple crystals, though we have occasionally found other Colors.”

Kaykayzee narrowed her eyes. “And, this is important, have you lost anyone mysteriously recently?”

“No, everyone is accounted for or left with the proper avenues, save one moment with Meg, but she came back later after the wolves scared her.”

“Shut up, Frimbone!” a nine-tail-fox spirited shouted from the other side of a few sleds.

Frimbone ignored her. “And we have turned up no leads.”

“No leads… no leads…” Kaykayzee started pacing in circles. She took out her violin. Hyrii quickly put on her earmuffs and pressed down; even though she knew it was going to be the Song of Searching, she wanted to keep up appearances for Wyett. The song was quick and done without any fanfare. When it finished, Hyrii saw, for the briefest of moments, Kaykayzee’s eyes flash a soft white.

Kaykayzee frowned. She put her violin away and started walking in circles, scratching her chin.

“What was that about…?” Wyett wondered. “That wasn’t the song…”

“Maybe she has more than one song,” Hyrii suggested, hoping that didn’t sound suspicious.

“It… seems so…” He glanced at her. “You…”

“I’m fine, I think,” Hyrii said. “But I think we should watch her.”

So they did. And, eventually, Kaykayzee stopped walking and stopped over a patch of dirt that had recently been cleared of snow. “Dig here.”

“What?” Frimbone asked.

“Dig here.” Kayz pointed at the ground. “Do it now.”

“If you say so…” Frimbone picked up a dragon-sized shovel and dug into the ground. After pulling out several shovels full, making a hole large enough to put a human in, he stopped. “Nothing here.”

“Keep digging.”

As if resigning himself to some kind of punishment, Frimbone responded, digging deeper and deeper, until the hole was large enough for him to stand in. Looking up, he gave Kaykayzee a quizzical look, but her steeled eyes told him he wasn’t done yet. So he dug. And dug. And dug.

And then the ground gave out beneath him.

Being a dragon, he quickly took control of the situation with his wings and glided down the hole into… a pit.

“Let’s get some light over here!” Kaykayzee shouted. “And Frimbone! Fly me and Prince Wyett down there!”

It took some doing, but eventually the flying Shimmers came together to bring the team down into the pit, which opened up into an utterly massive cavern, so large it was impossible to see from one end to another. It was clearly unnatural as well, for the walls were eerily straight and there were no diverging paths or pockets.

“What on Ikyu…?” Hyrii wondered aloud.

“The Cube. She escaped underground,” Kaykayzee said, growling. “She didn’t think we’d be able to track her, and she covered her tracks well… but I know this land. I know when it’s wrong, and I knew it was wrong down here.” She turned to face everyone. “Tear this cavern to shreds, find everything you can. Find out where she went.”

“Yes, ma’am!” Every Shimmer, and some of the Kroanians, scrambled to look at everything they could.

Wyett could only hold up a small Purple crystal and shine a light at the ceiling above them. It lit nothing up. “…How much power does it take to move this much rock…?”

Hyrii suddenly felt like a girl with a magic mind-control song might be the least of their worries.

~~~

“All right, Alex, we’re ready!” Seskii said, jumping on to his back. “To Axiom!”

“You have far too much energy,” Alexandrite grumbled.

“I’ll do my best to balance her out,” Mary said as she gingerly climbed up onto Alexandrite’s back. “Are you sure you can hold all three of us up here?”

“If you hold on tight.”

Vaughan got on last, using his magic to tie a rope around them, Alexandrite, and the large backpack filled with their orders and designs. “That should do it.”

“…Uncomfortably close to a saddle, but I shall allow it…”

“Tell Blue we said hi,” Suro said, waving at them with his paw.

“And don’t overwhelm the poor girl,” Lila added. “She’s probably been through a lot recently.”

“I think she will be more than happy just to see them,” Big G countered.

“Oh, no doubt about that, but it’s important not to thrust everything on her and exhaust her.”

“I wish I was going… agh…” Krays leaned against a tree. “Alas, I have a bunch of stuck up impatient commissions to get done. ‘make me a new set of wine glasses, Krays, I need more to line my shelves!’ That woman’s entire house is going to be made out of glass soon, I swear. Which is a terrible idea, she really should invest in things like wood. Wood cups.”

“Wouldn’t that put you out of work?” Suro asked.

“Then I wouldn’t have the commission to do in the first place!”

“And haven’t you been procrastinating?”

“Queen Procrastination will answer that question later.”

Suro rolled his eyes and Seskii giggled.

“Anyway, goodbye and good riddance, you lot,” Krays waved at them dismissively. “Blow up the capital or something with your insanity.”

“Will do!” Seskii said. “Probably not in a literal sense. Probably.”

“Disappointing, really,” Kayz deadpanned.

After another round of goodbyes, Alexandrite took off into the air, ferrying the Wizard Space Program to Axiom… to start the proper construction of the Moonshot.

And, perhaps the most important part of the mission, to visit Blue.

~~~

SCIENCE SEGMENT

Wait. Did I do it again? Was there no science this chapter? Uh. Surely I have something…

Huh, no, mostly magic and psychological distress. Fun. Well, see you next time, hopefully for more science!

It has been brought to my attention that we’ve gotten a little far from the science. Don’t worry, we will eventually wrap up this enigmatic side-plot, I’m expecting chapter 031, but no promises. But I will say this: we have a moon mission to get to, and we WILL get there.