10 October 2018 (Talking to Dragons)
Millie asks about the proper care of Horatio: “Enough fire, but not too much” (there’s something about a balance between the solid and the plasma). The knights and other creatures seen at Great Queen Street were probably “fay”, and not particularly related to this dream-realm: they are capable of deception, but not of invention. Instead, they improve their realm by borrowing humans (traditionally artists, poets, and so on).
The dragon is unaware of any other dragons keeping an eye on knights and such like. It has no desire to stop doing this work. (Or to continue to do it?) It chose these particular knights because of a complex combination of factors, in part including impact on society, but it sounds as though æsthetic considerations came into it too. It does not have foreknowledge of magical threats, though it can make predictions: “a rising tide drowns all rats”.
There have been changes in the level of magic before, though to call them “cycles” would imply too much structure. It is world-wide “at the very least”. Is it subject to analysis by mathematics? Everything is, with sufficiently advanced mathematics. Finally, Gertrude confirms that the dragon does not plan to return to testing knights any time soon.
Things go hazy, and the group find themselves lying in Audrey’s front room, on some of her spare bedding (which they hadn’t got out).
They compose a message to Ramsey: that Rebecca Isaacs is the ring-leader of this group (and has two bodyguards), that the summoning has been stopped for now but that the knowledge of how to do it is important; that she should be treated with extreme caution.
They retire to bed, but keep watches.