(Sorry for the delay! Had some end-of-year business to attend to at the office.)

[@Eviledd1984]

"I'd love to, th-thanks!" Kara took a look at Smith before walking alongside his mother, eager to see the garden. As much as she wanted to get her mind off of his predicament, she couldn't. "How long will he be out for? Is there any chance that he can join us later today?"

[@bloonewb]

Prince Seleucus led his army to meet the kobolds. Several thousand strong and well-equipped, they posed a formidable force relative to their size. Each soldier was equipped in shining steel armor, recently polished to give the best impression possible. Unlike the coats of chain mail which clad many of Hekaga's lower-ranked troops, these soldiers wore suits of plate armor from head to toe; helmets, pauldrons, cuirasses, greaves, gauntlets, and that most rare of armors in the dracon lands: plates which covered the top of their feet.

He called a halt when recon announced the approach of the kobold army, having seen the red-scarfed arrow. They would have to come to him, as he couldn't be bothered to go another kilometer for their sake if he didn't have to. He considered it a generous gesture to even meet them in person at all. As the kobold force wasn't advancing either, this led to an awkward situation. The two armies just stood there for a few hours, which passed in awkward silence. In fact, the only sounds were the distant din of the city, punctuated by the occasional hoof beats of a passing caravan.

Finally, a small force of dracons riding on bipedal riding lizards issued forth from the city walls. It was Mazdak and several cavalry assigned to his attache. Seleucus could see the city's flag waving from Mazdak's saddle, and he assumed that the lizard riders would turn his way. To his surprise, they made tracks for the kobold army instead. Mazdak dismounted as soon as he came in sight of Rebat and his staff officers, a parchment scroll from the Grand Prince clutched in his hands.

"Rebat, I am so sorry for the delay. When Prince Seleucus didn't meet you, one of our oracles had a vision. He told me to give you this. It seems that we were, ah, close to an incident between our cities. They had to rush me out to fix it. Here you go. It's a writ authorizing you to keep command of your forces during this operation, with the proviso that you cooperate with Seleucus. That last part will be tricky. He's not the easiest dracon to work with."

[@SilverPaw]

"Then your mother has good sense. Come with me. If you need anything... ah, you know to let me know. I don't need to keep saying it. Bit of a bad habit there." Aerta led him to a bathroom before heading downstairs again to resume her meditation for a couple of minutes before getting some food ready.

"Well, let me think. Since we both share sorcerous ability, we have no need to study our magic. I'd recommend practice over lectures or book learning. As for something specific, it all depends on what you want to accomplish. Basically, if you want to get good at combat magic, I'd recommend target practice. If its ritual spells you want, just follow the procedure outlined in the tome where you learned them. Sorcery is truly a personal journey; what works for me, a female dracon, will probably not work for you. Truly, it will fall to you to discover it yourself, although I suppose I can help in a few small ways. One of the few universals among sorcerers is concentration. You'll need to concentrate hard in order to achieve more powerful and useful effects."

She put a hand on his shoulder. "Deep down, you know as well as I do that we sorcerers don't deal in clear answers. Those answers- and the desire for them- belong to the wizards. Knowledge is all and good, but beware the lengths it takes to get that information. Greater mages then either of us have sold their souls for it, and many a wizard has wasted centuries toiling away in vain for the answer to some esoteric problem. If you can understand that mystery is a vital part of your magic, then you've already taken a big step into a larger world."