ETTING   OME   O   LFANDRA

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Saga and Christi's Journey part 4 - Homeland

   After learning that the component that Saga needed to open a portal to his Earth, HQ of the Alliance of Spacefaring Races, Saga asked something of Christi that he thought he would never have to ask a humanoid.

   "Christi, this may sound strange, but I need something from you."
   "What do you need from me?"
   "I need one of your feathers."
   "Ok, just take one. It's not like I have any shortage of them."

   Saga ran his hands(paws?) through her soft, white wings, looking for one of the looser feathers that wouldn't cause too much pain if he yanked it out. He eventually found one on her left wing, and as soon as he took it out, a fresh one replaced it, in the true Callian regenerative fashion.

   Saga proceeded to place the feather in the middle of the red 'X' on the ground, and then invoked the spell necessary to open the gate. As Saga predicted, the feather was incinerated in a blue flame, and the portal did open. After some short scrying to ensure that it actually  DID lead to Earth, Saga signaled Christi to follow him in.

   After the usual portal special effects, they land on a sign that reads "Welcome to Trenton", and several hovercar drivers slow down to stare, causing a pileup on the curb. other's just dismiss it as Saga's quirkiness. After making his report to the police on that particular incident, Saga and Christi are let go. Saga knew that the next step required would be to charter a starship, but Saga knew that no official transports ran that route. Thankfully, Saga had some "unofficial" contacts.

   Saga lead Christi to the local Starbucks (yep, still around in 3525) which he knew was frequented by a mercenary friend of his from when thaey ran Ops together. Christi looked around as they walked, asking many questions along the way about the Alliance, and why everyone called her a wierdo when she tried to hug them. Saga waited with her for about two hours, and suddenly, the merc stepped in.

   He was your sterotypical mercenary commander, wearing a full body armor suit, black gloves, a weapon-concealing treanchcoat. He had slightly mussed brown hair, looked liked he hadn't shaved in the past couple of days, and had a long scar running down from his eyebrow to his jaw. Being 6'3" also helped the image. Saga called over to him without hesitation.

   "Hey, Decker, how've you been, ya merc?"
   "Paid well, as always. It seems that anytime some Merchant Navy Captian needs escort, they call us first. So, what are you doin' in my neck of the universe, huh? Last I checked you were still in Alfandra with her--"  His expression twisted into utter disbelief. "WHEN THE @#%* DID SHE GET WINGS?!"
   "All right. You see, that's the problem. There was a major magical mishap there which caught us. We were transported to a different world where the ambient spiritual energy grew her some wings. What I need from you is safe transport back to Alfandra. Payment upon delivery."
   'Decker' quickly regained his composure, mainly because he *has* seen stranger things. "All right. Meet me at JFK spaceport tomorrow. I'll rent a hotel room for the both of you right now." He gets up,  and as he leaves, he shakes his head and mutters something about "blood pressure".
   Saga, being familiar with the city, was able to teleport himself and Christi to the hotel. As they enter, Decker tosses them the cardkey and says:
   "I hope you like sharing the same bed, kiddies, Ha!"
   As night fell, Saga pulled off his armor again, and put on some claw guards so he wouldn't shred anything (anyone) in his sleep. Christi went to bed in her uniform, explaining tjat it was quite comfy anyway. They slipped into the double bed together, and much to Christi's surprise, as soon as Saga fell asleep, he began to snuggle against her (carefully, of course). Christi stroked him for a while, and brushed away a tear that fell from his eye. She thought to herself:
   ~Ever since I met Saga, there was always something that just seemed wrong. He always spoke in such a detatched manner, he would never look at a female dragon directly, and he always just didn't seem to be 'all there'. Now it turns out that he was hiding something, and he's just been holding in all of his sadness for a great deal of time. I have to make him let it go. It's what's healthy for him.~

   The next day arrived without incident. Saga rearmored, left the room cardkey with the receptionist, and they called a hovercab to take them to the spaceport. Once there, Commander Decker directed them to the suttle that would take them to the ship which would bring them back to Alfandra.