Rufus swims behind me as we travel along the river bottom. For me, swimming too close to the surface isn't a good idea. "This place is nice" Rufus attempts. He's right. A lot of this excursion consisted of him trying to convince to stay in the Loch we're in. Not specifically this one, whichever one we were in at the time.

I agree, it is pretty nice.

"Yeah, I like it"

"Really?" He says, surprised.

"Yeah, I like it. I'm gonna stay here."

"Hallelujah!" Rufus exclaims as electricity sparks from his tail.

"Hey, you're tail's sparking," I tell him.

He makes it spark more "I don't care, we are finally done" I snort at his antics.

He sings Hallelujah as we swim back to grab my belongings.

"Thunk" followed by a "Sqwaw" comes outside of my building.

I sigh in relief that the Carbon Fiberglass worked. I walk to another window and poke my head out to see a rainbow collection of Harpies, madly flapping their feathers, trying to break through our windows.

"Go around, or hell go above. We've been over this I don't know how many times I've told you, don't go through our windows." I close the window as I hear another thunk.

I shake my head. Damn degenerates. They understand me though. We've talked before. They just have no interest in listening to me.

I go back to sorting books in our library.

I carry a stack of books over to the ladder.

"Thunk" hits the window.

I climb upward

"thunk"

I climb to the top and start putting some of the books away. This library is magical. Both metaphorically and physically. Countless books were contained within these walls; some were filled with spells, some filled with potions, and others contained tales of the noble heroes of our realm.

I put the last book on the shelf. I step down completely and the window shatters followed by a tidal wave of Harpies.

"No! Out!" I yell. One dives for me so quickly reach into my pouch of magic powder in my hip pocket. I pull the sand-colored pouch up and grab a pinch of it as I flick powder into his face. He instantly freezes midair, floating around mid-air in a haze.

I roll to the next main ground, pulling out a handful as I come back up off the ground. I toss it into the middle and they freeze similar to the first Harpie as I get the last of the Harpies.

"No fair" One of them says, still dazed.

"Out, Out now!" I command. They shuffle out.

"Damn birds" I mutter as I attempt to cast a spell on the window to keep the Harpies out.

"What advantages do four legs actually achieve?" Raleigh, a forest green mountain wyvern asks Albert, an orange and yellow dragon.

"Stability, strength, weight," Albert responds.

"How does weight come into this equation?" Raleigh questions.

"More weight, more strength" Albert answers. "Big deal, We breathe fire and fly."

"Giants," Albert says.

"light their feet on fire and they'll fall" Raleigh counters.

"Maybe, but giant's feet are surprisingly fire retardant"

Nickel, a sky-blue coastal wyvern chimes in "Only because of toe fungus". Nickel is off to the side trying to balance on a small boulder.

"Maybe it's hard for a dragon" Raleigh goads.

"Okay, now you're using baseless claims"

Raleigh responds "I can take down a dragon by myself".

Albert dismisses him "Frankly I don't care. Four legs give me more push off from the ground, more claws for attacking from above, and a generally more stable frame because of four points of contact."

Raleigh takes a moment but then responds with points of his own.

"Okay, Two legs make it easier for me to land on ledges, less weight so I can fly faster when in the air, and generally take up less space, making forest flying easier."

Felix a brown dragon laying on the ground, curled up, decides to ask "Why does this matter?"

"Who is the evolutionary apex?" Raleigh responds.

"We don't eat each other, I don't understand the reason you need to decide this" Felix counters.

"Why do we debate?" Raleigh asks rhetorically. "Why do we do sports?" Albert adds. "Why do we compete at all?" Raleigh adds. "One of us has to be better" Albert finishes. Raleigh nods in agreement.