Cita had questions. By this point, she had so many questions that she had begun dividing them up into groups along with secondary lists. She said nothing as they followed the fae an her army. At least the trolls had quickly turned away and fled. When Urdo moved to walk with her, she almost suggested they head off into the wilderness with the trolls.
Then she caught site of the dragon as he gave Tennon, who was still unconscious, a worried look. She went back to mentally arranging her questions. Urdo said nothing and Atora walked beside her new friend, the dragon.
She didn't have enough questions to ask.
"I am sorry I couldn't stop to tell you what was going on when I left," Atora admitted and looked nervous. "Tennon said I was the best to go since I was the least upset. I suppose he was right. I was worried but I figured we'd handle it like everything else."
"You did the right thing. The rock trolls were not going to listen to reason until you and the Dragon arrived."
"I thought I should be scared about riding a Dragon, but by the time we got to that point I think I was just too emotionally exhausted to care. Besides, Farlyn was anxious to get back to his friend. I think he was worried enough for both of us."
"They make legends out of things like you did," Urdo added.
That won an appalled look from their companion and a laugh from Cita.
"By the time we're done, we might all be legends. I don't think that will really help with our work."
She doubted the others understood what she meant. Cita had never searched out the greater quests, happy to do searches for lost cities and ancient relics. Temple leaders loved them, but could rarely pay well. Her team had a reputation for solid work, though.
Would people expect legendary work now?
Cita tried not to think about such a future. She reminded herself that she didn't have a clue about how to get back home. Cita had to trust Tennon to get them back where they belonged. At least he was on his feet again.
Urdo was mumbling something. It didn't sound like curses this time. He looked around with growing distrust.
Cita felt much the same way, and that wasn't helped when things began to change. In one step she went from scrubby grasslands to pine forest. Glancing back showed only forest. The dragon soared over them, apparently oblivious to the changes. Or maybe he made them. Anything seemed possible.
Real and unreal no longer mattered.
Nothing mattered.
Cita slowed and stopped. She noted that Tennon had moved to stand beside her as he waved the others to join them. Cita started to protest, but Tennon sat on the ground and signaled her to do the same. Even the dragon found a place to land and joined them.
Tennon didn't waste time. Cita appreciated that about him, though she wondered what they were about to get into for him to be worried enough to stop them on the trail. The Dragon flopped down behind him, unsettling a layer of dust and bugs.
"Farlyn has told me some bothersome news," he admitted. "My friend can find no other dragons in this realm, although there should be hundreds of them."
"I thought they were just ignoring us," Tennon's mother answered with a look of embarrassment on her face. "Farlyn --"
"Gone," the Dragon whispered with such sorrow that everyone felt it. "They are not here. I must learn what happened to them."
"I am again offering to get three of you home," Tennon said. "No, listen to me first. This is something far beyond the quest on which we started. I knew what we were looking for when we started. It's one thing to go looking for a fairly tame Dragon, and quite another to go hunting for the entire Dragon clan. There's no telling where they went and if they went at the urging of some enemy. Anything that could force dragons out of their lands has got to be very dangerous."
"Could they have retreated to another place?" Cita asked.
"Those mountains are our homeland," Farlyn said with a nod toward a distant line of darkness. "It is not a place we would journey away from and abandon everything we've become. Something dangerous has happened. I must search out the answer to why I can't find them. If they left on their own, the reason could be dangerous. If something forced them away, it is even worse. "
"Be wise and go your own way," Tennon said, but he looked at his mother this time.
"You need me," she said. "You need all of us, but especially me."
"All of us," Cita said. She finally had a question to ask. "What do we do?"
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