Chapter 2

  I wish you would have seen that with me, but it is too late now. I just wish I could have convinced Kai before it was too late. You can be secure in the knowledge that at least one of your children thinks you are anything more than a monster.

  -Daxia’s farewell note to the Devil

  Zara sat in her room, a datapad in one hand that held within it a chart of the current sector they were in with all the safe journeying lanes. She was closed off to the world, listening to the pleasant melody of The Muse, an Ideal who had spent her whole life ascending the levels of the Ignited Artisans through her music. The Muse was a shining example of the Exalted Sovereign’s new dream of the world, where being Ignited was not just for those who fought. Zara loved her music. It provided her focus, buoying her studies on the waves of gentle beats and soothing her with a melodic voice. Her room on her mother’s ship was well furnished, with a soft bed, a spacious closet, a desk, and a holo display for her entertainment when she wasn’t pouring through her parent’s datapads on star charts and planetary exports and imports. Several posters lined the open spaces of the wall, one a depiction of the Empress who ruled the Nazeko Empire. Her wings spread out around her with patterns reminiscent of stained glass and her pearlescent eyes stared down with matronly care toward the onlooker. She was beautiful, the most beautiful being in all the galaxy, some said. Other posters depicted some of her favorite Artisans’ music albums including, of course, the Muse. An Ikaroan woman with pale grey skin, fins instead of ears, and long flowing silver hair. Zara hummed along as she poured over her datapad.

  “Corfulan… connected to Trachia, Othonoi, Gaios, and Erikousa.” She tapped her datapad a few times, repeating the names in her head before leaning back in her seat and closing her eyes. “Take the path from Corfulan to Gaios, Lekfada, Kefalonia, then Zakynthos to get back on the main trade route to Rodina.” She opened one eye, scrolling through her star chart and grinned when she saw she was correct. A message popped up on her display from her father. “Can you check on our guests, Zara?” it read. Perfect. It had been a week since the dragon– she stopped her line of thinking. Longshi, not dragon, they were the longshi now. Her and the Shaped were brought aboard and Zara hadn’t seen them once. She had kept prodding both of her parents about them though. It was never anything too blunt, just a subtle mention of them here and there when Zara was on bridge duty. She knew her father would crack eventually, and suggest that they let her speak to the longshi just to get rid of some of her curiosity.

  “Thank you, dad,” she muttered to herself before she replied with a quick “yeah.” She pulled her headphones off, hopped up to her feet, and left through her sliding metal door into the hallway.

  She dodged past some murav who were busying themselves around the ship. All of their antennae were up straight, a small mark that they were moving as one within odinrazum, a hivemind that made it easier to get tasks done in perfect coordination. It wasn’t too long of a walk back to the lift which descended into the cargo bay. When she got there, the sounds of livestock echoed through the metal chambers. They normally didn’t trade in livestock, but her mother assured her that it’d help keep their “guests” hidden from any independent Ignited that might think to scan their ship. When Zara asked why anyone would suspect them, reiterating her point about merchants being beneath the Ignited’s notice, her mother only smiled and told her that such a thing was unlikely, and that she shouldn’t worry about it. Well, she did. Though she wasn’t sure why anyone would want to hurt the longshi if she was so important. Then again, maybe they all were like that. She didn’t know, she had never met one before.

  Zara walked past the various enclosures of Aphid-Cows and Chicken-Flies to the only cargo container completely closed off. She knocked on it twice, “Lord Theo, Madam Hedar, how are you holding up?”

  A deep voice, Theo, responded, “We are handling ourselves just fine. Care to join us?”

  Zara’s antennae twitched in anticipation and she could barely contain her excitement. She couldn’t let them know that though, so she took a deep breath and tried to make herself appear nonchalant. She tapped a code onto the container and it hissed open, revealing a well-furnished, if cramped room. Or maybe, the hulking mass of armor that was Theo made it seem that way. He still wore the cloak, though Zara couldn’t see why he would wear it when he was already hidden beneath layers of animals outside and inside of a cargo container. Madam Hedar looked small in comparison, also still wearing her cloak. Despite how different the two of them looked, they were equally intimidating. Madam Hedar with her molten colored eyes peering beneath the hood of her cloak and her black scaled tail ending in a tuft of white hair. Theo with his armor and sculpted features and disarming smile. She probably shouldn’t be scared of him, the Order of the Ignited were allies of the Nazeko, but she remembered what her father told her, Ignited attract other Ignited, and that meant danger was sure to come for them. She didn’t believe that fully, but that might just be because she really wanted to speak to them both.

  The two of them seemed comfortable at least. Madam Hedar was distracted trying to fiddle with a knife and a piece of wood in her clawed hands. She was trying to carve it, poorly. “What are you doing?” Zara asked.

  Theo’s smile widened, leaning forward, “I was teaching Madam Hedar here how to do some wood carving.” Just as he said that, Madam Hedar’s knife bit into her scaled hand and she hissed in frustration. “Don’t use that name, that is not me any more,” her tail whipped in a fury behind her. “Forgive me, Daxia,” Theo corrected with a small chuckle, “I was trying to teach Daxia how to carve wood.”

  “And doing a bad job at it,” Daxia quipped then tossed the failed experiment to the side for now. She stood, her perfect poise apparent even over her cloaked form. She stepped forward gracefully to Zara, who had about a head’s height over her, “I want to walk around the ship.”

  Zara’s antennae perked in surprise. She wanted to agree so badly, but she had to keep up appearances, her mother would be furious if she let her out. “Uhh, I’m not sure if that’s a good idea.”

  Theo joined in. “I agree. It’s dangerous, Madam Hedar.” The name made Daxia’s tail shoot up, ruining her perfect composure.

  “I thought I just told you not to use that name,” she hissed.

  “I am only trying to remind you of what it is you are hiding from,” Theo assured.

  “I do not need a reminder,” she snapped, turning back to Zara. “Please? I’ve barely had a chance to stretch my legs.”

  Zara hesitated. It was hard not to shrink beneath those dangerous eyes of hers. Yet, for all of that fear, Zara was curious about Daxia. They had picked her and Theo up outside of one of her family’s usual trade routes. Zara’s sense of duty battled with her curiosity and eventually the latter won out, Zara avoided Daxia’s gaze to look at Theo. “Maybe just for an hour?” Daxia perked up and also looked back at Theo. His gaze remained stern, unconvinced, “I just came from the bridge, there’s no incoming or outgoing vessels on our current path other than the usual streamer eels. It’ll be fine,” she smiled, hoping that it would help mask the fact that her heart was beating fast from lying to the Shaped.

  Theo’s eyes watched hers, then glanced down some as if he were looking through her and could see her heart beat. He sighed, “very well, but bring her back in an hour.”

  Daxia grinned so wide she showed fangs, then grabbed Zara by the wrist and dragged her out of the cargo container with unnatural strength.

  Zara let out a surprised sound, “Where are we going?” Zara asked.

  “Anywhere that is not here.”

  “Wait, wait,” Zara said, digging in her heels. Daxia stopped, looking back at her expectantly. Zara pulled out her datapad and quickly sent a text message to her father that said, “guests are good, I’m going to go back to studying.” She let out a small sigh of relief then looked down at the claws still around her wrist, “you can let go now.”

  Daxia paused, then cleared her throat, letting go and folding her hands in front of her again, “my apologies,” a pause followed, awkward, as Zara wasn’t exactly sure what to do now that she had succeeded in getting Daxia out of her small prison. From the look on Daxia’s face, Zara suspected that she didn’t know either. Some of the Murav around the room were starting to give them looks, “do you have a favorite place on the ship?” Daxia finally asked.

  “Zara blinked, “my room?” She said with uncertainty

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  “Perfect, we’re going there,” Daxia turned towards the lift to lead them towards it before stopping. She looked back at her. “Where is it?”

  Zara wasn’t sure what to make of Daxia, even from this short interaction. Dragons were supposed to be terrifying monsters that burned the souls of other beings to a cinder. They weren’t supposed to be so… normal? That didn’t seem to be the right word. Daxias' unsurety got a small chuckle out of the young tlyek. She then muttered. “Follow me,” then pressed the button for the lift. It sent the two upward into the main decks of the ship. Daxia looked at all of the murav in awe as they busied themselves about the corridors of the ship. When they got to the top floor, it was Zara’s turn to grab Daxia by the arm and tug her along, “we have to be fast, if one of the zhuk—”

  Ana turned the corner. As always she was in her armor, adding to her already bulky warrior’s build in a way that made her seem like a mountain walking the world. At her side was a sword larger than Zara was tall, but it looked normal in the zhuk’s hand. Zara stopped in her tracks and Daxia bumped into her. “Why did we stop?” the longshi asked then looked up in awe at the zhuk.

  “Little Zara,” Ana began, voice deep. “What are you doing?”

  “Oh hi, Ana,” Zara began, “I was just showing our guest around the ship,” she hoped that if she acted like this was normal that Ana wouldn’t question it too much. Zara was the first mate after all.

  Ana hummed, though it sounded more like a buzz. “Does the captain know of this?”

  Zara stepped forward, looking up at Ana with a squint. “They asked me to check in on them and I did.”

  Ana’s look was incredulous, “and that involves taking them away from the cargo bay and away from the souls that hide them?”

  “Yes,” Zara answered, but she refused to back down.

  Their staredown was intense, or at least Zara felt like it was intense. Ana finally sighed, “I will be checking in with the Captain to verify this information.”

  “Thank you, Ana,” Zara chimed with an award-winning smile, pulling the still awe-struck Daxia along until they slipped into her room, the door shutting behind them. Zara let out a sigh of relief. “Alright,that’ll give us some time and maybe seeing that the ship didn’t spontaneously combust will make my mother see reason.”

  “Why didn’t she stop you?” Daxia asked curiously.

  “Ana’s scared of me,” Zara teased, “Actual size doesn’t mean anything, it’s all about having the feeling of a big person.”

  “She looks like she could flatten you with a single flex of muscle. Why hasn’t she ignited?” Daxia asked while beginning to step around the room, looking curiously at everything inside and up at the posters.

  Zara blinked, that wasn’t the question she was expecting. One hand fiddled with the fur lining around her neck as she tried to come up with an answer. “Well…all of the Ignited are supposed to join the Order and have to leave the Empire or wherever they’re from.”

  Daxia nodded in understanding and stared up at the poster of the Empress as if mesmerized. That was most people’s reactions, Zara found. “That is strange,” Daxia mused. “Wouldn’t you want your strongest warriors to be close to you? Wouldn’t you have to rely on the Order if the Ignited attacked?”

  “Why would they attack us? Besides, the Empress is on the council with them. They’ll help us out no matter what.”

  Daxia didn’t seem convinced, she hummed then shrugged and turned back to her. “You have not-warrior Ignited, yes? Is this their art? Can I see more of it? We do not have that back where I am from.”

  “You don’t?” Zara asked. She didn’t know much about the longshi enclaves. Most people were smart enough not to go to them.

  Daxia shook her head, looking down, “To be a dragon like our ancestors means we must only destroy and conquer, never build. All of the Ignited back home were warriors.”

  Zara nodded slowly. She couldn’t imagine how different it must be where Daxia was from. She wanted to ask a million questions but instead she grabbed her headphones and pulled out her datapad. “We’ll start with the Muse then, she’s an Ideal who makes music.”

  Daxia’s eyes went wide in disbelief. “An Ideal musician? How does that work?”

  “No idea, but her music is great. Here, listen.” She walked over and plopped the headphones on Daxia’s weird, knife-like ears. Zara turned on a track and waited for her reaction.

  Daxia sat there for a moment with a perplexed look on her face before she turned to Zara. “I don’t know what I expected, it seems…slow?”

  “It’s meant to be relaxing,” Zara said with a small chuckle.

  “Relaxing…” Daxia mused. “It feels strange to have an Ignited create something that is meant to be relaxing. Being Ignited is the least relaxing thing there is.”

  Zara shrugged. “Maybe that’s why she wants to make relaxing music.”

  Daxia nodded, then listened to more of the song in silence. She took a deep breath in, then out. A quiet moment shared between the two of them passed as a hidden tension in the longshi seemed to melt away. Her eyes went hooded as she looked to the floor. “Thank you,” she said, cutting through the quiet then paused, “Oh ash and cinders I realize I still do not even know your name, other than First Mate Luna,”

  Zara stiffened, how had she not even introduced herself this entire time? “I’m sorry, my name is Zara, it’s nice to actually get to meet you, Daxia, that’s what Theo said your name was?”

  Daxia nodded, “Daxia, yes, that is what I am now, that is who I will be when I join the Order.”

  Zara blinked, though she wasn’t sure why she hadn’t expected that to begin with, “so is that why you are running away from home?”

  Daxia frowned, clutching the headphones a bit tighter. She shook her head, “not why, but the situation back home is complicated, I do not wish to be there right now.” Her shoulders slumped and she added, “lord Theo is nice, but he reminds me a little of that home. In the cargo container with him is the last place I want to be right now. I do not know what that bodes for the future.”

  “Want to talk about it?” Zara asked.

  “Not right now. Can I just listen to music for a while longer?”

  Zara smiled. “Of course. Let me know if you want to listen to anything else, too.”

  Daxia nodded and the two spent time in each other’s company. Zara showed her all of the music she had collected in her travels. Daxia eagerly consumed everything she shared. Zara had lost track of time but both of them were brought back to reality when Zara heard a knock at the door. Both of them were at her desk now, with Zara showing Daxia videos of one of the Muse’s performances but their attention snapped to the door immediately. “Stay here,” Zara said to Daxia as she walked to the door and opened it. Her mother and Ana stood on the other side of it, looming. Zara gave her best smile, acted as if nothing was out of place, then remembered to salute, “Captain. Did you need something?”

  Captain Luna peered from her to the longshi sitting at her desk. She did not look pleased, but Zara forced her smile to remain, “Luboxia…” she sighed, her eyes falling closed and her expression turned to one of matronly disappointment, “why is Madam Hedar in your room?”

  Zara’s smile remained firm, “I was ensuring she was being taken care of. Her soul needed something to improve herself with otherwise it’d cinder. So I was teaching her about music,” sure it was a partial lie, she didn’t know exactly how ignited souls worked, but she knew that they had to improve themselves or else bad things happened. The Captain did not appear convinced, she raised an elegant brow and didn’t say a word. Which forced Zara’s nerves to keep her talking, “and I couldn’t do that down in the cargo bay because you said we weren’t allowed to access the webnet down there and…”

  She was cut off, “ah, so you can listen,” the captain mused. “Though it appears to be selective, as I remember also saying that Madam Hedar was to remain in the cargo bay.”

  Zara huffed, “no one’s going to know she’s here, we’ve been traveling for a week now with no interruptions or anyone even questioning our passing.”

  “And that can change at any moment,” the captain chided, “and that means we must keep Madam Hedar ready to be hidden beneath the souls of the crew at all costs. If this vessel were to be boarded, such a shield will not work.”

  Daxia meekly chimed in from behind, “The order had given both myself and Lord Theo shaped Ghost Cloaks, our souls will be hidden from the life sense of other Ignited.”

  The captain’s look turned to one of displeasure as she turned from Zara to Daxia, “of course, more shaped powers. I cannot know what will happen, while that may be useful, who knows if whatever is chasing you will not have a way to see through that. I will not argue this further,” she turned her gaze back to Zara, “First Mate, I order you to return Madam Hedar to the cargo bay.”

  The Captain only called her ‘first mate’ when she was angry, so Zara knew better than to push now. She sighed, then saluted, “yes, Captain.” Both her and Ana turned and left. Zara looked back to the wilted form of Daxia, “I’m sorry.”

  Daxia frowned, her eyes fixated on the ground, “It is alright, you tried, which is what matters.” She paused, then looked up at Zara again, “Can we spend time together again soon? Even if it is in Cargo Bay?”

  “If the others agree to it, I don’t see why not,” Zara said.

  Daxia beamed, her sadness disappearing completely, “if they won’t, I’ll threaten to burn them alive!” she said, tail swaying behind her.

  “I-I wouldn’t do that,” Zara said with a hesitant chuckle.

  “That was a joke.” Daxia said, still grinning. Zara let out an internal sigh of relief. The two departed for the cargo bay again, descended the lift, then split ways as Zara returned Daxia to Theo. Zara returned to her studies, though her mind lingered on the mysterious dragon that lay in the deck beneath. Despite her mother’s warnings, the way that Daxia acted made her more curious as to just what she was hiding from the rest of them, why she was running, and more importantly, what had her mother so scared.