Phatru unhurriedly picked up her dress and started putting it back on. To make it up to her a little bit, Asterios assisted her with the process by employing a few shadowy tendrils to uphold the material while she tied the strings on her own. Any practice with his black half was good practice. They were done in a moment and he retreated into Althea’s shadow.

“Such a handy ability. I wouldn’t mind having a helper like that around,” Phatru commented with a smile.

“You should have accepted the offer, then,” her friend replied. “You might not have been contracted to Asterios, but he stays around his mates quite often. I’m sure he wouldn’t mind giving you a shadowy hand whenever you joined us.”

“I said I will consider it and I didn’t have enough time to seek out Rusilthea’s father yet.” The other woman shook her head. “But, enough about it now. Did you behave yourself like I told you to?”

The person that question was directed at couldn’t be more obvious as both Phatru and Althea turned to look at the youngest girl.

Rusi crossed her arms under her chest and looked to the side. “I’m here, aren’t I?”

The evasive body language and clearly dismissive tone didn’t do the young lady any good and her mother squinted her eyes at the unruly child. But, Phatru decided not to follow that subject and only sighed softly.

“You are lucky he seems to be a nice person and Thea kindly supported my request,” she said and gave the combined duo a small bow. “Thank you once more for listening to my selfish wish. I’ll make sure to properly educate my rambunctious daughter on how to behave in front of both of you. I’ll understand if you ever consider breaking off the contract and I won’t blame you for it.”

“Mom!” Rusilthea shot her a stunned look.

Althea let out a soft chuckle. “It’s fine, Pha. Tina seems to have found a connection with her. But, the education part is something we will have to touch on soon. We have plenty to discuss about you.”

Phatru wasn’t sure how to respond to that so she just stared back at her with a raised brow. Althea simply shrugged mysteriously and didn’t expand on it.

“Let’s go, then. We should first speak to the Nest Mother and her family before snooping around her people,” Ast’s mentor pointed out and turned away from the other two.

~Like that? You are not going to… grab any underwear?~ Asterios asked a bit awkwardly, reaching into their minds to convey his words.

The duo of friends exchanged glances and chuckled again.

“I thought you would have taught him about how comfortable our people are with our own forms.” Phatru raised a curious brow at Althea.

“I did. But perhaps I didn’t draw a clear enough picture,” the emerald-haired lady responded and then glanced down at the shadow at her feet. “Pha doesn’t wear anything other than her dress because she doesn’t exactly need it to feel at ease. As you must have also noticed, Rusilthea follows the same approach with her top and bottoms. In my case, I just got used to the common dressing code of the elven court. It would have been bad if one of the queens picked up my people’s viewpoint on underwear by accident during our long lessons.”

“We could technically go out all naked and no one would bat an eye. I know a bunch of girls who prefer to go topless most of the time,” Rusilthea added with a fierce smirk. “Well, people would still look, obviously, but it would rarely bother anyone. It’s a different topic if you just started mating with someone in the middle of the nest. Casual nudity is fairly common here.”

~Got it. I didn’t think it would be this expansive when you told me about your sleeping piles and such, Althea.~ Asterios nodded to himself mentally. ~By all means, lead the way. I’ll do my best to remain hidden. I’m still testing out talking to everyone mentally without my familiar’s help so you can feel free to include me in your conversations. As long as you don’t separate too far from each other.~

A few minutes later, the mother and daughter duo finished their preparations and all three of them headed for the house’s exit. If Asterios was a living, breathing person the moment they stepped outside, he would definitely have inhaled in wonder at the sight that greeted them. But, being an immaterial cloud of spiritual energy in someone’s shadow allowed him only to exclaim his amazement in the silence of his mind.

First and foremost, the stylish house they had walked out of was placed atop a giant mossy boulder. The boulder’s surface spanned just wide enough to fit a small front yard with a few decorations and a tiny fence. But, the biggest surprise was most likely the fact that the rounded rock floated in the air without any suspension. With just one step past its edge, one would end up plunging towards the ground far down below.

Phatru’s and Rusilthea’s home wasn’t the only one built atop a flying rock. Stone islands of many shapes and sizes stood in place or drifted around what looked like a breathtaking valley between insurmountable mountain peaks. The tall and steep hills surrounded the formation from all sides, enshrouding a lot of it in enchanting mists. 

There was a chance that they came from the unending waterfalls descending from some of the isles, but Asterios wasn’t sure about that. Colorful rainbows adorning the entire region certainly indicated the presence of humidity in the air, but it could all be magic in the end.

However, amongst all the majestic and mysterious elements, there was still a trace of familiarity.

~The buildings really look quite close to those from the Elf Nation. I’m not imagining this, right? Not that one or more places around the universe can’t share the architectural style,~ Asterios mused.

“Actually, that might partially be my fault.” Althea’s lips curled up into a gentle smirk. 

~While it’s true that elves always preferred making their houses from living, growing trees with their magic, it wasn’t until they met Althea that they elevated their craft to what you can see around their lands today,~ Tia chimed in with a sweet giggle. ~Over the years, she shared some of the designs Lesser Dragons use for their nests, and which you are witnessing right in front of you. They then combined both and found their perfect harmony with my energy blessing the area.~

“What she says is true,” the emerald Lesser Dragon confirmed. “You’ll see plenty of similarities in this and other nests, even if each one is fairly unique due to the place they had been set up in. We don’t always grow trees from sprouts like they do, but elemental shaping is a staple technique in our architecture. Bending wood, earth, stone, and other things make up one of the primary construction methods.”

~Now that’s a story I wouldn’t have ever guessed.~ Asterios hummed ponderingly. ~I figured you guys lived in simple areas connected to nature, but artsy houses neat enough for our elves to copy them? That’s a surprise.~

“You thought we always slept on grassy clearings while basking in the sun or moon, didn’t you?” Rusilthea snickered “While that does happen too, many of us have actual houses or similar structures too. However, it’s one of the parts that are influenced by the nest’s location. Here, you can at best design a tree house or carve one inside a floating boulder. Somewhere else, earthen caverns might be more common.”

~What about these waterfalls? Do they not run out ever?~ he asked, letting his curiosity coax more information out of his hosts.

“There’s either a spirit or an elemental living inside those,” Phatru answered. “It won’t stop flowing unless they decide otherwise or move on.”

Asterios was at a loss for words of how magical this place felt. It certainly seemed worthy of magnificent creatures like Lesser Dragons. He could see why the initial founders had chosen it. It was both breathtaking and relatively safe from prying eyes. It would require confirmation, but he assumed the thick fog obstructed almost if not everything from down below and other angles.

He briefly wondered how people living in this nest traversed the floating islands and realized the answer just as the three females began shifting. They jumped into their true forms and soared into the sky, wiggling through it side by side. Everyone here was a Lesser Dragon so it was obvious they could just fly wherever they needed. Still, some of the hovering formations were adorned with also suspended steps and platforms connecting them into bigger hubs.

They approached one of those, which from afar felt close to the size of a small town in a spherical radius. Lots of verticality was an understatement. Without knowing what was where, it certainly was easy to get lost amidst the mist, rainbows, and flying rocks. 

The main platform was huge too, comparable to a sizable market square, definitely bigger than the one in Glimmervale. A beautiful fountain surrounded by Pixies stood near the spot the trio had landed on, transforming back to their humanoid forms.

~Is this where you can find your leaders?~ Asterios queried while looking around and taking in the sights of males and females strolling or flying around.

“No, this is the central plateau. We can get to the Nest Mother’s residence on foot from here. Out of respect, no one flies straight up there. Trust me, you will enjoy the trip,” Phatru explained with an honest smile.

She took the lead while Rusilthea walked behind her with Althea by her side. The mother was right. He did enjoy experiencing the culture and architecture of this particular nest. People were just as lightly dressed as his two resident companions and seemed relatively casual in their demeanor.

Traveling between the nearby connected boulders was an eerie experience. They walked the magically suspended steps which made it possible to peek between the thin platforms. Obviously, there were no railings or anything else, just simple and plain stone discs or rounded rectangles set at comfortable distances from each other, and Asterios couldn’t help but feel anxious about a fall from such a height where you couldn’t directly see the ground.

Then he remembered that everyone could fly, including him, and the threat of falling off the chosen solution for pathways between the drifting rocks wasn’t so serious anymore.

As they were traversing through what looked like a scarce forest full of pines and similar trees, they stumbled into an area full of evenly spaced and cut stumps. It felt like a hangout place and a small number of Dragons did relax there in either form.

“Oh, look. Your friends seem to be coming this way.” Phatru gestured in a specific direction.

Her daughter furrowed her brows and followed it quickly. Finding who the woman meant, she scowled to the side, though she didn’t bother to change her expression even as those friends closed in. A group of five women with scales of various colors stopped in front of them and the one who looked like the leader of the current gathering smiled charmingly at them.

“Rusi, I heard your mother took you away from the Enlightenment Hall just before two mentors from outside came to evaluate the candidates,” she began with a worried tone. “It’s not good if you miss chances like that when they are already so low for you. Are you doing okay?”

“It’s none of your business, Keruvia,” Rusilthea spat out.

If the purple-haired lady was hurt by the offensive tone, she didn’t show it and simply shook her head. “It’s just always such a pity seeing you waiting there in hopes of attracting a teacher who won’t ever consider someone this far past her adolescence. If you avoid even more opportunities, someone as slow as you might even remain mentorless forever.”

“Last time I checked, you were mentorless too, bitch,” Rusilthea bit back with a snarl.

“The difference between us is that I’m just waiting to pick the mentor with the most perfect compatibility with me while no one really wants to pick you.” The other woman spread her arms in resignation while the others chuckled. “Perhaps you should consider just quitting. It would certainly make our younger peers more comfortable and the general atmosphere less awkward.”

Asterios expected the growl he noticed to come from Tina’s new familiar, but to his surprise, it was actually the girl’s mother who let it out as silvery scales crawled down her limbs. Even more shockingly, it was her daughter who put a firm hand on her shoulder while glaring daggers at the rude group trying to disguise their insults as concern.

“She’s not worth it, Mom,” Rusilthea hissed through gritted teeth. “We have much more important things to do.”

The reminder managed to only partially pacify the older female. 

Seeing no real reaction from them, Keruvia glanced at Althea and the concealed Asterios. “And who might that be? I don’t remember seeing your friend around.”

That brought an actual smirk onto Rusi’s lips. “That is Althea and she is my new mentor. Therefore, you don’t need to worry about me anymore. You’ll most likely rarely see me from now on. If ever.”

“Althea? Not a mentor’s name that I recognize.” The rude girl hummed while her posse exchanged glances with raised brows, curious about another mentor visiting their nest.

“That’s because I’ve never been to Phasmantia before or around our realms in quite some time since I departed from my mentor. I was simply visiting my colleague, Rusilthea’s mother, and agreed to take her talented daughter as my first Lesser Dragon disciple,” Althea responded with a kind smile.

“An inexperienced hermit?” Keruvia blinked a few times before placing fingers over her lips in an attempt to mask her satisfaction as her thinking. “Well, if anyone was to accept someone like Rusi, it would have to be you. I wish you luck on your journey, then. You will both need it.”

With a clearly overdone curtsy, she turned around and retreated with the group. Phatru and Rusilthea glared at their backs, with the mother still agitated quite a bit. 

Asterios didn’t feel well with that girl insulting his mate’s new partner and her mother so he sent out a burst of spiky shadows to emerge under the sole of the purple-scaled woman’s bare foot. She yelped quietly and jumped onto her other foot, but he removed all friction from the surface beneath it with another shadow and the rude female slipped forward so fast her face slammed into the ground with a mighty thunk.

As her friends raised Keruvia with great concern and confusion, the mother and daughter duo exploded into a laugh at the sight of their offender’s broken, bleeding nose. It wouldn’t remain injured for long, most likely, but it certainly brought them entertainment and a sense of revenge. The wounded woman tried to retain her aloof composure but her movements were janky with anger and embarrassment as her skin flushed during her controllably hasty escape.

When the impolite pack was gone, Asterios chuckled inwardly. ~I thought you were supposed to be a troublemaker?~

Rusilthea gradually stopped laughing and shot him a proud grin. “That doesn’t mean I can’t pick my battles. Smashing her nose wouldn’t help me with anything, but I definitely enjoyed watching someone else do it for me.”

~I honestly expected you to be the one losing your temper, not the one stopping someone else from doing it,~ he admitted.

She shrugged nonchalantly. “They can yap about me as much as they want. I don’t care. That bit with Tina was special, okay? It was more like a mid-fight banter. I responded because I was curious to see if she wasn’t all bluffing.”

“I’m sure you would have tackled that immature, discourteous female to the ground the moment she instead started insulting Phatru.” Althea directed a knowing glance at the duo. “An apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

The two women’s gazes met as they turned to each other and immediately looked away, their cheeks tinged with a faint trace of rosiness. Asterios could definitely see it. They were more similar than they would think. Perhaps not two peas in one pod level yet, but it wasn’t impossible in the future. Witnessing such a strong bond between mother and daughter felt extremely gratifying.

They resumed their trip soon after while Rusi explained that women like Keruvia were rather rare and people didn’t usually pick on each other through fake pleasantries, but this particular person seemed to have some kind of a personal issue with her. Althea suggested that she was simply insecure about her own inability to acquire a mentor and tried projecting those onto her to make herself feel better. Everyone agreed with that assessment since they couldn’t come up with other reasons or evidence.

There were no more interruptions on their way and the Lesser Dragon party ventured through a multi-layered garden spanning over something like twenty decently big floating boulders. It was closer to a maze than a garden, honestly. And the wooden, almost grown residence standing in its very center was nothing but awe-inspiring.

Though, there was one small detail that befuddled Asterios a tiny bit.

~Is that supposed to be a tower?~ he made a bemused query.

True to his words, the high, cylindrical structure with a sharp tip couldn’t be described with a different word. It was also artistically shaped by being magically grown and presented itself to the guests magnificently. It probably had about thirty or more floors and each level had to be as spacious as a family-grade house.

“Of course.” Phatru glanced at him through Althea. “All Lesser Dragons love towers. There’s nothing better than the sensation of stone, wood, or any other material under your scales as you wrap yourself around such a tall and girthy vertical structure in your draconic form.”

~Wait. Wasn’t it Wizards who were crazy about their towers in all those rumors and stories?~ Asterios was confused.

“And whose idea do you think it was?” Rusilthea smirked. “True Dragons have their castles while we have our towers. Isn’t there usually some kind of a giant, serpent-like entity guarding the former in those stories?”

If he had a mouth at the moment, it would surely be gaping right now. Only one single thought echoed through his mind.

Is my entire worldview going to be turned upside down at this pace?