"A what, Kenden?"
"Dragon, you highness." Replied the soldier, shifting uncomfortably, "it caused a lot of panic in the town."
"Have there been sightings of this dragon before?" asked Kalasin.
He shook his head, "no, your highness."
"Well Roald, what do you think?" Kalasin asked, turning to her brother, "is it worth our taking any note?"
He looked thoughtful, "possibly." He waved a hand for the soldier to go, "thank you, we may need you again later."
"Very good, your highness." He bowed and then opened the doors to leave the room. Princess Shinkokami appeared in the entrance, he bowed once more, moving to let her pass.
"Shinko," Roald smiled at his wife and motioned for her to sit by him.
She smiled at the two of them, "I assume you've heard about the dragon."
"Did you see it?" Kalasin asked eagerly.
Shinko nodded, "I was outside when it came flying over."
"What did it look like?"
"About as long as the courtyard in the palace I'd guess with huge wings and a deep green body. It really came quiet close to the town."
Roald looked thoughtful, "perhaps we should inform Papa just in case."
Kalasin nodded, "I think he'd like to know. Maybe he'd send Daine and Kit, it's been ages since I saw them both."
"Daine was headed south with the Riders last I heard," Roald said, "training again with the Riders at Pirate's Swoop. You just want Daine to come to ask about Kaddar," he teased, eyes twinkling, unable to resist another dig about his sister's fiancé, especially seeing as she had teased him mercilessly about Shinko.
Kalasin flushed, "that's so not true!"
Shinko took out her fan and covered her face, eyes crinkling as she smiled behind it.
"Don't you think I don't know you're laughing at me," Kalasin told her sister-in-law, "that fan-thing doesn't work on me."
Roald started to laugh.
"Stop it!" Kalasin demanded, turning even redder.
There was a knock at the door, "Enter," Roald replied. All three looked up to see Sir Faleron walk in through the door, looking slightly ruffled. Kalasin breathed a sigh of relief as Roald shot her an amused look. She glared at him and turned serenely to Faleron.
"Come Faleron," she said with a smile, "surely you needn't knock in your own home."
The knight grinned, "Well, you never know who you might be interrupting here." He glanced meaningfully at Roald, who sat with Shinko's hand in his. The prince glared at his friend and Kalasin grinned, glad to have the attention on someone else while she recovered her composure.
"Have you anything constructive to say?" Roald asked as Faleron came and took a seat with them.
Faleron frowned and became serious, "Yes actually, I assume you've heard about the dragon sighting."
"We were just discussing it actually," Shinko replied, "I saw it myself when it flew over."
"Magnificent creature!" Faleron said, an awestruck look on his face, "so elegant and-" Roald coughed and the two girls hid smiles behind their hands. "Right," Faleron coloured, "what I mean to say is that after it flew over I went out into the town to speak to people. Apparently one of the farmers on the edge of the town has been having his animals stolen. When I asked him about it he said that the farm has been in the family for generations, always with their herds being depleted every once in a while. They had put it down to some sort of superstitious nonsense because no-one has ever seen the animals being stolen but when they saw the dragon it made the man wonder."
Roald looked thoughtful, "Dragons live for hundreds of years so that could be an explanation for what's happening to that farm-"
"-And the older ones can turn themselves invisible," Kalasin interrupted, "remember what Daine said?"
"Where did the farmer say he grazed his herd?" Shinko asked.
"Near the mountain base," Faleron replied, "mostly by the river side where the grazing is better."
"Alright, thanks," the prince said, "I'll contact the King and let him know what's going on. He might want to send someone out here."
"Right," Faleron said, obviously relieved that the matter was being dealt with, he leant back in his chair and turned to Kalasin. "One of my friends has just come back from a trip to the Imperial University in Carthak. Apparently Kaddar's handling things admirably there. I'm sure if you asked he'd tell you all about it."
Roald burst out laughing as Kalasin flushed and stood with all the dignity she could manage.
"I think I'm going to go get some air," she said stiffly, hastily leaving the room.
"Was it something I said?" a bemused Faleron asked.
"You might say that," Shinko replied, Roald was unable to say anything for laughing.
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A/N: Well, hope you liked that chapter. This story's still in its infant stages so you'll have to bear with me. And I know that the chapter title is perhaps the lamest thing in the world, but I just couldn't think of anything!
Felsong: I know that my other fics have much longer chapters but I'm afraid I can't really make the chapters that much longer in this one and still post regularly, so you'll just have to settle for shorter ones. It's hard keeping 3 stories afloat at once and still doing all my uni work (yes, that's right, I'm old- ok well not that old, but relatively ^_^)
Autum: I get what you mean about it being unrealistic for her never to have seen a human before, but Starfire's been a bit like an overprotective parent. She didn't want to take Ember to see humans in case she wanted to go with them, so they only flew over areas where there weren't any people, and if they're in the mountains then that's possible. Hope that satisfies you ^_^
Nadia Greenleaf: You've seen some familiar faces in this chapter, as for others, the next chapter will show a lot more and yes Daine will be one of them. As for Alianne and Nawat, I think they're great too, but I'm going to be pretending that none of the Trickster stuff happens, it's too complicated to fit in.
Umm as for other stuff, this is all post Protector of the Small series, and I know that Kalasin would probably be married by now, but it's funnier for her not to be. Plus I wanted them to be at King's Reach. As for ages and stuff if people really want to know I can tell you in the next authors note, I know I wrote it down somewhere…..