Tenrak had been right; it was not easy convincing her parents, but since Jelnai would not be going alone, and Tenrak vouched that the trip would be good for her, in the end, they agreed to allow her the adventure. The next two days were spent preparing for the trek to the space port. It would take at least ten days to make the journey, if they made good time. Some of the nights would be spent camping, something Jelnai and her family had done quite a bit when she was younger, so it would be no hardship. There would be a few villages along the way, where they could spend the other nights. When they started out, Jelnai was curious what they would do with their firlani, once they made it to the space port, but Tenrak assured her that there would be a place to board them for the time they were offworld. The first few days of the trip were uneventful, though Jelnai did see a herd of velyr, only a short distance away during one stretch. The large, horned herdbeasts merely watched the two riders travel by, unconcerned by the pair. Velyr were dangerous to hunt, so they were never hunted by less than a dozen males, if it was a small herd. A large herd was deemed to hazardous. Two riders were no threat to them, and they knew it. They made excellent time, and stopped at a village only once, almost seven days from when they left. It was only a short distance from the space port, maybe a day and a half by firlani, three by foot. They had decided to stop, for a nice, fresh cooked meal, and to see if anyone there may have been offworld. Tenrak was settling the firlani into a traveler's corral, when Jalnai caught a glimpse of something odd. There was a hunting cat, unusually colored, playing with several very unusual creatures. Each was at least the size of the cat, maybe larger, except for one. It was smaller, though not by much. Pale, almost white and pale blue, with wings. Jelnai was still staring at the odd sight, when another, even larger creature appeared. It was similar to the white and blue one, but larger, and green where the first was blue. The group stilled, and looked up at the green-tinted one, then moved towards it, except for the smaller blue. When that one looked up at the new arrival, it spotted Jelnai watching them. She saw it turn its attention to her, and she wasn't sure what to do. She wasn't even sure what the creature was, though she did recall some vague description of dragons that seemed close to this. The blue-tinted creature bounded towards her. "Hi!" It called out, the voice sounding very young, and male. "I saw you looking over here. Did you want to come play with us? I'm Tenaso. Those are my friends, and the big one is my sister, Featau." He lowered his voice. "She's only bigger than me cause she's bonded. I get to be a kid a lot longer than her now!" A little surprised at the immediate friendliness, not something her clan usually practiced, she couldn't help but like the overt male. She dared a question, since he seemed quite open. "Are you a dragon? From offworld? My grandfather is going to take me offworld, if I can find a place to go. What is your world like?" "It is very different from here. But it is hard to describe if you haven't been anywhere like it before. Mercure would never have been able to imagine it before he went there. Mercure is Featau's bond, a wolv, and a hunting cat breeder. He came to visit our world almost three years ago, and we've been back here almost two years. I like it here; though, someday, I will probably go back to Avengaea to visit. Those others I was playing with, those are my "bonds"; I went to an interesting party last spring, and came back with a bunch of new friends. They're kind of hard to explain though, so I just call them my friends. And Grilao, my draca, but he is out with Mercure, working with a new pair of hunting cats." He was about to continue, when his sister approached. "Tenaso, you said you'd help keep your hoard in line while I cleaned! We need to get a run set up for that new stud cat Mercure is trying to get. Oh! Who is this?" Featau had been so focused on her brother, she hadn't even noticed who he was talking to. "She is interested in going offworld, but looking for advice on where to go. I was telling her that Avengaea is nice, but she would have to go to really get an idea of what it's like." Tenaso looked at his sister, and she nodded. It was hard to describe to someone who was used to the tribal lifestyle common here. Jelnai listened to the siblings, and when Tenaso described her, she was embarrassed. She had completely forgotten to introduce herself when she had begun talking! "Oh! I'm so sorry! I am Jelnai, and I am here with my grandfather, Tenrak. He is taking me to the space port, and then offworld. Once I figure out where I want to go, that is. You are the first offworlders I've met." "Well, I would definitely recommend stopping at Avengaea. There's a lot to see and do, and they may have kits interested in bonding, like we were. Tenaso didn't find anyone he particularly wanted to bond, though he had made good friends with Mercure, and wanted to come explore and help out here. We are only one type of "dragon" that live there though; we're Askan, sometimes called "lights". There are other elements too, air, fire, earth and water. Water has two different types now, or so I heard. There are also daemons, but they can look like anything! They can bond naturally, but we Asandus don't. If we want to bond, the bonding complex provides a magic scroll that will bond us. I'm not sure how it works, but it does." Featau realized she may be overwhelming her audience with too much information, and halted her explanation. If Jelnai chose Avengaea, and decided to become a Novo, then the procedure would be explained to her there. The pan-thar talked with the siblings a bit more, learning a bit about a few of the other places they had been, until her grandfather found her. The siblings headed back to their tasks, and Jelnai told Tenrak what she had learned while they had dinner. The elder watched his granddaughter as she spoke with growing eagerness regarding what she'd found out. "So," he spoke up during one of her pauses for breath, "Is this Avengaea where you would like to go?" "I think so," she replied. "It sounds like a very interesting place." "Alright, then that's where we'll head." Tenrak finished his meal, waited for Jelnai to do the same, then showed her to their lodging for the night. They'd be heading out early. The last leg of the trip to the space port went quickly, and they boarded the firlani, then arranged passage on the next shuttle. It was scheduled to leave the next day, and after a few hours in the small village, Jelnai was glad it was leaving that soon. She could sense a storm coming, though it would not hit until later in the week. And it would be a big one. Tenrak took her to speak with the elders of the port village, and convinced them that her sense was usually accurate, so they could take the proper precautions. Strong early winter storms could be dangerous, even this far south. Continued