It was some time before Lila was able to find a pool of water to wash up in. This time of year the floating isles drifted above the northern edge of the Burned Lands, meaning the purple dragon was forced search each individual island for water, as there was very little to be found below. Still, she was eventually able to find a pond deep enough for her to bathe.
The water was cold, and the air at altitude was brisk. Lila shivered as she climbed to shore, but at least she was no longer covered in drying blood. She was somewhat disappointed that she hadn't yet learned to control fire. That would make drying up a breeze. Still, the sun was out, and even if the air was cold, water didn't stick long to scales. In a few minutes the purple dragon was once again, quite comfortably warm and dry.
After drying, the young dragon decided she should probably meet up with the rest. Lila was starting to realise just how much trouble she was going to be in. Not only had she left the ship before docking and without supervision, but she had left Suishou to go exploring on her own. There was no explaining this absence to the Guardians.
With a sigh she set out to find the city, and her certan scolding. Lila had figured that finding Volans again wouldn't be difficult. After all, she thought, it's a giant flying city! How hard could it be to find? Turns out, it was quite hard. The wild mana that kept the islands afloat also caused them to tumble, and to rotate, and to shift. Among the islands, there wasn't a constant landmark, and of course in the chaos of dying, Lila had also lost track of the airship. The poor dragon had no idea where she'd wound up. As for the city itself, it must have hidden behind an island, or drifted into a cloud, for it was nowhere to be seen.
After thoroughly searching from her vantage point, Lila came to the conclusion that she'd find nothing without taking off once again. With a few cautious beats of her wings, the purple dragon slowly took to the sky. She'd decided that it was best not to be in a rush among the floating isles. After several minutes of slowly ascending, Lila crested the highest of the islands, and was greeted by a wounderius view. Beneath her the islands drifted lazily about, below even that the charred remains of the Burned Lands spread out towards the south, meeting with the horizon some great distance away. To the north, there was green almost as far as the eye could see. The forests were only interrupted by the soft blue of the Choran river.
Lila forgot for a moment that she was lost. She forgot that she had just died. She forgot about the thousand questions bouncing around in her head. She even, if only briefly, forgot about how much trouble she was going to be in when she landed. For just a moment she was living her dream. She was seeing the world from a mile and a half in the air. The purple dragon was finally on her grand adventure.
And that's when the city caught her eye. North of the isles, slowly poking its nose out from behind a cloud, Volans shimmered. Lila grinned, there was nothing between her and the city. Not a single floating chunk of earth, nor a cloud stood in her way. The purple dragon decided she would make up for her recent cautious flying, and dove hard towards the city. She was going to find her friends, and go exploring!
"I'm so sorry dears, I do wish I had something more to give you!"
"No, really, thank you so much!" Breeze still didn't know how to react to this fire dragon's, Azar's, kindness. Even before her parents died, even when she had personal servants, no one had fussed over her like this. And now, some woman, living in the slums whom she'd never met, was feeding her and her brother. Feeding them meat no less! Up this high, meat was expensive, the two hadn't had the luxury for months. Not for as long as they had been living on the streets.
"Poor dears, you were used to so much more at home, weren't you?"
The two young dragons, and their canine escort had been lead to a small, run down, wooden shack, mere yards from city's edge. The house, if it could even be called that, was a single room. In one corner were four ratty blankets, and a pile of flattened cardboard boxes on the concrete floor, that seemed to serve as a makeshift bed. On the other side of the building, a little fire pit had been carved into the floor, just beneath the single, glassless window.
Over said fire pit, Azar was cooking some cheap processed meat with potatoes in a cast iron skillet she'd produced from somewhere behind the house. In the past, Breeze would have been grossed out, but she'd been eating out of the trash for several months. She wasn't about to complain.
"Maybe," Breeze replied, "But this is a lot more than we've come to expect. Thank you."
Azar gave the siblings a soft, sad grin, and started to say something, but was cut off by some sort of commotion outside.
"Quit shoving!"
"I'll shove ya all I want, cheater!"
Azar sighed, then shouted, "Oi! Drop it, you lot! We've got company!"
"But mum, Anvar isn't following the rules!" A young boy piped back.
"I ain't following the rules 'cause you keep changing 'em!" An older, maybe early adolescent, girl shot back.
"Play nice or don't play at all!"
"Fine!" Both voices whined in unison, then fell to an inaudible level.
"I'm sorry," Azar was addressing Breeze and Tremor again, "Those two have fought like devils sense my oldest left for school.
"Left for school?" Tremor asked, "Forgive me if I'm being rude, but... how? Breeze and I haven't had the means to stay in a company school. How do you, in such a similar situation to ourselves, afford a private school?"
Azar grinned, "We didn't. That boy's the most clever dragon you'll ever meet. He got into the Temple Academy on scholarship!" She paused then sighed, "Wish they'd cover travel expenses though. He hasn't been able to fly back for the summer in years."
The siblings quietly mused on this information while the fire dragoness finished cooking. The Temple Academy was the most prestigious school in the country, only the richest families, and of course, the Purple Dragon, could attend. Breeze couldn't help but wonder what it was like for this oldest child. He most certainly didn't fit in.
As the young dragons mulled this over, the smell of fried meat filled the small schack, and for the first time in what seemed like forever, Breeze felt some sense of home-ness. Not quite like home, per say, no, this family was far too humble, but it sure felt nice. She and her brother were, for the first time in so long, in the care of someone kind. In the coming months, Breeze would find herself thinking back to this moment. This quiet moment. This temporary moment. This moment that would be one of the last bastions of peace in a life that would soon find itself clutched in the madness of a world rewriting itself.
But for the time present, Breeze found herself happy. Happiness that would soon turn to confusion as a number of voices drifted into the small hut. There seemed to be a rapidly forming crowd outside. There were shouts, and at first Breeze worried there was a fight, or some kind of riot, but the voices seemed to be excited, not angry. The three dragons and single dog inside the house all exchange confused glances, before Tremor said, "I'm going to go figure out what's going on," and stood up.
"Wait for me," Breeze said jumping up to follow.
Azar smiled as they headed for the door, and called after them, "On 'our way back in, tell the children it's time to eat!"
They both voiced an acknowledgment as they curiously poked their heads into the street. The crowd seemed to have formed around something near the city's edge. People, dragons and non draconics alike, clammared forwards, trying to catch a glimpse of... something. Neither sibling could tell what from where they were standing.
"Excuse me," Breeze asked a passer by, a one eared tabby cat who was tall enough to see over most of the crowd, "What's going on?"
"It's the purple dragon!" The tabby chirped excitedly, "The purple dragon just landed!"
The siblings glanced at each other. The day just seemed to be getting stranger and stranger.