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"It never hurts to be cautious," Pan said, turning her head eastward, towards the Island of Dragons. And then something else seemed to catch her eye, behind Alex, and she snapped to attention.
Alex glanced over his shoulder to see his mother approaching from the mansion, picking her way over the rocks to the shore where they had gathered. He raised a hand in greeting, but she seemed distracted looking up at Pan. Of course she would be; had she ever seen a dragon before? Simber may well have been the largest creature she had seen thus far, especially if she hadn't caught a glimpse of Pan when she'd come bearing bad news about Karkinos.
But she didn't seem entirely awestruck, and she certainly didn't hesitate to get closer as she stepped up beside Alex and Sky. Simber watched her approach curiously, but everyone remained silent. Alex wanted to ask if something was wrong, if she'd come to find him because she needed him for something, but she wasn't looking at him, and something in his brain told him not to.
The great dragon peered down her snout at Nadia, then glanced around them, though any remaining Artiméans on the beach were giving the dragon a wide berth. The two seemed locked in some kind of silent conversation for a long time, neither wanting to be the first to speak.
Finally Nadia bowed and said, "Thank you."
Alex knew he had no room to speak, so he tried to stay silent, but the situation only grew stranger by the second. His mother, bowing? Thanking the ruler of the sea? It was such a bizarre sight that he felt like he couldn't properly comprehend it.
He quietly muttered, "Do you two know each other?"
His mother shot him a rather familiar look, and that shut him up.
Pan nodded in acknowledgement of Nadia's gratitude, and while she seemed to want to say more, her eyes moved to Alex and she did not. A typical Pan secret, then—but with his mother? He wondered if she would tell him, if he asked her.
"He will help you with whatever you need," Nadia told the dragon. Alex wanted to argue that she had no idea what she was signing him up for, but there was something more going on here, and to speak out against this felt incredibly wrong, so he kept his mouth shut and nodded along. He wanted to help Pan with whatever problem she was having, anyways, so he tried to tamp down the growing sense of unease as this turned from a favor out of friendliness to a transaction he had no context for. Then she continued, "Thank you, again. Whatever I can do to repay you, I will."
Pan lowered her head in her own regal bow. She glanced between the others—Sky, Simber, and finally even Alex—before saying, soft as she could with her deep dragon voice, "Your son has already promised me help out of kindness, and even that is more than I was expecting, in return." She flicked the end of her ropelike tail, turning back to Alex.
"The wings, right," he said with a nod, trying to ignore whatever was happening between the two of them. Pan kept her secrets close to her chest, and his mother was hardly any different, even as she opened up to him more and more. He'd be lucky if he got the story there; what mattered is that there was history, but more importantly, that Pan had requested wings from him. "You never told me what sort you needed. I'm not sure if I can make them, but I'd like to try."
"Wings?" Nadia whispered to Alex.
"She asked if there was any way we could make wings for her," Alex explained. "Or, well, not for her. That's the difficult part."
Pan shifted on her webbed feet, glancing east again, then at the sea behind her. "I will have to show you. Come with me. I will return you here by daybreak."
Alex knew better than to ask where she was going to take him, but not knowing scared him all the same. He knew he had little choice in the matter; the ruler of the sea was not asking, since he'd already agreed to help in any way he could, and she'd helped both them and Karkinos in the same breath, without hesitation. She was a true ally, and he was the head mage. This was his responsibility.
Simber grumbled something, but the great dragon shook her head, more insistent now that she'd made the declaration. "You will be too slow. I'll return him; I promise you that."
Nadia patted Alex on the shoulder, shoving him forward a bit as she did so. "Go with her," she said, her voice filled with something like wonder, or perhaps even excitement. His mother encouraging him to join a dragon on a night journey was certainly not something he'd ever expected, and once again he was struck by how strange this all was.
Though, that described quite a lot of his life lately, so he took another step forward, then glanced over at Sky and Simber to check if it was okay with them. Simber seemed concerned, eyes narrowed and tail lashing back and forth a bit more than usual, but he nodded. Sky reached out and squeezed his hand, then let go and stepped back with Simber, giving Alex her blessing as well.
"Well, if we're all in agreement, then…" Alex cleared his throat and looked back up at the great ruler of the sea. Good heavens, she was big. He was pretty sure he'd never get used to the way she towered above even Simber. "How do you, uh, want me to climb on…?"
Pan, in one decisive motion, scooped Alex up with her tail and tossed him onto her back, just between her shoulder blades. "Hold on." Then, to the other three: "We shall return soon." And with that, the dragon—with Alex along for the ride—dove into the sea.