I spotted the wagon—it wasn’t exactly hard to identify even from a distance, with the bright feathers and scales of the ornithians, the clean white of the wagon with its colourful trim, Serru’s rosy hair and Terenei’s violet.
I surveyed the road ahead of them, and found a curve where I could nd without being seen, their line of sight blocked by the angle and a crest of stone. So I did, and switched to human, and perched on a rock by the side of the road. I ate another travel bar while I waited. If jotuns ate a lot more than others, maybe dragons did too, and maybe flight had costs in the form of needing extra? That made some sense, and was probably worth considering a solid hypothesis for the purposes of expectations and decisions.
I was physically tired from the exertion, which supported the hypothesis. I also had rather a lot to think about, so I didn’t mind waiting. No part of that encounter had gone the way I’d envisioned it.
I wasn’t actually sure whether Serru even needed to tell the ornithians to stop: they saw me and trilled their greeting, making straight for me.
I rubbed both around the base of their beaks, and looked up at the startled pair in the wagon. “Hi. Can I catch a ride to the shelter? All done the fourth site, and just had to check out what I can do.”
“What you can do,” Terenei repeated.
I grinned at them before circling around to climb in the back of the wagon. “How about I show everyone at once? It is absolutely awesome.”
“All right,” Serru said. “We shouldn’t be that far away. I think we can contain our curiosity, although it’s not easy. You seem less disoriented and shaken this time.” She clucked to the ornithians, and they resumed their fast walk along the road.
“Yeah. It wasn’t all that different but it sort of was, and I’m surprised it’s even letting me say that much.”
“But the results are good?”
“Very. And it did find another set of abilities that work with the rest. A potentially really useful set with Ary around, actually.”
I saw them trade gnces. “We’ll have to be good and wait,” Terenei said.
Conversation was minimal, mostly just Serru pointing out things Terenei and I missed. She might cim to be less familiar with the Highnds than other areas, and that skills from elsewhere transted across provinces, but she still knew a formidable amount.
I ate a couple more travel bars on the way, and finally felt satisfied.
When we reached the shelter, we found Zanshe’s portable cot open, Zanshe and Aryennos both on it and enjoying the partial shade of the gauzy draperies against the afternoon’s strong sun. Were they talking? The positions, Zanshe reclining at one end and Aryennos sitting up at the other facing her, suggested it.
Heket and Myu were on their more exposed side in full sun, multiple yers of bnkets softening the ground. Heket’s clothes were piled at one end, and Myu was using them as a pillow; her backpack and goggles were in easy reach. Heket was working on her current string project, which was clearly a belt, her eyes mostly closed and her pale fur brilliant in the sun.
All got up when we approached, though. Well, except Myu. Heket scooped up her goggles, but not her clothes. At this point, that didn’t seem particurly odd.
Reunions involved hugs, and scritches for the ornithians while we unharnessed them and tethered them to enjoy the sun.
“I wasn’t expecting you to come back with the wagon,” Zanshe said. “The timing just happened to work out?”
“No, I was experimenting,” I said. “Maybe a little too much, I got tired. But I wanted to show this off to everyone at once.”
“We’re all here,” Serru pointed out.
“Not jotun, then,” Aryennos said.
I ughed, and changed to my new form.
Terenei’s eyes widened. “Oh, I need to paint that.”
“Dragons are very uncommon,” Zanshe said. “I think I’ve only ever met two before now.”
“You said you got useful skills,” Serru said.
I nodded. “I can find an individual person, use an ability that just sort of suspends them in time so that they’re not in pain or getting any worse or aware of what’s happening, wrap them in a cocoon that protects against impact or environmental conditions, make myself temporarily stronger and hold off fatigue, and protect myself against heat, cold, toxins, and any other environmental hazards for a limited time.”
“You could rescue anyone from anywhere,” Zanshe said.
“Well, not if they were in the water, or something. But on dry nd, if I can fit into the space, yes.” I spread my wings all the way. “I had to try these. That’s how I got tired. It seems to take a lot of energy. But it’s amazing.”
“I’m sure it is,” Heket chuckled.
“There’s one more ability I got that makes me a little nervous. Swap Health Status. The description says it will exchange all non-inherent health effects between two individuals. I have to touch both but not at the same time. It has an exception to the normal rules: I can touch the second person in any form and it will stay active.”
“Someone might volunteer,” Zanshe mused, “if they were born nearby and someone likely to die was born very far away.”
“Some conditions might be less dangerous for some species,” Terenei said.
“Or one could be more easily reached for intense treatment,” Serru said, “allowing others to care for them while you rescue someone from the water or a fall, and that person would be less vulnerable and more able to help themself.”
“All excellent points,” I conceded. “But I don’t like it. It’s too much responsibility. Apparently someone agrees, because the cost of it... it literally says it will cost everything except one change of form. Better have an Elixir on hand or any necessary treatment potions.”
“It’s potentially powerful and disruptive if used badly,” Heket observed. “But that doesn’t mean you would, and it also has potential for good. I think you’ll use it wisely.”
“I hope so. I’d rather just try not to use it. I mean, I probably won’t ever need it. I can probably do almost any search-and-rescue just with a few abilities and being a dragon.”
“Well, yeah, and wow,” Aryennos said. “I’ve heard of dragons, but that’s all.”
“I seem to eat a lot, though. It’s probably more efficient to stay in other forms. Kind of a shame. I really like this.”
Both ornithians approached to sniff at me with considerable interest. I chuckled and gave them both scritches. “Don’t get any ideas, boys. You just had some time with a couple of girls. I might have some simirities to you, but that doesn’t mean you should get your flirt on.”
“They can appreciate without intending anything sexual,” Terenei said. “You’re right, there are some simirities.”
“I don’t think we’re short of food,” Heket observed. “Or that anyone is going to be uncomfortable with you in any form that fits your mood and the situation. Or that it would be difficult to understand liking that one.”
That got general agreement.
“Well,” Serru said briskly. “It’s too te in the day to leave. We can get back on the road early tomorrow. I think we’ll only be camping in the Highnds once more, the next day we should reach the Bridge of Flowers and the Midnds beyond that.”
“The Highnds have been... interesting,” Aryennos said. “But it would be a relief to be back on retively ft ground.”
“I don’t particurly want a reason to try out my cool new skills,” I said. “I’m just as happy if I never need to.”
“We’ll try to make certain you don’t,” Serru said.
“Did you hear from your grandfather?” I asked Terenei.
“I did,” he said. “He got the package and went through it all in detail. He sees absolutely nothing that should be a problem for an experienced alchemist. He had no trouble at all rounding up a team of gatherers, a couple of aquians and a couple of humans and a felid and a jotun, who are investigating the coast where we found the aleksite to see if they can locate it. As soon as he has that, he’ll test it. Or at least, he’ll follow the instructions and see if he gets a potion. Actually testing the effectiveness of it is going to be another matter. I know him—he’s trying hard to stay professional but he’s deeply excited. He’s setting up packages to send to other alchemists that include the instructions and the morning star crystals, and as soon as he can add in the aleksite, he’s going to be sending those out.”
“Wonderful!” Zanshe said. “Velne’s family are probably getting a head start on finding more morning star crystals. It’s going to take a little time to spread the instructions and a little more to make sure the new ingredients are avaible, but as far as universal motivation, there’s nothing better.”
“I’ll feel better once we know it does create a potion for him,” I said. “And better still if it’s actually proven to work, but that sounds dangerous.”
“He’ll find a way,” Terenei said. “Did we expin message networks? Messages can be sent to more than one person. You can visit a staffed post office to set up a list of people with a single name as a short form, when you send to that it goes to everyone on the list. They can be open or closed. For a closed one, for a family maybe, someone already on the list can go to any staffed post office and add someone. For an open one, anyone can go to a staffed post office and be added to the list if they know its name. Does that make sense?”
They had mailing lists.
Of course they did.
“Makes perfect sense. I suppose there’s an alchemist one?”
“Yes, but they set up a second one just for this subject because there are wardens and gatherers and doctors and others who are very interested in what’s happening. They are keeping the post office very busy at the moment.”
“I can imagine,” Serru chuckled. “Good. At this point, I do not see any way that either of those two could stop this from happening.”
One of them had showed no particur desire to fight it, simply accepting that it was a new fact of life.
I wasn’t sure whether to tell them about my conversation or not. I wasn’t even sure they’d believe me that the Zombie King lived in a beautiful house with gardens and goats and dogs and was capable of just talking, or that there had only been five zombies present and no others elsewhere. I wasn’t sure I had any right to tell anyone that he’d been mosslinged at some point. I wasn’t sure I should keep something secret if it was about the people who had terrorized a world for generations. All that thinking so far, and no conclusions.
“So,” Serru said. “That’s the news from two directions. Did anything happen here?”
“Nothing of note,” Zanshe said. “Interesting conversations, soaking up the sun, some very local gathering while I was scouting the area, some fishing—there’s a small river not far from here.”
“I stayed here,” Aryennos said.
Zanshe nodded. “All quiet, really, although we have stayed alert regardless. Shall we put some tea on, since you’ve been on the road, and we’ll start looking at what to do for an evening meal?”
