For the past three days Ahn’rah hadn’t gotten much sleep. He spent most of his time in the war room, organizing reports, maps, documents, and other gathered info so that he could begin his next round of preparations. Turimiil had been a big help through it all, bringing him food and water and urging him to come home and sleep once he’d been gone for too long. The work had been wearing on him to say the least. Trying to squeeze a week’s worth of organization and tidying into only three days would wear out anyone. On the fourth day however, Turimiil stopped by early, interrupting the last bits of his cleaning.

  “They’re here, Ahn’rah!” She announced, a bright smile on her face. “The Thought-Bringers have arrived!”

  Ahn’rah’s eyes widened and he quickly dropped what he was doing and walked to the mouth of the cave to see her. “They’re here?”

  “Yes, I saw them flying into orbit! They’re headed to Tail’s End, probably to see Hallath.”

  “Let’s go!” Ahn’rah’s excitement got the better of him and he leapt off of the ground, taking flight with Turimiil not far behind. They flew away from the spire and began flying past many others. The two glided past the last several peaks of The World Spine, the land soon thinning into a long stretch of forest before it opened up again into the fanned out stretch of Tail’s End.

  Ahn’rah could see the Trove Diver party, even from so high up. Hundreds of dragons, mostly Topavarian, all spread about the beach at the end of the land’s tail. Some were drinking, others smoking, while others seemed to be wrestling each other and flinging about sand and water. Ahn’rah could also see the group of Thought-Bringers gathered near the large stone boulder that his father used as a pedestal to speak to the others over the course of parties.

  While The Thought-Bringers typically had Sylphan dragons and the occasional Fae in their midst, this group was entirely Adatopian. As they began descending toward the ground, Ahn’rah could get a closer look at them. Where Topavaran dragons had dull and dark scales, horns, and only one set of leathery wings, Adatopians were much smaller and had gem-like scales in bright colors, antennae, and two sets of wings with a small clawed hand on each one. The group of them looked so bright and saturated compared to the pale sand around them.

  Ahn’rah and Turimiil landed not too far away, catching sight of Hallath talking to the group. It was then that Ahn’rah noticed that the head of the group was actually the head of The Thought-Bringers herself, Vaya Vulluin. He heard Turimiil gasp behind him as she came to the same realization.

  “Lady Vulluin is here?” She whispered, shocked that the leader herself would come along to Topavara. “I thought it would just be one of the normal smaller groups here for a brief study.”

  “I thought so, too.” Ahn’rah muttered quietly, his eyes scanning over the woman’s bright yellow scales and glowing antenna. She had a very stoic air about her, though Ahn’rah could see that she wasn’t very happy. Vaya had her eyes narrowed on Hallath as he prattled on, one of her near-gold talons beginning to tap into the sand impatiently.

  “I believe I’ve heard enough about your partying, Hallath Kiir.” The woman stated with a cold bluntness Ahn’rah could only dream he could deliver to his father.

  Hallath stumbled on the words of whatever story he had been regaling her with, but quickly recovered. “You’re right, Lady Vulluin, apologies. I was simply excited to speak with you and got carried away.”

  “Carried away is one way to put it.” Vaya replied, her attention diverting once Ahn’rah and Turimiil came closer. Lady Vulluin’s expression of disdain melted away at the sight of them. “Oh, it is good to see you two, I’m glad you’re well. I haven’t seen either of you in a few decades”

  Both Ahn’rah and his mate bowed their heads down to her in respect before Ahn’rah then spoke. “It’s very nice to see you, ma’am. I’m glad to see that you’re in good health.”

  Lady Vulluin’s sweet smile brightened. “Oh, what a charming greeting. You could teach your father a thing or two.” She smirked toward Hallath, who did his best to hide the sneer that threatened to break through his own grin. Ahn’rah would likely feel retaliation from that comment later.

  “I would much like to speak with you in private, Hallath.” Vaya announced, to which Hallath nodded. The two quickly excused themselves and began to walk toward an outcropping closer to the forest, away from the beach.

  Ahn’rah watched them go for a moment, an anxiety gnawing at the back of his mind. Things must be tense for Lady Vulluin to come along and leave Adatopia, especially if it was to converse with his father. His thoughts didn’t go much further than that, instead being interrupted as a small weight knocked into his torso. He let out a grunt and turned to look, his worries immediately leaving him.

  There was Caelmer, grinning up at him. His amethyst colored scales glinted in the sun from where he stood. Ahn’rah’s tiny friend, only five feet tall, began happily circling under his legs with laughter, zipping around with energy before finally stopping in front of him. Ahn’rah could hear Turimiil giggling behind him at the Adatopian’s cute display.

  “You’re here! I was worried I wouldn’t get to see you!” Cael laughed, giddy and excited. “Hallath said you were busy, I thought maybe he’d dumped another bout of work on you.”

  “He did.” Ahn’rah replied with a laugh of his own. “I’ve been slaving away in the war room hoping to catch up enough to come look for you.”

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  The bright smile Cael gave him made Ahn’rah feel less anxious than he had in weeks. The small dragon then turned to Turimiil, bowing down in a playful show of respect. “And of course I didn’t forget about you, Lady Olroth!”

  Turimiil giggled and gave a deep bow as well, playing along with the Adatopian’s antics. “Why thank you good sir, we’ve both been waiting patiently to once again meet the prodigy of The Thought-Bringers!”

  Caelmer sat on his haunches and put his hands over his face as if to cover a blush under his scales. “Prodigy? Oh, how kind of you! I’m no such thing, please, it’s too big of praise!” he snickered, waving away the comment.

  All three of them laughed along, happy to be in each other’s company once more. After the moment passed, Ahn’rah decided to take his chance to say what he’d been meaning to ask.

  “Cael, I have a big favor to ask of you.” Ahn’rah motioned for the other two to follow him.

  Turimiil hesitated before waving them on. “You go, darling, I’ll stay around here and try to keep Hallath busy should he try and take off.”

  Ahn’rah hesitated before giving her a nod and a quiet thank you, continuing to guide Caelmer away from the crowds.

  They walked for only a minute or so before Cael broke the silence. “Sooo, a favor huh? I doubt it’s something small. You never ask for small favors, only the big ones.” he teased, nudging Ahn’rah’s leg.

  Ahn’rah nodded. “It is… I need you to sneak off with me to the Trove Moon.”

  Cael’s steps halted for a moment before he jogged back up to pace with his friend. “Okay. Definitely a big favor.”

  “I know, but it’s important. Father managed to steal some sort of Golem, and I need you to take a look at it.”

  “A Golem?” Caelmer’s white eyes went wide. “You mean one of those big clay things from Rathsah? I’ve always wanted to take a look at one of those! The Summer Court started making them a few years back to help with labor, y'know, hauling around the stuff they can’t.”

  Ahn’rah shook his head. “That’s the thing, this one is from Relictumire, and according to my father it was attacking him and the other Divers with spells. I think it might have been augmented somehow. There’s even a Runeplate on its back.”

  The gasp that left Cael would have gotten a chuckle from Ahn’rah if the prospect of doing all of this wasn’t so daunting. “Casting spells? There’s never been any sort of documentation of a Golem being able to augment enough Ley Energy for something like that!”

  “So it’s as unusual as it sounds?”

  “Yes!” Cael’s excitement was palpable. The prospect of a new magical thing to study seemed to overpower any worry the little dragon had about flying up to the Trove Moon uninvited. “Of course it’s unusual! Unusual is just about as accurate as you can get! I wonder if the Runeplate is some sort of self-renewable energy source? If one of the Fae managed to pull that off with nothing but a Rune then we could be on the edge of a new age of energy! Could you imagine how easy certain tasks would become! Rune charging would be so much more efficient, and maybe it could be used to alter soil for crops, or make magic focuses easier to use, or-”

  “That kind of innovation is exactly what I want to keep from my father.” Ahn’rah interrupted, doing his best to stress the seriousness in his voice. “I know he typically wants nothing to do with Runes or magic, but if he figures out he has some sort of thing that could revolutionize the world, he would find a way to use it for Dives. The last thing we want is to just let him keep a weapon to further hurt the Fae.”

  Cael hummed with thought, nodding along. “You’re certainly right about that… But what would we do to keep it away from him? He won’t let you leave Topavara with us, and I doubt any of us in the group we brought could carry it all the way back to Adatopia. I’ve seen the ones from Rathsah, and they’re much too big for us to haul through the Aether.”

  Ahn’rah nodded. “Even if they were, Father said that his one was bigger than them. My plan was for you to deactivate and remove its Runeplate. Even if you couldn’t figure out what its for while you’re here, you could at least bring it back to Adatopia and further study it.”

  “Turi wasn’t lying when she called me a prodigy you know. I’m one of the best Runeforgers in the whole system, I doubt I’d need to take it home to figure out what the thing does.”

  “I don’t know, Cael. It’s got a lot on it, and I don’t think I recognized any of it.”

  Caelmer gave a playful scoff. “Please, Ahn, this is me you’re talking to. I’ve seen just about every Rune documented by now.”

  “I sure hope so, because it might be the leverage we need to leave.”

  “You think so?”

  Ahn’rah glanced at his friend. “Don’t you? I mean, it would be a good bargaining chip, bringing one of the Courts a Runeplate that could do… Well, whatever it does. We might be able to convince them to hide us away, or help us put Hallath and the Divers in check. Gods know someone has to.”

  Caelmer sighed. “You’re right… I think that’s part of the reason Lady Vulluin came with us. Word came around that the Divers were particularly ruthless this past Dive. That, and she felt disrespected when they rested at Adatopia.”

  “What did they do?” Ahn’rah questioned, concern welling in his chest.

  “Apparently they ate a few of the sacred animals near where they were resting, tore up the ground, and left bloodied scraps of metal on the ground. At least, that’s what Lady Vulluin was ranting about before she made the decision to come along on the next trip. She was already mad before she heard about their uptick in cruelty.”

  “So she’s likely giving him an earful about it now.” Ahn’rah muttered. He found it hard to imagine his father getting reprimanded by anyone and not lashing out. If anyone could get away with it, though, it would be Vaya Vulluin.

  Caelmer gave a soft hum of agreement. The two walked for a while longer, having long since made it to and past the border of the forest and eventually to a clearing large enough for them to spot the Trove Moon and prepare for flight.

  “Thank you for agreeing to this, Cael.” The larger dragon spoke quietly, a nervous expression on his face as he stared at the black moon in orbit above them.

  “Of course.” Cael chuckled, once again nudging Ahn’rah’s leg. “That’s what friends are for.”

  The two then launched from the ground, climbing high into the sky with heavy wingbeats. They likely only had the one chance to do this, and Ahn’rah hoped with all his might that they would make it count.