Chapter 34

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{Riland's POV}

It was slightly frustrating, having so many questions but no answers, and no answers in the foreseeable future. These dragons were just huge mysteries, and we honestly would have tried to capture one to study if we weren't certain that they would hunt us down and kill until they found them, then probably disappear afterwards.

One time, a fledgling had gone missing for a day. It was on a cliff on the east mountain, on the far side, facing away from the city. It was too young to be able to fly that high, I had seen many careen off course and almost crash from the winds up there that were older than that. I honestly have no idea how it had gotten up there but the flock's reaction to it was what caught me off guard.

In less than ten minutes after we saw the fledgling's parents start looking, the entire population was in the air, the only ones not flying being fledglings even younger than the one lost. It was the biggest movement of their community I had ever witnessed. 

There were dragons everywhere, dotting the entire valley, the forest, the lake, and the mountains. The fledgling's scales were an almost fluorescent white, and it blended into the snow, so they couldn't just pick it out at a distance. They had to go over the area with a fine-tooth comb, just to be able to see it. 

At that moment, we saw a side of them we had never seen before. The dragons landed in the middle of the street, their teeth bared and nostrils flaring. They prowled the roads, climbed the side of buildings and walked barely two feet from the Kymari. It was the closest we were ever able to get to them, and one of the artists were able to get a cognitive diagram of their outside, finally able to draw in detail. 

Not only had they searched the streets, they had also searched the residents. The dragons had gone through each home, pushing the door open and taking a deep whiff before moving on. Occasionally they would take two and move on, or even wink at the residents before leaving. Although we weren't able to touch them, it was a major insight into their behaviors and sentience. 

There were orders to not attack them until attacked, so there were no incidents between us and the dragons, but it was a very surreal scene, having predators twice our size poke their heads through our front door and sniff, before just leaving, no fight or anything. If there had been an attack, my experiences would be very different, as well as the condition of the city. 

The only damage they caused was the occasional fright, but other than that, nothing. Even with the apartment complexes, where there were fifteen Kymari living in the same building, they would just take one whiff then move on.  There was little to no aggression towards us. In fact, they seemed friendly, though they were serious. 

However, at one point, a merchant who was residing in the city tried to keep a dark gray dragon from taking a sniff through his ship. The merchant was from off-world, and had no idea of what to do if something like this happened, but he saw how none of us were reacting weirdly to this. Although I can see the reasoning behind him not wanting an animal four times his size on his ship, he only made his situation worse by waving a gun half his size at the dragon's snout. 

The dragon had directly picked up his four foot stature by the neck and threw him like a ragdoll to smash onto the street three hundred feet away. It just to took one cursory sniff and hooted, tilting it's head for a moment, then kept moving, leaving the merchant with a cracked tailbone, a fractured skull, a broken arm and a shattered foot on the street. 

For some reason, the merchant never came back.

I looked down at the dragons from the top of the city walls, leaning against the rail. I was far enough that I could see nearly every single one of them, but close enough so that I could still see their display. 

The sun went down and they began, rising high into the sky. Usually, I would stay to watch it from my balcony or from the city walls, but tonight, I couldn't watch. My eyebrows scrunched together as I jogged down the stairs to the ground and back to the embassy. I had a bad feeling about tonight, and I rarely got feelings, especially strong ones like tonight.

The sound of singing dragon's resounded through the valley as I walked through the halls of the embassy, the vibration of their voices shaking the ground and penetrating the walls. I looked around my empty office, scanning for anything out of place. There was nothing.

I walked back out into the street, a dark feeling through my heart. Then, I remembered something. We had covered the Trillip, but not their crew. Although we had people watching them while they worked, we didn't have a personal entourage for each and every one of them.

I took off running towards the port, where their ships were. The dragon's had reached the climax of their song, and were about to finish. The overlapping harmony wove together and reached the entire valley, the moon high in the sky. 

Then, they went silent, the sound of a collective inhale signaling the end of their performance. I was only a block away from the port. The sound of wingbeats sounded out into the night as I touched the boundary separating the street from the port. 

The sound stopped, the dragons scattering to the wind. Then, the ship in front of me exploded, sending me flying and a guttural roar shaking the ground. 

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