FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

I've been slow with finishing this mini-series, but it's finally done. Here's chapter nine, chapter ten to follow in two days.

6,820 words

---

"Can we go now?" Jarzyl asked.

Atlas nodded. "Let's leave." The two dragon fledglings turned and started strolling away from the technicians assembling in the field, moving towards the other side of the park where a line of tourists was lining up to board an airship.

However before they got away, one of the technicians waved her wings and pointed a paw right at them. She had been coordinating the groups of technicians as they arrived, and now she gestured right for Atlas and Jarzyl. "You two, come here!"

"Uhhhh." Jarzyl made a very hesitant sound, and she glanced nervously at Atlas. Both fledglings went over to the drakka.

"Don't waste time. Get your food and eat up." The drakka snatched up a pair of brown paper bags from a table and pushed them to the fledglings. Jarzyl's neck frill perked up, but she appeared unsure as she took a paper bag. Atlas glanced into the bag, then his own, and saw they both contained a rather large sandwich. "Go on." Once they had taken the food, the drakka gestured towards another group of technicians. "Next up! Come collect food!"

Jarzyl and Atlas both exchanged a glance. Atlas stuffed his food bag into a harness pouch, while Jarzyl used her jaws to hold her food. Then in silent, unspoken agreement, they both turned around and started to walk away.

"Free food, nice," Atlas noted quietly.

"I think the food was meant for the technical workers, not us," Jarzyl muttered back.

After only a few steps, the drakka called them back. "You two fledglings! Wait! Come back here. Yes, you two with the orange, and black colours."

Jarzyl's neck frill drooped and she glanced at Atlas. She was still holding the sandwich bag in her mouth, but she reluctantly trotted over to the drakka with Atlas. "Uhh..."

Atlas had been bracing for a scolding or some sort of interrogation, but the drakka did neither. "What's your group sequence?"

The two fledglings glanced at each other. Jarzyl took the sandwich bag out from her mouth. "Sorry, what?" she replied.

"Your group sequence assignment, is it even or odd? Nullfire, were you two napping during the briefing earlier?"

"We're not really involved with the--" Atlas started to say.

The drakka rolled her eyes. "Are you two fledglings from Mintaka or Taslin?" she demanded.

Jarzyl blinked. "I'm from Mintaka...?"

"Both of you?"

"He's with me..."

Reaching into her flight harness, the drakka quickly snatched out a small canvas pouch with a drawstring and she tossed it to Jarzyl, who managed to catch it in her jaws. "Mintaka means even sequence, and green colour. Eat quick, then get your colours on." The drakka waved them away, then turned her fierce gaze and commanding voice to others. "Hurry up, people!"

"Right then." Jarzyl hurriedly walked away, as fast as she could without leaving Atlas behind with his slower three-legged walk. While the technicians were loosely organized in groups, the two fledglings split away and walked a safe distance away, until they were far enough that they were largely ignored.

Jarzyl dropped the canvas pouch from her jaws and into her paws. "What's this thing she gave to us? Definitely not food." She undid the drawstring and opened up the pouch. It contained a small heap of bright, green coloured dust. Aside from the vibrant colour, the dust had an eerie glow that illuminated the inside of the pouch. "Look at this."

Atlas looked over. "What? Is that what I think it is...?"

Jarzyl tilted the pouch over for him to see. "Needlemir dust! The same crystal material that powers airship cores, and which makes all these floating mountains float. Crushed up it won't float, but even in dust form it can hold a little energy."

She peered closely at the dust filled pouch, but Atlas sharply reached over and pulled her paw down, moving the pouch away from her snout. "Don't," he warned.

Jarzyl's neck frill perked up in surprise. "Huh?"

Atlas held his glare for a moment, then he let go of her forelimb. "Don't sniff it. Just don't."

Jarzyl looked very confused, but then recognition flashed in her eyes. "Ohhh! Woah. Pulverized needlemir is... right! I didn't even think of that."

Atlas watched her carefully. "Needlemir crystals, highly charged with magical energy, then pulverized into a fine dust. You know what that is?"

"Glow dust?" Jarzyl guessed.

"Correct. And do you know what some people use it for?"

Jarzyl slowly considered this question. "They mentioned this in school, didn't they? And my clan sends me for this civics class a few times a year, and they mentioned glow dust there too."

"So you know?" Atlas pressed her.

Jarzyl nodded. "Pulverized needlemir is an extremely useful substance in a factory--but if you do something to it, then it makes glow dust, which is something that... that might be used at wild parties instead. If you sniff it, the magical energy gives you a tingle and makes you feel good. But it's not a healthy habit. It irritates the nostrils."

"Ha!" Atlas let out a bark of laughter. "That's putting it lightly!"

Jarzyl nodded innocently. "Yeah, it sounds weird how putting something up your nose could ever feel good. Wouldn't it make you sneeze?"

Atlas gestured sharply at Jarzyl's snout. "More than sneeze. Microcrystals shred your airways. It starts with nosebleeds, then throat inflammation, and after too much use it'll be lung tumours. So no, don't sniff it."

"It must be a really good tingle for people to use it at parties then," Jarzyl replied. She frowned at the pouch of dust. "I'm almost curious. Supposedly it makes you better at using magic so I wonder if the energy would let me get my magic faster. But anyway, my mother made me promise to never ever try it."

"She's a healer. She would know." Atlas thought about it for a moment, then he frowned. "No, wait, no, this doesn't make any sense. There's no way whatsoever that two apex clans running such a critical project would allow their technicians to be partying during the sector launch, let alone messing with glow dust. Eating breakfast, sure, and playing music, maybe. But definitely not glow dust. Why would they give this out?"

Stepping closer, Atlas took a second look at the pouch. "No. That needlemir dust is glowing too brightly--it's not crushed finely enough to get someone high. It must be for something else."

Jarzyl perked up again. "Yes, ok, so it's not glow dust! Or it is glow dust as in, dust that's glowing, but not like the wild party illegal substance thing. It's just meant to glow brightly for a few hours." The fledgling gestured at her wings. "It's the glowing paint--not a paste or a liquid, it comes as a dust! That drakka thought we were trainees or interns working with the technicians, so she gave us some of the glowing paint to dye our wings."

"Riiiight, I see. Yeah, it's just glowing paint dust for the wings, to be a high visibility marking in the dark skies," Atlas replied. "Never mind what I was saying then."

Jarzyl nodded, but then she squinted at him. "Hey, wait, you've seen real glow dust before? How come you know how bright needlemir dust has to be glowing for it to get you high? Atlas?!"

Atlas was quiet for a few moments as he considered how to phrase his explanation. With each moment of silence, Jarzyl looked increasingly suspicious and her neck frill perked further up.

"Aaattt-lassss?" Jarzyl said, dragging out his name in a sweet, sing-song tone. She put on her curious, wide-eyed expression again.

Atlas had to hold back a laugh. "Uh, I can explain."

Jarzyl sat down on her haunches. "Yes, please explain. I would like to hear the story about when you tried glow dust."

"No, I haven't... No. Hah." Atlas chuckled. "You know I live in a clanless sheltered home. It's very much against the rules, but there is... some misbehaving there, sometimes. Though no, I haven't tried sniffing glow dust, and I don't plan to. That's not my sort of adventure."

With eyes squinted, Jarzyl leaned close towards him. "Hmmm... When I think of you, my mental image is... is of how you're always so smart in school, or how you play nice music on your wing harp, or how you work quietly in the library part-time. But what secrets do you hide? Do you have _another_type of part-time job?!" she asked him teasingly.

"If I were part of the black market," Atlas retorted, "I wouldn't be so poor that I have to keep borrowing your textbooks."

Jarzyl's eyes were bright and playful. "Maybe my aunt was right and you are a troublemaker! How secretive and mysterious! Maybe you've got a dark side!"

Atlas gestured at his sooty black scales. "All my sides are dark."

That made Jarzyl laugh and grin. "Heh, I like your dark side."

"Never mind all that." Atlas pointed at her wings. "Anyway, that pouch of needlemir dust is only for colouring your wings. It's all reasonable. You wanted stripes? You can have them."

Jarzyl's grin became a smirk. Holding eye contact with him, she raised her paw to her mouth and licked it, then she dipped it into the canvas pouch. Her paw came out with dust sticking to it, glowing a vivid green. This bright colour was swiftly transferred to the underside of her wing as she slid her touch against her flight surfaces. With repeated dips of her paw into the dust pouch, she smeared a bright green stripe along the lower surface wing, which glowed faintly in sharp contrast to her natural orange colouration. She curled her wing forward and wrapped it around her body, then continued the stripe over onto the upper side.

When she was done, Jarzyl flicked her wing open and closed before trying a few flaps, but the paint dust stayed on despite her movement. She nodded approvingly, then threw another confident grin at her friend. "How's this look?"

Atlas laughed and raised an eye ridge. "You look good, as always. But was the licking necessary?"

"You need moisture to get the paint dust to stick," Jarzyl explained.

"Doesn't seem hygienic to be licking your paw."

"Life isn't hygienic." Switching to use her other paw, Jarzyl held her paw up towards Atlas. "If you don't like me licking myself, you can do it."

Without thinking, Atlas lowered his snout and licked Jarzyl's paw. It definitely wasn't hygienic, and he could faintly taste grass, yet her paw pads felt warm and soft under his tongue. His rational mind caught up after a few seconds. "Wait, why did I do that?"

Jarzyl gave a pleased nod. "Thank you very much..." She dipped her paw into the dust pouch, then put a similar bright green stripe on her other wing. "There we go."

Meanwhile, Atlas had been glancing around at the groups of technicians and how they had put on the glowing dust. Most of them had simply done straight lines along or across their wings, just like Jarzyl had, but there were other designs visible. Some of the drakken had done jagged zig-zag lines, spots, or circles on their wings. A few had even gone further and put glowing lines on their sides or limbs.

Jarzyl noticed too. "Hmm. That's not that the standard pattern, but it looks fun." Again dipping into the dust pouch, she added glowing colour to the back of all four paws and the tip of her tail, and finally she put thin streaks of colour running up her neck frill. She turned to Atlas. "How's this look? Too much colour?"

Atlas shook his head. "No, that's just right." For a moment he simply admired. "Eye-catching."

"Yeeah!" Jarzyl hopped on the spot and flicked her frill, and the glowing paint highlighted her every movement. "Want me to do you too?" she offered. "I'll do you."

Atlas shrugged. "Maybe later. How about we get to that tourist airship first, before it takes off and leaves us here?"

Jarzyl nodded. "Good point!" She pulled the drawstring tight around the small pouch of glowing dust, then slipped it in her flight harness. Dropping to all fours, she scampered forward eagerly, and her first few steps left faint glowing pawprints on the grass.

---

The two fledglings continued heading across the park, until they finally reached the landed airship. By now the crowd of visiting tourists had all packed back aboard, but there was a crew member waiting at the ramp, and she waved a wing at them. "Hail! What brings you two here? Are you coming aboard?"

Jarzyl and Atlas both nodded. "Yes!" They climbed up the ramp and hurriedly went aboard the airship, followed shortly by the crew drakka. Once they were off the ramp and in the belly of the large airship, the drakka worked a control panel on the wall which made the ramp fold upwards.

"Welcome! You certainly are very visible," she noted, with a smile at Jarzyl. "You two must be spotters for the uplift? Do you want me to take you to the bridge to observe from there? But the bridge crew will already be watching and they'll call out any observations on the radio. Do you want to watch in the main passenger seating area with the tourists?" The crew member looked thoughtful, then she gestured at the boarding ramp. "Or, you two can observe here from the ramp? I can leave it ajar."

Jarzyl frowned, then she nodded. "Uh, sure?"

"Very well then." The drakka released the button she had been pushing, and the ramp stopped closing up. Instead of sealing flat against the airship's curved hull, it stayed at an angle just below horizontal, with a wide gap open to the outside. "Don't touch the ramp controls please. Shipboard frequency is one, seven, three, two, seven, six."

"One seven three two seven six!" Jarzyl repeated.

With a quick nod to the two fledglings, the drakka strolled away, muttering into her own radio set as she walked. "Calling the bridge. Passenger boarding completed. I'm leaving the ramp locked at ten degrees--there are couple of spotters from the sector team who are monitoring the launch from there."

Jarzyl adjusted her radio set, just in time to hear the reply from the airship's bridge.

"Bridge copies, ramp locked at ten. Setting override on the ramp lock alert. All stations, set condition one across the craft."

The crew member opened a metal door, behind which Atlas got a glimpse of the passenger compartment--filled by a crowd of drakken seating on floor cushions, or standing up and peering out windows to watch the launch. A gust of warm air blew from the passenger compartment, but then the crew member pulled the door shut behind them. Then it was just the two fledglings, alone together again.

"This is interesting!" Jarzyl noted. She grinned at Atlas, then trotted forward and sat on the ramp.

Atlas hesitantly tested his weight on the half-open ramp, putting one paw at a time, but the ramp was stable and didn't budge at all under his weight. Side by side, the two fledglings sat on the ramp. Jarzyl sat right on the edge with her forepaws dangling off, while Atlas sat a little bit back and for balance he curled himself around one of the large, partially extended ramp pistons. Instead of a soft cushion in the warm, comfy passenger compartment, they had a cool metal floor and humid gusty wind blowing from the outside, but that gave them the best view possible.

Jarzyl's radio sounded again. "All stations, all stations. Prepare for takeoff."

With a faint shudder, the ground began to drop away from them as the airship took off. Jarzyl stuck out her neck to peer over the edge of the ramp, whereas Atlas just held on as the airship accelerated and quickly lifted away from the sector. As they circled around the park gaining altitude, they could see the technicians down in the park were also taking off, like a flock of birds but with far more coordination, spreading out in their groups all across sector forty-nine.

For several long minutes they stayed like that, sitting on the airship's ramp as the craft circled around the sector, slowly gaining altitude. Then finally Jarzyl let out a gasp. "Woah!"

Atlas had been staring in the distance, watching the ripples in the new sector's shield dome as torrential rain and wind pounded it from the storm. "What is it?"

"It's starting." Jarzyl pointed down towards the ground. "The sector, it's moving!"

With grand but barely even perceptible speed, the colossal structure of sector forty-nine was starting to lift upwards. Shaped in a huge, vast hexagon, the new sector was slowly moving up into the sky, rising away from the surrounding valley which it had been built in. Dozens of airships were attached all across the sector border, with wispy trails of vapour streaming from their navigation thrusters, and with navigation lights pulsing at differing frequencies.

It was a majestic sight to see something so vast climb up into the skies. Atlas had thought maybe a horn would be sounded or some other sort of countdown or grand announcement would mark the start, but there was no fanfare as the sector lift began. The buildings all across the sector didn't even wobble.

Uncurling himself from the ramp piston, Atlas cautiously stepped out onto the ramp beside Jarzyl. With the needlemir dust marking her body and limbs, she was literally glowing compared to him. "Finally the sector is airborne. After all this time... this is history."

"Indeed." Jarzyl sighed softly, then she straightened out her tail and fidgeted with her radio set again. "Let me... I'll change from the shipboard frequency to the local airspace control. Maybe we can listen in."

"--repeat, we are in sky state six up to altitude zero two zero, then sky state seven up till zero eight five. Sector power levels holding steady. Deviation is point two on primary axis, negligible on secondary. All readings normal," buzzed the radio set.

Atlas tilted his head as he tried to decipher the clipped, rapid speech. "Normal? Everything is going to plan?"

"Sounds like it," Jarzyl agreed.

Strolling back up the ramp, Atlas sat down in a more comfortable position on the flat floor. Then a metallic clunk made him turn his head. The door to the passenger compartment swung open again, and that same crew drakka from before came in. "Hello! I just came to check on you two! Everything all right? Not too cold or windy here in the ramp compartment?"

Compared to how they had first arrived at sector forty-nine, Atlas considered this a luxury experience. "Hello. No, we're good."

Jarzyl also turned around and beamed. "We're great!"

"That's lovely! If you want, feel free to come into the main passenger compartment at any time. We've got plenty of seats available." The drakka stepped back through the door, and reached for a trolley cart that was nearby. "We're also beginning food service for the passengers. I can get meals for you two also?" Without needing an answer, the drakka stepped back to the passenger cabin and brought a pair of food trays, putting them down on the floor beside Atlas.

Atlas bowed his head. "Thank you."

"Thanks!!" Jarzyl cheerfully agreed.

The crew drakka nodded. "How about some drinks? Water, tea, juice...?"

"Do you have, uh, sourberry?" Jarzyl asked politely.

"Sure thing." The crew drakka put a drinking glass on one of their food trays, and partially filled it with a clear, gold-coloured liquid from a dark-tinted glass bottle. "Here you go. And what about for you?" she asked Atlas.

"Can I just get water?" Atlas said.

"Of course you can." The drakka poured a glass of water for him. "Now if you two dears need anything else, just come in and ask."

"Ok thanks!" Jarzyl said, and she nodded her head eagerly. After the crew drakka went back inside the main passenger compartment and closed the door again, Jarzyl hopped up the ramp and sat down beside Atlas. The two fledglings peered at the food.

"I feel like I've eaten a lot this morning, yet I'm still hungry," Atlas noted.

Jarzyl grinned. Bright glowing colour was still marking the back of her paws, but she impatiently wiped the front of her paws clean on a paper towel. Then sitting down on all fours, she began impatiently devouring the food--each meal tray had a bread roll, as well as a main dish made from salty green beans, chunks of meat slathered in thick sauce, over a bed of steamed rice wrapped in an egg omelette. As the two fledglings both ate, Jarzyl picked up her glass and drank some of the clear, golden liquid. "Hey, this sourberry juice is good. I wonder if it's expensive, cause it is excellent. Try some?" She leaned against Atlas's side and extended the glass to him.

Atlas took a sip of the proffered beverage. He immediately regretted this decision, with his snout scrunching up. "Ugggh, oh. Sour. My tongue is dying. Ohh. That was a mistake." Reaching for his own glass, he took a swig of water to clear his mouth. ""Are you sure that's sourberry juice? It's so strong. Maybe it's sourberry cider? Or even a wine?"

Jarzyl looked amused by his reaction. "That would make it even more expensive of a drink. But I think it's only juice." She raised her glass to her snout and took another sip of her drink.

"Why do you even like sourberries? They taste like... like a fruit that doesn't want to be eaten."

Jarzyl just smiled. "Doesn't it make you feel more alive to taste something so potent? Once you've tasted something really sour, you appreciate sweetness more." She again offered the glass to Atlas. "Try it again. Maybe you'll like it more this time."

Atlas hesitantly moved his snout towards the glass, but he only dared to take a sniff, not another taste. "I can smell the sourness even without tasting it!"

Jarzyl was watching him closely, her expression a dare. "Go on. It's just a drink. Be adventurous."

Atlas met her gaze. For any other friend he would have refused. "Do you just like to see me suffer?" He stuck out his tongue and took a quick lap of her juice. It was still sour and zesty, enough to make wince, but it wasn't quite as unbearable as before. "Bleergh. I'll stick with water, thanks. I don't need that sourness in my mouth."

Jarzyl calmly took a gulp from her glass and swirled it around her mouth, before slowly swallowing it down. "That's good stuff. My whole mouth tastes sour."

"Duly noted..."

"Yup!" Jarzyl quickly scarfed down the rest of her meal, and she finished while Atlas was still only halfway through his food. With a pleased sigh, she put down her glass and glanced at Atlas. "Ahhh. Excellent food, excellent drink, excellent company."

"Thanks...?" Atlas hesitantly replied. "I'm glad we did this. This whole... adventure to the new sector. It's been time well spent."

"It's the best!" Jarzyl agreed. "Also, an excellent view. Could this day get any better?" She walked down the ramp again and sat down so close to the edge that Atlas felt a brief worry that a gust of wind would catch her and blow her off the ramp. But Jarzyl kept her balance with ease--and even if she had fallen off, she could fly back to the airship. Atlas finished his meal and put aside both the meal trays, and the two fledglings gazed out over the skyscape.

Sector forty-nine continued to rise. And instead of only watching the sector itself, Atlas also observed the surrounding environment of Mizalin-on-Sky. Past the shimmering layer of the storm shield, the chaotic fractal landscape was in movement as well--the floating mountains were energized by the storm, with each flash of lightning sending boulders and rock floating through the air from the impact point.

After a while though, even that majestic view slowly grew routine. Sector forty-nine continued to lift into the sky, enough that its dome shield formed a complete sphere as it lifted out of the valley. But the movement was so gradual and gentle that little changed.

The only obvious activity was when the sector's shield flashed with brilliant light at an oddly regular cadence. It was too rhythmic for lightning, and Atlas realized that it was artificial. Beams of energy were streaking down through the clouds, striking the sector shield with a pulsing pattern--the City of Wings was sending energy downwards, powering the new sector as it rose to meet the rest of the city. It was a pretty sight.

Atlas also found his gaze drifting sideways towards another pretty sight--the amber-coloured female fledgling who was sitting at the corner edge of the ramp. Jarzyl was peering out across the sector, watching the huge structure as it slowly moved through the air. Her sharp gaze occasionally darted about as she looked across the dozens of different airships that were connected with the edge of the sector to guide it upwards, or simply hovering in formation all across the airspace.

Jarzyl's natural orange colouration was muted by the dim light, but the glowing marks on her paws, tail, wings, and her neck frill seemed more vibrant by contrast. Those high visibility markings did exactly as designed and drew attention.

After a moment, Jarzyl spoke up. "Hmm, my aunt was right."

"About what?"

Turning her head, Jarzyl threw her sharp gaze at Atlas. "Earlier today, when she was talking about you. Are you staring at my flanks?!"

Atlas couldn't help but laugh. "Haha, no!" he insisted, unconvincingly.

Jarzyl's tail tip flicked. "Not worth looking at, I guess?"

"I didn't say that. But I was... I was looking at your wings. At those bright glowing stripes."

"Oh?" Jarzyl casually flipped open her wings and swept them through the air, and the glowing markings seemed to leave streaks in the dim light. Then she reached up to her shoulder and adjusted her radio set again. Despite having only acquired the device earlier in the day, she now operated it with ease. Twisting some of the small knobs, she changed the radio channel until music began playing again. The tune was energetic and fast, with a lively beat.

With a grin, Jarzyl bobbed her head in time with the rhythm, then sang along to the lyrics. "Ooh, ooh! Hey now! Stole your scales, but they were mine for the taking. They were mine, mine after all..."

Atlas tilted his head. "How come the radio can transmit music so clearly, yet when they do actual communication, it sounds like, bzzzch bzzch, neg-lec, wsch normal?" Covering his mouth, he imitated the muffled, faintly garbled sound of transmitted speech, which made Jarzyl pause her singing to laugh.

"Ahaha. Good question. It's probably range or something to do with the wavelength?"

As the music was playing, Atlas glanced out the ramp exit and noticed something. "Look at that. The flashing of the shield, from the energy pulses from the city--it matches the beat of the music? Or the music matches it?"

Jarzyl laughed again. "Haha. Yeah! It does! Awesome. What a show! Someone with a radio transmitter and a music collection is having some fun. I wonder who even set up this radio channel for music anyway? Maybe one of the airships? Or someone from the sector construction team? Someone with good taste, evidently. Woooh, oooh, stealing your scales, stealing you..."

Jarzyl resumed singing a few lines, then she sprung up on all fours and began dancing on the spot, bouncing between her paws and rocking her wings. With the glowing paint, every movement left a streak through the air--her wings left swaths of thick colour, while her paws left narrow trails of light. Then with a wink, Jarzyl reared up on her hinds and used both forepaws to point at him.

Atlas smiled, but he didn't move. "No..."

"Yes!" Jarzyl dropped back to all fours and danced her way up the ramp, moving smoothly in time with the music. She slid from side to side, waving her tail about. "Dance, come on."

Atlas nodded to his left shoulder, where he was missing a limb. "I'm not good with dancing."

"You don't need to be good! I'm not good either. You just need to enjoy it. Be loose, be easy, flow with the music! No one's judging--it's just me, and just you." Jarzyl prodded Atlas's side with her paw, then she turned up the radio's volume and danced beside him.

Atlas felt a shiver run down his spine. Jarzyl really believed it--she didn't even think that she was good at dancing, even though in his opinion she undoubtedly was. She just did it because she liked to. Her motions were graceful and confident, happy and free. With eyes closed she raised her head and sang with the music. "Oooh, wooh, yeah!"

Ignoring years of habitual refusal, Atlas slowly got to his three legs. The song playing from Jarzyl's radio was a popular tune in the City of Wings, and he knew the tune and lyrics. As the song built up to its chorus, Atlas found himself pulled along, and he found himself first humming, then just singing along softly. "Spread your wings just to see if you can; I can hardly breathe so I have to pretend!"

Singing was fun and easy, but dancing was trickier. First he started slow, tapping his paw and nodding his head to the beat. Then he gradually tried to add more movement, shifting his wings and waving them back and forth as if he was playing his wing harp--it was easier that way because he already had the muscle memory for those actions.

However, to move his limbs or the rest of his body was more difficult. He tried to imitate Jarzyl, but she was far more coordinated and balanced than him. She moved in perfect synchrony with the music, timing her movements with smooth precision. Effortlessly she shifted her weight back and forth, bouncing on her paws and rolling her whole body like a wave. Atlas wasn't able to match that--he was slower, more awkward, and more cautious about losing his balance.

Yet when Jarzyl turned her head and grinned at him, none of that mattered. Again Atlas felt that shiver run down his spine, and his scales tingled. Wings sweeping, legs shifting, tail flicking--there was fun in the movement, dancing in time with the beat. He and Jarzyl harmonized, voices overlapping back and forth with the music.

By the time the song was drawing to it's close, Atlas was running low on breath and he could feel his hearts pounding in his chest--all that exertion and exuberant movement, as if it he had been flapping his wings hard for a sharp climb, or sprinting across the ground, yet they hadn't gone anywhere. It was tiring, but a good tiring.

When the song hit its final crescendo, Jarzyl finished with a sideways somersault--she leapt off the wall, and with a flick of her wings she twirled through the air and rolled right over Atlas's back. Her wings brushed against his, and the airship's ramp compartment was so small that her feet might have bounced off the ceiling, yet as she landed right beside him she looked perfectly graceful, perfectly in control. Atlas felt that shiver a third time, manifesting as a sense of curious, impressed admiration for his friend. She was so good.

Bending her forelimbs, Jarzyl spread her wings and took a bow. Then she grinned at him. The radio started to play another song, smoothly overlapping with the last song as it faded out, but she turned the volume down. The music was still audible, but no longer so loud as to hinder conversation. "Did you enjoy it? It's nice, right?"

Atlas panted for breath. "It's tiring, but... yes. This is... this is how it is for you, for every moment of your life, isn't it? There's always exciting music playing in your mind, and you're always ready to move and dance."

Jarzyl's neck frill perked up. The faint glowing streaks on her frill drew Atlas's gaze upwards, then back down to her eyes. "You get it! You get me."

Atlas nodded. "Yeah, I do."

---

Jarzyl swept her wings back and forth before furling them up on her back, and again this movement drew attention to the bright glowing stripes that ran down her wings. Seeing Atlas looking at her wings, Jarzyl perked up. "We still have to do you too!"

"Do we?" Atlas asked.

"Absolutely." Jarzyl pulled open his wing and gestured across the sooty-black flight surface. "Look at this. You're a shadow. Just impossible to see in the dark. Now I wonder--are dragons who have dark scales more likely to have someone else crash into them at night?"

"You could ask your mother about that. I'm sure the medical centre has statistics on mid-air collision injuries," Atlas replied.

"Good point." Jarzyl looked thoughtful. "Obviously long ago in the ancient past, a nocturnal dragon having dark scales was good camouflage. You're so dark, you'd be great at night hunting. But now we have civilization! And nowadays you can just dye your scales a different colour if you want a change. Sit down. I'm going make you nice and visible!" Jarzyl decided.

Atlas sat down at the top of the ramp. He let her examine his wing, but he shrugged indifferently. "I don't need a glowing stripe. We're not really technicians, and we're not going to be flying in the dark sky."

Jarzyl waved his hesitation aside. Her gaze was intense and focused again. "Come here, come here. I need to see." Holding him by the wing, she led him down onto that large ramp again, where there was more light from the sky outside compared to the dim airship compartment. "Right." Jarzyl's neck frill was perked up, and she nodded cheerfully. "This must be what Caden feels when she does her paintings? You're my canvas, and I'm going to paint you." Reaching into her flight harness, she fished out that canvas pouch again and undid the drawstring. Pulling open the pouch, she frowned. "Oh."

"Problem?" Atlas asked.

"There's not much needlemir dust left. Hopefully it's enough." Jarzyl gestured at the ramp. "Now lie down." Grabbing onto Atlas's wing as his shoulder, she pushed him back and he didn't resist. He went from sitting on the ramp higher up than her, to lying flat back against the ramp with his wings splayed open.

Atlas blinked. "Why do I need to be lying down?"

"Because that's the way I want it." Casually standing over Atlas's supine body, Jarzyl nodded approvingly. For a moment she just stared at him, looking smugly pleased as she loomed over him.

"Also makes it easier for me to paint you," she insisted. Jarzyl picked up the canvas pouch, then licked her paw to get it wet before dipping it in. Standing over him, Jarzyl slid her paw against the underside of Atlas's left wing to get the glowing dust on. But then when she put her paw into the pouch again, it came out covered in much less dust. She tried to pour out the pouch onto his wing, but only a pinch of the glowing dust came out. "Ugggh, it's not enough. Is one pouch meant for one person? Or did I use too much for myself?"

"Hah. That's alright." Atlas glanced down, then back up at Jarzyl. Now he was left with a stub of a glowing stripe painted across the underside of only one wing, compared with all the highlights on Jarzyl's limbs and body. "I don't mind being stealthy."

"I know how to fix this. First we need some moisture." Jarzyl grabbed her drink glass and then casually tipped it over his left wing, dribbling the liquid over his flight surface.

"How does pouring juice over my wing get more of that paint dust?" Atlas asked, but Jarzyl waved a paw and shushed at him.

"Ssshhh. Hold still." Jarzyl turned the dust pouch inside out, and tried rubbing that against his wing. This did extend the glowing stripe a little bit more, but it still reached around half the length of his wing before there just wasn't any dust left. "Hmm, still not enough."

"Any more ideas you want to try?" Atlas asked.

"Certainly." Jarzyl tossed the empty dust pouch aside, towards the corner of the airship's compartment. Then with a casual motion she climbed over his tail and stood right over him, with her hindpaws on either side of his body, just touching his open wings.

"What--oof." Atlas let out a grunt as Jarzyl dropped her weight and lay on top of him--belly to belly, chest to chest.

"Hmmmrrr..." Jarzyl made a low, rumbly noise, like a pleased purr. "Right. Let's get some colour off my wings and onto yours." She unfurled her wings and then draped them over his wings so that they were touching.

Atlas was breathing unsteadily, unsure how to properly react. Jarzyl was so close, and her slender body felt warm as she lay on top of him. Her scales were smooth as they slid against his. "Woah."

A fantastical, beautiful skyscape of huge storm clouds and immense floating infrastructure was in the background, but Atlas was unable to take his eyes of his close friend as she lay on top of him. Jarzyl grinned, and her neck frill perked up. "Ahh, Atlas, this is nice," she muttered in that same easy, relaxed manner in which she had complimented the food or the landscape.

Atlas's forepaw was resting against Jarzyl's chest, pressed against one of the harness pouches there, but then he accidentally bumped against the radio set strapped to her shoulder and it let out a buzz of static.

Jarzyl didn't flinch. Casually she used one paw to adjust the radio, turning the tuning knob until the discordant sound turned back to soft music. Her gaze held on his, then she leaned forward and idly used her other paw to grab his wrist and push his forelimb up over his head, leaving him entirely, completely vulnerable--no way to stop her or push her away, if he'd even wanted to. Even years ago when they'd duelled as hatchlings, Jarzyl had usually won those play fights, but rarely was she able to pin him down quite this well, rendering him so thoroughly exposed.

Jarzyl's frill perked up as the radio switched to a different song. "Oh, I love this song. It's one of my favourites."

Atlas knew it was. He'd previously learned to play it on his wing harp for specifically that reason. Making music was fun by itself, yet much better with someone who enjoyed listening. "Jarz..." he started to say, but then he realized he had no idea how to continue that sentence.

"Yes?" As she lay on top of him, Jarzyl reached up a paw to grab one of his horns, and she gently wiggled his head about. Then her touch shifted to brush his cheek instead. She closed her eyes and bumped her snout against his, and he could feel her breath wash against his.

So much warm contact, body against body--then Jarzyl made it even worse as she twisted and shifted her body, rubbing her wings against his wings. Lively, compelling music rolled from the radio set, and she moved with the beat, dancing against him. Jarzyl hummed along with the music, and Atlas could feel the rumble in her chest as she lay over him.

The warmth of Jarzyl against him seeped into his body, and there came a growing pressure from his underbelly, but Atlas instinctively resisted and tightened his muscles. Without thinking, his tail tip curled and entwined with hers, which only pulled them closer.

Suddenly Jarzyl stopped moving and her eyes blinked open. "Atlas?"

"Yes?" he replied.

Jarzyl glanced away, just staring at the metal floor of the compartment and avoiding eye contact. "I think... I feel like we've been... You're a good friend and I think you're great. And we have such fun together. But I... maybe... or..." Shaking her head, she laughed nervously and her neck frill drooped flat. "Arrgh, this is harder than taking an exam. I don't know what I'm trying to say, but I just need to say it."

She wasn't making much sense, but Atlas thought he understood. "Jarz, I--"

But then a brilliant flash of light came from behind them, interrupting their conversation.

---

TO BE CONCLUDED