Our loyalties often influence our actions.

Ideally, loyalty should be earned. However, sometimes it is forced through coercion, fear, or circumstances.

But, the real question is not how do we form loyalties, but rather how do we keep them. What is it that causes us to remain loyal to a person, a group, a brand, or a cause?

The bonds of loyalty can be as strong as steel or they can be loose and amorphous like silly string. Loyalty can last for an eternity or dissolve after a task or mission completes.

Also, are we loyal to people because they are loyal to us, or do we remain loyal to people despite where their loyalties lie? And is loyalty a quality or a flaw?

On the surface, it would seem that being loyal to a friend or a loved one would be one of the best expressions of love that you could offer another person. But what happens when their interests are no longer your interests? What do you do when you thought that the person you admired or were devoted to is not who you thought they were at all? Do you press through and hold on tight, reinforcing the pledge you’ve made to them and to yourself to remain loyal? Or do you cut your losses and move on to greener pastures?

Your answers are personal and individual. However, crises, pressure, destruction, and danger often bring these questions to the forefront.

Ayanna is deeply loyal to the ones she loves, but what does she do when these loyalties are strained? In the age of dragons, some questions don’t lend themselves to easy answers.