Friendship in the Far South

At one particular spot in the summit crater, Harkwin could see coloured patches on the ground that were completely flat—these were hot springs, where pockets of underground water were heated and bubbled up through the rock surface, forming small pools. In the far polar south, lakes and rivers tended to be covered by ice, but here there was liquid water exposed to the surface. Clouds of vapour were visible from these springs, slowly rising up into the air and marking the location from afar.

Right beside the hot springs there was a series of small, triangular tents, bright orange in colour and standing out from the whitish snow surrounding them—this was the geothermal research station, Outpost 20. Harkwin went into a glide, trading his accumulated altitude for speed as he descended towards the outpost. While still channelling his air affinity, he took out his pocket watch and checked the time—it was just under four hours from when he'd first left. The usual expected timing for this flight was four-and-a-half to four-and-a-quarter hours, but he'd done it faster than the scout average.

Tilting his wings, Harkwin altered his flight path to avoid the water vapour clouds rising from the hot springs—there was nothing toxic about the water, but it was general good practice to avoid flying through clouds. In the far south, letting water droplets accumulate on his body and wings could quickly lead to icing, which was at best, inconvenient, and at worst, dangerous.

As he came in for landing, Harkwin took a deep breath and let out a cheerful roar to announce his presence. "Skkryyaahh!" Dragons often roared on take-off or landing just to make sure that any other dragons nearby knew they were here, so as to avoid potential collisions—not that this was necessary given how deserted this area was, but it was fun to be loud.

Harkwin's roar was clearly audible around the outpost, and a few seconds later a dragon stuck her head out from one of the tents. Harkwin smiled as he recognized her—a female dragon with scales of sandy, beige colour, and a short vertical crest fin which extended from the back of her head and ran down her neck—her name was Nacen, and she was one of the researchers who worked at the outpost.

Nacen glanced around as she tried to locate the source of the roar, and she quickly spotted Harkwin flying in. Stepping out of the tent, she sat back on her haunches and unfurled a wing to wave it at him. Harkwin rolled from left to right, rocking his wings to return her wave.

With a slightly dramatic flap of his wings, Harkwin touched down right in the middle of the three tents of Outpost 20, just a few steps away from Nacen. Instead of cutting off his magic before landing, he let his power continue for a few seconds, creating a short gust of wind which made his wings flap dramatically. The tents fluttered slightly in the breeze he'd created, as did Nacen's crest fin. She looked amused, and possibly impressed—at least until the gust of wind kicked up some snow from the ground.

"Heey!" Nacen let out a surprised chirp and jumped backwards, but she still ended up showered by a flurry of snowflakes. She shook herself all over, dislodging the snow from her body. "You did on purpose! Got me all snowy," she grumbled, though she didn't seem actually upset.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," Harkwin replied. He flicked his wings, then furled them up neatly onto his back and trotted over to Nacen.

"You just like to show off your air affinity, don't you?" Nacen tried to scoop up a ball of snow and toss it at Harkwin, but even at close range a dragon's paws weren't very good with throwing objects. Her snowball missed. "One day I'll get you with my affinity, just you wait."

If Harkwin recalled correctly, Nacen had double affinity of frost and water. As with all dragons on the polar expedition she was resistant to the cold, but she also had the ability to control liquid water—but not ice or snow, which meant it wasn't very useful since there wasn't liquid water anywhere... except for at the hot springs here.

"When this expedition is over and we're both back in civilization, we can go relax on a nice warm beach and you can splash me with a wave—haih!" Harkwin let out a yelp when Nacen jabbed his ribcage with the tip of her tail. "Don't tickle me! That's not professional."

Nacen tried to poke him again with the tip of her tail, but Harkwin quickly unfurled a wing to protect his sides. "Professional?! You just covered me with snow! You... that's..." Nacen tapped her forepaws against the ground, looking simultaneously annoyed but amused.

Harkwin sat back on his haunches and curled his neck into a graceful S. "Now what was I saying? Ah, yes. Hello! I bring you an important message from Central Camp."

Nacen tilted her head, and she grinned. "Hello to you too. Good to see you again, Harkwin. Welcome to Outpost 20—the remotest and loneliest of all our expedition's many outposts."

Harkwin recalled his mental map of the terrain. "Remotest... is possibly true, since this outpost is so far away from Central. But loneliest? Nah. Outpost 3 and Outpost 8 are just through the mountain pass to the east, a few hours flight away. This outpost isn't lonely. I'd say that outpost 17 is lonelier than here—there's nothing there but a big, big empty ice field that stretches on for leagues."

Nacen's grin got marginally wider. "Perhaps when I was speaking of this outpost being lonely, I was referring not to its location relative to other outposts, but describing its inhabitants? Or more accurately, inhabitant."

"Oh, but I'm sure everyone on the expedition is lonely. We're all so very far away from civilization, after all," Harkwin said to her. Then his mind caught up and processed a bit more of what she'd just said. "Wait, inhabitant? You're all alone here? What happened to uh... Montess... Montessin... those other two researchers who were here with you? The two geologists."

Nacen raised an eye ridge, looking amused. "Did you forget their names?"

"Possibly," Harkwin admitted. "I think one of them was named Montesseran? And the other was maybe... Quadrali-something?"

"Incorrect, though I do agree their names are too long and hard to remember."

"You're more interesting than them anyway," Harkwin said, and Nacen looked pleased on hearing this. Her crest fin perked up slightly.

"Anyway, the other two researchers left this outpost about two days ago," Nacen explained. "They flew over to Outpost 8 because apparently the ice-core samples were showing some interesting mineral traces, and they just left me here to keep monitoring the data. Typical—the senior researchers fly over when they hear about some curious new development, but I have to stay here and keep this outpost staffed." Nacen glanced in the direction of the hot springs, away from the outpost. "I've been all on my lonesome over here, just taking more samples and recording geothermal activity. Typical life of a junior researcher..."

"That does sound lonely," Harkwin agreed, nodding sympathetically. As a scout, he did have to spend most of his days flying alone, but at the end of the day at least he could spend his free time in Central Camp with the rest of the scouts and all the expedition staff located there. In comparison, outpost teams sometimes had to spend entire weeks at their respective outposts, which usually had only just a few other researchers. It sounded like a lonely job, living even further out in the bleak polar south than even Central Camp.

"Oh, but at least you won't be too lonely for the next few days," Harkwin added. Sitting back on his hinds, he took out the scroll tube from his harness pouch and passed it over to Nacen. "Here you go! Message tube delivered—my job here is done."

"So you only came here to deliver a message? And here I was hoping that you liked flying here to talk with me."

"It can be both! Talking with you is pleasant," Harkwin replied.

"Hmm. So what's this message?" Nacen took the scroll tube from him and tried to get it open.

Harkwin watched as Nacen struggled to open the tube's cap. "Do you need help with that?"

"No, I do not. I'm an independent, capable drakka who is... I'm entrusted with the responsibility to keep this whole outpost fully operation and running scientific research nonstop. One mere scroll tube is no match for me. Arrrgh... Did you deliberately screw this cap on tight?!"

"I did not," Harkwin reassured her.

After some fiddling about with her claws, Nacen managed to get a good grip on the tube to unscrew it. She made a victorious sound. "Hah! There we go. I told you I could do it."

Harkwin slapped his tail against the ground, making an applauding thump against the snow. "Yay! Congratulations. Wow, you're so good at this!" he said, teasing her slightly with excessive praise for what was admittedly quite a minor action.

Nacen smiled, and she dipped her head in a bow. She clearly recognized his teasing, and reacted by being just as sarcastic back towards him. "Thank you very much! I knew all my years of studying and training would prepare me for grand challenges such as this one. So what's the message about?" Nacen tugged out the rolled up length of paper and started reading.

Harkwin didn't know exactly how the expedition leaders had phrased it, but he knew the general gist of the message from his morning briefing. "The storm's coming faster than expected, and you are officially ordered to evacuate by tomorrow morning."

"Hmm, already? When you last came here three days ago, you said that the storm was five days away? I thought we had two more days." Nacen reached the bottom of the paper and turned it around, but the other side was blank. She flipped it back around and quickly reread the message. "Evacuate to Central Camp or Outpost 3 by tomorrow morning... Hmm. That's definitely an acceleration of the timeline. Not that I'm complaining! I do love all this science, but it is really so lonely out here all alone."

Though he'd never admitted it, Harkwin liked watching Nacen as she worked. She always seemed quick, slightly impatient, and coolly confident—just like him, although admittedly Nacen was also highly intelligent too. And pretty. "I didn't even know the science teams allowed outposts to be operated by just one dragon," Harkwin commented.

Nacen shrugged her shoulders, making her wings bob up and down. "We don't have enough scientists, so we make do. This isn't even the first time. I'd say that out of the past month since we set up this outpost, the senior researchers have just left me alone here for about half of the time? It's not like this outpost has great science. It's mildly interesting, but not exactly ground-breaking stuff going on here."

Harkwin chuckled. "Haha, ground-breaking."

Nacen laughed too, then she looked confused as to why she'd laughed. "Haha... what? I don't get it."

Harkwin laughed again, louder this time, amused by Nacen's confused look. "Hahah! Ground breaking? This is... you've told me before that these hot springs are because this area here used to be seismically active and volcanic, yes? So volcanic means it's literally ground-breaking. Were you not trying to make a pun?"

Nacen's brow furrowed as she thought about this, then she snorted and broke out into giggles. "Pfft, I suppose it is ground-breaking, literally." Rolling up the message, she stuffed it back into the scroll tube and slipped it into a pouch of her own flight harness. Turning around, she nodded towards the tent she'd just stepped out of—the tent was large enough to provide living and working space for one or two dragons, though it was thinly insulated. Inside the tent, Harkwin could also see a simple portable table with several logbooks and glass test tubes, along with a set of scientific-looking equipment, and a sleeping bag.

"Want to come in?" Nacen offered. "I've just finished taking another set of water samples. There are traces of dissolved needlemir, and even a trace of telanium. It's... well I'm not going to pretend that this is all super interesting. It's just hot water with some minerals which is bubbling out of the ground. But it is science!" Nacen paused, looking slightly embarrassed. "I was also boiling some water for tea, if you're interested?"

Much as he would enjoyed sharing a drink and listening to Nacen talk about her latest research, Harkwin shook his head. "I'd like to, but my mission isn't done. I've got to fly again and rush over to Bluefall Weather Station to pick up the latest storm predictions."

Nacen's crest fin drooped slightly, partially flattening onto the top of her head. "Oh. Are you leaving already? The mission comes first, I suppose. Storm prediction data sounds important."

"It is important. The storm is just a day away, after all."

"Yeah I... I suppose you should go then." Nacen seemed uncertain for a moment. "You're the only scout who ever chats with me, you know? Most of the others just hand over the message scroll and fly right off. So thanks for that. And the other researchers aren't fun to talk with—they're just so focused on the work, and most of them are much older than me, not like you. I wish we had more time to talk."

Harkwin smiled back. "I like talking with you too. Take care of yourself, Nacen! I'll see you back in Central." He unfurled his wings and spread them open, then he turned to go.

Stepping forward, Nacen lifted a forepaw towards him—at first Harkwin wondered if she was going to try poking his side again for some reason, but Nacen just brushed off some snow that had gotten stuck to his hindquarters. Then she backed off to give him space for take-off. "I'll see you in Central. Fly safe," Nacen murmured.

"You too." With that parting remark, Harkwin leapt into the air again and climbed away. "Kryyah!" He let out a proud roar as he flew off, declaring his presence to the world.

"Ryah!"

Harkwin grinned as he heard Nacen respond with a roar of her own, but then there was no more time to waste, and he headed on for the mountain pass at the eastern side of the summit crater. As the air around him rippled with magical power, Harkwin channelled his air affinity and flew on for his next destination—Outpost 3, the Bluefall Weather Station.

---

Right before he entered through the eastern mountain pass and left the summit crater, Harkwin glanced back to look over the hot springs and the outpost tents beside them. He could still see a sandy beige dragon standing in the outpost—Nacen was too far away for Harkwin to tell if she was looking this way, but he rocked his flight path from side to side, and he saw her unfurl her own wings and wave at him in return. That sight made him grin, and he felt disproportionately happy that Nacen was watching him. Then the winds swept him into the mountain pass and a ridge obscured his view.

Following along a narrow valley between the mountains, Harkwin flew on towards Outpost 3. The winds had been light and gentle through most of his journey so far, but now a strong tailwind swept through the mountain pass and accelerated his flight through the curving valleys, pushing him forwards with surprising speed. Harkwin had flown this route several times before, yet now the winds seemed exceptionally strong—but this wasn't any problem for him, and being able to fly faster than expected was a positive thing.

The scout took out his pocket watch again to check the time. It was just after midday, and it would be about three hours before he reached Outpost 3—the Bluefall Weather Station. Keeping his pocket watch, Harkwin instead reached for a different pouch of his flight harness and took out a ration bar of compacted dried nuts and fruit, which he slowly munched on as he kept flying. Eating lunch on the wing wasn't anything unusual for a scout, though Harkwin idly wished that he'd thought about taking lunch at Outpost 20 before he'd flown off. There would have been crates of proper food rations there, and probably a small heater to cook with—not as fancy as the cookhouse back in Central Camp, but still better than a simple ration bar eaten alone while flying. Perhaps he shouldn't have been in such a rush to get on with his task.

Plus, he could have had lunch with Nacen. Nacen was a nice person—he hadn't known her before the expedition, but they'd quickly become friends on the flight out from civilization. At first she'd been assigned to do research at Central Camp, and the two of them would occasionally eat a meal together, but then one month ago Nacen had been posted out to Outpost 20. Fortunately, Harkwin ended up being the scout assigned to keep the new outpost in communication with Central Camp, which meant he could still meet his friend ever now and then.

Harkwin munched on his ration bar, then he sped up his wings beats and focused on flying again. Reminiscing aside, he had a mission to complete.

After about an hour of flight, Harkwin left the polar highlands and re-entered the icy midlands. There was still the occasionally hill, but here the ground mostly smoothened out. Without the mountain ridges obscuring his view, he finally got a proper look at the horizon. What he saw was not reassuring.

At first the sky had been clear blue in all directions, but gradually it began to darken. Even as Harkwin kept flying, he started to see an immense wall of grey clouds which was the approaching blizzard. At such a vast distance it was difficult even to get a proper scale of it—all those clouds just looked grey and foreboding, even if he knew that up close there would be dangerous levels of ice and snow, along with hostile winds and an extreme temperature drop.

Instinctively Harkwin felt a surge of awe at the distant sight of the storm—there was so much moving air, so much water, so much stored energy held up in all those immense cloud formations, sweeping across the world towards him with inexorable slowness. Flying into a storm was dangerously foolish, yet Harkwin flew on without missing a single wing beat. The storm's sheer size was misleading, making it seem closer that it really was. The fact that it stretched so vertically high into the upper atmosphere also made it easier to see from afar; visible much earlier than that distant weather outpost he was headed towards.

Yet even as he kept flying, the storm seemed all the more closer. Harkwin nervously checked his pocket watch and found that he'd been flying for just over two hours. It should take him about three hours to reach Bluefall Weather Station, which meant he was two-third of the way there. Even looking ahead now, Harkwin felt uneasy from how close he was to the blizzard. Perhaps it was his imagination, but the air seemed colder as he approached the storm.

What definitely was not his imagination was the strong tailwind which started to pick up. Normally a tailwind was good for flying—it meant that the air was blowing in the same direction a dragon was flying (from their tail), which meant that flying would be easier and faster than usual. But now Harkwin felt like it was the storm system dragging him in, pulling him towards all those ominously grey clouds. His instincts screamed at him to alter course.

Was he really going to keep flying for another full hour, right towards that monstrosity of a storm?

Shaking his head, Harkwin refused to be cowered. His mission was to reach Bluefall Weather Station to get their data, and that was exactly what he was going to do. Again he tried to reassure himself—as Legrane had told all the scouts during this morning's briefing just a few hours ago, the storm was still a while off. There would be ample time for him to reach the Bluefall Weather Station and get their information. Or at least, that was what the projections had shown. There was plenty of time for everyone to prepare for the storm, and nothing to be worried about.