An ominous message had gone forth, heavy with foreboding. It was a warning that set the planetary population upon edge, their minds troubled by fears of what lay unseen and unnamed. For all the efforts of the Imperium and the lesser regional governments, who labored diligently to keep unrest from breaking loose, the people pressed ever harder for answers.

  They wished to know what the First was bidding them to prepare for. They wished to know what measures the ruling powers would take to shield them from whatever threat loomed. The silence and careful withholding of truth didn't still their hearts, but rather fanned the embers of discontent.

  And so, like fire loosed upon dry fields, that friction spread, growing into riots and protests that flared across the planet from city to city.

  In the shadow of this turning point in the long millennial chronicle of the Aerendyl Imperium, few spared more than passing notice for the candidates of this year’s ceremony, and fewer still remarked upon the singular and abnormal case that had arisen among them.

  By means of quiet channels and trusted intermediaries, a princess found her formal affiliation shifted, gently and without public sound, from the imperial household to a far removed institute. The work of it was carried out with the greatest secrecy. Papers were drawn, signed, and sealed, and entered into the registers of the Imperium before any rumor could take hold.

  From that hour onward, she stood beyond their immediate jurisdiction.

  ???

  'You'll be fine. Truly, trust me. It's safe enough.'

  There came no reply. Seralyth felt her eyes widen as the realization dawned upon her. She had been ignored outright. With a soft snort of disbelief, she rose on her toes and reached out, touching the newly formed scales of the hatchling. Answer me, her emotion struck out along the bond. What came back was a feeling of mild irritation. It didn't understand why she fretted so insistently over what it deemed small and trifling concerns.

  'It isn't minor. You are my baby, and I must care for you properly. This will be the first time you leave the planet.'

  What returned then was exasperation. The newborn dragon didn't see itself as a helpless thing in need of guarding. Indeed, from its own view, it was the tiny and fragile human who occupied that role.

  'What, no– You are only a few weeks old. I'm 23! You are the baby, not me.'

  Somehow, Seralyth felt a snort echo within her thoughts, as though it had sounded directly inside her mind. It left her momentarily unsteady. The hatchling found it foolish to measure a draconic life by human reckoning. A dragon’s existence didn't unfold along the same lines of age and growth.

  'Still, ugh. Just be obedient.'

  Another snort followed, lesser this time, though no less clear. Seralyth clicked her tongue in quiet annoyance, yet she let the matter rest. Professor Halric, who bore responsibility for assisting with their transport, was drawing nearer. He wore the same academic robes she had seen before, and Seralyth privately hoped that he simply owned many copies of identical attire.

  "Your Highness," he called with courteous formality.

  "Mm." Seralyth inclined her head. "How stand the preparations?"

  "Nearly complete." Halric gestured for her to come with him. "The next step requires your cooperation. I ask that you instruct your hatchling to resonate with the array."

  'Wait a little.'

  In truth, Seralyth’s worry for the newborn dragon hadn't eased. It felt too soon for any maneuvering within the planet’s upper reaches, especially when such actions involved the passage from gravity’s firm hold into the strange inertia of open space.

  She would feel easier, she decided, if she examined the arrays herself.

  "Your Highness?" Halric asked, a trace of impatience slipping through his composure.

  "Explain it to me. The hyperlane transit."

  She knelt upon the floor as she spoke, letting her fingers trace along the circuits and engraved sigils set into the surface. Beneath them, dormant mana lay like a sleeping current. The array’s construction was curious, a great ring set to turn upon its base, adjusting itself in harmony with the movement of astral bodies beyond the sky.

  Staff moved about the structure, some engaged in final preparations, others carefully inspecting it for flaws or danger. Nearby stood an adult dragon, calm and imposing. This would serve as Seralyth’s transport, for the hatchling wasn't yet capable of bearing a pilot.

  At last, Halric sighed. The knowledge wasn't restricted, nor was it forbidden to share.

  "It is as the name suggests, a lane by which dragons may navigate."

  Seralyth nodded, inviting him to go on, her attention fully upon him now.

  "It will continuously cast incantations that support the dragon’s thrust into outer space. You may recognize some of them."

  At the suggestion, the implants within Seralyth stirred to life. Without hesitation, she invoked 「 Analyse 」, confirming his words.

  「 Vector Stabilization 」

  「 Inertia Damping 」

  「 Spatial Field 」

  「 Pressure Equalization 」

  「 ??????? ??????? 」

  "I recognize only four," she said, surprise evident in her tone.

  "That alone is remarkable. Then you can deduce the workings well enough, I expect?" He saw no need to belabor the explanation.

  "To a degree. Thank you for indulging me."

  "It is no trouble. Now, the hatchling, if you please."

  "One moment."

  The newborn dragon had waited idly throughout, and though its broad and alien features revealed little, Seralyth felt certain it was bored. She nearly sneered, but stifled the urge, lest the hatchling sense it.

  'All right. It's simple. You only need to fly, or float, whatever term suits you. The arrays exist to protect and stabilize you. Here. Look through my mind.'

  It lifted what might be called a metaphorical brow, yet obeyed. Through Seralyth’s memories and learned knowledge, it gained a faint understanding of the magitech involved. At last, it pulsed with acceptance.

  'Mm. You may go and prepare.'

  "Is there anything else, Professor?" Seralyth turned back to Halric in one smooth motion.

  "No. You may board the transport dragon when ready."

  "I'll wait a little longer, to observe the preparations."

  How protective, Halric thought, though he left the words unspoken. He merely nodded, a hint of amusement hidden beneath his calm exterior. He trusted that the princess wouldn't interfere if allowed her watch.

  The arrangements, though great in consequence, were simple in execution. Seralyth needn't assist further in the hatchling’s understanding. It positioned itself above the array, allowing the resonance to pass through empathic waves into its soul. When harmony was achieved, it prepared to depart.

  That was Seralyth’s cue to step within the transport dragon’s bay. Though smaller and younger than the dragon that had borne her to the ceremony, it still loomed vast above both hatchling and human alike.

  Under ordinary circumstances, suppressors would have prevented any crossing of resonance. In this case, however, Seralyth was permitted to remain synchronized with her bonded dragon, to ensure the passage went without fault.

  "Outer space is clear of obstacles."

  "Powering the array. 51%... 53%..."

  "Draconic parameters acceptable."

  "67%... 71%..."

  "Linking to the Caeloryn array. Light side alignment confirmed."

  "82%... 85%..."

  "Incantations operating within benchmark."

  "91%... 94%..."

  "Initiate hyperlane now."

  Beneath the open blue sky, the air twisted, opening into a rent in space itself. For those within, reality bent and warped, drawing them into a region where the rules of the world no longer held firm.

  Isolated within the transport bay, Seralyth clung to the bond, forcing her perception outward to grasp what unfolded. Her senses strained, seeking alignment with the hatchling.

  The newborn dragon perceived it instinctively. As Seralyth struggled to comprehend the path, it felt the trajectory calling upward. It aligned itself and surged skyward.

  She grasped its intention, but her understanding lagged behind its action. When she sensed its need to adjust to pressure, it had already made the correction. When she realized resistance pressed against it, the hatchling had already harmonized with the array and pushed through.

  At last, she gave up with a frustrated breath. This level of synchronization lay beyond her reach.

  For now.

  ???

  Caeloryn was the name given to the lesser moon that went its quiet way about Aeltheryl. It was no grand wanderer of the heavens, but a modest and pale companion, lacking veins of precious ore and holding within its dust no breath of life, nor any promise that such might ever take root there.

  And yet, for all that, an entire institute had been raised upon its barren face. One might well ask why so much effort was spent upon so little a rock, and the answer, though curious, was in truth quite simple.

  Seralyth lifted her gaze upward and stood still.

  This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

  For it wasn't merely one dragon that circled above, nor two, nor even three. There were dozens, nay, perhaps hundreds, wheeling and gliding in the space above the institute itself, their forms crossing and recrossing like living constellations. And beyond the great barrier, that careful working which allowed humans to dwell upon the moon without suits or humming engines of breath, there were thousands more, vast in number and patient in their watch.

  By size alone, it was plain that most of them were hatchlings, still young in wing and scale, their movements swift and curious rather than solemn.

  Beyond them all lay her homeworld, reduced by distance to a soft blue sphere set against the dark. And farther still, looming like a guardian of old tales, hung the gas giant around which Aeltheryl turned, a great brown-hued colossus whose bulk turned aside many of the harsher perils of the void.

  The sight stirred Seralyth without her bidding. She took a step forward, lifting one hand as though she might cradle that distant world upon her palm, as if the span of the heavens could be gathered and held there.

  Then–

  Her foot slid.

  “Oww!”

  The cry was sharp and sudden, and at once her hatchling plunged downward toward her, its swift descent driven by alarm. Confusion clung to it, but couldn't wholly hide the worry that flowed through the bond between them.

  ‘N-No– I’m fine. I just fell down. Gravity is weird here.’

  The pull of Caeloryn was weaker than that of the planet below, yet it held fast in its own quiet way. Seralyth braced herself and stood again, awkwardly, learning the feel of this strange balance. Her cheeks burned as wave upon wave of concern echoed from the dragon. Unlike her, it had taken to the conditions of open space as if born to them.

  Perhaps it was.

  Even so, Seralyth wasn't called an anomaly without cause. She drew in a slow breath and let it out again, steadying herself and easing into the pressure. It was easier now than when she had first experienced for such an environment.

  ‘We’re supposed to meet the researcher assigned to us now…’

  She let the thought pass along the bond. Together, the two of them opened their senses to the moon around them. Seralyth relied on her five human senses, while alongside them unfolded the dragon’s sixth, spatial and subtle, aware of distances and presences beyond sight.

  Behind them rose a structure much like the one upon Aeltheryl, built to sustain the hyperlane array. They stood upon a broad avenue that ran straight and long toward the immense facility looming in the distance. Around them lay a hangar and storage grounds of considerable size. Vehicles rested in ordered lines, a railway cut a dark path through the dust, containers were stacked by the hundred, and staff members moved about their tasks or paused to stare at the pair with open curiosity.

  Beyond that, there was nothing but pale lunar dust stretching unbroken to the horizon.

  And still, no researcher appeared.

  Or so Seralyth was on the verge of thinking, when the hatchling sensed something else. Something fast, rushing toward them. A few heartbeats later, she caught sight of it herself, tearing down the avenue.

  ‘A jeep?’

  And not a gentle one either, but a reckless thing that hurtled forward at such speed that its wheels left the ground for several breaths at a time.

  …Should they move aside?

  ‘Or, well, I suppose you could block it.’

  The thought was hardly formed before the dragon’s long, serpentine tail shifted into place, ready to strike. It was a reflex, born of the wild notion that had flickered through Seralyth’s mind.

  Fortunately, the jeep skidded to a halt well short of them. Blissfully unaware of how near it had come to being batted into scrap, a woman with short, untidy blonde hair all but tumbled from the vehicle. Seralyth recognized her at once as the researcher from the isolation facility.

  “Bonded pair! You two are finally hereee–!”

  Seralyth inclined her head in a brief nod, the address striking her as odd. “Yes. We’ve just arrived… what are you doing?”

  “Mm? Just checkin’.”

  Checking? Checking what?!

  Seralyth stood dumbfounded, her response delayed by surprise, and not without cause. Rynna had already drawn a dozen instruments from the depths of her loose white coat. They floated about her, held aloft by active arrays, each casting its own web of scanning incantations.

  “172 centimeters? You’re fairly tall for a woman.” Tap tap tap.

  “Vitals look pretty stable, all things considered.” Tap tap.

  “Eight implants, I see. That’s well above average.” Tap tap tap tap.

  “Whoa. Those resonance numbers are wild.” Tap tap tap.

  “Oh, and your weight is surprising–” Tap ta–

  Seralyth was not, by nature, a violent soul. But at that moment, she felt strongly tempted to remove the pad from Rynna’s hands by force. She seized it, erased every scrap of data without even glancing at it, and shut down the scanners entirely.

  “Won’t you introduce yourself?”

  To her surprise, Rynna merely reached back into her coat and produced yet another device, this one aimed squarely at the hatchling.

  “Bleh. The efficiency’s kinda shitty from this angle. Can you ask the hatchling to come down a bit? I’m Rynna, by the way. Rynna Bellis. I’m in charge of overseeing your bond progression.”

  “I will not,” Seralyth replied evenly, “Not without an explanation. What is this for?”

  “I’m just curious! You two are an anomaly!”

  “Anomaly?”

  “The inverted bond!”

  Seralyth lifted a brow, her irritation giving way to uncertainty, and interest. Without quite meaning to, she tilted her head upward, seeking her dragon’s gaze.

  ‘Do you know what she’s talking about?’

  The answer that came was denial, or perhaps dismissal. The hatchling seemed to think the woman mad, though Seralyth couldn't be entirely sure she had understood the feeling correctly.

  In any case, the lack of cooperation caused Rynna’s enthusiasm to collapse as suddenly as it had risen. Her shoulders drooped.

  “Anywho. Welcome to Caeloryn!” she said, springing back to life almost at once.

  “Thank you,” Seralyth replied coolly. “Now, perhaps you would like to proceed with your actual duty?”

  “Duty? Oh. Right. Yes. Though there’s a lot I want to ask.”

  “I can imagine.”

  “Uhh, don’t be so cold. Lets be friends! Friends!”

  “I pass. Can we go now?”

  “Tsk.” There went her hopes of easy research. “Fine. You ride with me in the jeep. The hatchling can navigate through space.”

  Seralyth nodded, as this arrangement was much as she had expected. It seemed safe enough, with so many dragons filling the skies around the institute.

  ‘Don’t get yourself in any figh–’

  “By the way, what’s its name?”

  Silence fell.

  Seralyth froze where she stood.

  ‘A name. You don’t have a name. Should I have given you one? Ugh, I’m terrible at naming pets–NO. Not pets. I don’t see you as a pet. I swear. I’m not naming you Bubbles, don’t worry. Please.’

  Rynna, already seated in the jeep with her upper body leaning out through the open window, watched with clear amusement. She swiftly produced yet another instrument, attuned to the empathic currents flowing between the bonded pair.

  “Are you okay~?”

  “Yes.”

  ‘Choose a name!’

  The thought rang sharply across the bond. From the beginning to the end of the exchange, the newborn dragon had shown little outward reaction. It was confused, but calm.

  ‘Even so! Your kin may not care for names, but we do.’

  At last it understood there was no escaping this matter. It considered the question, and found that it didn't truly mind. It yielded the choice to Seralyth.

  ‘…Why. I know why. Umm. What about Saeryn? It sounds… proper.’

  Acceptance followed, clear and untroubled. Saeryn watched as its bonded companion released a breath she hadn't known she was holding, turned toward the bothersome woman in the jeep, and declared the chosen name with unmistakable pride. It was rare to see her so openly ruled by feeling.

  Saeryn understood her well, resonating with her thoughts and emotions more often than not.

  And because of that, as it observed this small exchange, it felt, perhaps for the first time in its brief existence, a bright bubble of pure amusement rise gently within its soul.

  ???

  “Are you quite certain you wouldn't rather that I drive?”

  “Mhmhm!”

  Seralyth’s face was drawn tight, and not a little pale, for she clung to her seat as though it were the last plank of a sinking ship, holding fast in the earnest hope that the rattling jeep would neither capsize nor, worse still, take it into its head to leap clean away and sail off into the high dark beyond the world. To be sure, if such a thing should happen, Saeryn might well be able to fetch it back again, yet the thought gave her no comfort at all.

  ‘No batting!’

  Why that notion had taken such a stubborn hold upon things, she couldn't for the life of her say.

  In spite of all this, Seralyth turned her eyes ahead and watched the institute draw nearer across the grey distance. The lunar facility lay spread out like a small town set upon the Moon. A cluster of some dozen buildings, no two quite alike in height or breadth. Narrow streets and paved walks ran between them, and alongside these there lay a tidy lattice of rails along which supplies were borne. The air within the barrier felt thicker than that of her homeworld, pressing a little upon the chest, yet it was by no means unpleasant.

  With a short snort, Seralyth wrenched her attention back to the madwoman at the wheel. “This inverted bond you mentioned,” she said, raising her voice above the rumble, “Are you ever going to explain it?”

  Rynna did nodidn'tt look her way, seeming wholly intent upon the road ahead, which she was embracing with the steering wheel as if it were an old friend in need of comfort. Even so, a quick spark of light danced in her eyes.

  “I can! Oh, I most certainly can,” she replied. “But first you have to answer my questions, all right? I'm your appointed researcher, you see. Appointed. Just me. Me alone.”

  Seralyth snorted again, this time in agreement. She supposed the questions would serve her bond’s growth in any case, if only to satisfy this woman’s wild and tireless curiosity.

  “Very well. Ask.”

  “First then,” said Rynna, “Do you know what you did during the ceremony?”

  “Yes?” Seralyth answered after a pause. “I took the initiative. I reached out to resonate.”

  “Exactly so!” Rynna cried. “And that is the curious part. Dragons are meant to be the ones who do that. Hence, inverted.”

  Seralyth cast her a sideways glance, her brow creasing. “But does it truly matter? I thought the bond would be the same, no matter who began it.”

  “That,” Rynna said, with a laugh full of promise, “Is precisely what we are going to discover. And Saeryn, you see, is different as well.”

  Seralyth’s eyes widened a little. “Different how?”

  “We cannot yet say,” Rynna admitted, though her voice trembled with excitement. “But its readings stray, just a little, in every measure we possess. Every. Single. One.” And with each word she stressed, her eagerness grew until it was almost a thing one could touch.

  Seralyth didn't know quite what to make of that. She leaned her head back and looked up through the barrier, catching sight of Saeryn gliding through the void beyond, moving as though it swam upon an unseen sea. Though no expression could be read upon its form, she felt, somehow, that it delighted in roaming the open space alone.

  ‘Do you know why you are called special?’

  What came back to her through the bond was a wash of feeling that amounted to little more than a shrug. Saeryn didn't yet grasp the measures by which humans judged such things, and held no particular opinion of its own uniqueness.

  ‘Well then,’ she thought, not unkindly, ‘So be it.’

  “Now then, about the institute,” Rynna went on after a short while. “You do understand, I think, that you arrived far earlier than we expected compared with this year’s other hatchlings. We'll have to fit you in midway through the cycle. Don't look for any special favours.”

  “That suits me well enough,” Seralyth replied. Indeed, she found she welcomed the thought.

  “Good. Then let us set your timetable.” Rynna hummed to herself. “I would dearly love to begin today, but it'll be wiser to give you and Saeryn a little time to grow used to Caelolyn. Tomorrow morning, then.”

  “And what, exactly, are we preparing for?”

  As she spoke, Seralyth gazed out through the jeep’s window. By now they had entered the grounds of the institute, winding between the buildings at a speed that was, at last, mercifully slower.

  “The usual assessments,” said Rynna. “We must determine which classification the two of you will be given. I would wager my life’s savings on combat!”

  “And why is that?”

  Rynna answered with a sly little giggle. “Just look at you.”

  It almost sounded like an insult. Seralyth gave a short laugh but let the matter pass, her eyes following the folk of the facility as they went about their business. She could plainly sense the researchers and instructors pausing, breaking off their conversations to watch the jeep as it passed, their looks filled with thoughts she couldn't yet read.

  Perhaps this wouldn't be as straightforward as she had imagined.

  “Suppose the bond is judged fit for combat,” she said at last, turning back to Rynna. “What comes after that?”

  “Ah, that is the best part!” Rynna exclaimed. “We begin to chart Saeryn’s biological armaments and how they develop. At the same time, we must establish your baseline synchronisation, so that you can support it properly through the bond.”

  “Wouldn't that require–” Seralyth began.

  “Yes!” Rynna cut in, almost dancing in her seat. “Strange though it may sound, it isn't terribly difficult to place a structure within a dragon. They evolved in such a way as to make the task easier for us.”

  Seralyth tipped her head to one side. She found she could accept this readily enough, remembering how Saeryn had been born already knowing of these procedures. She meant to ask further about the tests, but then a faint crack, like distant thunder, rang within her thoughts. She felt other presences.

  Not her.

  Saeryn had sensed the other hatchlings drifting in the void beyond the barrier. They, in turn, had become aware of the newborn dragon. The awareness passed along the bonds like a ripple upon water, and through it Seralyth found she could pick out the bonded pilots among the people of the institute.

  Like their dragons, they regarded her with open curiosity. Some held a keen edge of rivalry, others doubt, and a few simple wonder. The mix of feelings was no different, she thought, from what one might find in any gathering of folk.

  All the while, Rynna brought the jeep to a halt beside the women’s dormitory. She gave a sharp whistle, drawing Seralyth’s attention back to her.

  “This is as far as we go,” she said. “Off you go and get some rest. I'll come for you tomorrow morning. By system hours, mind you.”

  System hours? Seralyth realised she had no idea what time it was at present.

  She only shrugged, stepped down onto the ground, and lifted the small duffel bag that held all she had brought with her.

  “And Saeryn?” she asked.

  “Hm? Dragons simply drift about in space and enjoy themselves.”

  ‘I suppose that suits you?’ She sent gently along the bond.

  A clear note of assent came back to her, and she nodded in return. She waved farewell to Rynna, far too tired to exchange further words with the excessively eager researcher. The journey had worn her more than she had expected.

  ‘Tomorrow…’

  She knew she would scarcely sleep at all that night. Her heart beat too fast with anticipation. For their designation, and for the day she would at last pilot her bonded dragon. And through the resonance of the bond, she felt, beyond any doubt, that the feeling was shared.

  A quiet laugh sounded only in her thoughts.

  ‘Good night, Saeryn.’

  Should I use < It/They > or < They/Them > for the dragons pronouns?