Mizalin-on-Sky: Away on an Airship
#20 of The Life and Times of Jarzyl Mintaka (Slice of Life Stories)
Jarzyl's field trip commences.
Caden was still lazily licking her scales clean even as Jarzyl scampered up to her. "Why are you still sitting down? Adventure awaits! Let us assemble!" Jarzyl exclaimed.
"It's all crowded and messy, so wait a minute. Let me finish grooming," Caden replied calmly.
"Eeehhh!" Jarzyl didn't want to wait--she wanted to start their adventure. But it was true that there were many fledglings still crowding around the area, trying to figure out where their own schools or classes were assembling. "I found Atlas, but he said he was busy and he might not be sticking with us for this field trip."
Caden raised an eye ridge. "Really? Doesn't Atlas usually pair up with you? Or is he going with Indry for today?"
"I don't know. He didn't really explain, but that's fine," Jarzyl decided. "By the way, I just met a really cool dragon! She was wearing this cloth over her eyes, and I was curious why, so I went over to make a new friend and--"
Caden paused, with her tongue still half stuck out in the middle of grooming her wing. "Cloth over her eyes? You mean the blind fledge? Glecion?"
Jarzyl felt her neck frill perking up in surprise. "Oh, you know her?"
Caden nodded. "There aren't many fledglings who are blind. Glecion is in the sector forty school--Eastwind Intermediate Educationary. Remember last year I had that exchange program where I took a couple of classes outside from our school? It was at Eastwind, and that's where I met Glecion."
"Huh! Why didn't you ever tell me you met a cool, special, blind fledgling! You made it sound like Eastwind was just a boring place compared to our own school," Jarzyl replied.
"Eastwind wasn't bad. I enjoyed my time there. They just have a different sort of learning style which involves less self-study and more direct guided tutoring."
"So yes, a boring school," Jarzyl concluded.
Caden flicked her wings in a lazy shrug. "Whatever. Anyway, Glecion was also in the classes I took at Eastwind, but so were dozens of other fledglings. I made lots of friends at Eastwind, and I did tell you about plenty of them, though clearly you've just forgotten."
Jarzyl did her own lazy shrug. "I don't need as many friends as you--just a few close ones!" Flipping open her wings, Jarzyl hugged Caden, who just tried to keep licking her own scales clean.
"Now you're getting your dirtiness all over me again," Caden muttered.
"I'm not dirty. And we're going on a field trip, so I don't see why you're bothering to clean your scales now," Jarzyl replied. "Shall we go find the rest of the class?"
"Fine, let's go," Caden agreed.
The chaos had started to settle down, as the many young dragons gradually sorted out into their respective schools and classes, guided into some semblance of order by their teachers and other school staff.
Jarzyl quickly spotted their class group, which consisted of just under two dozen fledglings who often took lessons or training hunts together, with most of that number appearing to have arrived and seated themselves in front of one of their teachers who had a sign hanging around his neck with their school's name and the class number.
Jarzyl scampered over to join the group of assembled fledglings before plonking herself down. "Hello again Pyxis!" she said to the closest fledgling as she sat down on her haunches.
Her blue-scaled friend glanced behind, then gave an acknowledging nod. "Hi, you two."
"Hey." Whereas Jarzyl had run over, Caden had walked at a more leisurely pace and taken a few more seconds to arrive. She used her tail to sweep the ground free of dust before she sat down beside Jarzyl.
Jarzyl managed to stay seated calmly for all of ten seconds, then she stood back up and stuck her head out to look over the rest of the class. "Hm... Everyone's arrived! Do you think we're going soon? Oh, maybe not everyone. Where's Atlas? I don't see him here."
"I haven't seen him," Pyxis confirmed. "I thought he was with you, since you hadn't come yet."
One of their teachers, an older drake named Tasilus, was the main teacher in charge of overseeing their class for the year. Tasilus was standing at the front of the class, and hung around his neck was a sign printed with their class number (presumably just in case the young dragons somehow had forgotten that he was their teacher). Jarzyl could see him glance over every one of them in turn, and his mouth moved as he silently counted them. "Alright, that's everyone here. Good morning, class! Welcome everyone to your first proper out-of-city field trip! I hope everyone's had a good night's sleep and is prepared for today."
Tasilus paused as another teacher walked up to say something to him, then he turned to address the class again. "Class, we're going to have to wait a bit longer. Some other schools are going to board the airship first before us. Also, we're going to be combining some classes just for today, so everyone be nice and make new friends. We're visiting a unique place today. Mizalin-on-Sky is very scenic, and also historical and educational, so enjoy yourself and learn things."
Jarzyl happily nodded her head, then she frowned as something occurred to her. Leaning towards Caden, she nudged her side. "Wait, earlier did he say everyone is here? But Atlas isn't here."
Caden shrugged. "Are you sure Atlas is even joining our class today? Maybe they're organizing a separate field trip for the nocturnal fledglings, like when we visited the Science Museum and they had that special tour of the observatory."
"No, that can't be." Jarzyl pointed towards another one of their classmates, sitting ahead of them. "Indry's here and he's a nocturnal too. Hmm. Where is Atlas? What is he busy with today...?"
Caden shrugged again. "He'll turn up sooner or later. Maybe he's helping Drak Tasilus with some errand. Atlas is a bit of a teacher's pet--you ever notice that? Drak Tasilus and Drak Beritae always treat him well. And even Drak Vin, who thinks all of us are idiots who can't do math, likes Atlas and gets him to answer questions in class."
Jarzyl nodded her head. "Well, Atlas is smart, and he is helpful. A great friend! Just like me, and just like you."
"Ehh. He is smart and a good friend, definitely, but I was thinking more like he's pitiable and sympathetic, what with the missing leg and being a cripple," Caden replied.
"Maybe a bit of that too," Jarzyl admitted.
By now boarding had begun, and one by one other class groups were being ushered aboard the airship's boarding ramp. After a few minutes of having to sit around and wait, a different group of fledglings (led by their own teacher) came over and sat down next to Jarzyl's class.
"Attention please! For today's field trip we will be combining classes between different schools, so you can meet new people and make new friends." Tasilus gestured to the other teacher. "This is Drak Eeto, who you might remember because she also used to teach in our school before she was transferred!"
This other teacher then went on to introduce Tasilus to the other class, but Jarzyl didn't bother to pay attention to that. Instead, she was watching the other class curiously. Just from a quick glance over some of the new arrivals, Jarzyl couldn't recognize anyone. However after a second look, she spotted a familiar fledgling with grey scales and green stripes, wearing a plain blindfold over her head. Jarzyl half-unfurled her wing to wave hello, before realizing that this was a pointless action. "Hey, that's Glecion, so that must mean we're being joined with a class from Eastwind," Jarzyl said to Caden, but then her neck frill perked up in surprise when she saw who was sitting beside Glecion.
"So it seems," Caden agreed, then she too noticed Glecion's partner. "Ah, is that Atlas over there? I do believe it is. That answers your question about where he went."
Jarzyl frowned in confusion and tilted her head. At that moment, Atlas happened to look over and he also saw Jarzyl and Caden--they were too far separated to talk, but he used a wing to wave. Jarzyl waved back, albeit uncertainly. "But why's he... there? That's not our class. Why's he sitting with the Eastwind class?"
Caden opened up her wing and once again began grooming her flight scales. "I would guess he's the one guiding Glecion around for the day? It makes sense."
"But... uh... hmmm..." Jarzyl frowned again, and then she shook her head. "I thought--"
Before she could complete her sentence, their teacher, Tasilus, beckoned for all the fledglings to stand up. "Everyone up on your feet please! We're going to be boarding the airship next. Stick together and pair up! Everyone should grab their field trip buddy, and you two will be sticking together throughout today to make sure you stay safe. Buddy up please!"
This resulted in some movement and murmured discussion as various young dragons from both classes all quickly tried to find their friends to pair up for the day.
Caden extended her forelimbs in front of herself and stretched her back, then she stood up. "So we buddying up, Jarz?"
"Sure..." Jarzyl agreed with a nod, but not before once again glancing towards the other class where Atlas was sitting beside Glecion.
This gesture did not go unnoticed by Caden, and it made her chuckle. "Ahaha."
"What?" Jarzyl asked, but Caden just grinned knowingly.
A while later, the fledglings finally got to board the airship. Aboard the metallic vehicle, various large compartments divided up the airship, all filled with seats. Being some of the last to board, Jarzyl and her classmates got to sit in the forward compartment. Row and rows of seating cushions were affixed to the floor, each providing a space for a dragon to sit or lie down comfortably.
"Everyone find seats! Sit together as a class, and try to sit with your field trip buddy," Drak Tasilus instructed them.
"Come on, Caden. I want to see!" Squeezing past some of her classmates, Jarzyl ran forward so she could get a front row seat with a good view out the broad, panoramic windows that made up the front of this compartment, allowing a view of the area ahead of the airship.
Caden let out a dramatic sigh, but she did follow after and went to sit beside Jarzyl. "Excuse me. Coming through..." Caden brushed off the seat cushion with her tail, and she sat herself down. "Is there a particular reason you're so exceptionally excitable today, Jarz? Have you ever been to Mizalin-on-Sky before?" she asked.
"Nope. But I've read about it, and it sounds like an incredible place." Leaning forward, Jarzyl rested a paw against the window and pressed her snout against the glass. Her breath fogged up a small patch of the window.
"Parpp!" Suddenly the airship sounded its horn, making Jarzyl jump. In the airship hangar outside she could see a crowd of adult dragons who had been here to see the fledglings off--parents, grandparents, friends, family, clanmates--and many in the assembled crowd opened their wings to wave, or raised their heads to roar farewell.
Jarzyl grinned, and she tried to look for her father amongst the crowd. She finally spotted him and raised her wing to wave, but just as she did so, mechanical movement caught the young dragon's attention instead.
All the assembled crowd was standing in a clearly demarked area of the airship hangar, near the outer edge and close to the wall, and the reason for this now became obvious. A dragon wearing a flight harness marked with the green and blue stripes of the city's Transportation Division had been walking around the hangar just to make sure that no one was standing where they ought not to be, then she went over to a panel by the side of the hangar and manipulated a series of controls.
"They're opening the hangar doors! See?" Jarzyl said, tapping Caden's side to make sure her friend was watching.
"Yes, I see that," Caden replied.
Right down the middle of the hangar, the metallic floor cleaved open and began folding downwards. Light and wind flooded into the hangar, and Jarzyl's tail excitedly flicked from side to side. As the floor folded away, an outer circumference remained where the crowd of dragons was standing, but the airship was now suspended on its four clamps attached to the walls, with the ground below them opened to the air.
While still seated on her cushion, Jarzyl raised her head to try and see, but the main structure of the airship itself prevented her from seeing much below them. She could barely see traces of wispy clouds blowing past the open hangar doors, but the real ground far below was out of sight.
Excited murmuring and chatter was going around the room, but Jarzyl ignored her fellow fledglings and focused her attention on the airship they were riding. There was the quiet rumble of the air ventilation system, but also a deeper, subtler noise that was easy to miss--the sound of the airship's power core spinning itself up, preparing to begin its discharge of all that potent, pent-up magical power that had been transferred from the city's central energy grid.
By the side, the technician working at the hangar's control panel nodded once as a series of small blinking lights on the panel flicked to a steady glow. Turning around, the technician made a short smooth gesture with his wings, and without even thinking about it Jarzyl silently imitated the motion. Wings half unfurled, sweep up, snap down--a signal to the flight crew aboard the airship. They were ready to depart.
"I always love this part..." Jarzyl sighed dreamily.
And then without any further ado, a rippling wave of magic spilled from the airship's various thruster ports, and the craft lifted out of its mooring clamps before dropping out of the hangar and into the open skies.
There were gasps of surprise amongst the many dozens of fledglings assembled in this seating compartment, as abruptly they all felt the sensation of descent. "Woah!" "Hang on..." "Are we going? We're going!"
"PARRP!" The airship sounded its horn again, and Jarzyl leapt to her feet and flung open both wings.
"We are away!!" she yelled, uncaring of how she looked, and quite a few other young dragons also added cheers or roars to the noisy, excited environment.
"Wooh!"
"Raah!"
A deep drakken voice boomed over the sound of youthful cheer. "Jarzyl Mintaka!" exclaimed Drak Tasilus, with a resigned rather than an upset tone. "Seat yourself back down immediately. I know the field trip is mentally and emotionally stimulating, but for your own safety you are required to remain in a sedentary position, especially during launch." Tasilus transferred his firm stare to several other fledglings who had stood up, and they all sat back down obediently.
"Sorry," Jarzyl replied, as she sat down too, even if this instruction seemed a bit silly to her. After all, they were all fledglings now, which meant that even if somehow the airship had some problems they could just fly.
"You heard him! Calm yourself, if possible," Caden snarkily suggested, but Jarzyl shook her head.
"Drak Tasilus said to sit down, but he said nothing about calm. Nothing will get me to stop being excited!"
As the airship continued to descend, the true scale of the City of Wings increasingly started to become apparent. Out through the windows, the vast, metallic underbelly of the city was coming into view. Rectangular areas were marked out at regular intervals with paint and flashing lights, representing individual hangar bays for airships; but this was only just for the airship docks, which were but one, single, large yet relatively small portion of the vast city.
Jarzyl could hardly sit still from excitement, and she tapped her paws against her seating cushion. Even from young (well, younger) she had always been fascinated by airships and the way they used magic to float suspended through the air. But amongst all the achievements of the drakken, the greatest was the City of Wings itself, Avaeria.
Airships came in many sizes, but there could only be one largest aerial craft, and that craft was so large that it dwarfed all others by comparison. The sheer vastness of Avaeria made it so easy to forget what it truly was--an immense flying city, built and developed over the centuries and inhabited by the vast majority of the drakken population. Avaeria was so large that it was easy to even forget that you were in the skies, riding aboard a colossal floating craft.
Jarzyl had never gotten the chance to meet or even see a member of any other sapient species, but she never felt more proud to be a dragon than on seeing Avaeria from afar. No other species had mastered the skies, or made an accomplishment as grand as the drakken capital. Who else but the dragons could have built a flying city? Who else would even have wanted to?
Avaeria was shaped like a flattened bipyramid, as if a mountain had torn itself out of the ground to wander amongst the clouds, powered by immensely powerful magic engineered to perfection. Countless buildings jutted out from the city's underbelly like stalactites, but constructed with precise architectural intent; countless more buildings stood tall on Avaeria's upper side, though these were not visible as the airship was still deep in the city's shadow and far too close by to see Avaeria's upper half.
Tiny puffs of coolant gas occasionally spilled from the thruster ports of the airship they were currently riding, whereas in comparison the city had open, glowing, hexagonal thruster panels built into the bottom of city sectors that were easily several times larger than the whole airship, with entire puffy clouds condensing out from their supercold surfaces to be blown away by the wind.
As bespoke the drakken fascination with flight, there were colourful flags, banners, windsocks, and pennants hanging from almost every building, indicating the local wind conditions to aid nearby dragons in flight. And there were many dragons in flight--all across the city, drakken could be seen flying from point to point, dropping out from the city into the open air. Airships were a sparser sight, but these too were also visible, flying much slower than dragons as they carried cargo around the urban environment.
Jarzyl made a pleased, happy sigh. "Huuuh!" She had lived in Avaeria all her life, and the sight of the city's vast, densely intricate construction always filled her with admiration for her home. And yet the metropolitan beauty of the City of Wings was arguably matched by the natural splendour over which they were currently flying. Avaeria was flying slowly high up in the sky, but below them was a grand mountain range that stretched out in all directions as far as the eye could see.
However, glancing to her side, she found that Caden was lying down on her seating cushion and had put her head on her paws to nap. Jarzyl tapped at her friend's shoulder. "Ca-den! Cadencial Hasilt-Taslin, how can you possibly sleep now? We're on a field trip. This is an adventure!"
Caden blinked one eye briefly open, and she yawned. "Don't you call me by my full name--you know I don't like it. Also, it's still early in the morning and I'm sleepy... We had to wake up extra early for today. I think it's entirely acceptable to take a nap."
Jarzyl felt no such sleepiness. The sun had already risen and was above the horizon, and she felt fully awake and ready for adventure. "Look at the city, look at the mountains, look at that sky! It's amazing!"
Caden yawned again, and she laid her head back down on her paws. "Wake me up when we can actually see Mizalin-on-Sky. These mountains are nice, but they're just big rocks if you think about it. Seen one rock, seen them all..."
"Bah." Jarzyl made a disagreeing grunt, but she let Caden resume her nap. "Fine, nap now if you want. We're going to be doing lots of exploring and adventuring when we reach the nature park."
Once more looking out the windows, Jarzyl turned her attention from admiring the city to admiring the natural landscape. The mountains rose up like immense ripples in the planet itself, forming peaks and valleys and passes. Forests rode up the slopes of many mountains, and trees even covered some of the lower mountains with their green, though other taller peaks were capped with white snow.
"Now that's a sight," Jarzyl muttered.
Caden was still lying down on her seating cushion, and she made an agreeing noise without opening her eyes. "Mm. Yeah. Rocks... great things."
The scale of it all was what always amazed her. Jarzyl liked living in Avaeria with all the comforts and conveniences of advanced civilization, but the city was dense and close. There was so little open space in the cluttered, carefully planned urban environment. Look across a room, and there was a wall right ahead. Leave that room and look down the corridor, and there would be another wall and another room. Leave the building and go out onto the street, but still there would be another building right beside. Even flying in the space above the streets, there were so many skyscrapers spearing up into the air, and there were so many other dragons all flying around. You always had to look out, look close, and get used to confined spaces.
The countryside was different. Jarzyl felt a tiny, barely perceptible strain as her eye muscles refocused to stare at infinity. Outside the city, there was nothing but clouds and open air for leagues upon leagues upon leagues, where a dragon might fly for literal hours or days or weeks without hitting their nose into a wall, a building, or another dragon. Jarzyl shuffled her wings on her back, and she dreamed of being free.
Of course, as a young dragon who had only so very recently learned how to fly, flying for even a single hour was still a tough challenge, yet Jarzyl could dream. One day she would be bigger, and stronger, and she'd fly free. Forests, hills, mountains, trees, rivers, lakes, beaches, ocean, cliffs, valleys--it was natural terrain in all its varied splendour, and Jarzyl wanted to see it all.
The City of Wings flew high in the sky, slowly roaming across the vast realm of drakken-controlled territory. Now Avaeria's carefully planned course had brought it over these scenic mountain ranges, and this field trip had been planned for a day when the city was reasonably close to one special portion of the highlands.
"Those are some tall mountains," Jarzyl thought to herself, "and yet there are others which are even taller! One day I'll see them all."
In preparation for this field trip, Jarzyl had been so excited to visit the nature park at Mizalin-on-Sky that she'd even borrowed library books and read them to learn about the place. In Jarzyl's opinion, studying was a hideously boring and tedious task, but learning was the best thing ever. "There are taller mountains than the Mizall Range. In the northwest regions there is the Julnir Mountain Range, and all the way down southeast there is the Rasterin Mountain Range," Jarzyl murmured, half to inform Caden, half to just remind herself that there were yet more places that eclipsed this one in majesty.
And yet unlike these other highlands, these mountains were special in their own way. The airship continued flying out from the city, but Avaeria was so large that they were still in the city's shadow and they hadn't even made it to the outer sectors.
Finally after a few minutes more, Jarzyl managed to yank her gaze away from gawking at the scenery outside. Caden was still napping (or trying to, at least), so instead, Jarzyl turned her attention to looking around the airship cabin and the many other fledglings seated around. Some of these faces were familiar, but many were not, as fledglings from different schools were all together on this special field trip. Most of the fledglings appeared to be of the same age as her--just having made it past the hatchling to fledgling transition and now having learnt how to fly, without yet having anywhere near the full length or weight of an adult drakken. Jarzyl estimated that she was about a third of the way to fully grown, and though there were some exceptions, most of her fellow fledglings were in roughly the same size range as her.
But then across all the many young dragons, Jarzyl's gaze spotted one particular fledgling--Atlas. Her black-scaled, three-legged friend was sitting near the opposite side of the airship, and Glecion was right beside him. The two of them were quietly chatting with each other with an air of familiarity that implied they must have known each other beforehand, and seeing the two of them together made Jarzyl feel... odd. Atlas was one of her oldest and closest friends, and though she had just met Glecion, she had liked her too.
So why, Jarzyl wondered to herself, did she have this strange feeling that she would much prefer things if Atlas and Glecion weren't close friends?
Before she could ponder this weird development further, the airship began to slowly yaw to the side. Jarzyl felt her internal compass spin as they gradually changed direction, but then she gasped audibly as a new sight came into view. "Oh. Oh, hoho. Wow. Woooww! Caden, look!" She grabbed Caden and shook her awake.
"What? What's your problem--oh. Wow..." When she looked out the window too, Caden's impressed look matched Jarzyl's, and they weren't the only ones. Across the entire airship cabin, fledglings and even the teachers murmured with excitement as Mizalin-on-Sky came into view.
There were many names for the flying city of the drakken. The proper name was Avaeria, and it was also frequently referred to as the City of Wings, but one of the older, less common nicknames was The Lost Mountain. Previous Jarzyl had assumed this nickname was because the city somewhat resembled a mountain, and clearly a mountain must have been lost if it was flying amongst the clouds instead of being one with the ground where it belonged.
But no. If Avaeria really was The Lost Mountain, then this mountain range would surely have been its long abandoned ancestral home. Distantly, partially obscured by clouds, there was an area in the highlands that was unlike all the surrounding terrain. The mountains there defied gravity, with strange, fractal or geometric shapes that ought to have collapsed to the ground in a pile of rubble, but instead rose up to the sky. As Jarzyl kept watching, the distant clouds shifted some more to reveal that there were even entire portions of mountain that were _floating_high, in complete defiance of gravity.
It was called Mizalin-on-Sky, a region of the world that, true to its name, rode the sky.
"Today is going to be great. I can feel it in my tail and my ears," Jarzyl muttered, as she looked over an activity booklet that had been handed out to each of the young dragons. In addition to more general information about the natural park, the booklet also had a map of the visitor centre and the nearby hiking trails, a schedule for the day, and finally a worksheet section with several questions of different types--multiple choice, true or false, open ended--and these questions were on topics ranging from scientific (Which of the following are industrial uses of needlemir?) to historical (True or False: Mizalin-on-Sky was the location where Avaeria first took flight). Much to her amusement, Jarzyl found that she was able to deduce most of the answers just from having done some basic research about the natural park, as well as simply by using common sense to make educated guesses. "I actually know these answers! So this is what it's like to actually be smart." Jarzyl took out her ink pot and uncapped it, before dipping the end of her tail into the black liquid and using the prehensile tip like a brush to write down her answers.
Caden glanced over. "I don't think Drak Tasilus is even going to collect these booklets at the end of the day anyway. I think these are just a sneaky ploy to remind you that this field trip is a school experience for learning, not just a fun excursion."
"Possible," Jarzyl admitted, but she still continued to fill in the questions. "Hmm. Which of the five big clans was the ancestral controller of Mizalin-on-Sky? I don't think it's Mintaka. Was it Hasilt? Or Dirak? Or maybe Krin or Taslin?"
Caden smiled faintly. She dipped her own tail in Jarzyl's ink pot to begin copying her friend's answers. "You only know your own clan's history, Jarz?"
Jarzyl hadn't quite intended for the conversation to drift in this direction, but she nodded unashamedly. "Yes. Mintaka's a great clan! But I'm fairly certain that Mizalin-on-Sky was never under our hold, or I'd have remembered it from when my grandfather always told me stories about the long, long history of our clan." She nudged Caden's side. "But you're from Hasilt-Taslin, right, Caden? You've got dual-clan membership, so do you know your clans' history? I don't think I know any other dragon who has dual-clan membership between two of the five big clans."
Caden snorted dismissively. "Pah! Oh, I certainly know the distasteful history of my clans, yes I do. Don't get me started on that..."
Jarzyl grinned faintly. "Go on, get started. I know you always like to rant about clans."
"Yes, because clans are awful. I have dual clan membership not by any merit of my own, but because executive management of both Hasilt and Taslin thought that an alliance would be in their mutual interests. These blasted clans...! And then some overly ambitious wingleaders were assigned to a joint project that regrettably resulted in my unfortunate existence. What a stupid idea that was. The big clans all control too much power and only care about staying in power."
"Ok. Um, that's just clan politics? That's how things are," Jarzyl replied, quoting something she had heard from her mother. "If the big clans like Mintaka and Hasilt didn't run the city, then it would just be other small clans running the city and they would get bigger until it was the same in the end."
"Easy for you to say. _You_weren't conceived as part of a corporate merger strategic project. Clans are dumb, especially big ones," Caden muttered, and though her vocal tone remained mostly indifferent, there was a faint mix of resentment and anger.
Jarzyl wasn't what to say in response, so she just nodded her head to show general support. Amongst the many fledglings she counted as friends and acquaintances, they all came from a wide mix of different clan backgrounds even though they all lived together in the City of Wings. To her, a clan was simply like an extended family that wasn't quite a family, which also came with a clan insignia that went on buildings or on clothing (though of course clans were how city governance worked too). In comparison, Jarzyl had noticed that "dragon clans and how they are awful" was one of the few topics which could get Caden ranting and agitated, breaking through her friend's shell of general chill indifference.
"This... all sounds like adult talk," Jarzyl finally settled on saying.
Caden's lips drew back as she bared her teeth, but she glanced away, making it a display of general displeasure rather than a targeted expression of anger towards her friend. "Back in the airship hangar you were happy to be a fledgling and to be growing up."
"True. But that was about flying and eventually being able to use magic, not worrying about all this... politics and society stuff."
"They go together."
"But not yet! I want to grow up, but just a little bit. I want to fly and I want to use magic, but maybe the responsibility and seriousness can wait." Jarzyl let her breath out in a puff, pretending to be firebreathing. "Phoar! I want to have flame affinity, then I can roast kebabs and marshmallows. That would be nice. Anyway, don't be upset! We're great friends, and clan background doesn't matter for friendship. We all get along and I'm sure things will eventually get better." Jarzyl flipped open a wing and hugged Caden's shoulders, and surprisingly enough Caden seemed happy for it.
"Jarz, you are really too pure. You're one of the few people who can make it so hard for me to stay angry, you know?" Caden muttered, so quietly that Jarzyl could barely even hear it. "When I talk with my parents they disagree with me and that makes me angry, and when I talk with some of my other friends they agree with me and we all get angry about society's many injustices, but you're so optimistic I can't stay upset." Caden took a deep breath, and she opened and closed her wings slowly in a meditative, self-calming gesture. For a moment she patted her wing on Jarzyl's back to return her hug, before furling up her wings again. "It's... fine. I'm fine. Thanks for putting up with me. How did we even get onto this topic?"
Jarzyl gestured at her booklet placed on the floor in front of her, and then out the window towards the immense floating mountains they were slowly approaching. "Uh... worksheet question. Which clan used to control Mizalin-on-Sky in the long, long ago time of before we all lived in the City of Wings in harmony?"
"Right. It isn't my clans, Hasilt or Taslin, I can tell you that much." Caden used a hindlimb to scratch at an itch on her side. "It's probably Dirak. Krin hardly controls anything; they just barely count as the fifth of the big clans."
"Makes sense. Dirak is the clan which controls Diracore Quarry, where needlemir is actually extracted in modern times. Let's go with that answer," Jarzyl agreed, and she used her inked tail to circle that answer choice in her booklet. "Less worrying, more enjoying the field trip!"
To be continued.