Captain Carson nodded. "We need to wait for Stripetail to straighten things out with the authorities before things get even worse."

Her face hardened as she heard Gabumon speak. "Indeed. I would consider yourselves lucky not to have had the local law enforcement react to the degree that I have had." Captain Carson poured herself some tea from Ms. Swimmer's pot.

"What happened?" Ms. Swimmer asked, refilling her own cup.

"I witnessed an attack — likely magical — against a government building. Apparently, there is an extreme prohibition on Muggles — what they call non-magicals — seeing magic. According to Stripetail and my crew's body cameras, they wiped our memories and deposited us outside Esbenshire. Luckily, Stripetail was able to restore our memories. I strongly urge you to avoid seeing magic if possible, but if it can't be helped, get away from the area as fast as you can."

Ms. Swimmer scowled. "That's awful. Why would they do such a thing?"

Captain Carson simply shrugged.

Ms. Swimmer let out a breath as she poured herself a steaming mug of green tea. "There is very obvious anti-non-Human sentiment around here. I wasn't allowed into any of the shops." She then held up her magic staff. "I nearly got this confiscated. Apparently, non-Humans are not allowed to possess magic wands or staves. I only got away because the Aurors — what they call the police around here — had to deal with a major emergency. As in, someone bombed a government office."

She shook her head as she drank her tea. "We've landed here at the worst time."

-----------------------

Memories surged through Captain Carson's head. She staggered slightly as the deleted memories surged back. Luckily, the dizziness was short-lived. Once she regained her bearings, she spoke. "First off, I think we should speak to the local authorities to get everything straightened out. Then we can perhaps talk to the locals and see if they have any information available on potentially friendly areas."

She then tapped her chin. "Unfortunately, there seems to be a substantial bias against non-magicals. While you get things cleared up with the magical authorities, I'll speak to the rest of the team and see if they have found anything."

Under the cover of a Disillusionment Charm, two Aurors were watching Stripetail and Captain Carson speak. They had seen him cast magic in front of a Muggle and conversing with her. The same Muggle that previous Aurors had obliviated after she had seen an attack on an Auror outpost by some Pinkstone supporters, no less!"

Captain Carson then began the walk back to Esbenshire. Once they figured she was far away enough, they revealed themselves to Stripetail.

"Good day, fellow Wizard," one of the Aurors said.

Captain Carson nodded. "Please do and could you do the same to my crew as well?"

She then held a hand to her chin. "But why would they wipe memories of non-magicals...which is what I assume 'Muggle' refers to." She then took the tablet from Stripetail and played back the recording of the attack.

"My suspicion is that we might have landed in a conflict between two wizarding factions. We need to talk to the authorities in charge so we don't end up with more non-magicals memory wiped or worse."

----------------------------

Ms. Swimmer had finally made her way into the hotel that the others had reserved. The Saurolophus, barely supported by her magic staff, stumbled into the room where Dixie, Warfang, Skylands, Ember, Emanu and Dulcy were staying. With a sigh, she collapsed onto the couch. "You would not believe what I just went through." She shook her head. "I normally don't like saying this, but the people on this planet are awful."

Captain Carson racked her brain. No matter how hard she tried, there was a gap between her landing the shuttle in Esbenshire and how she found herself standing outside Esbenshire.

She turned to her crew. None of them also knew what happened and they all had the same memory gap. At Stripetail's advice, she took out the tablet from one of her pockets and accessed the footage of both her and her crew's body cameras. The footage was banal, mostly of them piloting the shuttle and landing in Esbenshire. Stripetail's admonition to stay on guard and her command to the crew to explore further was clearly audible. It was then footage of the attack showed up, followed by the Auror speaking and her trying to reason with him. And then there was that bright flash. The next footage of the cameras showed that they were clearly incapacitated as the footage was completely still but pointing towards the sky.

(Pottermore)

"I don't remember," Captain Carson replied. She looked around the country road. All she saw were various farmers tending to their crops and similar. A wooden sign reading "Welcome to Esbenshire" was on the side of the road. "I think I'm outside a town called Esbenshire."

_______________________

(Myaardi)

"Unknown lifeforms detected. No hostility. Welcome to the Tower Town." The reply was from a humanoid cyborg.

"Well, they look rather mechanically inclined if I might say so myself," a woman in a yellow jumpsuit and carrying a large wrench replied.

Kire then spoke up. "Well, let's get the meals ready," he said, walking off to the main hall where a massive dining table awaited them. On the table were a variety of dishes ranging from roasted birds to assorted seafood dishes.

"Well, I guess we should dig in," he said.

"I helped make them!" a young boy replied. He had on an angler's hat and a tackle box secured to his waist.

"Jimmy, you just caught the fish!" a man in an apron replied as he poured out some beer for everyone.

"Why don't you go to the jungle and hold a fishing rod in one hand while throwing frost daggerfish at bats trying to eat you with the other?"

"Let's just eat and then we can talk," Kire replied as he took a seat.

Captain Carson and a small retinue of hers walked down the streets of Esbenshire. All around her, she could feel a strange prickling sensation at the back of her neck. She had no idea if that was the result of the magic in the air or if she was picking up the tension. She also noticed a small shack around with of several men and women dressed in robes akin to what Stripetail wore but they all wore a patch depicting a large "M" bisected by a magic wand emitting rays of light. She assumed them to be law enforcement or military but decided against approaching.

Suddenly, an SUV sped close to the building. The window rolled down and she heard someone shout "Reducto!". The subsequent explosion was far enough that she was not harmed but the explosion stunned her slightly. She immediately ordered her crew to leave the area as she began running. Already, she could hear incantations being cast and spells being fired. It was then that a popping noise made her turn around. Two men dressed like those crewing the hut appeared behind her. Beyond the two men, the battle raged and she saw some people who wore no uniforms but were clearly using magic as they had magic wands (even odder was that some of them were using crossbows).

"Sorry about that, but even Muggles who arrive from off-world are not permitted to see magic," one of the men said.

"This is a misunderstanding," Captain Carson began. "I did not intend to see magic. Let me talk to my commanding officer and things will be sorted out."

"Obliviate!"

The last thing Captain Carson saw was bright white flash.

-----------------------------

Next to the decree, a moving portrait of a well-dressed man in a wizard's robe and the classic pointed hat was posted. The decree read "Cornelius Wittham. Wanted for thirty counts of violating the Statute of Secrecy. Deliver all tips to the nearest Auror. You will be rewarded. The Ministry of Magic thanks you for keeping Esbenshire safe for Magicfolk."

Strangely enough, the Spirarian guard next to him only saw a bare lamppost. Likely due to the enchantments that prevented Muggles from seeing such magical items.

(Pottermore)

The group landed in Esbenshire, which was a bucolic country farming town. As it were, they had to land on a local farmer's fields.

Captain Carson stepped out and headed to the farmhouse. She knocked on the door.

"What do you want?" the voice that came out from behind the door was harsh and demanding.

"My apologies, Sir, but we had to land our ships somewhere. We will compensate you for any damage caused to your crops," she said.

"Fine. Just don't let them catch you."

At the mention of "them", an unpleasant sensation arose in Captain Carson's stomach. She made a mental note to investigate it.

----------------------

Meanwhile, two Aurors disguised as birdwatchers were watching Stripetail and his retinue.

One of them used an self-writing quill to note down the appearance of the arrivals.

In particular, they took note of Stripetail and Ms. Swimmer.

______________________

(Myaardi)

The ship slowly descended through the atmosphere with the solar knight alongside them. Once they broke through the cloud cover, they were able to see a veritable patchwork of terrain.

Chasms of dark purple rock, plains with cyan grass with yellow and pink trees all marked the landscape in an seemingly random pattern. The more "normal" terrain followed a more sensible distribution. And of course, several floating islands were visible.

And clustered around enormous stone tower set in the middle of a grassy plain, were several small houses that clearly made up a village.

Once the shuttles had landed in the grassy plain, the solar knight landed next to them.

"Greetings, travelers," the knight said, taking off his glowing helm, revealing a young man with sand colored hair. Despite his otherwise Human appearance, there was something distinctly inhuman about him.

(Pottermore)

Spire of Winter dropped out of hyperspace just around the planet's orbit.

Captain Carson sent a request for the ship to land but she was informed that no spaceport could accomodate such a large vessel. As a result, they would land via the much smaller shuttles.

A preliminary planetary scan showed that the atmosphere was Earth-like and perfectly breathable with no toxins or pathogens. It was more magical than Earth but the levels were not high enough to warrant shielding.

Captain Carson was seated in one of the shuttles as the pilot. She waited for the rest of the group to arrive before she launched and entered the atmosphere.

----------------------------------

(Myaardi)

Myaardi was a verdant world with large islands scattered around a great sea. The shuttle's scanners (which were as advanced as the ones aboard Spire) showed that the atmosphere was safe to breathe and there were no pathogens or toxins. Strangely, there were no radio transmissions at all emanating from the planet. And of course, no satellites or space debris surrounded them.

"Hmm. Perhaps they have not yet reached the stage of spaceflight?" Mr. Bigmouth said as he looked out the virtual viewport.

"Bogey incoming!" the pilot exclaimed.

"I stand corrected."

"It's not a spacecraft?

"What!?" The exclamation by all the passengers was simultaneous.

"Well, what is it?"

The pilot said nothing but shared the video feed with the passengers.

"What the f---!?" Deimos exclaimed.

"Is that...a man?" Dr. Zanasiu asked.

The view screen showed what could only be described as a knight clad in armor that glowed brilliantly like a stellar flare. Even stranger was that the on the knight's back were two enormous wings where the "feathers" roiled and looped like miniature stellar prominences.  In the knight's hand was a glowing spear that appeared to have been forged from a star itself.

"Looks like it," the pilot said in disbelief. "But we're 100 km from the planet!"

The solar knight pointed with his spear to the void of space. And then he pointed to the planet with a finger and then pointed to himself.

"What's he saying?" Deimos asked.

"I think he's asking us to either leave or we can go the planet with him escorting us," Mr. Bigmouth said.

"Well," the pilot replied. "We're heading to the planet per Captain Carson and Lord Stripetail." The pilot used the ship's thrusters to approximate a nod and slowly headed towards Myaardi.

The solar knight nodded and flew alongside the shuttle as it began to enter the planet's atmosphere.

Ms. Swimmer nodded. "Very well, I am prepared for the mission," she said, finishing off her cup of tea.

-------------------------

Captain Carson nodded. "Yes, but we should not shoot first. The last thing we need is an entire magical planet hostile at us. Now, are there any questions?"

She looked around the room.

"Lord Stripetail," Ms. Swimmer said. "As you are aware. my magical capabilities are artificial as they are a product of my magical artifacts. The essential water that I've been consuming merely grants me accelerated healing."

-------------------------

"Very well," Captain Carson said as she projected some data from Briggins about Myaardi on the wall. "According to Briggins, this is a magic rich world with very unusual climate conditions as well as floating islands." She looked at Mr. Bigmouth. "The planet itself is very small and as a result, there are no major settlements with the exception of a large tower town."

"Are the inhabitants hostile?" Deimos asked.

"Well, no. However, they will naturally be distrustful of outsiders as they have been fighting various beings warped by the dark magic emanating from some parts of the biome."

"Is technophobia or anti-nonmagic sentiment an issue?" Dr. Zanasiu asked.

Captain Carson brought up another slide from Briggins's research. "From what Briggins sent me, no. Indeed, there are some technological elements there but magic use seems to be the majority."