(Dyn)

  Sighs of relief filled the Captain’s Quarters as the door opened, revealing a delivery of freshly brewed mahe rge ptter held two pots of the steaming dark drink, surrounded by a dozeurned mugs. The ship’s smallest Eade the delivery, a tiny figure amidst her t crewmates. She had to slide her slightly oversized bck bandana bato pce after setting the tray. When most of the other mprian crew crested well past seveall, her diminutive frame stood out as the only person aboard the ship shorter than Dyn’s five foot nine-and-a-half-inch height.

  Wedge gave him a preemptive stare and simply shook his head ‘no’ as Dyn gazed longingly at the closest thing this world had to coffee. He sighed and waited for Ru to show up for her owing. They were all waiting for her, and most of the team wasn’t in the mood to chat until after they had a mug of mana-tea. Left to his own devices, Dyn’s mind traveled back to st night, when he’d first met Echo von A’lyce, the smallest mprian.

  After Wedge had finished breaking him for the day, Dyn shuffled his way back to his . He made it to the stairs and was half-tempted to roll dowo save himself the effort when the smallest mprian appeared beside him, her help. She was kind and genuine, and he gdly accepted her offer.

  After practically carrying him dowairs, she didn’t leave his side and escorted him all the way to his . He thanked her after she’d gotten him settled into his hammock. Echo hesitated before leaving. She kept looking at his face.

  Dyn noticed and asked if he’d missed washing off a spot of blood. She giggled and shook her head, instead asking about his unusual ears. That was the icebreaker that got her to take a seat in the cramped room as they talked for a while.

  Echo was intensely curious about him, having never met a human before. Likewise, he had just as many questions for her, and they took turns sharing about themselves, quickly being fast friends.

  Eventually, Dyn gathered the ce to ask why she was so much smaller thahers. At first, she grew quiet, and he silently cursed himself, fearing he’d been inappropriate again. But then Echo lifted her skull and told him about her host, A’lyce.

  They were just a child, well before the age of genderability. Echo atient with Dyn’s stant interruptions, always taking the time to answer his questions before moving on. She seemed happy just to have someoo talk to.

  She expihat drai are benderless and remain that way until they undergo a magical process simir to puberty—if Dyn uood it correctly. Afterward, they use energy from their hoard to ge physical aspects of their body; crests and gender were the most frequently altered.

  That night, Dyn learned a lot about drai. Apparently, they have a magical an called a hoard, where they absorb and store energy from breaking dowals and minerals. He found it fasating, paring them to Earth’s dragon myths.

  After satisfying his curiosity with her detailed answers, Echo tihe tale of her host. As she spoke, his subscious had already begun pieg together fragments, stirring an uneasy, creeping sense of sorrow.

  A’lyce came from a family of explorers who’d temporarily settled down to start their own family. A decade had passed since A’lyce had been a hatg, and the opportunity of a lifetime had preseself to their parents.

  The League of Adventurers had discovered a habitable, unized phe first iuries, perhaps even millennia—named Lok’oria after Lo’kai, the adventurer who’d made the discovery while on an ued tract.

  For ten years, their parents remained in one pce, yet the call of the unknown only grew louder. Elves had charted much of the gaxy long before the drai had turheir gaze to the stars, but this was their ce to be first—to see what no one else had seen, to tread where no one else had dared.

  The desire to know what y beyond the hill, to peer around the bend, ruly left them. Finally, overe by wanderlust, they gave in, ving themselves that everything would be fine, as if wishing such a thing would make it so.

  A’lyce’s parents uprooted their lives, taking their ten-year-old child on an expedition to another p. Feions, their family had been explorers, each passing their knowledge, teiques, aage on to the .

  “Habitable” might’ve been a stretch for Lok’oria, still thawing from its most ret ice age. But the first year went well, and A’lyce caught the curiosity bug—a family tradition. It wasn’t until the end of the sed year that curiosity led A’lyce to an unfortunate discovery.

  As with other fiercely indepewelve-year-olds, they igheir parents’ wishes, venturing into unexplored areas. One such area was a cave—the tomb of a fallen kaiju. Afraid the expedition would take it from them, they told no one else about the perfectly preserved reptilian behemoth.

  The smell started a few weeks after A’lyce had found the creature, and each visit grew more treacherous as the warm weather melted the ice during the day, only to freeze it solid again at night. That’s when A’lyce caught a very different kind of bug. That’s when they got sick.

  The siess was something they’d never seen before; it ravaged A’lyce’s ability to absorb metals and minerals. What began as a mere loss of appetite quickly progressed into starvation as their underdeveloped hoard ran out of energy to sustain them

  The expedition included a highly skilled, unon-ranked mender—a mprian. She did what she could for A’lyce, but while rest lost health ossible, g the unknown siess itself was airely different matter. They were on an unized p, and the delivery ship wouldn’t arrive for another month.

  The mprian was immuo the disease, but the rest of the drai expedition was at risk. Faced with a terrible choice, they quarahe child, allowing only the meo visit safely.

  Desperate, A’lyce’s parents asked the mender if she had a child of her own to join with theirs. As it so happened, she did. Though it was a terrible idea and uo save their child, the parents were relentless, appealing to her maternal instincts. Eventually, physically aally exhausted, their desperation became hers as she watched the child waste away. passion won over better judgment, and she agreed to perform Symbiosis.

  The mender’s abilities, even when bined with mprian heion, only bought the child another week. Echo von A’lyce had been born into this world forever trapped in the body of a child.

  The first child left too soon, the sed arrived too early—eae a different face of the same tragedy.

  Dyn was a blubbering mess of snot and tears when Echo finished her tale. He looked at her with quivering lips and asked if she wanted a hug. She told him she’d like that.

  Ign his exhausted, ag body, he climbed out of the hammod hugged the ever-living crap out of that small skeleton. Theold him he was warm and gave good hugs.

  Dyn found himself ba the Captain’s Quarters, still waiting for the meeting to start. His sniffling caught Eury’s attention.

  She hesitated, a flicker of across her otherwise guarded face. “Are you alright?” she asked, her voice mehan usual.

  He nodded and lied, “Allergies.” It was all he trusted himself to say without giving in to the sadhreatening his posure. He wiped the er of his eye with a knuckle.

  The smallest mprian noticed him too, giving him a tiny wave before disappearing through the door.

  A few moments ter, Ru burst through the door and said, “Show of hands. Who knew Dyn was a refugee?” The door whined as it shut behind her.

  The room grew silent as everyone respoo her question. Dyn looked around. His fellow initiates had seen his League card, and all raised their hands. Wedge, who already knew from Nathan, raised his hand as well. Dyn hadn’t expected the four additional hands from Tome & Key; everyone except Ru had known.

  She g the member of her team, Athrax. “Really…? How’d you find out?”

  The old soldier unsciously goward the twins, but remained silent.

  Ru sighed. “Everyone on this bloody airship knows, and I’m the st to find out? Even the crew knew.” She threw up her cwed hands. “And here I was, ed about keeping you all in the loop.”

  Wedge tried to defuse the situation. “I assumed the Guildmaster had already told you.”

  “He should’ve…” Her jaw ched. “Regrettably, he chose not to. I’ll be having a chat with him whe back. As for you lot,” she pointed around the room, “if you see something as idiotic as taking a refugee along for a quest, bring it to my attention immediately.”

  She took another breath, calming herself. “I’ve spoken with ee and he wants me to treat him like the other initiates—”

  “Worse,” Dyn said.

  She gred at the interruption. “What?”

  “I want you to treat me worse thaher initiates,” he said and then made a scowl. “Like get all mean and grumpy. You know, give me a super hard time.”

  The entire room looked at him as if he were crazy—except for Wedge, who just shrugged.

  “Clearly, as you all see, this is all his decision. Are there any questions?” she asked.

  Surprising everyone, Wedge raised his hand.

  “Wedge?” she said, calling on him.

  “When do you wao resume his training?” he asked.

  “We’ll get to that in a moment.” She turo Dyn. “Alright, everyone’s here. Tell them,” she gestured toward him.

  Dyn gnced around, waiting for someoo tell him something. When no one spoke up, he asked, “What?” He poio himself. “Do you mean me?”

  Ru put her hand at the bridge of her snout, c her closed eyes. As a humanoid husky, Dyn couldn’t help but find the gesture adorable.

  She sighed again. “This is the part where you ask me to make you a promise, remember?”

  “ht.” He smacked his palm against his forehead. “Promise me you’ll ignore my refugee tract.” He smiled and nodded.

  “No,” she said.

  “No?” He narrowed his eyes, w if it was a trick question. He could’ve sworn that’s what she’d asked him to do earlier.

  “Specify when the promise ends… Or I’ll have to keep it forever. I’m not making that mistake again,” she said.

  “Having to be careful what you ask for sounds very fae-ish to me.” Dyn pced a finger on his . “Is it from a Fae orb?” He tried to apply what he’d learned from his book.

  “Worse,” she grumbled. “An Order orb. Be exceptionally careful when dealing with anything involving Order.”

  Dyn interlocked his fingers and turhem outward, crag his knuckles. “Alright, let’s try this again.” He rolled his shoulders and shook out his fingers as if gearing up for a. “Ru, leader of Tome & Key. I wish for you to promise me that you’ll ignore my tract as a refugee. Until the end of this trip, that is my plea.” He nodded as he finished his rhyme.

  Ru rolled her eyes at his shenanigans.

  “What?” he asked. “You said to be more specific.”

  She shook her head at him disapprovingly and said, “I promise.”

  Three tiny, half-transparent golden shields maed above her, positioning themselves to cover her forehead, muzzle, and chest. They hovered briefly before melding into the okamijin.

  “Yep, magic’s still pretty cool,” Dyn said.

  “Excellent.” Ru let out a breath. “Now that I’m no longer flicted, Wedge, I want you to run him until he vomits or breaks something. Preferably both, but you choose the order. e find me when he’s ready to be fixed.”

  “Yes.” Dyn gave a small fist pump.

  Ru ehe meeting, and the group dispersed. Most of them headed toward the mess hall in search of breakfast.

  “You’re insane,” Eury told him as she walked by.

  “Listen,” W’itney said. “If this is about your shape… I just want you to know, I think you’re perfect just the way you are.” They gave him a sly wink. “Isn’t that right, Hay’len?”

  Hay’len’s purple face grew flush as W’itney dragged them unwillingly into another unfortable versation. They g W’itney, who raised their eyebrows and oward Dyn.

  “Yes,” Hay’len said, wringing their hands. “I think your weight is… well proportioned.” They gave him a slight nod after the pliment, quickly pushing past their twin to exit through the door.

  Yesterday, Dyn learhat stamina and mana were linked a one would refresh the other. After he’d colpsed from exhaustion, Wedge would simply get Ostello, the well-dressed, intense-looking elf, to use one of his abilities that restored mana. It was impressive how much training he could do with a nearly unlimited source of energy. No wonder everyone was so fit.

  Now, he could sistently push past his limits—not that his current limitations were very high. But between Ru and Ostello, injuries and exhaustion weren’t issues when you had access to magic. With almost no dowraining while on magic felt like cheating, and Wedge made sure Dyed extremely hard over the wo days.