The Consequences of Meeting a Dragon

"Tava! Seyli! Ice cream lady! Hi!"

Ariom had been starting to doze off, but when he felt Iggy jump off his lap, he opened his eyes and raised his head in time to see the little dragon running across the sitting room to greet Seyli and Namyis, who had just come in.

Focilo was following behind them. He must have met them when he walked Garem and the Iterune family outside and then led them back here to Thenio's suite.

Tava, who was riding on Seyli's shoulder, chirped happily when she saw Iggy. Seyli bent down so that she could hop off, and the two dragons started the usual round of sniffing and head bumping, their tails waving enthusiastically.

"Hiiii!" Namyis gave Ariom and Uncle Bero a wave and a cheerful smile. "You look a lot better than you did this morning, Ariom! How are you feeling?"

He scowled at her. "What are you acting so energetic for? You worked longer and fought harder than I did yesterday. Do you not have the decency to be just a little tired?"

"That's a high sixth-ranker for you," Uncle Bero said with a chuckle. "They're fearsome creatures. Focilo still outworks all his apprentices, even at his age."

"Not today, I don't.... Last night's adventure was a bit much for me, too." Focilo said with a sigh. "I just came back up to give Thenio his evening checkup. Then I'm going to head home again."

"You don't want to have dinner with us?" Namyis asked. "We brought plenty of food."

"Thank you for the offer, but I think Relisa and the unicorns would like me to come back as early as possible." Focilo gave her a wry smile. "They knew I wasn't in as much danger as Thenio was, but they were still quite worried."

"Ah. Of course." Namyis looked down and winked at the dragons. "Well, I guess that means more spicy fish balls for Iggy and Tava, then."

"You brought spicy fish balls? From the place where Mr. Kraken lives?" Iggy asked eagerly.

"Yep! Spicy fish balls, straight from the Kraken's Kitchen! I know you had a tough day yesterday, so I wanted to get you a special treat. Seyli said Mr. Kraken's spicy fish balls are your favorite."

"Mmm! Spicy fish balls are super, super tasty!" Iggy's tail, which had calmed down a little after he'd finished greeting Tava, started swishing vigorously again.

"As a stability doctor, I really should scold you for bringing spiced food to a patient's rooms," Focilo said, raising an eyebrow at Namyis. "But I suppose I can let it slide if it's just for the dragons. Iggy does deserve a reward for behaving so well yesterday, like you said. Don't take it in near Thenio, though...not that those two would let you...."

"Right. I know." Namyis nodded solemnly. "Don't worry. I wouldn't do anything to make Thenio's scary friends mad at me."

"Good."

"Who are 'Thenio's scary friends'?" Seyli asked, looking between the two of them with a puzzled expression.

"I think she's talking about me," Brel's voice said from the other side of the room.

Ariom turned and saw the Forest Man entering the sitting room from the direction of the bedrooms.

"Hi, Brel!" Namyis waved at him. "I'm glad you're still here! I don't get to talk to Forest People very often. They don't seem to like it much when I visit Ket'qe."

Brel smiled awkwardly. "Well...you know...ice magic in a forest.... It shouldn't be anything against you personally. They're just worried that you'll damage the plants by accident."

"I know. And I can't really blame them. I did freeze some of my mother's houseplants when I was little...and Isia's garden a couple of times...no, I guess it was three times...hmm...." Namyis made a face. "Well, anyways. Seyli, this is Eteon's friend, Brel. Brel, this is Seyli. She's Ariom's cousin."

"And Tava is my cousin!" Iggy chimed in.

"Ah, yes. Seyli and Tava." Brel gave them a friendly smile. "Eteon told me about you two. I'm glad to have a chance to meet you."

"We're happy to meet you, too," Seyli said, smiling warmly back at him.

Ariom's eyebrows went up in surprise. What was that? He'd never seen Seyli act so casual when she met someone for the first time. She didn't look stiff or nervous at all.

Did she think Forest People counted as magic beasts instead of people or something...?

"Krr?" Tava was also showing an unusual response to Brel. She was staring at him with her ears pricked up and her head tilted to one side, as though she couldn't quite figure out what he was.

"That's the tree-cat, Tava," Iggy told her. "He's Thenio's friend's friend. He smells nice, huh? Like wood! And he can make trees grow out of the floor, okay? I saw it! I saw him make a tree grow and turn into a chair for Ariom to sit on! He says he can do it because he's friends with the great big tree that lives on the other side of the mountains."

"Why is he a 'tree-cat'?" Namyis asked curiously. "I've always thought Forest People were more like monkeys. Because they use their tails to climb trees, right?"

Iggy flattened his ears. "No! Monkeys are scary, okay? The tree-cat isn't scary like that!"

Ariom sighed. "The 'scary monkey' you know is an imp, little guy. You've never met a real monkey."

"But the scary monkey looks like a monkey," Iggy said stubbornly. "He looks like the monkey pictures in my animal books, okay? So he makes monkeys be scary!"

"When you say he's friends with the big tree on the other side of the mountains..." Seyli interjected, probably trying to change the subject and avoid an argument, "...are you talking about Ket'shiu? Is Brel a Shiu'tana or something?"

"Not quite," Brel said. "I work with the Shiu'tanas a lot. But I'm actually an agent."

Seyli stared at him. "An agent? You're saying you're one of Ket'shiu's agents?"

"That's right."

"Oh." Seyli blinked. "So Eteon is friends with a mythic agent...? Wait...is Eteon an agent, too, then?"

There was a moment of silence.

Ariom exchanged uncertain looks with Uncle Bero. Should they tell her? They'd talked about it before and decided it was better not to let Seyli know about Thenio's mythic beast connections unless they had to.

But who knew someone like Brel would suddenly show up? Or that Seyli would connect the dots between him and Eteon so quickly?

One of Brel's furry ears had swiveled backwards, like he was listening to something behind him. After a brief pause, he nodded and then gave Seyli a gentle smile. "He says it's all right to tell you. Yes, Eteon is also an agent. Not Ket'shiu's, though. He's contracted with a different mythic beast."

Ariom grimaced. Well, of course Eteon would be able to listen to their conversation despite being in another room. Why had that not occurred to him before now?

He hadn't said anything stupid when he and Uncle Bero were talking earlier, had he...?

"Oh," Seyli said again. She seemed to consider for a moment and then for some reason turned and looked at Focilo. "Then—” She broke off, blinked a few times, and turned back to Brel, looking awkward. "Well...that's...that's pretty amazing? I mean, I've heard stories about mythic agents, but I never really expected to meet any."

"Oh, it's nothing to make a fuss over." Brel waved one of his small hands dismissively. "We're just normal people who can use a bit of extra magic. That's all."

Ariom raised an eyebrow. 'Just normal people'? From what he'd seen so far, nothing associated with mythic beasts was normal....

"Right," Namyis said, nodding. "Just because some people have extra strong magic doesn't mean they're not human anymore. Well...I guess Brel's really not human...but you know what I mean. Most powerful people just want to be treated normally."

"Weren't you the one who called us 'scary' earlier?" Brel asked with a playful smirk.

Namyis put on her innocent expression. "I was raised by a demon hunter. Scary is normal."

Brel laughed. "Fair enough. Well, don't worry. As long as no one tries to hurt Thenio, Eteon and I will keep our scary sides in check."

"How is Thenio?" Seyli asked, looking concerned. "Uncle Bero told me that he should be fine and he was just staying here as a precaution, but...."

"He's doing all right. It's just that he was under full magic suppression for a while last night, and with him being as unstable as he is, it's dangerous to remove the suppression all at once. So we're keeping an eye on him and lowering it gradually. He should be back to normal in another day or so." Brel glanced back in the direction of Thenio's bedroom. "He's sleeping right now. I think visiting with his family wore him out. Sorry if that makes doing a checkup more difficult, Focilo."

"It's fine." Focilo shook his head. "Since you and Eteon are here, he doesn't really need me checking on him anyway. But it's standard procedure, so I'll at least make some notes on his chart before I leave him in your more capable hands."

He moved past the others, heading toward the bedrooms. Brel watched him go with a rather complicated expression. Once Focilo was out of sight, he shook his head sadly.

"Poor kid...it's a tough position to be in." Without explaining any further, Brel turned back to the dragons with a smile. "But I think I just heard Iggy's stomach rumbling. We should stop chatting and let these hungry little dragons have their fish."

"Oh. Right." Seyli looked around the room, seemingly counting the number of people and familiars present. "Um...the table in the kitchen area didn't look like it was big enough for this many people.... Why don't I take Iggy and Tava to the kitchen and give them their dinner first? Then maybe I can take them outside to play for a little while. If Iggy's been cooped up in here all day, he probably—"

"No!" Iggy's ears had flattened in alarm at the idea of going to the kitchen, and when Seyli mentioned taking him outside, he ran back to the sofa, clambered up Ariom's leg, and burrowed into his arms. "I don't want to go! I want to stay with Ariom!"

"Iggy? What's wrong?" Seyli looked shocked by his unusual behavior.

Much more shocked than she'd seemed when she learned that Brel and Eteon were mythic agents, funnily enough....

"Krr?" Tava also seemed surprised that Iggy had suddenly run away from her. She came over to the sofa and looked up at him with a whimper of concern.

Ariom patted Iggy's back soothingly. "It's all right, little guy. You can go play with Tava. I'm not going anywhere. I'll still be here when you get back, I promise."

Iggy responded by digging his claws into the fabric of Ariom's shirt. "I don't want to! I don't want to leave Ariom...."

Ariom sighed and gave Seyli an apologetic look. "Sorry. It's nothing you did. It's just that he's still a little traumatized from last night. He's been clinging to me like this all day today."

"Oh." Seyli looked like she wanted to ask more questions, but she settled for simply watching Iggy with a worried expression.

"Well, she's right that we won't all fit at that little table. And Thenio and Humerus are sleeping in the bedrooms...." Uncle Bero also looked around the room, counting heads. "I guess some of us will have to eat in here. Though Eteon will probably want to stay with Thenio...."

"Yes, he will." Brel nodded. Then he smiled. "But don't worry about the space. I can help."

Ignoring their questioning looks, he went over to a bare spot on a nearby wall and put his hand on it. A soft glow of magic power began spreading out from the spot he touched.

Out of habit, Ariom started to activate his magesight to try to see exactly what Brel was doing, but a hand almost immediately blocked his vision.

"Don't even think about it," Uncle Bero said, lowering his hand and giving Ariom a stern look.

Ariom scowled, but he knew better than to argue when his uncle looked at him like that. And he had been instructed not to use magesight by three different stability doctors....

He turned back to Brel in time to see the glow fading away from the wall, revealing an ornately-carved wooden door. The Forest Man took hold of the handle and pulled the door open.

"Welcome to my garden," he said, gesturing toward the other side of the door with an inviting flourish.

"Oh! The tree-cat made flowers inside the wall!" Iggy had forgotten his fear of separating from Ariom for a moment. He was staring at the open door with his ears perked up and his tail twitching with interest.

It was true. The previously solid wall had now turned into a doorway leading into what was obviously a flower garden, with grassy pathways and well-kept beds full of colorful blooms. Further in, Ariom could see a small wooden cottage with what looked like a line of forest behind it.

"Wow! You actually have a pocket world!" Namyis was staring wide-eyed at the doorway, bouncing up and down a little with excitement. "I learned about these from an enchanter at the equipment workshop, but he said that humans couldn't make them, so I was afraid I'd never get to see one. This is great!"

Ariom was briefly impressed by the fact that Namyis recognized what they were seeing. Then he was briefly curious about who exactly that enchanter at the military's equipment workshop was. But he pushed both those thoughts aside to focus on the matter at hand.

A pocket world.... He'd read about them in old enchanting books. But like Namyis, he'd never expected to see one in real life. Even in the Pre-War Era, human magic users had only known of them as a theoretical possibility. They'd never developed the techniques to actually make them.

He picked up Iggy and carried him closer to the doorway. Tava followed them and stood by Ariom's feet, sniffing at the air coming into the room, carrying the scent of grass and flowers.

Ariom, however, was focused on the door itself. It was a heavy, old-fashioned style, made from a wood that he couldn't identify and carved with pictures of flowers and animals that he didn't recognize.

He really wanted to take a good look at it with magesight....

But he could feel Uncle Bero's gaze burning a hole in his back, so he sighed and looked at Brel instead. "Did you make this?"

"No, no." Brel waved his hand. "I did the carvings on this door, but that's all. I use Ket'shiu's magic, remember? Forest magic. Spatial magic isn't my area of expertise at all. No, a few of the mythics got together and made this, to thank me for helping them. The one who did most of the enchanting work is named Melinei. She lives in the Waterfall Region."

"Melinei? I haven't heard of her before. What kind of creature is she?" Namyis asked eagerly. She seemed to be quite interested in mythic beasts.

"She's a sphinx. And her domain is space, so she's good at things like this."

"Aww...I want to meet her.... Space magic should be related to crystal magic, right? It's so interesting to meet mythic beasts that use magic similar to mine!" Namyis put on a pitiful expression. "Couldn't you introduce me to her...pleeeease?"

"That...well...." Brel gave an awkward cough. "She's quite busy these days, so I can't make any promises. But I can let her know you're interested."

"I'll take that! Thank you!" Namyis said happily. She looked back at the flower garden. "It's okay to go in, right?"

"Uh...that's right. Go ahead." Brel looked slightly nonplussed, but he still nodded and gave his permission.

Leave it to that crazy ice mage to throw even a mythic agent off-kilter....

"Great! Come on, Seyli. Let's go look at the flowers!"

Seyli was still looking at the doorway hesitantly, but Namyis took hold of her hand and pulled her through it, heading toward the nearest flower bed.

Tava chirped and started after them, but paused on the edge of the grass to look back at Iggy and Ariom.

"Ariom, let's go too!" Iggy said, his tiny body wriggling with excitement. "Let's go see the tree-cat's flowers!"

"Fine, fine..." Ariom said with a sigh.

He followed after Tava, who turned and trotted across the grass toward Seyli once she saw they were coming.

Ariom still had a lot of questions that he wanted to ask Brel about this pocket world and the mythic beasts who had made it, but for now it was probably better to just go along with the others.

Uncle Bero and Brel came in after him, leaving the door open behind them. Looking back, Ariom saw that the doorway on this side was fitted neatly under an arched wooden trellis with flowering vines climbing over it.

Was that a static entry point to the pocket world? Or was it one of a few possible entrances, and Brel could choose where he wanted the doorway to appear every time he opened it? The latter would be more difficult, both to build and to operate, but if it was mythic beasts and an agent doing it....

While Ariom pondered the technical aspects, the girls were admiring some of the nearby flowers. Uncle Bero went over to join them, but he frowned a little as he looked over the flowerbed.

"Are these flowers from the Ket'qe Forest?" he asked. "My wife is a magic botanist, so I've seen quite a few plants from around the continent. But I don't recognize any of these."

Brel chuckled a little. "You won't have seen these ones before. None of the plants here are native to this world."

Everyone turned to stare at him, apart from Tava, who was busy sniffing at a cluster of light purple flowers that were almost the same color as her scales.

"What...did you just say?" Uncle Bero asked, looking a bit shaken. "These plants are...from a different world?"

"That's right," Brel said easily. "Haven't you ever heard the story about the Forest People walking to this world on a bridge made out of stars?"

"Of course I have. I've read Ket'qe folktales to all my children and grandchildren.... But you're saying that really happened?"

"Well, the story has been embellished over the years, of course. It wasn't really a bridge made of stars—the process was a little less flashy and a lot more complicated than that. But we did come here from another world, yes." Brel's expression darkened a little. "We were refugees, really. The mythic beasts of this world kindly took us in and gave us a piece of land to settle on. That's where Ket'qe is now."

"Why were you refugees?" Namyis asked. "What happened?"

"It's a long story. But to sum it up...politics, I suppose? The mythic beasts here treat each other like family, but that's not the case in all worlds. There was a power struggle going on, and Ket'shiu was the leader of one of the smaller factions. He'd already lost a lot of territory, and things weren't looking good.... Then someone came along and offered to help him move his sanctuary to another world, where he wouldn't have to deal with that kind of conflict anymore. He and most of the mythics under him decided to take that offer. So here we are."

"I have seen some old records that talk about Ket'qe as though it just appeared out of nowhere," Ariom said, frowning. "But I always assumed that was just because humans hadn't explored the center of the continent before that, so they didn't know it was there. And I've heard the fairy tale, of course." He glanced at Uncle Bero. "But I've visited Ket'qe quite a few times, and I've never heard anyone talk about a mythic beast power struggle or traveling from another world."

"Why would they?" Brel said with a shrug. "Even if they've heard the story and believe it's true, it happened long before any of them were born. Only a few of us are still around from back then."

"And you're one of the few?" Uncle Bero raised an eyebrow. "I don't know anything about how Ket'qe got where it is, but I do know that Kamari has been trading with them for well over a thousand years. Just how old are you...?"

Brel laughed. "I'll leave that to your imagination. Let's end the history lesson for now. There's an open area over this way. We can set up a table and chairs there for dinner."

He led the way along the garden path, past a few more flowerbeds, to a wider grassy area that was under the shade of a large tree with bluish, heart-shaped leaves. Brel used his peculiar tree-growing magic to create a stump that was spread out and flattened on the top like a table, plus five more of the same wicker chairs he'd made in Thenio's room. Then he made another, smaller tree stump that only rose a few inches off the ground, which was presumably a table for the dragons.

"There we go. I think that should do it," Brel said, looking over his handiwork.

"Nice!" Namyis had been watching the process with sparkling eyes. Now she raised her hands, and with a shimmer, a platter appeared in them, full of familiar-looking balls of fish meat that had glowing orange bits scattered through them, like they'd been sprinkled with sparks. "One extra-large serving of special spicy fish balls for two special little dragons!"

Iggy and Tava both made excited chirping sounds, their tails waving. Ariom put Iggy down on the ground, and he ran over to clamber up on the edge of the smaller tree stump and watch with eager anticipation as Namyis set the platter down.

Once the dragons were busy with their meal, which also included a plate of cut fruit and bowls of shrimp broth, Namyis took out larger platters of seafood, fruit, and grilled vegetables, plus a basket of dinner rolls and several different kinds of juice. She also produced tableware for five people, which Seyli and Uncle Bero set out in front of each chair.

Just how big was her stasis pocket...?

"You really went all-out, didn't you?" Ariom said, eyeing the plate of baked lobster that Namyis had just put on the table.

"Hey, I got a bonus from the Magic Corps for going on an emergency raid plus extra hazard pay from the Royal Guard. Why not splurge a little? It's not like I get to have dinner with mythic agents every day!"

Thenio could learn a thing or two from this woman...even if she was crazy...and annoying....

"Ah, speaking of agents..." Namyis went on. "Brel, you can communicate with Eteon via telepathy or something, can't you? Ask him what he wants to eat. I'll take him a plate in a minute. I have something I need to give him, anyway. And I wanted to thank him for his help last night."

"Remember that Thenio's not supposed to know about that," Uncle Bero warned her.

"I know. I won't say anything if he's awake."

Brel's ears were twitching a little. "Eteon's fine with anything," he said after a pause. "You can just take him an assortment."

"Got it." Namyis squeezed a tray of crab cakes into one of the few remaining spots on the table and looked over the pile of food. "There, I think that's everything. Except dessert, of course, but I'll take that out later. Maybe we could have it after we look around the garden some more. It's not a problem if we stay in here for a while, is it?"

"No, I can keep the pocket open as long as you want," Brel reassured her. "And it's fine to wander around the garden. Just don't go in the building over there. That's my workshop, and some of the tools in there can be a little dangerous. It's not human-sized anyway, so you wouldn't find it very comfortable."

"That's fine. The garden is amazing!" Namyis looked around at the flowers with a happy expression. Then she sighed. "Aww...I used to think my expanded space tent was really nice, but compared to this place.... What kind of help do you have to give mythic beasts to get them to make you something like this?"

Brel was about to bite into a crab cake, but he paused and thought for a moment. "It was mostly for babysitting, I guess."

The humans all looked at him in surprise. The dragons were still immersed in their spicy fish feast and were ignoring the conversation.

"Babysitting?" Namyis' eyes had gone wide. "There are baby mythic beasts?"

"Of course. It's pretty rare for new mythics to be born, but it does happen."

"Aww...baby mythics must be so cute! Where are they? Am I allowed to see them?" Namyis looked ecstatic at the thought.

Brel chuckled a little. "You've already met one, haven't you? Essu is the oldest of the babies in this world. Though he's not exactly a baby anymore.... 'Squire Class' is what we call them. They're mythics that haven't fully established their magic domains yet. They're roughly equivalent to pre-sorcerers, for humans. Though they're almost all young mythics. It's practically unheard of for an older one to not have an established domain."

"Playing with Essu was lots of fun!" Namyis said happily. "I'd love to play with the others sometime! How many are there?"

"There are three Squires in this world at the moment. And they're all good kids. Essu's a bit of a rascal, but he means well. He just doesn't always think before he acts...." Brel sighed. Then he gave Namyis a teasing smirk. "But still. Be careful what you wish for. You're in the Magic Corps, right? Then you know how much trouble child sorcerers can be?"

Namyis' face fell, and she looked a bit guilty.

"A lot," Uncle Bero answered dryly. "I grew up with one, and he was always setting things on fire by accident. Including his little brother...."

Namyis winced and looked even guiltier.

Hadn't she said something about having a younger sister? Based on Namyis' expression and what he knew about his uncle's childhood, Ariom strongly suspected that the poor girl had suffered a few cases of frostbite before her older sister moved out....

"Right. Then just imagine what a young mythic beast can do. That's why their parents were grateful I was willing to help take care of them. Because when a baby mythic loses control...." Brel's expression suddenly turned sober. "...some seriously bad things can happen...."