Drifting Dragons vol. 10

Things start off with the christening of Brno’s new ship and while he’s making a grand speech about peace between man and dragon, the crew of the Quin Zaza is gorging themselves on the buffet that’s been provided.  It’s basically what you’d expect from the series, even if it is nice to see that Mika cleans up well.  Then things take a turn after Vannie disappears during the party after she sees a ship she recognizes.  It turns out that it’s a smuggling ship that has roots in her home country of Arena which is currently in the middle of a civil war.  Though Capt. Crocco makes some noises about how she’s an adult and this was her choice, he’s quickly and sentimentally persuaded by the crew to allow some of them to go off after her.  This involves selecting a small crew of five to take an experimental ship to the country and find out just why Vannie left and if she’s all right.

It’s been hinted for a while that Vannie’s history is more of a mystery than the rest of the cast’s and we finally get some answers regarding it here.  Not a whole lot, though, and her role in the civil war isn’t made entirely clear by the end of the volume.  That’s because once the volume’s setting switches to Arena, we’re following the members of the Quin Zaza’s crew who made the trip as it turns out their skills as drakers are going to be needed here.  Though there’s a civil war on, the interference of a dragon has made it hard for both sides to continue fighting.  The thinking now is that whichever side is able to take out this dragon will be able to rally the survivors on the island to take out the other faction.  It’s a good setup for this arc, especially as it potentially has Vannie at odds with her former(?) crew members.  This series hasn’t been one for serious drama, so I’m expecting to see more interesting things come from the dragon hunt than the palace intrigue sketched out here.