//------------------------------// // Peace: Meeting Nora // Story: Spyro: The Dragon Trio of Avalar // by Blackdrag-rose //------------------------------// Once their visit to the land of the Dream Weavers was over, and they had a better understanding and appreciation for what Lateef and his clan did for the rest of the Dragon Realms, Spyro, Spike, and Ember returned to the waking world and found that a few hours had gone by, just like they had gone by in the Dream World. Lateef informed them that this was perfectly normal, hence why he and the rest of his clan were often exhausted once they finished their rounds and made sure there were no nightmares to be found, and when they woke up they usually made sure they had something to eat and relaxed for a few minutes, before finally going to sleep and allowing the other faction of their clan to watch over their dreams. The trio had to admit that it was a nice cycle that the Dream Weavers had created for themselves, where Lateef was happy to see that they appreciated what he and his clan were doing for everyone, but that was where their visit ended, as he had to make sure that everything was ready for when the other Dream Weavers returned to the waking world. They understood what he was talking about, as he wanted to make sure all the refreshments were ready to go when his clan emerged from the Dream World, which caused Nestor to get up from where he was sitting and beckoned for the trio to follow him, where they pulled themselves from where they had been meditating, bid farewell to Lateef, and headed back to where Marco was waiting with his hot air balloon. A few moments later they were up in the air, enjoying the early hours of the morning as they headed back to their own homeworld, where all three of them turned and waved goodbye to Lateef with smiles on their faces, where the Leader waved at them in return before going about what he needed to do before the rest of his clan returned from their various duties in the Dream World. As they traveled back to the Artisans homeworld, however, Spike pulled out his writing supplies and made several notes about the realm that they had visited, just in case there was nothing about the Dream World in Dark Hollow's library, which would please Argus and the others once he was done writing everything down. Nestor knew that this information would make the scholars happy, as not many of them really knew what the Dream Weavers did in the Dream World, due to that information being kept in Lateef's domain, just as the magical knowledge was usually kept in Cosmos' domain, and Spike's notes on the subject would be something they would be very interested in reading, once the young dragon was done transcribing his notes into one of his journals. Eventually Spike finished writing down everything inside the journal that he had picked out and yawned, before he and his siblings nodded off and drifted back off to the Dream World, where Nestor chuckled to himself for a few seconds before focusing on his flying again. When they returned to the Artisans homeworld, and Marco made sure they landed at the dock, Nestor carefully picked up the trio from where they were sleeping and carried them back to Stone Hill, making three trips to get all three of them to the area they lived in, while Marco tended to his hot air balloon and made sure it was ready for the next trip that he had to make to one of the other lands. The trio didn't stir as he moved them, showing how exhausted they were from their trip to Lateef's homeworld and seeing the Dream World for the first time, though he knew that when all three of them woke up they would be energized and ready to tackle whatever they wanted to do. That was perfectly fine, as the trio was likely to tackle the various training exercises that they were used to doing after a visit to one of the other lands, so they could improve their skills and show Titan and Cosmos that they were ready for whatever was next, as in whatever combat lessons Titan could teach them or the various magical spells Cosmos might teach them, before he told them about the next trip that he had planned for them. In fact he already knew where they were going to go next, though they had to wait for the dragons in question to be ready before the trio could come by for their visit, and he suspected that all three of them would be excited when they learned who they were going to be visiting. A few hours later, when it was the middle of the day, the trio woke up and went about their day, by making sure they had something to eat before they did something else, but Nestor made sure they knew that he was giving them the day off to relax and do whatever they wanted, since he knew their normal schedules were messed up a little from the visit to the land of the Dream Weavers and that they would be back to what they normally did tomorrow. Spike, as he expected, went back to his studies for a few hours, while at the same time Spyro and Ember practiced their combat skills on the dummies that had been set up for them, though after a while the trio got back together and simply enjoyed the rest of their day, as in running around Stone Hill and playing around like they had when they were younger. Nestor was happy to see that they were enjoying themselves and that all three of them were willing to just relax every now and then, instead of focusing all of their attention on whatever profession they were working towards, like they had been so far, and he was sure that the other Artisans dragons shared his thoughts on the matter. He also suspected that Titan and Cosmos would be impressed when the trio revealed how well they had taken to the basic lessons they had been given, when they returned to their lands and showed them their progress, but that was something to look forward to in the future. The days that followed their visit to the homeworld of the Dream Weavers were normal, as Spyro, Spike, and Ember went about their normal lives as if nothing had changed, meaning that Spike spent his days inside the library of Dark Hollow and continued his research, while also talking with the other scholars about the Dream World, just to let them know about what he and his siblings had learned. Ember, of course, spent the majority of her time practicing her combat skills and trying to convince both Spyro and Spike to join her from time to time, so they could be ready for whatever happened in the weeks to come, and Nestor was happy to see that all three of them were improving on their skills, even if the progress wasn't as fast as Ember would have liked. Spyro, when he wasn't busy with his siblings, tried his hand at some of the other professions that the other Artisans dragons spent their lives working on, such as trying to paint something with Delbin and Nevin, trying to make a sculpture like his siblings had done, messing with clay to either improve upon his first attempt or make something new, or whatever the other dragons were well versed in. Nestor knew what Spyro was doing, he was trying to distract himself from the pranking nature he had developed over the years and find out what his profession was, just like his siblings had done before him, but he clearly wasn't having luck in that regard, though he had the feeling that something would come up at some point and Spyro would find his calling. The days turned into weeks once more as Spyro, Spike, and Ember focused on their various studies and the skills that Nestor wanted them to learn, which were mastering the art of gliding and working with their dragonflies as they raced each other in the maze, which also meant they were working on their stamina as well. Occasionally Lucas came to visit them, opening the way to the portal that allowed them to access the Flight Realm, where Spike still found it odd that such a thing would be hidden between two waterfalls, but he decided not to question the methods of a Keeper of Secrets and followed his siblings as they worked on flying around the small island and tried to perfect the movements that Nestor was teaching them. In addition to all that Spike continued working on mastering the spells that came in the books that Cosmos had let them borrow, even though he likely expected the contents to have been replicated for the expansion of the library of Dark Hollow, since Spike was making sure they had a book on every subject, and so far he was making good progress with the basic spells, especially after what he had done in the past. Ember and Spyro joined him from time to time when he was working with the various spells, showing them how he was able to use the magic in the area around them to do what one of the Magic Crafters would have done, and while they didn't have his level of success both of his siblings did manage to use a spell or two in some manner, showing that practice was needed before they got to his level. Other than that happening not much else changed for the trio, other than the fact that they got a little taller and were approaching the maximum height a young dragon could reach before they matured into adult dragons, but they made sure to occupy their time with whatever interested them, worked on mastering what Nestor wanted them to learn, and preparing for the future. It was during their eighth birthday that Nestor, once again, gave them the news that they had been waiting for, as there had been no visit to one of the other homeworlds in the six months after they visited Lateef and learned about the Dream World, which caused all three of them to pause for a moment as he explained what they would be doing. Nestor informed them that they would be making another trip to the land of the Magic Crafters, making them think that Cosmos wanted to see them for another lesson in how to wield the magic that was all around them, but it wasn't long before that thought was set aside, as Nestor revealed that there would be no lesson involved with this visit. That really made the trio think about what they could be doing during the visit, since they had seen a good portion of the landscape, had met one of the greatest Magic Crafters that Cosmos worked with, and had started to learn the basics of magic, but, instead of revealing what they would be doing to them, Nestor just told them that it was a secret and that they would figure it out once their visit started. All Spike could figure out is that Cosmos must have had something special in mind and didn't want to ruin the surprise before their visit, hence why he told Nestor not to let the three of them know anything about what was going to happen, something that caused him and his siblings a level of excitement that was the same as when they visited the other homeworlds for the first time. The usual week went by and the trio still had no idea what they would be doing during their visit to the land that Cosmos watched over, though despite that fact all three of them gathered near the tunnel that would take them to the dock, where they waited for Nestor to arrive, as he was making sure the other Artisans dragons were fine before they left for a few hours. "It seems that this trip might be to see the various types of magic in use," Ember eventually said, as she had been thinking about what Nestor had told them, and what they hadn't been told, and this was the conclusion that she had come up with during the last week, that they were simply going to spend some time with the other Magic Crafters and get an idea of how the other types of magic were used. "Ember, if it was that simple Cosmos wouldn't have told Nestor not to tell us anything." Spyro replied, because while he knew that Spike and Ember had been thinking about this trip since the announcement was made, in an attempt to figure it out before they departed for the land of the Magic Crafters, he knew that they would learn the truth when they reached their destination. "Well, we have to be meeting one of the Masters," Spike added, referring to the select group of Magic Crafters dragons that had mastered one of the types of magic, like Transmogrification, Teleportation, or even Hand and Wand Magic, as they were dragons that he was keen on meeting at some point in time, just to see what they could show him and his siblings about their respective type of magic, "that could be why Cosmos told Nestor not to tell us anything, because it would partly ruin whatever surprise the Master in question had planned for us, as we're be able to guess what we might be doing if we knew which Master we were visiting." Spyro and Ember paused for a few seconds, as they hadn't thought about the fact that they might be visiting one of the other Masters of the Magic Crafters, but the more the pair considered what their brother had said the more they felt that he was right about this, making them really curious about what they could be doing today. "Once we get to the land of the Magic Crafters, and meet up with Cosmos, you will see who you'll be spending a few hours with today," a voice said, where the trio turned to the side and noticed that Nestor was walking towards them, a sign that indicated that they were ready to leave for their destination, something that caused them to get up from where they were sitting as he reached the tunnel, "I'm positive all three of you will have a good time today, especially since this dragon has been waiting to meet you for some time, and when you find out who I'm talking about you'll be even more excited to meet them." Spike noticed that Nestor didn't state which gender the dragon they would be meeting had, no doubt to keep them guessing, but instead of following that train of thought, like he usually did, he decided to trust what the Leader was telling them and followed him as he headed to where Marco was waiting. This time around, instead of having to be helped into the basket of the hot air balloon, he and his siblings were able to jump into the basket without landing on each other, as each of them moved out of the way before the next one jumped into where they would be sitting for an hour and a half, the only thing they disliked about the times they visited the other homeworlds. Once the three of them were ready to depart, and Marco took up his position once more, the basket lifted into the air and he got them underway once more, where Nestor followed after them and watched as the trio looked out at the islands that were along their path for a few moments, before picking up the items that occupied their time during these visits and focused on their books. Nestor was fine with that, as he knew that these trips had become quite boring for the trio, at least the part that Marco was assigned to, and knew that the three young dragons needed to occupy their time with something, hence the reason they made sure they had something to do during each of these trips. Fortunately the hour and a half trip to the land of the Magic Crafters went by rather quickly for the trio, as when they got close to their destination Marco mentioned that they were nearly at the dock he would be landing at and the trio put their items away once more, before staring out at the magical land that was appearing before their eyes, where they found Cosmos standing near the dock, waiting for them to arrive. "Spyro, Spike, Ember, I'm glad you three could make it," Cosmos said, as if there was something that could have stopped them from coming to his homeworld, before waiting for a few seconds as they climbed out of the basket and stood in front of him, while Nestor landed near Marco, where he gestured for them to follow him, "The dragon that you'll be meeting today has been waiting for the chance to meet you since the day I told you about the types of magic and had you go through the sphere test, though she had some projects she needed to complete beforehand and that's why it took so long before she asked to meet you three." "Wait, she?!" Ember remarked, as she and her brothers knew that there were other female dragons out there in the Dragon Realms, something that they had learned during their magic lesson a few years ago, but even then none of them had been given the chance to meet one of the female dragons, so hearing that news made her excited. "Yes, Nora is the dragon that you'll be spending a few hours with today," Cosmos replied, though as he said that he paused for a moment and glanced at the trio, finding that Spyro was excited to meet someone new at last, Ember was excited to be meeting one of the other female dragons they had been told about, and Spike seemed to be interested in meeting Nora and seeing her while she worked her magic, before continuing towards the portal that would take them to the area that was Nora's workshop, "She didn't tell me what she had in mind for the three of you today, but since she is one of the Masters, the Master of Teleportation Magic to be exact, I tend not to argue with her, though I'm sure that you'll enjoy your time with her." Spyro, Spike, and Ember glanced at each other for a few seconds before they followed Cosmos, because knowing that they would be meeting one of the Masters today didn't change the fact that none of them had any idea what they would be doing with Nora, and they knew that Nestor was in the same position they were in. As they headed to wherever the portal to their true destination was located, as they had to assume that the portal to Nora's area was hidden like a number of the other portals they had seen so far, they noticed that none of the other Magic Crafters were around the main area of their homeworld. That was to be expected, as it appeared that the dragons in question were likely practicing their magic in some of the other realms, just like the last couple of times they had visited this land, and they weren't sad by the lack of dragons as Cosmos lead them to a stone wall that was above the portal to Altair's realm. Once they got close to the wall Cosmos waved his staff at it and the trio watched as another hidden tunnel revealed itself, a tunnel that looked nearly identical to the ones they had seen during their previous visits, before Cosmos walked forward and headed towards the portal that was at the end of the tunnel. Spike was curious as to why the Magic Crafters preferred to hide a good number of the portals they had in tunnels like this, even though he suspected that it might be to keep their secrets or magical equipment safe, but for now he focused on what they were going to be doing, as he knew that he could ask that question at some point in the future. When they stepped through the portal the trio found themselves standing on what appeared to be a balcony, almost like the one that Cosmos had created during their first lesson on magic, but while a railing rested to their right, to prevent visitors from falling over the edge and disappearing, as it appeared they were in the middle of a mountain peak, to their left rested a workshop of some kind, with tools they had never seen before. "Where is Nora?" Nestor asked, as he assumed that the dragon that would be taking the day off to meet with the trio, and show them why she was the Master of Teleportation Magic, would be waiting near the entrance of her domain, but from what he could see it appeared that Nora was busy elsewhere and likely forgot about what today was. "I'm up here." a feminine voice replied, where the trio, Cosmos, and Nestor glanced up towards the ceiling for a few seconds, though that was when they discovered that the ceiling was more open than they originally thought it was and could see a few more levels that were carved out of the upper parts of the mountain peak, before a shimmering image appeared in the area in front of them, one that reminded them all of the portals they used all the time. The group watched as a slender dragon, with pure white colored scales and golden yellow colored eyes, stepped out of the strange magic that was happening before their eyes, though that was when they noticed that the dragon was wearing a light blue robe, one that actually covered the upper part of her body and a good portion of the lower part of her body, before she turned towards the magic and waved her left hand at it, closing the portal instantly. "Ah, much better. Shouting down at all of you would have been a waste of time," the dragon commented, showing the group that she had quickly determined where they were standing and had come to them within a matter of seconds, using a teleportation spell that Spike had never seen before, though it was long before she bowed her head a little as she focused on them once more, "Allow me to introduce myself. I am Nora, the Master of Teleportation Magic, and this is my workshop, where I work on the various types of portals that are scattered across the Dragon Realms and make sure they connect to the specified area they're supposed to connect to before they're installed." "I'm Spyro, and these are my siblings Spike and Ember," Spyro replied, though even as he said that he could tell that both Nestor and Cosmos were heading somewhere else, so the three of them could enjoy their day with Nora, before he focused on what she had said, as he wanted to make sure he had heard her correctly, "Does that mean that you're responsible for all of the portals that we see when we're exploring the Artisans homeworld and the other lands that the other Leaders watch over?" "Yes and no." Nora answered, showing that she must have been expecting some sort of question to arise after what she had just told them and that she already had an answer prepared for them, while at the same time she turned towards the table that was behind her, where the trio found a broken portal, a Magic Crafters portal to be exact, resting on the table, but this time there was no magic coming from it, "Yes, I am responsible for enchanting the various portals with the power necessary for them to connect to the realm they're supposed to allow dragons to access, by means of a special crystal that is installed somewhere on the structure, like the top stone for the Artisans portals for example. As for the 'no' part, well, I don't actually install the portals or do anything to them once I've finished my work on them, as I'll just move them to the designated area and let someone else install the portals where they want them to be, before appearing from the activated portal to ensure that it works like it's supposed to. Then it's a simple matter of using the newly activated portal to head to the realm that it's connected to, to verify that it works, before I'm free to return to my workshop and do whatever I want with the rest of my time, be it another portal, working on improving what we have, or just finding new ways to use my type of magic." "Fascinating." Spike commented, as he had an idea of what Nora was talking about and knew that his siblings sort of understood what they had been told in the last few moments, but the main point was that someone made the structures that the portals were contained in, Nora enchanted the crystals with the necessary spell before installing them, and then someone else installed the portals so they could be tested to ensure they worked as intended, a lengthy process to be sure, but it worked well for the Magic Crafters and the other clans and he saw no reason for them to change it. "It's not as fascinating as hearing about a young dragon that was able to do something with Teleportation Magic that has never been done before," Nora added, revealing that she knew what happened during the sphere test Spike and his siblings had been given once they learned about the types of magic that existed in their world, "Trust me, I know every trick in the book when it comes to Teleportation Magic, so when I learned that you were capable of moving one of the spheres with a short burst of fire, sending it down the tunnel you had walked through to get to the classroom, I was both shocked and amazed at the same time. How did you do that?" "Originally I had no idea how I managed to move the sphere like that," Spike explained, because that had been an event that he couldn't explain, but as the years went by, and they learned more lessons about themselves and how to wield the magic that was around them, he came up with a way to explain what happened that day, "but, after learning more about magic and how to tap into it, I think I have an idea of how I was able to do it." Nora raised her eyebrow for a moment, as she was curious about what Spike had to tell her, before determining that he was actually going to show her how he had moved the sphere a few years ago, so she walked over to her table for a few seconds and returned with a crystal that went into the Peace Keepers portals, a spare from the last time she had worked on one of their portals, which she set down in front of Spike as Spyro and Ember sat behind their brother. Once all of them were ready Spike quickly breathed fire on the crystal, using the normal flame breath that all dragons, regardless of the clan that they belonged to, used in their everyday lives, leaving Nora standing there with a look of confusion on her face, as she was trying to figure out what Spike was up to. A few seconds later, when the flames from his first breath were put out, he focused his mind for a moment and tapped into his inner magic, the same way he did when he and his siblings were doing the wall spell that Cosmos wanted them to attempt, before letting out another burst of fire. This time around the flames weren't the same color as the red-orange fire that Spyro, Ember, and the other dragons used, rather it was the same green color that had been trapped inside the sphere that Cosmos had shown him, after the test was over, and it washed over the crystal in seconds, causing it to disappear instantly. Nora stared at the post the crystal had been in a few seconds ago, as if she was studying what Spike had done to it, before hearing a light thud behind her, where she turned around and found that the crystal in question had returned to the table, in the exact spot it had been in before she picked it up and decided to use it for this test. Spike could see that Nora was thinking about what he had done, though instead of moving towards the crystal she simply let out a few short bursts of fire every now and then, showing that she might be attempting to learn what he had done before doing anything else, before the same green colored flame appeared for her, causing her to pick up the crystal and loose a burst of green flame on it, which made it disappear and reappear in front of Spike. "Well I'll be, I never considered using magic like that before." Nora commented, though at the same time her tone revealed that, while she was able to mimic what Spike had done, she still had a long way to go before she actually mastered it in the way that Spike had, as the crystal was in a slightly different position than it had been before Spike sent it back to the table, showing that she needed some additional practice with the spell, "The only time I've every teleported something is when I'm delivering an item to one of the homeworlds, instead of it being picked up by one of the Balloonists and delivered to the land in question, but I never considered breathing fire on something to teleport it over a distance, even though using it on another dragon is out of the question. Here, since you showed me a new trick, how about I show you why I am the Master of Teleportation Magic." Spyro, Spike, and Ember barely had time to brace themselves as Nora accessed her power and the chamber they were in disappeared, before they reappeared on the shores of Dragon Shores with a startled Cosmos and a surprised Nestor standing nearby, as they had been standing nearby, watching the trio, and had assumed they would be exempted from whatever spells she might cast, though it appeared that they had been incorrect. "One of the things that sets me apart from the other dragons that use Teleportation Magic is that I have access to what I call the Nexus," Nora explained, though at the same time she smiled as she touched one of the trees that was near the portals that the clans used to reach this island, as that was where they had appeared, before focusing on the trio once more, "which is the vast network of portals that exist throughout the Dragon Realms, allowing me to use a portal in the Artisans homeworld and appear in the land that Lateef watches over, or use the portal for Alpine Ridge and teleport to Altair's domain instead. Now that doesn't mean the portals are broken, rather I just use them in a different way than someone else would use them, and I can also use them as their designed, to go from the Magic Crafters homeworld to Alpine Ridge and not to somewhere else in the Dragon Realms. It really depends on me and my magic, though I'm still years away from even attempting to give this kind of access to the other dragons." The trio determined that Nora was working on a number of subjects at the same time, just like some of the other Magic Crafters were supposed to be doing, but before they could say anything Nora weaved her magic through the air and they returned to her domain as quickly as they had appeared on Dragon Shores. Once that was done Nora beckoned for them to follow her and they did, as they were eager to see what else she had to show them, though Nestor and Cosmos stayed behind, knowing that all three of them were going to have fun and that they might make a new friend along the way, all while wondering what the future held for them.