Howard turned to ask one of the natives if they saw where she went but they were gone too. The chill came back twice as strong. The docks were never empty like this. That meant they were either cleared out by someone with a high position or they were the ones who led Selina off.

It would be nice if they just took her to some surprise party, but with the current direction that things were going that was pathetic wishful thinking.

Right now he had a few choices that came to mind. He could turn around and tell the Sage, but in the case that it was nothing serious he could get in major trouble. He could warn the others, but tracking them down might be difficult and he might be targeted in the process. The third option was to run and hide.

No matter how tempting that third option was, Howard would like to avoid it until he knew for certain what was going on. Pulling off a bold rescue was out of the question but Howard would feel guilty if he just left Selina to her fate. She had grown on him over the last year. She was still annoying, but somehow he didn’t mind as much.

After a moment of freezing, Howard decided the best course of action was to warn the others. Out of everyone, Miranda’s house was the closest, and James’ was the farthest. Howard set off to Miranda’s house, hoping she was in and alone.

Miranda’s house looked like a red Persian buttercup with dark yellow highlights. Even though all of the houses looked like flowers Miranda’s stood out and called attention to itself. Howard had never liked it but at the moment it made it easier to find.

“Howard?” Miranda asked when she saw him. She was outside of her house arranging the petals so they looking just right. “Is something wrong?”

“Yes,” he told her, “Selina is missing. I was with her just before she disappeared and she can’t have wandered off normally because her gondola was still there.”

Miranda stiffened. “What?”

“I had gone to talk to the Sage about what I had found out and she advised me to leave as soon as possible,” Howard explained, “When I went to tell Selina she was gone along with all the natives in the area but her gondola was still there.”

“Wait, it’s bad enough that the Sage thinks we have to leave right now?” Miranda asked, “Do you think she was kidnapped?”

“It is one of many possibilities,” Howard muttered.

“... I will try to contact James. You should go to see Leon and Natalie. Is Jonathan coming with us?”

Howard grimaced. “The way things are now I don’t think we have much choice. Dangerous or not, he is a genius.”

Miranda nodded and ducked inside her house. Howard set off for the tiger lily house, but before he got far one of the wyverns Jonathan had been so keen about dove towards him from the sky.

Never in the entire year that Howard had lived in the Colony of Veda, had a flying creature of that size attacked from above. It had always been safe once you made it inside. That didn’t stop this wyvern as it latched onto his shoulders and carried him off.

Being carried off by a wyvern was far from a comfortable feeling. For one thing, its bony claws dug into him, threatening to pierce his skin. For another, all of his weight was being dangled from those very same soldiers. The wyvern also had no concern for whether or not he ran into treetops on the way to wherever he was going.

Howard hoped that Jonathan had managed to achieve his goal to tame one and that it was not carrying him back to its nest as food or worse.

After a few minutes of very uncomfortable flight, Howard caught sight of something gigantic that looked like purple tube-shaped sponge coral. Almost as soon as he saw it the wyvern dove for one of the coral’s openings at a speed that made Howard’s stomach jump into his throat.

That was when Howard was dropped onto the ground inside and the wyvern perched upside-down on the ceiling itself. The good news was that Howard did not seem to be in a bird’s nest. The bad news was that he ached all over.

Howard slowly got but to his feet and rubbed his shoulders, but ducked behind a corner when he heard footsteps coming from a more ground-level opening.

A native woman with sky blue hair stepped into the room and looked around, easily spotting Howard. The corner that he had hidden behind could barely be called that. She smiled.

{Sorry for the rough ride. I thought he was better behaved. Come join the others,}

He? That was probably the wyvern. Had she tamed it? As for joining the others…

{And just how would I be joining them?} Howard asked with suspicion.

{You would be joining them for dinner,} she replied, {I should introduce myself. I am Azul. I am Veda’s younger sister and I have formally invited you to dinner.}

Now that she was looking at him straight on Howard noticed one more thing. Her eyes were red, with a slightly more pinkish hue than Jonathan’s. Now it made perfect sense why the Sage had never mentioned the meaning behind red eyes.

{Can you guarantee my safety if I go to this dinner?}

{You certainly are a cautious one,} Azul noted, {and I can. Nothing is poisoned and this is not a trap. I just wanted to talk to you before you left.}

Howard was still extremely suspicious but he would get nowhere by just standing there so he agreed to go to dinner. Azul led him through a tunnel into a cave-like dining room. Inside waited Selina as well as James.

“James?” Howard asked in surprise.

“Hi,” James said, “I was caught first. She asked nicely.”

Selina pouted. “Lucky you. I never want to experience that again.”

Azul watched with a hesitant smile as they spoke, unable to understand a word even though she could pick up on the basic emotions behind them.

“Do you know what she wants?” Howard asked.

"It would be better for her to explain herself," James replied.