You have seen castles in the sky before. 

It would be a mistake for this world to imagine it could impress eyes that had seen the Endless Azure Skies with beauty alone. There is no trick of masonry that can make this place stand above an empire that has built Olympus itself. 

And yet, not one of those magnificent structures of the Endless Azure Skies was [i]the [/i]Sky Castle. It is arguable that they were even [i]a[/i] sky castle. They were mansions, or resorts, or garrisons, or art projects that happened to be in the sky. The Sky Castle of Princess Jessic exists on the frontier of possibility that nothing in the Endless Azure Skies ever has.

Firstly, it is not kept in place with the flawless and frictionless antigravity of the Rail. It is, instead, held aloft by the power of a Sunshard - right on the limit of its endurance. You [i]feel [/i]it as you land - this enormous, haphazard structure drops a few inches from your body weight. A creak runs through stone and timber, windmills whirl and groan, enormous turbine engines beat, clusters of sandbags dangle on easily cuttable ropes in case ballast needs to be dropped. This place is a [i]contraption[/i], more kin to an oversized hot air balloon than a spaceship. It runs on the limit of its endurance and compromise is woven all throughout the design.

Ceilings are short. Corridors are narrow. Sandstone has been used in place of granite and wood has been used in place of sandstone. Decorations are not made in gold and sculpture but in paper and fabric. Fish-kites fill the air in red and gold, bare walls are covered by sails and carpets. Some buildings have been stolen entire from the ground, some with their occupants still inside. Rope ladders and bridges criss-cross the castle like the rigging of a ship. And for all that, it flies. It should not fly, and it flies. There are no artfully hidden rings or spheres acting as levitation anchor point; its brutal right angle towers shiver in the wind in defiance of gravity and aerodynamics both.[1]

A single rope ladder dangles down from the bottom, brushing against the tops of trees and hills as the wind carries the castle across the landscape. Entrance is free, for the brave.

From above comes the flash of painted fabric and painted wings. A dragon is the natural conclusion of the concept of the Knight, and the greatest glory of the knight is the banner they hold aloft. Jessic descends in a whirl of heraldry, scales checked black and yellow with fleur-de-lis, ribbons in white with red stripes for strength, and a long and silver lance couched against the shoulder. You all have shields now - a little extra strain on the Sky Castle has made it so, and the altitude drops another inch - emblazoned with heraldry you never knew you had. You know without words that these shields will catch any blow that comes your way, and that when they shatter so too do your hopes of victory.

Princess Jessic has been very restrained for a very long time. She is a good dragon, after all - she has resisted the urge to burninate the countryside in order to draw out vengeful questing knights. Asking her to further restrain herself from pouncing on and vanquishing interlopers into her domain is simply too much to expect from any dragon or Princess.

[1] The Sky Castle is also noticeably bigger than the last time Chen or Yue have visited. Princess Jessic is the only Princess who believes in giving her Sunshard [i]workouts[/i] - and somehow she seems to be building up its carrying capacity over time.