Gabriel picked up a fancy-looking fountain pen from the desk and fumbled with it. „How much do you know about factions in Iron Shore government?"

"I don't care much for politics." Celia shrugged. "All the government cares about is filling rich people's pockets with even more coins."

Gabriel's mouth quirked into a bitter smile. "You are not wrong. However, some politicians still work on improving people's lives."

"And you are one of those, I assume?"

"Yes, though I don't expect you to take my word for it." He put down the pen and looked at Celia. "There are three main factions on the political scene." He closed his fist and then raised one finger. "First one is Conservatives. It's a band of old fools who believe we can weather whatever comes our way and we don't have to do anything about it. They claim that all the glaciers have already melted, so our situation can't get any worse, so why do anything if we can keep up with our current lifestyle."

"What a load of seagull crap," Celia scoffed.

"I agree. Unfortunately, the faction is comprised of many representatives of the old families, so they have enough votes to thwart any developmental project we're trying to push through. The second one"──he raised another finger──"is the Visionaries. They preach that we should build all our infrastructures further up in the sky, with the end goal being a creation of floating cities."

Celia raised her brow. "Floating cities. They can't even muster proper flying ships of decent size. What makes them think they can lift whole cities to the sky?"

"It's... a complicated topic. The Visionaries are a recent addition to the government and started as a religious sect. They believe the flooding was the punishment from God, which was supposed to wipe out all the sinners and unworthy. Those who remained shall seek to reunite with God by trying to get as close to the sky as possible."

Celia blinked several times. "That's the people sitting in the government? A band of lunatics? It's even worse than I thought."

"Yes, unfortunately. The Visionaries are still a small part of the senate, but they have enough representatives that we have to consider their projects and their votes. Luckily for everyone, the vast majority of the senate is from our faction─the Progressionists." He raised the third finger. "My father, and our leader, firmly believes that we cannot remain here and endlessly raise our cities higher and higher. They will collapse sooner or later. He believes we have to look for a better place to settle."

"Hence, your mission. I still don't get why all the secrecy."

Gabriel laced his fingers together. "Finding a new place to settle doesn't equal crossing the mountains. There are still a few high enough places that prevail over the sea. Most senators believe we should settle there and work on the dam system to prevent more flooding. It's a much cheaper solution than preparing to cross the Thundering Massive and building the whole new fleet of flying ships."

"But it's not exactly a long-term solution, is it? We hope things won't get worse, but we don't know for sure," Celia noted.

"Yes. That's why the governor considers all possible ways out, including venturing to the New World. But the senate rejected the motion when he made an official proposal to fund the expedition. They wouldn't sign putting money into something that might not work."

"And so, this became a secret project." Celia nodded in thought. "After the senate refused to support this, your father did so anyway, ignoring them and probably embezzling the funds to pay for all your ships and crews."

Gabriel smirked. "Well, yes, he did. Don't sound so judgemental, Captain de Visher. You should know how it feels like to push your vision forward even if others don't support it."

"Well, I do. I couldn't care less about how corrupted the man is. I'm all for it if he steals money to fund more flying ships." She shrugged. "But how come no one noticed your expedition? Three big ships are kind of flashy. And I assume there is more."

"Your assumption is correct." Gabriel nodded with a small smile. "But as I said, Father is assessing all possible ways out for us. The convoys of discovery ships are sent out regularly in all directions in search of the perfect spot for us. It would be impossible to keep track of all of them."

Celia crossed her arms. "So, what's the plan then? Don't you think your daddy will run out of patience before you make your way over the mountains?"

Gabriel ran a hand through his hair. "You're right. I'll be honest with you, Captain de Visher. Our efforts so far did not bring satisfactory results. We surveyed the whole massive in search of possible passages but found nothing. We tried to drill through the rocks, but it's taking too much time and resources to be efficient. We also sent scouts in ballons and light floating scouting ships to assess the passage over the mountains, but...."

"Dragons," Celia finished.

"Yes, they are a pretty big obstacle."

"So I've noticed. But your people seemed to have a way of driving them off."

"Yes. We already had several encounters with those creatures, and we learned a thing or two." Gabriel rummaged through the papers on his desk to finally put a vast sheet in front of Celia.

The depiction of the monster was amazingly detailed. With all the chaos of the battle and falling, she didn't have time to take a closer look at the beast. But whoever draw that sketch must have observed the subject multiple times from several angles. The scale-covered body was long and winding, as if it was a giant snake, but with a muscular pair of legs and arms. Its head and jaws were huge, with horns and reptilian eyes that seemed disturbingly intelligent. The mane of brilliant hair stretched from between the horns halfway through its body.

It was terrifying yet beautiful at the same time.

"This is a rusting dragon," she said, looking back at Gabriel.

"I think so, yes. Our experts believe they originated from the New World, and for some reason, they keep guard of the border."

Celia frowned. "But that would mean they are not simple predators, like sharks."

Gabriel smiled. "I think you already know that's true, considering they went straight for the ballons keeping your ship afloat. But that's not all. We believe that the dragons are used as a weapon by the natives of the New World."

"The natives?" Celia blinked rapidly. "Have you seen them? Did they try to approach your expedition?" She had never heard anything about people living on the other side of the mountains. She assumed that there must be some. It would be hard to believe that they were the only civilised society in the whole wide world. But with all the centuries of history, there was never any contact attempt from them. She assumed they probably had the same problems crossing the mountains as Celia's people. But if it was not the case, then...

"They are not very friendly," Gabriel said as if he read her thoughts. He shifted through the papers again and produced another sketch to show her.

Celia's eyes were as wide as her pocket watch as she studied the drawing. It was far less detailed than the one of the dragon, but it depicted a tall and muscular man with enormous feathery wings protruding from his back.

"That's impossible," she gasped.

"A couple of months ago, I would say so myself." Gabriel nodded slowly. "But after encountering lightning-spitting dragons, I'm ready to suspend my disbelief for a while. And before you ask, I haven't seen the natives myself, but some of my crew did, and I have no reason not to believe them."

"Have you tried contacting them? If there are people out there, no matter how weird they might look, there must be a way to talk to them. To explain why we are trying to cross the mountain," Celia said hastily, her excitement rising again. It was not only a whole new world but a whole new civilisation.

Gabriel raised his hand to stop the flood of words spilling out of her, his face solemn. "We tried that. We send an unarmed convoy to the air in the balloon, clearly signalling we came in peace and wanted to talk, but...."

Celia's racing heart stopped abruptly, seeing the pain in his clear blue eyes.

"They were all killed. There was no hesitation from the other side. As soon as they approached the height of the clouds, the dragons were on them. No one survived."

A cold shiver ran down Celia's spine, but she asked, even though she already knew the answer, "Maybe it was a misunderstanding?"

"I will not see any more of my people sent to death." Gabriel's warm and friendly voice turned into cold steel. "It was an unnecessary waste of innocent lives, a mistake that will probably haunt me for the rest of my life. I will not make the same error again. The natives signalled that they didn't want us in their lands, so we would have to force our way in. If we want to survive, that is."

Celia leaned on her chair and crossed her arms. This information completely changed everything. Even if, by some miracle, Percy survived the clash with the dragons and they managed to cross the mountains, they would probably be attacked immediately by the aggressive natives. Maybe it was a good thing they failed this time.

As her brain analysed all the new information, she was almost ashamed of how unprepared and naïve she was. Yes, her agenda was pushed forward by the Chief's refusal to support her dream, but still, there was no excuse for endangering the whole crew with a reckless attempt, despite knowing she was not prepared for that.

And after all that Gabriel told her, it was clear she won't be able to pull it off alone. If there were an army of ferocious winged humans guarding the border, it would require far more than just one ship to cross it safely. She didn't fancy going all out and starting a war, but Gabriel was right. There was no point throwing more lives away if their neighbours refused to listen. They would have to make them listen.

Gabriel propped his chin on his hand. "You've gone all silent."

"I'm thinking."

"Do you see why I was so eager to seek your help?"

"Yes. All this..." Celia waved her hand over the sketches littering the desk. "It's far more than I expected. Rusts, now this mission sounds even more impossible than I thought." She sighed. "Have you ever thought that maybe the other people are right? Maybe we are fools for pursuing the dream never meant to be?"

The heavy silence hung in the air as Gabriel looked at her, his eyes trying to pierce her soul and find the same determination that was burning inside him.

"Let me show you something." He got up and strolled to one of the bookshelves and, without hesitation, picked a heavy leatherbound tome. He handed it to Celia with a heartwarming smile and leaned on the desk beside her. "Do you recognise it?"

"The Adventures of the Artemus the Brave," she whispered, trying hard not to get all choked up by a sudden flood of memories. She traced her fingers on the gilded, beautiful, curving letters. She lost her copy of this book when her life ended, and she was turned into a slave. She never sought it again. Even if it was the source of her dreams, it carried far too many memories she was trying to block out. Snippets of life that were stolen from her. "Of course, I remember it."

"You might want to reread it after everything you witnessed today. Trust me─it will all make much more sense now."

Celia raised her head and looked at him, intrigued. "You think..."

"Yes. I'm positive Artemus' stories are not just fable. Everything mentioned there, from the lightning-spitting monsters to unnatural and devastating storms, sounds much more realistic when you experienced them yourself." He put his hand on her fingers, tracing the cover. "I'm positive studying this book can help us prepare better for the next attempt. And I believe whoever wrote those stories─whether legendary Artemus, writer, or scholar─did cross those mountains and contact natives there. All we need to do is follow in their footsteps."

He withdrew his hand and smiled at her with his most charming smile.

"Can I count on your help, Captain de Visher?"

Celia hugged the book to her chest. "Yes, you can."