I flew in the direction of the mountains.

Scared and confused, it was the first thing that came to mind when considering where to go. The Caledon Mountains are remote and full of tracks of old-growth mountain redwood forests. There would be plenty of spots to hide from airships and plan my next move.

I must have flown for an hour, chasing the lowering sun on the western horizon, watching the landscape below me transition from tallgrass prairie to montane forest. I was concerned I would get tired from flying such a long distance, but it turned out the task wasn’t at all exerting. Cruising over the weald I would occasionally fly into pockets of warm air rising from the ground, giving me the perfect opportunity to regain some altitude without a lot of effort from my wings. With enough of this warm uplift, I think I could fly for hours at a time.

I didn’t allow myself to fly very high. At least, I don’t think I was that high. The airspace between the capital city Varecia and the edge city Rhl is always busy with commercial airship traffic, and I didn’t want to draw their attention. Airships communicate with each other over short band radio, and any sightings of me and where I was headed would spread between pilots fast. Worse yet, with Duncan and the guard now aware that there was a Lithan lurking about in Ellyntide, it would only be a matter of time before the Crown issued an emergency alert warning of my existence.

Dragons in Ellyntide are unheard of, one hasn’t been spotted in the Kingdom in centuries. Occasionally Lithans are seen in the northern islands of Sarlain — the ones closest to the Northern Continent — but never, ever down by us. When word gets out that there’s a Lithan this far south in Ellyntide, the response on news radio is going to be insane. To say nothing of what they must think I’m guilty of doing back in the hollow.

I’ll be at the top of Ellyntide’s most wanted list, tonight. Me, ol’ me. Princess Asha.

But for now, the sun has set and I’m circling over a mountaintop in the dark, trying to find a good spot to land. If taking off was the first challenge in learning how to fly, a safe landing will be the second.

Fortunately, there’s a breeze blowing up the side of the mountain from the east, giving me plenty of lift to fly around in circles and scope out potential targets. The ecosystem here lends itself to dense conifer and mountain redwood forests, I had hoped I could fly to a mountaintop above the tree line and have a picturesque alpine meadow to land in. I’ve always wanted to visit one of them.

But it seems I’ve picked the wrong mountain. The only thing below me is dense forest and jagged, rocky peaks. Not the best environment to attempt my first-ever landing on.

With only a sliver of sunset left to guide me, I navigate to another mountain across the valley. Like it was as a Lemur, my vision in the dark doesn’t seem to be that great. Maki won’t rise for another few hours, so regardless of the terrain I need to find a spot to land here, and within the next few minutes.

Fortunately, I’m in luck. Through the darkness, I can make out the tree line where the forests end and give way to alpine tundra. Few trees grow in that environment, just stubby grasses and shrubs. If it wasn’t for the occasional giant boulder field, I would have no trouble landing in the dark. That’s why I need to land right now!

I allow myself to glide down to the mountain, flapping my wings every so often to keep myself from going into freefall. The features on the ground become clearer, and clearer still, until… oh, hey! Is that a member of the Primula family growing down there? Why, there’s a whole patch of them! Incredible! I’ve never seen— h-hey!! Don’t get distracted, Asha!

Fwegh, I’m going way too fast! Adjust course!! Full reverse!!

I flap my wings hard, attempting to slow my precipitous descent. My speed decreases but it’s too little, too late. Gravity wins a third time.

THOOM!!

“Ack!!”

I don’t so much as slide into the ground as I crater into it. A rain of dirt and debris is ejected and showers over the area.

Owww…

It takes a few moments to gather myself and clamber to my talons, wincing in pain from the shoulder that took the force of the impact. It hurts like hell, but I don’t think anything’s broken. I turn and check on my wings, moving them through motions to make sure everything still works. My feathers are a bit dirty, but I seem to have survived with just some bruises. That’s a relief.

Mental Note: Pay attention while landing, Asha!!

Sheesh. That was a rough landing, but my Lithan body seems to have handled it well. I figured I’d be more fragile with a body covered in feathers like most avians are, but it doesn’t seem to be the case for me.

I ruffle the dirt from my feathers and survey my surroundings. It’s completely dark now, with the only light available shining down on me from the 19 prophets. With their guidance I can make out I’m standing in a field, but little else is nearby. Off in the distance prophetlight shimmers dimly off the tops of trees marking the transition between dense forest and the rocky plain I’m currently standing on. The air is chilled, but I don’t feel cold.

Well, then. What should I do now?

My plan to get a hold of the situation in the hollow was a complete failure. Not only did I forget about the five o’clock deadline to return to the ship, I panicked when I sensed Duncan approaching and fled the scene in the most incriminating way possible.

I feel so dumb. Why didn’t I just stay there and try to talk to him? That would have been the logical thing to do. Maybe I would have failed to get through and convince him of what happened, but at least I could have tried. When I think back to it though, all my instincts were screaming at me to get away from the hollow as fast as possible. It was like my life depended on it — I can’t explain why I felt that way, but I did.

Siiiigh.

I think… I need to lay down somewhere.

The events of today have been overwhelming. When I woke up this morning it was just another average Sunday of being Princess Asha at the Lordanou palace in Varecia. Then a bunch of insane things happened, and now I’m a Dragon standing on a cold mountaintop in the middle of nowhere.

A surge of pain runs up my shoulder, wavering me on my talons. Taking a break sounds pretty good right about now. I saunter across the field in the direction of the tree line, keeping my wings as stiff as possible. My muscles are burning — it will be a while before I can fly again, so I have some time to try and process everything that’s happened today.

The scent of redwood blows past as I approach the trees, comforting me with the assurance there will be enough space to fit myself underneath. I pick the tallest group of the bunch and slide underneath the canopy, folding my wings to create as much space as possible. Using my talons, I build a makeshift nest by flattening down the understory into something softer and more inviting.

A nest, huh… I suppose that will have to pass as a bed tonight.

I lay down and gaze into the blackest of nights, still and empty. I stare into it, attempting to take in and process everything that’s happened to me today. The argument with mom at breakfast. Her fall in the chapel. The Elder Tree sprout. The incident at the train station. The fight in the hollow. My transformation into a Lithan. A lifetime of unprecedented events occurred to me in a single, unfathomable day.

Time passes. An hour, two hours, I can’t be certain.

The stillness of the night was broken by the sound of a commercial airship passing by to the south, flying west in the direction of Varecia. Then a warship heading in the same direction. A few minutes later, another. Then another still, this time with its searchlights shooting blinding columns of light at the ground, sweeping in erratic motions across the valley below.

The meaning of the searchlights and the sudden passage of warships is dreadfully clear: News of what happened in the hollow has reached mom. She’s frantically searching for the Lithan. For me.

She believes her daughter is dead.

When you think about it, there’s only one conclusion you could come to about what happened to me: I was consumed by the Lithan.

The clothes I was wearing were destroyed by my transformation. They shredded to pieces as I grew, leaving tattered remains on the floor of the hollow. Combine that with the disfigured state I left Starla in, and the evidence points to my untimely demise at the talons of… myself.

What could be going through mom’s head right now? Through everyone’s head? Just how much collective suffering is being felt all because of me? I don’t even want to consider how much grief Sofl must be in right now. So, I won’t allow myself to. Not yet.

Out of everyone though, the person I feel the most pain for is Duncan. Not only does he have to deal with the inconsolable grief of losing his partner, but the misery of failing to protect me. He oversaw the trip, giving mom a personal promise that he’d protect me. Everything that’s happened today is going to fall on his shoulders. He might even lose his position as head of staff.

Oh, Duncan… he deserves none of this. Who could have predicted there was a rogue foreign presence operating in the middle of the Eastern Weald? Or that when my life was in danger, I’d turn into a giant monster with an insatiable thirst for blood?

They need to know I’m still alive, damn it! I have to do something!

But what?

If I try to fly back to the palace in Varecia I’ll be fired upon by every airship in the fleet. Even if I somehow avoided a direct confrontation, I know all the contingency plans for the defense of the palace. I’d land there and be met by an armed battalion of knights and steam gunners, all prepared to attack me on sight. Could I really talk them down from fighting me before they fired the first shot?

Outside the palace there’s nobody I’m close to I could ask for help. And even if there was, the sight of a Dragon in public would cause panic to erupt. How would I even contact somebody in Varecia with a body this big? Knock on their front door with my claws and kindly ask for help?

Hello, it’s me, big murderous Dragon! I’m actually Princess Asha, could you please come out and help me clear my name for the murder of myself?

The lonesome drone of another pair of steam propellers echoes off the side of the mountain, causing my feathers to ruffle. Compared to the noise of the ships that passed by earlier, it seems this one is coming from the direction of Varecia, on its way for a landing in Rhl. I slink further into the cover of the redwoods, folding my wings tight to ensure as much of me is as obscured as possible.

When it seems the droning is directly overhead a glistening column of light shines down, illuminating the peak of the mountain and making it as visible to me as if it were in broad daylight. The light dances, scanning over the uncovered areas that aren’t dotted with trees.

Despite its capricious nature, I gasp all the same as the column passes over my blanket of redwoods, trying to stay as still as possible. It moves on, then shuts off entirely as the ship glides over the peak of the mountain. I release my breath.

Feeling safer, I poke my neck out from under the trees to get a better view of the departing ship. It looks… familiar…

Wait!

Those distinct lines that resemble a flower, the color of side panels… it couldn’t be, could it? The ship we flew out to the weald on, The Blue Daemon? I abandon my temporary home and dart up to the summit of the mountain before the ship can disappear entirely from sight. When I arrive there, I’m greeted by a terrific sight.

It is the Blue Daemon, on its way to Rhl, outlined against the rising Planet Maki. It bathes me and the leeward side of the mountain in its reassuring green glow.

Oh, man. If they’re headed to Rhl, then that means they ran out of space at the airfield in Varecia. They must have packed it full of warships after word got out about me. If they’re that worried, then the palace is probably on a full lockdown. Nobody’s getting in, or out.

This is great news for me, though. If Duncan is still on the Blue Daemon, then he’s the best chance I have of getting through to someone so we can begin to sort out this mess. If I can land there around the same time as the Blue Daemon and somehow convince the knights I’m not a threat, then Duncan can vouch I’m really Princess Asha.

Okay! Hypothetical but not actually hypothetical situation: As the Princess, I’m well versed in the correct sequence of words that gets soldiers, knights, and many other animals to obey my orders. If a talking Dragon lands in an Ellyntidian military base and starts issuing orders to everyone using the correct verbiage, will they follow them?

Self-consciousness gets the best of me. “Does my voice still sound weird?”

Yes. Yes, it does.

Well, it’s not like many animals were familiar with my Lemur voice to begin with. I hope it’s normal-sounding enough that they still recognize my authority.

Alright, we have a plan again! I’ll follow the Blue Daemon, staying well enough behind it so they won’t notice me. Then when it gets to Rhl I’ll land alongside and start giving orders to anyone gathered there. With any luck, I’ll be able to order Duncan out of the ship and we can begin figuring out what the hell happened to me.

I can’t fail this time. No matter what, I have to get through to them and convince Duncan I’m Princess Asha. It’s not an exaggeration to say the future of the Kingdom hinges on my success.

I unfurl my wings and gauge the wind — It’s rushing over the peak with stronger gusts every few seconds. I crouch, wait for one of the stronger winds, and leap when it arrives. I flap my wings and achieve lift almost effortlessly.

Well! That was easy! Could all my takeoffs be like that, please?

I climb in altitude and regain the distance lost between me and the Blue Daemon, keeping far enough back so they shouldn’t be able to see Maki’s light reflecting off me. Based on the distance I think I’ve flown so far tonight, we’ll reach Rhl in about an hour.

Duncan… I sure hope you’ll listen to what I have to say.