Here Be Dragons: Book 1 of the Emergence Series

"Done," Pryce said he finished the latest application of ointment to Fathom's wing. The wound was healing rapidly, and it had already shrunk down to less than half of its original size.

"Thank you," Fathom said as he inspected his wing. "...How medicine make wound heal?" he asked, shifting his attention to the tube of ointment.

"That is…complicated, but I can explain," Pryce said, and left to retrieve some useful tools. "This is magnifying glass," he said, offering the tool for Fathom's perusal.

"Magnifying glass make small thing look big," Fathom noted in surprise before cocking his head at Pryce. "...this is like thing on your face?"

"These are glasses," Pryce said, taking off his spectacles. "Glasses help me see."

"You use glasses to see far?" Fathom asked curiously. "How far you see? I try use glasses?"

"Glasses help me see, but glasses cannot help you see," Pryce said, holding up his hand. "And you maybe break glasses. I need glasses to see."

Fathom flattened his spines at this refusal, and then the dragon abruptly lowered his neck to bring them face-to-face in a rather alarming manner. At first Pryce thought Fathom was angry, but after a moment he realized that the dragon was just trying to peer through his glasses…while they were still on his face.

"Okay, fine," Pryce relented, and held them up in the air. "But I hold glasses. You no touch."

Fathom brightened up at this, and proceeded to angle his head this way and that in an attempt to see through the lenses. However, the shape of his head made it impossible for him to properly wear the spectacles, and the arms had to be folded just so the lens could be laid flat over his eyes.

"...I can not see," Fathom grumbled in dissatisfaction. "No things is clear."

"I told you glasses cannot help you see," Pryce chided.

Fathom sat down on his haunches, huffing in disappointment as he turned his attention back to the magnifying glass, using it to inspect various things including himself. The novelty wore off after about ten minutes, and he turned to cock his head at Pryce with a confused expression. "I ask you explain medicine, why you show me this?"

"Medicine is made from small things," Pryce said, gathering a vial of seawater. "You need to see small things to understand small things. And I show you magnifying glass to explain this," he said, setting a microscope onto the table. "This is a microscope. You can use microscope to see very small thing, like very strong magnifying glass."

"Understand," Fathom rumbled. "Microscope need water?" he asked, seeing Pryce prepare a slide of seawater.

"No, I want to use microscope on seawater."

"Use microscope on seawater?" Fathom asked derisively. "Why? Water is water."

"You will see," Pryce replied, and stepped aside once he finished adjusting the focus of the instrument. "Move your eyes here," he said, pointing at the eyepieces.

The microscope was obviously designed for human use, so Fathom had to hold his head at an odd angle to look through one singular eyepiece at a time.

"Close your other eye," Pryce suggested.

"Hmph," Fathom snorted. "I can not s…ee…" he trailed off, growing completely still.

"Interesting, yes?" Pryce asked.

"What…what is this things?" Fathom asked, not taking his eyes off the microscope. His normally brassy voice was oddly quiet now, belying the depth of his astonishment.

"Small living things are 'bacteria'," Pryce explained. "Bacteria are very very small animals."

"Bacteria…in all seawater?" Fathom asked, pulling himself away from the microscope to stare at Pryce, his eyes wide in abject shock.

"Bacteria in all places. Bacteria in your body too."

"Bacteria in my body," Fathom repeated in disbelief. "Small animals in my body?" he hissed, staring down at his own foreclaws in a somewhat panicked manner.

"It is okay, small animals good! No hurt you!" Pryce said with loud reassurance, hoping he wasn't turning Fathom into a germaphobe.

The dragon only stared at him for a moment, then sighed. "...I not like this," he rumbled, tossing his head.

"Small animal in body good, but some small animal outside of body bad," Pryce warned. "If you are not hurt, but feel weak and pain, then you are 'sick', understand? Bad bacteria make things sick."

"...Bacteria cause sick?" Fathom asked, drawing his head back doubtfully. "No, dead things and bad things cause sick."

"Dead things have bacteria. Bacteria on dead things make living things sick," Pryce clarified. "Is okay, humans not know this one hundred years ago."

Fathom did not immediately reply, and for a moment the dragon only silently regarded Pryce without any kind of expression. "No. Fight make wound. Wound can make dragon sick. Dragon that make wound that make dragon sick is bad," Fathom stressed, sounding almost like he was trying to convince Pryce of his beliefs.

"...Okay," Pryce murmured. It seemed that dragons believed sickness was caused by dead and rotten things, and by extension those who caused infections were vilified for being 'bad' or 'rotten'. This was the first time that Fathom really argued with him, and Pryce wasn't sure if the dragon would take to having his beliefs challenged like this. "If wound make dragon sick, is because bacteria go inside wound," he explained in an attempt at reason. "Other dragon maybe not clean, but other dragon is not bad. The medicine I use on your wing can kill bacteria, make you not sick."

Fathom was silent as he considered Pryce's words, and his tail lashed the sand behind him in an agitated manner. "Is…bacteria cause all sick?" he tentatively asked.

"Bacteria not cause all sick," Pryce said, glad to see that Fathom was open to changing his mind. "Eating bad things can make you sick. If you eat bad thing, bad thing will make you sick."

"Then bad thing can make you sick," Fathom concluded triumphantly.

"No, that's not…" Pryce sighed, scratching his head. He could understand Fathom's thought process, given the dragon's relative lack of scientific knowledge, but he needed new words to convey the truth. "Some things will make you sick if you eat it. These things are 'poison'. Poison is solid, liquid, or gas."

"Dragons do not eat dragons," Fathom hissed, drawing his head back in visible disgust.

"No, no, this is other things," Pryce said, waving his hand dismissively. At least the misunderstanding confirmed that dragons weren't practitioners of cannibalism. "Something like poison is 'venom'. If something with venom bite you, you get sick. Dragons do not have venom, yes?"

Fathom flattened his spines. "Bite wound can make dragon sick," he said, shrugging his wings.

"Venom make you sick fast," Pryce amended. "When bacteria go in wound, that is 'infection'. Bacteria take time to grow, make you sick."

"Hm…understand," Fathom finally nodded. "Other animals have venom. Dragons do not."

"Good," Pryce nodded. "This means that dragons can not make others sick."

"Hrrrm," Fathom rumbled. "Bacteria is very small. How can bacteria make me sick?"

"Good question," Pryce said. "Can you bring me food? I can show you something."

"These are cells," Pryce said as Fathom peered into the microscope.

The dragon had swiftly hunted down a hexapedal creature that resembled an oversized rodent, which would have crawled on its six legs if it were still alive. Pryce took a sample of its flesh to place under the microscope, showing Fathom the multicellular nature of life.

"All living things are cells. You, me, our bodies are many cells together. Bacteria is only one cell, but infection means bacteria make many more bacteria, and many bacteria can damage your cells."

Fathom pulled his eyes away from the microscope, appearing oddly subdued by Pryce's revelation. "But why not all wound have infection?"

"Good question. Your cells fight bacteria. You become sick if cells and bacteria have big fight. If your cells lose, you die."

"...Understand," Fathom sighed. "If dragon has bacteria on talons and teeth, then they can cause infection, yes?"

"That is true," Pryce nodded. "But why do you ask? Do some dragons not wash their talons to cause infections?"

"I is…curious," Fathom said, not quite meeting his eyes. "Hmm. You not explain how medicine work."

Pryce scratched his head; it was obvious that Fathom didn't seem to want to talk about it, though he had no idea why the nature of infection would be a sore point for him. Still, he saw no reason to pressure the dragon into talking about personal matters. "Some living things make medicine that is poison to bacteria, but not poison to self. Word for this medicine is 'antibiotic'."

"Living thing that make medicine?" Fathom asked, cocking his head. "Living thing is not animal?"

"No, living thing is mold. Mold is…like plant, but not plant," Pryce said, uncertain of how best to describe mold. "Mold can grow on fruit. Is small, hair-like thing."

"Understand," Fathom nodded. "You use mold, make medicine?"

"Close. I let mold grow, then take antibiotic from mold, use antibiotic to make medicine."

"Hrrm…that make sense," Fathom said, rumbling contemplatively. "How microscope work?"

"Remember prism? Prism is glass. Glass is clear, and clear things can bend light. Magnifying glass and microscope bend light, make small thing look big."

"Hrrm…why clear things bend light?"

"That is very, very complicated," Pryce chuckled.

"Hmph," Fathom snorted, sounding exasperated and maybe a little amused. Abruptly, a rumbling noise emanated from somewhere deep in Fathom's torso. "...Question. How humans make food?"

"Smell is very good," Fathom noted approvingly as he sniffed at the jars of spices that Pryce had brought out.

"These are 'spices'," Pryce said as he prepared the portable camping stove. "This is salt," he added, pointing to one particular jar.

"Salt!" Fathom exclaimed. "Salt is rare. How humans make much salt?"

"Salt is common. Humans get salt from ground," Pryce shrugged. The mineral was expensive and valuable to pre-industrial humans, so it wasn't surprising that it was the same for dragons.

"Very good," Fathom nodded approvingly. "Is this a spice?" he asked, craning his head over to watch Pryce pry open a container.

"This is butter, not spice," Pryce said, scooping a dollop of the stuff into the pan, where it rapidly began to melt.

"Smell is very good," Fathom said, moving so close to the pan that Pryce nearly had to push his muzzle away. "What is butter?"

"Humans make butter from milk," Pryce said, dropping one of the six-legged-rodent steaks he'd prepared into the pan with a satisfying sizzle. "Milk is white liquid that some animals make," he absently explained as he worked, setting another steak into the pan. Fathom was oddly silent, and Pryce looked up to see that the dragon had a strangely appalled look on his face.

"What?" Pryce asked, then belatedly realized his error. "It's a liquid that child dr –" he stopped, aware that this would not help things. "Some female animals make milk, which is a white liquid that child drinks."

"...Oh," Fathom said, looking relieved – but only momentarily. "Butter is made from milk from humans…?" he asked, looking askance at the steaks.

"No no no," Pryce said, shaking his head. "Butter is from other animals. Cattle."

Fathom blinked. "Humans drink milk from…other animals?"

"Uh…" Pryce scratched his head. He hadn't thought about how strange it was from an outside perspective. "Yes? Milk can make many good foods."

"Hrrm," Fathom rumbled, gazing at the steaks with far less anticipation than before.

"What spices do you want?" Pryce asked, and that seemed to distract the dragon. He spent some time sniffing at the jars, and then decided on adding the majority of them.

"I…think it is better to try one or two spices first," Pryce advised. "You can add more later."

"You ask what spices I want," Fathom said stubbornly. "I want many spices."

"Okay," Pryce shrugged, and did as he was instructed.

The resulting steak was far over seasoned, but Fathom seemed to enjoy it greatly. Human spices were selectively cultivated over thousands of years, so perhaps it wasn't surprising that strong spices were new to dragons, who Pryce doubted had agriculture.

"How many more steaks will you make?" Fathom asked while chewing his portion. Oddly enough, his voice was still perfectly clear. It seemed that dragons pronounced words not with their mouths, but from somewhere deeper in their throat.

Pryce shrugged, and gestured to the rest of the sizeable rodent. "How much do you want?"

"Human food very good," Fathom sighed, sprawling himself out on the beach contentedly.

"Make food hot is 'cook'," Pryce said, putting away the kitchenware. "Do dragons cook food?"

"Yes," Fathom said, craning his head to give Pryce an odd look. "Why dragons not cook food?"

"Cooking is hard if not have tools," Pryce shrugged. "How dragons cook if not have tools?"

"Easy. Make fire in hole. Cover meat with leaf. Bury meat in hole. Wait."

"Ah. Makes sense."

"Some dragons use tools," Fathom elaborated. "Some tools are…like rock. Some use human tools from ghost ship, and some melt human metal, make other tools."

"Wait, what?!" Pryce exclaimed, nearly dropping his plate in shock. "Dragons can melt metal?!"

"Yes. Is very hard. Dragon that can use tool to melt metal is very rare," Fathom said, scratching himself in what felt like a self-conscious manner.

"Oh, you use tools," Pryce said, relaxing but only a little. Humans may have been smelting metals for thousands of years, but there was a reason why it took so long to master the skill, and that was simply because it was extremely difficult – after all, it was impossible to construct metal tools without first having the ability to refine and smelt said metals.

In essence, the process of technological development was almost paradoxical, as one required tools to make better tools.

"Can dragons make metal from rock?" Pryce asked. He had foolishly assumed that dragons used their own hydrogen flames to smelt metals, but of course it was far more practical to build primitive forges of their own, which if he had to guess were likely made of clay.

"Small number of dragons can do this," Fathom answered. "But metal that they make are not strong like human metal. Best things are made from human metal."

"Understand," Pryce nodded, though he was curious to see how these dragons refined metals on their own.

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"I have a question. How humans make very much metal?" Fathom asked, tossing a glance at the bulk of the Horizon.

"There is very much metal in ground, but taking metal out is…hard. Need many, many humans to make this ship."

"Understand," Fathom rumbled. "Humans make many interesting things."

"Oh, that reminds me," Pryce said as he turned towards the ship. "I have one more interesting thing to show you."

"This is telescope," Pryce said. "Telescope is like opposite of microscope."

"Telescope make big thing look small?" Fathom asked doubtfully.

"Er, no, telescope make thing that is far look close," Pryce corrected.

"Ah. That make more sense."

Pryce was going to use the telescope to show Fathom the stars, but they had an hour or so before sunset. For now, he simply demonstrated how the device worked by aiming it at distant objects like the mountains.

"Telescope is very good," Fathom rumbled in awe. "It is like I am close to mountain."

"Here, let me show you how to use telescope," Pryce said, and spent a few minutes instructing Fathom on how to aim and focus the device. The dragon was able to manipulate the focuser with his foreclaws, but he had some difficulty adjusting the fine focus of the device.

"Telescope is hard to use," he grumbled. "I want see bird there, but is hard to see with telescope."

"Bird?" Pryce asked, glancing around. The forest was some distance away, and he couldn't see anything in the trees. "Where is bird?"

"There," Fathom said, pointing at the base of the mountain. "Bird is yellow, red, and UV. Easy to see."

Pryce stared.

The mountain had to be at least five kilometers away.

"Bird…on mountain," Pryce repeated in disbelief.

"Yes. Base of mountain. Close to middle." Fathom turned to glance at him. "You can not see it?"

"Humans…can not see very far," Pryce slowly said.

"What?" Fathom asked, drawing his head back in surprise. "How far can you see?"

"I don't know," Pryce said, adjusting his glasses. "I can see…that bird in that tree," he said, pointing at a nearby tree.

"...That is the most close tree," Fathom flatly replied.

"Not the most close tree," Pryce muttered defensively.

"You said glasses help you see better, why can you not see close things?" Fathom asked, his words dripping with absurdity.

"Glasses help me see like most humans," Pryce explained, trying not to be offended. "Most humans do not need glasses."

"...How far can you see if you do not have glasses?" Fathom asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion.

"I can see small things…this far," Pryce said, taking off his glasses before fully extending his arm. The details on his palm were visible, but only barely.

Fathom opened his jaws, then slowly closed them shut. "...Your eyes are very bad."

"Yeah yeah," Pryce grumbled. "I want to talk about world and stars. Name for world is 'Earth'. You know Earth is round, yes?"

"Yes, is obvious," Fathom snorted.

"Good. Tell me what you know about stars – the small lights in the night sky."

"Hrrm," Fathom rumbled, mulling over his answer. "Most dragon think stars are like sun, but small and weak. This is why name of stars is Laitak – 'little fire'."

"Understand," Pryce said, taking notes as they conversed. "Tell me more. Which do you think is farther away? Sun or stars?"

Fathom opened his mouth to answer, then paused. "Do you know?"

"Yes, but I want to learn what dragons think."

"Hrrm…is complicated. There are two answers that dragons think is true," Fathom said, scratching his jaw. "I need new word: yontar. Yontar are ten-two stars that move different from other stars."

Now this was something that Pryce had to scratch his head at. Fathom was almost certainly referring to planets, but humans could only see five planets with the naked eye, and more importantly there were only nine known planets in the solar system, including Earth.

Dragons might have exceptional vision, but Pryce felt it safe to assume that the dimmest planet, Venetia, was impossible for even a dragon to see. Aurus and Pyrus each possessed a single relatively bright moon, which meant the remaining yontar were probably owned by Congrus and Coronus.

"Planet," Pryce finally said. "Planets are stars that move differently from other stars."

"Yes," Fathom confirmed. "Yontar are also dragons that do not stay in one place because they have no territory," he added.

"...Wanderer," Pryce said in mild surprise. That was the original meaning of the word 'planet', and the fact that a completely alien species gave planets the same name instilled in him an odd yet profound sense of kinship. "Wanderer is someone who does not stay in one place."

"Humans have different name for this," Fathom nodded. "Makes sense."

"Well…'planet' is an old word for wanderer," Pryce clarified.

Fathom blinked. "Humans and dragons use same word? Interesting."

"Is very interesting," Pryce agreed, though he supposed it wasn't terribly unlikely either; it was an apt descriptor, after all. "You were telling me about the two answers?"

"Ah. Yes. First answer is stars are far away, but fly very fast together. Like a group of dragons. This mean that all stars fly together, but planets all fly alone. Sun and moon are like planets, fly alone. This is old answer, but some dragons still think this is true."

"Understand," Pryce said. It sounded quite like geocentrism. "What about the second 'answer'?"

"Second answer is planets are like Earth. Two planets have phases like moon. One planet have one star that stay close to it, like moon. Another planet have many moons. This mean earth moon is not…alone."

"Okay," Pryce said, deeply impressed by the accuracy of this theory. "Where is Earth in this answer?"

"Do not know. This answer have other answers. Most dragons notice that sun do not have moons, so they answer that sun moons are planets. This mean all things fly around sun, but this also mean Earth is spinning…is hard to believe."

"I see," Pryce said, furiously writing this all down. Somewhere at the back of his mind he noted how speculative this all sounded. Most humans would confidently answer in accordance with their beliefs, and yet Fathom didn't seem to support any one idea in particular. Was this some quirk of dragon psychology, or was he waiting for Pryce to tell him the answer?

"You explain stars and planets now?" Fathom asked impatiently, interrupting Pryce's note-taking.

"Oh, right," Pryce said, and brought out a map of the solar system. "Planets are very very far away. The purpose of this map is to show the order of planets, so it does not show true distance."

"Sun is at center," Fathom murmured, his eyes wide as he studied the diagram.

"Humans in the past think Earth was at the center too; they did not like the idea that Earth was not at the center of all things."

"How long ago did humans think this?" Fathom asked, his eyes not leaving the map.

"Humans prove the sun was at the center about…three hundred and five-ten years ago," Pryce recalled. "Most humans believe this new idea one hundred years later."

"One hundred years?" Fathom asked, sounding surprised. "If humans had proof, why take so many years to believe?"

"Center is…important," Pryce gestured weakly, uncertain of how to explain that nebulous concept. "Humans feel center is important, so being at center is important. Earth not being at center means humans not important."

Fathom blinked. "Strange thinking. Place is not important, can not change a person."

"You are not wrong," Pryce agreed. "Humans are…strange, sometimes. Anyway, this is the sun, and these are the planets. Planet names are Modius, Aurus, Earth, Pyrus, Congrus, Coronus, Caerus, Unda, and Venetia."

"Sky can have ten-two planets," Fathom said, flattening his spines. "Why do map only has nine?"

"I think dragons can only see seven or eight planets," Pryce said, scratching his head. "Things that are like planets but smaller are 'asteroids'. The biggest asteroids are much smaller than Unda or Venetia, but sometimes they are brighter because they are closer."

"Oh," Fathom murmured, looking quite interested. "You can show me new planet?"

"Of course," Pryce smiled. "That is why I show you telescope."

It took another hour for the sun to fully set, allowing Pryce to aim the telescope at the almost-waning half-moon.

"Look," Pryce called out to Fathom, who padded over eagerly. "Slowly, don't move the telescope," he warned, and sighed as the dragon's foreclaws caused the sand to shift, completely misaligning the device. "If you listened to me, I would not need to do this," Pryce chided as the dragon grumbled over his shoulder.

Fathom was more careful on his next attempt, and he went completely still as he took in the fine details of the moon that he had never seen before.

Pryce had grown up in the northern province of Septen, and spent much of his adult life in the southern province of Auster. No part of the Mainland extended as far south as his current latitude, and that difference was noticeable in the 'orientation' of the moon, with the lower half being lit.

"Telescope let you see many more 'details', yes?" Pryce asked; Fathom was so engrossed with the telescope that he'd gone a full minute without asking a question.

"…Yes," Fathom rumbled absently. "How see moon like this? Eyepiece is point down?"

"There is a mirror in the telescope," Pryce explained, realizing it was odd to look down into the eyepiece and see something up in the sky.

"…Understa-" Fathom cut himself off with a hiss as he bumped his eye into the eyepiece, causing Pryce to step in and recalibrate the telescope while the dragon rubbed his eye with his wing-thumb. "Telescope hard to use," Fathom grumbled. "Can telescope magnify more?"

"Telescope can go closer," Pryce confirmed, making sure to locate the moon before changing the lens to the highest magnification.

"Tell me if you want telescope to go left, right, up, or down," Pryce said, crouching so that Fathom could look through the eyepiece.

"…Right…down…down," Fathom said, murmuring the instructions every few seconds. "Why is some of moon dark? Is it only dark rock?"

"Dark places on moon is just dark rock," Pryce confirmed. "I don't know why rock is darker, but humans hundreds of years ago think dark spots on the moon are water, like Earth oceans."

"Humans eyes very bad," Fathom snorted. "How far away is moon? Some dragons do math, but they make different answers."

"Four hundred and two-ten thousand kilometers. What answer did dragons get?"

"Most answers between five-ten thousand thousand lengths and eight-ten thousand thousand lengths," Fathom said, referring to the unit of length that was roughly equivalent to the length of a dragon, or about six meters. "That is like three hundred thousand to four-hundred eight-ten thousand kilometers." Once again, he demonstrated his impressive capability for mental math.

"That's very close," Pryce said, impressed. "How did dragons find this answer?"

"...Is complicated, talk later. We use telescope to see planets now?" Fathom asked, glancing impatiently up at the sky.

"Okay, okay," Pryce chuckled, and set about locating their next target.

The two of them spent the next hour finding and studying the planets, with Fathom marveling at the color and detail as seen through the telescope. Pryce would have loved to tell him more about the stars and planets, but there wasn't much he could say that would actually make sense to Fathom. The concept of other planets having their own days and years was easy enough for the dragon to grasp, but Modius and Pyrus were the only rocky planets in the solar system aside from Earth – the other planets had such thick atmospheres that it made precise measurements impossible with modern technology. An accurate measurement would require some sort of probe to measure the speed of the planet's rotating magnetic field, but mankind had yet to devise such a device that could escape Earth's gravitational field.

He instead concentrated on adjusting the telescope for Fathom; a task that required significant focus, as the rotation of the Earth caused the planets to drift out of sight every thirty seconds or so.

The current state of the solar system meant that they were only able to see Pyrus, Congrus, Coronus, and Unda, but Fathom was still delighted nonetheless. Fathom's favorite planet seemed to be Coronus, as he spent nearly ten minutes alone studying the rings that were only vaguely visible to draconic eyes.

Unfortunately the portable telescope that Pryce had wasn't powerful enough to see Venetia, which visibly disappointed Fathom. If Pryce could aim the telescope straight at the tiny planet then Fathom might have a chance at seeing it, but that was impossible to do with the tools on hand.

Afterwards he gave Fathom free reign over the telescope, allowing the dragon to observe various other celestial points of interest, all the while explaining the names behind the most interesting stars. According to him, the brightest were named after the most accomplished dragons of history, though Fathom did note that some of those names had other meanings as well. For instance 'Vohkep' referred to the north star, the cardinal direction, and a particularly famous leader who Fathom promised to talk about at a later date.

Pryce tried to press for any beliefs regarding the stars, but this only seemed to confuse Fathom, who insisted that dragons didn't have any "strange" beliefs like human mythology.

As for galaxies, Pryce was able to locate several of the five that dragons had identified. Fathom correctly believed these to be distant clusters of stars, but he was still amazed to discover that many of the stars in the night were actually distant galaxies…even if the telescope wasn't strong enough to see them in much detail.

"A group of many stars is a 'galaxy'," Pryce explained. "Galaxies are farther away than any star you can see, and they have many, many stars."

"Understand," Fathom nodded, and raised his head to look up at the bright swath of stars in the sky. "Do humans have a name for this?"

"Yes. Humans call it the Milky Way."

"Milky?" Fathom asked, flattening his spines in disgust. "Milky is like milk?"

"Yes, why?"

"...Humans are strange," Fathom simply snorted, likely having some more colorful adjectives in mind. "Dragons call this river of stars."

"That is a good name," Pryce admitted. "Do you know what the milky way is?"

Fathom blinked. "Milky way is a group of stars," he said, evidently feeling that was self-explanatory.

"Yes, but the milky way is a galaxy. We are inside of a galaxy, and that 'river' you see is a part of the galaxy."

"...Oh," Fathom quietly said, his spines standing up in realization. "That…make sense. Like other planet having moons like Earth. Other galaxies have stars like sun."

"Right. All the stars you can see are inside of the Milky Way galaxy."

"Oh…" Fathom murmured, and quietly went back to using the telescope. "Human technology is amazing," he said, once he managed to train the device on the moon's cratered surface. "It is like I am flying very very high up."

"Yes, it is," Pryce said, gazing up at the sky himself.

Fathom's comment made his thoughts drift back to life on the Mainland, and he abruptly realized how absurd it was, to be stargazing with a dragon. Of course, the same could be said about each and every interaction he had with Fathom, another fully sapient being, something humanity made myths and legends about for almost as long as they had the concept of language. It all would have been completely inconceivable a mere week ago, and yet his lessons with Fathom were already becoming routine. Pryce had learned so much that he wondered how he was going to break the news to the rescue crew…but that was a problem for much later.

"Gharrum," Fathom rumbled, gaining Pryce's attention. "Do humans know what stars are?"

"Er…Yes, but I cannot explain what stars are yet. Is very complicated," Pryce said apologetically. "I can tell you that stars are not fire, but they are very, very hot. Much hotter than fire."

"How do you know stars are not fire?" Fathom asked skeptically. "What if stars are very very hot fire?"

"Hot fires die faster, and the sun would have died a long time ago if it was a normal fire," Pryce explained. "And the colors that the sun makes is not like any kind of fire."

"...You will explain this to me later, yes?"

"Promise," Pryce nodded. "Saying you will do something is a 'promise', and yes, I promise I will explain them to you later."

"Promise is very important," Fathom warned. "You will not forget this?"

"I promise I won't forget this," Pryce reassured with some amusement, though he mentally took note of the importance of promises among dragons.

"Good," Fathom nodded. "I have a question: humans do not have fire, what do past humans think stars are?"

"Past humans think stars are fire too," Pryce shrugged. "Human bodies cannot make fire, but we make fire with tools. Using fire is one of the first things that made humans different from other animals, so fire is important to humans too."

"Hmm. I did not think of that," Fathom admitted. "Makes sense. Fire is very useful." The dragon paused to look up at the sky, then slowly turned to look at Pryce with an odd expression. "Wait, you said satellites fly high up, can humans fly with rockets?" he asked, hissing with urgency.

"We have machines that can fly, yes, but-"

"Why humans not fly here?"

"Ship can carry more things," Pryce said simply. It was also very hard to land a plane without a runway, but that was harder to explain.

"You have photograph of flying machine?" Fathom pressed, understandably very interested in this line of inquiry.

"…I think so," Pryce said, rubbing his chin. "I find tomorrow, I can't see good in dark."

"I can," Fathom said, completely unpersuaded.

"It's late, I am tired, go sleep soon," Pryce huffed.

"You said satellite make photographs of Earth," Fathom said, changing tack. "Can you fly higher? To moon? To planets?"

"Humans can not do that yet, but I think one day in future a human will walk on the moon," Pryce speculated. "Humans technology is improving fast. We did not have flying machines six-ten years ago…maybe one day a human will walk on the moon."

Fathom listened to his words with rapt attention…or perhaps it was disbelief – Pryce was still learning how to read draconic expressions. "How many years before you think humans can walk on moon?" he quietly asked, with something approaching reverence.

"I don't know much about flying machines," Pryce said, scratching his head. "More than ten years, but…less than one hundred? I might not live long enough to see it, but it would be easy for you." He turned back to face Fathom, who stared unblinkingly back at him.

"Less than one hundred years…?" Fathom asked, glancing back up at the moon. "Can…dragons walk on the moon too?"

"That would be harder, but also not impossible. Is that something you want to do?"

Fathom snorted dismissively. "Do you want to fly?"

"Yes. Very much," Pryce replied, confused by the non-sequitur.

"Why?"

"...Ah, I understand," Pryce said, rubbing his neck sheepishly. It did seem like an obvious question when put that way.

"I have a question," Fathom said after a moment of silence. "Human beliefs…have much family. Big family are important to humans, yes?"

"Yes, why?"

"Family are different for dragons. Family is small, only mother, father, and child. Others are not very important."

"I see. That makes sense."

"My question is, if human family are important, why you not talk about your family?"

Pryce pressed his lips into a thin line and looked away. "I…don't have a family."

Fathom cocked his head. "Why?"

Pryce sighed, and sat himself down. "My mother died when I was little. My father died about…thirteen years ago now."

"You said human family are big. Where your other family?"

"Some are big, some are small," Pryce sighed. "My family was small."

Fathom cocked his head. "You do not have a mate? Children?"

"No. I…" Pryce trailed off, and realized he didn't quite have the words to convey those nuanced feelings. "I do not want a mate," he said, settling on this simplification.

Fathom's spines twitched. "You do not have other humans important to you?"

"I had a br…I had a friend," Pryce corrected, tripping over his words. "A friend is someone you trust, very much."

"Had?" Fathom asked, narrowing his eyes. "Was friend on ship?"

"No. He died six years ago," Pryce sighed, causing Fathom to draw his head back.

"Oh. That is…bad," Fathom said, finishing his sentence rather lamely.

"Yes," Pryce replied, too tired to speculate on Fathom's inner thoughts. "Bad."

They sat in silence for a moment, with Fathom fidgeting uncomfortably. "What was friend like?" he asked, after a moment's indecision.

"His name was James Wright," Pryce said, gripping the chronometer in his pocket to feel its comfortable weight in the palm of his hand. "He make engine for ship – engine is thing that make ship move. James was much smarter than me, and a good person," Pryce let out a long, drawn-out sigh as he recalled those old memories, cherished yet laced with pain.

At first Fathom only stared in silence, perhaps expecting Pryce to continue. When he did not, the dragon lowered his head and asked, "Was James in your clan?"

"...Yes," Pryce answered. Their families were so close that it was more or less the truth. "I made a promise to James, to protect and help his child, Arthur. But I…I wasn't… "

"...Is you okay?" Fathom hissed, lowering his head in concern. "Why is your eyes leaking?"

"It's a human thing," Pryce managed to say through deep breaths. "It's getting late, we can talk about this later."

"Okay," Fathom rumbled uncertainly. "I come back tomorrow."

Fathom left without saying anything else, leaving Pryce to pack things up by the light of the lantern. He climbed straight into his hammock once this task was complete, hoping for an early night's sleep. Unfortunately, some memories were not so easily laid to rest, and Pryce spent the sleepless night haunted by old ghosts.