They stood in a loose circle amid fractured stone and collapsed streets, the ruined city stretching outward in silent witness as they began to speak.
No one rushed to fill the quiet. What they had found felt heavy and each of them needed a moment to decide where to begin.
Erend decided to speak first.
"We all found out that the Dragons weren't conquerors here," he said, eyes drifting back toward the plaza he had examined. "At least not at the start. Everything I saw pointed to structure, the Dragon has authority. They weren't raging or dominating. They were anchoring the city and holding it together." He clenched his fingers slightly. "But something changed. The later carvings saying that the people weren't aligned anymore. Some of them still faced the Dragons but the others turned away."
Aesa nodded, taking his words and adding to them.
