Bo tried not to wake up and failed miserably. A sharp pinprick in his leg brought him back to the land of the waking. It seemed he had rolled over in his sleep and hadn't stopped until he hit the outstretched spikes of a Horus plant.

He groaned and rolled back, standing up shakily. It wasn't until he had already taken a few steps that he realised his leg had healed. He had been using both of them to walk without even realising.

Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, Bo glanced around, relieved to find he hadn't died. He also hadn't slept for long since it was still night. Then again, he might just have slept for a really long time.

Glancing around, he spotted the landmarks he was looking for, and after grabbing all the Horus shoots he could – Bo made off for the stone forest once again.

On his way, he tried to remember how he had passed out or, perhaps more importantly, why? He had finally grasped his elemental abilities, taking the first step in the right direction. However, that step was immediately followed by a cliff that he stumbled off, plummeting to his doom… or something like that.

To be clear, he still knew how to access those powers. In fact, sleeping had let him come to a clearer understanding of them.

From what he had gathered, it seemed there were intangible energies that swirled out in the ether. His elemental affinity let him interact with some of those energies – manipulating them to a degree.

Of course, nothing comes without a cost, and Bo had learned that the hard way. It was all well and good being able to shoot fire out of his finger, but whenever it made him pass out – such abilities lost their novelty.

However, that didn't necessarily mean he wasn't seriously tempted to try it again. It was magic, after all.

Now that he had done it once, he could vaguely feel those energies raging on the fringes of his perspective. It felt like viewing something from the corner of his eye. Even though he knew they were there, he couldn't quite see them without looking directly.

But Bo thought better of it.

He had been seriously lucky not to get attacked while passed out, and didn't want to chance it a second time.

On his journey back, he noticed that the world looked a little different. Colours were more vibrant, more saturated.

The stone pillars he walked through were sturdier, stonier. The sandstone steps he travelled down were sandier, and the carvings he came across were realer. They glowed with colours and feelings that seemed to spill over, almost popping off the wall with their vibrance.

As he made his way down the steps, Bo paused. He wasn't far from the bottom and had no idea how Yvet would react when he got there.

"Maybe I should have brought a gift to cheer her up," he mumbled. "Not that I have any treasure or food to give her… what else do dragons even like?"

He thought it over and realised the only other thing he knew Yvet liked was fighting… and this gave him an idea.

Shortly thereafter, he reached the bottom of the steps and continued into the grand amphitheatre. With walls extending beyond where he could see and swirling, pulsing markings on the tiled floor, the cavern gave him the sense that it hadn't been designed with humans in mind. It was just too big, too abstract.

At the centre lay the massive stone box, atop which Yvet sat. She was silent, worryingly so.

Initially, Bo thought she was sleeping, but as he grew closer, he could just about make out the dim amber glow from her eyes. A trickling dribble of smoke rose from her nostrils, streaming up into the ceiling-less cavern.

Bo sensed strange energies swirling all around him. They had a similar feeling to those outside, but with a much higher density. If they were light, they would have been blinding. He could also vaguely feel the shadows of things moving within those energies. Perhaps the wake of a creature beyond the coil, the ripples of its passing echoing back through through ether.

Walking over to Yvet, he paused at the foot of the box, wondering if it would be sacrilege for him to climb on top like she had. After a moment's pause, he figured it was better to stay where he was and called out…

"Hey, Yvet."

No answer.

Bo shuffled uncomfortably, listening as his voice echoed throughout the cavern.

"Listen, Yvet… um, is there anything I can do to help?"

Still no response.

"Because, well… you see… we'll need to eat again at some point, and I would like to at least try and reach fox mountain before the solstice… even if I don't know exactly where it is."

Silence.

Yvet was watching him out of the corner of one narrowed eye. And that was all she was doing.

"Yvet… I – I need to know what's happening here," Bo said helplessly.

"I'm waiting."

"Hm, what for?"

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She uncurled herself, standing on all four feet to glare at him, "until I feel like doing something."

"Well, that's not really how life works," Bo pointed out. "People die, things change. But we can't sit and starve in a tomb while the world moves on without us."

"Who says I'm going to starve?" Yvet snorted. "If I want to eat something, I'll go and kill it."

"Yeah… it doesn't really work like that," Bo sighed. "There's a reason every tribe is nomadic; prey is as rare as a good night's sleep."

"We already found a sand shark," she pointed out.

Bo winced, remembering the fight vividly. "That was just luck, and there won't be another one within at least a few hour's walking distance. Predators like that are very territorial."

"… shut up."

"What?"

"I said SHUTUP!"

"I'm sorry if this isn't what you wanted to hear, but we don't have the strength nor the resources to waste them doing nothing."

"JUST… just be quiet..." Yvet turned away lamely, her hind legs shaking slightly. "Can't I just be left alone?"

"No," Bo said bluntly. "What sort of dragon rider would I be if I let my partner starve in a cave?"

He didn't like to be this blunt, this cruel. But there was a reason his tribe never held funerals. They simply burned the bodies and scattered the ashes. For that was all the leniency the desert allowed. Extended mourning was only for those with nothing to lose.

Bo glanced up at her, noticing how her wings and tail twitched and shuddered occasionally. He would have to go with plan B, then.

"Alright," he muttered. "I'm just going to take a look around the cave while you get on with it."

True to his word, Bo began to pace around the cavern's edge. His footsteps fell loud, perhaps louder than necessary. Each one reverbed off the walls as he worked his way around the grand amphitheatre, examining the ancient stone with faux curiosity.

Bo chanced upon a line of words carved into the wall. They were in an old, curly style he recognised from a scroll he'd read. Not that he understood the language.

After making an obnoxiously loud point of observing the line of words and muttering, "Oh, WOW!" He moved on.

Tap, Tap, Tap.

His feet fell on the hard sandstone tiles, beating a steady rhythm as he walked. Each footstep bounced off the airy cavern's every surface, echoing until they reached Yvet's ears.

Tap, Tap, Tap.

At first, she could ignore them.

Tap, Tap, Tap.

At first, that is.

She finally reached her breaking point when Bo paused his walking to marvel, loudly, at a stone he was clearly pretending to be fascinated by.

"STOP IT!" She roared.

Tap, Tap, Tap.

Rising on her hackles, Yvet glared at him – smoke billowing from her nostrils.

"STOP WALKING!"

This time, it was Bo's turn not to reply.

He just continued to pace around the cavern's edge, seemingly oblivious to Yvet's growing frustrations.

Tap, Tap, Tap.

Yvet rushed to the edge of the vast stone box, craning her neck to stare daggers at Bo – who had just stopped to exclaim at the 'incredible workmanship' on an ordinary pebble.

Tap, Tap, Yvet exploded.

She jumped off the box and glided to the floor, landing like a gentle breeze and billowing towards Bo's side of the cavern. Her nostrils flared furiously, and her eyes blazed a fiery red.

Bo heard hurried the approach of clicking claws on the tiles and whirled around, finding Yvet barrelling towards him. He immediately readied himself, steeling his nerve and setting his jaw firmly. If he couldn't bring treasure or food to cheer her up. Then the only other option was a fight. And he'd have to make it a good one.

"WHY WON'T YOU JUST LISTEN?!"

Yvet thundered into him, slamming Bo to the floor in a flurry of scaly limbs and claws. She landed on top and started slashing at his chest. And even though she wasn't using all her strength, even though she wasn't really trying to cut him, it still hurt.

Bo shoved her off and rolled to his feet just in time to catch a dragon-shaped meteorite as it crashed into his stomach. He stumbled back from the impact, winded and struggling to get a grasp on Yvet as she squirmed under his grip.

Every time he thought he had a hold on her, she somehow managed to wiggle out and nip at his hands or legs or any other part of him that was foolish enough to get in her way.

Finally, he managed to throw her back, jumping out of the way as she zipped past his head. Mid-air, as she sailed past, Yvet unfurled her wings, suddenly spinning in place and darting towards his face.

Raising a hand protectively, Bo caught the blow and wheeled backwards, holding off snapping jaws with his forearm. For his part, he was doing his best not to retaliate. A fight that she lost would hardly cheer her up, after all.

But with every rebuff, every time Bo shoved her back or brushed off her attack, Yvet grew more rabid. She threw herself at him with increasing fervour, disregarding what would have been opportunities for Bo to strike back.

As the fight progressed, she started making a high-pitched whistle. A noise that made Bo antsy. He recognised the noise from the time she had breathed fire on the sand shark and felt an ominous premonition about what might come next.

Time after time, he pushed her back or knocked her away, his movements growing more and more forceful. Urgent.

The whistle coming from Yvet continued to grow in pitch and intensity, making goosebumps crop up on the back of Bo's neck.

He clenched his teeth and prepared to go down and lose the fight before he ended up getting cooked, but it was too late. He couldn't hear the whistle anymore.

Instead, at the corners of his perception, just past what he could feel and see – Bo sensed a growing disturbance in the ether.

The disturbance centred on Yvet, as – even to Bo's inexperienced gaze – it became clear what she was doing.

All around Yvet, glowing red and orange tendrils flowed in through her mouth, gathering in a dense ball at her centre. This ball was growing in size and density, pulsing with a magnitude of heat and energy that made Bo's skin crawl.

Too nervous to care that he had just understood the mechanics behind which dragons breathed fire, Bo scrambled back as Yvet opened her mouth. Her eyes blazed red, and an orange glow leaked from between toothy jaws.

As the first tendrils of flame snuck from her maw, Bo felt time slow. He couldn't dodge it fast enough; he knew this to be true. Out of options and panicking, he felt his body move instinctually.

Both hands raised before him, and a vague understanding dawned on him.

Fire - so much and so hot that it boggled the mind – exploded from Yvet's mouth, washing over Bo in bulging waves.

He felt it rush towards him, the scorching heat reaching him before the flames did.

And then he moved.

His heartbeat was the first thing he focused on. For he knew that behind it lay streams of energy. Not energy of the ether, but his own. Harnessing that energy, he guided it to his outstretched hands, frantically trying to divert the flames that hungrily threatened to consume him.

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

Yvet's mouth snapped shut, and she stared in horror at the swirling eddies of fire.

What had she just done?