Kai conjured another disk and threw it out over the lake.

Castiel opened her mouth. A dim blue light flared within her throat and a blue crackling bolt of fire shot out to blast the disk into flaming pieces that fell like fireflies as they drifted down, never to touch the water below as the domain reabsorbed what she had destroyed.

"Show off," Talious grunted. "I can't even do that," she said as a plume of fire warmed the air a good fifty feet out above the lake before abruptly cutting off. "That's all can do. A butt load mana and limited range."

"Doesn't that little plume of fire melt nigh anything it touches?" Kai asked, thinking that there was no way anyone thought a magical flamethrower that reached that far was anything but limited.

"It has it advantages, but Castiel's less than a week old, teleports, and can phase out of the visible spectrum. All I could do at her age was bite people. She'll be changing form soon, especially if she keeps spending time with this little one," Talious said as she stroked Sicily as she rested in her lap. "Beyond that, there is no telling what else they can do other than the tricks she picked up from you."

They had concluded the two hatchlings had taken on the powers and abilities of both Syl and Kai. The two of them were almost impossible to supervise, as they were there one minute and gone the next. Appearing wherever they thought was interesting and only settling down to cuddle with Gifts egg when they had worn themselves out.

They found out the hatchling's could even enter and leave the domain at will after Kai had taken his turn at piloting Hope only to find Castiel sitting on his head the whole time enjoying the feeling of flight despite her being left with Fayriel in Syl's care. No amount of trying to restrict the two, as they seemed to have the same connection to the domain as Kai and Syl shared.

How they were going to keep the two safe when they started running rifts and dungeons concerned Kai. He was just glad the two of them started out at level ten with far better than average stats. Their base total starting somewhere in the two hundreds and rapidly increasing as they gained states each day as they slowly matured.

Atheos had remarked how danger often came in small packages and Kai couldn't argue as the danger noodle with legs and wings rolled playfully around as he tried to pin her on her back and tickle her leathery belly.

"Where is Syl currently?" Talious asked suddenly, in a quiet tone of command that made it clear he was expected to answer quickly.

Kai sat up, Castiel disappearing to then reappear within his shirt as he reached out through all the connections his soul had formed through his life.

"Don't think just point. Don't even feel. This is something you should always know."

Kai pointed across the lake, over to where he could just see the burgeoning Kitsuné village that Syl had been developing with Alicia and their domain's newest tenants.

"And what is she doing?"

"Talking with the defence specialist… there's an elder waiting nearby. Syl's ecstatic that they like all the adaptations and modern facilities she has added to the buildings she conjured for them, seems they are more used to magical systems than concepts such as indoor plumbing. She is doing her best to hide it from them." Kai smiled, "She says hi."

"Good. Now, where is little Fayriel?"

Kai pointed in the same direction, only he shifted to the angle more towards the right side of the village. "He was with Syl, but the two troublemakers lured him away to play. They're chasing those spirit chickens the Kitsuné brought in."

"Typical boy…"

Castiel chirped in agreement, asking Kai if she needed to go rein him in.

"No, let him play. Syl will have an eye on him. You don't need to worry about him."

"Where are Alicia and Gift?"

This one was easy. He could hear the snap of her bow and the arrows thunking into the range-targets from here. "Practicing with that prototype compound bow the Houses managed to produce before we left… she is oddly calm considering the circumstances. She likes the bow… and also hates it because it's not Gift."

None of them knew what was actually happening with Gift. They were all running on pure speculation. Even Atheos, who had only left yesterday when she was satisfied the domain was secure again, admitted she had no clue when Gift would emerge, or what he would be when that happened.

Gifts ego had been detached from Alicia when Kai had bonded them all together. That act changing him from an aware item which could take on biological forms thanks to him absorbing an enhanced prime polymorph egg, to his own separate being capable of absorbing his own essence and developing his own mana and physical cores.

Alicia had confirmed that their connection had actually grown in the few hours after Kai had separated them, with Gift still able to take on his original bow form. The only change being Alicia and Gift had to use a bit of mana for him to tunnel back to her through their connection with the little guy, now being more independent and not something that resided within her soul.

But now they didn't know what was next.

With Gift absorbing all the genetic information the two little primordial dragons had shared with him. The debate was whether he would be a magical bow that could turn into a dragon, or a dragon that could turn into a bow. No one knew. But Alicia, who had the strongest bond to Gift, remained confident there was nothing wrong, and whatever it was, Gift was still her gift.

Kai had joked that surely, with the scale of the multiverse, there was someone somewhere that this had happened to. Atheos checked, and despite reaching out to many a different expert, there was no record of anything similar happening on this plane of existence or the next. The lack of any information or even some crazy experiment to recreate dragons was suspicious to everyone.

"You were supposed to point," Talious complained. "I am testing how far you have come in utilising your new bonds to locate people, not asking what you could sense through the bond, though getting thoughts and feelings is still impressive. Now, hows your practice with the domain going?"

Kai let out a breath as he looked up to the sky, the faint aurora of cascading lights still working to patch and strengthening where the domain had been fractured. The occasional plume of energy firing off silently from the towers around the domain that Syl had constructed months ago to facilitate the array that allowed her to physically project into their material realm. The plumes reinvigorating the lights above to aid in the healing process and strengthen the invisible membrane of the domain.

"Painful. I still feel a slight ache whenever I try to do anything complicated." He pulled one of the strange spirit chickens to him, studied the confused bird for a moment, then sent it back, wondering if he would ever get the chance to make fried spirit chicken. The simple act still giving him a strange tingle within him.

Seeing the livestock reminded him he had been asked to pass something on to Talious. "I was supposed to tell you one of the new villagers is into animal husbandry. They have agreed to look after the Orruks."

"Oh, thank the ruddy spirits, damn things do nothing but shit and eat. I can't get them to go where I want when I want. Don't know if that damn purple grass is making them dumber or smarter. I swear they know I mean no harm here."

"They'll be bringing in some other animals that are apparently popular meals for adolescent and mature Kitsuné on other worlds. They informed Syl there is a lot of crossover in your preferred prey, though they don't go quite as big as dragons, but they intend to see what they can do. You will be feasting like an interplanetary traveller in no time. Mostly all spirit food, good for your stats and soul, but as you are a material being, you'll need to balance your diet or your body might suffer. I'm told it will take millennia of a purely spiritual diet for you to make the transition into a spiritual being. They might even be able to bring in some higher tier things for you to hunt, to think people literally farm things for essence. Sounded like monsters to me, but apparently they're a crucial part of a rich and vibrant spiritual eco system. They insist it's safe."

"It will be. The Kitsuné and the others they are bringing in won't do anything to harm the domain. Now, can you locate and, without looking, tell me what is the Caladin team up to?"

This took a little more work than just checking his bonds. Not to mention the weird, uncomfortable feeling.

"Cillian and Ester are sparing against Kardain. Probably Ester's idea of a break, wandering over to see if the cousins are up to anything."

As soon as Kardy discovered Ester was an armoured martial artist, he took an interest in her, adding regular training to her routine. Kai had been hit by one of her infused gauntlet's on more than one occasion, the shockwaves alone making him reticent to get into close range with her. Her martial training and dwarven physical core making the petite dwarf hit like someone twice her size.

Ester was a strong contender to join the team. Her preference for the fairer gender appealing to Kai, as he didn't have to worry about things getting complicated and her chasing him. He had even caught her appreciating both Alicia and Syl a few times, the cheeky dwarf giving Kai a nod of approval as she turned her attention to the more available Caladin cousins.

"And what are they up to?"

"The cousins? Meditating, probably getting the last few impurities out of their cores."

"And the little sister, Niamh?"

"In her room…" Kai said, trailing off as he pulled back from checking on her, glad that Talious had told him not to look.

"And?"

"She is trying on the lingerie Syl gave her," Kai groaned. "Why Syl gave them all that stuff, I don't know. It's not like any of it will persist outside of the domain."

"It's surprisingly comfortable. And Kai, you should never neglect the phycological benefits of feeling sexy. I'm just coming to terms with that myself. Being in human form after thousands of years of watching your kind is more than enlightening." There was a moment of silence before she said thoughtfully, "It's like knowing all your scales are fresh and tightly packed, you feel stronger, safer, just from knowing you look good."

Kai couldn't argue with that, he had struggled with his physical appearance right up to the system came and he was given the unique opportunity start over as a perfect progenitor, despite Syl's insistence he was just a taller leaner version of his old self now.

"Orril?"

"Where else, his-" Kai had to cut himself off. He looked for the other dwarf in the domain but couldn't find him. Which was strange because the forge nut never really left the small facility Syl had constructed for him. He did almost everything there, eating, shitting, sleeping, and even cleansing his core before the heat of the forge.

One of the few things that seemed to pull that mans focus away from the hammer was when Kai had the barbecue going. Orril loved a good barbeque, even going so far as Gifting Kai with a 'superior' set of barbecuing utensils he had forged just for him.

"Where is Orril?" Talious asked again.

"He's not in the domain… must be finally taking a shift on Hope now that we are approaching Cibiale. could be he has cleansed his core and doesn't see the point of starting a new project… though that last one is doubtful."

Orril, once his edges had softened with good food and a lot of ale, was actually great to have around. he had taken the extra time that the time dilation within the domain had given him and forged anything that anyone asked of him. The gifted man producing durable functional items of beauty with pride.

But he wasn't an adventurer, more of the support any team would love to keep around. He was the typical fantasy dwarf. His love of the craft was apparent. The act of creation was all he lived for. That and pining after Sheila, Dewitt, Kassy, Monica, Katy, Adele, Sandra and most importantly, fair Ashley. He even came to accept Kai's use of the Thick Tounge, using Kai as a partner to practise the more complicated pronunciation of the word of the sacred language only the ancients and elders spoke eloquently.

"Temra?"

"Piloting Hope… I hope," Kai said, thinking about how drunk he and Orril got last night.

"And me, where am I?"

"Right next to me…" Kai said carefully as he sensed a possible trap.

"Then why won't you look at me? You said you liked this form."

There it was, the trap, and he had triggered it.

Kai sighed as he turned to look at Talious stretched out in her red bikini on the sun lounger. "I said I liked the changes… that you suited the more mature look. Please Tali, don't misinterpret that."

"You know, my sense of smell is diminished in this form, not completely absent."

Kai groaned in frustration. "I'm not a hormonal teen."

Talious had taken it upon herself to, as she put it, improve her form in preparation for their time in Cibiale. With Atheos staying in the domain longer than expected, Talious had picked her mind for anything and everything only an ancient dragon could know. One of those things was tips and tricks on perfecting her transformation.

It didn't help that both Alicia and Syl had then spent time with Talious and the other girls gossiping about Kai's many types.

The result of her practice meant Talious had changed slowly over the last week, perfecting one thing before moving onto the next.

No longer was she trapped in the form of a young fourteen-year-old girl. In place of her, that form was another ageless beauty. Curves and shape added to her figure in all the right places, with a scattering of red scales strategically placed to draw the eye.

How she had managed to get such long legs and keep everything within acceptable proportions by only adding a few inches to her height Kai didn't know. At a five foot three inches Talious was as tall as Alicia used to be.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

Alicia herself, as she promised when they first entered the trial dungeon, gained a single inch in height. This putting the two women a bit under shoulder height on him. Making him wonder why Talious hadn't gone taller.

The frustrating part was that the beautiful exotic, horned, el'vei dragon hybrid woman with intense red eyes and slight tan lines that she must have added purely for the esthetic, wasn't even in what she planned to use among the unknowing masses of the adventuring city. That was more of the same beautiful woman, only she had excluded the horns and scales she enjoyed using among friends, so that she could more easily pass for just another normal el'vei.

It didn't help that she was also picking up human mannerisms from the Syl and Alicia as well as the overly flirty girls in Cillian's team. The four of them getting more and more comfortable around Alicia and Syl by the day, and that meant more and more risky with him for some bizarre reason.

And though he liked to pretend he didn't, Kai knew he had a dirty mind as when Talious got up and strutted over, all he could think about was how great her horns would be for finding purchase in a moment of passion.

Not that he was thinking of her specifically…

Amusement flooded through the bond from both Syl and Alicia, and Kai tried desperately to stamp out the errant thoughts as he felt the flush of embarrassment wash over him and his cheeks heat viciously.

"Not going to happen," Talious said smoothly as she put her hand on her hip and rocked her stance to one side the way only a cocky, confident, beautiful woman could.

At least she didn't decide to adjust her bikini.

Talious adjusted herself.

Kai groaned internally.

This was his magic master, he thought to himself tiredly. The one who had taken it upon herself to rock up to their daily magic lesson in nothing but a bikini and lounge on the roof as she basked in the refreshing light from cores above as she gave him one task after another.

Kai didn't get it.

There had to be something he was missing.

He thought Syl had settled with just Alicia. Her frequent teasing now tamed with his now unbridled lust for both Alicia and her.

Women confused the shit out of him.

Growing up watching romcoms with his older sisters had taught him that there was a way to do things. But it was quickly becoming apparent real life wasn't like the Gilmore Girls.The first woman he had worked up the courage to ask out on an official date actually remarking that it was the first time she had actually been pursued that way.

Was he overly romantic, traditional, sheltered, or just plain clueless? He didn't know anymore. Should he even care? Was he supposed to play it cool? Was he supposed to reject the attention? Or was he supposed to acknowledge it to a certain degree? Was he a prude? All questions that had him second guessing himself. just be yourself or act confident didn't really apply, or did it?

Yeah, he realised it was probably all of the above, depending on the situation. He knew there were men that would act very differently in his situation… but that wasn't who he wanted to be.

He remembered the stories he had heard the first time he went to college, about what people got up to in the back of class in the different local high schools people had come from. Even when he had started working, no one had disabused him of those sordid stories. Instead, they were amplified with all the messy work relationships that were going on around him.

Of course, that was when he spiralled into a growing social anxiety and depression that had consumed him before the system showed up and Syl changed everything. Alicia was there to prove everything Syl was saying to him was true. Kai thanked the spirits Syl had pushed him the way she had, otherwise he would still be a bumbling idiot around both her and Alicia. He would still be alone, pining for love and companionship and more confused than ever.

But surely… they couldn't be okay with more than they have. It was enough… their relationship was all he ever wanted and more. They even had kids in the form of Gift, Fayriel, and Castiel.

Why complicate things? He thought to himself, things were perfect as they were.

"Syl was right, this is fun…"

Kai heard Talious mumble.

He was about to complain when he got a feeling from Syl.

They were, as advised by Atheos, working on communicating purely on thoughts and feelings through their bond. The result being that they should work better together in complicated situations if they didn't actually have to use language. How that would translate back to using the party system when they added new team members was something they would worry about later. This was a life skill for the bonded and they needed to learn it. And when they sat down and thought about it, they saw it was a similar logic to when Syl had insisted they change how they used their personal systems.

Kai sighed as he scooped Castiel off the top of his head. "It's time. We need to gather everyone up and get them out of the domain and on Hope for Temra's briefing…" he sent a question back through the bond. He got an immediate response sharing it with Talious. "We will be entering Cibaile within the next hour or two, depending on how busy the city is."

She darted back to her lounger, a bloom of fire enveloping her on the way to change her bikini into the same style of form fitting leather armour the girls seemed to like, her horns and scales gone as she collected a sleepy Sicily.

"Is she really allowed to come?"

"Her parents encouraged it," Talious beamed. "We made a familiar pact. Until she reaches the first tier, I am her sworn guardian and caregiver. They want her to experience the material realm while she has the opportunity to do it in a closed off low tier world. You, your domain, and the portals you create have made a hole in the way the system has locked the world off from outsiders. And the time there will allow her to hybridise while young, becoming a spiritual being with a physical aspect."

"If only it was so easy for Syl."

"Syl is already hybridised. physical aspects don't mean physical bodies… it just means you can exist in both places for long periods without any ill effect. just look at the fey and how insane they are.

"Alea!" Sicily yipped excitedly as she finally woke up enough to realise what was happening.

…

"I- I've been meaning to ask," Orril stammered as he gripped his beard. "Is there anyway I could still access my forge? I mean, the forge you set up for me in the domain. The place is miraculous and the endless supply of domain metal I could practise with... I worked weeks' worth of practice into days," he said as he tugged on his beard. "I can pay you, make you custom arms and equipment."

Ester sat forward in interest.

Syl looked at Temra and nodded.

"That has been discussed," Syl said from where she sat next to Kai at the long table that they were all crammed around.

"Once you know where you are staying and the necessary equipment has been received, Kai can set up a portal that won't be a constant drain on him. We will arrange for him to come and set up a portal in secrete. But keep in mind, Orril, you have already sworn to keep the domain secret. If you want to bring anyone else in, well, you'll have to ask and myself and Syl will throughly investigate them before we even give you permission to hint the domain exists," Temra explained, from her position at the end.

Orril nodded eagerly in relief.

"You realise that means no bringing any ladies to pound on your miraculous anvil?" Ester said teasingly.

Orril spluttered, gave his bear one last tug and buried his face in it in embarrassment.

"That goes for all of you," Temra said as she looked around the room.

"What, we can't lure people back to Orril's forge?" Cillian said with a smirk only for his sister Niamh to wipe his face clean with an elbow to his ribs.

"Really, we can come back, use the training area again, the lake, everything?" Aoife said, her own face lighting up as she glanced in Kai's direction.

"Yes, I believe your team has been put up in The Sage's old estate. Setting up a portal there should present little risk. Ester, will you want access to your workshop?"

Ester glanced in the direction of the cousins and nodded once.

"Perfect, Kardy still has plans for you," Talious said as turned her attention back to the table as a whole. "But please keep in mind, there are risks and you will be expected to contribute when and where you can. Is that understood?"

There was a chorus of agreement.

"Now, I need you all to remember, you dont know each other. At least not outside your individual groups. When you meet in Cibiale, it is for the first time. Cillian, you and your team, you have been hired by The Sage. We can't let the connection between you and Kai's team be an obvious one. Luckily Kai's tall, dark and handsome, so no one will bat an eye when you ladies are seen pursuing him. And girls, please, don't expect your attention to be wholly reciprocated."

"But by all means, do your best to keep other ladies clear of our clueless hero," Syl added.

Kai was about to complain when he noticed Niamh fidget awkwardly as Kai looked over at the amused group for any support. "Niamh, are you ok?"

The question made everyone turn her way, changing the focus from him to her as she drew inwards, trying to shrink away from the sudden attention.

"She forgot the lingerie was a domain exclusive, and is currently learning the joys of sitting on a cold bench in a skirt that rides up," Maeve said, answering Kai's question with a sly smile and a wink.

That made the youngest of them all flush even more, and she leaned forward to hide her face against the surface of the table.

Temra coughed, getting everyone's attention. "I will be working with an old guild contact, trying to get Kai and his team into their prestigious ranks. While I serve as their manager. Kardain will be on holiday… I think he has lined up a position at The Guild itself. Talious will be doing her own thing, no doubt."

Kai had a hard time keeping track of the word guild. The main point being The Guild was always the adventures guild, and mention of other guilds typically meant other organisations of adventuring parties, crafters and so on. The houses themselves technically a catch all guild full of merchants, labourers and anything else you could think of. Unsurprisingly, there was no mention of an official thieves or assassins guild though, but he was told they unofficially existed in one form or another in varying scales.

"I thought you had this all planned out back on the Exploration?" Kai quipped.

"We did, but then you became an imperial pain in the arse, then Kardain and Talious both decided to inject themselves."

"And you got pregnant. Bet that wasn't planned, going to limit what you can do with a bump and a baby. Good thing I'm here to pick up the slack," Talious said in reply, her intentions hinted but not spoken.

"I actually did plan on getting pregnant," Temra said brazenly as she made a point of looking at Kai.

"I told you that wasn't going to happen," Alicia interrupted.

"But you gave me permission to try. It was just a matter of time. He would have come around to my feminine charm eventually," Temra said as she touched her belly. "Doesn't matter now."

"Do we have permission to try?" Aoife asked quietly.

Syl and Alicia looked at each other, "we've been waiting for you to ask..."

Kai took a page out of Niamh's book and dropped his head to the table, where he tapped the surface with his forehead again and again.

Castiel appeared on top of the back of his head and told everyone to leave him alone. Unfortunately, only Syl, Alicia, and Fayriel understood. Everyone else just awed and oohed at how cute she was.

There was a chime from a crystal sitting on the wall near to door to the bridge and Kardain's voice came through loud and clear as he announced, "Just a heads up, the Houses skimmer is about to dock. Besides their port pilot, there is a customs inspector with them."

"Everyone keep quiet… and maybe have Castiel and Fayriel do their invisible thing," Temra said as she headed to one of the room's side doors that lead out to the ship's external access doors.

With a mental request, the two dragons both vanished. Sicily, quick thinker that she was, turned into a cup in front of Talious.

"Starboard side," Kardain said a second later.

Temra turned and stomped in the other direction. "What they playing at? It should always be the port side. It's tradition."

A moment later, she was back and letting three people through onto the bridge while a Gnomel man with a bald head and thick ginger moustache stepped into the room.

Temra turned and signalled for everyone to keep quiet.

The man was a little odd. Hen never once looked at anyone gathered, his gaze fixed firmly on the clipboard he held before home.

"Ah, yes I see, a shakedown flight to the revitalised capital of Dawn and back. Bit far, but best that you go as far as you can to fine the wood rot and system shorts before the ship is sold. New registration, you say, seems in order. Crew of four, pilot, co-pilot and two engineers, that's a bit low, new design you say, skeleton crew, how very interesting. No illicit cargo? No cargo at all, very good," he said, his moustache twitching the whole time as he made notes.

Someone else stepped through behind the man, and he turned to them. Actually glancing from his clipboard, he asked the dwarven woman, "Do you fine fellows have your identification tokens ready or will I need to use an identification stone?"

The dwarven woman offered the man a set of small metal tokens.

He took them, rifled through them, touching a stone that was attached to his clipboard to each of them. He nodded and handed them back, only his hand lingered as he was handed a heavy pouch.

He pocketed the pouch smoothly as his moustache curled in satisfaction. "Thank you, Mistress Egrette. Everything seems in order. You have permission to bring this fine vessel into Cibiale, as you are utilising a private dock. There will be nothing further. Please inform the port authority before the ship takes flight again. Now if you'll excuse me, the wives want to go shopping and it is about time I spoiled them instead of the other way around. Such a pleasure dealing with the Houses. Smuggling is always an issue, especially with the influx of Shattered ships we have seen. But we don't have to worry with the Houses," the Gnomel man nodded.

And with that he was gone, without once looking at anyone but the Dwarven woman that stayed behind.

Temra gestured again for everyone to remain quiet.

Two minutes later, the door to the bridge opened and Kardain stepped out. "He's gone. The pilots are taking us in."

"Aunty Egrette!" Ester cried as she jumped up to run over to the woman and give her a hug.

"Damn girl, you've grown. What were you, twenty the last time we met and only about this tall?" Egrette said as she gestured a good foot lower from the top of Etel's head.

Ester nodded. "Who else is in the city?"

"Just me, I'm afraid. I've been put in charge here while everyone else is running around in Dawn or acting on behalf of that Spectre fellow everyone is talking about."

Ester stood back, holding her aunt at arm's length. "Shouldn't you be managing your household?"

"I'm the only one with enough authority in these parts to deal with that one," Egrette said as she pointed at Kai.

Kai couldn't contain himself any longer, "what just happened, I feel like I was just smuggled into the city… and what's an identification stone for if everyone has examine?" he looked to Egrette, "and why are you so familiar."

"familiar, hmm. We've never met, though you're oddly similar to a boy I met at a system event I attended a while back. Sadly, he's dead, him and his darling wife," Egrette said with a conspiratorial wink.

Kai remembered she was one of Orrick's wives from the system event.

"And that, well, the Houses have never officially been caught smuggling, at least nothing intentional. And examine only tells you so much. An examine stone will check your mana signature to see if there are any associated crimes or warrants for arrest. The bureaucrats prefer identification tokens for some reason. They say they are more efficient and can't be easily manipulated like a mana signature. But if you ask me it's because the tokens make things easier to manipulate. It was actually smugglers and who started using the tokens to avoid their mana signatures being registered and scanned. The modern tokens have to be charged by an appropriate office to work. So you'll need to get these fixed in a year's time," Egrette said as she pulled a bag from her jacket and tossed it onto the table.

"Blanks for Alicia, Kai, Syl, Temra and Talious. Just add your mana signature and you're good to go." She then pulled out three pendants. "I have two human race charms and one el'vei. Never thought I would be helping scarlet Talious pretend, they were a simple el'vei."

She scanned the collection of el've in the room, and her gaze settled on Talious. "Those are the eyes of a fire dragon if I've ever seen one."

"I'm an ember dragon," Talious said as she reached out to take the pendant.

"Yes, my mistake, forgive me."

"I'll think about it."

The other two pendants were handed to Kai by a wide eyed Egrette.

"She is joking, right Tali?" Kai said as he accepted the pendant.

"Only time will tell," Talious said with an amused sigh. "Can't have people thinking I have gone soft just because I've taken on this form for a bit."

"Yes… I was told there could be some little familiars, register them with the adventure's guild and there should be no issues," she said as she did a poor job of not looking around the room eagerly.

When she looked disappointed not to see anything, Kai sent a mental message to Castiel, who made herself known with a little blast of blue flame.

Fayriel's head appearing from between Syl's bust.

The cup in front of Talious sprouting two tails and uncurling into a proud little kitsuné.

Alicia sat up slightly as he felt her mentally reassure herself as she checked her connection to Gift, who was tucked safely away within the domain.

"Impressive," Egretta beamed. "The association of riders is going to have a fit. But that was predicted. Once they confirm that you hatched them and the eggs were given, not stolen, you'll be invited to their illustrious ranks and receive their protection. Though I would be careful, despite the efforts of the Guild and the academies, Cibiale is not a safe place. It is more competitive than anything else. And there are those that would love to take such precious beauties off your hands."

Kai's stomach turned. "what's this about confirming we didn't steal their eggs? No one told me I had a story about how we got the eggs."

Egrette waved off his concern. "You won't need a story. They consider how exactly you got your dragons to be incredibly private. there were issues in the past were people tried to replicate the feat. It was decided such things should remain private. And believe me, they are very private individuals. It's hard to infiltrate a club that requires a dragon to enter."

Egrette rummaged through her jacket to pull out two leather satchels, and then three communication crystals.

"The Spatial storage bags that were requested. And Three long distance high capacity communication crystals. This is for you dear," she passed Kai the clear stone, "It already has The Sage, his wife, myself and my dear Estelle registered, with space for sixteen more. Use them wisely. I'm told you're financially illiterate, so understand when I say, those ain't cheep."

She then gave one of the stones to Temra and then slid the last one over towards Cillian's team. He was about to grab it, but his little sister was too fast for him and she snatched the stone up.

"Now the important part, the Korabain party, we can get you to The Sages residence, but there won't be transport from Dawn for the next two days, meaning you'll have to stay inside. We will inform you when we have you on the passenger manifest and you can start exploring. Everyone else, we have you on the appropriate records already, and you're free to do what you want as soon as we get docked. I think that is everything," Egrette said as a piece of paper appeared and her eyes scanned it. "Oh, and I forgot this. The Sage had us make these. Bit weird attaching a battery to a focus, but I've arranged stranger stuff," Egrette said as she pulled a large, inch thick disk out and put it on the table.

"Is that what I think it is?" Orril asked eagerly.

"It is," Syl sighed, "lake party tonight once everyone's settled into their pretend residences?"

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