"So, are you really just going allow him to tell you that you cannot go?" Xan looked to Celia as they exited the room and reentered the hallway.

"I can't exactly argue with the guild master," Celia briefly shuttered, then motioned for Xan two follow her down the passageway. "He is the head of the entire town. I can't exactly tell him that I plan on disobeying his order. He would do everything in his power to stop me."

"So you are planning on leaving again," Xan nod as he followed. "So why are you taking me somewhere now?"

"Because it would be too obvious if we left now, and I think Irin would enjoy bathing in the waterfalls, and maybe we can get some privacy down there as well." She warily glanced up and down the hall. "Sound travels surprisingly far through these tunnels. If we cannot talk in private at the falls, I will take you a hidden hot spring. I believe Verbena and I are the only ones that know about that place."

'That does make sense,' Irin's ears remained upright as he listened for signs of eavesdroppers, 'I do not hear anyone or anything besides our footsteps in the vicinity, but I do agree we should be safe rather than sorry.'

"I guess that is correct," Xan stated, then decided to change the subject, "I do know that when Irin and I are tested, we are going to pass so perfectly we immediately receive the highest rank." He puffed up his chest a little bit.

Celia stifled a laugh, "I highly doubt you will even make knight rank, much less master rank, and you will never receive the guild master rank. You may end up with guard or innate, but I believe you will at least receive something higher than initiate. Your experience makes me sure of that fact."

"So I'll be higher than you?" Xan teased with a grin slathered across his face. "So initiate is the lowest possible rank?"

"Well, you can be unranked, but that really means you aren't currently tied to any guild yet," Celia replied as she secretly rolled her eyes. "But I could catch up, depending on what you receive and my punishment." She rounded a corner and walked down a ramp as the sounds of flowing water reached her ears. "Almost there," Celia promised as she glanced back to the rest of the group.

After walking deeper underground for several more moments, they emerged into the waterfall room. Glowing mosses and mushrooms still illuminated the room and the multiple waterfalls around the parameter glittered in the light. Thankfully, the room was vacant of other humans and/or dragons. At least for now, the duo of rider and dragon teams had the area to themselves.

Once she entered, Verbena immediately trotted over to one of the dragon-sized waterfall stalls and placed her shoulder under the gentle falling water. 'It still feels nice,' the young dragoness purrs as the clear liquid flows over her fur.

Irin watched Verbena for a moment, then trotted to the stall next to hers. After he sniffed the clean water, he cautiously tested the temperature with his nose. 'This does feel nice,' he cooed and moved in such a way that the cool water could run over his head and down his neck. 'I can see why you enjoy this, Verbena.'

Celia picked up a pair of brushes from the nearby bucket, then walked over to Xan and offered the metal bristled object. "Here, try brushing out Irin's fur with this. He will like it," she promised. "Almost every dragon here enjoys being groomed with a brush, and it will remove tangles in their fur.

Xan glanced between the object in Celia's hand. After a moment, he accepted it and gently rubbed his hand against the multitude of tiny metal strands. "I've never thought to brush out his fur for him."

"Here, it is considered an important part of bonding with dragons," Celia trotted over the now-wet Verbena. "My best guess for why is that it gets both of you together for an extended period of time, and the dragons definitely enjoy it." She paused as she began to gently detangle Verbena's fur, "it is kinda nice to see Verbena enjoy being brushed out as well."

Xan placed the brush against Irin's side, then began the process of detangling the dragon's fur. Though the blue dragon groomed himself occasionally, the brush more thoroughly combed through his fur and removed the tiniest tangles.

'Hmmm...,' Irin shifted his weight as Xan gently stroked his side with the metal brush. After a moment of pause, the dragon determined he enjoyed the feeling and closed his eyes. 'This is also pleasurable,' he softly purred.

"I'm glad you enjoy it," Xan smiled a bit with a small laugh as he continued to groom the larger blue dragon.

Celia listened for any hints of approaching people or dragons. When she finally determined she could hear no one, the human female released breath she did not remember holding. "So, Xan," she began as she continued to thoroughly groom Verbena's wet green fur.

Xan continued to work, but glanced to Celia. "Since you know this town far better than I do, what do you suggest for a plan? We can discuss and make changes once we have a basic idea outlined."

"We should sneak out during or immediately after dinner in the morning," Celia instructed. "Most of the dragon riding guild members and plenty of people from the other guilds will be there. The tunnels will be mostly empty of people who would care about where we go."

Celia paused for a moment and checked her mental map of Rien. "I know of a small exit we can sneak out of after we get Verbena's saddlebags from my room. If that does not work out, thee are a few other paths we can take instead." The human female turned her head to Xan. "If you want to try, we could try to grab the three rays of light from Guild Master Orthos's room, but it is highly risky. I don't know if it is entirely worth the risk, but I want to have all for pieces of the sun together."

"I think that is too risky," Xan stated. "We have no idea where he's hidden them, and he may have them locked in a chest or heavily guarded for all we know."

Celia slowly nodded, "I guess that is potentially true. I just have a feeling that something good will happen if we bring all four together." She stared at a green glowing mushroom for a brief time, then shook her head and refocused. "But we should probably simply focus on retrieving the final ray of light first."

Xan nodded and hummed in agreement. "How well do you think we will be able to avoid detection while we fly out of here? Won't one of the guard dragons spot us? How can we avoid their detection?"

Celia pressed her lips together as she thought of an answer, but came up short. "I'm not sure since all four of us will at least briefly stand out against the snow.... I guess we just have to be fast and hope we aren't pursued." She briefly flashed a grimace, then shook her head and refocused on the task of brushing out Verbena's fur.

"After we escape, we are going to head west to Urre and retrieve the remaining ray of light," Xan nodded as he carefully brushed Irin's shoulder. "The light is held on a tall tower in the palace courtyard. It is one of the most heavily guarded places in the town, so it is going to be hard to get up there. Especially if we do so without any kind of permission from the king. I seriously doubt we will get that, though I have seen you beat lesser odds before."

"What about the black monster that guards the town?" Celia glanced to the male rider as she continued to work. "How do we get into town if it is just going to attack us and drive us away?"

"My best guess is that we have to enter on foot without dragons." Xan slowly said. "The black dragon, though I saw it a few times, never attacked Irin and me before he began to fly. Maybe we lived too far away for it to notice or too close to the mountains. I have never seen it travel beyond the easternmost ridge of the mountain range, but it can still guard the ridge if we attempt to sneak into the city that way."

"So we just have to walk through the snow to one of the gates?" Celia paused and focused on a difficult tangle in Verbena's fur. "So how are we going to escape town if we have to steal the ray of light?"

Xan paused, then answered with a small shrug. "I guess we just have to be fast and hope we aren't pursued. It is the only option I can think of. I have a theory there is a secret back entrance to the castle, but no actual proof or way to find it."

Celia nodded as she stepped away to visually check her handiwork, then decided she finished brushing Verbena's fur. "At least we have some sort of plan," Celia spoke as she plucked the green hairs out the brush bristles and walked over to the buckets of fur. "That's better than nothing, right?" She dropped the wad of green fur into the proper bucket, then approached Irin and calmly began to help finish brushing the larger blue dragon since Xan was not done yet.

"I guess that is true," Xan hummed a bit as the two of them finished Irin's fur. Then, he followed Celia's example and walked over to the fur disposal buckets. As both he and Celia removed the fur from their brushes, the male human looked over to his feminine counterpart. "So what now?"

Celia placed the wisps of blue fur into the proper bucket, then looked up to Xan. "We should get Iron a harness and see about properly fixing Verbena's as well. If we are to leave as soon as possible, we should that now."

Verbena shook off the last bit of water out of her fur as she trotted over to Irin, 'And if we act good, the harness-person may give us a yummy treat!' Her tail wagged a bit as she trumped her excitement.

'I believe you,' Irin released a draconic chuckle in response to Verbena's energy as he also removed the water from his fur with a simple shake.

"I'll lead the way," Celia volunteered and motioned for them to follow her out of the waterfall room and into the rest of the tunnel system. "The Cloth Guild is not too far," she promised, "we just have to return to the higher levels."

She peacefully led her companions up the ramps and through the maze of passages. When they arrived, Celia glanced back to the group behind her and smiled. "Here we are, the Cloth Guild, and then we go to the harness faction."

As he followed, Xan glanced around the room and noted the spinning wheels and looms around the parameter of the main room, then the piles of folded textiles and clothes. "This place is interesting," he began, then looked into the room Celia lead him too and noted the collection of harnesses and straps.

"Hello," a woman wearing the insignia of the cloth guild and the harness faction approached the two pairs. "My name is Artisan Juli, how may I be of service to you?" She held a small stone clipboard and a piece of chalk.

"I need Verbena's harness repaired, and Irin needs a harness," Celia smiled to her, "thank you."

Artisan Juli blinked and studied Irin skeptically. "I can see the green needs her harness repaired or replaced, but what happened to the blue's harness? He appears a bit old to be achieving his first harness."

"Irin is a wild-born," Celia explained, "he has never had a harness before, but he and Xan, his rider, have agreed that they would like one."

"All right then, I will start by assessing the damage on the green's harness and see what needs to happen." She approached Verbena and studied the makeshift strap Celia made with the ribbon. "I can see what you did to replace the severed strap, but I'd have to remove the entire harness properly replaced it." She began to undo the knots and straps in order to remove the harness.

"Can I keep the ribbon?" Celia approached and began to help loosen the knots and buckles. "I bought it, and I kinda want to keep it in case of another emergency." She gently smiled at her.

"I don't see why not," the artisan shrugged. After she untied the last knot, she wound the ribbon around her elbow and hand, then folded the material and offered it to Celia. "Here you go."

"Thank you," Celia accepted the ribbon. Just as she moved to place the ribbon into her pocket, the female rider paused and looked at the carefully folded material. Her eyes widened as she realized what she could do with the white ribbon. The snow-colored She remained fixated with the item and her idea until the clattering of a harness on the ground snapped her out of her train of thought.

Juli dragged the damaged harness over to a work table and hauled it onto the countertop. She checked the holes in the straps to estimate its size, then blinked. "Oh, this is a custom extra small." She glanced up to Verbena. "I think you are big enough now for a normal dragonet harness now."

The Cloth Guild member approached the collections of harnesses and collected one from the second peg from the left, then carried the mass of pale cloth straps over to the calmly waiting green dragonet. "This should fit," she threw the harness over Verbena's back and tested the fit. "It does, with plenty of space to grow," she glanced to Celia and continued to work, "as long as it does not get severed again."

Celia released a slightly nervous laugh as she aided the artisan in strapping Verbena into the harness. As the female rider worked, she briefly glanced to Xan with a teasing grin spread across her face.

Verbena watched and snorted a bit in draconic laughter at Celia's smirk, then resumed watching Juli finish the final clasp on her harness. Once the harness faction artisan backed away a bit to examine her work, Verbena lifted her wings and shook herself. 'It feels ok. It doesn't rub or pinch anywhere." After another brief shake, the green dragonet resettled her wings against her sides. 'Now,' she looked down to Juli, 'where is my treat?'

Celia stifled a sudden outburst of laughter, "Verbena says that the harness feels fine, and wants a treat because she was a good girl."

Artisan Juli gently chuckled, then reached into her coat and retrieved a small baked object from the depths of an interior pocket. "Here you go, a gift for your patient cooperation." She held the treat in her palm and extended her hand towards the excitedly waiting dragonet.

'Yes!' The young dragoness greedily licked the treat from Juli's hand and wagged her tail as she ate it.

"Now that she is done, let's get the blue harnessed up." While Verbena noisily crunched her treat, Juli stepped back and mentally assessed Irin's size from a distance. Once she had an idea of what size the blue dragon needed, the human artisan walked over to one of the collections of harnesses hung on metal pegs inserted into the wall. She paused, then lifted a harness off of its hook and dropped it over his shoulder. "Let's try this one first."

She approached Irin, then looked to Xan. "He won't harm me while I'm putting this on, correct? I've never harnessed a wild before."

"He won't," Xan assuredly patted Irin's side and showed the woman a gentle smile. "Irin is pretty tame."

"Can you make sure he stays calm for me please?" She looked at Xan. After he nodded in silent reply approached Irin and gently lifted the blue dragon's wing and heaved the harness onto his back.

Irin shook a bit and lifted his other wing after the ends of the strap clattered against his feathers. He snorted a bit and ruffled his wings to resettle the disturbed feathers, but otherwise remained calm as the artisan fixed the straps.

Irin looked to the pale straps as the woman finished the final clasp and stepped back a few steps. "How does it feel?" Juli looked up to Irin for his approval as she also evaluated how the harness fitted on the blue dragon.

Irin shook himself and studied the off-white straps, then gave a short rumble of approval as he settled his wings against his sides. 'The straps feel strange, but they do not pinch or rub anywhere.'

"Irin says the harness feels fine," Xan translated, "thank you for giving us the harness and strapping him in him for me."

Artisan Juli smiled and retrieved a treat from her pocket. "Thank you for your cooperation," she held the treat up to Irin in her outstretched palm, "here is the treat you deserve." She smiled happily.

Irin looked down and sniffed the treat, then licked it out of her hand and chewed it. 'Thank you,' he gently poured as he savored the treat.

"Thank you for helping us," Celia smiled.

"My pleasure," the artisan smiled and waved slightly as the four patrons left the room and reentered the maze of tunnels.

As she left, Celia fingered the bundle of ribbon inside her pocket. As much as she wanted to tell Xan about her idea, she knew it had to wait for now. Once they left Rein and traveled west, she could tell him then.

Author Notes!

Sorry about being late! I'm on vacation and it completely escaped my mind!
We have officially crossed 100,000 words! That's a real accomplishment!
I'm so excited!