For all her claims of bravery, Karla was as frightened as any other human during the long flight to Belle Atlantica. Sharna couldn't help but take a perverse delight in her fear, and sometimes soared a little higher than she had to. They arrived at the capital city with no more incidents than the occasional wing muscle cramp from several weeks of inactivity. They were received as foreign dignitaries, which made it painfully clear that the Belle Atlanticans didn't often receive visitors from Deridia. The Draconic ambassadors who made life so easy for the dragons of Belle Atlantica were not there, so Sharna had no one to talk to. They seemed to be shunned, and conversations were few and brief. But they did have unlimited access to unlocked doors in the libraries and mage-halls, which was more than Sharna had expected. The co-empresses were, quite strangely, tolerable people (which was quite a complement from a dragon) but were too busy to talk to if it wasn't important. So Sharna, not for the first time in her life, was left to deal with a captor, in all but name, alone.

"Could this be something?" Karla asked, breaking Sharna's gloomy thoughts. She coughed as the dust she had brushed from the cover became airborne.

"Hmm. The History of the Crown Jewel? I suppose it could be. We've been through every other book in this monstrous library. These humans certainly believe in writing down spells."

"Yes" Karla was lost in the dusty volume. Sharna wandered off, but was called back five minutes later by a cry of frustration.

"How could we have been so blind? Karla was saying in so many words. She could be quite colorful when she chose.

"Well, spit it out," Sharna said. "We have eight days left, and no leads at all."

"It was right there the whole time!" shouted Karla, not hearing what Sharna had just said. (Which was quite a feat, considering the volume of a dragon's voice.)

"Would you stop ranting and tell me?" Sharna spat. Humans could be so frustrating sometimes!

"Listen to this. 'The key to a treasured symbol in Deridia, the jewel was given to Belle Atlantica as a symbol of peace.' There's a picture. Look what it is!" she said in a disgusted tone.

"That looks like the jewel embedded in the empresses crowns!" Sharna said, surprised.

"But there are two crowns and two jewels. Which is the right one?" groaned Karla.

"That should be easy to find out with a truth spell, but that's not the hard part. The hard part will be convincing the Belle Atlanticans we need to borrow one of their national treasures."