Ciara was sitting outside in the rapidly cooling weather, where Sunrose had agreed to share some of her natural warmth.

It was a handful of days ago that Elias had taken off, and she found herself at a lack of things to do. She couldn't bring herself to teach Alex too much while he was gone, as Elias might feel left out once he returned. Alas, she didn't.

This also meant her daily routine had all but disappeared.

At the very least, Sunrose and Kaisog seemed to hit it off well with each other. Kaisog had probably missed the company of another dragon, and Sunrose didn't know much about this place, so it was a near perfect combination.

"So, what would you be doing in your own kingdom when you had to pass the time?" Alex asked, as he and the Greg, who was her temporary guard, had lent an ear to her complaints.

"Well..." She'd been here for quite a while now, so she had to put a little bit of effort into remembering it. Whether that was a good sign or not, she had no clue. "When I was very young, I would be playing with my best friend," she said, having decided to just start from the beginning. "But I suppose as I got older, I would rather watch the guards train - whether that be on the backs of dragons or not." Everything she'd usually do came crashing back to her. "I might also be racing with him - usually on dragons as well, of course. Challenging each other and making both mother and father quite exasperated with me." She giggled a little at that. It seemed she generally had a penchant for awakening people's ire for her. "I would often-times help the villagers with various different tasks as well."

The one thing they all had in common, she realized, was that none of them could be done here. They were exclusively for her home.

The two remained silent as well, likely also realizing the same thing and searching to steer the conversation in another direction.

"I have always been curious about how you guys fight on dragons. What kind of weapons do you use?" Alex asked her curiously, genuinely wanting to know, it seemed.

"Spears and arrows mostly, as nothing else would really have the range." The topic was a little dull for her tastes, but even that was welcome. "Everyone is also skilled with a sword, in the event they should be confined to the ground."

"So, just like with horses, then. As long a range as possible," Greg concluded.

"In terms of the rider's weapons - yes," she confirmed. "Dragons are not just a mount though, they fight right alongside their rider. They will know what to strike first as well as you do and allow you a clean shot at your targets whenever and however possible," she explained. "They are really just like any other human you can strategize with - just a whole lot stronger."

Alex lit up in excitement. "That sounds absolutely incredible - I hope I get the chance to see it in action at some point." He was barely keeping himself from bouncing where he stood.

She nodded, smiling widely. "It is amazing to watch." She remembered it all so vividly still. "My best friend had been our very best fighter back then. Both on ground and in the air."

"He was the one you named Kaisog after, right?" Alex asked, sobering up as quickly as she did.

"Yes, that is the one."

She gently laced her fingers up in her lap. To think; he might've been here right now, right beside her, had things gone differently. Of course, that'd also mean that the present Kaisog might not have been here instead. At least there was a little sense in what the fates threw at her - she wouldn't be without that drake for anything in the world.

"What makes him so different from everyone else?" Alex asked, bringing her out of her momentary reverie.

"Well, for starters, he stuck out like a sore thumb." He'd always been so easy to find in a crowd. He might as well have been the night in the middle of the day.

Alex nodded then. "Yeah, I remember Sergon describing him as having even darker skin than the people in the West."

"He was about the same color as Kaisog, the dragon." She looked up at the dragon in question whose curious gaze was also locked on her.

Alex frowned. "But I heard you and your people were supposed to be as pale as yourself." She nodded "Then how is that possible?"

"While I may have called him my brother and lifelong friend, the truth is he was not born in the Dragon Kingdom at all," she explained. "He was from a tribe called the Tao Clan. His family had always been really close allies of my family and they had fought many wars together for generations and generations." She was unsure if this was as common knowledge here as it was where she came from. "They have always been exceptional fighters, though they would usually stick to the ground while we took to the sky. It was a perfect match," she said, the words ingrained in her.

"How can it be I have never heard of them? Where is that clan now?" Greg asked.

She shrugged, meeting his eyes. "We do not know. At the end of the Great War, they refused to follow us to the island; they would rather fight till the bitter end. The last time we heard from them was in the late aftermath of the war, where they handed Kaisog over to us to take care of. His parents had passed away," she explained. "I was barely four seasons old then, so that is about thirteen summers ago."

"Huh," Alex muttered lowly. "That is a surprise." She could only nod. "So, you have no clue if they have all passed away?"

"We know absolutely nothing about the state they are currently in."

Her father had often spoken of them, having met the clan several times when he was young. He'd always described them as being quite wild and temperamental. Usually very hostile towards anyone they deemed untrustworthy. Kind of like dragons. Maybe that was why the allegiance had worked out so well?

"Would you look at that," Alex suddenly muttered, gazing off to the right. "Now, that is a combination you do not see too often."

She followed the guard's line of sight, curious to know what had him speaking up so suddenly. What she saw sent a chill racing down her spine.

It was Victoria and a pair of Dragon Slayers talking mutedly together just a little away.

"Very rare," Greg was quick to agree. "I wonder what they are talking about."

Ciara wasn't sure she wanted to know.