Celia slipped off of Verbena's back and stood next to her companion as she looked up to the massive white dragon before them. She remained silent, and though she trembled a bit, she managed to keep her fear hidden. Though the two beings before her were her superiors, Celia knew she needed to remain calm and remember that Orthos and Valiant would not hurt her.  Guild Master Orthos never punished with physical beatings, but instead favored labor that was beneficial to the guild or the town.

Following her lead, Xan slowly dismounted from Irin's back but kept his eyes glued on the massive dragon before him. Since he was unfamiliar with the dragon, he showed his fear a bit more. However, despite his slight shivering, Xan managed to keep a brave face under his goggles and scarf.

'I have never seen a dragon this large before in my entire life,' Irin's mental voice trembled slightly in fear and he kept his wings partly spread in case he needed to flee at a moment's notice.

Valiant's white fur shimmered slightly as a thin layer of frost slowly began to form the ice armor typical of dragons. His wings remained slightly spread in a display of power as the massive being looked down to the smaller dragons. His red eyes, though initially appearing serious, reflected a mix of emotions.

'How?' Valiant eventually managed to speak and studied the four figures in front of him. 'You survived, and found another rider and dragon pair," he paused, then focused on Irin and Xan and silently evaluated them.

A cloaked humanoid dropped off of Valient's back with a heavy crunch as the snow compressed under his weight. The tall, imposing figure traded through the snow over to them. He shifted his focus between the younger humans before him. The goggles obscured his eyes from his subjects, but he studied them all the same.

Before Orthos said anything, Celia took a chance and spoke first before the guild master could become enraged. "Guild Master Orthos," Celia took a shaky breath before she continued her rapid speech, "I am Celia, and this is my companion, Xan Zyrai. I know I disappeared without telling anyone, but I have a good reason," she swiftly buried both hands into Verbena's saddle. She fumbled a bit in the bag, then pulled out the spheres of compressed light.

As if on cue, a luminous spark of light burst from the spheres and they began to dimly glow. Though initially dull, the spheres slowly brightened as all of them, dragon and human alike, stared at the twin rays of light. The glow lit each surface it touched with a deep golden hue.

For several moments, Orthos remained frozen in surprise.

'The rays of sunlight,' Valiant awed and held his breath as his mental voice spoke the guild master's thoughts. 'You found two more of the lost rays of sunlight.' Valiant eventually released his held breath, but he was still under a sense of pure wonder and amazement.

Though initially mesmerized by the sunlight, Guild Master Orthos eventually broke his focus away from the spheres but remained silent for several more moments. Finally, he spoke again, "hmm," he hummed and thought over his options. "Celia, I am glad you and Verbena are alive, but with the end of the night, perhaps you and Xan should go and sleep. Xan, I will show you an empty room."

After Xan nodded, Guild Master Orthos continued, "I suggest we discuss what happened to you in the evening in my office while your dragons are looked over by the doctors. Though I will tell everyone of your return, Celia," he turned to the young rider in question, "I will keep the reasons and your discovery secret until we properly discuss the extent of your journey." He paused, then offered his hands to take the glowing spheres. "May I take the lights so I can keep them safe?"

Celia glanced down to the spheres, then gently rewrapped them in the black cloth. Though the cloth did not completely obscure the illumination, the fabric prevented much of the bright glow to the point only the black textile gained an orangish hue. After a brief hesitation, Celia carefully handed the bundle into Orthos's awaiting hands.

Orthos nodded to her, though if he smiled, his scarf completely obscured the display. "Thank you," he secured the bundle in his arms. "Now, Celia, after you show Xan the meal hall and you get some food, can you show Xan to Ruby thirty-seven? I believe the room is vacant. If it is not, try forty-one, then come to my office if that room is also occupied." He nodded to the two humans, then walked back to Valiant. "I will see you in the evening then."

Celia moved to speak but found no words formed in her mouth as her guild master pulled himself up to Valiant's back. "Thank you Guild Master Orthos," she managed to speak in a strained voice.

Orthos nodded to her, and then Valiant took off. The massive white dragon's large wings lifted a flurry of snowflakes and briefly blinded the four figures left on the mountainside. When the glittery snow finally settled, Valiant and Orthos had disappeared from sight.

Xan loudly released a sigh, "Those two are intimidating! I had no idea what to say to that stoic man! I was trying to be as quiet and inconspicuous as possible!" He inhaled, then blinked and reconstructed his composure. "Ahem, I mean, I was not intimidated at all. Absolutely not." He briefly artificially lowered his voice, then broke into a slight coughing fit.

Irin chucked a bit and nudged Xan with his nose, 'Sure you were not, but I was,' the blue dragon stated in a serious tone and shivered a bit. 'That Valiant was the largest dragon I have ever seen. He was massive and intimidating without even trying. He did not even have any ice armor formed yet, and I doubt I could beat him in a fight. If I wanted to, that is. I do not want to.'

"That would not make a good impression with the guild..." Celia grimaced, then pulled herself onto Verbena's back. "Verbena and I will lead you to the entrance, then to the meal hall where can get some fresh food, and then to the room Guild Master Orthos assigned to you. Since it is not a special occasion, Verbena and Irin will have to hunt for their own food, but we can give them part of our own rations for now since we should probably stay close to Rein."

'The meal hall humans make excellent sauces that are delicious,' Verbena gently trumpeted to Irin. 'You will like it even if we do not get much meat,' her tail waved a bit as she flapped her wings as she jumped off the peak and took to the air.

'I will take your word for it,' Irin swiftly followed Verbena as the young dragon flew parallel to the mountainside. He glanced around the slope and took in the scents of other dragons as both excitement and nervousness welled up inside of him.

When Verbena landed, Irin landed beside her and followed the dragonet inside. Though Verbena and Celia were completely comfortable in the cave, Irin and Xan held a bit of tense nervousness.

Several passing dragons gave Irin and Xan confused looks as they sensed he was not a member of the aaven of Rien. As they traversed the slowly warming tunnels, Irin kept his head low and his wings close to his side.

'No one will hurt you,' Verbena assured as they entered the large meal hall, 'No one will hurt you.'

Irin tried to relax as he glanced around the spacious room, but the fur around the back of his neck remained upright.

Tables and benches dotted the spacious area in an orderly fashion. The lines of tables had enough space between them for even dragons of Valiant's size to easily pass between them without disturbing anyone seated.

Only one other dragon and rider pair in the corner of the room. Neither the dozing turquoise dragoness or her rider in the corner of the room paid any attention to him, which further assured the nervous Irin.

Celia dropped off of Verbena's neck, then removed her gloves, scarf, and goggles and stashed them in Celia's saddlebags as she removed her hood. "It is good to finally be home, even if it is only for a short time." She took a deep breath of the damp cave air, then turned to Xan as the boy also slid off of Irin's back. A small smile remained on Celia's face as she gestured for Xan to follow her towards the serving counter. "We can get our food here."

Xan blinked, then followed her over to the countertop carved from the wall. The hole behind the counter connected to the next room, the kitchen, where all the chefs were creating meals to be sent out to riders who were on watch and patrolling duty.

"Can we have our rations for the day?" Celia asked the male worker tending the counter with a small smile on her face.

The worker looked at Celia, then nodded and walked over to the food. He retrieved two stone plates from a nearby pile, then approached the food. After placing forks and some of the already-prepared food onto the plates, he brought them to Celia. "Here you go," he placed to two plates on the counter.

"Thank you," Celia picked up a plate in each hand, then turned and offered one of the plates to Xan. "Here you go," she smiled.

Xan looked down to the green moss and lichen bread and the piece of red meat slathered in a dark sauce. "I have never seen something like this," he picked up the small green loaf and studied it in his hand.

"It's kinda bland taste-wise, but I do not think it is terrible." Celia shrugged a bit, then walked to a nearby table. After she placed the plate down, Celia slid onto the bench and invited Xan to join her.

Xan blinked, then mimicked her actions and seated himself to Celia's right. While she began to use her fork to slowly cut a bit of her meat off for Verbena, Xan poked the strange food items.

'Yes!' Verbena cheered as Celia placed a bit of her meat onto the table top away from her plate. Once the meat was off of Celia's fork, the dragonet happily licked up the snack. 'Still amazingly delicious.' She purred and wagged her tail as she swallowed. Though she wanted more, she knew Celia needed the food.

Xan looked to the cooked slice of red meat and the dark-colored sauce. After a moment of hesitation, the young man sliced off a bit of meat and offered it to Irin. "Here, you try it," he showed the dragon a weak smile.

Irin blinked, then licked up the meat. 'Hmm," he paused and savored the taste, then swallowed. 'Though I do not recognize the taste of this meat, it is good. You should try it,' he encouraged, then moved his head away before the ice melting off of his muzzle splashed all over Xan's dinner.

Xan hesitated, then cut a piece of tender meat with his fork, then lifted to his mouth. After another moment or pause, he tried the food. "It is good," he admitted with the small bit of food still in his mouth, "different, but good." He shoveled another piece of meat into his mouth.

Celia smiled a bit to Xan as she silently continued her meal. After she swallowed, she smiled at him, "I am glad you like it." Then, she happily continued to eat her green lichen bread.

When the meat was gone, Xan tore off a bit of the loaf and nibbled it. "This is kinda disgusting," Xan grimaced, then nibbled the bread a bit more, "but I guess it's edible..." he continued to eat.

Irin chuckled a bit as the two humans continued to eat their meals. When Celia finished the food, she stood up and picked up her plate, then calmly carried it over to the other side of the room where she got the food.

After he realized, Xan blinked, then followed Celia back to the counter and mimicked her actions.

Once the plates were placed onto the counter, Celia turned to Xan, "I can lead you to the room Guild Master Orthos assigned you. You can rest there, and in the evening I will come and take you to the guild master."

Xan silently nodded as they walked back to the waiting dragons. "It is still awe-inspiring that this exists. This place is like another world. A society that lives peacefully with dragons was just on the other side of the wasteland the entire time, and no one ever knew of it."

"Rein is isolated compared to the rest of the world," Celia admitted as the four of them exited the meal hall. "Zuin is the closest... town... to us, even if Ahsa is the only resident. The western side of Roahla has trade routes through the mountains, but we are so far away travel anywhere by anything but dragonback is difficult."

'It seems weird that I am not being attacked by other dragons here. I am an unfamiliar dragon in their home territory' Irin said as he kept his wings close to his body. 'I am getting some strange looks, but nothing beyond it."

'You smell slightly like me, and I smell a bit like you,' Verbena replied, 'so maybe they recognize my scent.' She stuffed off a large slab of her ice armor onto the edge of the tunnel, then flicked the excess water off of her wings as she walked.

"I also think wild dragons sometimes come here," Celia voiced her thoughts. "It's rare, but it sometimes outside dragons come and stay here." She glanced to the markers on the wall, then stopped when she reached room thirty-seven in the ruby tunnel. "Here we go," Ceia moved the curtain across the door aside and glanced into the room. When she determined no one lived in the room, she invited Xan inside.

Xan hesitated, then entered and surveyed the space. "It looks a bit dusty, but there is a sack for me and a blanket for Irin." He hummed to himself.

Other than the bed and the blanket, the also room contained a stone chest and a well of water that overflowed and ran through a small ditch that cut the space into two pieces before disappearing through the wall. Just like in Celia's room in the sapphire tunnel, a thick slab of stone bridged the small gap in the floor.

Irin shook off the remains of his ice armor, then entered the room. After glancing around, he approached the blanket. After briefly investigating the cloth, the blue dragon sneezed and scattered a plume of dust. After he recovered, he snorted and grabbed the fabric in his teeth. He ripped the blanket off of the floor and furiously shook it from his jaws with a slight growl.

A fog of brown dust permeated the air and sent both humans inside into a heavy coughing fit. "Irin!" Xan hacked as the dust entered his lungs.

Irin froze and kept his nose above the dust cloud as the fog settled. 'Oops,' he apologized and dropped the blanket at his feet.

"I'll—I'll let you get settled," Celia coughed and closed the curtain, then grabbed Verbena's harness to stabilize herself. "We should just go back to our room," Celia spoke as he fit caused by the dust finally calmed.

Verbena nodded, then guided Celia onto her back. Once the human-settled into place, Verbena carried her to their room and slipped past the curtain.

Celia then slipped off of the green dragonet's back, then walked to the sack in the corner of the room and fell into it. "It feels good to be home," she sighed in happiness and curled up with the human-sized blanket and Verbena layer down in her spot as well. "Good day, Verbena," Celia yawned.

Verbena purred in response as she also fell asleep.