In the middle of spring, Arya ordered a secret mission. Three of the smaller captured Zonian ships were taken into the now massive shipbuilding facility and joined together. A huge platform was placed over the decks of all three ships and locked into place. The platform was 200 feet across and 100 feet deep. Nobody knew what it was for, but they built it to orders. The center ship had its masts removed, but the two side ships still had their masts sticking up through the platform. All three still had their quarter decks and wind power. 12 tree-kin with the best wind affinities were sent on the mission, along with the Sovereign and two smaller ships loaded with guns. Captain Dirk commanded the Sovereign and knew what the mission was. They sailed westward at midday out of the bay, and no one knew what they were doing. A few sharp people noticed that Drogon, Jon Snow, and Qotho were missing the next day.
A couple of miles out to sea, Jon spotted the large deck sailing. A small group of goats was on the deck, and he managed to coax Drogon into landing there to eat. The giant platform ship became nearly unmanageable when Drogon moved forward off-center to cook and eat the goats. The whole thing tipped way forward, and thankfully the platform had a heavy metal area where the goats had been placed, or the platform would be cinders. The whole flotilla kept moving west, and they reached the becalmed zone. Once a day, Jon would take Drogon aloft, circling way up into the sky until even the dragon was lost from sight. Qotho rode with him on the first few trips up, but then stopped by choice. He said the climb up was too steep and he feared falling off. In the third week out, Jon landed and went to the captain's quarters right away. He told the captain they needed to change direction to the southwest for several days. On the third day they stopped, a storm was building. Dark clouds swirled around them, and the rain came in sheets. Drogon hugged the deck in the pouring rain, and this time his weight kept the platform ship from bouncing too much on the waves. The other three ships had it worse, and some damage was done to them, though it was quickly repaired.
The next morning, the sun rose on a bright, clear day. Jon called Qotho to ride with him, and they climbed in sharp circles upwards into the sky. Qotho hazarded a look down and could see the sea stretching out around them for 100's of miles. He saw the tiny boats way down below; they looked like ants. Looking upward, he could see a speck above them, and still they circled upwards. The air got colder as they climbed, and Drogon seemed to struggle a bit, as if the air was getting thinner and it took more effort to climb. Ar last they reached a strangly shaped piece of land up in the air, they could see waves of magic from underneath it, like the waves were holding it aloft. It was like a jagged chunk that was flat on top. They circled over the top, looking down on massive destruction. There were giant buildings everywhere on the acre or so of the flat top. But every one of them was smashed in. They landed in a clearing, what had maybe been a central park of some sort. Drogon was exhausted, so they dismounted and wandered around some. There was a building close by that didn't look like it had taken as much damage as the others. There was a huge piece of oily back rock stuck on one side of it.
They went in on one side where the outer wall had fallen completely away. They found strange devices everywhere, though many were broken. They also found bodies that had been crushed when the building had partially collapsed- well, not bodies, skeletons. They both had backpacks, so they gathered up anything that looked interesting. Qotho pointed out a glowing light on a wall, and he went to look at it. It was small and had a box on the bottom. A clear globe was giving off light. He moved it around some, and it came free, still glowing, so he stuffed it in his pack. Twice they went back to Drogon and emptied their packs into his side bags. On the last walk through, they found a room that was untouched by damage. On shelves, they found books and loaded them all up. On a small desk, there was a notebook about half full of strange writing. Jon grabbed a strangely shaped skull, and they returned to Drogon.
The sun was straight above their heads, and the dragon had moved a little into the shade of a broken building. They could feel themselves sweating, and their skin was close to burning, so they loaded up and goaded Drogon into flight. Drogon wanted to dive straight down, but Jon made him drift lower in slow, lazy circles. As they got about halfway down, Qotho pointed to the west below them. There was a large ship drifting from the west. As they got lower, they could see people lying on the deck. Jon directed Drogon to return to the platform ship, and they unloaded the bags. Jon went and told the captain about the ship to the west, and the flotilla headed west to meet it.