~Tabitha's P.O.V~

I walked through the streets, amazed how much architecture was infused with every building. I watched as dwarves and orcs reactivated the blacksmith shops scattered around the city, smoke billowing from their stacks for the first time in two thousand years. Men moved through the streets with wooden boards over their shoulders, fixing up the nearby homes that were beginning to be moved into.

It was a little surprising how quickly everything was going, but then again, when a couple of thousand people put their minds into working things tend to get done pretty quickly. Minotaurs and centaurs helped with construction and helping the sick and injured recover, carrying the more heavy equipment around.

I smiled slightly, wondering what it would look like in a couple of weeks. I was heading on my first scouting mission that day, and would likely be gone for a while. There were a number of unexplored places further beyond the mountain ranges where other kingdoms stood, or at least they had before Garagain. Tyron and I would be heading out together, along with a couple of other people Aaron was in charge of choosing.

As I made my way toward where the exit was the flap of wings distracted me from my thoughts. I looked up and smiled slightly as Blu winged his way down toward me. He flashed his teeth with a grin in response, he always seemed so much happier in the air. I stopped walking, watching as he flew down and landed in front of me.

"Hey little sis," he said as he nuzzled me, emphasizing the 'little'.

"Hello you big buffoon," I said, playfully swatting his muzzle.

He snorted, shaking his head in response, rearing back slightly in fain offense, before saying so seriously that I knew he was joking, "I am a royal dragon. I will not be treated in such a manner."

I rolled my eyes, "Well if you're a royal, that makes me one as well. I am your sister after all."

He laughed, "Point made."

"What's up? Come to see me off?" I asked as I began to walk again, him falling into step beside me.

He nodded his head, "Yeah, I will miss having you here."

I smiled and patted his leg, "I'll be back before you know it."

"I know," he sighed softly, "So, where will you be going first?"

"We're thinking of going to see if the Venetian Merchant Republic is still standing."

"Venetians?" He thought for a moment, "I thought they were a part of the Byzantine Empire."

"Kinda," I responded, "Technically they were part of their empire but really they just ran their own small city in the middle of nowhere. They were good at surviving, so we think that if anyone is still kicking then it would be them. Plus they have a massive merchant fleet and are expert tradesmen with lots of connections. They would likely know of any other surviving countries spread throughout the world."

"Yeah, that would be useful," he replied.

"If they're still around," I said somewhat solemnly.

"I'm sure your journey will produce some fruit, you can't think about the negatives right now," Blu said with a smile.

I placed my hand against his leg, giving him a soft pat, "I know. But that goes for you as well. While Tyron and I are out you are responsible for the people here. Give them some hope."

He nodded, "I'll try my best."

We walked through the gates leading to the castle. The marble white stone shone with an almost blinding light in the morning sun. Whatever troops we had were doing patrols and helping clean up the castle. Much of the rubble and dragon skeletons had been cleaned away, and now we were focusing on patching up the massive holes and more ruined areas of the castle. With a bit of Kingston's help, we were making reasonable time, but it would still be a while before everything was done.

Waiting for us at the exit tunnel was Tyron, the large red dragon going over what the plan was with a number of other scouts that had been chosen. There were seven of us in total. A mage, a centaur, two swordsmen and an archer, then Tyron and me. I was the last to arrive, and when they saw us they smiled and waved. Tyron padded over to us and him and Blu shared a nuzzle before turning to the rest of us.

"Please come back safely Tyron," Blu said with sadness in his voice.

"I will," promised the red dragon.

"Alright," the mage, a man named Jordan, "Everyone nearly ready to go?"

There were five horses tied up a small distance away, already all packed with saddle bags. I had my bow strapped to my back as well as a small bag of personal items. The others had their own, the swordsmen with their weapons and armour, the mage with a wooden staff marked with intricate runic carvings and a green stone at the top and a pouch full of what smelled like spices. The centaur was the only other girl of the group, and had a massive greatsword attached to her flank. She looked like she had the strength to wield it as well.

"Let's mount up!" Jordan called, seeming to have taken on the role of leader of the group.

I rolled my eyes at the thought before making my way over to a brown chestnut mare I had chosen the day before. I gently patted her nose, before untying her and pulling myself up and onto her back. I had already said goodbye to my mother and Aaron. Mom had cried, but I had made sure she went to help with her duties, and Aaron had been called to deal with some trouble a little further in with some breaking beams, so he hadn't been able to stay long.

I sighed softly as I turned myself away from the city and toward the tunnel leading out. With a final wave in Blu's direction we pushed our mounts into a trot and made our way into the tunnel. Tyron and Blu had one more goodbye nuzzle, before the red dragon followed, flapping his wings and pulling into a glide above our heads.

~Tyron's P.O.V~

As we exited from the tunnel I couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. As big as the tunnel was, flying through it made me a bit queasy. I was constantly expecting a sharp pain from skimming my wings along the walls. Thankfully I had become good enough at flying I had managed to avoid that.

We grouped up on the other side, stopping for a short break as it took a good couple of hours to traverse the length of the tunnel. Tabitha, who was in charge of navigating, took out the map and lay it on the ground, allowing for us all to see it. Kingston had given it to us before we left, stating it was an old map but still mostly accurate in terms of where things were located. We had cross-referenced it with Teleran's maps of the world and had managed to make a semi-accurate representation of what the world looked like, at least before Garagain had run rampant through it.

"Alright, so we are here," Tabitha's sister pointed to a spot on the map, "We think the Venetians are in this direction, just on the coast of here. It's a little unclear exactly where the city is, but the general whereabouts is known."

"Good," Jordan said, "If there are people around that area it would be difficult for Garagain's ground forces to attack. Even in the air it would be difficult, as most rumors have said Venetians have a surprisingly well thought out air defense."

"We better not waste time then," the centaur, Peral, said, "The sooner we get there the sooner we may be able to help."

"I agree," I said, opening my wings.

"Good. Tyron, it would be best if you flew as high as you can without losing sight of us," Tabitha told me, "Try to keep in the clouds. We don't want Garagain to spot you. The rest of us... we should stay off well used paths, not that there are any this far into the mountains, but when we get out, we should do our best to stay out of sight. I estimate about a week of hard travel before we get to the Venetians, and that's not taking into consideration any road blocks we might meet."

I nodded my head and the others agreed. Tabitha sent me a smile, which I responded to. Once the others were ready to leave again, I forced my body into the air, quickly rising to where the lower clouds were situated. I seriously doubted there would be any demons this close to our fortress, but better safe than sorry. I looked back at the mountains we were leaving behind, feeling a pit in the bottom of my stomach.

I was worried. I wasn't sure exactly how long we would take and every moment away from my mate was going to be difficult. He wasn't quite that close to laying yet, having only been pregnant for a little more than a month, so I was sure I would get back before anything like that happened, but still. Ever since I had met Blu, we hadn't really been apart, and now I was leaving him behind. It was a hard thought to swallow.

Shaking my head I focused on the horizon and flapped my wings a little harder, ready to continue on further. For hours I flew, keeping one eye on the riders down below and another on whatever was in the distance. We were making surprisingly good time, far better than what we had previously when we traveled. This time though we weren't lugging the remains of a kingdom along behind us.

I had welcomed a rhythm now, flapping my wings ever so often, but mostly gliding. The wind was a little strong up high, and while I wasn't flying directly into it, I wasn't flying with it either. I was constantly adjusting my course, doing so almost absent mindedly with my wings and tail, searching for anything that may seem amiss. It wasn't long before I found something.

It was a small group of demons on a mountainside. I couldn't quite see what species they were from this distance. I quickly descended, using another mountain as cover so they couldn't see me. When the others saw me coming down they halted their horses. I passed low over the trees, searching for a clearing I could land in. Find one a little way off the track I landed. They found me there.

"What is it Tyron?" Jordan asked as they came into the treeline.

"A group of demons, maybe an hours ride away," I said, "They look to be camped on the side of a mountain."

"How many?" asked the mage.

"Maybe a dozen, but I couldn't see them properly," I responded.

He nodded, fingering the small wisp of a beard he had growing, "Let's stop here for the night then. Sun down is in an hour I would like to not be seen by a bunch of Garagain's minions, even if it is a small group."

We all agreed, though we weren't happy with it. I would have liked to have gotten a bit further, but it seemed as though we were going to have to act much safer than we thought. Even with Tabitha and me, getting spotted by Garagain's forces would be a likely death sentence. I could probably fly some of us away, but not all seven.

The others began to set up their shelters. No fires was another easy decision. The less light, the less chance of being found. It didn't bother me too much, having fire inside me already, but the others were a bit down about it.

"Hey, I just realized, this is your first night away from Blu for a while, isn't it?" asked Tabitha, sitting by where I had lain down.

I nodded my head a little sadly, "I'm a little worried."

"Me too," she admitted, laying a hand on my foreleg, "But... maybe we can use this chance to get to know each other a little more. You are basically my brother in law after all."

I laughed at that, "True. Now that I've thought of it, we haven't really spent much one on one time have we."

"Barely any," she said with a small smile.

I lowered my head down to her level with a grin, "Well, this trip will fix that. Want to sleep under my wing tonight? It'll be a fair bit warmer."

She thought about it for a moment, "I have first watch, so as long as you don't mind me possibly waking you up, sure."

"My pleasure," I told her, looking to the sky, "I'm hoping you have a boring couple of hours."

"Me to," she replied, "But you make sure to get some sleep. Early morning tomorrow and all that."

I nodded in agreement, "I'll try."

She patted my flank one last time before getting up and walking back to the trees, unslinging her silver bow from her back. I watched her go before laying my head down and curling up as best I could, ready to sleep for the night. Despite what Tabitha had said, I knew it would be a small while before I managed to find any sleep. My thoughts were still racing around Blu, and the demons, and the kingdom, and what we would find left out there. An hour or two later I finally fell into a restless sleep, dreaming of fire and dark skies, with blue scales falling from the clouds.