The gardens at the back of the mountain were as beautiful as ever. Fresh, fragrant smells came from the trees and plants which populated the hanging terraces. Shafts of light poured down from the vertical gap of the natural enclosure. The floating monuments swirled in a spiral pattern, crystal surfaces catching rays and scattering them everywhere like a shower of tiny suns. The glowing grasses around the lake pulsed, everbright, a hazy illusion causing the gardens to seemingly float above the clouds themselves.
Enjoying this breathtaking splendor were multitudes of refugees, constantly strolling up and down the broad walkways. People of all kinds and shapes ambled along in groups, talking and laughing, or paced by themselves, content to just take in the tranquil atmosphere. The more audacious individuals were taking baths in the numerous fountains or swimming in the lake, and those who preferred to stay around more permanently had even settled in tents, organized in discrete clusters or as lone retreats upon secluded ledges on the ridges.
Airo and Veralla were on one of the topmost terraces overlooking the entire area. They stood at the edge of the terrace, watching the crowds below go about their chosen activities. The hidden base had become much more bustling lately as the number of evacuated settlements increased, and the gardens subsequently have also seen a noticeable rise in visitation and traffic.
"Wow, there are so many people around!" Veralla remarked in wonder.
"Hmm," Airo mused, leaning on the terrace's engraved parapet, holding a bottle in his hand. He was here for the first time, and his steel-grey eyes were visibly taking in the sights. "Have you not seen more when we were to Kryoon?"
"Yes, I have, but it was different then. I was not among others, I only watched them from afar. Being surrounded by so many people now is... new to me. Overwhelming at times, yet kind of nice. It makes me happy!" In spite of her words, there had been some downsides – it had become difficult for her to meditate in the gardens, so she had to move into the stone keep at the training grounds. It was nice there, too, yet she missed the quiet celebration of life that were the gardens during early mornings.
"I see," Airo said. He took a sip from the bottle. His words still echoed with sadness and a distant, subtle anger, but there also was a... differentness. Like something had opened inside him.
Oh, different! Yes, she almost forgot!
"Airo, do you eat meat??"
"Hmm? Sure," he shrugged, a barely perceptible gesture under his power armor. "Though I am not particular about it. As long as I get to procure dinner, I do not care much what it consists of."
"You have to stop eating meat!" she urged him.
"Hm. Why?" he asked.
"Because living beings are hurt and killed in order for their meat to be taken and then eaten by others!"
"What? No, no, the meat made around here comes from the nanofabricators."
She paused, taken aback by this information. "Really?"
"Yes. Apparently every conceivable type of food is nanofabricated in this day and age."
"So you do not actually... eat meat?"
"I cannot say for certain," he replied, gazing again at the gardens and the crowds below. "In my previous life, plenty of the food was also nanofabricated. Yet there were many products which were produced the old-fashioned way. Back then, I could tell the difference. Today... not so much. The times have indeed changed."
She tilted her head to the side, her wings flapping idly. It was her turn to say, "I see. And what about the difference in resonance?"
"I do not know what you are talking about."
They spoke lightly for some time. Veralla was enjoying that she and Airo were together again. The emptiness which had started yawning in her soul receded in Airo's presence, despite his still-distant demeanor. But there was a tiny shadow of doubt which refused to be banished, and worse, threatened to grow no matter how much light was cast upon it: the fact she was considered a Primordial dragon. It was a question which burdened her for awhile now. She was reluctant to pose it to Airo, knowing his general dislike of dragons; but he had lived centuries ago, and perhaps he knew things no one else could tell her.
"Airo... do you know what a Primordial dragon is?"
He was silent for several heartbeats. "Hmm. I have been... acquainted with the term."
Her twin hearts fluttered. She remembered all the information she had found on the topic several nights ago. She had searched and searched the Viirt datalinks, yet had not been able to find anything definitive. Primordial dragons were an enigma. There were legends and myths about them. Fables and proverbs were dedicated to them. Numerous philosophical treatises – many of them written by dragons! – discussed endlessly their qualities and possible existence, past or present.
But no matter the mountains of circumstantial data, Primordial dragons remained shrouded in mystery. Sometimes tales referenced them by other names, such as Celestial dragons, or Ascendants Incarnae, or simply true dragons. They were often called Avatars of Veralla, and it had fascinated her how a goddess was named after her – or rather the other way around; but fascinating nonetheless. Yet nothing had told her what a Primordial dragon really is, and she had spent a whole night without sleep trawling the datalinks, and asking Tehalix about it the next evening.
"Have you seen a Primordial dragon?" she asked Airo.
"No, I have not."
"Then how do you know about them?"
He turned to face her. "Magus Dei told me about them."
"Oh!" She felt excited despite her anxiousness. It made so much sense! Magus Dei was very wise and very old. She felt awkward for not thinking of asking him. "And what did he say?"
Airo told her what the former Grandmaster had revealed the other night.
She thought she should have felt honored to have such grand expectation placed on her shoulders. Instead, she felt only unease and apprehension. It reminded her once again how different she seemed from the other dragons, from her unusual body to her inability to develop properly, and it made her feel different yet again. She felt like a failure for being unable to fulfill what was envisioned about her. She feared the others would be disappointed when they learned it was impossible for her to be a Primordial dragon.
She felt sad.
She lifted her eyes to Airo, barely holding back her tears. "D-do you think I am a real dragon?" she asked.
He looked at her in stark silence. Suddenly, his usually severe expression softened. "Yes, you are a real dragon," he said, his simple answer carrying more weight than all the stars in the universe.
She sniffled. "R-really?"
"Yes, really. Trust me. I... I know about dragons."
"O-okay." She paused, quietly thankful for his words. "Am I... different, from other dragons?"
"Yes, you are different."
She hrrr–ed quietly, her head bowing down, her misery and tears returning.
"Different, yet no less capable or deserving," Airo continued. She lifted her head in surprise. "I have heard what others talk about you around the base. They speak of your kindness and compassion. They praise your bravery. They even point you... as my salvation." He gazed intently at her, and for the first time since she first met his grey eyes, she saw something spark alive in their boundless emptiness. "Your actions reflect the core inside you, Veralla, and that is the person you truly are. You would make a fine Radiant Knight, no matter what your outward appearance may be. I am certain of that."
She rawr–ed softly, a gentle, sweet expression of the warm relief which soothed her spirit. Her tears fell freely. "Thank you," she murmured. "Thank you, Airo."
"Hmm, yes, my pleasure and all that," he said, leaning back on the parapet to gaze over the gardens, his warrior's grace abruptly replaced by awkward shifts and unsure movements. The transition was so sudden it made Veralla giggle involuntarily, and he scowled, as if the whole situation was an elaborate joke at his expense.
They stood so for a few minutes under the bright suns, she recovering from her emotions, he again the silent soldier. At last she worked up the courage to ask him another question whose answer worried her.
"Will you stay another day here, in Ilsorin?"
"I will," he nodded, once more to her enormous relief. His sharp gaze was studying the crowds of refugees in the gardens below. "There is something else I must take care of anyway."