“With the dragonslayer victory against Ignivus, are we seeing increased involvement and interest in the discipline?” King Vario’s hands were pinned to the desk as he asked.

“The old kind of anti-Dragon sentiment is running higher than usual, so I believe the answer to be yes, though that activity is likely to remain mostly clandestine. The degree to which our Dragon liaisons have weakened is actually depressing a lot of people and industries, so there are still solid emotional barriers against showing interest in dragonslaying, despite the widely known example of its continued relevance.” A tilt of the General’s head, as he paused in speaking, reflected the many headaches actually entailed in the aftermath of killing of a Dragon. “Fairly enough, Dragons become unwilling to work in hostile climates – partly in that they lack their best effectiveness, and partly that there are a lot of other things they can do instead. An elemental consciousness can always embody elsewhere.”

Roznmyk jumped into the ensuing space with something she deemed important to add. “There’s a rumor about a new shadownet.”

“I have my update on dragonslayers.” General Claymore took the opening with his top item. “Alisandre Capital has Gerund Aley, the one resident proven. Upon your prompting, Your Eminence, the council decided that it might be wise for each Federet to have a short roster at the ready. A simple request, but tricky to fulfill, since this particular martial art had nearly disappeared under disapproval. Not a lot of people in this generation have dedicated even a portion of their lives to this pursuit; dragonslayers are scarce now, and difficult to find.

“That’s partly due to the mood of distrust they create which hinders our draconid relations, intrinsic to the lives of so many. Where we’ve instated more sanctioned dragonslayer positions, the Dragons become obviously more removed from interaction, where they might otherwise be busy. Those many who agreed to uphold the Viridian Phasing continue to do so on a priority basis.” Claymore drew breath to continue, then just slowly let it out.

“Curfew control is incomplete. There’s a low but definite likelihood of civilian presence on the nighttime streets, if you’re chaos factoring.”

“That’s my department,” said the General, “and thank you for corroborating my expectation.”

“Certainly,” replied Hayze, nodding. “On another note that may or may not seem relevant, we’ve been noticing some neighborhood resource theft. Stores missing part of their inventory, luckily with low amounts of property damage. I don’t think it’s as simple as increasing chaperoned shopping runs; it could be a matter of boredom and lowered incomes, combined with fraying nerves.”

She was not interrupted by any of the others as she brought her wireframe form over to settle her head amid the Symbias root branchings. This one’s emotional-musical language met her senses clearly again, and Aelrn called up her sonic analysis data and poetic impression file. In some way, recording poetic impressions created more accurately effective waveforms, distinguishable by their strong ideations. Symbias are able to affect reality through sharing their dimensional awareness with their friends. Once understood to a degree, they’re deft communicators – consistent to forms of address or clarification, making repetitions to get their point across.

Aelrn loved listening to them, though in Vedani fashion she was working to make it possible to let others do this work in her stead. She thought of what she would do afterward, and in what way it might be related or different. Her gained familiarity with these… plants?… warmed her affections more and more, every time she returned and learned and understood. That was the effect of their presence, and Aelrn felt she could grasp a certain deep foundation of the Aquari people. She’d been feeling like she wanted to name her favorite but hadn’t yet, sensing this was a tradition that belonged to others first, others with whom she should speak.

They were working out eight distinct patterns, one for each homeworld of the Aquarii. These were accompanied by a collection of subpatterns, which corresponded to burnt groves on each planet. They were being given spatiotemporal frequency keys. Vedani were able to recognize these principles relating to their own understanding of neurolocation, the way that internal states affect the ability to find or connect to a physical place. In a moment with certain conditions, done in such a way, by such a person, something can have a specific effect. It wasn’t that far a stretch. The Symbias liked this about them. Aelrn shut out the visual aetherscape, and for now listened only to sound.