A New Society

Over the next few days, Caeriadne instituted a number of notable changes across the city of Brighton.

She met extensively with Darold Lancaster, Silus, and Korrok - her three de facto military leaders - to discuss training and the town's defenses. She made it very clear that the level of training suitable for a common town guard or gnoll warrior was no longer acceptable, and all fighters under her command needed to immediately begin re-training and advanced exercised. Patrols on foot and on horseback were instituted in small groups across the perimeters of the countryside, specifically instructed to report not only any physical activity, but also to watch the skies and be alert for any unusual differences that could be of a magical nature. Guards were posted on the main roads and instructed to enact practices of community policing - to protect and serve instead of just keeping order. She assessed the city's armory and made note of any unsuitable equipment; she put in an immediate order with Orothon and his blacksmiths to replace or repair the gear as necessary. Any excess equipment that couldn't be repaired to its fullest use would be handed out to the farm families on the outskirts of the city's territory; they were the most vulnerable targets for raiders or enemies, and deserved to at least be armed. She also commissioned a better-fitting scabbard for her elven blade and a set of lightweight plate armor for herself.

She took several trips out across the countryside to survey her new domain, and pick up some large game like Axe Beaks to feed herself. She occasionally brought some extra game home to drop in the courtyard for the townsfolk to disperse among themselves - after all, with the addition of the gnolls, there were more hungry mouths to feed than the city was used to.

As promised, Caeriadne also oversaw the gnolls to begin repairs on the temple. Dylan was consulted regarding the repairs and the future construction, and Caeriadne stayed up-to-date with his reports about Ashian and other topics of religious importance. She asked that he have some of his war-priests or clerics volunteer with the city guard occasionally, if they were willing, to help provide a trustworthy but stern and orderly presence on the streets.

She took account of the city's treasury, taxes, and profits. She discussed this at length with Huo Long and Orothon Blackiron, watching for any alarming inefficiencies or debts. It might be apparent that she had clearly worked within a human economy before; although she was no expert, she seemed to have a solid understanding of basic financial concepts. She would try and gain a thorough understanding of how the city made its profits, and more importantly, how to maximize and exploit them to the fullest potential. The most important thing now was to ensure that her new projects wouldn't cause too much of a hit to the city's coffers before she took any further action.

Looking over the architect's plans, Caeriadne decided that they looked promising enough that she should move forward with them and get him started on plans specifically for the temple's new school and hospital ward. In addition, she asked that he also design a small inn with a tavern, a watchtower template that the guards could build and utilize around the city's outskirts, a new addition to the smithy that would house a new forge and a better work-space for the city's craftsmen, new storage and stockpiles, and even upgraded walls and gates. She also asked him to plot out a large community garden and orchard in a space outside of town to help provide more food for the growing population; the townsfolk could be productive in addition to the farmers and hunters.

In addition, she sought out and hired a few specialized laborers with the direction of Mary Sithia. Several construction workers and carpenters, a woodcutter, a few miners, an herbalist, an accountant, a stable-keeper. With Lancaster's help, she selected a few scouts - young, swift, well-trained adventurers who were skilled alone in the wilderness to help thoroughly map out the surrounding area and assist the patrols in watching for suspicious activity. She also consulted with Alis Serhelm to note any children with particularly promising skill-sets that might benefit from specialized training or education.

As for her lair, she continued digging, tunneling, and burrowing to fully customize her home. She centered the main chamber around the hoard of dendritic, but also added a smaller sleeping chamber that she kept sealed off with a heavy rolling boulder. It was cozy with a low ceiling and a nestled-out scoop towards the back wall which she had padded out and smoothed down until the stone was as smooth and polished as pottery. She had then decorated it preemptively with some furs and skins procured from her hunts, weaving together a comfy nest that was just the right size for her draconic body to curl into like a coiled snake. The crowning jewel of her nest-chamber, however, were the choice pieces of dendritic crystals and ore that she had plucked from the collection point outside and strategically placed around the room. In addition to this chamber, she hollowed out a tiny off-shoot, a human-sized room for her other form, where she would keep her clothes and other equipment along with an appropriately sized bed, fireplace, and wash-basin. She furnished the lair with necessities plucked from the ground hall or procured from merchants as necessary. This was a bit unusual for a dragon, she knew, but with as much as she utilized her human form she knew that she would grow to appreciate this little convenience. She commissioned the carpenters and builders to repair the rather sizeable gash in the wall she had left along with the damaged door leading to her lair ; she ordered an appropriately and accommodatingly-sized new door to be built, with the utmost attention paid to its sturdiness and defensibility, and also consulted Orothon to assist the endeavor. Once her lair renovations were well underway, she took the time - in human form, of course - to explore the upper level of the town hall and take note of anything of interest.

She also fulfilled her promise to go and see the elderly farmer who had taken ill before her conquest of the city. This was perhaps not the most exciting task, but it was nonetheless a gesture of good-will that Caeriadne intended to follow up on. She asked Dylan to accompany her, or at least to send one of his clerics along, so that she might be able to better assess and understand the old man's sickness, even if the clerics had already done everything that they could for him.

Darold Lancaster immediately instituted a training program as rigorous as the one he had gone through as young man in a far away kingdom. A training program that had turned him into a war hardened Knight. Her soldiers and Gnolls would slowly begin to reshape themselves into a elite unit of effective and ruthless warriors, ready to march to war at her beck and call. Silus lead the creation and formation of all these patrols, though once they were instituted and their patrol routes were finalized he returned to his duty of protecting her, only ever leaving her side when she explicitly told him to. The guards that were posted in the town answered to him, and then he answered to her. He was much more interested in leading them than the patrols outside the village, this job allowed him to stay near his Queen.

Much of the gear in the city needed to be repaired or simply replaced, given to them farming families who suddenly found themselves very armed. Orothon and his newly formed Black Smiths Guild, which had yet to me named, ((they would hold a vote soon)) immediately began working to replace all of the armor, shields, and weapons with high grade arms. Though it would be difficult and slow going because of their lack of good material. The scabbard and plate armor would be made directly by Orothon and they would be rather amazing creations, not expected from a small country town black smith.

Dylan's War Priests, which introduced themselves as simply as Ashian's Blades, volunteered with the city watch and outer patrols rather frequently, they were grateful she allowed them to stay and did all they could to repay her for such generosity. With Dylan's help the temple was repaired and restored to it's former shining glory, it was truly a beautiful building, worthy of any goddess. The future construction projects would be taken into consideration and planned out carefully, Dylan making sure they expanded in ways that still matched the Temple, so it still looked like a holy place.

She would get reports from Dylan about how Ashian's people were being prosecuted across the world, he had gotten word that in the largest human Kingdom of Eurasifa they had declared a state religion, worshiping a new god named Heili the God of Suns. One hundred of Ashian's faithful were executed for refusing to convert, and all her temples in the nation were torn down and used to build a grand cathedral to Heili's new order.

It was apparent that this city had a very self contained economy, barely anything leaving or coming in via the small caravans that traded between here and Briar Hill. Brighton didn't actually have something it made much profit from, just odds and ends it managed to trade to the caravans. It wasn't in debt, but it had such a small economic growth, they would go into it with all her plans and expansions. They simply didn't have all the resources to build this much without buying more from outside sources.

The Architects original plans had already involved upgrading the walls and gates, even pushing the walls forward, expanding the circle of the town, allowing for more construction to take place. All of the various projects she ordered from him would begin the design process, she would be consulted whenever needed, and after a few days the first designs for the watch tower, hospital, school, and tavern/Inn were sent to her for approval, the others were still being designed, they would take some time.

Mary was very helpful in finding these people with her, she seemed to have a few friends outside of Brighton she contacted and brought in, filling in these roles rather quickly whereas hiring and training specialists in Brighton would take much longer. The woodcutters, accountant, and stable keeper arrived post haste, but the miners, carpenters and other works were still en-route.

Lancaster thankfully knew some people within Brighton to fit that bill, so the scout jobs were filled quickly, with no need to get outside help or with too much training. Alis had a few younger children with some exceptional skill sets, a few of them had a knack for math and therefore probably accounts. A couple of them seemed to have a knack for art and design, and a few others for doing things with their hands. She began to design new curriculum for them, making sure their skills would be fostered and grown. There was also one child, named Verior, a half breed elf who was half moon elf and half drow. Until recently he had shown no magical ability which was, to put it lightly, odd. But recently he nearly set a building on fire when he was being bullied. Fire just billowed out of his hands and he only stopped when Alis managed to calm him down, getting a few first degree burns in the process.

The door leading down to her lair was remade to accommodate her dragon form's size, and was almost made with hard metal, in a vault style. Orothon taught her a basic magic command word that would make the door open, but only she could use it now that she had learned it.

The upper floors of the building wouldn't have much of anything of interest, it was just offices and government workers going about some basic jobs, suddenly doing much more than ever before thanks to their new leader. She would find one thing though, a letter sealed by highly specialized magic, it would take her some time figure out how to break this seal.

The woman who had met her before led her and Dylan into the home to meet her father. Her father was bed ridden, but seemed to be in his right mind, so at least his ailment was no effecting his thoughts. He was glad to meet their new ruler, though he admitted to being apprehensive after hearing she murdered the Governor. But after hearing about all the projects she was instituting, he made his peace with her rule being best for the city. Upon inspecting him, they would see a rather large bruise on his back. Dylan sighed and said he had seen this before, something inside had ruptured and was bleeding internally, they did not have facility or tools to perform the needed procedures to fix it and at this point even if they did it would be a long shot. According to Dylan the old man was lucky to have been still alive, it must have been a small rupture, either that or it was magical, but Dylan couldn't sense any magic about it. Neither could Caeriadne, but there was someone in this village she hadn't heard much from these couple of days, a certain dragon who was much older than her. A dragon who happened to be of a very magically inclined breed.

Caeriadne made her gratitude and appreciation known to those who had helped her. She was especially impressed with the work of Darold Lancaster, Orothon Blackiron, and of course, Silus.

She took special note of the development of the new training regime. She would often come by the training ground outside the barracks just to quietly observe. Later, she would ramp up the training even more, but for now, she was quite satisfied with Darold's expertise in honing Brighton's finest. Acting on intuition, Caeriadne decided to enact two more patrols - these were made up entirely of gnolls. One was set to ring around the outer territory further than the other patrols since they could cover more ground, and the other was to act alongside the town guard within the city limits to help build the humans' trust and familiarity with these creatures...and to teach the quick-learning gnolls more about human society.

Caeriadne took some time to focus on potential ways to develop the economy further. This was an absolute priority, or all of her planning was for naught. She consulted Huo Lang and Mary's new accountant as to what avenues of trade or production would be profitable without being risky. She needed more money - a fast, reliable stream of it - and more friends. What did Brighton have, or what could Brighton do, that would make it more valuable to the other cities?

After hearing Alis tell of Verior, Caeriadne was disappointed in herself that she did not think to ask for a vote to appoint a mage to the council. She had not seen much magic in the city, and perhaps that was not necessarily a bad thing since mages could become a great threat to a dragon's dominion if left unchecked. However, she saw potential in this young half-breed creature and wished that she knew how to nurture it more closely. She asked Alis to allow her to visit with this Verior child so she could meet him herself.

Caeriadne tucked the letter away for now. She had so many other priorities, it seemed a bit silly to fumble with a seal that was really none of her business anyway. Of course, its contents were probably quite interesting, but it was unlikely that it was urgent just at the moment.

After spending some time with the man, Caeriadne bid him farewell and promised to keep in contact through his daughter. The thought crossed her mind that Raziel might be a resource to look to in this situation; however, she could hardly stomach the thought of actually seeking out and asking that insufferable beast for anything. She could only imagine how unbearable he would act after that. Besides, since she hadn't sensed any magic or foul play, she mostly chalked up the man's mysterious condition to his old age and life of hard labor on the farm. She didn't minimize his pain or his condition, but when she weighed it logically against the cycle of life, it didn't seem as if there was much that could be done to change his fate. Perhaps it was just the man's time, and that was all.

One day after a public forum in the town hall, when all the townsfolk and Caeriadne's retinue had left except for Silus, she rose from the governor's chair with a weary sigh. "Silus," she began as she took a few tentative steps towards her chamber like she usually did before she dismissed him for the night, "do you know anything about...golems? There are mining golems in the caves underneath the city," she asked.

From what she could tell, these two extra gnoll patrol groups were doing exactly what she wanted them to do. Humans were slowly becoming more and more comfortable with the Gnolls being around them, she would even seen young humans and young gnolls becoming friends, of course with both sets of parents close by looking worried. The Gnolls would take longer to adapt to Human society, they were learning manners quickly, which was very helpful to the process.

Huo Long and the accountant would have to take some time to figure out a reliable trading good for Brighton, but a basic idea was that if they cultivated more of the lands outside of the walls they could probably trade a small amount of excess food, which was something Brighton never had enough food to do before.

Alis would obviously allow her to visit Verior, she would even offer to lead her to him, he was usually alone, so he would be free right now if she wished to go see him.

The letter was tucked away and waited to be opened, if it ever would be. Whether or not the contents were urgent or not, she'd made her choice.

Without any help, it was clear that within a week, give or take a few days, that man would die, but if it was just a mysterious condition then why disrupt the circle of life and ask Raziel to help? She made her choice, hopefully it was the right one.

Silus raised an eyebrow “Mining golems beneath the city? The last Governor asked about the possibility of making them, he knew I had some slight magical talent, but I told him no...So are you saying he still found a way to make them?

Caeriadne instructed Huo Lang and the accountant to continue their research onto more farming and cultivation. For now, that may be their best bet - and it wouldn't hurt to build up the surplus storage, either.

She went to see Verior, curious of his potential talent for magic. She introduced herself simply and without much pretense. "Hello, Verior, I am Caeriadne. I'm the one who's been running things around the city. I came to meet you because I hear you have some very special talents..."

She nodded to Silus. "Yes, I can show you, if you like. I have very little knowledge of golems. They seem to be peaceful, but I'm curious to know more about them."

They went to work getting all of that ready to go, it would take a long time to plan out, plow, plant, and further cultivate all the fields but it would yield quite the profit if all went well.

Werior looked over at her, he was about 13 years of age, but was taller than most other children. His skin was a dark grey like a stormy sky just on the brink of breaking open with the weather's fury. His eyes were piercing, his left eye was a deep purple color like an amethyst and his right eye was a bright yellow almost like a sun flower's petals. He asked softly "You heard of my power and you wanted to speak to me? That's not very smart..."

Silus walked over to her and nodded "I'd love to see them, they need to have a controller, if I can see that I may be able to tell you more about them."

She smiled faintly, but politely at the strange boy. "I take it you must not like me very much, Verior."

She activated the door to her lair and led Silus in. At least the first chamber, with the golems and dendritic in it, was simple enough for humans to navigate. If they needed to go much further, Caeriadne was not sure that the treacherous slopes would be at all accommodating to humans - perhaps on purpose - but she led him down at least as far as necessary to see the golems.

Verior rolled his eyes and sighed "No one likes me, so I don't like anyone miss dragon. What do you want from me?"

Silus looked around and made a short hmm sound in his throat "There has to be a crystal or gem controlling them, where is that? If I look at it, I can tap the magic."

She would take a seat next to Verior patiently. "I never said -I- didn't like you, did I?" She didn't really expect a response, so she continued. "Like I said, I wanted to meet you. It seems like you're having a hard time, and I understand that. You're different. People don't really like different, do they..." She shrugged. "Humans are fickle. But this isn't a human town anymore, now is it? Someone else that's different is in charge." She tried her luck with a friendly, mischievous grin. She liked this kid, but she sensed a challenge already.

"There," she walked up and showed him the ruby-like crystal hanging from the ceiling; the stones of her lair were starting to tint very lightly with sapphire blue. "That red gem. And I hope we can change it, it really clashes with my decor." She looked at him blankly with dry humor dripping from her voice, just to see if he would catch it.

He looked at her, and his eyes seemed to pierce right through her. He smiled a little bit "You're true form is very blue...you are definitely some one else." He laughed a little bit and said "So what do you want from me?" It would be surprising he seemed to have true sight just innately there, and especially since he was so young.

Silus chuckled, he got her joke and smirked "I thought contrary colors were a good thing with decorating?" He walked over to it, and held out a hand. It floated down and landed into his hand. He stopped and looked into it a moment "Well these are very basic golems, whoever made them was just tapping this gems ability. It can make a hell of a lot more, it would take a trained mage to tap it though."

Caeriadne returned the smile. "You see more than people think you do. They believe you're crazy, is that right? I expect they probably treat you like some sort of...witch. Distrustful, suspicious, unclean?" Her voice was empathetic; she related to the boy. "I don't want anything from you, Verior. I want to make sure you're safe and growing to your fullest potential. And I've heard that you've had some other people - you might call them bullies, maybe - that are trying to stop that because they don't understand you."

"It's good that you make a better knight than you do an interior decorator. And we don't have a trained mage," she answered. "Perhaps it's best to leave it alone for now, but it's something I want to explore further later on. But tell me, Silus..." She gestured towards the stash of dendritic. She felt very protective over it; if she hadn't trusted him, she wouldn't have even let him know about its existence. "What do you know about this ore?"

"People treated me that way before they knew I had magic. First of all, I'm half elven. For country humans like these I guess they think snobbishness runs in my blood. Second I'm half Drow, everyone hates the Drow. So through uncontrollable magic into the mix...yes I guess they do think all those things and probably quite a bit more." He was well spoken and eloquent with his words for someone so young, probably had to do with his Elven nature. "Yea, there are some kids who bully me more than others...why? If you want me to be safe and 'growing to my fullest potential' you must want something..." He was cold, distrustful, but she could tell it was born out of necessity, not an intrinsic coldness in him. Underneath the sarcasm and cold exterior was a scared child.

Silus chuckled at her first comment and when she mentioned exploring it further later, he nodded his agreement. When she asked about the metal he looked over at the pile, he didn't even really pay attention to it before. "Dendritic, didn't know there were any significant veins beneath the city. I know that it's veins spider out like trees or vines, I know that when it is forged into weapons or armor it grows back when damaged, thought the armor is only usually used for animating purposes or to reinforce Golems. The armor has to be made in...close to a single piece, so the only way to get out of it is to be break it, so using it on people would be a bit difficult. I know it can also be used as catalyst for powerful spells. The reason I know so much is...well, I used to have a Dendritic sword, but it was destroyed."

"A happy, healthy young man growing up to be a good citizen of my city. That's what I want. And if you decide you have anything to give back in return, then, that's your choice. I'm not going to bait and switch you into anything, Verior. I just want to get to know you better and do my duty as a leader. And, honestly, you seem to be the only one in this city with much of an inclination towards magic. So you and I know better than anyone else in this place that that's something that needs to be cherished, and protected, especially if we are to grow into something greater than a a somewhat...close-minded country community." She couldn't blame him for his distrustfulness - of course, it made perfect sense. The poor kid had probably been isolated from anyone even vaguely like himself his entire life.

-

"Interesting...how did it break?" Despite listening intently to Silus, she was staring at the dendritic. She was utterly fascinated by the stuff.

The young boy hesitated for a moment but nodded let out a long but quiet, and slightly shuddered sigh. It was obvious talking to her about any of this was getting to him but that sigh was him letting go of quite a bit of the built up stress and anxiety he had. When he spoke next it was less cold, less hard and accusatory. "I want to help, I know that I can. I just need to learn to control my magic, and with no mages here...that's been impossible."

Silus shook his head "A man named Shōugē zhě. Half tiefling, and half black dragon born. He is a Battle Mage, and wields infernal magic begotten of mixing a chromatic's power with the abyssal nature of tieflings. He has two black metal blades, sliced through my dendritic sword like it was nothing once he charged them full of magic."

"What kind of magic do you want to study?" She progressed slowly, knowing the boy needed some time to work through everything. He didn't need to be pushed now.

-

"I suppose this Shouge zhe fellow is no friend of yours," she very slowly paced through the chamber, walking close by the dendritic and lightly brushing her fingertips across it. "Tell me more about what brought you to parries with him."

"Well, it seems I have a predilection towards fire magic." He cracked a small smile and laughed a little bit, making a little fun of his outburst.

"No he is not...He's the leader of a mercenary group. An infamous one, the Lords of Iron. They work for anyone good or evil, if the coin is good enough. I ran into trouble with them when I was protecting a caravan that they were paid to raid."

Caeriadne smiled. "Powerful and expressive," she laughed alongside him. "One of the most powerful elements, my friend. You know who I think I might talk to about this?" She thought for a few moments as a little idea blossomed in her mind...

-

"And are they near here? How many strong are they?" Ceariadne instantly detected a potential threat, or at least a blip on her proverbial radar that she should be aware of.

He raised an eyebrow and asked "Who are you going to talk to about this?" He asked with a more playful type of sarcasm then before. He seemed confused but rather interested and where she was taking this.

He thought for a moment but shook his head "No the Lord of Iron are fairly a ways off from here. Over Watch is much closer, but they only combat darkness and evil. We aren't either of those things."

"Korrok, the Gnolls' priest. He may not be the ideal professor for an up-and-coming young mage such as yourself, but...he's the most magically inclined person here, and he has a way of knowing about these things." Caeriadne already had a plan. It would take a short while to hatch it, especially with everything else that was in the works, but she knew what might help Verior more than anything else.

-

"Interesting...Silus, could you prepare me a brief report of those two groups, and any other factions nearby? Anything you know that might be worthy of consideration. I want to have the best lay of the land possible.

The boy nodded, he didn't seem to excited to learn from a Gnoll, but he seemed agreeable until he asked "But you're a dragon, that means you're magical right? Can't you just teach me? I think I'd be more comfortable with you than the Gnolls..."

Silus nodded "I don't know much about them but if you give me some time I can find some things out and get you information. As for other factions close by, I don't think so. The Cult of the Dragon doesn't have any enclaves nearby, at least that I know of, and I can't think of any other factions at this second." ((meaning your wonderful DM has to think of more XD))

"I can try, my dear, but I'm no elemental dragon. That's the field of the Chromatics. My magic is psionic." Perhaps the boy was onto something, though - she couldn't help him with the actual spell-casting portion of his education, but it was just as important that he learn the other ins and outs of magic...only then did it dawn on her that maybe he didn't even know the difference between Chromatic dragons and Gem dragons. "I will help you, though. Tell me, what sorts of things do you already know? About the different magical creatures of the world, how the Overworld and Underdark function, the true history of magic, how to protect yourself from other magi...things like that?" She was probing to see if the boy was more knowledgeable than he let on, or if he truly just had a talent with absolutely no refinement yet to speak of.

-

She nodded. "Good. I'll look forward to it. I have a feeling we're going to be stirring a lot of...attention from the locals. Defenses will be shored up, but our activity will be attracting things that aren't concerned with guards and walls." She paused and clasped her hands together loosely, and thought carefully before continuing. She knew it was possible that, even here in the sanctity of her chamber, something could be listening in on them. She concentrated for a second to try and detect if that may be the case, but either way, she chose her next words with caution. "There already...is something here. Another dragon infiltrated the city in human form a short while before the election. He seems to only be observing, and hasn't been hostile." She gave Silus a pointed glance, as if to indicate that she was more suspicious about that than her words alone would let on.

The boy looked at her blankly and when she finished he made a small sound like a cough and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly “Uhm...What's a chromatic dragon? Also I have absolutely no idea about anything you've just mentioned...I've just been here my whole life, I have a bit of a natural knowledge of magic, like how to make the fire come out, or how to use my true sight, but that's literally all I know...” He seemed a bit more embarrassed now, he closed up again slightly, she could see it in his eyes. He was so used to people assuming he was this dangerous mage that could burn their whole way of life down, that someone knowing how novice and generally harmless he was got to him more than it should have.

Whens he paused and used her psionics like that she would find no one was nearby, and she could actually sense Raziel this time, he seemed to be purposefully allowing it tonight for some reason, he was just outside the town gates. He had never let her sense him before, this must be happening for a reason.

Silus' eyes shot wide but he tried to maintain his composure, as he assumed she was keeping herself calm for a reason. “Another dragon? Well, hostile or not that is rather disconcerting. Did he say anything about why he was here? Why he would observe you?” Though he tried hard to seem like he was just asking basic questions, the worry in his voice was clear. The worry he had for the town, and the worry he had for her. He obviously cared tremendously about her, why exactly he hadn't outwardly said but one could hazard at some guesses. But all in all he could just be a Knight worried about his Queen, even if his Queen happened to be a dragon.

"Chromatics are the more common dragons - reds, blues, blacks. They all inhabit this plane. They're not necessarily less powerful, but they have less...specialized skills. Gem dragons, like myself, mostly originate from the Underdark. There are also Abyssal dragons, Planar dragons...many, many different kinds, all with different magic and origins." She smiled softly, sensing the boy's discomfort even though it was so foreign to her that any being could be so utterly unaware of something that was second nature to her. She thought for a few more moments. "Hm. Tell me, Verior - how are you doing in school? Or at least, in Alis' lessons?"

-

"No. He said he just found us amusing." She gave a dramatic flourish with her hand, as if to indicate that Raziel was particularly suave and nonchalant towards her. "He is my guest now, though. If he was a spy for someone else, he wouldn't be so outright with his presence. And if he wanted to simply burn us to the ground, he would've done it long before I knew of him. So, I can't imagine what else to think of him except for...exactly what he's said." She seemed at a bit of a loss - it was illogical, and she couldn't wrap her mind around it. "Just be on alert, for the time being, but perhaps he will come to be a friend and ally one day," she added. She didn't attempt to try and conceal her words or thoughts in case Raziel would attempt to tap into the conversation.

Verior nodded, he seemed interested in learning more about the dragons, he seemed rather interested. Though he seemed a bit off put by the mention of abyssal dragons. When she asked him about school he immediately seemed to perk up and smile a little bit even. "I'm doing very well, I don't have any friends so all I do is read and study, so I'm a few years ahead of everyone else. Alis says that I'm at the level of some older teenagers." He was very proud of himself.

Silus seemed to be a bit put off by the idea of another dragon simply observing them because they amused him. But when she said he could have done it before she knew of him, he had to ask her this rather uncomfortable question. "My lady, this dragon...is he stronger than you? They way you said that made it seem like he is older than you."

"Good. Training is the best thing you can do for yourself, and others. How would you like to skip your most boring lesson - you'll still have to pass all Alis' assignments and tests, of course - but instead of attending that one, I'll set up a special time for someone else, or myself when I'm able, to come work with you independently. You'll learn everything a good mage should know. Show us your potential and I'm sure you'll surpass what we're able to teach you soon. But..." She grinned and her eyes flas+hed a stone-cold determination. "I'll have tests of my own. Are you up for it, Verior?"

-

"Older, yes. Stronger? I don't know. I assume he's been asleep for just as long as I have. And if he's been spending his time watching us..." She trailed off, letting Silus piece in the rest. She didn't seem frightened in the least, just concerned and...was that frustration? Anger, maybe? She shook it off. "Nonetheless, just watch him. Pay attention to the crowds, and you'll see him just as I do. For now, we should be the only two who are aware. I may tell Korrok, before he senses him on his own. That Gnoll has a way about him and I suspect he is more clever than he lets on."