The conversation started to go badly when Kerry, Douglas, and Vash all mentioned a thing that could talk back to them, but wasn’t a creature. Larrikan tried to catch Sakura’s eye; when he does he gives her a quizzical, “Really?” look. She just nods.
The drake is sure the foreigners are pulling some kind of weird joke on her, some kind of trick. She does not like it. She turns to Larrikan, and says, “You! Fox!” with a serious glare. “You’re local, aren’t you? You have sensible feet and dress right.”
Both Larrikan and Sakura jump at “Fox!” but Larrikan remains pinned in the drake’s intense and not friendly glare. His ears flick back, nervously, but he replies without whimpering, “Yes, ma’am.”
Glaring, the drake demands, “Do you believe these things?”
All eyes turn to Larrikan, and he nods vigorously, telling the drake, “Yes, Professor, I do! They’ve done amazing things!”
The whole crew looks relieved as Larrikan supports them.
Schnel’pkebaov’qkgard’dow harrumphs, with smoke and a flicker of fire in her breath, retorting, “I am not a professor here, merely a student, as I’d guess you are.” She mutters, something about, “Suck up.” and considers the group for a moment, deciding.
Douglas, Vash, and Kerry try to explain the devices, but Larrikan replies about things he knows, “I’m sorry, ma’am. I had assumed you were a professor – you seem so knowledgeable. It was intended to be respect.” He swallows, takes a breath, and continues, “I was going to go look at their ship, but it’s been taken, and they’re trying to get it back.”
While the others try and explain the strange machines, Larrikan tries to tug Sakura out of the room. He gets only a couple of steps – she is too brave to flee, and leave her companions, obviously – when the drake pins him to the floor with a sharp glare.
The news the ship is stolen seems to mollify the drake a little. Thinking about that, she asks what turns out to be a key question, “How big is it? How heavy?”
The quick, confident answer of, “About 30 meters long. About 150 tons.” takes a moment to sink in. Once the drake realizes the implications of that much machinery – that big a thing can fly! – she berates the foreigners about the damage this could cause.
Astoundingly to Larrikan, the travelers face down the drake. It is all he can do to not bolt, and stand there trembling, shedding nervously.
Larrikan is amazed that not only do the visitors face down the drake, they convince her they mean to fix the issue, and understand how important it is.
As the whole story comes out, the drake is astounded by the complexity of the mess the spacefarers are in. Seeing they really mean to stand up to all this she tells them, “You’ll need all the help you can get. If there’s anything a drake runt can do, you should ask.”
Conversation gets better after that. The drake shares sensible advice about the Wild Hunt (“Run Away!”) and asks what they will do next.
A visit with the dryads near where the ship was stolen, and to use unfathomable tech to talk to the missing ship are next.
The drake approves, and that they intend to start now. She wishes them well as they leave to visit the Silver Egg.