Chapter 76: A Grand Tour

Map of the route of the Grand Tour. Initial path is in red, return trip is in blue.

## Appearances

### Locations

Rouen
Uppsala
Constantinople
Western Steppes
Lixbuna
Berk
Bun Ilidh
Rome

*The early Dragon Mail stations were an earnest and generally successful effort in standardization; Haddock and Ingerman explicitly acknowledged the degree to which their designs were inspired by the Imperial Roman* Castrum *system of standardized layouts. Having experimented with the design in the earliest mail stations in the Alban Isles and Norway, Haddock and his initial construction expedition were able to build the mainland continental stations extremely quickly, typically completing each within a matter of days. Once the physical stations were built, the local merchant partnerships would take over with maintenance, staffing, and other logistical needs.*

*These early stations, while they had their problems, were generally well-designed, featuring a landing platform on the roof, housing for the staff, temporary quarters for dragons and riders, resting and feeding stations for the dragons, and mail intake and output offices. Due to space requirements, they were initially built outside of the local city walls or municipal limits, but quickly accrued settlement in their immediate vicinity, as additional shops and services found the traffic going to and from the mail station to be a natural draw.*

*—Corpus Historiae Berkiae, 1396*

## Major Events

* Esther witnesses the dragon riders arriving in Rouen to build a Dragon Mail station, and meets Heather and Fishlegs.
* Tuffnut meets Dogsbreath and Inga, and hears their side of the story.
* Empress Zoe dies. Sigurd witnesses Empress Theodora sentence several men to death for homosexuality and other crimes.
* Drago proposes to the Pecheneg Kagan that they use the dragons to conquer rather than simply destroy.
* In Lixbuna, Heather and Fishlegs meet with Basir and learn about the oleander poison.
* Magnus visits Stoick and asks for a loan to fund his kingdoms. He also proposes that one of his children and Astrid's child be encouraged to marry in the future.
* Mildew leaves Bun Ilidh to join Mac Bethad's fleet.
* In Rome, Alvin and Delilah spread more false anti-Hooligan propaganda, only to hear that the dragon riders are arriving in the city.

## Characters

### Humans

* Esther bat Rivkah (first appearance)
* Yitzhak ben Gili
* Heather
* Fishlegs clan Ingerman
* Tuffnut Thicknutsson
* Dogsbreath Rolfsson
* Balli Vidkunnsson
* Vidkunn Guthhersson
* Inga Roswynnsdóttir
* Sigurd Trondsson
* Demetrius Pachis
* Theodora Porphyrogenita
* Harald Sigurdsson
* Gunnar Bræsisson
* Drago Bludvist
* Pecheneg Kagan
* Hiba
* Basir Al-Andalusi
* Astrid Hákonsdóttir clan Haddock
* Wulfhild of Norway
* Stoick the Vast
* Magnus the Good
* Kerr
* Mildew
* Basil Spondyles
* Gudmund Hallvarsson
* Unnamed Roman bureaucrat
* Adalwin ua Imair
* Cardinalis Ugo
* Delilah

### Dragons

* Meatlug
* Swift
* Redsnout
* Hookfang
* Stormfly
* Mistletoe
* Mold

## Analysis

### Epigraph Tie-In

* The epigraph talks about the earliest Dragon Mail stations. The chapter shows Berk sending an expedition to build those Dragon Mail stations.