Celia looked at Verbena as the human took a deep breath of the normal clear air of the oncoming storm. "How are you holding up? Are you tired? If you are, we can ask Ahsa to stop. I do not think she will mind."

Verbena looked down to Ahsa and her continuous restless steed. The dragon was tired and needed sleep, but she refused to admit it. Not only was the next piece of their goal at the end of the journey, but she did not want to delay when they would arrive. The faster they reached Ahsa's home, the sooner Irin could also be healed, 'No,' she decided and flapped her wings a few times.

Celia leaned back a bit in surprise, "Are you sure? I do not think they will mind." Celia hesitated. "I do not want you to hurt yourself. We have been awake for a long time," she glanced at the silver lining of the moon peeking from behind the clouds. "We have also been traveling for a while as well."

'I can keep going, and to use a phrase I learned from Irin, the winds are favorable, for now at least.' She took a deep breath, then exhaled a plume of condensation. 'I am sure that Irin would do the same for me.'

Celia gently patted Verbena's neck with her hand, "Don't overwork yourself. It's okay if you need a break."

Verbena emitted a weak purr in return of Celia's sign of affection, 'Thank you for worrying about me, but I want to keep going.' As she continued to glide on the tailwind, she glanced back down to cart.

Far below, Ahsa pulled the cart to a stop. After she dismounted from her ice construct, she stretched a bit. "Home, sweet home," She yawned a bit, then looked to her two passengers, "We have arrived, so can you signal Celia and Verbena to come down here? There is no need for them to stay up there any longer."

Irin nodded to the female magic user, then looked up to Celia and Verbena. With a bob of his head, he released a deep resonating call into the air.

Verbena heard the call as it resonated up to her through the air. "Irin says we are here," she began a swift descent. After a few moments, they finally reached the ground. However, the green dragonet did not land smoothly onto the snow. Instead, she lost control when she attempted to slow down in order to safely land and careened onto the snow-covered surface.

When she slammed into the snow on her stomach, an explosion of snowflakes rose into the air in her wake. The sparkling flakes slowly drifted the cold air like glitter as they slowly returned to the ground. Thankfully, the pillow-like snowdrift prevented her from injuring herself and kept Celia from harm as well. 

"Are you all right!?" Xan leaped off of the back of the cart and stumbled through the deep white powder over to the downed dragon and her rider. "Verbena? Celia?" He called to them as soft groans rose from the impact site.

Celia rolled off of Verbena's side, then used the dragonet to shakily stand. "I am ok," her muscles screamed in soreness after they remained folded in the same position for a long while. "Sore from spending so long in the same position, but I will recover." Celia looked to Verbena's head. "Verbena?"

'I am just going to lay here for a little while,' Verbena emitted a verbal groan and moved her head a bit to look back to Celia. 'I am exhausted from flying so far. I just want to rest and not move for a bit.'

Celia frowned a bit and stroked the green dragonet's side. "You definitely deserve the rest." After a pause, the human kneeled down and wrapped her arms around Verbena's neck in a hug.

Something heavy landed in the snow and Irin limped over to the tired dragonet and her rider. 'Verbena, you should have told us to stop before you became this tired. I'm sure Ahsa would have been willing to stop,' he gingerly nudged her head.

'I did not want to stop,' Verbena replied as she weakly lifted her head. Though the muscles in the dragonet's neck were nowhere near as sore, both Celia and Irin noticed how little energy she had. 'I wanted to make sure you got here as soon as possible. A wing injury is a potential death!'

'Just next time, please do not nearly injure yourself,' Irin said with a soft verbal coo, then raised his head as Ahsa approached.

"I have the healing potion," the siglya held up a green liquid in a glass bottle as she approached. She walked atop the snow without a single footprint left in her wake and stopped when she stood next to Irin. "Drink this and the wound should heal." She offered the potion to the dragon.

Xan eyed the potion nervously, "how do I know this is not a trick or something? I still do not know if I can trust you. This is all so suspicious, and I do not know if I can trust you."

"Fair, but if Irin is going to fly or walk without a limp anytime soon, he is going to have to drink this healing potion." Ahsa replied and held the green potion to Xan, "though you might want to give it to him before it freezes solid in this cold weather and becomes ruined. I have a few more, but I do not like to unnecessarily waste things."

Xan hesitated, then took the potion from her hand, "fine," he sighed, then walked over to Irin and uncorked the bottle. Here Irin, this should make you feel better." He looked up to his draconic companion.

When Irin lowered his head to Xan's level, the human poured the green concoction into the dragon's mouth. Irin's nose crinkled at the bitter taste as he swallowed, and when the potion was no longer in his mouth, he shuttered and stuck out his tongue. 'Yuck,' Irin retorted, then snatched a mouthful of snow from the ground to wash away the taste, 'that tasted repulsive.'

"I know you probably do not like the taste, but it works, I promise," Ahsa flashed an encouraging smile, "just give it a moment to begin to work."

As if on cue, a green glow suddenly appeared atop the wound. The glow completely obscured the cut for a bit of time before the light faded. Once it vanished, only a spot of unfrosted blue fur remained in its place.

Irin briefly sniffed the spot as he moved his wing and tested his leg. Once he deemed the healing was to his approval, he bobbed his head a bit to himself. 'Thank you,' he looked to Ahsa and repeated the nod. 'It is a bit sore, but I can move my muscles without pain.' He turned towards the tired Verbena, 'Once Verbena recovers, we can leave and head to Celia's and Verbena's hometown.'

Celia turned to Ahsa and hesitated. After a deep breath, the young rider looked up to the taller figure with a surge determination-driven confidence. "So, you said you had a ray of light that we can have?"

Ahsa focused on Celia, "yes, I do have it. Why don't we go inside and you can warm up a bit while I get it for you." She smiled and motioned for them to follow her towards and around the mound of snow.

Celia gave Verbena one last hug, then released the embrace. "Get some rest," she gently patted the green dragonet's side as she fell asleep from exhaustion. Celia frowned a bit in worry, but then faced Ahsa and trudged through the snow after her.

Xan hesitated, then scrambled through the white powder after the other two females. "Irin, please watch Verbena!" He shouted over his shoulder as he struggled to follow Ahsa and Celia. Eventually, he managed to catch up to them as they reached the entrance of Ahsa's home.

The structure looked like the homes of the nomadic people with its dome-like, snow-covered building. However, it was larger and had a massive stone door instead of a small unsealed entrance.

Ahsa mumbled a few words and summoned a bit of magic in her hands, then pressed the magic into a small hole in the door. Immediately, previously invisible lines on the door began to glow, and after a moment, the door slid to the side with a grinding noise. "Welcome to my humble abode," Ahsa stepped across the threshold and invited the dragon riders inside with a wave of her hand,  "watch your step."

Though initially hesitant, both Xan and Celia entered as the room lit up with small sparks of fire magic placed along the walls. Animal pelts covered the large stones that made up the walls and tables blanketed with a mass of random items littered the parameter of the room.

From what Celia could see of the next room, it appeared to be Ahsa's actual work station and the entry room was the container for the overflow. A strange weakly glowing sphere sat on a pillow in the center of the stone workbench surrounded by notebooks and glassware filled with strange liquids. Barely visible around the corner, an empty cauldron sat to the side of the other room. Though at present it had nothing in it, the black metal was covered in scratches and scorch marks.

"I suggest you refrain from touching anything while I retrieve the light," Ahsa paused and glanced back to them. "Even I am unsure of what some of these potions do. They are older than I am." She disappeared down a flight of stairs.

When he believed the siglya was out of earshot, Xan turned to Celia, "are we still sure about this? I have met other siglya, and Ahsa is the strangest one I have ever met. She is a lot nicer and it makes me suspicious."

Ahsa suddenly appears in the doorway with a sphere and a backpack. "Here it is," she smiled a bit. "and if you are that worried about trusting me, I just want to tell you that not everyone is against you. There are people who want to see the return of the sun." She offered both items to Xan.

Xan blinked and hesitated as he briefly locked eyes with Ahsa, then looked down to the objects and slowly accepted them. "Th-thank you," he stuttered and cradled the sphere in his arms as the bag dangled from his arm.

"Inside the bad is some food for your trip and an energy potion for Verbena, but you are welcome to stay here if you prefer to let her rest naturally." Ahsa smiled a bit. "Now, go return light to the world."

Xan stared at the sphere, then shifted the sphere in his hands and studied the sphere. "Is this the real ray of light?" Xan's voice fluctuated between awe and hesitation. As he stared at the ball, he swept a gloved hand across the perfectly smooth surface. For several moments, his eyes remained glued to the item in his hands.

"On my magic and my magical name, I promise that is a real ray of sunlight," Ahsa spoke slowly and intently as she held a hand to her heart as if it was the most serious things a siglya could use in a promise.

Xan hesitated, then looked up to Ahsa with a small smile on his face. "Thank you Ahsa." His shoulders visibly dropped and Xan appeared less tense. After he took a deep breath and released it, then looked to Celia, "Celia, Ahsa is right. Let's go return light to our world."

Xan's sudden change in tune briefly took Celia aback and left her flabbergasted. After she overcame the initial shock, she turned to Xan with a look of bewilderment. "Why have you suddenly decided to trust Ahsa?"

"Because she swore upon her magical name in her promise," Xan stated and glanced to Ahsa, "so if she lied, then I would know her magical name and be able to control her with it."

Celia lacked an understanding of the subject, so she stared at Xan for a few moments before she gathered the courage to inquire for more information. "Magical name? What do you mean by that? How would you just suddenly learn it?"

Ahsa gave Celia a gentle smile, "It's magic," she spoke in a soft tone. "Sometimes the simplest answer is the best one. Everyone with magic, even if they do not realize it, has a magical name. Knowing your own name means you have power over your own magic. However," her voice deepened, "if someone else knows your name, they can control you any way they wish."

Ahsa briefly glanced away to one of the faded tapestries on the wall. "For those with magic, our power leaks into every part of our life, including our words. When I swear upon my own magic, it is like releasing a spell that will give Xan my magic name if I break my word."

When Celia nodded in understanding, Ahsa's smile grew a bit. "Now, I wish you the best of luck on your mission. The world has waited far too long for the return of sunlight, and I believe you are going to bring light back."