The next morning Azara woke before dawn. Dew covered the ground, wet and cold. She did not mind it. In fact, she had never found any amount of wet or cold that could make her uncomfortable. Her body temperature never dropped. There was no blizzard or ocean in the world that could quench her inner fire.

She waited outside of the tent the men slept in. Irinia was on watch, but she didn’t converse with the girl, and instead focused on the tent. The first to rise was Joakim, as usual, who woke the other two like a soldier would - by taking down the tent around them.

After they had woken up and shared their resentment of Joakim’s rude style of awakening them, Azara took her chance to speak with Valerius. She wasn’t going to be ceremonious about it either.

“Come with me,” she said. “We need to talk.”

To her delight, he didn’t argue, and soon they were a distance away from camp and she stopped walking then turned to speak with him. He took the initiative to speak first though.

“I’m sorry.” he said. His tone showed concern and understanding, lacking its usual attempt at confidence and nobility, replaced by a down to earth softness. "I know I should have explained this, instead of letting you walk into this blind. It was wrong.”

"Alright." she replied curtly. “That is what I wanted.”

"I also have an explanation," he said, and rubbed his eyes to wake himself up a bit more. “Is it alright if I give that.”

“You may,” Azara said. She couldn’t help but think that she liked this treatment. She felt a bit like a queen, granting requests.

“First though, can I ask if you’re alright?” he said.

"Not really. I didn't want to kill anyone yesterday, for one..."

The prince nodded, and then sat down. He motioned for her to join him. Azara considered it, and then realized that despite their rush to leave they would have time to talk before Joakim, Kasper, and Irinia had packed up camp. So she did sit down beside him. "Killing can be a hard task, especially the first time around."

"The first time?" she scoffed, before raising her hands up and counting on them. Soon, she ran out of fingers. “I don’t even know how many people at this point...I was raised to be a mage of battle, not some princess in a tower casting spells for fun. I've had opportunity to use them in life too. I'm not an innocent child Valerius."

"Well then, it is good that you still care so much."

"To care about the lives I take? Does the first or the last make a difference? Are they worth more or less depending on the number? Or were you just thinking 'wow that is so amazing' when I threw a building on innocent people?" she asked, with hostility in her tone. She hoped it would cause him to become timid as usual, and allow this conversation to be easy on her, but it didn’t. He remained calm, and for a moment she saw a flash of the angry, battle riled prince she’d seen yelling at Kasper in Midton. That was a much different person than the usual Valerius, and much different from the soul she normally saw.

"Look - I don't want to argue with you right now, for that matter I don't want to argue with you any more at all - now or in the future. You can just count me as surprised that you are so upset, considering what you did to the governor. You were very cold," he explained and shrugged.

"He deserved it. I could see that he was scum. The men following him though...the townspeople..." She let out a long sigh, letting silence hold the moment, before speaking again.

"Alright now, out with it prince ‘I've-got-daddy-issues-so I'm-going-to- chop-off-his-head', what is your reason for all this? How deep does it go, how long have you been planning this, what are your allies? Tell me it all. Stars know I need to hear how crazy you are."

"Alright, and I will be honest with you. You deserve that much, but where to start...well, you have a mother that cares for you a great deal do you not? One who you look up to, right? Would you not do anything for her?"

Azara nodded. "Yes. Without question. She has always been there for me and my sister since we were young."

"Well then, I did too. She died, and her dying wish was that her people be raised from their oppression. She didn't marry willingly - but she had caught a king’s eye. In going along with his wishes, in submitting to him, in dealing with him, she had hoped to be an advocate for her people. You know, he saw her the first time while on a campaign against a Veyorn insurrection?"

"Really? That sounds more like she was a captive slave wife under those circumstances."

Valerius winced. "And you wouldn't be wrong...she didn't have much choice. So that gives you the why. I'm doing it for her. I'm doing it for the Veyorn, and Ursulam as a whole. I mean, did you not hear how the governor referred to her? That and so many names whispered behind my back all these years…"

"And then Irinia at the bar the other night." Azara reminded him.

"What?" he asked, confused. Azara rolled her eyes.

"You didn't notice?" she said. "He wouldn't serve her. The bartender wouldn’t serve her."

For a moment Valerius was dumbstruck. "No, I didn't. She never mentioned anything...I just assumed she didn't want anything to drink. Why were you so eager to be a patron then?"

"Well, I guess I shouldn't have given him a good deal of money, but then again, I also made plenty of mistakes that night. The place may even be burned down now for all I know."

"Agh - you and your magic. I had heard tales of how powerful the mages of the Ignis Evigan were...but I never would have even imagined one of you would have been so terrible," he said. "You play with great powers like they are toys, they your servant and you the master"

"I'm not normal Valerius. Most mages could only ever dream of the things I do."

"Your mother has taught you well then, and it probably helps that you are her daughter."

"On one of those counts you are quite right...let’s talk about dragons now. How exactly does this monster fit into your plan to take over the kingdom?" she asked.

"Well, it didn't, initially. It occurred at the last minute, and I wanted it dealt with before anything else. I can't be waging a civil war with a dragon rampaging across the country - that would turn everyone against me. Of course, it didn't hurt that some of the first kings of this country slew dragons, millennia ago now. I figured that if I could do it myself, and it would help give me more legitimacy...in committing regicide."

"And so just like that, you decided it’s time to slay a dragon?" she said, a smile creeping across her face. She couldn’t help but find the prince's idealism a little endearing. It made her nostalgic.

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Do you even know do you even have the slightest clue, what you are up against. What facing a dragon means?" She asked, looking at him right in the eye with the same smile. It was almost like someone looking at the pitiful pet that was doing something stupid.

And she could tell that he was dumbstruck. Not just at the question, but at her smiling at him. They locked eyes for a moment, and she admired him for a moment. Azara had always been attracted to the sky. Her kind had once soared through them, free from the ground, but her life so far had not afforded her that opportunity often. Now, it was like the sky was being attracted to her, and she liked that feeling.

"I thought I did, but I have a feeling you are going to tell me I don't." he finally said, breaking away from her stare.

"Well what would you expect a dragon to be like?” she asked, and braced herself for the stupid description that she knew would follow that question.

"A giant, fire breathing lizard. A monster, perhaps something like I saw in a circus from Sukarram once, just larger, more threatening." he explained, flustered and embarrassed by his lack of knowledge.

"Oh like those sand monsters they show off?" she said, shaking her head. "Well, you wouldn't be completely wrong...but you would also be very wrong."

Azara then stood and began walking towards the camp.

"Where are you going?” Valerius asked.

“Valerius,” Azara said, and found herself still smiling at him as she turned around at looked down at him. “We need to get going. I will tell you stories about dragons though, on the road. Like the story that bard told. I will tell you stories about how they fooled kings. I will tell you stories about how they outsmarted scholars. I will tell you stories about how dragons destroyed empires in the past. Because you should know, the most frightening things about dragons are not that they are as large as houses and castles. It is that they are very, very cunning.”

“But you’re with us now?” Valerius asked, searching for assurance. “You’ll stick with us through this?”

Azara nodded. “Yes. I will, but if I am being honest, it is only because I don’t think I have a choice. However, you have made me...a bit more happy to go along with it. I feels right now.”