Tafel held up Minerva’s golden feather and inserted some of her mana into it. The feather shone with a golden light, illuminating a spherical area around her. She glanced around, but there didn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary, meaning Susan and Emile hadn’t been there. If she wanted to find traces of them, she’d have to start from where they’d gone missing. With that thought in mind, her horns glowed silver, and she opened a portal in front of herself. After stepping through, the sight of two relatively small dragons appeared in her view. They were pressed against the ground, held in place by chunks of earth. To the side, Vur was taking a nap in his human form.

Tafel stared at Vur for a few moments, wondering whether his actions would be classified as good parenting or bad parenting. On one hand, the two dragons wouldn’t get hurt or cause any trouble. On the other hand, he basically locked them up and took away their freedom. She shook her head; luckily, the two dragons weren’t her kids, and she didn’t have to care too much. Maybe this was a common way to raise baby dragons. She wouldn’t know. Besides, if Vur went too far, then Grimmy or Leila would object.

Tafel turned her attention onto Minerva’s feather and sent her mana inside, causing it to glow once more. The golden light encompassed the whole cave, and faint images were revealed. Fiery red talon prints and faded red lines in the shape of blurred phoenixes indicated where Susan and Emile had been. Some lines were dimmer than others, and judging by the brightness of the lines exiting the cave, Tafel assumed the brighter lines were the more recent ones. As long as she followed the brightest traces, she’d be able to find the two phoenixes. She ignored the two grunting and squealing dragons as she walked past them, not making eye contact lest she feel pity for them.

Upon exiting the cave, Tafel was greeted by four pairs of eyes unblinking eyes. Grimmy, Leila, Prika, and Nova stared as Tafel gulped. For some reason, she suddenly felt guilty. “Err, hello, everyone.” She nodded. “Just passing through.”

“How did you teleport into the roost?” Grimmy asked, his brow furrowing. He was sure he set up plenty of anti-teleportation measures to prevent anyone from harming his children. “By any chance, does it feel like your body is going to explode?”

“I gave her an entry scale, remember?” Leila asked while Tafel frantically checked herself for any hints of deterioration.

“Oh.” Grimmy nodded. “That makes sense.” He stroked his chin with his front claw. “Tafel, you’re supposed to be pretty intelligent, right? Come, come. We have a problem we’re discussing, and an outside opinion might be what we need to come to a consensus.”

Tafel raised an eyebrow. A problem that four dragons couldn’t solve? Why did they expect her to be of any help? “What’s wrong?” she asked and walked over, putting away Minerva’s feather. The golden glow was a bit distracting.

The dragons exchanged glances, and Grimmy gestured for Leila to speak. The holy dragon cleared her throat. “We’re a little concerned with Ramon’s and Gloria’s personalities. Ramon behaves more like a cursed dragon than Gloria does, and Gloria behaves more like a holy dragon than Ramon does.”

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Tafel waited for more, but the four dragons were staring at her with looks of expectation on their faces. She pinched the sleeves of her robes and furrowed her brow. “Is that all? I’m sorry, but I don’t really see how that’s a problem.”

“Well, for one,” Prika said and raised one claw, “Ramon bites the tails off of rabbits and uses his healing magic to help the rabbits regrow their tails. And then he bites them off again.”

Tafel’s face paled. “Oh….”

“As for Gloria,” Prika said and raised another claw, “cursed dragons are hated existences.” She glanced at Grimmy and Leila. “No offense.” She cleared her throat. “Gloria’s skin is so thin; you could probably break it with a gust of wind. If someone insults her in the future, causing her to lose control of her emotions, a wide swath of land will probably be cursed and unlivable for a long period of time.”

Tafel scratched her head. “Is it too late to change their imprints? What if Leila imprints Gloria, and Grimmy imprints Ramon?”

“Imprints can’t be changed,” Grimmy said and shrugged. “If they could, that’d be a great idea.”

Tafel pursed her lips and crossed her arms, lowering her head to stare at the ground. After a minute of thinking, she raised her head again. “What idea have you guys come up with so far?”

“Paint their scales,” Nova said before anyone else could speak. When the three other dragons rolled their eyes, Nova scoffed while turning around, and he lumbered towards his cave. “Forget it. They’re your children. This isn’t my problem.”

The group watched Nova leave, and immediately after his figure disappeared, they exchanged glances with one another. Prika cleared her throat. “My idea is to have Grimmy teach Gloria to be eviler and have Leila teach Ramon how to be nicer.”

Tafel scratched her head. Could personalities be changed that easily? “How about … you punish Ramon whenever he bites the tails off of rabbits or does something not holy-dragon-like?” She nodded. “According to you guys, Gloria seems to be more introverted, so punishment won’t work for her. When she does something evil, you can praise her and build her confidence that way.”

Grimmy snorted. “Why should we punish Ramon for doing something I did when I was little?”

“Right,” Leila said and nodded. “We shouldn’t praise Gloria for being evil either. Being evil isn’t something praiseworthy.”

Tafel’s expression darkened. “I don’t think the problem lies with Ramon and Gloria,” she said and took in a deep breath. She stared Grimmy and Leila in the eyes—but her gaze lingered on Leila’s face longer because Grimmy was a bit intimidating. “I think the problem lies with the two of you. Leila doesn’t want Gloria to behave like a cursed dragon, and Grimmy doesn’t want Ramon to behave like a holy dragon. There’s a fundamental difference between your parenting styles, and until you two can agree on how you want to raise your children, nothing will change.” Upon seeing the changes in the two dragons’ expressions, Tafel took a step back. “Also, uh, you can probably spend more time with them. Right now, they’re being punished by Vur; I don’t know if you know that or not.” She nodded while continuing to back away. “I have to do my thing now, so … bye!” Her horns glowed silver, and she teleported away.

Grimmy and Leila exchanged glances with one another. “The problem lies with us?” Leila asked and tilted her head.

Grimmy stroked his chin. “How about this? We’ll erase our children’s current personalities and memories through some mild brainwashing, and then I’ll raise Gloria while you take Ra—”

“We’re not brainwashing our children!”

Prika’s eyes glowed. “So, Grimmy’s idea was no good either. Unless Leila comes up with a better one, it seems like my suggestion is the current one we’re going with?” She blinked at the two dragons. For some reason, it seemed like there was a lot of tension in the air.