Celia woke up with a slight headache. Before she even opened her eyes, she groaned and blindly rubbed her head with her hand.

'CELIA!' Verbena barked and excitedly nuzzled Celia's face, "you are alive! I was so worried about you! Never do anything like that ever again!" The dragonet grabbed the female human in a hug with her wings.

Celia slowly opened her eyes and weakly smiled up to her draconic companion. "I am glad you are ok too," her head throbbed. Celia flinched as she reached under her hat and felt the lump among her hair. Thankfully, though she had a large sore spot, her scalp was not bleeding. She retracted her hand from her scalp, then checked her clothes and did not find any tears in her clothing either.

She sighed in relief, then wrapped her arms around Verbena's neck. "Thank you," she breathily spoke, "thank you for saving me."

'I would never abandon you and leave you to die," the green dragoness purred and cooed as she continued to nuzzle the human female, 'I care about you and can't imagine life without you.'

Celia giggled a small amount, then blinked and looked to Xan, who was also slowly regaining consciousness. "Irin? Is he okay too?"

Irin briefly looked away from Xan, then continued to worriedly hover over the human boy. 'I do not smell any blood, so I think he will be fine. We have experienced worse events and survived.' Irin gently nuzzled Xan as the boy groaned in pain and stirred slightly.

"I hate earthquakes." Xan murmured as he rubbed his head with his hand, then groaned again as his hand fell limp. "Irin?" He spoke in a pained, almost whining voice, "Where are we? How long have we been out?"

Irin paused and ran a few mental calculations, 'My best guess is a few hours, but I have not been paying attention to the moon, and we are in a snow cave. I preferred to stay with you instead of mindlessly watching the moon move.' He nuzzled Xan again and purred softly.

"Irin," Xan whined slightly as he laughed a bit as he mentally thanked the dragon for being so attentive and caring. He would have said his sentiments aloud, but he did not want Celia to hear anything that may or may not be embarrassing.

Irin paused for a moment, then looked at Celia, "I think we should head west and toward Iece if you aren't badly injured, Celia. The faster we leave the less likely the men from Hael will find us. They think we took two humans because we are going to eat them, and they probably also want our pelts.'

"I have a large headache and several bruises, but I will be fine." Celia assured with a weak smile, "as long as I am not jostled all that much." She reluctantly released her hug with Verbena and shakily stood to her feet. "Honestly, I may tie myself to the harness and sleep the entire flight." She placed a hand on the wall of the snow cave to keep herself from falling over from soreness and dizziness.

Verbena gasped a bit in worry and offered the female human a wing to help her stay on her feet, which she gratefully accepted. "Just go ahead and climb on my back," ht dragnet instructed, and Celia tiredly obeyed and strapped herself in.

"We might as well get a head start on our westward journey," Xan agreed as he climbed onto Irin's back. "I did not see any signs in Hael that they have any connections to the ray of light, but maybe we can check Iece to see if they have any clues. Though I do think it is a good idea to rest a bit as the dragons fly. I may not sleep, but it may help me feel better." He smiled a bit as Irin nuzzled him again.

Irin guided the make human onto his back, 'Verbena, let's head out. I do not think we need to stay here much longer since our partners want to move.'

Verbena nodded and crawled through the entrance of the snow cave and emerged into the white moonlit expanse. "Let's go," she said as she spread her wings, then burst into the sky with Irin close behind.

Celia did not remember the flight, because as soon after Verbena leveled off, the human girl dozed off and slept. She woke when Verbena landed in the snow. "Huh?" She yawned, then opened her eyes. Small mountains greeted her sight as she untied herself from Verbena's harness. "Are we at Iece?" She rubbed her eyes with her wrist, then blinked and refocused on the landscape.

"Yes," Verbena nodded as she rotated and massaged the joints of her sore wings, "according to Irin, Iece is a short walk north of here. We plan to find a small cave to rest and recover in for a day or so. Irin says there are a few small caves for us to reside in." She gestured to a cave entrance with her wing as she relaxed her sore muscles with a happy sigh. 

Celia nodded a bit, as Verbena followed Irin into one of the caves. Once the dragonet found a place inside the shelter to settle, Celia dismounted and shakily stood on her feet. Once she regained her bearings, she reached over and massaged Verbena's shoulders through her icy armor.

In response to the pleasureful sensation, Verbena purred and arched her back as Celia continued to scratch and rub the dragonet's back and shoulders. 'That feels so nice," Verbena released a soft, happy rumble from deep in her throat and nuzzled Celia in thankfulness.

Celia smiled a bit to her companion, then looked to Xan as he approached her. "I don't think you will want to stay in town for very long, but we should at least survey the town to see if we can find any hints of the ray of light. The quake probably wasn't felt out this far, so I doubt the town's  structural integrity is compromised." He flashed an encouraging smile.

Celia slowly nodded. "Good plan," she nodded in agreement. After giving Verbena one last rub where the green dragonet was sore, Celia followed Xan outside of the cave and across the snow.

Iece's entrances bore a striking similarity to Hael's entrances, as they both used similar statues as markers for the snow-covered entrances. However, tunnels of ice made up only half of the town. The other half was inside the small mountains. The town lacked the underground warmth that reminded her of home, but the presence of rock walls and ceilings over her head gave her a sense of peace. It had been a while since Celia was in natural caves like her homeland.

The town had a strange way of illumination. Someone had painted strange glowing lines all across the town that gave the settlement strange greenish lighting. The walls and ceilings carried multiple lines, and all of them intersected at points. Celia also could not see a single break in the line where the paint had been smeared or chipped off at some point.

"I think that's a plant stand," Xan's voice broke her thoughts. "I've seen a couple of vegetables and fruits for sale in the southern towns from the Ulven. However, I do not think the Ulven trade this far north. So these plants have to be from the owner of a ray of light, there is no other plausible explanation."

When she looked to where he pointed, she saw a vendor stand with colorful items on them. Based on the way frost coated the surfaces, Celia could see how the objects could be edible, but she required a closer look first. Without waiting for Xan's lead, she walked up to the stall.

"Hello strangers," The vendor said, "what can I do you for? You are in luck, a fresh shipment came in tonight so I have all kinds of produce."

Celia looked away from the trade goods and to their seller, "where did you get these?" She attempted to convey a countenance of innocent curiosity in the hopes that he would be honest with her.

His eyes lit up as a wide grin spread across his face, "I have a contract with a siglya that somehow manages to grow crops as our ancestors did when the land was green. No other vendor here has anything like these fruits and vegetables for sale, I assure you. They are frozen solid because of the temperatures outside but cook them a bit and they are delicious. However, they do cost quite a bit in trade. Blame the small supply and the large demand."

While Celia nodded as if she understood, Xan looked to the man, "do you know where is the siglya is from?"

The man gave Xan a cautious sideways glance, "why do you want to know so much about my supplier? Are you going to take away my monopoly?" His voice raided in volume and deepened in tone.

"We have always been curious about how plants grow without the sun to see if we can attempt to grow our own," Xan replied. "We are from the southeast, so our people do not get any plants from either your supplier or the Ulven. We tried asking the Ulven, but they would not tell us anything."

"I've never encountered Ulven since they do not come this far north, but I've heard they are tight-lipped and judgmental." He stated calmly, "Ahsa is the name of my contact. She lives east of here on the other side of the wasteland, probably in Zuin. She left last night, but I do not think you'll be able to catch her on foot. Her transportation is a sled pulled by an ice golem horse. From what I have seen, it runs very swiftly no matter what type of snow it is on."

"Thank you for helping us," Celia nodded to the man with a small smile spread across her face, then turned and looked to Xan. "If we are going to catch her, we should leave now. The more time between us means a greater distance as well."

Xan quickly nodded, "let's go," he turned and faced the exit, then began to walk towards the exit with a brisk pace.

"Thank you again!" Celia smiled, then waved as she ran and caught up to Xan. When she reached Xan, she slowed her run to a walk, "Do you think we can find Ahsa?" She looked up to his covered face.

"Absolutely," he nodded, then added in a soft voice so only Celia could here. "Nothing can travel faster than a dragon," his assured Celia. When he spoke again, his voice returned to a normal volume, "but the faster we get out of here the more time we have to search the land. There are no marked trade routes across the wasteland for her to follow. I have heard of Zuin through word of mouth, but I have never been there myself. However, have I never met someone from there, and that seems suspicious to me. Zuin may be just snow-buried ruins for all I know."

Author Notes:

Welcome back to Dawn's Light! I hope you enjoyed the chapter and I will see you next time! Please feel free to ask questions in the comments, and please do not forget to vote!