Explosive Results

Lyani coiled around the heated cauldron, carefully tilting a flask of glowing purple fluid. The looping spiral's dark gray scales were softly illuminated by light purple incantations. Hanging bottles clanked as harsh winds rattled the dark wood of her store, books covered tables, her work scrawled out over scraps of paper held down by shiny stones.

This most recent brew bubbled a ruby red, roiling with purple smoke. Wrapping around the cauldron she peered over the lid to her foot that clutched the last set of instructions to the brew. Crossed off were chicken scratch notes to let the brew simmer for over a month, bring to a boil, add raven's foot, and a few drops of purple sludge. It was her last vial of it, and even if she extracted more sludge the process could take weeks.

She paused, knowing the sway of the universe would stop her from accurately pouring this vial. Taking a heavy wooden spoon she hit the roof, scattering birds that sat there, and listened. No sound, no sound, no sound? No sound. Setting the spoon down she took up the vial, instructions clutched in her foot as she ever so slowly tilted the vial-

With force enough to rattle the entire house something pounded hard against the double doors of her shop. The spiral jumped, the entire vial of sludge emptying into the cauldron. The bright red erupted into purple smoke that plastered her face and wings making her cough up burnt elixir, the pounding on the door continuing.

"LYNAI! OPEN THE DOOR!" A massive voice bellowed. Wiping only her eyes she noodled her way to the rafters, unlatching the supports and pulling twine to open the doors. Snowflakes and chilly air billowed inside as the great blue head of a massive ridgeback filled the head shaped entrance to the store, his long, pointed snout carelessly denting the wall

"Careful, careful! I'm renting!"

"LYNAI!" She flinched, the boom of his voice hurting her ears.

"YOU ARE LOOKING PURPLE TODAY. I SEEK ANOTHER POTION!"

"Easy, keep it down, I have neighbors-"

"WHAT?"

The little spiral flinched again at the boom. From tip to tail she was about as long as his snout, the double doors accommodating larger dragons in her shop. The bigger dragons always gave her a headache, and this one was certainly not an exception to the rule.

"Just tell me what you need. In a library voice."

"ANOTHER POTION OF GOLDEN VOICE. I AM TO BE PAIRED TODAY AND I WANT TO IMPRESS MY MATE."

She rubbed her temples, coiling up on the floor. "I have two more potions of golden voice. You may have one of them for four gold pieces."

"I WILL HAVE TWO OF THEM FOR TWENTY GOLD PIECES. I WANT THEM BOTH." His head left the "hangar", replaced by a massive bag of gold coins. Each heavy disk was the size of a dinner plate. The action of dropping the bag scattered the notes on her desk. With a sigh she put her feet to the wall and pushed out her spine, unrolling to scoot the bag of gold inside. Drifting up she took the two vials in her teeth and slipped around to the window where the small town lay out below. The vials dropped into his open palm, and without a thanks the ridgeback left.

Lyani turned back to her lab, now an utter mess. Notes mixed with melting snow, a massive sack of coins taking up a third of the room, and a now failed project simmered over an extinguished fire. Her wings drooped.

The sounds of wings met her ears, much smaller wings, and a frilled fae dragon with swirling white and black scales like that of a blizzard. A tiny bird with flitting wings hung in the air by her folded wings. The fae looked at the dent in the far side of the wall.

"Ridgeback?" Her voice asked.

Lyani nodded at the cauldron with a sigh. "The gold should cover most things, it just won't cover the time on this."

"What was it?"

"Elixir of the aurora. I've never made one before, I figured it would make someone's mate happy."

"That's sweet of you. You have a summons from the clan leader. You're to be paired today."

Her wings fluttered nervously, her looping body uncoiling awkwardly. "A summons for courtship? I've never.. what do I do? Do I have to?"

The courier nodded, "come to the lodge at sundown. Elsan and Regina are presiding over the pairings. It means they've chosen a mate for you to strengthen our flight."

Lyani's wings gave a nervous flutter at the mention. "Are you sure its for me?"

Opening her satchel the fae took a scroll out and handed it to her. "It is. It won't say who your mate is to be, you will find out at the pairing. Its normal to be nervous, especially if you haven't been paired before."

The fae offered her a reassuring smile, Lyani hesitantly nodded.

"Nervousness is normal, nervousness is normal. All part of the recipe, right?" She laughed awkwardly, unconvinced.

________________________________________

As Lyani arrived at the lodge dragons of the flight were making their way in. Fluffy tundras, towering guardians, fleet fae, the ridgeback from before thundered his way up the steps through a door large enough to accommodate him. The spiral slipped through the air, her wings keeping her aloft as she angled around into the rafters of the lodge, looping around the beams comfortably.

The lodge was a great wooden hall built by the founders themselves Elsan and Regina. Faces of dragons and friendly beastclan were carved around the tops of the walls all sized equally. The founder guardians Elsan and Regina presides over great wooden podiums at the far side of the hall, the center meeting space respectfully kept open by all attending dragons. Elsan's sky blue scales contrasted his golden wings, his regal stature accented by the heavy glacier plate over his shoulders, big enough to serve as a closet for Lyani. Regina inspected the flight as they arrived, her own scales a dark purple with similarly golden wings.

Fiddling with her wings Lyani realized she had missed a spot, her left wing was a purple mess from earlier. Contorting herself she stretched to scrub her scales.

"THE CEREMONY OF COURTSHIP WILL COMMENCE." The great bass of Elsan's voice startled Lyani causing her wing to flutter out of her grasp.

Regina stood to address the flight. "IT IS EACH MONTH WE MEET TO PAIR OUR FLIGHT FOR COURTSHIP. IT IS THE STRENGTH OF MANY THAT WILL KEEP OUR HEARTHS WARM AND OUR BELLIES FULL."

Elsan regarded a scroll before him. "WE HAVE SELECTED A NUMBER OF DRAGONS TO COURT EACH OTHER, TO EXPAND OUR FLIGHT. THE SELECTION PROCESS IS RANDOM BUT FINAL. THE CLAN AWAITS YOUR SUCCESS."

Regina glanced towards Elsan's scroll. "LET THE CEREMONY OF COURTSHIP BEGIN."

Clearing his throat with what sounded like a clash of thunder Elsan began to read. "LYANI."

Lyani yelped, tumbling down from the rafters with a wing in her mouth as she tried to clean off the purple mess. That wing quickly retracted as she had the entire flight's attention.

"GILGAMESH."

A gigantic imperial strode forward, larger than any dragon Lyani had met. Her heart stopped. His scales seemed to be made from solid gold, shiny and reflective. His mane was long but well kept, silky and smooth. Great wings were capped in leather adornments, little gears turned, and a scarf longer than her tied off around his neck. She was a touch longer than one of the imperial's great golden horns, altogether he was five times as long as she was.

Lyani leaned over, looking sideways beyond the imperial, desperately hoping Gilgamesh was the green spiral twisted in the rafters. This caused the imperial to awkwardly look behind him, trying to see what she saw.

"LYANI, GILGAMESH, MAY YOU BRING THE CLAN GREATER NUMBERS."

Gilgamesh bowed to the guardians in a careful motion, and stepped carefully along Lyani towards the door. Lyani flew ahead, her face burning with a mixture of emotions as they exited the lodge. She cast herself into the town square, making an anxious figure eight in the air as she awaited Gilgamesh, talking to herself.

"An imperial! They expect me to mate with an imperial! I'm going to get squished! Of all the big, dumb, clumsy-"

With a whump she flew into his leg, he lifted it gingerly, then lowered his head down to Lyani with a look of concern in his gentle eyes.

"You must be ready to have fun," Lyani remarked, "we can't very well go back to my room can we? You don't need to speak so close to me, its going to hurt my ears-"

"We can return to my home." His voice spoke. She was caught off guard by him, astonished. Gilgamesh's soft spoken voice was so quiet it did not carry any of the unpleasant effects of the other huge dragons. His voice carried all the power of its size but none of the pain. Her tail curled and uncurled in a kind of fluster.

"I-I would like to see your home. Where is it?"

"Rest atop my back. I will carry us there. It is at the blizzard dome's workshop." He extended a giant paw to her as a ramp. She skittered up his shoulder and onto the fluff on his mane as he began to take slow, patient steps.

The blizzard dome was a structure made during the clan's early days to keep deadly storms from harming the town. It occurred to Lyani that someone must keep it functional. She nestled along his neck, resting her head atop his as he walked. She did have to admit, his mane was extraordinarily comfortable, a few books and she could rest up here for hours. The fur made a good windbreaker, his natural body heat served to make her warmer, and he had a scent of... polished metal that could be better. Her snout scrunched.

________________________________________

Gilgamesh entered his home, the room was entirely massive. It held workbenches with neatly drawn and noted plans who were unfolded on a bench or rolled up and organized on a rack of blue prints. Clockwork parts filled labeled bins and unfinished projects were kept in boxes labeled as such. There was a clear and consistent method of organization. The door shut.

The spiral periscoped up over the imperial's mane and looked over his home. "I figured you worked on the dome but what do you make?"

"Trinkets," his soft voice replied. "Small things, toys, mechanisms. I'm making a clock for the baker, would you like to see it?"

"What kind of clock?" Gilgamesh lowered his head to level with the work bench, Lyani sat at the edge of his snout. She watched as his large claws took delicate care of the clockwork on the table. It was a large brass dial with little doors atop it. Hands clicked with passing time, and it was about as tall as Lyani was wide. Reaching to the back of it he flicked a switch and the doors opened. Little brass fae emerged from the doors to ring a bell over the clock, striking with tiny hammers six times before returning to their tiny homes.

She gasped and realized she had been holding her head in her claws, delighted, then recomposed herself. "Where did you purchase the fae from? They're so well made."

"I crafted them. This whole clock."

Lyani saw herself in the face of the clock, then Gilgamesh behind her, and the reason for the meeting returned to her.

The smaller dragon noodled away to a large brass bowl, a spiral hot tub. She scooted the thing over as Gilgamesh watched, waiting to see what she wanted. It took a good number of tugs to bring the bowl beneath his back legs and she flopped in.

"Alright big boy. Do your thing. Fill 'er up, I got other things to get to."

The giant imperial over her looked appalled, shuffling large paws on the stone, leaning over her side to give her an uncomfortable look, ".......no."

With a huff she tossed her head back. "Do we have to draw this out? I have other projects I want to finish."

His head tilted, he stepped aside so she no longer sat directly below his back legs. "Projects?"

"Yes, I need to reorder more purple sludge and start the brew again for the elixir of the aurora. And this is making things take longer."

With relatively soft footsteps Gilgamesh stepped over to a large cabinet, producing a vial of purple sludge. "I would like to see your work."

Her eyes widened at the sludge. "...why? What's in it for you? Don't you want this over with."

Sitting next to her, he gave her the vial of rare sludge. "Imperial courtship is slow. We have time for the things we want. I would like to see your work."

"..but isn't this just a fling? Like, we're just supposed to make a few eggs."

"It can be. Is that what you want?" He asked, resting his head next to her. The genuine look in his eyes made her heart warm.

"I don't think I do.."

"Think about it. You have as much choice as I."

She nods, snaking around and tangling into the branches of his horn. "I'll think about it. My lab is about ten minutes by wing this way."

________________________________________

About two minutes by wing Gilgamesh arrived at Lyani's lab. She opened up the doors for larger dragons and slipped inside. The imperial tucked his claws beneath him, loafing in the street as the wind tousled his mane, face resting on Lyani's floor. Bottles rattled as he sat down outside.

He watched her as she set to work. Lyani stuffed the elixir's recipe in her back claw.

"The brew has to simmer for over four weeks before adding a touch of purple sludge. Too much sludge and the volatile solution explodes, not enough and you won't have any shine."

"Why does the brew need to set for so long?"

"The blubber needs to congeal at the base of the cauldron and a thin film needs to form at the surface. In my earlier tests without the film adding any amount of sludged made an explosion."

"How many explosions have you survived?" Concern touching his voice as she balanced atop a stool at an awkward angle, recipe in one foot, rummaging through a cabinet with her front claw.

"I don't count, emphasis on failure makes Lyani and unhappy alchemist." Taking her ingredients she adds them, stirring with a spoon almost as big as her.

"Do you record your brews?"

"Yes, which reminds me I should jot this one down." More concern reflected in his eyes as she found a clean side of scrap paper to start a new lab entry.

"May I ask more questions about the process? I only have a light understanding, enough for my own craft."

"Please please ask, it's been so so long since someone really let me go into detail about any of my brews."

Gilgamesh offered his own questions about the processes, intrigued by her answers. Lyani was entirely in her element as she worked, tending to bottles hanging from the ceiling and sitting atop tables. She hummed a tune as she worked that Gilgamesh soon picked up. In an hour the brew returned to its deep red state.

"That. Will. Do. It." She crossed off the final steps off the list and folded it between her back claws as her front claws recorded the experiment. Gilgamesh paused, then lifted his head to look down. A fluffy tundra looked up, motioning for him to move aside as he blocked most of the road. Gilgamesh removed his head as Lyani packed up her ingredients, then the great gold head of the imperial returned.

"The dome has jammed, I need to fix it."

"Oh?" She slipped over to the doorway. "I can accompany you over there, for another one of your projects. I'm sure you want to talk about yours just as much."

A smile touched his jaws as he bows his head, offering his horns to her. The spiral snatched a book off her desk and slipped over his horns and to his surprise onto his back. His head craned over to investigate as she got comfy, and gave him an innocent look.

"I'm doing testing. I need to know if this makes a good reading spot."

"Please, I would like to review your findings."

________________________________________

The dome held slats of metal that arch over the town when activated warding off harsher winds. Only half of it had moved, Gilgamesh walked along the rails to ensure nothing was wrong with the mechanics as he explained the contraption to Lyani. Dislodging some ice with a single claw, Lyani felt the way his body tensed as he used more of her strength. In a panic a tundra with grease smeared fur hurried over to him.

"Gilgamesh!"

Collected, the imperial swung his head around to the tundra.

"I dropped a wrench in the gearbox, I think its stuck in there for good, we're going to have to tell the founders the dome won't be ready now and start boarding up the town and make emergency plans-"

Gilgamesh silently lifted a claw, placing it atop the panicked Tundra's shoulder. "My designs allow mistakes. You will not be helpful panicking as you are. Take ten minutes. Take a drink of water. Then return."

His voice kept the same softness as when he regarded Lyani, and the spiral watched as the worker nodded, hurrying off. Lyani nested in his mane atop his head, marveling at how coolly he handled the situation.

The main mechanism for the dome was a large gray box filled with cogs. As he looked over it his mane kept falling in the way, with the blowing wind it kept interrupting his investigation. Lyani gathered his mane and swirled around it, using her noodly body as an improvised hair tie to keep his bun together. He glanced in a shinier pane of metal at her work, the spiral beamed down at him.

"So it would seem the last complication to make the dome active is to remove this wrench. I'm going to have to take apart the panel. We will cut it close to the storm's approach."

"Then let me take a look. I bet I can fit in there."

"Lyani-" the imperial protested as she slipped off his head and into the machine. His head lowered to track her, a task that soon became impossible.

"Found it!" A gnarled wrench popped out of the gearwork.

"Good. Now come back."

"Uhhh."

"You're stuck."

"Only slightly."

"Stuck is not on a gradient."

"Yeah yeah. Can you see me?"

"I see.. part of you. I think I can wrap my claws around you. Am I holding your body or your tail?"

"Neck!" Lyani choked as he tried to pull, he immediately loosened his grip.

"Then you're at the top right quadrant, there's a nook there for spare gears that's empty. We're out of spares, you can use that for a u-turn."

There was shuffling in the machine, and her tail appeared.

"Like that?"

"That works enough."

"So stuck IS on a gradient?"

"Mm. I'm going to attempt to remove you."

With a gentle touch he snaked her body through the gears and a grease-smudged Lyani hung from his claws. Holding her away from the box he pulled a lever, the dome sliding over the rest of the town and clanking down on the other side. "I have soaps for this."

________________________________________

Lyani bathed in Gilgamesh's tub. His bath was a great ceramic basin lined with different scents of shampoo, along with a tub of conditioner so large she could bathe in it. The soaps he provided cleaned off the grease in moments in the pool sized bath.

A part of her had to wonder, this was still an arranged courtship. She was bathing in his home, in his bath, to use his towels and his soaps. This was out of a romance novel, and the next scene had to absolutely be Gilgamesh walking in on her in the bath. She dwelled on him, more fond of him than when they first met. If this was going to work she needed to be in just the right pose as he walked in on her.

She curled her tail so the tip laid out the bath, resting her head demurely at the bath's edge. Minutes passed, and she had a better idea. She rested on the far end of the bath, head and claws on the edge and let her body extend behind her. And waiting. No Gilgamesh. Then she laid on her side, lining the bath with a tiny sign. No Gilgamesh. As the water cooled she opened the drain, leaving the bath with mild disappointment to dry off.

With the door opened a crack Lyani drifted out to a small dining room, small by Gilgamesh standards. The great dragon arranged a table covered in a makeshift tablecloth, and set two platters out. Lyani coiled up atop one of the plates making the imperial rumble with a laugh.