Kailigh and Maddugh were met by a Dwyrkin as soon as they disembarked.

“Lord Maddugh,” a tall, flame-haired man with deep brown eyes said.

Kai stared, blinking several times. She’d never seen hair quite that color, and she knew henna when she saw it. This wasn’t henna. The man—dragon, she was sure—strode towards them. She just hoped he stopped before plowing into her or Maddugh.

“Welcome, I’m Tanavue. Lady Nahasha sent me to escort you to our quarter.”

Maddugh crossed his arms. “Was she afraid we’d get lost?”

Kai poked him in the ribs. “Manners. I’m the commoner, you at least should know better.” She held out her hand, not caring if it was proper protocol or not. And knew it wasn’t when Maddugh’s lip curled in a snarl as Tanavue shook it, eyes glittering with mischief.

“You must be Lady Kailigh, the new wife,” he said.

“Mate,” Maddugh snapped.

“Of course, of course. Well, we’ve arranged to have your baggage delivered shortly. Would you like to stop for tea? No? Well, let’s go straight to the quarter, then.”

Kailigh followed on the man’s heels, Maddugh subtly attempting to push his body between hers and Tanavue’s back. After her heeled boot accidentally dug into his toe—no mean feat while they were both walking—he suddenly began walking at her side again.

His mouth lowered to her ear. “That’s alright, Kai. I’ll get you back for my poor, broken toe. Tonight.”

She snorted. “I have no time for you tonight. I have a daughter to hunt down—and your errant son.”

Maddugh growled. “I’m going to wallop that boy.”

Tanavue glanced over his shoulder, brows lowered. “Your son is in town as well? We haven’t been informed.”

“I wanted to explain to Nahasha in person,” Maddugh said. “The little bastard took off after his sister without my permission. No patience. Just wants to run around flaming things. Figuratively, of course.”

“Of course. I’m sure our Lady will be delighted to hear your additional news.”

Once they cleared the dock that was supposedly the only entrance into Seattle, they stepped out into a city out of time.

The Dome shimmered overhead. Clear if one looked straight up, but a milky luminance if one looked out of the corner of the eye. She wondered how much the damn thing had cost, and how many mouths could have been fed, how many kilometers of air could have been decontaminated in the radioactive zones, if the wealthy hadn’t wanted their little oasis built. There were plenty of areas to live where the soil had been decontaminated, magically enhanced trees grown to filter the radiation in the air.

The roads were real brick, either treated to look antique, or actual reclaimed bricks from the wreckage heaps scavengers picked through for salvageable goods. They would have had to decontaminate them if they were genuine antiques—which meant even more money wasted.

Tanavue stepped off the curb of the sidewalk, lifting a hand to hail one of the conveyances that lined the curb.

“My Lady doesn’t keep her own fleet,” their guide explained.

“She’s always been thrifty,” Maddugh said.

“Thrift is a superior quality in a leader,” Kai said. “Nothing worse than someone in charge who can’t balance a budget. Then wonder why the house is short three days’ food at the end of the month.”

Tanavue glanced at her. “Ahh…exactly.”

Maddugh snorted.

The conveyance stopped, the pumps underneath the belly hissing as brakes were applied.

Tanavue stepped forward and opened the door, gesturing that Kailigh should precede the men inside. The seats were leather, trim a glossy reddish wood. She pushed back the curtains on the window, so she could see as they lurched forward. There was no clopping of horse hooves, no scent of dung in the street. The lampposts, currently unlit, were tall and ornamental rather than merely functional, and she recognized some of the blooms in shop windows as being of the pricier variety, the kind that only grew in hot-house nurseries. She knew, because several were on her wish list. It occurred to her that she could afford to indulge herself now—but it still seemed a waste of good money, plants that didn’t feed a body.

"You’ve had no word on disturbances in the city?" Maddugh asked Tanavue. "Strange explosions, young dragons in the air?"

Tanavue smiled. "Your children can't be all that troublesome, for we've heard nothing."

"Serephone wouldn’t make noise," Kai said. "That girl is sneakier than a ghost in a graveyard at midnight."

"Interesting analogy. Have you ever seen a ghost?"

"You just made my point."

Maddugh's eyes narrowed. "They may not have embarrassed us yet, but it's coming. It always does with teenagers."

She stared at her husband. "Mad—they aren't teenagers."

He snapped his teeth. "Oh, really? We’ll see how calm you are when—"

"I’m not calm, I’m just waiting until I have my daughter back under my thumb before I let loose a bit of temper." She smiled at him, folding her hands in her lap. "Let’s save all our energy for the hunt, and after, hmm? That will be the satisfying part."

And she'd blister Serephone's ear so bad, her eldest daughter would never take off like this again.

The conveyance took them through the bustling city streets and neighborhoods where children played outside. Kai's brow inched upwards in proportion to her incredulousness. Mothers just let their children play outdoors and no worries about strangers, flesh traffickers, coming by?

"I would never leave my girls out to play with no supervision," she said.

Tanavue glanced at her. The narrow window that was the only access to the driver was closed, so they could speak in relative privacy. "Is it dangerous where you live, Lady?” He glanced at Maddugh, and she could guess what her husband would think of that implied criticism.

"Humans are savage," Maddugh said. "If she'd raised her girls in my city, things would have been different."

She patted his knee. "Of course, dear."

His glare was baleful. She ignored him, speaking to Tanavue. "Do the children not have school?"

He glanced out of the window. "In this district, you have many homeschoolers. The parents can afford it. Tutors as well."

"Huh. Well, I homeschooled my girls for a bit of time." After Serephone's run in with a male teacher. Kailigh had never gotten to the bottom of that incident, but she'd erred on the side of caution, knowing her thirteen-year-old daughter wasn't usually violent without a reason. Hatcher hadn't been able to find anything, but…Kai took the girls out of school, anyway. Sere was queer with her magic. Sometimes she saw things others didn’t. Sometimes she saw them because—

Kailigh sighed. The past was the past. Though the incidents of the past were why her daughter was so quick to run off in what she thought was a quest to protect her sisters; everything was about protecting her sisters, with that girl. It was exhausting. Kai wished Sere would just sit down and let adults handle business sometimes. Ack. She remembered her twenties. Barely old enough to wash under her arms properly.

They moved out of the more family-oriented neighborhoods into a converted warehouse district.

"And here we are," Tanavue said.

"Clever," Maddugh remarked. "I was wondering how dragons would cave in a city."

Kai glanced at her husband. "I thought you've been here before?"

"Not to this district. Boundaries have changed."

The warehouse took up half the block and was a blend of concrete and… logs. Kai wondered how they’d gotten away with keeping ownership over so much wood. They emerged from the conveyance and followed Tanavue to the front doors, darkened glass with iron decorative bars. He opened one side and as Kai stepped in, she smiled.

The design of the interior was highly practical, pointing to a well-ordered mind. Polished concrete floors rather than carpets or pressed wood, and the entire area was open, suitable for dragon sized bodies. One dragon curled on the floor around a seating area next to exposed brick, where two others in human form sat and chatted, sipping at mugs. On the far side of the room, a kitchen with a polished top bar and two long dining room tables nearby, were placed in a tidy row.

"How many people are housed here?" Kailigh asked. "Very practical. Communal living is cost efficient, I imagine."

"Very," Tanavue agreed. "Most of the mated pairs with children have their own homes, but our singles and many new couples have a room here. We own the other three in this district as well."

She looked all the way up. There were open hallways on either side, but a skylight let in plenty of natural sunshine. If sunshine under a Dome was natural.

"Very impressive. Maddugh, I don't suppose—"

He snorted. "No. I don't suppose. You won't be knocking holes into my ceilings. We're embedded in rock, remember?"

"How can I forget? The effect of a broody kind of mind, I suppose."

A female laugh sounded nearby. Kailigh glanced over as a woman descended the stairs, the asymmetrical ends of her light brown hair swinging against her shoulders. She glanced at Maddugh, holding out a hand which he accepted, placing a kiss on her cheek.

"Sister," he rumbled.

The woman turned to Kailigh, smiling. "And you must be Maddugh's new mate. I always thought he'd marry a human—I'm glad I was wrong. It just doesn’t work, dragon-human mixes."

Kailigh blinked, accepting the woman’s kiss on her cheek. "That's interesting."

"I'm Nahasha, ruler of the dragon Dwyrkin here. And you're here to ask permission to hunt your errant children."