Of course, the first place he went was that big building with the surrounding penlike structures. It naturally drew the eye and their attention, since the tall building loomed over the surrounding structures by a full story. He followed the sound of voices when he got there, straight to one of the “pens,” where all the rest had gathered.

“. . . workshops,” Ari was saying judiciously, as he kicked through bits of rubble embedded in the sand.

Kaleth nodded. “I would guess the same,” he said. “As we have been looking through the ruins, I’ve found broken tools, half-finished projects. I agree that these were all temple workshops, and you know what that means. This was a great temple at one time, one that had many workshops making statues of the gods, and offerings. These workshops must have had roofs of palm-leaf thatch, so when the sand overwhelmed this place, what little was left of the roofs crumbled away to nothing.”

Kiron joined them, noting that Ari’s prodding toe had turned up a half-finished statue of the god Haras in his falcon form. It seemed Kaleth’s guess was correct.

“Which suggests to me that at one point there was a palm oasis here, too,” Ari replied, stooping to pick up the statue and turn it over in his strong hands. “What was here once, we can build again. And meanwhile, if you are sure the god Haras will not begrudge us living room—”

“Very sure,” Kaleth replied, with a nod. “As sure as I have ever been of anything. These workshops can be made into pens, as you have been suggesting, and that big enclosure that was probably a corral for sacrificial cattle can be made into a nursery for little ones.”

“Little ones?” Kiron felt it was time to make his presence known.

Kaleth favored Kiron with a half smile, though the smile didn’t reach his eyes this time. “You don’t think the Magi are going to leave us alone forever, do you? One day, we will need Jousters to fly to defend Sanctuary, I fear.”

As a matter of fact, he had hoped for something of the sort, but it appeared that his hopes were in vain.

“As he told us this morning, Kaleth says that we are soon to see our population increase,” Ari said. “And then—well, he has a plan, and I will let him explain it to everyone when the time is right.”

“But part of that is that we’re going to have dragonets again, and new Jousters to train, is that it? And this will be soon?” Kiron persisted.

“Absolutely,” Kaleth replied. He looked so sure of himself that any doubts Kiron might have had faded away.

“But we haven’t any dragons other than Kashet who are of breeding age,” he pointed out. “If we’re going to be hatching our own and raising them from the egg—”