Among the normal cityfolk was a group of five blue-clad humanoids. Their muffled footsteps cut deep into the snow that covered the ground as they made their way to the Knight stronghold on Dagaos. All around them was the Dagaoese eternal winter — Icicle branches hung from the floodlamps attached to the sides of the black skyscrapers, and frozen water reflected sunlight off the sloped roofs of the towering iron trees. Every civilian, whether human, dragon, or metal-skinned mechanoid, wore some form of fur coat and insulative mask over their thermals to protect them from the cold. Even the hulls of the hovercraft above were dripping and tailed with sharp spikes of ice.

They, like many of their brothers, were on the hunt. The hunt for a royal.

You see, after Emporate Maj went missing, the only evidence of his existence was a salesman returning to the Imperium a Throne Pendant - the only visible way that Imperial royals were distinguished from planetary royals. To be even a queen and have one was treason, but the salesman admitted that there were actually two, and the first was given back to the seller - with both of the egg-like pearls that represented the dragon's association with the Empress. Tek'Alma immediately had the salesman pardoned, as she had concluded that the seller was the lost Emporate — and the second pendant, however he managed to get his talons on it, was going to an heir.

Immediately after, she volunteered to pause her current projects and lead a search, which was obliged. So, that was why, three years later, Scorchtroopers were on the surface of Dagaos — to find the lost Emporate and his child.

Burn halted for a moment at the base of the stronghold. It wasn't particularly tall, except for the towering turrets it had recently put in place, but still loomed over the humanoids — which was quite impressive, considering they were over twice as tall as a human.

The first place they looked at was on the roof of the stronghold, as they were instructed. If the Emporate or his child were here, then the vigilant Knights would be the best people to protect them, and the roof was the only place in the stronghold that the Queen of Dagaos didn't monitor.

Everything seemed normal. There were three sets of trainees, one from each species, training on the flat space. There was a dragon trainee that looked a bit young, but that was it.

"To what do we owe the pleasure?" A draconic Knight called to them. "I am Commander Tihou, temporary general of the stronghold. Has the search for the Emporate finally stretched to our humble doorstep?"

"I'm afraid it has, commander," Burn's own commander replied. "We've been tasked with searching your stronghold for any signs of the Emporate or his heir. Would you be kind enough to give us a guide?"

Tihou nodded, calling over a human and a dragon. "Friends, this is Imrik and his adoptive daughter, Herial." Burn looked the two over for a moment.

Imrik was human, a little taller than his comrades. His armor was pelted with battle scars, from dents to gouges, and he held himself almost regally. Heiral was a good bit smaller than her comrades, and was very clearly younger. A bit young to be a Knight, which was why Burn leaned down to get a better look at her.

"I chose to join my adoptive father earlier than a normal Knight," she said to him, as if reading his mind. "And that was two years ago, for your information."

Burn nodded, standing straight, but turned his head in Imrik's direction. "And he let you?"

Imrik shrugged. "She wanted to, and she survived a Dagaoese snowstorm with no protection before. She has everything she needs."

Burn looked the young dragoness over again, then decided Imrik was correct and continued on without another word. The five Scorchtroopers and the two Knights waited patiently for the doors to open, then continued down the staircase and to the elevators. They'd have to check the rooms.

Every, single, one.

And so, level by level, they got to work. They'd look into every room, then head back to the elevator, head down one level, rinse and repeat.

At some point, Heiral disappeared. Imrik said that she was headed to their room.

It wasn't that Burn didn't believe him, it was that he didn't know why. But, oh well, it was nearby, so he'd know soon enough.

While searching the repeating hallways, glancing into every door which was already opened for the investigation, he stumbled across Heiral. She sat in the corner of the boxy room, nervously muttering something while cradling something in her claws. Her helmet had been removed and thrown to the side, its lifeless vizor staring suspiciously at the shape in her talons.

"Heiral," Burn said to get her attention.

The gray-and-amber dragon jumped and spun around, covering the object with her wings like a mother would to hide her young. "Oh, it's just you," she sighed, almost melting with how much she relaxed.

Burn stepped into the room, noticing how Heiral tensed again. "Move."

It took a moment for Heiral to respond. "Ah, oh– s-sorry..."

With no other sound, Burn scanned the room. It wasn't big, but it was spacious enough to fit a shelf, two bedrolls, and two different armor stands. Then, he glanced back at the object in Heiral's claws. "What's that?" he asked, voice coming out in a hiss through his helmet.

It took a moment for Heiral to respond. "Uh, well, um, it's just a-a little trinket, from the orphanage, you know..."

After a moment, Burn restated what he had said to everyone else he had spoken to: "if you find any sign of the Emporate or his child, tell us. We must bring them home."

"And where would home be, exactly?" Heiral probed, as if anxious about the answer herself.

"Preythor," Burn answered simply. It should be no question that Preythor, capital of the Prethorian Star Imperium, homeworld of human and dragon kind, would be the home of the Imperial royal family. Where else would they rule from otherwise? Here, Dagaos, a frozen wasteland on the very outer edge of a blue star's habitable zone? Skykiln, an enormous gas giant populated by floating leviathans and levitating cities? Ontuk, a large, hostile world headed by the curious Ha^Vii colonies?

No, something was wrong here. Knights especially learn and memorize this group of information earlier than anything else. Before Heiral could speak further, Burn stalked off to continue the search. The others had to know; they'd be watching her, whether she liked it or not.

A call for help broke Imrik from his trance. A snowstorm had started not long after the Scorchtroopers had concluded their search of the stronghold, as if the weather itself was waiting for them to leave, anxious of what they might do. Imrik understood why; he had feared the entire visit that they would find the pendant, and either he and Heiral would be accused of high treason or his daughter would be taken from him, sent back to Preythor with the other Imperial royals. He knew they wouldn't take her without her consent, but that was hardly an assurance.

In the deepening snow was a familiar gray-and-amber shape, standing over a hole in the ground, and in it was her pendant. "L-l-leave it-t," she stammered out, shivering violently as she blew a tongue of fire into her still, purpled claws. Why she came out here with no armor, Imrik didn't know, but now wasn't the time to ask.

As he'd done before, the human wrapped the dragonet in his cape and placed his axe on his back, making sure to pick up the necklace before he stood. "I s-s-said t-to l-l-leave it," Heiral hissed, but to no response.

Unlike before, the halls of the fortress were positively buzzing with activity, and Imrik had to hide the necklace with Heiral to keep it from being spotted. Despite the activity, it didn't take any longer to reach their quarters, where the two of them were forced to face each other. Heart-to-heart, father-to-daughter talks weren't a particular specialty of Imrik, but this was one they needed to have. "What were you doing out there, Heiral?"

Despite her nature, Heiral looked down in seemingly shame. "I wanted to get rid of that stupid necklace," she snarled, as if it were some prophet of doom. "It's just a reason for the darker Fanatics to take me away from you, a-and..." she wiped the sudden tears from her eyes, voice becoming unstable. "I don't want to leave, I want to stay here, with you, a-and I..."

Before Imrik could say anything, the dragon jumped forward to hug him, and it took all his core strength to keep himself from falling backwards as she began crying. "I don't wanna go dad! Please don't let them take me!"

It was surprising to Imrik. The two of them were close, but he was only referred to as "dad" if Heiral was either embarrassed or really, really troubled. And physical contact was even rarer. Despite that, he wrapped his arms around her, fitting his hand between her four horns in a calming manner. They silently sat there for a good while, aside from Heiral's desperate sobs, until she stopped, having nearly cried herself to sleep on her father's shoulder.

"Here is what we will do," Imrik spoke, still practically carrying Heril as he placed the necklace on her shoulders. "Tomorrow, you will walk out wearing this, and when they try to take you to Preythor, you will not let them."

"What if they take me anyways?" she asked faintly.

"I will stop them," Imrik said fiercely, only just before Heiral fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

Heiral took a deep breath before she marched out the door.

Immediately, the eyes of the other Knights walking the halls snared themselves on her, and particularly the necklace that hung like a choker from her armored neck, clanging into her chestplate as if it were part of the same shell. She continued on, never once raising her head to look at the surrounding warriors.

It took longer than she expected for the whispers to start. Despite the extra time to prepare, it managed to worm its way into Heiral's mind, giving her more nervous thoughts on top of her already infesting ones.

Still, she continued, never once stopping.

As Imrik whirled by, he gave her a reassuring nod, which did slightly help. But it wasn't being around Knights for all day that terrified her; she wouldn't even be staying. She was going to the Dagoese palace.

Outside, the frigid cold stabbed its way at everything, like always, held back from uninhabitability by only a tiny speck of blue in the white sky. The planet's cycle was a mere sixteen hours, so already, Daxan was halfway up the sky, and moving fast. The fortress was built on the side of a mountain, isolated from the Dagaos capital city by a short, paved pathway that led straight to the palace. The city loomed ahead, the skyscrapers thinning into sharp teeth, as if the buildings themselves wanted a piece of her.

When she had a clear line of sight, Heiral opened her enormous wings and took off, the powered mag-motors under her armor helping her lift the suit of metal, then keep still as she glided.

The feeling of the eyes of civilians on her as she glided was once again not comforting. From the roofs were mechanoids, Primarily the Mecha-Vidri, stood still as if they were iron statues. Other dragons flew from building-to-building, occasionally casting glances at the Knight and then moved out of her way when they saw the pendant. Humans continued with their daily lives on the streets below, only occasionally glancing up.

Soon, the palace came into view. It was unmemorable, aside from the large courtyard in front of it. Like all of the surrounding dragonoid buildings, it was just a tall, simple black tower with a sloped top.

In the courtyard were two figures. One was draconic, covered in bejeweled, almost silky furs — Queen Sathos. The other was a towing mechanoid, identical on the surface to the mighty Royal Guard on Preythor, but constantly changing in ways that motor-powered movement wouldn't allow — Sub-queen Tek'Alma.

Fear of the queen wasn't all that prevalent — she was still young, and hardly posed a physical or authoritative threat to Heiral. Tek'Alma, on the other hand, was six times as tall as an adult dragon, and her ability to manipulate her matter at a subatomic level made her that much more deadly. Not to mention, being older than entire species and smarter than comprehension isn't something to put lightly.

As Heiral landed, Queen Sathos' eyes immediately darted to her, then to her necklace, both things that Tek'Alma caught. "What is it?'' the large mecha-miri asked, turning slightly towards Heiral. Then, upon seeing the pendant around her neck, she snapped around in he Emprenia's direction, only to immediately completely reshape herself to be right in front of Heiral. "Where did you get this?" she asked, tapping a talon as long as she was on the pendant.

Heiral let out the tiniest whimper of fear, but planted the two talons on either of her wings on the metal-covered ground to keep from flying away right then. "My blood-father left it with me," she said, "at the orphanage."

A deep, mechanical growl emanated from the much larger being, before she morphed back into a standing position, slowly stalking around her on tall, bipedal legs. "Who is your blood-father?"

"I don't know," Herial said simply. "He never said his name, or if he did, I was too young to remember."

Another growl. "Remove your gauntlet."

Heiral obliged, taking off her gauntlet and holding her bare forearm up to the sub-queen. Immediately, it was lifted by a huge talon, and a wide array of devices snaked their way around it, before she suddenly felt a very dry sensation.

Seconds passed before she let go, returning her blood to her as she stood once again at her gargantuan full height. "It seems you are as unique as your necklace says," she said as Heiral put her gauntlet back on to re-insulate from the cold. "What is your name?"

"Heiral DauImrik," was the simple response. What more was to say?

"Well then, Emprenia Heiral, Blood-Daughter of Maj," she said, and the growing crowd of bystanders gave a collective gasp, "Welcome home."

And then, the ancient, commonly known as "eldritch" Tek'Alma, flattened her back spikes and knelt humbly. Seeing such a sight confused the crowd for a moment, and the queen, before she too knelt, wings planted in front of her to make her seem even flatter than she was. And then the crowd followed suit, dragon and human and mecha-vidri all kneeling before the Granddaughter of the Empress.

Heiral let out a slight sigh of relief. She'd done the one thing she'd been dreading for two years. And she believed she'd enjoy it.