I wouldn't be surprised if some Draak like eggs. I don't. And, makes sense.

Back to the story. And then... She is before the Oldest Draak. He is enormous and scarred, and his mental voice booms. She tells them about the Amentan, about her journey and everything she has learned. Then, Burning Eye shows up. Burning Eye sings a harsh song to the Oldest Draak, claiming that avoiding the Amentans and their strange technology is right and good, for they are numerous and clever and powerful, and who knows what will happen if they learn important secrets from the Draak? River argues back, singing about how learning about other life has only led to good things in her journey, and about how if they become friends with Amentans they will no longer be dangerous.

The debate continues for another song, with both River and Burning Eye making clever points. At length, the Oldest Draak silences the two. They are both partially right, the great elder says. Burning Eye's plea for caution is well-meant and sensible. Rushing into the unknown often has terrible consequences, and caution is right and good. But Small River's hope for understanding and learning has merit too. Burning Eye would have the Draak's traditions stay the same forever, locking what came before into place as the Unquestionably Correct Way. The world is always changing, and the best way to live when a riverbed is dry is no longer the best way to live when it floods and overflows its banks. The Draak must change as the world does, or they might as well be dead.

The final song is a hopeful and uplifting piece. During it, Burning Eye, the Oldest Draak, and Small River are journeying across the ocean, meeting fish along the way, and collecting all the other Draak she faced challenges from earlier for the journey. Ultimately, they make landfall. The Amentans are alarmed and afraid of the strange visitors and brandish spears, but Small River walks forward, unafraid, and bows her head to a blue who also walked forward. She says, Hello!

-And the last song ends.

...spears?

Do you not use those? That's what the humans had for most of the time on Oldhome. I think they came up with other things by the time the second war started but I don't know much about that.

We used to have them but not for a long time.

Well, do you think I should change it? Also, what do you think of the story?? I wonder if I should linger in the first part, learning about all the plants and animals, a little longer since you liked it.

It's really engaging, especially since the format's new! I'm not sure if everybody else will like that part as much as I did, and it has to sync up with the songs, right? You can give the Amentans spears if that seems right.

Yes, it does seem right. I could find another song that's good for the first part... But I'll just leave it. I could do other kinds of stories, or fill a whole hour with learning-about-animals, but this one seems like a good first one.

Are you going to repeat it through the whole time you have the theater booked, so lots of people can experience it? It won't really lend itself to a recording.

I don't know how bored I'll get of telling the same story every time! Probably little things will vary even if I keep the same overall plan. Maybe I'll get tired of it and want to do something else. I'm not sure yet. Thirty days isn't really a long time, but it's a little bit of a long time to do the same thing every day.

Sometimes a performance that's popular enough runs for seasons or even years, though I think they sometimes swap out the performers as they move on to other things.

I really don't want to tell the same story for years. I'm not sure what I'll want in half a season! Maybe other Draak will come and sing stories if it pays well enough. Money only barely makes sense, though.

Oh?

...It's sort of like Shiny Things? Shiny Things you can't actually touch? I'll give three to someone for being allowed to hunt in their territory for ten days, or two for a history lesson, or a hundred and fifty for adjusting my white stripe so it's straighter and brighter that one time. But you can't actually touch money, it's just a number, and the part of me that likes having things says that doesn't count at all.

Oh, money's mostly not for having, it's just for spending.

She flicks her tail in a curvy sort of motion.

...Oh. That was a shrug. How long until I sing the story for a real crowd now?

There's time to go wander around for a bit, though maybe it'll make the most sense to get the train to the theater now and then wander around near the theater. It's in a park!

A park sounds excellent! Maybe the wind will even be calm enough I don't feel too scared to fly!

Maybe!

They depart the hotel and people take pictures of River and they go to the train station and wait for a cleared car; the station's security shuffles people from one to the adjacent ones and River can get on.

She knows how not to scratch the plastic this time! 

I feel a little bad people got squeezed out for me but not bad enough to get into a more crowded train car.

I don't think they mind too much. They get to take pictures and tell everybody they had a chance to see you!

If I think I can fly safely maybe I should go around a lot so more people can see me, if it's so exciting!

Sure! Up close is special, I think, but they'll still be thrilled.

Too bad there's only one of me and far, far too many of you to ever see everyone. The universe is so huge I could never ever see all of it, though. I just have to find parts of it I like!

I think that's what we're all doing in the long run!

The train whisks them to a less built up area, with buildings that can be reasonably called "houses" instead of "skyscrapers", though there are also apartment buildings five and six stories tall, and shopping two and three floors deep among it. Still, there are trees, and it's a short walk to the park, which covers a great big shallow slope on which people are picknicking and flying kites and throwing various recreational projectiles. At the bottom of the slope is the amphitheater, built out of severe and handsome gray stone and furnished with plasticky cushions on the tiers of seating around the circular center stage.

This is a much better part of the city. Still very crowded, but less oppressively so.

A long shallow downslope is an ideal takeoff point! She scurries to a clear spot at the top of the hill and with two long steps and two great flaps and a bit of a roar begins climbing through the air! She passes over the ampitheater and turns, coming back up the park's slope.