Diwa slunk down the treehouse, ready to raise trouble with Rokirith. As soon as she saw him lazing about on the platform built specially for him, her heart went soft. The iconic fur of a ring-tailed lemur dangled from his mouth. As if knowing the effect which he had on her, Sage Rokirith gave a coy tilt of his horns and slurped the lemur's tail into his mouth. "Come eat your share. I saved you half."

Already, Diwa had snacked on some small game during her hunting excursion. Her wings ruffled, but she primly stuck up her snout. "Who says I want to eat with you tonight?"

"Why else did you come down here?" Sage Rokirith spread his wings in the little space that the trees allowed. His crimson eyes flashed downward, readying for his drop off the platform. "If you don't need me for anything else, I can go—"

"Wait!" Diwa called breathlessly. She had yet to ask Rokirith to escort her and the dragonets back over the mountains—not that it was a huge ask given how he planned to fly there himself tomorrow. But first, before she could make that request, Diwa needed to set him straight with the dragonets. A rumble caught in her throat as she cleared it, recomposing herself to sound more serious. "We need to talk."

"Aren't we already?" Sage Rokirith lay his head alongside his claws. One of his wings lifted to offer her a spot beneath it, a rare invitation from the sage. Or do you mean like this? Even his willingness to engage with her over telepathy was unusual.

Her narrow mouth clamped shut, pouting. "You know I'm mad at you!"

Yes. And I also know this makes you less mad.

The emerald and ruby eyes of the two dragons blinked at each other. The good intentions to placate her ended up coaxing her to tap over to him. She lay down beneath his wing and let her chin thunk against the wooden boards. Don't undo all the progress I've made with Fia.

Elaborate.

You edged her on earlier today while I was hunting! Your cold, blackfire burns covered up the ones from her fire.

Sage Rokirith sighed. While he shook his head, he leaned into Diwa to nuzzle her. I admit. I tried playing with the dragonets, but Fia got too enthusiastic to outdo my fire. I take responsibility, which is why I covered her burn marks.

It took a dragon of strong, mental fortitude to lie through a direct, telepathic link. Diwa could feel the curtain behind which Rokirith attempted to hide the truth. I'm teaching her balance and control, Diwa insisted. The emotion theory of magic doesn't do that. You of all dragons should know how miserable it makes you!

I know the power it gives me, yes, Sage Rokirith said with a smug air about him.

Diwa narrowed her eyes. Power isn't everything.

In matters of life and death it is. She'll leave soon, unless you convince her to stay.

A growl peeled from Diwa's clenched fangs, expressing her disapproval of the angle taken by Sage Rokirith.

Anything else you're mad at me for? he asked, indifferent to her objection. The bold dragon lowered his snout closer to her snarling one.

Diwa was half-tempted to give him a little nip, just enough to say, Get out of my face.

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Although the sage obliged and leaned away from her, he reclined leisurely as though obligated to keep the nonchalant attitude.

As much as Diwa was concerned that Sage Rokirith took too much interest in the fire dragonette, she was equally troubled by how dismissive he was toward the older dragonet. At least, were you nice to Viliant while I was gone?

Nice enough. Sage Rokirith shrugged his wings.

How come I don't believe you?

This time, the sage only answered her with another shrug. Each time that he did so, his wings lay back over Diwa like a comfortable blanket. Anything else?

Her fangs poked into her lower jowl. Diwa doubted that this was an appropriate time to throw some knucklebones with him, but since he asked, she offered, Aside from that? Oh… just the usual.

Sage Rokirith slid his wing off her, stood up, and bowed his head over the platform's edge. His wings still drooped, unprepared for flight. "I should go," the sage said aloud.

"It's been ten years since we met," she spat, "yet you're still focused on that impossible goal! It's time to move on."

Before he abandoned her in the Malakow Jungle once more, Sage Rokirith turned back. "Then you must also remember the circumstances in which you happened across me."

"Yes." Diwa hung her head, leering at Rokirith through narrowed eyes. The sage owed his life to the healer, or else he would have succumbed to his wounds dealt by the human called Dragon Slayer. That same, violent man was the one who had injured the precious, pink dragonette. Sage Rokirith ought to have a strong affinity for the dragonets whom he saved, yet he regarded the black dragonet with hostility. Diwa tested these waters, remarking, "You know, Viliant is a survivor of your clan."

"You don't think I didn't know that already?" Rokirith growled, restraining his roar since the dragonet of discussion currently slept in the tree above. "He was just a hatchling back then, but he's grown recognizable enough. I can guess exactly whose son that is…. We lived and died by his orders! Of all the dragons that perished, of all the hatchlings that we lost, why did his son get to live?"

Diwa shrunk back against Sage Rokirith's outburst. Any bad blood between Rokirith and Viliant's father had nothing to do with the dragonet himself. "What happened back then…. Whatever choices his father made, that's not the boy's fault."

"I know," Sage Rokirith grumbled softly. His head tipped back to observe the dark underside of the jungle's leaves. "But why could it not have been mine?"

No words could console Rokirith, the dragon still grieving after a decade. Regret consumed him, a deserter in the final invasion of the Dagonir Clan. All his people were annihilated. His mate lost her life. And his only child, still an egg, fell into human hands. Diwa knew his story; the scars from that battle still etched across his body. He never let her heal them so that he would never forget.

The green dragoness—untouched by the ugliness of war, save for what the sage shared with her—could not truly appreciate the horrors that Rokirith had endured. Diwa laid her cheek alongside his weary claws. "I'm sorry I wasn't able to help you find him," she whispered, thinking of his son whom she never had the pleasure to meet.

"There was never any hope," Sage Rokirith said. "The humans… did something different with the eggs." Despite having shared most of his tragic past with her, he never revealed that detail.

Their heads hovered so close, Diwa could seamlessly reconnect with him telepathically. I'll go back with you there, she offered. I have business in the badlands. The dragonets need money for their travels, so I can help them gather rare ingredients.

Fine. We leave tomorrow, first light. Sage Rokirith paced back to the center of the platform, turned himself in a circle, and curled into a ball to sleep.

Diwa got up to retreat to her own bed in the treehouse, yet she gave pause with one claw poised in the air. Are you feeling okay, Roki? Do you want me to stay here?

No. I don't need your pity. Sage Rokirith lifted his head and resettled himself facing away from Diwa.

A raw feeling was left in her chest, and guilt overshadowed her mind. Diwa feared that she had erred in bringing up the past with Rokirith tonight, but at least they understood each other well enough to work together. Hopefully, the dragonets accompanying them over the mountains could lighten his spirits. For now, her tail disappeared amongst the leaves where she retreated into her treehouse till morning break.