The Orb's Answers...

Dulbbe needed to act quickly before Ffion started yelling at the orb again about it not answering her questions and before he lost his train of thought.  Adjusting his glasses so he could look deeper into the orb he asked,  "Orb, tell us about the Herald and Dragons returning,"

Ffion gave him a quick glare and then realized that the orb did not immediately go into its standard response of "Your question is incomplete..."  Returning her gaze back to the orb, it stopped flashing and began to speak.

"The Herald, Aralt, is preparing his travels now and will return to this Realm before the Dragons arrive.  Once he has returned the Dragons will be able to follow his path." 

"How long will that take?" asked Ffion to the orb. 

​"The Herald will arrive soon.  How long after that for the Dragons to arrive will depend on what the Herald does to summon them," the orb answered.

"And then you said the Shadows' King will return?" asked Dulbbe.

​"Yes," was the short response returned by the orb.

Turning to the Queen, Dulbbe smiled. "See, the Shadows' King is safe and he is returning.  Now we need to find out as much as we can about the Dragons' return to help the others.  Don't you agree?"

He could see the consternation on Ffion's face, but she was her father's daughter and he had taught her well about being a ruler.  The people of her realm must come first.

"You are right," she answered.  "I am sorry... but I worry so about my father and I miss him so!" she said with a tear at the corner of one eye.  It was at that moment that Dulbbe wanted to take her in his arms and comfort her but still he hesitated.  "I still am just a bookkeeper," he thought to himself.  "I will one day be worthy."

Turning to the orb, Dulbbe asked his next question.  "Tell us what you can about this Herald."

"The Herald is the one assigned by the Great Council of the Realms.  He will be wearing a dragon insignia since he is in communication with the Dragons, especially the Wish Dragons.  By doing so this keeps the dragons from creating havoc and chaos in all of the Realms.  The first and only Herald is Aralt as no others have ever held the office.  He helped form the Dragon Clan system and works with the ruling Wish Dragon.  The current Wish Dragon is a female who rules over all other Dragons," said the orb.

Ffion and Dulbbe looked a little confused at each other as neither had ever heard about this Herald before.  They were both surprised also to hear that a Wish Dragon was the ruler of Dragons.  Before Dulbbe asked his next question, Ffion asked hers.  "I thought Dragons did not have a ruler per se.  How did a Wish Dragon become their ruler?"

"The Wish Dragon is the most powerful Dragon until a Moon Dragon is born.  No Moon Dragons exist," the orb answered.  Startled by this information, Dulbbe and Ffion both looked at each other thinking the same thought.  Dree, who was a Wish Dragon before his recent transformation, was now a Moon Dragon. 

As the orb continued, both listened intently on what it was telling them.  "The Herald helps the ruling Wish Dragon in keeping the continuity of the magic the Dragons use so as not to disrupt the harmony of all.  In the beginning when dragons first received their magical powers and became mystical Dragons, they did not control what magics they did.  Many mundane and magicals were hurt and destroyed.  The Wish Dragons were among the mightiest of all magic welders!  They could grant wishes that could change anything.  The consequences of many of these granted wishes are still present here in the Realms."  

Both Dulbbe and Ffion knew that this was information that the others needed to know right away.  If the Dragons were really returning and a Wish Dragon would be their leader this would be a whole new world for them to return to.  For they did not  know that a Moon Dragon now existed.  Also how would this change things for Dree (a.k.a. Hungry), the newly wet behind the ears Moon Dragon?

"You keep the orb talking," Ffion told Dulbbe as she headed towards the doorway.  "I will send a flutterby to the Dowager and Awena.  They need to know what we have found out."