Rights and Privileges of the Sunft

[Darcania]

Seira kul Sunft, along with a small contingent, stood just to the west of Pigletville, the capital of Guslantis, preparing herself for the worst.

She was surprised when a courier dragon woke her up that morning, and was about to snap at him, expecting her daughter, Sura, to be the one who woke her, when she recognized the markings of the Kroning clan. Why would such an illustrious clan send a message to her, the leader of such a small, insignificant clan? She listened, her trepidation growing, as he informed her that Scian kul Kroning himself would arrive soon. Scian kul Kroning, the Elder of the entire world... why would he ever visit her? The courier continued: She was to meet Scian at the gates of Pigletville to negotiate with the Guslants to officially recognize the Sunft clan.

After the courier left, Seira looked around at her dwelling. It was nothing more than a simple cave, with several rocky outcroppings and not much more than a makeshift nest of grass and sticks. It wasn't even particularly high off the ground. She had heard of where the Elder lived: a massive cathedral near the top of the tallest mountain around, with dragons and humans alike ready to serve. It was as unreal as her dwelling was plain. How could she match up with a dragon from the heavens? She felt like Sura hearing of Wyssiria for the first time.

She woke Sura, still sleeping soundly in the nest, and walked out of her cave and stepped into a small pond, Sura following close behind; as this was official business, she needed to shine their scales to the utmost. She wondered if she should even bother: Scian likely had a team of subservients ready to buff his scales until they were as mirrors. The best she could do was make hers slightly less dull.

"Mother, are we visiting today?" Sura asked in the draconic language, eyes filled with excitement.

Seira hid her trepidation. "Yes, you'll get to see your very first human today," she replied.

Seira had trouble bathing Sura after that; she had been wanting to see a human ever since her mother told her about the small, quick beings.She sanded herself and Sura down on the beach and rinsed herself and Sura before heading off to Pigletville, Sura riding on her back, grabbing a token guard on her way.

By now, she had steeled herself for meeting Scian. She stepped forward, ignoring the stares of the shocked and screams from the frightened as she approached the gate. She had to hold Sura back several times; she wouldn't stop bounding around, trying to speak with the humans. Her excitement helped lessen Seira's trepidation. By now, Scian had already arrived and was waiting a distance from the gate for her. She looked around at the other dragons who were with him: most appeared to be simply guards, but among the dragons she recognized Siparis kul Leiter. She nearly froze: She had always admired Siparis for rising from obscurity in the tiny Kir clan and becoming among the most well-respected leaders of dragons. She bowed her head down and approached the dragons, dispersing several curious Guslants as she did. By now, Sura had mostly calmed down, but still had difficulty remaining still with all the new sights around her.

Scian simply nodded at her and Sura and turned to the gates, waiting for the Guslants to respond to the correspondence he had sent.

 

[bootsie]

The welcoming party walked through the ruins of West Pigletville as they approached the dragons. Among them were the monarchs, Minister Tucker, Madame Leopard, and Minister Baldwin. The first to speak was Minister Tucker who was very apologetic. "I am dearly sorry for the ruins, normally we'd bring you in from the eastern portion of the capital," he said, picking up a brick and placing it back on the building ruin it had fallen from. "East Pigletville is currently our capital, as the western portion of our former capital has 95% of its buildings in a state that we cannot operate in, therefore, I invite you to follow me into our acting capital and into the Thomas Building," said Minister Baldwin. "We chose that building as it is the Ministry of Information's headquarters, and well, as the newest building, it won't collapse when you walk in, no offense intended," added the King. "Speaking of the MoI, we should probably warn Alicia that dragons are entering the city," Tucker said.

He took out his tablet and opened the GusNet application on it. He pressed a few buttons, and suddenly, projectors shot a projection of a woman with curly red hair onto the Guslant skyline. "Please excuse this interruption. The Ministry of Information would like to inform all Guslant citizens that the ambassadors from Darcania are entering the city. While normally this is not reported to our citizens, the ambassadors are dragons. Do not be alarmed by their presence, and please continue in your normal duties. The ambassadors are currently in transit to the Thomas Building and will soon be inside. Thank you for your attention, and thank you for using the GusNet," said the woman before the projectors turned off.

"Well, I didn't expect Alicia to use the GusProjection, but if that's what she wanted to use, hey, that's what she'll use," replied Tucker. "GusProjection is so annoying, every piece of information that the MoI thinks is important is relayed through the skyline, the televisions, the electronic billboards...gosh, you can't escape that...," Madame Leopard complained. "Alicia controls everything in Guslantis, Debra, so I think she knows what's best, which is why she is second-in-line after the monarchs," replied Baldwin, quite angry with the drama queen that was Debra Leopard. "Sorry, we Guslants like to talk, come right this way to the Thomas Building," said Tucker, pointing the group right through West Pigletville to the capital.

 

[Darcania]

Seira restrained her freshly excited Sura as several well-dressed humans approached the dragons. As they began speaking among themselves, Seira instructed Sura not to bother the humans as she let her go. Sura stopped herself from immediately bounding up to the most well-dressed, and instead took to sniffing around the ruins, though she kept her eyes on the humans. They were making such funny noises, and quite a lot of noises, too.

Seira kept her eyes on Sura as she listened to the humans; unlike Sura, Seira knew their language, though it wasn't much help. While they initially addressed the dragons, they ended up conversing among themselves for several minutes. She looked around at the other dragons: Scian and Siparis were patiently waiting for the humans to finish their conversation, while the guards were looking around at the ruins, doubtlessly looking for any threats to their charges.

Sura, meanwhile, looked over at her mother as one of the humans took out a curious object and found herself momentarily unsupervised. She slowly began walking directly towards the delegates, sniffing their way as they fussed over the device. She jumped back when a tiny human suddenly appeared, growling slightly and moving closer to her mother for protection. When the tiny human disappeared and she felt safe again, she approached the humans again; she stopped about halfway between the two parties and continued sniffing in their direction, her wings still fluttering with excitement.

Seira, upon seeing her daughter, crouched down and sneaked up behind her, before picking her up and placing her on her back. "Stay there," she said in the draconic language, "we do not wish to cause trouble to these humans." Sura lied down on Seira's back, pouting; she wanted to see the humans up close. Seira turned back to the humans, who were now leading the dragons to the Thomas building.

As Siparis passed by, she turned to Sura and gave her a slight nudge. Sura, recovering from the unexpected nudge, turned and listened to Siparis as she said, "Do not worry, I promise I will introduce you to the humans as soon as possible." Sura brightened up at that, and remained on her mother's back, staring excitedly around her, as her mother followed the rest of the dragons.

 

[bootsie]

As they walked into the Thomas Building, the associate minister that was Alicia Burns greeted them to the best of her abilities. "Welcome to the Thomas Building, I am Alicia Burns, please have a seat at this table that I had the crew bring down for you," she said, showing them to the large table that was in the center of the lobby. When she was done speaking, she stood there awkwardly for a moment, waiting for them to respond. "Um, does your kiddy want a lollipop, Ms...um, Dragon? I usually have someone get the youngsters a little treat so their parents can have some peace," she continued with a smile. "Or do they not like lollipops?" Alicia took off her glasses and cautiously approached Sura. "Ma'm, you are not monitoring the system, Guslantis is in possible danger if you are not watching it," said the computer through the glasses. "Ayuda, please monitor Guslantis for me while I'm busy," Burns corrected the computer. "Yes ma'm, please keep in mind that you must have time to sleep in your remaining six hours," reminded the computer.

Alicia placed her glasses on the table and held her hand out to Sura. "You're a cute little one now aren't you? What's your name?" said Alicia in awe. "Alicia, please don't distract the ambassadors. Please everyone sit down, I don't believe we even know your names, Alicia seems quite interested in your offspring though," said Tucker, as he and the Guslants aside from Alicia sat down. "Tell us about yourself: your clan, your family, anything of importance...," Baldwin added as they all looked at the dragons for their answer.

 

[Darcania]

While the other dragons proceeded to the table that was laid out for them, Seira kept a close eye on this Alicia. She lied down so that Sura could jump off of her back safely, turning her head to help her down. "Stay near me," she said to Sura before turning back to Alicia. This human seemed to lack the grace that most other government officials had, but she seemed safe enough.

"Mother, why are these humans making strange sounds?" Sura asked.

"They speak English, remember?" she answered.

Sura turned back and sniffed towards the human, her tail waving back and forth, like a cat's, in excitement. She stared up at Alicia with wide eyes as she began approaching, and jumped back to her mother, hiding between her forelegs, when she heard the object in Alicia's hand suddenly make noise. She stepped back out when she saw the human put the object down, and stared at Alicia's hand as she offered it. Sura remembered her mother mentioning the soft skin of the humans; she stepped forward and nudged Alicia's hand with her muzzle. Indeed, they were soft; they didn't even have scales or talons!

"Come here, Sura," Seira commanded. "You'll have more time to see the humans later."

Sura turned her head away and looked over at her mother, who had since moved to the table. She turned back to Alicia and gave her hand a small lick before running back to her mother.

"Seira, would you introduce us?" Siparis asked.

"Yes, of course," Seira said. She was still intimidated by Scian and Siparis, but her daughter, who had since settled into her forelegs, helped alleviate her fears. She turned to the humans opposite her. "I am Seira kul Sunft, the leader of the Sunft clan," she began. "This is my daughter, Sura. These two," she pointed to the blue and white dragons next to her, "are Scian kul Kroning, our Elder, and Siparis kul Leiter, our..." She paused. "I suppose the closest translation would be our Minister of Law."

She settled in, moving her tail around to make herself more comfortable, as she continued. "We're a small clan, relatively new, likely less than a half millennium old. We're mostly scattered around your shoreline, as our clan loves the ocean, and we have yet to do much to stand out as a clan." She shifted uncomfortably. "Until now, I suppose. We're currently among the first clans outside of Wyssiria to reveal ourselves to the human nation we live in, at the suggestion of our Elder, Scian."

 

[bootsie]

Alicia gazed at the small little dragon with delight as it looked curiously at her. "Aren't you a little cutie, yes you are!", she exclaimed, trying to pet the dragon. The mother dragon communicated something to Sura, and the little dragon licked Alicia's hand. She didn't know whether to be disgusted by the dragon saliva on her hand, or to think it was the cutest thing ever. Spending eighteen hours in front of a computer really sucked the life out of Alicia, and this small organism had brought life back into her body that was lost.

As soon as the dragons introduced themselves, Baldwin stood up to introduce the Guslants. "On behalf of the five ministries, the monarchs, and our citizens, welcome to the Monarchy of Guslantis," he said with a smile. "I am Minister Greg Baldwin, Minister of Finance," he continued, before nudging Alicia on the shoulder. Alicia straightened up, and approached the dragons. "I am Associate Minister Alicia Burns, Associate Minister of Information, nice to meet you," she said while smiling.

Suddenly, the glasses that Alicia sat down shook and projected a man beside Alicia. "Alicia, your time is waning. Minister Hall has only allotted six hours for you to have a break," said the man angrily. Alicia turned, looked at the man, and said, "Ayuda? Is that you?" The man nodded, revealing that he was the GusNet computer's human form. "Ayuda!" yelled the monarch, and the bot turned at the scolding. "Extend Alicia's break or I will personally shut down all of your systems," he yelled. The bot angrily turned off the projector, and the lights above them flickered as Ayuda left the room's control.

"I'm dearly sorry about Ayuda, he sometimes follows his directive way too far," said Minister Tucker. "Now, I believe it is time to get down to business, let's figure out where you guys actually are and find a route between your clan and the capital city. Dang, if only I had a map...," he said, before Alicia interjected. "I have a map, and its one of the largest ones in all of Guslantis! Follow me!" she said, before walking out the door. "Okay, would you like to follow her?" said Baldwin to the dragons.