Chương 79: Room To Grow

"I see. So things are unlikely to go in our favor there." Edric made the observation without much emotion, although the silence that followed suggested he was giving the situation more thought. He sat behind the desk in his private office at the Bellhaven guardhouse, where the narrow window beside him overlooked the training field and several guards moving through their morning drills.

Garrick found himself watching them for a moment longer than necessary, listening to the familiar cadence of wooden weapons striking shields and boots grinding through packed dirt. There had been a time when training had felt considerably simpler. Garrick had complained constantly, but at least nobody had expected him to think about Fourth Seal Commanders, dead Velkaryn operatives, or what kind of political repercussions followed when a teenage scout was blasted through the heart.

"It certainly didn't help," Selene said from the chair opposite Edric's desk.

"I wasn't present for the battle itself, but I doubt Velkaryn will regard the loss of two Awakened operatives as something trivial." Garrick scoffed and leaned farther back against the wall.

"It was their own damn fault. One of them shot through his own ally, and the other kept attacking after the Commander had already tried to stop the fight."

"We are well past the blame game, Garrick." Selene's response was as flat as ever, but her eyes moved toward him with enough warning that he knew better than to keep pushing.

"I'm describing the situation that now exists. Whether Velkaryn considers itself morally responsible and whether it considers two dead operatives strategically significant are different questions." Garrick's expression made his opinion clear even if he kept his mouth shut. Edric watched him for another few seconds before shifting his attention toward Aurelia, who had remained quieter throughout the briefing.

She sat near Selene with her arms crossed, listening to each detail without appearing particularly interested in assigning blame either.

"In conflict, it can be useful to acknowledge the advantages that come out of a bad situation," Edric said.

"You reached Second Seal shortly afterward, and I'm told Talia did the same during the battle itself. If Velkaryn is becoming more dangerous, Drakehaven becoming more capable is not meaningless." Aurelia frowned.

"I don't know if measuring how much better we became at fighting is a good trade. Talia almost died, Garrick was furious enough to unlock a Seal, and I'm still not particularly thrilled with what happened to me."

"In ordinary life, I would agree with you," Edric replied.

"In war, fighting capability becomes one of the few measurements that refuses to care whether you enjoy using it." He stood and walked toward the window, clasping both hands behind his back as he watched the guards outside. None of the exercises appeared important enough to require his personal attention, and Garrick suspected the movement was mostly an excuse to give his thoughts something physical to accompany them.

Edric had always seemed more comfortable deciding things while looking at a battlefield, even when the battlefield in question was only a dozen recruits learning how not to fall over with shields in their hands. After several moments, he turned back toward them.

"I'll relay everything to the rest of the Council in your stead. There's no reason for the three of you to remain here while we try to organize another formal meeting, especially when getting to Ironvale and establishing useful relations there may matter more than repeating the same report five times." Selene nodded in approval.

Edric already understood the true itinerary, which was part of why they had chosen him for the briefing rather than walking into the Bellhouse and announcing their plans to every Council member at once. If Sevrin ever asked questions later, Bellhaven would truthfully be able to confirm that Aurelia, Garrick, and Selene had spent part of the morning discussing the caravan incident with Edric Vane.

"Are you comfortable remembering all the details?" Garrick asked.

"There was quite a lot." Edric slowly turned his head.

"Careful. My age does not immediately make me senile, and I still remember enough swordsmanship to make training very unpleasant when you return." Aurelia sighed while Selene rose from her chair.

"Excellent. If that settles the matter, then I believe we should begin preparing to leave before our cover story becomes unnecessarily complicated."

"One more thing." Edric's voice stopped her before she reached the door. His attention shifted back toward Aurelia and Garrick, and this time the concern in his expression was different. It lacked the severity of Velkaryn or Ironvale, which somehow made Garrick more curious.

"The Council has begun receiving requests from people interested in relocating to Drakehaven." Aurelia blinked, and Garrick straightened away from the wall. Even Selene paused with one hand near the door. Edric returned to his chair.

"It isn't a flood of people yet, but we've received at least half a dozen serious inquiries. Most have gone through Velara or Torvin because nobody is entirely sure what official process applies." Aurelia exchanged a glance with Garrick.

"They actually want to move there?"

"You say that as though Drakehaven hasn't spent months making itself increasingly attractive."

"Did they say why?" Garrick asked.

"Not everyone has some dramatic reason." Edric began counting loosely on his fingers.

"A few have worked on the road and like what they've seen. Others heard about Kiana's agriculture and assume land around Drakehaven may become valuable once the road opens. At least one family appears interested because they believe living near several dragons is safer than living farther into the basin."

"That last one is going to make Orion lose sleep," Garrick muttered. Aurelia did not smile; her hands had folded together in her lap.

"I'm glad people see Drakehaven that way. I really am." She hesitated before continuing.

"I'm just not sure we're ready for people to start trusting us with something that large." Edric's brow furrowed.

"Large?"

"Moving there," Aurelia glanced toward the training field, though Garrick doubted she was seeing much of it.

"Kiana and Kaelu came because they knew what they were walking into, and everyone else who stayed has been involved closely enough that they understood how unstable things could become. It feels different when ordinary families start looking at Drakehaven and deciding we're responsible enough to build their lives around." Selene returned to her chair rather than leaving.

"That is the natural consequence of claiming independence. Eventually, people stop treating the settlement as your personal project and start expecting it to function as an actual place to live."

"I know," Aurelia rubbed one thumb against the opposite palm.

"Knowing it would happen eventually is different from hearing that people have already started asking." Garrick considered the concern more seriously than he would have a month earlier. Drakehaven had houses under construction, food production beyond anything they had enjoyed at the cottage, and enough drakes that most threats would have to be either suicidal or extremely powerful to attack openly.

Those facts sounded impressive until he imagined a family arriving with three children, all of them assuming the people already there knew what they were doing. He wasn't entirely convinced they did. Edric seemed to recognize the concern.

"Nothing is happening tomorrow. We've been reviewing every request as it arrives, and the Council has no intention of approving relocations until Drakehaven tells us it possesses the infrastructure to support them." Aurelia looked back.

"You'd actually wait for our approval?"

"It would be rather irresponsible to send six families toward you without asking whether you have somewhere for them to sleep."

"That has not stopped people from making questionable decisions involving us before." Edric's mouth twitched.

"I'm attempting to improve Bellhaven's reputation one decision at a time." Selene nodded slightly.

"The road also provides a natural delay. Once it's complete, moving construction supplies, furniture, food, and people will become significantly easier, so I doubt anyone expects relocation before then."

"That gives us time," Garrick said.

"Kaelu and Elias are already working on more housing, and the Community Center is supposed to come after that. Kiana apparently has enough food coming out of those fields to make all of us look stupid for ever trying to farm normally." Aurelia gave him a look.

"That doesn't solve vetting."

"No," Garrick's expression became more serious.

"But that sounds like a Roy and Orion problem."

"It's going to become an all-of-us problem."

"Then we'll deal with it as all of us." The answer came more easily than Garrick expected. Aurelia looked toward him, and some of the tension in her shoulders eased. Edric leaned back in his chair.

"That is essentially why I mentioned it. You have time, but not unlimited time. People have begun looking at Drakehaven as somewhere they might choose to belong, which means eventually you'll need rules for who gets accepted, what responsibilities newcomers have, and what protection you promise in return." He glanced toward Selene.

"You may find Bellhaven's records useful once you return. Oren can provide examples of how we handle residency, property disputes, and people who discover after moving that their neighbor is unbearable." Selene nodded.

"I'll request copies and assist Drakehaven where I can." Aurelia stood along with her.

"Thank you for warning us. I'm still not sure how I feel about it, but I suppose having the problem of too many people wanting to join us is better than nobody wanting anything to do with us."

"Usually," Edric's gaze moved toward Garrick.

"And you are still expected back for training once this little diplomatic adventure concludes." Garrick grinned.

"I thought reaching the Second Seal might earn me a few days off."

"It earned you more difficult training." Garrick groaned as he followed the others toward the door. For the first time since arriving that morning, the sounds from the training yard no longer seemed quite as simple. ─── 🐲🐲🐲 ───"Are we really ready for people to start relocating like that?" Aurelia waited until they had been away from the guardhouse for several minutes before raising the subject again.

They had stopped at one of Bellhaven's more popular food stalls, where a woman operating beneath a blue-gray awning had handed them three paper-wrapped portions of fried lakefish. Bellhaven was busy enough around midday that nobody paid much attention to them. Fishermen moved toward the Lower Quay with empty baskets while merchants carried goods uphill, and somewhere farther down the street a bell announced an arriving boat.

Aurelia appreciated the normality of it, even if she had trouble giving her lunch as much attention as it deserved. Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

"Is that not what you wanted?" Selene asked after swallowing a bite.

"My understanding is that Drakehaven went out of its way to establish itself as an independent community rather than remaining an unusually fortified household."

"I mean, we did. It just felt theoretical when Roy talked about attracting settlers someday." Garrick walked beside them with considerably less concern, having already finished half his fish.

"Selene's right. We knew this was coming, and honestly, we're more prepared than we probably think. The Waystation exists, houses are going up, and Kiana's farm can support more people than the handful currently living there. We have clean water, medical care, actual defenses, and enough weird dragon abilities that every new problem seems to get solved by something nobody expected."

"That last part does not make me feel better." Selene took another bite and considered the argument.

"The infrastructure problem is probably easier than the social one. Drakehaven can build more houses if Roy decides houses are needed, but it will require standards that do not currently exist." Aurelia nodded.

"That's what worries me. It isn't just whether we have enough beds or vegetables. If somebody brings their children there because they think the dragons make Drakehaven safe, then Orion is going to treat every threat as his responsibility. If someone gets sick because they trusted the Healing House, then I'm responsible for whether they get better."

"That sounds like being part of a community," Selene said.

"I know," Aurelia looked down at her food.

"That's the scary part." Selene's expression softened by a degree.

"You have already been doing those things. More people would increase the scale, but it would not suddenly create responsibilities you have never possessed. Also… if you want somebody to handle constant worrying, Orion is significantly better suited for that role." Aurelia glanced toward Selene.

"Was that sarcasm I sensed?" Selene kept her face perfectly neutral.

"Merely an observation." Garrick laughed. The conversation remained lighter as they continued toward Dorian's warehouse, which was perhaps exactly what she needed. Immigration could become tomorrow's problem once someone had a chance to tell Orion and Roy. Ironvale was today's. Spark noticed them first. The yellow Light Drake shot from the warehouse entrance in a blur and nearly collided with Garrick's chest before redirecting at the last second.

Clover followed at a much slower pace, waddling toward Aurelia with enough enthusiasm that she had to brace herself before the Rotbloom pressed against her legs.

"You two already assaulted us when we arrived," Garrick said as Spark circled him.

"You don't get a second reunion because we were gone for an hour." Spark chirped.

"He disagrees," Aurelia said.

"I gathered that." Vision remained high above the basin, invisible from the ground but still performing the work that had ultimately created this entire trip. Zephyr slept beside the warehouse beneath a patch of shade, one wing partially spread over her face until Aurelia approached and scratched gently along the side of her neck.

"We're ready." Zephyr immediately became more alert. Selene finished the last of her lunch and folded the wrapping into a neat square before tucking it into a nearby refuse bin.

"Bellhaven has been informed, Edric knows the actual itinerary, and anyone Sevrin questions can truthfully confirm that Garrick returned for training while Aurelia visited Bellhaven for medical and diplomatic reasons." Aurelia looked toward her.

"You sound pleased with yourself."

"It is a reasonably clean cover story."

"And if he asks Edric where we are?"

"Edric will tell him you left the guardhouse after briefing him on the incident, which is true. If Sevrin decides to physically verify every claimed location afterward, then we have a larger problem than our alibi." Garrick nodded.

"He'd also have to decide we were worth personally chasing down today, and from what I saw yesterday, he has enough paperwork to bury himself alive."

"That is my expectation," Selene stepped toward Zephyr.

"Therefore, I believe we're ready." Aurelia climbed aboard first and settled into the rear position, leaving Selene in front where she could provide directions. Zephyr had become extremely practiced at carrying two riders without complaint, and the familiar cushion of air began forming around them almost immediately. Garrick remained on the ground, where Aurelia looked down at him.

"You're still not telling us how you intend to keep up?"

"I already told you I have it handled."

"You have repeatedly said that without providing the part where you explain anything."

"That's because this is funnier." Selene looked toward him.

"You are making our departure unnecessarily dramatic."

"Thank you."

"That was not praise." Garrick finished the last of his meal, wiped his fingers against the paper, and stuffed the wrapping into his bag.

"Alright. No time like the present." Weave gathered around him. Aurelia immediately recognized the shifting of wind around him. Not natural wind from Bellhaven or Zephyr's gathering pressure, but a tight current spiraling around Garrick's body. His feet left the ground without any jump or visible effort, and within moments he floated several feet above the warehouse yard with his arms loose at his sides. [Concordance Active: Zephyr] Aurelia stared.

"You can fly now?"

"Technically, I've been able to do this since I formed the Concordance. The problem was that First Seal Garrick had absolutely no business trying to travel any serious distance this way."

"You could have mentioned that."

"I wanted to see your reaction." Selene looked between him and Zephyr.

"Does the Concordance simply reproduce her air manipulation?"

"Not exactly." Garrick rotated slightly in place, testing his balance.

"I don't get everything a drake can do. It seems more like the connection finds some useful overlap between their abilities and mine. With Zephyr, I can create enough controlled air pressure to move myself around without needing wings." Aurelia watched him rise another few feet.

"You're becoming annoyingly versatile."

"That is the nicest thing you've said to me all week."

"We'll see how impressive it is after twenty minutes." Garrick's smile became less confident.

"That part is technically untested." Aurelia stared. Selene closed her eyes briefly and sighed.

"You waited until we were leaving Bellhaven to mention that?"

"I tested the drain around town. I just haven't done twenty minutes at Zephyr speed."

"That is an important distinction."

"It'll be fine." Zephyr made a noise that sounded suspiciously competitive. Garrick pointed toward her.

"See? She believes in me." Aurelia leaned forward.

"Zephyr believes she can beat you."

"That also works." The Gale Drake spread her wings. Air pressure settled around Aurelia and Selene, smoothing until the noise from Bellhaven seemed to dull around them. Garrick floated backward enough to give Zephyr room, while several warehouse workers paused what they were doing to stare at the boy apparently standing in midair. Aurelia sighed.

"We're going to have rumors about this by dinner." Selene adjusted her grip.

"Given everything else associated with Drakehaven, I doubt 'teenage Knight learns to fly' will remain interesting for long."

"That sentence should not sound as normal as it does." Zephyr launched, and Bellhaven dropped away beneath them with Garrick rising alongside them For the first several moments, Aurelia found herself impressed. Garrick's flight was less graceful than Zephyr's, but he did not tumble or flail the way someone unexpectedly airborne might have. His body remained surrounded by a tight pocket of air that adjusted continuously, allowing him to shift without needing physical motions.

"Will your Weave last the entire way?" Aurelia called.

"It should," Garrick kept a safe distance behind them.

"Zephyr barely spends anything maintaining this kind of movement. My version costs more because I'm borrowing the effect instead of producing it naturally, but the drain is low enough." Aurelia glanced toward Selene, who looked unconvinced.

"I was originally more worried about the speed," Garrick continued.

"First Seal made everything start getting expensive once I pushed too hard, but Second Seal gave me another option." Aurelia turned farther in the saddle.

"What option?" Garrick grinned.

"You'll see." Zephyr apparently interpreted that as permission. Her wings tilted and the air pocket accelerated, causing Bellhaven to begin shrinking much faster beneath them. Garrick kept pace for perhaps fifteen seconds, but then the gap widened. Aurelia watched him lean farther into the current as the wind around his body compressed. His posture remained controlled, but his Status revealed the problem before anything else did. [Garrick] [Weave Reserve: 94%] A few seconds later, it changed.

[Weave Reserve: 92%] Then— [Weave Reserve: 89%] Aurelia immediately leaned toward Zephyr.

"Slow down. He's burning through Weave too quickly, and I don't want us discovering his limit while he's hundreds of feet above the ground." Zephyr gave a dissatisfied chirp but began easing off. Garrick saw the reduction, then shook his head. Aurelia frowned.

"What is he doing?" Storm-blue light erupted around Garrick. Lightning crackled across the air pocket surrounding him, transforming the previously clear current into something far more aggressive. The initial activation hit his reserve hard enough that Aurelia instinctively stiffened. [Concordance Active: Aegis] [Weave Reserve: 81%] Then the drain stabilized. Aurelia stared as Garrick accelerated rapidly.

The storm-charged air around him seemed to seize the wind itself and drag him forward, closing the gap between them far faster than his Zephyr Concordance had managed alone. Blue arcs crawled along his arms and shoulders before vanishing into the current, giving the impression that he had somehow turned himself into a human projectile wrapped in a miniature storm. Zephyr saw him gaining, which was apparently intolerable. All at once, she accelerated.

"Easy! We still don't want to lose him!" Zephyr chirped defiantly. Behind them, Garrick continued. The gap stopped shrinking, but it also stopped widening nearly as quickly. Aurelia checked his reserve. [Weave Reserve: 79%] Several seconds passed. [Weave Reserve: 78%] Another stretch. [Weave Reserve: 77%] The initial cost had been severe, but maintaining both abilities was not. Selene turned enough to keep Garrick in sight.

"Has he always been able to use multiple Concordances simultaneously?"

"I don't think so," Aurelia watched the storm-wreathed figure following behind them.

"At least, I've never seen him do it before his Second Seal." Garrick drew close enough to hear them.

"That's because I couldn't. Second Seal lets me maintain two Concordances at once." Selene's gaze remained on the storm-lightning moving through Garrick's air current.

"Have you tested combining each Concordance together already?" Garrick's grin faded into something more thoughtful.

"No, not as of yet." That answer gave Aurelia considerably more pause than the flying did. Vision improved his sight. Aegis granted access to storm-like power and speed, and Zephyr controlled air and mobility. That didn't even account for the dozen other drakes they had or would have in the near future that could be combined into useful combinations. Aurelia suddenly understood why Edric had reacted so strongly when Garrick described his Second Seal after arriving in Bellhaven.

The possibilities multiplied far faster than Aurelia liked. Selene seemed to reach the same conclusion.

"That could become extremely dangerous." Garrick nodded, his tone lost its teasing edge.

"I know." Aurelia watched him for another moment.

"You need to be careful experimenting with it."

"I have been."

"That statement carries less credibility when you revealed your long-distance flight plan after we were already mounted." Garrick winced.

"Fair." This time, he did not argue. Several weeks earlier, the warning probably would have turned into a joke or an insistence that he knew what he was doing. Now Garrick checked his own reserve, adjusted the intensity of Aegis's Concordance downward, and settled into a pace he could comfortably maintain rather than trying to prove he could match Zephyr. Aurelia smiled faintly - maybe everyone really had learned something over time. They spent several minutes testing speed instead of simply racing.

Zephyr accelerated in controlled increments while Garrick adjusted the balance between both Concordances, eventually finding a rhythm that kept his reserve draining slowly enough for the journey while allowing him to remain within easy sight. Zephyr was still faster - decisively so. Garrick could match her for short bursts when he pushed Aegis harder, but his Weave began dropping quickly whenever he did.

At a sustainable pace, however, he remained close enough that Aurelia estimated their journey would take little more than twenty minutes. Selene glanced down at the landscape moving beneath them.

"I understood intellectually that Zephyr made regional travel easier. Experiencing the difference remains strange." Aurelia nodded.

"The first time we flew to Bellhaven, I spent most of the trip expecting something to go wrong."

"And now?"

"I only spend part of the trip expecting something to go wrong." Selene almost smiled. Behind them, another quiet roll of thunder accompanied Garrick as he adjusted his course. Aurelia looked forward. They had left Bellhaven behind, and Drakehaven was farther away still. Somewhere ahead waited a settlement none of the siblings had ever visited, people they had never negotiated with, and the first alliance they would attempt to build without either Orion or Roy present.

Normally, that thought would have made Aurelia nervous enough to start listing everything that could go wrong. But Selene knew Ironvale, Garrick was stronger than he had ever been, and Orion could still look through the Dragoneye wrapped around Aurelia's wrist if he needed reassurance that they were alive. For once, nobody was running toward a disaster or trying to survive until morning.

They were simply going somewhere new because Drakehaven had become large enough to need friends beyond the people it already knew. Aurelia tightened her grip gently around Zephyr as the Gale Drake carried them onward. Their next journey had begun.