"Yes."

"Well, that same system still applies to the Elves. House Evindass is one of our great houses, one of the twelve ruling houses. And you are the heir to that house."

Sasha showed her amazement and disbelief. "Legon is noble?"

Mantic turned his gaze to her. "I am assuming you are Sasha, and yes he is. As his sister, you are as well."

"But he was adopted, and I'm human." Sasha said.

"And you share a connection stronger than family, and in adopting him he did the same for you. Our people will treat you accordingly."

Mantic paused for a moment to look the group over. This wasn't how they had planned on doing this, and it was obvious. From the lines under Enrich's eyes Legon figured they had waited through the night, hoping for the storm to lift and their guests to arrive.

He decided to break the tension by changing the subject. "This is a very nice, ah, base that you have here."

Enrich smiled. "Thank you. We like it. We are sorry, this was not supposed to...well, we sent your welcoming party home to get some rest about an hour before you arrived."

Sara laughed, cutting the mood. "Well it's good to see the world is still working the way it's supposed to."

Keither just wasn't surprised by this information. Legon had to be something special. He had turned into an Elf for crying out loud, so why not be noble as well? There wasn't anything all that amazing about the Elf either, though Keither was a little perturbed by how taken Sara was with him. He had a weak connection with the others so he didn't think she knew what he was thinking. They were exchanging small talk now, waiting just long enough to leave without being impolite. He couldn't help himself.

"Excuse me, but is that a map?"

Enrich looked at him, puzzled. "Yes, why?" Then he corrected. "You haven't seen a full one before, have you?"

"No, just of the empire. The Queen doesn't allow anything else," Keither said.

"Hoelaria is no Queen. She is just a regent as she well knows."

There was defiant anger in Enrich's voice and Keither thought he heard him mutter something about a usurping whore as well. Talk like that got you executed back home, but now...

"Sorry, yes. The usurping whore won't let us see maps," Keither said.

Enrich laughed heartily. Keither wasn't trying to be funny; he just wanted to see the map.

"I like you. Ah, let's see, you must be Keither, right?" Enrich asked.

"How did you know my name?"

"Arkin's reports. Yes, you can see the map if you like."

Keither stepped up to the table and pried at the map. It wasn't a map of all Airmelia like he thought but only of the immediate area. Manton was just southwest of them at the end of a fjord. To the northeast was a line indicating where the border was and the main road that led here. From Manton there were roads leading all over the place, some moving to the Elves lands and others just south leading off the map.

Mantic spoke. "Keither, Arkin says that you have a good mind. May we get a demonstration?"

This was a bit of a shock. An Elf wanted to test him? Keither would understand if Mantic wanted to see what Legon could do, but him? What benefit would that be?

"Ah, ok. Sure," Keither agreed.

Mantic walked to the map and lifted it, revealing another one underneath. This one was a broader view of the land and he saw more cities, many running along the border to the Elves.

"What do you see?" Mantic asked.

"Well, I see a lot of cities and towns along the border with the Elves, and I see that all of those roads lead back to Manton and other cities. All of the other cities are in the usual spots; rivers, lakes, big bodies of water. But the ones on the border are situated with Elven dots on the map."

"And what does this tell you?" Mantic pressed.

"That the human resistance relies on a lot of supplies from the Elves. No surprise. This land must be hard to farm, mine, and defend." Did he say too much with the last part?

Mantic looked at Arkin. "You are right about this one. Who is in charge of him?"

Who was in charge of him? Were they asking who was going to take responsibility for him? Had he screwed up? To his horror, Legon spoke.

"I am, and he is a good man."

"We see that. Do not worry, we would like his opinion. Keither, if you were Hoelaria, or more important her chief warlord Parkas, what would you do with a large part of your military on the border?" Mantic asked.

Surely they knew the answer. This was another test. He looked at the map.

"I would hit the Precipice, and hit it hard."

"And why is that?" Enrich asked "Well, look at it. From here you could go south and sever the connection the humans have with the Elves. Then you could slowly kill off the human resistance in this part and weaken the Elves by making them protect another border."

Arkin smiled at him and Enrich spoke. "That's what we think they're going to do, but we don't know when. We have been bringing forces north in preparation but it's been a nightmare taking care of them. Keither, when we have more time we will talk about your possible futures here if you want them. Thank you."

With that, the conversation ended as fast as it had begun. Mantic looked at them. "We will go to the Elves now and you can eat, rest, and have healers look at you. Someone will also show you around."

Mantic gestured out of the room. Keither didn't feel himself begin to walk as Enrich's words repeated in his head: "Your possible futures here."

Chapter Twenty.

The Hill "Nothing is impossible. You just haven't figured out how to do it yet."

-Memoirs of the Rule of the First Dynasty Mantic led them out of the building and toward the large dome-shaped hill. Legon was confused as soon as they left the main town area and walked to the base of the hill. Were the Elves just on the other side of it? As they approached the hill he realized just how large it was. Its base had to be close to the size of Salmont and it was easily two hundred feet high. They started to walk up its perfectly shaped side. He wondered if the people had built up the land like this, or if it was once a natural hill that they had shaped. Keither's mind suggested that it was left over from mining silver and gold. Mines often had large piles of ocher dirt outside of them, and this place may have been formed with that. Sasha was unsure of what the purpose could be. She tried to ask Arkin but his mind was closed.

"Perhaps there's a military advantage to giving them high ground," Legon suggested.

The turf on the hill was short with small flowers blooming all over. There were also leafy plants that covered the ground as well. He looked over his shoulder and saw that the town was now below them. They were about half-way to the top. If he remembered right when they saw it from a distance, the top looked like it was cut off, like a plateau. Then it hit him: this was a raised area and the Elves lived on top of it! He walked with surety, now knowing what to expect at the top.

As they reached the top, however, that surety left him. The hill had an indentation at its top that went down ten feet or so. At the center of this indentation was a gaping hole that was easily one hundred and fifty yards across. As Legon stared he heard the tell-tale sound of a dragon. He instinctively looked behind him to see a blue Elven dragon gliding down to where they were, passing overhead and into the hole in the hill. But it wasn't a hill; it was a massive structure.

Mantic turned, smiling at their awestruck faces. "Welcome to our Dragon Dome."

"The what?" Sasha asked in confusion.

Arkin answered. "Dragon Dome. This is the Elven base."

"This thing is our base?" Legon heard himself say, though he wasn't aware he had told his mouth to speak.

"Yes it is. Both Elves and Iumenta use dragon domes. They were invented toward the end of the War of Generations," Mantic said.

"The Great War between the Elves and Iumenta," Arkin clarified.

They all nodded in understanding. Mantic led them down the lip and then along the small patch of land between them and the opening. "All entrances to a dome will be at the top."

He stopped at an alcove, walked into it and turned to his left, opening a door. This entrance would be perfectly blocked from any enemy attack. Legon marveled at the thought behind it. As they entered he was met by the smell of the forest in spring, an odd smell to encounter at the end of the summer. The hall ceiling arched. The walls, floor, and ceiling seemed to be made of one solid piece of wood. Occasionally they would reach ribs in the hall that were a darker wood, but his Elven eyes saw no line where the different woods began and ended.

Along the walls there were little silver fixtures that were mirrored. In the fixtures were little shining sticks that stuck up from them. On the end of the sticks were bright balls of white light, presumably magic, that reflected off the shiny surfaces lighting the hall.

"Mantic, this workmanship is amazing. It looks as though this is one solid piece of wood," Sasha said, running her hand along the wall.

Mantic looked over his shoulder with warm gray eyes. "That is because it is. In fact this entire place is one piece of wood, and it's alive."

"This thing is a tree?" Keither said, incredulity etching his voice. He'd stopped.

Mantic looked appraisingly at him. "Not a tree but an organism, a plant. Yes, Elves can make plants grow as I'm sure you know. So, if you are aware of what you are doing you can make a plant grow however you want. We grow everything. That's how we mine, how we get our food, clean our water...everything."

Mantic walked on, stopping any questions. This was fine. Legon was sure that none of them would have a shortage of questions any time soon, but he didn't think they would be able to comprehend much right now anyway.

The hall led out to a balcony. To their right was a vast room that would give most people vertigo, though it didn't really seem like a room. The opening in the top of the dome was about two thirds the size of the floor below them. They could see a large area where people and, more important, dragons could maneuver. The room was circular with large alcoves around it, Legon guessed twelve in all judging by their size. The alcoves were lined up next to each other with only ten feet of wall separating one from another at the bottom and openings that arched to a point at the top, which was about fifty feet tall. Some had large cloth-looking doors that closed in the center, showing the Dragon's crest on it. Some were open and Legon saw the blue dragon walking into one. The hangars, as Mantic called them, were large in and of themselves, but still not big enough to take up the whole dome.

"Are there other things like this here?" Legon asked.

"Yes. The dragon hangars are only in the center but there are apartments, dining areas, an infirmary, and even a swimming area in this complex," Mantic answered.

"Swimming area?" Sasha asked, confused. Back home they had learned how to swim and Legon enjoyed swimming in the pond, but he had never heard of a swimming area. He too was confused.

"It's easier to show you," Mantic said with a smile.

There were halls that connected to the walkway and he saw them going deep into the dome. It was much larger than he had originally thought, and he was sure that it went deep into the ground as well. Mantic turned into an opening that led down a winding staircase that seemed to go on forever, with exits every fifteen feet to a new level.

When they got to the bottom they walked out onto the floor of the main room, but it wasn't the bottom. The dome had to be over two hundred feet high and this room, while large, couldn't have been more than eighty feet tall.

Legon looked up above the hangars to see large rectangular pieces of wood that stuck out from the wall. They were about half as wide as the hangar's base and they were about twenty feet long.

"Mantic, what are those?" Legon said, pointing to the blocks.

Mantic smiled. "Those are the protective sheaths, if you will, for the defensive crystals this dome uses."

"I don't get it," Sara said.

Mantic explained that magic could be stored in other objects like gemstones, which Arkin had already told them about. He then went on to say that during the War of Generations both the Elves and the Iumenta were engaged in a magical arms race. It was impractical to find gems big enough to store any significant amount of power, and they were finicky and hard to enchant.

During that time of the War, dragon domes were not in existence. The Elves grew hangers that were just curved buildings that the dragons stayed in. They grew fortresses out of trees and other plants, too. They could place spells on these structures, allowing the energy of the plant to power spells, and the domes today still used that principle. The structure was alive, and its energy went into everything.

However, these forts put the Iumenta at an extreme disadvantage; they could not make plants grow at will. Instead, they discovered crystalline technology, determining what made gems so good at holding magic and then finding a way to grow crystals with those specifications. From there, magic evolved rapidly and both sides began working on crystals, though even to this day, Mantic explained, Iumenta crystalline technology was far more advanced than Elven.

He went on to explain that there were crystals littering this dome that controlled everything from the dome's growth to its lighting. They also powered spells that allowed the dome to see far away, sensing enemies and even weather patterns. More important, these crystals powered protective wards that were extremely powerful, so strong, in fact, that no Elven or Iumenta dragon dome had ever been defeated.

Legon felt his head buzzing with the information. Mantic looked sympathetically at them. "This is a lot to take in. It will take you years to learn all that this place holds and does. Don't worry about it for now, just understand that it works."

They nodded. He waved for them to follow. They walked next to hangars, most empty or closed with different crests on the door. As they approached, a woman walked out. Legon's stomach gave a slight leap at the sight of her. She was an Elf, slender like all the other Elves, but her figure was incredible. He felt Keither's brain function stop as well, and he understood why Sasha and Sara had reacted they way they did to Mantic.

She was wearing a pink dress that looked to be made of silk or some other rare and expensive cloth. It was like no other he'd seen. It was as if a piece of fabric was wrapped or inexplicably flowed around her body, simple and elegant. His eyes moved up her body. Her face was warm with thin red lips and a small nose. It was her eyes that seemed to make time stop, though. They were a deep blue green, rich with color and character, with metallic looking specks in the irises that reflected pink. They were amazing. What were they? Then it hit him as Mantic reached forward to introduce the woman.

"You're a dragon!" Legon blurted without thinking.

It was the flecks of pink that gave it away. Arkin had told them that magic affected the look of one's eyes once they were strong enough to ascend. The more flecks in the eyes, the more magic. He hadn't understood what Arkin meant by "flecks" until now. She smiled widely, showing perfect white teeth.

"Guilty. My name is Iselin." She gave a slight bow to them.

She turned to Arkin and her voice become playfully condescending.

"Babysitting didn't wear you down too much did it? Do you need any more help?"

"Ha ha. I missed you too, Ise. Thank you for saving our collective behinds," Arkin said.

"Anytime."

"You were the dragon that saved us?" Keither said incredulously.

Legon and Keither felt the slight horror of knowing that their new true love had burned twenty people to a crisp not too long ago.

She laughed. "Why, do I look like a fire breathing beast to you?"

"Ah no, no...that's not what I'm saying," Keither stammered. "You're very attractive. Not that I was looking..."

Sara spoke. "He's fun to mess with."

"I can see that," Iselin said, smiling.

Keither chose silence. Legon thought that was a good idea. They stood quiet for a moment. He focused on Sasha's mind. She was thinking. What was she going...?

"So Iselin, I'm sorry we've been rude. I'm Sasha. This is Sara, Keither, Arkin, who you seem to know, and my brother Legon." As she finished she nudged him slightly forward. Reason and logic dictated that Sasha avoid doing anything embarrassing, something she usually succeeded at, except in one particular situation: Sasha's favorite pastime was trying to set him up with people. To her credit she was good at it, but he needed to find a way out of this. too late.

"You are a very beautiful woman Iselin. Your husband is lucky," Sasha said.

Iselin looked a little uncomfortable. "Oh, I'm single..."