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"I'm told I make a pretty good pillow," he says as he looks around a bit. He finds a good open spot. "Do we have anything we can use as a pup-tent or something?"

He snickers slightly as she takes his hand and scampers away. Looking about a bit, he nods and smiles down to her. "This looks good to me," he says before laying his coat on the ground for them and plops down on it.

As the Historian took a seat, the golden Draconian spoke again, and gestured toward Relt and Tyris.

"I'm sure your Guardian friends will be able to show you around well enough, since all of you are already acquainted. Is this true?"

The pair of Guardians bowed simultaneously. "We are more than willing, Wise Melokar," Relt replied, and the Wise One nodded approvingly. Then he dipped a claw into what appeared to be an inkwell set upon the desk beside him, and began to scrawl something upon a piece of parchment in front of him.

"It seems that we need not delay you from exploration any longer, friends. Please, take this pass, and go wherever you please. We are more than willing to share our beautiful islands with you."

Melokar folded up the pass he had written as a guard stepped toward him, and handed it to him. The guard then carried it over to Daniel, and bowed as he handed it to him.

"And please, if you feel any need to consult us again, do feel free to return at any time."

With that, Melokar smiled and gestured toward the doors.

The Guardians shared a discreet look of amusement -- they doubted that anything the humans were packing were capable of harming many Draconians -- but said nothing about it. Instead, Tyris suggested that they go to explore the Marketplace, to start things off.

With that, they set off down the hill.

Meanwhile, back inside the council chamber, the smile faded from Melokar's face after the doors closed, replaced by a grim expression, and he ran a scaly palm across the top of his skull in a worrisome gesture. It had been a long day, and the most senior and respected member of the Wise Ones was exhausted and stressed out.

A comment from one of his fellow council members certainly didn't help matters.

"Our resources are becoming scant, Melokar," said another Wise One, a small and wrinkled violet female. "And the presence of all these foreigners only serves to strain them further."

Melokar sighed, and turned to look at her. "I realize this, Lethra, but you know that we have little choice in the matter. We need to import resources from the outside world, and the only way to do that is to establish favorable trade relations with them."

"So you say," she responded, barely masking the skeptical tone in her voice. Ever since resource management had become an issue, Lethra and Melokar had openly opposed one another when it came to devising a solution. Melokar had suggested that they bring outsiders to Virconia in order to establish trade bargains. Lethra had espoused taking more time to devise solutions that did not include bringing human foreigners to their homeland. But Melokar argued that they simply did not have that time, and that they could not afford to dance around the problem trying to find an ineffective solution as their resources dwindled away day by day.

And, because Melokar commanded more respect among the council members than Lethra did, his method of opening their borders to the outside world had prevailed.

"There is little point in debating it any further," he said, trying to keep what little patience he had left in check. "It is done. Reversing the decision now will only hurt us, not help us."

Lethra couldn't stop herself from sneering as she responded. "The only thing that has hurt us us is your --" she began to say, but he cut her off in midsentence.

"Enough!" he snapped, teeth bared. He had come to the end of his rope, but he managed to regain his composure and settle down again before he continued. "As I said before, there is no point in arguing it further. It is done."

And with that, he adjourned the council, and they all rose to leave.

Still, as he headed toward the doors of the chamber, Melokar couldn't help but have a few doubts about his plan, and wondered if he had truly made the right decision . . .



Out across the ocean, the great mass of mist and vapor that blanketed Nokohai seemed to shudder momentarily . . . and began creeping toward Virconia . . .

A tiny little shiver runs itself down his spine as her soft fingers caress over his lip, his eyes not leaving hers as she searches him, for meaning or for truth. She is scared. She is nervous. He is as well, just does a little bit better of a job hiding it. "No, need to worry... I don't do anything I don't mean, and that includes this," he says before wrapping his free hand around her and gently presses his lips to her own once again.