Viliant dashed after the dragoness. Both humans and dragons gathered in greater numbers as they approached the focal point of the city's festivities for the day. While Diwa flew overhead, he zigzagged through the thickening crowd of people on the ground. It became harder for him to run around the humans in a wide berth. Their legs formed a wall of sticks in constant flux with their steps. Sometimes his claws scraped to a stop so that he could wait to slip between them. Viliant soon lost sight of Diwa amid the flock of dragons in the sky.

More dragons also took up space on the ground. Viliant noticed a greater variety in species than elsewhere in Malakow's capital. Some vast dragons like Rokirith dwarfed the native jungle ones, except these had brilliant scales of white or light blue. Other long, skinny dragons had vibrant scales of yellow and amber. A lone, red dragon had deep blue eyes, intense as the ocean which they were headed. There's lots of different dragons in Malakow, Viliant observed.

Once he passed them, he could finally see what everyone had gathered around. The wooden piers ended and revealed an open area of the lake. Two wide-set pillars rose from the glimmering pool. Atop each column rested a circular platform. There, the competitors faced off against each other. A juvenile human female braced her feet on one side while a green-striped dragonet perched his claws on the other. A mixture of shouts, both human and dragon alike, cheered the contestants on. At the resounding boom of a gong, they both cast spells.

The human flung her hands out in front of her. The water below her responded to her command, solidifying into spikes of ice. Those spears broke apart and flung at the dragonet who flapped his wings. He easily dodged above the magical attack. Once the ice shards sailed past him, he let his curled tail droop in a lazy way.

The dragonet, who looked smaller and younger than Viliant, oscillated back and forth with each flap of his wings. His tail seemed too long for his body. The oversized, three-pronged barb at the tip appeared to weigh him down. There, the dragonet created a manifestation of his element. A stinger detached from his barbs. With a thrust of his tail like a scorpion strike, the barbs shot toward his opponent.

The human girl leaped to one side of her pillar. The projectile from the dragonet zipped past her just as she had missed him. Not wanting to take up too much space, she waved her hands in small circles at her hips to keep her balance.

Viliant could not help but roll his eyes at the lackluster performance from both sides. The ferocity and accuracy of Fia's fireballs could easily send either of them into the water to cool their burns.

The audience must share his assessment as the dragons chortled and humans laughed.

I wonder if Fia's managed to enter the tournament yet? Viliant wondered. He did not bother to look around for her, instead dedicating his attention to the air. Quickly, he spotted Diwa flitting to and fro.

Viliant! Fia cried over telepathy in what would have been a whiny shriek. I can see Diwa! She's gonna find me.

Where are you?

Hiding.

Viliant closed his eyes out of frustration. How am I supposed to keep Diwa away from you if I don't even know where you are?

Just keep her busy, focused on you. Pretend like seeing the fight brings back bad memories, Fia suggested.

This idea would let Viliant play into Diwa's preconception that the coliseum had traumatized him. The only problem was that the stolid dragonet had no clue how to fake an emotional outburst of that magnitude. And how do I do that?

Just act like yourself.

A few blinks fell over his eyes, stunned that Fia would suggest such a thing. While Viliant could definitely pounce the nearest human, he doubted that the judge would go so easy on a repeat offense. Instead, the dragonet lay down where he stood.

Tendrils of shadow began to swirl around Viliant. He formed a ball around himself, closing his eyes to block out the confused and alarmed reactions around him. This is so embarrassing, Viliant thought, piling his shame alongside the usual negative emotions that he associated with his element. The darkness ripped and shredded around him, becoming more chaotic as he let his power swell.

A high-pitched yelp of a human sounded over the abrupt wingbeats of some dragons.

"Viliant!" Diwa called. She shouted his name from far away, but her voice soon came from directly in front of him. "What are you doing? What's wrong?" One of her gentle, numbing spells passed over his crown of horns and made his scales tingle. The physical sensation felt nice, but other than that, Diwa could do nothing to soothe any mental anguish.

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Viliant did not feel anything aside from moderate annoyance. It worked, he shared with Fia.

Thanks, Viliant!

With Diwa's undivided attention on him, he kept her away from his telepathic receptors. By withdrawing into himself, this only served to further the role that he played. In truth, Viliant loathed to agree with her too much for him to successfully lie over telepathy. "You were right, Diwa. I should've listened to you earlier." His voice naturally wavered over the language that he did not know very well, easily mistaken for a frightful tremor. "I don't like it here."

Despite the chilling, heart-stopping energy behind his shadow magic, Diwa endured the discomfort to step into range of his shadow magic. Her wings flung around his shoulders in a hug. "It's okay, Viliant. You're here with me. Calm down. You're safe." Though she begged to connect their minds, he did not give in.

Viliant did let his shadows subside even though this conflicted with the objective to distract Diwa as long as possible. He had no desire to subject her to pain. Instead, he received a warm and fuzzy feeling which confused him. Viliant did not know what to say or do while he sat awkwardly under the cover of her wings. His usual self would tell her off, but this much he could endure to lengthen the distraction. That's the only reason why I'm tolerating this, he told himself, not because I like this!

Diwa stroked her wing over the flattened spines along his back. She pulled back and curved her neck to look at Viliant, eye to eye. "Are you feeling better?"

"No," he choked. "Can we get away from here?"

"Yes, of course. Let's hurry." With a wing still over him like a shield, Diwa blocked his view of the competition. The dragoness began to walk but paused when she realized that Viliant budged not a foot. "Viliant?"

"My legs won't move," he made up for an excuse. In this manner, he delayed Diwa coaxing and nudging him away from the watery arena.

At last, she brought him into a quiet alleyway. "Is this a more comfortable spot for you?"

"No," Viliant replied again. In order to take up more time, he needed to be as difficult as possible. He would never agree that Diwa had done enough for him, but this would also require him to feign a meaningful interaction with the dragoness. "Can I talk like this?" he asked first in his native tongue. "It's easier."

"But of course," Diwa replied softly in Syenic. "Talk in whatever way's most comfortable for you." Once more, she prodded his receptors with an invisible impulse.

Pushing back, he refused. His ruse came easier to him if he melded it with the truth. "This spot reminds me of what happened after Fia and I escaped the coliseum. While we were exiting the city, we hid in an alley just like this." Already, Viliant shared more than he would like. His lower eyelid twitched as he knew that he needed to keep talking if he was going to keep Diwa distracted. Give her a detailed report of events, he told himself. It's just a report. His voice became more distant and stilted. "The Dragon Slayer shot an orb through her shoulder. She passed out after unleashing a fire storm. She burnt her own flesh in the process, so luckily the bleeding stopped, but I still had to—"

"Viliant," Diwa said softly, "I understand you don't like the alley. Let's get out of here. I'll drop you off somewhere that feels better."

"That's nowhere." Except with Fia. A small part of Viliant looked forward to getting away from Diwa and traveling alone with his best friend, the way that their dynamic used to be. Even though he had not been genuinely seeking support from Diwa, the back of his throat burned when she cut him off.

"I know a nice spot near here. You'll like it," Diwa promised with a wink.

With his dragging tail, Viliant delayed following her back into the shiny sunlight as much as he could. A sparkle light reflected off the waters of a fountain. Diwa escorted him to its stone basin at the center of the plaza. "How's this? Stay here. Hang tight while I find Fia."

Viliant was supposed to throw a tantrum, so he voiced his raw emotions. "Why'd you cut me off?"

"I have to find Fia," Diwa repeated with a severe note of stress. "Please understand. She can't be left alone in the city."

"But I can?" Though Viliant did not often think of himself as such, he was a child too. He knew that he was acting juvenile, but his current role required that of him.

Diwa drew a big breath into her lungs and huffed it back out. "I'll be right back. Viliant, I'm so sorry that Fia tried going to the arena by herself. I'm also so happy that you've finally started opening up. We'll find a moment to talk before you leave. I'll make sure of it." She bowed her larger head so that their foreheads could bump together. The dragoness interlinked her smaller horns with his bigger ones and gave him a reassuring nod.

"It's fine. You don't have to do that," Viliant recoiled and curled his tail around himself.

"No… Viliant," Diwa moaned. Just when the dragonet had started opening up to her, the present circumstances pulled her away. As much as it pained her, Diwa wrenched herself away to focus on the other baby dragon—possibly in another state of crisis all by herself. "I'll be back soon!"

Diwa flew her fastest to the aquatic arena once more. She had not finished her search before Viliant's episode. This time, the green dragoness need not scour the crowd for the precious dragonette. Fia stood on one of the podiums for all to see, raised on her hind legs. The sky erupted in red, like the clouds themselves had caught on fire. The orange light reflected in the widened slit of her pupils. Diwa choked. "Fia?"