Azara found herself getting ready for another occasion of importance. Prepared for the celebration, she gazed into a mirror and thought of how beautiful she looked for a moment. Vanity. Her right hand grasped the amulet she wore, a large ruby engraved with a gold rune. It was both a beautiful piece and a magical artifact. It was expensive and rare. For a second the thought of how much she owned crossed her mind, and she felt unsatisfied. Avarice.

Vanity and greed, she thought. She had devoted a lot of willpower in life to avoid those sins, and sometimes she couldn't tell if she was slipping into them or not, or if they were even wrong. After all, she was confident in how she looked. She was very beautiful. The praises of princes and kings had been hers, and they should have been, shouldn’t they?

And she had earned her place among the wealthy and rich as much as anyone, hadn’t she? Having beautiful things that you liked wasn’t wrong. Gardeners loved their flowers. Smiths their tools. What was wrong about her loving to have wealth?

Worrying too much about it was not worth the time, she decided. What mattered now was the business of the evening. That is - what the prince had to say. The information he had was crucial to her, for more than one reason. The idea of spending the evening with a handsome Ursulan prince was, itself, enjoyable to her; but the news he had was a matter of her diplomatic and personal interest. That information mattered more than drinking Uruslan alcohol and seeking some sort of romance and pleasure in the court. Not that she didn’t like those ideas a little.

Elise soon entered the room, breaking Azara's thoughts. "The carriage is ready, we can depart now."

"Thank you, Elise," Azara replied and felt a little happiness at the idea of having a carriage fetched for it. In many respects, as a diplomat to Ursulam, she was treated kinder, quartered better, and respected more than back at her own home. That was partly thanks to her mother's decision to not give her silver spoon parenting, and also partly due to Ursulam wishing to impress and appease.

The idea that she could have bought nice things and hired more help back home crossed her mind. She had the wealth to do so easily. However, part of her loathed the idea of parting with anything that was hers without getting something permanent and better in return. She thought of the sentiment as frugality.

While walking from the guest wing to the entrance of the palace, where her carriage waited for her Azara observed a few other visiting diplomats, nobles, and people those sorts. Some seemed to be heading to the same event she was, others, however, had their luggage packed and were preparing to depart - likely the following morning. This was cause for concern, it meant that they too had likely heard rumors of danger.

"Elise, how often have you heard tales of dragons before?"

"Well, I know of the Sukarran tales of Apotheos, who brought the sun to earth and ruin to all life. That is how they believe the southern deserts to have formed, as well as the Dragon's Back Mountains. I also know of Irgide, the murderous, who ravaged these lands and those of Aruslan during the early days and the time of the elves. Also of Isiya, the deceiver, who tricked the king of -"

"Alright, alright, that is all good knowledge, but read from one of your books no doubt?"

Elise nodded and gave Azara a sideways glance of annoyance. Well, it would have been a sideways glance, but it ended up being very diagonal because of the foot in height difference between the two of them.

"I asked how often you had heard any dragon's stories before. Think about it, those are old legends. History at best, myth at worst, and so far in the distant past few could care about them. Maybe those tales are still told up here in the North, where dragons are a part of their history and culture, but nowhere else. The oldest story you just listed was four thousand years ago wasn't it? That is a long time. I'm struggling to remember, but, when was a dragon last seen in any civilized land? When was a sighting reported, and the rumor confirmed to be true? I've been trying to recall all day, and even though I’m probably the best living authority on dragons-”

“Third!” Elise piped up.

“Wha-, third? Why do you think that?” Azara said.

“Well, your sister is first, because she is more analytical, objective, and more intelligent than you. She has studied it more. So she’s first.” Elise said. “Your mother is second because she raised you two, to begin with. You are third.”

Azara glared down at Elise for a moment before speaking. Her assistant, secretary, and fellow mage of the Ignis Evigan order was not often of the same opinion, but now her pride was just a little hurt. At the same time, she couldn’t argue with the reasoning, so she didn’t.

“Anyway, the latest dragon sighting I can think of was nearly four hundred years ago. Before the Paladin made his name known, before last of the elves disappeared in wake of the Magi's purging, and just after Aericia had been founded by the queen herself. Even then it was-"

"Not even a full-grown one." Elise finished. She shrugged. “It came from the mountains as they all do, and was subdued in Idelise by the Magi. They brought it to Aethera, where it was said to have died. A Magi became a hero, was called a 'dragon slayer', and that was that. The Magi and their religion became more cemented in Aerician society I suppose." Elise said and became deep in thought as she pondered the story. "I see what you are saying. The likelihood of these rumors of a dragon in Issawast being true are pretty slim then...but still, the prince said they had been substantiated right? Besides... it wouldn't be impossible for a dragon to be up there. I mean..."

Azara rolled her eyes.

"Of course. I’m not saying it is impossible. What I’m saying is that I know of no dragons that it could be.” Azara said.

"I see what you mean,” Elise said. “Your mother did warn you about this being possible before we set out. They are restless about you for good reason. However, I have a question that I believe you should be thinking about."

"What is that?" Azara asked, now the confused one.

"Why does the prince want to talk with you about it? What business is this of yours is it?" Elise replied, in a matter-of-fact way.

After running through the possibilities in her head, Azara shook her head and shrugged. "I don't see what you mean. I thought it was about the current state of the country, and how King Orvaar has been acting."

Azara’s teenage assistant sighed. "You're the diplomat here. Think about it, just having an explanation doesn't help you any. You've had your audience, and considering how it ended, you won't get another that will lead anywhere. So what other reason could he have to talk with you - it is not like discussing dragons is a romantic subject. How are you going to help with a dragon crisis?"

Suddenly the young woman's meaning clicked in Azara's mind and she almost felt stupid. She was quiet for a moment as they walked out of the entrance of the palace to a waiting carriage. She then turned to Elise before boarding the carriage, a smirk on her face.

"I'm a magic-user. Ursulam doesn't have many of us due to superstition and hate for the Magi. No dragons have ever fallen to swords and spears alone, they have fallen to mages."