Rikahn

Rikahn's claws fell on the light, seemingly hollow floors of the city's maze of interconnecting balloons. The sun was just barely reaching over the distant steppes of the Windswept Plateau and the even further mountains marking the horizon. Few dragons were waking up now, the ones that the guardian saw he acknowledged with a nod and a small yet friendly smile.

Even at this hour the main body of the city was bustling with activity, dragons hollering over each other at an attempt to be heard. Instead of throwing himself into the mix of colors, scales, fur, feathers, and anything else a dragon had he shifted his attention to the side.

The platform he was walking on had no safety rails but just enough space for most dragons to stretch their wings - which is exactly what he did. Rikahn opened his wings to their fullest extent and with a short running start off the edge he glided into the ever-constant wind of the Plateau.

The noise of the city faded behind him as he flew farther and farther away. He never went so far he'd get lost, but just to a nearby raised platform of land. He landed atop the soft grass and as he steadied himself he caught a look at the surrounding area.

It was an expansive field of green steppes with the occasional patch of bamboo. The Freeflight City floated above him now, casting a shadow in the distance. The underside of Wind cities was a sight not often seen by residents of said city. And yet, he was fascinated by it. Some of the airships hadn't bothered to cover up the inner workings and they revealed the gears, dials, levers, and engines used to keep them afloat. While, yes, many things in Wind that float are due to magic, however that's simply not practical for cities as big as Freeflight. Instead some particularly clever metalworkers created a way for ships larger than seafaring ones to stay high in the air - with almost no magic.

Rikahn sat on the platform he landed on and simply watched the airships move for a few moments. He watched how the gears worked together, what certain levers connected to, how combinations of steam and magic powered it all, and why they all moved together how they did.

Eventually, the sun rose higher in the sky and Rikahn knew he'd be called up to the city once more. With a sigh he leaped off his platform and about halfway down, opened his wings at an angle to get himself higher in the air. Using a combination of the Plateau's natural wind and a hint of his own magic he reached the city swiftly and landed on the same platform that he left.

He nodded and smiled his way through the crowd for yet another day, flying to different part of the city whenever he was called, and waited until he was given a bit more free time.

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