Kit clutched the carpet for a moment, and then stowed it, and began to drop slowly even as she struggled to fly.

The Dragon reached out and scooped her little dragon form out of the air, and then asked with an echo of storms beneath her words, "Which way do you wish to go?"

"There!" Kit pointed to the islands in the air. "There, where the thread between us leads!"

The Dragon didn't ask 'what thread' or for any further clarification, she flew swiftly upward and toward the islands in the sky.

As they rose effortlessly higher, Kit saw a rainbow gleam appear on the scaled claw that held her. Her own smaller scales shone with it too. Above them, the sky that had seemed to be an endlessly deep blue darkened and the gleam of stars could be seen, as though night had fallen. Kit looked for the sun, and verified that it hadn't finished sinking below the horizon yet.

As they drew closer to the islands, Kit could see that the largest held a palace, and there were smaller buildings on some of the smaller islands as well.

The Dragon flew unerringly toward the largest island in the sky, but as they approached, they pa.s.sed by one of the smaller islands close enough that Kit could see that there were creatures living there. A white hart s.h.i.+ed away from the Dragon's shadow and hid within a stand of willow, and birds flashed their wings.

Kit turned her head and gazed back at the birds for a moment. Their flight seemed ordinary, and they didn't struggle or fall the way her hawk form had at a much lower elevation.

The Dragon seemed like she could read Kit's mind as she commented, "The air is thick enough for you here, as long as you stay very close to the islands."

The Dragon's flight slowed as they approached a flat paved area near the edge of the largest island. A broad landing s.p.a.ce lay at the base of the stairs that led up to the palace. But the Dragon didn't land, she simply released Kit into the air, where she wobbled awkwardly.

"Done," the Dragon stated, and her shadow swept over the Jade Palace as she departed.

Kit caught her balance and flew gently down to the pavement. "I'm here," she said belatedly. "I'm on the island and my ring says that he's inside the palace at the top of the stairs."

"I'm glad you made it safely," Ryullusion replied gently.

"Thank you," she said fervently. "I'm done flying upward."

At her words, he finally let the song that had boosted her speed the entire time end, and the music was replaced by faint excited voices. "Tell us when you've met him," ZipZing insisted at a volume that indicated she was probably standing on Ryullusion's shoulder.

Kit smiled at the demand and the faint sounds of her friends rejoicing. "I will," she promised.

After a moment's hesitation, she s.h.i.+fted into her normal human form and walked toward the stairs. As she approached the first step, words carved into its face lit up, and she halted to read them.

"Leave your burdens behind you," the words instructed.

Kit took a deep breath and stepped forward. The next step up lit up another command, "Clarify your thoughts."

The third step instructed after another pace forward, "Don't look directly at the sun."

Kit frowned, she wondered if it meant the actual sun, or if it was warning her not to look at the emperor.

As she ascended the first step, her jewelry crumbled away. The storage band, the earring that had connected her to Ryullusion, the pendant that had let her cast ZipZing's featherweight, all became dust and were gone in an instant. It took her a moment to realize that it wasn't just her jewelry, her storage pouches had dissolved as well.

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The words on the fourth step lit up, "Nothing lasts forever, except time itself."

Kit stood on that first step for a long moment, before realizing that not everything except her clothes had crumbled away. The ring that linked her to the traveling merchant's other self remained.

Each step continued to s.h.i.+ne a line of advice. As she climbed, Kit still couldn't tell if they were actually relevant to anything, or just general snippets of wisdom.

When she reached the top, she entered the open doors, and found herself in an empty throne room. The thread of light that guided her stretched forward, piercing the throne and continuing onward into the wall behind it. A closed door stood beside each of the room's four corners.

Kit focused on the two doors beyond the throne. As far as she could tell, they were identical. She couldn't see anything that indicated whether she should choose left, or right.

After another long moment, she gathered her courage and climbed the dais the throne stood upon, and followed the thread of light to the wall behind it. Her fingers touched nothing as she reached out, and she realized that the actual wall in front of her was farther away than it had appeared.

She reached out and touched the wall to one side, just to be sure. Her hand patted the smooth surface that stood where it appeared to stand. She followed the thread forward, and saw an opening to either side. Peeking around the right side showed her that it was only a thin piece of wall covering a short broad corridor from the view of the throne.

A set of intricately carved wooden doors stood closed at the end of the hall, and the thread of light led through them. Kit hurried forward, and the possibility that the corridor might have been trapped only occurred to her as her fingers touched the handles. She glanced back, but the corridor stood unchanged.

Kit pushed open the doors to reveal a square garden in the center of the palace. In the center of the garden a cherry tree stood in full bloom. Beneath the tree slept a man in elegant robes. He was so familiar, and yet unfamiliar that Kit stood in frozen silence for a long time.

It was the Jade Emperor. Kit recognized him from her character creation, as much by the elaborate robes as by his face. His face… was like a beautified version of the traveling merchant's face. The sharper beauty of it made it resemble another face too, although that face was softer and more feminine.

The Jade Emperor resembled both the traveling merchant and Magna Silvam to an almost equal degree.

"Lin Hao's family resemblance?" Kit said aloud as the thought occurred to her.

A flutter of wings startled her as her voice startled a little brown bird out of the bushes beside her. Her heart pounded for a few minutes, but the Jade Emperor continued to sleep undisturbed.