The next 3 days were very tense. She hadn’t told the others about what she planned on doing, and no one questioned her, yet she felt they suspected something.

She did tell them about Mr. Thomas selling the restaurant. Janine was the only one who cared. She quit the moment she learned that Aeris wouldn’t be working there anymore. Which meant they needed to start looking for a new job.

But Aeris hadn’t yet told anyone she didn’t want to stay in Diamus. Even before learning of the political situation, this was meant to be a visit. She wanted to stay with Sareen and learn more about dragons and herself. Some of the things she learned had been unpleasant, but the experience and thought of learning fascinated her.

She still hadn’t figured out how to convince Janine to be on board. The young woman’s opinion of the Dracaena was no secret.

The thought that this may be the time that they part ways terrified her. A few months ago, she wanted nothing more than to send Janine back home to her father, but now she wanted her to stay.

So many times, she wanted to bring it up. They would need to have the conversation sooner or later, but she couldn’t bring the words forth. What if Janine refused to leave? She hadn’t thought about what would happen if that occurred.

The day came that she had to meet Logan and for once she wasn’t stressing about a conversation that hadn’t happened. But she made a mental note to say something to Janine the moment she got back.

She opened the door to leave, but Terran blocked her path.

“Oh, hey, I was just about to knock. Do you have a second?”

She wanted to say no, but she also had nowhere better to be. The meeting with Logan was several hours away. She had planned to walk for a bit and clear her head.

“Great. This won’t take long at all.” He stepped into the room and closed the door behind him, looking uncomfortable. It didn’t help her worries. “Look, I just wanted to say that I’ll be leaving today. I don’t know how long. Maybe a few days or it could be a few weeks.”

“You’re leaving?”

“Well, me and Maxis. He goes where I go. Look, you and Janine will be fine here. And you got Windor. I know you two have your differences, but I can promise you he’ll die before he abandons you again.”

Aeris was still processing Terran leaving. It was unlike him to throw this on her so suddenly.

“Um, Aeris, you okay?”

“I don’t understand. You never said anything.”

“Yeah, with everything going on, it kinda slipped my mind.”

He was hiding something, but she didn’t understand why. Even if he hadn’t said anything, one of the others would have so they didn’t know either. That confused her even more.

“But you are coming back, right?” she asked.

“Of course. Even Maxis is worried about you.” He whirled around as if expecting the Nightstalker to be standing right behind him. “Just don’t tell him I told you that. He doesn’t show his feelings well.”

Remembering the situation with Olyvia, she nodded. But the building anxiety within her wanted to tell him to stay. Use her Call if she had to. There were so few people left she could count on. Everyone was leaving.

He’s coming back, she told herself. He said he would.

Cutter said she would come back for you, too, her mind replied.

She was distracted from any further thoughts by Terran petting her. “Just take care of yourself, okay? And keep an eye on Janine. She has a knack for trouble.”

He chuckled, but she didn’t find the humor in it. The thought made her tense, her claws scraping the floor. Nothing would happen to Janine, she promised.

Terran left, leaving Aeris more alone than ever. Just like that, someone else was gone from her life.

The others would likely come by and start asking her questions about how she was feeling, so she slipped out the back. Not knowing what else to do, she went to Logan’s.  She needed a distraction from her current thoughts.

The trip to Logan’s was much faster than she expected and it didn’t give her the time she wanted to clear her head.

As soon as she approached the front door, it opened and Logan appeared.

“You’re early,” he said flatly.

“I know. Is that a problem?”

“No, I’m just surprised. Your kind doesn’t exactly have the best punctuality.” He beckoned her inside and closed the door when she did so. “After all, you left my grandfather waiting for 30 years.”

She wasn’t even alive then but chose not to say anything. Starting a fight wasn’t going to win her any favors, and she needed him to trust her if she was going to get a look at that journal.

Logan out the backdoor and into the yard. It surprised her to see the place packed with people. All of them stared at her as if she were the greatest thing they had ever seen.

Aeris’ tail curled around her. “Who are all these people?”

“They’re colleagues of my grandfather. They’re dying to meet you.”

“You said you would answer my questions. Why are they here?”

“They’re here to meet you. Before you say anything, I will answer your questions once everything is done.”

She cringed at the idea. Looking around she realized she was the only dragon there. It felt too much like her days with Aaron. Being the only dragon in the room, surrounded by humans fawning over her.

And she made the mistake of coming alone. She fought the urge to back away.

“Is something wrong?” Logan asked.

Aeris snapped out of her stupor. “No, nothing’s wrong.”

“Good. Then let’s get started. I’ll answer whatever questions you have once we’re done.”

The interactions with the humans were very different from what she expected as well. The humans were very polite and showed no signs of the false politeness she was used to. She didn’t bother trying to memorize their names; there were too many to remember. The attention felt nice. No one grabbing her roughly or speaking about her as if she weren’t there.

Still, the idea that it was all false remained. They weren’t there for her. They were there for the Ardelle Celestial, the trophy, the rare species.

Worse, each scientist she met bombarded her with questions about her origins which she didn’t have the answers to. Every five minutes she was reminded of how she was potentially the last of her kind.

The only real solace was that Logan was too busy rubbing her existence in everyone’s faces to pay much attention to her.

She had finally spoken to the last researcher when she heard a voice behind her. “So the rumors are true then. The Celestials have returned.”

Aeris turned around to see a green-crested genial standing before her. The dragon wore a stained white cloak, reminding her of the lab coats some of the humans wore. She didn’t want to think about where the stains came from.

The dragoness bowed low. “It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Nesse.”

“A-Snowflake.” It was rude, but the appearance of another dragon made her forget her manners. “Are you a dracologist, too?”

The dragon turned to Logan. “I’m sorry but my colleague Dr. King is unable to attend, so she sent me in her stead.” She shot a sly look at Aeris and winked.

“So Dr. King couldn’t be bothered to face the humiliation of being wrong in person?” Logan asked.

Nesse straightened up and chuckled. “Actually, she mentioned regretting at being unable to witness you ruin the last remnants of your grandfather’s name.” She turned to Aeris again. “But I think she’ll be pleasantly surprised to learn she was wrong. It’s not every day you get to see such a rare sight.”

“I wouldn’t use pleasant to describe anything about her.”

“Snowflake, would you mind answering a few questions? My colleague would love to hear about this.”

“I guess?”

The dragoness steered her away. “Wonderful! You have no idea what this means.”

Logan cut in front of them. “Actually, she’s busy at the moment.”

“I believe she said she would answer my questions, Mr. Jackman,” Nesse said in a sweet voice. She used her tail to brush him aside. “Don’t be rude.”

Aeris wasn’t sure how to respond, so she followed Nesse inside.

It wasn’t until they were alone in the other room that the dragoness spoke again. “Sorry you had to see that. He always was an insensitive little shit, and it seems his opinion of dragons hasn’t changed much over the years. And here I was thinking his grandfather being right would smooth him out.”

Aeris remained silent. Logan was rude, but as his guest, it would be rude of her to speak ill of him. But her curiosity also wouldn’t let her drop the subject. “You know him?”

Nesse circled her. At times, she would mumble to herself. It made Aeris self-conscious. She hadn’t bathed before coming. If she had known this many people would be waiting for her, she would have.

“Well, I knew his grandfather,” Nesse said, finally breaking the awkward silence. “Jefferey and I were rivals in a sense. And I’ll admit, I took it a little personal that a human was claiming to know more about dragons than I did. But I held nothing but respect for the man.”

She paused and stared at Aeris’ side. Aeris pulled her wing downward to cover her scars. She wished she had worn a cloak or something to cover it. It had been so long since she last went out, she had forgotten. “So why does Logan think you hate him?” she asked, hoping to distract from her old wounds.

“He probably just doesn’t like that I said some mean things about the man he admired most. I wasn’t exactly kind when Jefferey started spiraling.”

“Spiraling?”

“He became obsessed with Celestials. For some reason, he was determined to prove they existed and hadn’t been wiped out. And as an authority in the field, everyone thought he was on to something.” A bitter smile crossed her muzzle. “Until I came along.”

Aeris tilted her head. “What did you do?”

Nesse looked at the wall, seemingly lost in thought. Aeris worried she had pushed things too far when the dragoness spoke. “I presented a counterargument to his theory and everyone became convinced he was a rambling senile old man.” She sighed and slapped the floor with her tail. “That wasn’t my intention at all. I just didn’t buy fully into his theories. Now that’s enough about me. I have a few things I want to ask before Logan bursts in to ‘rescue’ you.”

“O-Oh, sorry. What did you want to ask me?”

“For one, where have you lived all this time? I’m surprised I never heard of you.”

“I lived in Rubellum.”

“Really? Now I can’t believe I missed you. I used to live there for a while. Tell me, have you met a dragon named Aubrey?”

“I know Aubrey! How is she?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t spoken in years.” Her tail slapped against her side. “Oh, there I go on another tangent. I just said this is about you. I’m assuming your parents are--?”

“I don’t know. I never met them.”

“Oh. I see. That explains quite a bit. And I don’t like what it implies.”

“It does?”

“Yes, but we can’t talk about it here. Too many ears. Listen, come by my place later, and I’ll tell you everything. I live in the dragon district. It’s easy to find. Just look for the house with a mark on the door. Okay, thanks for the interview.”

She left before Aeris could say anything or process what just happened. She didn’t get far before Logan appeared again.

“There you are. Where’s the other one?”

“She left.”

He looked around the room as if confirming it before letting out a relieved sigh. “Good riddance. Dr. King sent her to harass me. That bitch just can’t accept that my grandfather was right.”

“Are we done yet?” She wanted to change the subject and the thought of having to meet more people bothered her.

“There’s one more person I want you to meet. He just got here.”

Aeris followed, the entire time reminding herself that it was just one more and it would all be over.

Logan led her back outside to a thin balding man. He was as pale as his white coat. She would have mistaken him for something lifeless if she hadn’t seen him move. The man looked almost bored while the others still buzzed with excitement. A chill went through Aeris as he stared at her with cold, lifeless eyes behind a pair of round glasses.

“Snowflake, this is Dr. Gergelly Saller. Dr. Saller, this is the dragon I told you about.”

Aeris fought the urge to back away when Dr. Saller approached. His hand shot out with startling speed, brushing against her neck. On instinct, she jumped back.

She froze, horrified by her reaction, but Dr. Saller chuckled. “Surprisingly warm for such a cold creature. You seem nervous, little dragon. Is something wrong? I assure you, I mean no harm.”

“I-I’m sorry,” Aeris quickly replied. “I just…”

Dr. Saller shushed her soothingly as he placed an arm around her shoulder. Aeris’ scales crawled. “You’ve suffered at the hands of humans, I’ve seen this behavior before. And judging from those bullet wounds, you’ve had a very hard life.”

“Yes, I have,” Aeris said, gently pulling away from the man. She didn’t care if he was offended or not. “And I’d rather not talk about it.”

“Of course. Such unpleasant memories.” He scratched his chin as he looked her over. “You’ll forgive me for saying this, but Jefferey made your species sound like something out of legend. But after seeing you in person, I’m, frankly, disappointed. Your color is the only unique thing about you.”

Aeris was too stunned by the comment to react. No one had ever said that to her before.

“That’s a bold claim when you know next to nothing about them,” a nearby researcher replied.

“And I’ll stand by it until she proves otherwise.” He straightened his glasses and smiled. “Well, little dragon?”

Every eye in the yard was on her. It was just like that party her former master took her to. The host demanded she performed tricks but kept criticizing everything she did, calling her boring and dim-witted. She refused to come out of her room for a week out of shame.

She pushed away the unpleasant nostalgia and straightened up, saying loud enough for everyone to hear. “I don’t have to prove anything to you.”

“Pity. But I can respect that.” He bowed low. “Forgive me if my words offended you. Now that my curiosity has been sated, I think I’ll be going now.”

When Dr. Saller disappeared, it felt as if the world had begun to move again. Aeris sat down as another shudder ran through her. She hoped to never see that man again.

“All right, time to get these leeches off my property,” Logan said. “Wait here until everyone leaves.

Aeris occupied the time by getting something to eat. She noticed the other researchers looking her way but seemed afraid to approach, so she ate as slowly as possible to keep them at bay.

It was dark by the time the last researcher left and it was just the two of them not including some other humans were cleaning up. Logan led her back inside and into his study.

Being back in the study felt different than before. This place was filled with memories. It made her feel as if she were trespassing on something sacred.

The thought that leaving would break her promise to Sareen was all that kept her in place.

Logan closed the door behind them and motioned for her to sit before taking a seat himself. “You held up your end, so now I’ll do the same. What do you want from me?”

It was too soon to ask to see his grandfather’s journals, and she still hadn’t thought up a good excuse as to why she wanted them. Logan would refuse if he heard that another dragon wanted them. “Do you know why your grandfather was so obsessed with tracking down the Celestials?”

“No, I don’t. All he would say when I asked him was that he wanted to correct a mistake made a long time ago.”

She thought of what she had heard about the Celestials being betrayed.

“Is that all you wanted to ask?” Logan asked, nettled.

Aeris snapped out of her thoughts. “Sorry. No, that’s not all. It’s just I searched so hard for an answer and no one had even mentioned my kind. But now I know your grandfather knew. What did he know?”

“Yes, they say life has a cruel sense of humor. I see why now because this is not funny.” He cleaned his glasses before continuing, the furrow of his brow deepening. “I don’t know what my grandfather knew about your kind. All I know are the stories he told me.”

“What stories? Can you tell me?”

His brow rose. “Why? I can understand wanting to know about your origins, but what is some random tale going to tell you?”

“I’m just curious. And you did promise to answer my questions.”

“I guess I did,” he said through clenched teeth. “Fine. I don’t remember the whole story, just that your kind was named for their scale color and it was believed they were the sky in physical form. People prayed to them for fair weather before traveling.”

It didn’t tell her anything, but she found it fascinating. For once there was something about her kind that wasn’t depressing.

“How many more of your questions must I answer, dragon? I’m tired and I don’t have all night.”

“I let you parade me around day while humans stared at me and asked me all kinds of personal questions,” Aeris snapped. “So you’ll sit there and answer my questions until I’m satisfied.”

The outburst surprised her. Usually, she could tell before lashing out like that, but this time was so sudden.

Before she could apologize, Logan cleared his throat. “Apologies. I guess that’s only fair since I did spring that on you without warning.” He shifted in his seat, scooting his chair further away from her. “So what did you want to know?”

Aeris straightened her posture. This wasn’t how things were supposed to go, but she had no choice but to play the part now. She had the advantage and couldn’t risk throwing it away. “Did your grandfather ever mention a dragon named Lyndria?”

Logan’s eyes widened. “How do you know that name?”

“Did I say something wrong?”

“I once snuck into his study and read a red leather journal he always kept on his person. His notes mentioned a Lyndria.” His voice was different, distant as if fighting against a whisper. “It was the only time my grandfather ever beat me. He told me never to touch it again and to never mention that name to anyone else.”

“Oh, I’m sorry to hear that. Thank you for your time. I guess that’s all I wanted to know.”

“Hold on. How do you know that name? What are you really after?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

She backed away, but Logan matched her steps maintaining the distance between them. The fear was gone and replaced with the manic look she had seen before in Aaron’s eyes.

“No, no, no. A Celestial just happens to show up asking about my grandfather after all these years? Someone sent you, didn’t they? Who was it? What do you know?”

“I don’t know anything. That’s why I came here, to find answers. I’m sorry. It’s very late and I have to go now.”

She hurried out of the house, blessing her years spent in human homes. Someone left the back door open and she hurried through. The instant she reached the yard, she spread her wings and flew into the air, not stopping as she heard the startled cries and objects falling to the floor.