Ninety-Four
"Isn't our luck a bit too good?" Lilith stopped before the wall map, eyes bright as lanterns, and asked the Black Dragon at her side.
"Maybe. Maybe you've been hoarding luck for a day like this." Nidhogg drifted after Lilith like a shadow and reached the map first, hunting for marks.
"Watch your mouth." Lilith, peeved, thumped her belly. The Little White Dragon's punch was a feather on iron scales, more tickle than blow. The Black Dragon ignored the kittenish jab and kept her gaze on the paper terrain.
"Mm." When Nidhogg didn’t react, Lilith’s mood sagged like a wilted sprout. She drew back her fist and joined the search, eyes skimming the inked maze.
"Let me see... Where's the tech R&D?" Lilith muttered, breath fogging the varnished surface. Mio, who'd been spectating with a grin, drifted over like a breeze and swept the map with wide elven eyes.
"This looks like a tourist map. The workshop outside is a display model, not an actual production line." Mio tapped the tight rows of tiny letters beside the map, her nail clicking like rain, and briefed the others. "This factory’s tied to the academies tighter than we guessed. At least three well-known schools from the Selnos Mountains tour here. It’s all written out."
"Can’t read Elven script. Why not use the Common Tongue?" At Mio’s summary, Lilith leaned in, then recoiled as if from a swarm of ants. She knew a bit of Elven, but a wall of text smothered her like fog. Even ancient Draconic would’ve killed her mood. "Translate for me?"
"Don’t rush. I’ll do it line by line." Mio turned back to the carved script. She traced along with one finger like a brush on water and spoke the gist. "Mm-hmm. This section introduces the map. It’s made for scholars who come to study this factory. The colored loops mark areas for different fields. Green’s for magical herb cultivation. Orange is for plant construct extraction. Purple’s for breeding new magical flora. Blue is—wow, they actually have a zone for Astrologers. So she didn’t trick you after all?"
"Who would she trick?" Unlike Mio’s surprise, Nidhogg looked unsurprised, shoulders rising like a lazy wave as she tossed a barb at Lilith.
"Hey!" The Little White Dragon swished her tail and smacked the Black Dragon, then shooed Mio onward. "Keep reading. Ignore that bully."
"Alright, alright. Nidhogg, do a little soul-searching. Your tiny girlfriend’s fed up with you." Mio’s laugh chimed like glass as she needled her friend.
"I am not her tiny girlfriend." Lilith puffed her cheeks, stubborn as a pufferfish.
Mio only smiled and kept reading the side text. Her voice flowed like a thin stream.
"Should we head to the astrology zone? No, that’s wrong. Little White Dragon, you don’t know plant magic. If we’re investigating this little flower, we should go to New Magical Plant Development. Let me find the route."
She muttered and mapped their path, her fingertip gliding to a broad patch of dark violet on the map, then to the matching legend.
"New Magical Plant R&D. It’s the only area here not fully open to visiting scholars. But all scholars can freely tour over eighty percent, and can view every product this factory sells. We bought this flower on the market, so its workshop should be on the open list."
"Hear that? We can take you home soon." Lilith lifted the pot to eye level and grinned like the sun through leaves.
The little flower waved its emerald tendrils, giddy as a two-hundred-pound baby. Petals bobbed to the room’s breath, cute enough to melt stone.
The Little White Dragon loved cute creatures. She loved, even more, to ruffle their happiness like wind mussing fur.
She raised the blossom to her lips and whispered in a voice dark as a demon’s wing, "Even if we take you home, we’re still taking you away. We paid a pretty penny for you—paid a whole—"
"How much was it?" Lilith craned toward the Archbishop, curiosity peeking like a fox from a hedge.
"A few silver coins. Not much." The Archbishop searched his memory and named a price, offhand as falling ash.
"—a whole handful of silver. That’s real money, you little rascal, so don’t dream of running back to your folks and living easy. You’re our little bride, bought fair and square." Lilith cackled like a wicked mother-in-law, one hand cradling the pot, the other clawing theatrically.
"Did she learn this from you? When did she turn into a little schemer?" Mio shot the Black Dragon a look, baffled. She had only ever seen Nidhogg bullying Lilith. Normally the Little White Dragon wailed like a banshee and blushed with fury, not bully something else.
"She’s always been like this." Nidhogg stepped to Lilith, pinched the back of her neck, and lifted her like a kitten. "Quit bullying it."
"Got it..." Dangling, the Little White Dragon mewled, limp as wet silk. Nidhogg set her down, swatted her on the backside, then took her by the scruff toward the stump doorway. "Alright, move."
"Fiiine—" Lilith stretched the word like taffy and answered.
