“See what I mean? I cheated, not the dogs cheated.”

Martin looked at the broadsheet and smirked. “This is what’s got you grumpy? Hey, Matthew, take a look at this!”

Martin placed the paper atop Matthew’s academic journal.

“Hm.” Matthew raised an eyebrow at the broadsheet then placed it on the table.

The cover of the Blackwall Undertaking showed an enormous, scaly beast rising out of the ground and shrugging off a rural town like an ox a blanket. DR. ROBERT LUMEN DISCUSSES SUBTERRANEAN DRAGONS AT WILDE UNIVERSITY, the headline proclaimed.

“It’s an imaginative scene, if nothing else.” Matthew said.

Joseph tapped the cover with his finger. “Just look at this shameless sensationalism! Shoddy! I would have expected something like this from out of Illustrated Phantom Stories, but this is the Blackwall Undertaking! It’s an informative publication, or it’s supposed to be!”

Joseph turned to Martin. “You’ve seen what the Dyeus culture’s old sparring partners look like with your own eyes. Do they look anything like this?”

“This drawing resembles a real vovin in the same way a child’s stick figure drawing resembles a man. That is to say it portrays the general shape without capturing any of the detail.”

Joseph rolled his eyes. “You could have just said no.”

He tapped the cover again as if he could strike the dragon itself. “It wouldn’t be so bad if it was just an inaccurate depiction of a dragon, but they had to go and mix in some fear mongering. Look at our vovin gentleman here, tossing a whole town like he was an angry Atlas! You two remember what Bob’s presentation was like and how many people kept asking him “Will the dragons one day wake up and overturn our cities?” Poor Bob, I actually felt bad for him. They actually kept changing up how it was asked, but they kept asking the same thing. “What would happen if the dragons woke up? How much destruction could an awakened dragon cause? How much dirt would a dragon have to displace to create an earthquake?” You’d think they wanted the dragons to scrape away our civilization with the way they talked!”

“Fear naturally follows from feelings of powerlessness.” Matthew said. “Robert should have expected all those questions after he likened the powers of the vovin to the Greek gods. I don’t know why he grimaced when the inevitable happened.”

“No, I have to take Bob’s side here. The distance between our little crust of civilization and the dragons slumbering far below our feet is several thousand times that of the distance between…well, here and Japan, to give an example.”

‘Does Japan have giant dragons?” Matthew asked.

“Does it matter? Look, the world of Fairy has dragons, doesn’t it? And ogres, and nixies, and trolls, and all sorts of large, dangerous beasties, right? But no one cares about them, because Fairy is beyond the farthest star, as they say”

“Metaphysically speaking, Fairy is beyond the farthest star.” Martin said. “But also closer than your own shadow.”

Joseph rolled his eyes. “Oh, and here comes the magic man to give his take, eh?”

“I’m simply giving you the whole quote. “Fairy is beyond the farthest star, but closer than your own shadow,” that was Dr. Hado, remember? He lectured on the war between the Seelie and Unseelie Courts at Wilde University? Come on, surely you remember, we were in the audience!”

“Don’t blame me for daydreaming.” Joseph said. “That was an awfully dry presentation. My eyes were glazing over by the time Dr. Hado got to the reign of Lugh.”

Joseph picked up the broadsheet, crumpled it up in his hand, and tossed it in a bin.

“Poor old lizard tyrants,” he said. “I wonder what they would think about this?”

Martin chuckled.

Joseph and Matthew looked at him.

“Oh. Sorry. I just found it funny. I’ve actually been inside their thoughts, you see. I’ve been inside the dreams of a vovin.”

“You never told us that.” Matthew said.

“I haven’t?” Martin sometimes forgot what he had and hadn’t told his friends about his previous life.

“No.” Joseph answered.

“Sorry. I was once inside the dreams of a vovin named Fiadh.”

Martin sipped his coffee.

“So what are we going to do first today?” he asked. “Do we head to Furnivall Manor up in Cumberland and investigate reports of a manes girl in the moors or do we go to Harrogate to see into their doppleganger business?”

“Oh come now, boy.” Joseph said. “You can’t just bring up being inside the dreams of a dragon at breakfast and leave it at that! What was it like?”

“Indescribable.”

“You can describe it.”

“I just did. Indescribable is a description.”

“It is not!” Joseph turned to Matthew. “Is indescribable a description?”

“Perhaps.” Matthew answered. “But not a sufficient one. Martin, surely someone with your creativity can describe it more thoroughly than that?”

“I’m sorry, but I cannot. My physical senses were not utilized inside the dreams of Fiadh. I cannot relate what I saw, what I felt, what I touched.”

“Let’s start with something simple then.” Joseph said. “Is it bright inside a dragon’s mind or is it dark?”

“Neither.”

“So like a gray color?”

“No.”

“I’m starting to think you’re having a little fun here.”

“I’m not.”

“Boy, we’re not asking for you to draw us a painting, we just want to know what it’s like.”

“No, no, it’s no good. I can’t relate even the slightest detail without it being as grossly inaccurate as that drawing you wadded up and tossed.”

“Go ahead and be inaccurate, then.”

“No. I saw what you did to the last inaccurate image.”

“I promise I won’t wad you up and toss you in the bin.”

“No. I simply do not have the words to describe the dreams of a dragon, if there even are words.”

“Ah, you’re no fun.”

A look of realization flashed over Martin’s face. He snapped his fingers. “You know what this is? This is the sacrifice of Odin.”

“Come again?” Joseph asked.