Resting atop a crag overlooking a view were a man and a Dragon, sitting in humanoid with outstretched flight wings. They had sat in simple silence for a while. Out of some void in peripheral vision, a curly, fluffy pigeon swirled straight toward them. It landed next to Acamar on the crag. It did a special dance, offered its scroll, and made a special noise. The meaning was clear to Acamar, who accepted the scroll from its leg. The pigeon then flew up and perched on Acamar’s horns – first one, then another, then another. It was a proper meeting.

“I’ve never received a pigeon, though I did hear of it. This one is finding Dragons for its message, perhaps certain dragons. It rode on spaceships to find me. This pigeon has already met more Dragons than most people.”

“This planet has an established Imperial population.” The meaning of that sank in for Raev. “You’re in the Imperium, we are, and you’re unaffiliated. What happened? The Viridian Phasing…”

“Growing patchy, it seems. This is the physical place of our requirement. It is in the Pan-Galactic Imperium, and so now are we. Hmm, yes. Where a pigeon looking for me, or such as me, could find me.”

“This must be extremely important. Can I look?”

Uninterested in subterfuge, Acamar said, “Yes.” Dragonseye sight decodes these holokeys into their abstracted multifold dymaxion projections.

The Dragon was processing this on er own terms, and Raev engaged with the information as it unfolded and illuminated. He became fully absorbed in digesting this. Some things sounded fine; others good; some sounded like human-minded approximations; there were some typical workable compromises, or so they seemed to him anyway. This was put together in a knowledgeable fashion, leveraging an understanding of the status quo. This was all tailored with Imperial language that encouraged expediency and signaled clarity of transmission. On top of that, it was also historically contextualized. This took a lot of work to make. With a sentimental flourish, the pigeon flew onward and away.

Raev smiled softly in response to what he read, from more of a detached sense of aesthetic admiration than anything else. He was already internally withdrawing from the struggle. He knows the fight never ends, and is expecting to be of very little use after this. But for now, this crag with its four-petaled stoneflower, in an unmapped corner of a low-population planet. Here they were, two people; one Human, one Dragon, widely hated yet role critical.

Breaking the thoughtful silence while inspecting the projection visualization, Acamar spoke quietly. “Upon hatching, we emerge as a truth that is already universal. Not like a small being that needs to grow, but like a person walking into a room. The circumstances of my entry to the world are mine alone – unique, fraught, and lethal. I’m reflecting on what it means to be the person I am.”

Bemused by his insights, Raev empathized. “I understand some level of what you’re saying.”