The City of Bandari An entry into "A Safe Haven", the Fifth Anniversary Challenge, Category A Also Chapter 7 of the Chronicles of Hesperia   The druid Henjin Quilones, Galaria the former princess, and Hamisha the returning exile stepped out of the rowboat and began making their way up the dock and onto the shore. They had to duck around several sharks hanging by their tails on the beach, strung up by the fisherman who lived in the house by the dock. Before them spread the City of Bandari, the jewel of Mwamba. Hamisha, who was leading the way, paused to take it all in, tears beginning to form in the corners of her eyes. She recognized so many faces that she had not seen in hundreds of years, not since the council of this city had voted to send her away.  They had seen the Bahari, the master fisherman at work hauling in his nets as they tied up at the dock.  Ahead of them was Chuma, smithing away at something at his forge.  Winda, the elf scout, was standing up on a balcony overlooking the market, but her attention was fixed on something happening around the corner of the massive building on the hill.  "That is the dragon hatchery," Hamisha told the others. "The dragons come here and lay their eggs, and then the elves take the best care of them until they hatch. They are very watchful and observant, too. Inside that building are sand pits kept at the precisely correct temperatures to maintain optimal egg health. The gnomes of this city tend to some sort of subterranean network of pipes that bring hot steam under the sand; there is always vapor of some kind coming out of the holes behind the hatchery." "But up on the side of the building," continued Hamisha, "You can see a sight that is quite rare; an adult male dragon meeting his hatchling for the first time! That is Nyeusimoto, and he is the dragon companion of Lord Mkuu, one of the elf princes of the land." "Watch your step in the market here. The sellers can be very pushy; or at least, the humans of three hundred years ago were. I doubt much has changed in the intervening time." "And whatever you do, do not mess with the aelfcats or the dragon knights, or step in the way of a centaur!" "It is good to be home."     More pictures: ___________________________________________________________________________________ ....................................................................................................................................................................... C&C welcome! This one was light on story, heavy on build. For those curious about the figures seen throughout the build, my category B CMF series will shed some light on most of them, besides the aelfcats, who are new.  This is by far my largest build, being about 100x100 studs, making it four times the size of my previous record, and I have been working on it since July or August. It was hard getting good shots of it, and I really only had one chance at pictures, as it took an hour or more to move it from my LEGO table to my outdoor photo site and re-build the sections, and then moving it back again resulted in stuff breaking. Fitting all that into the kids' nap time is not easy. Ah well. Someday it is my dream to have a designated photography studio in my house, or at least nice gear (besides just a camera), but that will have to wait until I win the lottery. For now it will be good to take this apart and have bricks to build other things finally.