Arlo

Everburn Tangle
Arlo doesn't know what it is or where it comes from. But it just seems to float around and doesn't knock over all his piles of books, so he just lets it be...

One evening as the winter solstice approached, Arlo had a waking dream. It must have been a dream, for he could conceive no other explanation. Unable to sleep, he left his chambers above the clinic and ventured out onto the balcony that wrapped the upper level of the structure. The moon was rising when he spotted her, floating above the bamboo in the cold night air. She was a coatl, her glossy coat shining in the early moonlight, her sharp eyes piercing his like a light in a tunnel. She looked so familiar, though he was sure he’d never set eyes on her before. He shook his head to clear his vision, but when he looked again, she had vanished.
The following evening, restless, Arlo made his way to Pan's Brewpub. As expected, Sibyl was holding court in her booth near the veranda, but as he shyly approached she shooed the other dragons away with a quick, "Go on, Mama's gotta work now."

As Arlo slid in across from her, her shrewd eyes took him in. "You, my young dragon, look like you've seen a ghost." As he relayed his story, Sibyl took out her cards, shuffling them quietly as she listened to his tale. "Arcane eyes, you're sure about that?" she gently asked as he finished.

"I'm not sure of anything, really, but her gaze went right through me. I could see her eyes all day at work, with my own eyes wide open."

"I would love to do a reading for you, my dear, but this is a waking vision. You should pay a visit to Muheir and ask them to look for your mystery dragon in their scrying mirror. But remember Arlo, if what they tell you seems unrelated to your question, they always answer the question of your heart."

The following evening found Arlo at the Brewpub once again. This time Sibyl's booth was empty except for the oracle, as though she had expected his visit this time. "My poor boy! You look so confused. Out with it. Tell me what Muheir said."

"They said 'Wait for the Greenskeeper Gathering.' That's it. What does that mean? Am I supposed to go to the Viridian Labyrinth? I've never gone with the delegation to a Festival before. My work keeps me here at the clinic, not wandering all over Sorneith!"

"It sounds to me like you have a few months to puzzle this out. Listen to your heart, Arlo, find the question that lies there. Time will work things out. Now have a pint of Honeymeade. You could use a good night's rest, I think."

To Write:
It wasn't so much embedded in the cliffs as carved from them. Arlo and Soledad spent the whole afternoon exploring, but the tower of stone apartments were truly empty, barring the leaves and other detritus blown in through the windows....

Arlo creates a place for his research in the tower and Soledad gets to stay in the arboretum with the dragons who have become her friends.