A few days after Hak's encounter with the three dragons and Nestor's crash course with Spyro and his friends, the five Realm leaders sat around a sizable wooden table within the cavernous meeting room of Stone Hill Castle. The signature tools of each attendant – a hammer, battle axe, ornate staff-wand, tribal walking staff, and cauldron of pink rock salts – lay against the wall at the back of the room.

"I can't believe you all agreed to this."

"I can't believe you're still complaining about it."

Cosmos eye-rolled at his Peace Keeper counterpart's nonchalant retort.

To spare everyone's sanity, Nestor cleared his throat before the wizard could fire a quip of his own. "You know as well as the rest of us that we must reestablish connections with the Ecologists. Considering how long they've been out of the loop, it's only fair their leader come here so they can acquaint themself with us."

Especially since Nestor had been the one to send said leader an open invitation after a majority vote among him and the other leaders the other day.

Cosmos scoffed at the Artisan's preposterous words. "Reacquaint. Even you should be questioning the validity of allowing one of those heretics to participate in this meeting, Nestor. Are we truly deigning to associate with them as if what happened millennia ago never happened?"

A faint growl echoed within Bruno's throat in response, only to quiet down at the gentle feel of the Dream Weaver leader's hand on his speckled shoulder.

"Keep in mind, Cosmos," Lateef admonished with trademark zen, "Just as we have had time to form assumptions of them, so have they unto us. It is in the interest of us all to help dispel toxic notions on both sides. Besides, let us not forgot that all our clans share a piece of the blame."

"Plus, there's the benefits of getting a scientist clan on our side," Titan added with arms crossed on the table. A frustrated frown followed suit. "I don't know about you guys, but me and the other Peace Keepers are getting pretty sick of having to play keep up with all these enemies having more up-to-date weaponry than us."

Nestor hummed in agreement. "Then we must do our best to ensure that their leader feels welcomed. It's the least we can do on behalf of our realms after all."

Lateef nodded; Cosmos rolled his eyes (again); Bruno huffed tersely; Titan shrugged.

Good enough, the Artisan relented. He could just hope this consensus would endure to the meeting's end.

As if in tune with his thoughts, a light-blue glowing portal materialized before the group, startling enough that Lateef and Nestor had to restrain Cosmos and Titan from jumping up and reaching for their weapons. Bruno furrowed his brow at the telltale crackle of electricity and lack of magical energy. Tech for a grand entrance instead – he'd expected as much.

From the miasma of energy emerged a dragon none expected.

Arms behind their back, their body structure resembled Cedric of the Magic Crafters except vaguely blocky, black scales contrasting against the deep green underbelly, wing membranes, question mark-shaped tail tuft, and eyes. White angular horns ran backward then away from each other above the low bun at which their dark green hair ended. Their facial features resembled Lindar's due to the narrow snout yet without a sharp divot on the upper lip and with a small nose horn. Finally, their clothing consisted of a deep red business jacket and white dress shirt with the sleeves rolled up and a matching maroon bowtie.

The Ecologist leader had arrived.

Without a word, the newcomer took easy casual steps towards the table, their eyes subtly taking in the other leaders, as the portal shrunk out of existence behind them with a twinkle. Once they reached the table, the dark dragon opened their mouth – and sneezed. All over Cosmos.

"Ugh, sorry for that," the dragon spoke in an apologetic tone that revealed a strong feminine voice, right hand in front of their mouth, as the sea-foam wizard hastily conjured a cloth and wiped himself off in frantic disgust. "One of my coworkers was in the middle of a botanical experiment involving pollen when I was passing by and forgot to lower the dome all the way. The excitement of an experiment bearing results will do that to you."

Um okay. Nestor cleared his throat before standing up and extending a hand in welcome. "It is an honor to make your acquaintance, Elder...?"

"Sofia," the dragoness replied as she revealed her left forearm – a metal one to everyone's shock – and returned Nestor's greeting with a firm grip. "And likewise. Now," she retreated her hand to gesture the palm outward in a genial fashion, "I believe some reciprocation is in order."

Nestor chuckled politely. This newcomer did not miss a beat, did she?

"Of course," he patted his own chest, "I am Nestor, leader of the Artisans." One by one, he gestured to each of his peers. "This is Titan, commander of the Peace Keepers. The shorter fellow next to him is Bruno, who presides over the Beast Makers. The one you just sneezed on is Cosmos, head of the Magic Crafters. And that is Lateef, leader of the Dream Weavers."

Sofia bent down in a respectful curtsy. "It is an honor to meet all of you."

Cosmos narrowed his eyes, scooching a little farther away from their guest lest he catch any more spittle. "I didn't expect your guild remained capable of magic."

Undoing the gesture, Sofia blinked at Cosmos before realization flashed in her eyes. "Oh no, that wasn't magic but rather teleportation technology. Usually it would have been more instantaneous, but I had to do some portal-hopping until it was within range of where Nestor said the meeting would take place in his letter. If any of you gentlemen need a demonstration to better understand what I mean, I'd be more than happy to –"

"No, no, that's alright," Lateef assured with a gentle chuckle as he held up his hand, "what matters is we are all present – and now that we are, we would like your input on the Ecologists' reintegration with the rest of the Dragon Realms."

The dark dragoness averted eye contact in brief embarrassment before clearing her throat and sitting down between Cosmos and Bruno, Nestor doing the same so the meeting could start at last.

Nothing eventful followed afterwards. Just discussions regarding the Ecologists' current situation and what Sofia and her guild intended to do moving forward, along with a few questions and suggestions about resources and the scattered dragon residents' reunions. That is until the meeting concluded, and everyone got up to leave, when Cosmos noticed a detail on Sofia's person that he hadn't before.

"A rather odd choice of apparel for someone of your profession and status, don't you think?"

When Sofia turned to him in confusion, the wizard curtly jerked his head downward. The dragoness turned her eyes that same way until she realized he had referred to her wrist – to be more specific a rainbow bracelet with white plaid interlace.

"Oh. Oh!" Sofia blushed. "Just something an apprentice of mine made a long time ago." She held her wrist up and gave the article a fond gaze. "I've had it with me for so long, sometimes I forget I'm even wearing it."

An apprentice? Made that? For their mentor, no less?

Cosmos felt a weird feeling in the pit of his gut take shape and absolved to bury it down as much as possible. However, before he could open his mouth for a saucy comment, somebody elbowed past the sea-green reptile. Titan eyed the bracelet and gave Sofia his classic toothy smile.

"Aww, reminds me of the little wooden weapons the trainees make for me and the other veterans." He widened his grin even more, still genuine. "Kid must think pretty highly of you, huh?"

Blushing harder now, Sofia sidled her eyes away with a flattered face.

Cosmos rolled his eyes. Of course, this upstart would make instant friends with the heretic. For someone who headed a group charged with defending the Dragon Realms, Titan had no issue with being chummy towards someone he just met, never mind that person's reputation. Didn't help that Nestor and even Bruno seemed to warm up to this cad as well within five sentences of speaking to her one-on-one.

"There is no shame in empathy, my friend."

Cosmos stiffened up in alarm and shot his head around to discover Lateef suddenly beside him, the monk schooling his usual calm and all-knowing demeanor. When the elder reptile's words hit him at last, Cosmos puffed up like an insulted peacock and turned his head away in dramatic stubbornness.

"Please," he hissed at low volume, "empathy requires having something in common and I assure you that I have nothing – read my lips, nothing – in common with that – that—" Cosmos gesticulated with helpless hands in a vain attempt to get something, anything, out regarding that woman!

A few minutes into the mini-show and Lateef could tell his fellow elder didn't have a metaphorical leg to stand on. Cosmos, despite his pride, realized the same and so resorted to the only other solution that he knew: cross his arms, pout, and pretend Lateef had nothing on him.

Decent attempt but Lateef knew that trick all too well.

"It is not as though anyone is asking you to fall in love with her. If you do not like her, then you do not like her. All I suggest is that you not be so quick to extend the way you view the Ecologists towards yourself as well."

When Cosmos looked to him in utter perplexity, Lateef held back the urge to chuckle. "It isn't healthy to bury your emotions, let alone from yourself. Take the time to sit down and analyze why you feel the way you do. You may have an easier time seeing the truth afterwards."

And with that, Lateef departed to sit back in his seat and watch the other leaders in their burgeoning conversation with Sofia, leaving the wizard to ruminate over his words.

XXX

Ah, it feels good to be home.

With this thought, Sofia sighed as she traversed a long white hallway laden with neon blue lights in the ceiling. That meeting went as productive as predicted. Hopefully, the other leaders would take what she shared into consideration.

As she mulled today over, the black dragoness reached a pair of neon-circuited doors accompanied by a biometric scanning pad on the left. Pressing her hand to the pad, she willed the doors to slide open and entered a massive lowly-lit monitor room. The left wall boasted rows upon rows of computer screens along its length, a long and curved desk in front with computers of its own and comfy black dragon-sized office chairs; the right wall a coffee counter in the middle with beanbag chairs of various colors off to the right and doors to the unisex restrooms to the left; and the middle a floor-to-ceiling window giving a beautiful view of the beach bordering the Ecologist Homeworld.

Sofia's eyes scanned the room. Hmm, nobody here. Could her assistant be running late?

"Miss Sofia!"

Ah never mind. She turned at the younger-sounding voice. From the restrooms approached a shorter chubby hornless orange dragon with a soft sepia underbelly and wing membranes, and short brushed-back dark brown hair, wing frames, and star-shaped tail fin. He sported a russet jacket with lighter-hued edges around the wrists, neck, and waist. A clipboard lay in his hands.

Sofia acknowledged the youth with a warm smile. "Nicolas. Anything to report?"

The young adult perused his clipboard. "Systems are all up, no malware detected so far, all upgrades on schedule," he lifted his brown eyes with a grin of fond exasperation, "and I think someone tried to snatch up your piece of strawberry cheesecake again, judging by Franz's expression when I caught him in the kitchen."

Of course. The Ecologist leader rolled her eyes. "That man, I swear," she murmured in resignation. "Speaking of Franz, are his sister and the Professor still in the middle of their analysis on those tablets from Desert Ruins?"

"As a matter of fact, they just messaged in and said they've already finished! The report should be in the cloud storage by now." Nicolas earned a grateful smile from his senior and perked in humble pride. "By the way, how did the meeting go?"

Sofia pursed her lips in thought. "Hmm. Informative. The other Leaders are…an interesting bunch to say the least." And strong-willed, too, she mentally added. That trait would no doubt complicate certain discussions in the future. "All the more reason for us to be thankful things went smoother than I expected."

"Then it sounds like your plan to make contact with the rest of dragonkind is working so far."

"We're fortunate the Professor agreed to it, despite knowing us for such a short time." Let alone considering the burden the elder mole no doubt shouldered by associating with a group as shunned as theirs. The black dragoness had feared her request would be too much. "We originally intended to send one of our own alongside one of the other clans' female dragons as a messenger."

Nico cocked his head out of interest. "In that case, why didn't you go down that route? You know we've made friends among the ones the Sorceress stranded here. They would've vouched for us."

Many of them already have by now, no doubt, Sofia knew. Even so she shook her head. "I know. I just...want to ease our way into things. It'd been so long since we interacted with the other guilds in their entirety. It's also why I allowed you to be our ambassador in a sense." The older dragon tousled Nico's hair with a chuckle. "Who could ever distrust a face like that?"

Hearing that made Nicolas hunch in self-consciousness. He hadn't needed to be the one the Professor had to contact either, so he felt relief that he carried out his role as intended. "Thank you for letting me go to Gnorc Gnexus, by the way, Miss Sofia. I know I must have really worried you and Uncle with my request to meet the Professor there, even with Miss Eleanor and Kazue tagging along."

Sofia smiled maternally. There never passed a day where she and the other Ecologists did not worry over their young ward who had grown and grown over the years. "We can't keep you sheltered forever. You had every right to see our former home – well, one of our former homes – for yourself."

Nico returned the smile in appreciation.

"Now then, could you message the Professor back and ask him to meet me and your uncle at the bridge this evening? I'd like to hammer out an arrangement for a portal from here to Avalar." That way the elderly mole wouldn't have to travel here all the way from Dragon Shores anymore. Nico nodded in affirmation. "Thank you."

Just before the younger dragon could turn and leave, a light gasp left Sofia. "Oh, before I forget, there's more one detail I need to mention. The Artisan leader and I had a long talk after the meeting about an idea he ran by us, one I've been considering myself."

Nico craned his head forward without invading his Elder's space, curious. "Really? What was the idea?"

A knowing smile took over Sofia's snout. "Tell me, Nico. How does a trip to the Artisan Realm sound?"