In the city that doesn't exist

From all over hell and creation

My first impression of the bar as I made my way through was that it was crowded, but surprisingly quiet. That wasn't to say that it wasn't loud, but it just wasn't as loud as I would expect from a bar. It was clean, and smelled nice (for a bar). Just as I made it to the counter, shouting broke out across the room. It was centered around a... pool table? Huh, I thought, seems like a poor choice of game for a bar on a ship.

The bartender noticed me looking. "It's on a gyroscope," she called over the noise. "So even with the movement of the ship, the table stays steady."

"Yeah, I was wondering about that. Are you Morgan?"

"Ah, so you're Lee's newest stray. I'm Megan, Morgan's my sister." She turned around and yelled to the other end of the bar, "Morgan!" then turned back to me. "Anything I can get you?"

"No thanks. But, uh, stray?"

"Oh, yeah, we call pretty much anyone who's been looped into some sort of a professional or semi-professional relationship with Lee her strays. It's not supposed to sound offensive, if that's how you took it," Megan said.

"I didn't take it as offensive, I was just surprised."

"Alright, I'm here." A woman who was obviously related to Megan shoved her gently aside. "Go take care of customers Meg, I've got this. You Fern?" she asked me.

"Yeah."

"Okay, good." She rummaged around under the counter. "Ah, here they are." She pulled out a small wooden slab with a stylus, an earpiece, and a recorder. "Do you know how to use any of this?"

"Yeah, I've used it all before," I said. "No problem."

"That's good, I'm not too sure how most of this works myself-- at least, not sure enough to explain how to use them," Morgan said just as a man came up to the bar. "Meg--" she started, but Megan was busy. "Sorry Fern, I have to help this guy."

"Go ahead, I don't mind," I said.

Morgan nodded and turned to the man. "How can I help you?"

"Where do I go to move to another world? The ol' egg's gonna hatch soon and I don't wanna be there for that."

"Wait, egg?" Morgan asked. I shrugged, just as clueless.

The man looked confused about our reaction. "Yeah, egg, orbits Sun dragon? What do you call here?" He paused. "Do you have name?"

"Planet?" Morgan and I guessed simultaneously.

"Yes!" the man said, "That's it, planet! Could not remember what they're called here. It's gonna hatch, blow up I think you would say." The man was definitely not from anywhere I knew.

Morgan grinned. "And here I was thinking you were afraid of having kids," she joked. "You're gonna want to go to the Directory for that, but I'm not sure if they'll allow for a permanent move." She gave him directions and turned back to me. "You look confused."

"I really am."

"Megan served someone from the same place last week, they had the same reason for moving. She told me the story, I didn't actually hear the conversation, so I didn't immediately recognize it now. Anyway, where he comes from, their creation myth is that giant dragons came out of the Rift and formed the stars, and when they laid eggs, the eggs were planets. Whenever a planet starts having a bunch of massive natural disasters all over in quick succession, they say the egg is hatching and about to explode and release the dragon."

"I hope I don't hear more interesting stuff like that, cause I'll wanna record it and never get my assignment done."

"Well, Lee's way ahead of you there, she gave you a tablet with two compartments because she knew you'd hear things like that and might want to take notes on them." She grinned at me and I made some effort to control my excitement and look sane. "Now, I checked the recorder to see if it works, and it does, but I have no clue how to delete the recordings, 'cause I've only ever used one once before, so it's still on there. You may wanna listen to it though, it's pretty interesting."