As me, Damon and Rick followed Emily and Cora, my mind was filled with curiosity and there was anticipation in my chest also. Especially about what the girls are about to show us. Hmm...They really looked surprised when they both came back. I wonder what they both saw when they went walking off together? I glanced to my right for a second before I brought my gaze back on my girlfriend and the short dragon beside her. Emily says that it wasn't another temple in Avarilan and they didn't see any enemies, what did they find?

We kept our pace on the trail for a little bit until we came out of the edge of the woods, and at about several feet ahead of us saw what the girls have found. We stopped where we were at and I quietly sucked in a breath. Holy crap....Emily wasn't kidding that it was something WAY different than a temple. I didn't expect to come across something like that on the journey!

What all of us came across....Was something that didn't belong in Avarilan.

But it came from MY world!

It was a small luxury motor yacht and it was covered in rust and some moss. A lot of weeds and flowers surrounded it. And I can barely see the name of the boat on its side, since it looks a bit faded. It was titled: LADY CARINA

Rick muttered in shock, "Well....I see that you gals haven't came across a five star hotel."

I stuttered a bit as Damon had his head reared back beside me, "It's....A ship!"

Cora shot her gaze at me, flicking her tail behind her, "Ship? Is that what this is called?" Her ears went straight up as she locked her eyes back on the yacht, "I never heard of a ship before. Rocko never told me."

Damon chimed in with a giggle welled in his throat as he folded his wings against his back, "That's because it isn't from Avarilan." He pointed his wing tip down at me and Emily, "That thing belongs from THEIR world."

Cora gasped, "What?"

Then before I could talk to her, Damon had this excitement in his eyes. The kind of excitement when he's excited to see newer things, "And that's the second one I've seen! It's quite a surprise!"

Cora had her yellow eyes widen up, "What?!" Then she narrowed them at us, especially at Damon, "YOU saw the second one? You mean there was another one? What have you guys not been telling me?"

Emily held up her hand to her mouth and giggled when she replied, "Yeah, we didn't tell you EVERY single detail when we first met you. We only told you how we've got here." Then Emily went on when she gestured to the yacht, "Just to explain what ships do. Ships actually float over the water and humans use them to carry my kind over water for travel. Especially over the ocean."

Cora had an excited gleam in her eyes, liking to hear something new about what my kind does with ships, "The ocean? Ships can float over the ocean? Wow, Rocko has told me about the ocean before. He said he's flown over it and he said it's beautiful and vast."

I nodded with a smirk, "Sounds about right."

Rick came strolling across in front of me and Emily as he explained, "The three of us came from one, before we came to Avarilan and gotten kidnapped. Remember that we told you that there were a lot of humans with us? Well, that ship held a lot of them, including us. It was big."

Cora cocked her head at him, "Huh....How big?"

Damon let out a glee and giddied a bit on his paws, "Eeee, bigger than you could imagine! It's like big as a mountain!"

I laughed and shook my head, "Not THAT big, Damon. And that wasn't what you said before when you saw-"

Then he glanced at me and snorted, "Oh whatever! The point is it's bigger than that ship right there!"

Cora's eyes went up again, "Wow...." She shot her gaze back on the ship again, "I guess I must've missed out. A ship bigger than the one here.....Amazing." Then she frowned, "Heh, when you said it's from the other world, I sorta had a hunch that this thing belonged to you. I was about to say if it did belong to you humans, then PERHAPS you should pick things that belong to you just a LITTLE more better. It looks like a mess."

Emily chuckled and nodded in agreement, "I couldn't agree more."

Then the short red dragon cocked her head again, "But what I don't understand is....Why is this ship not over any kind of water?" Her eyes looked right at the bottom of the ship, "I don't see any underneath it. It's just sitting on the dirt and grass."

I was frowning at the yacht myself, "Well, this ship appears to have been here for a long time."

Rick asked, "So hold on....Our ship wasn't the only one that came to Avarilan?"

I replied with a small nod, "Looks that way."

Rick made a sure nod towards himself and he let out some air out of his mouth, "And I think we know how that thing got here."

Damon responded, letting out a snort, "The green light in the sky. It brought it here too. But here's the difference with that huge ship of yours and this one. This one's just over land, not over water where we found yours. I think I figured out why it isn't. I believe the green light can transport you to any place in Avarilan. That's why it's not on water near a beach."

Rick stated in agreement, "I think you're right." He took a few steps towards the rusted thing, "So...Anybody want to check it out?"

Damon shrugged his wings and shoulders, "Well, you know I can't enter it." Then he peeked at his own green body, "My huge frame won't fit well in that small thing."

Cora gasped and beamed, "But I might!"

Me and Emily laughed as we all started to strode up to it. I said, "Alright, let's check it out." Maybe we might find something useful in there. Who knows. Our footsteps were rustling the grass as we gotten closer to the yacht. Heading to the back of it, to be precise. When we did, we were close to the wooden swimming platform that barely touched the ground.

Me, Emily and Rick stepped on it as Damon settled on his haunches onto the grass and curled his tail around him, "I'll wait out here."

When us humans saw a door to get inside the ship, we paced toward it and Rick was the first one to reach it. Without a problem he managed to get the door open and then he went through it. As he did, I looked back and saw Cora saying this to Damon, "We'll be right back." Then she looked down at the swimming platform, and very slowly placed one paw at a time on the foreign thing in front of her. After all of her fours stepped on the ship, she giddied on them a bit, her claws clicking on the wooden floor, "Eee. I get to see the inside of this thing!"

Damon rolled his eyes and groaned, "Arrrgh. I wish I was a teenager again!" I snickered when I glanced back at the door and saw that Emily had already went through it after her dad. That had me walk up a bit till I was just standing at the doorway. I looked over my shoulder at Cora and Damon before I could go through it.

I saw Cora swish her tail teasingly at the green drake when she sauntered after me and the others, "Don't cha worry. MAYBE I'll tell you what I saw when I come out."

Damon gave her a snort when she was just right behind me, "Show off."

I heard her giggling deeply when she heard that. That had me giggle on my end before I went through the door that apparently led to the main deck of the yacht. After I walked up about a couple feet, I glanced back and saw that Cora BARELY made it through the door frame with her wings tucked against her back. Turned out, she was small enough to fit through the door and check out the ship on the inside. I smiled to myself. Poor Damon....He's not so lucky.

After watching my red scaly friend enter the yacht after me, I trailed my gaze around the deck, seeing that there's a rectangular table with six chairs on the far right that meant we're in a dining room. My eyes traced to one spot inside the deck after the other. Things on the inside of the ship looked so dirty and dusty that it hasn't been clean for god knows how long. Judging by the size of this place, I think the ship can hold about maybe....Seventeen or eighteen people, including guests and crew.

My brain clicked as I don't see any people in here. I wonder what happened to all of them? I can only take a couple guesses. They were probably attacked by Lost Souls and Dark Dragons and gotten kidnapped like everyone on the cruise ship has, or they've escaped and ended up wandering in Avarilan....Lost and probably dead by the enemy or whatever vicious creature there is out here.

God....Me, Emily and her dad have wounded up lost for a long time, and we've almost got killed. I'm just glad we're still alive now because of Damon.

Cora padded up to the dining table and lowered her nose to start sniffing it. I mentally chuckled at her curiosity. Knowing the fact that she has never seen a table and chairs before, other than the yacht. When she breathed in deeply through her nose, that had her sneeze, "Achoo!" I held a wrist to my lips and snickered, seeing all the dust being blown away because of her. She shook her snout and sniffed her nose, "Whew...." When she whirled around to see me, her tail accidentally knocked over a chair with a loud crash. She sucked in some air and looked over her shoulder to see the damage she's done. Only one arm of the chair broke off upon impact. She gulped and gave me an embarrassing smile on her muzzle, "Heheh....Oops."

I just smirked and shrugged with my hands, "Forget about it. It ain't my chair."

She formed a curious look, "Chair? You mean the thing my tail knocked over? What's it for?"

Before I could reply, we heard Rick call out, "Guys?"

I looked off at the direction and saw Rick and Emily near a small indoor bar. Me and Cora bounded to them in a fast pace and I said as we stopped close to the bar, "We're fine. It's just that Cora knocked a chair over and broke it."

Cora chuckled cutely, "I'm happy I won't get in trouble for that. I remember one time when I was a hatchling that I was playing with one of the crystals back at Rocko's cave and broke it BY ACCIDENT, and then-"

Rick laughed as he was still behind the bar, examining the bottles on the shelf, "Well at least the owner of the ship's not around to make you pay for it."

Then Cora's form just shivered, "Ooooo...Don't exactly want him skinning off my scales from all over my body for causing damage."

That made me laugh, "He wouldn't skin off your scales, he would make you pay for the damages....With money." Then I eyed at her for a moment and giggled, "You don't have any. That's bad, Cora."

The red dragoness cocked her head in confusion, "Money? What's money?"

Emily snickered as she smoothly brushed her hair off her shoulder, "Girlfriend, we're gonna have to have some girl talk later about what the wonders of money would do for a girl."

I rolled my eyes, "Oh god....Girl stuff."

Emily shot a glare at me, "And what's the problem with THAT?"

Then Rick tried to make a crack as he held up a bottle in one hand, "Oh, he's just kidding. Hey, if you're too stressed, maybe you can have a bottle to drink out of."

Emily shot that look at him, "The only way I'll NOT be stressful is when I'll smash that bottle against your head. And what did I tell you about not talking to me? I told you I didn't want you to talk to me from now on." That snotty remark gave Rick a hurt look. He sighed as he put the bottle back down on the shelf.

Cora snaked her snout over the bar and was looking right at those bottles on the shelf, "What are they?"

Rick's face brightened up as he replied with a giggle, "They're called bottles. Which actually has alcohol in them." Then he gazed right at those bottles, "Whoever had this ship has a lot of good stuff on board." Rick turned back to us now, "Alright, let's keep looking. And I think we should split up."

I shrugged my shoulders, "This isn't exactly a huge place, but I'll take your word for it."

Emily started to stroll away to the stairs nearby, "I'll head downstairs to the lower deck and check out the cabin rooms."

While I watched her walking away, I said only to warn her, "Just be careful. Who knows what we'll find."

When she was in front of the stairs and before she took the first step down, she glanced at us for a moment and said with a smile, "I doubt we'll find anything that's a threat to us. If there is I'll holler for your handsome self to come help me." Then she started to go down to another deck as she waved at us, "Be back in a few minutes." She disappeared below us a second later.

Rick hung his head and sighed. That prompted me and Cora to look at him in a saddened state. Cora said to him in pity, "I'm sorry that Emily hates you."

My girlfriend's father looked back at her eyes and remarked, "I do deserve that hate." Then he slowly motioned his hand towards the alcohol bottles as he came out from behind the bar, "Even having a bottle smashed against my skull."

Cora shook her snout softly in disagreement, "I don't think you do."

Then I came up with an idea and offered with my hand placed to my chest, "I'll talk to her about this." Then I nervously scratched behind my head, "But I'm a bit afraid if I even bring you up....She won't believe what I tell her. I can see she was taking that attitude from you."

Rick groaned and waved me off, "Scott, just forget about it. Let's just....Look around this place." He rose his gaze to the ceiling, "I'm going up to the bridge. Maybe I can find out who actually owned the ship." Then he went to another staircase at the other end of the deck and went upstairs.

While Cora and I were alone, she turned her muzzle and said to me, "I feel so sad for him."

I nodded, "Yeah me too." I reached out to caress the dragoness's neck, "I'm just hoping that Emily will give him a chance. A last chance."

Cora closed her eyes and rumbled from my touch as she simply stated, "I guess I'll hope for it, too. I...I don't want them to drift apart forever. I....I sorta know how that is."

As I still stroked her neck, I figured out what she was talking about. I gave her a comforting smile, "Hey, I can understand that leaving someone who took care of you for a long time is hard still. But you'll see Rocko again."

Cora only turned her snout away from me and opened her eyes, a bit of sadness shone in them, "...I wasn't talking about him."

I quizzically stared at her. Huh? Then who was...?

That was when I figured another thing out....Her parents.

Then I remembered the certain question that came to my head more than once. Why did Rocko and Cora live outside Wingspan in a cave alone? I decided to ask her, letting my hand slowly drift back down to my side, "Cora....I want to ask you something."

Cora's eyes had trailed back on me.

"Um....Why were you and-"

We both heard a scream coming from the lower deck and it had me and Cora gasp.

EMILY!

Without another second to lose, we both ran to the stairs that led down to the lower deck. I started using the steps first before Cora, going down them fast and careful as I could. As I made my first step on the lower deck, I saw Emily up ahead as her gaze was held on an open door in front of her. It must be one of the cabin rooms. I jogged forward as Cora made it to the bottom step behind me. When I was near her I grabbed my girlfriend's shoulders, making her look at me, "Em. What happened?"

Her eyes looked a bit frightened and without taking them off me she pointed a shaking finger to her left, right at the opening of that cabin room, and spoke in a trembling voice, "Look....In there."

I frowned for a sec before I did so. When I peered through that doorway, my heart stopped at what I saw.

There were about three human skeletal remains piled up on the bed in there. One looked like a child and the other two were adults. They must be a family.

I muttered, "Oh my...God." Then I just embraced Emily tightly, "Shhh...It's alright."

Emily took a deep calming breath and let it out in my shoulder, "....Those poor people...What could've happened to them?"

I was rubbing her back when I answered, "I don't know." When I only moved my eyes back on the cabin door, I saw that it was smashed thoroughly, like something was breaking through that door until it finally opened. And then on one of those skeletal remains, I can see a gun held tightly by a bony hand.

My brain clicked when I saw it. Ohhhh....I think I have an idea now. They were trapped here by Lost Souls when they attacked this yacht. Probably cornering the family in that room as the monsters were banging and destroying the door with their claws. And as the Lost Souls were trying to break in there, and as there was no way out....The father of the family I presume, pulled the trigger on his family and himself so they wouldn't end up in the same fate like whoever else was on board.

Cora padded slowly and caught up to me while I still held Emily. She didn't ask what happened when she decided to look past our forms and see it. When she caught sight of what's in that room, her eyes went wide as her tail banged softly against a wall near her, "Oh...Wow."

We all heard someone trampling down the stairs, and when I turned my gaze I saw that Rick had arrived on the lower deck and paced fast to where we were. He cried out as he stopped near us with total concern on his face, "What's going on? What happened?"

Emily held a breath and huffed as she lifted her face off my shoulder, decided to sternly talk to him again, "It's nothing. I'm fine."

Rick saw the destroyed door and brushed past us to see it. When his form barely went through the opening, he mumbled at the sight of the dead family, "Jesus Christ."

I tried to not let my imagination play out that sad scene in my head and just glanced away from that door. God....This is horrible.

Trapped and scared, and the only way to get out of that horror....Was to do that. If only that family had went back to wherever they came from over the ocean...Instead of coming to Avarilan by accident.

Then my brain was having a question over the whole thing.

The cruise ship I was on arrived here, and now I find out that this yacht has arrived in Avarilan too...Are there other ships in Avarilan somewhere that haven't been found?

Now another question came, and I doubt that the answer I'll come up for that question is the right one.

If there were other ships in this world....Did other people escape the monsters and survive in this world?

*****

The sun still shined over the treeline as I grunted when I moved Hentu with his arm around my shoulder while Luna padded beside me and Bajara strode behind us. After we saved him from the battle and I gathered up all my stuff now we're on our way to his village on a big wide trail. I was shifting the cheetah's arm on me a bit when Hentu tossed his voice to Bajara, "Gods....Seeing both you and Lunasin together now made me remember how you was quite a bad ass fighting her."

I was thinking about this 'hunt' that Bajara mentioned when I brushed that off for a bit and made a curious question, "Really? Bajara was?"

Hentu answered with a chuckle, "Oh sure." A playful thought came when I stared at Luna beside me. Gee Luna, I can understand that you were beaten by Illuminus because he wasn't exactly normal, but fighting against Bajara, a NORMAL dragon, and hearing she was a bad ass fighting you....Sounds like you were the bad fighter, woman.

I heard Bajara giggling modestly behind us, "Oh, you're just saying that, dear."

My eyes saw the green cheetah looking over his shoulder at her, "Nah, you know I mean it. You didn't back down at all."

Bajara remarked, "Well someone had to save all your furry asses from her."

"Yet, from what our furry asses figured out, Dark Storm was just as powerful as Abyss! I would think she would've beaten you."

Luna's giggle escaped her muzzle when she curled up her wings and locked her silver eyes on me and the cheetah I'm helping, "I guess I must've let my guard down a bit. Who knows what was up with me."

Hentu said to her with a frown as he tried not to step to the ground with his wounded leg, "You should! That's you we're talkin about."

Then Luna said when she shook her head, "I don't remember what happened that day. Actually, I'm going by on what Bajara here said to me."

Hentu asked as confusion was now shown on him, "You really don't remember? You don't remember killing-"

"Let me put at it this way, little guy. After The Great One defeated me and I became normal, my memories were just messed up."

The cheetah said with a small nod, like he figured out something, "I think I'm beginning to understand you now. I think I get why you're not acting like that monster from before. You were....Under some sort of magic, weren't you?"

Luna sighed and nodded, "Other than the magic that made me bigger back then, I was under Abyss's control."

Hentu lowered his gaze as he finally put the pieces together, "Now I understand why you never attacked anybody after you became little again."

I muttered, "Yup, bud. That's right."

Then his voice changed to guilt, "And we've misjudged you for everything."

The black dragoness said with her tail still swinging back and forth behind her, "Don't worry about it, Hentu. It's all in the past." She held up her head with a toothy grin on her snout, "You're looking at a NEW dragon now!"

Hentu laughed, "I see that! And I'm still happy that you didn't help those Lost Souls try to kill me again while I was gathering water from that stream."

Bajara was giggling as she asked him, "So that's what you were doing out here? Let me guess, you wanted to get water from that stream instead of the river because it's cleaner to you, right? C'mon little mister, admit it."

Hentu admitted it, "I like to drink CLEANER water."

Luna just frowned at this, "Uh, Hentu, I think ALL rivers and streams have the same clean qualities."

Bajara started shaking her snout as a couple giggles came flowing out of it, "Forget telling him that, Lunasin. Ever since I've known him years ago, he always goes to this certain stream to get a good drink. It's something about worrying that his fellow villagers were probably peeing in the river that most villagers go to."

Hentu growled deeply as I still held onto him, "Damn right. I know that's what they did." I wrinkled my brow. Okay, I agree with him. That's freakin gross. Then I heard him groan in pain when his wounded leg accidentally stepped on the ground.

I lifted his arm a bit with some umpf to it, "Sorry bout that, pal." Then I sighed as I peered at Luna, then over my shoulder at Bajara, "I think I should've let one of you girls help this guy out."

Bajara's wings fluttered on her back a bit, "You volunteered."

I grumbled, "I know I did."

Hentu giggled while his muzzle showed a bit of grimace still from his pain, "We'll get to my home very soon. Just hang in there a bit longer for me, fellow warrior."

I giggled as well and shot at him, "You hang in there, cheetah dude. I'm just helping you." Then I said to the female dragons near me, "And while I'm helping this fellow out, maybe one of you can tell me about this....'Hunt' you guys were talking about." I looked at Bajara behind me again when I shifted the cheetah's arm on my shoulder once more, "I mean, you didn't tell me that Perdrue had met Luna also."

She only grinned, "I thought you figured."

I remarked, "SORTA figured, but I wasn't too sure if he has met her or not." Then I shrugged my shoulders and shot my head to my right at Luna, "I mean, I just thought that how you met Luna back then was when you were all alone outside the village to hunt, met the scary dragon right here-" I looked at Luna for a second with an apologetic look, "No offense, Luna."

Luna shook it off, "None taken."

Then I went on when I glanced back at Bajara, "As I was saying. Met the scary dragon here, fought her to defend the village, and then...I guess Luna left you alone when you were too hurt and thought that you'd die."

The red dragoness behind us replied, "Kinda the same as the original way of how I've met her, but you didn't get all that right."

I narrowed my gaze at my second mother figure, "Why didn't you tell me about that?"

"You didn't ask, little one."

Luna added on her end, "I didn't think it'd matter telling you about it."

I was nodding at her, "Yeah well, it sorta matters to me and I'm asking now." Then I softened up my look, "So what happened back then?"

Bajara's wings spread out before she settled them back up again, "Well, I guess I'll go ahead and tell you." She started telling her story when glancing up for a moment, "Years ago, I was out on this hunt with Hentu, Perdrue and four of their pals on a very warm day in these beautiful woods. It looked like it was gonna be a normal hunt. But it turned out it wouldn't be. While we were at it, we walked into an ambush, met Lunasin and so many Lost Souls and then we started fighting. The thing was I was killing a lot of Lost Souls more than the cheetahs did, before I was more focused on Luna." She tried to hold down a giggle as she continued, "And NO, she didn't hurt me so much that would have her leaving me alone afterward. Hentu wasn't lying that I didn't back down. I was tough. I've fought her until she flew off and that was the end of it."

Hentu joined in with a sigh escaping his furred mouth, "Two of my buddies were killed in that battle. If Bajara never came with us, we'd be all dead." I was just picturing what happened that day in my head. And it was scary. I can even imagine how worried Bajara was when her mate was trying to survive that day. God...

I looked at Luna and seen that she has a guilty look in her silver eyes, "I am sorry for that. And I'm glad that I didn't kill you too."

Hentu giggled under his breath, "So am I. And don't be sorry about my friends. I know it wasn't your fault."

"I don't think the families they've probably made would be as forgiving as you are."

Hentu lowered his gaze and sighed as he still hobbled beside me, "Yeah...." Then he brought his feline eyes back on her, "But I'll defend you if they aren't willing to forgive you. I'll make sure no one hurts you."

Luna said with a small smile as we still walked through the woods, "I appreciate that, thanks."

Then when I looked over my shoulder once more, I saw Bajara having a curious, but also nervous look on her face, "Hentu, I need to ask you something."

The cheetah replied when he did the same thing as I did, "Don't worry. I swear, nobody doesn't think you are some kind of traitor anymore." My mind was swirling around with questions now. I don't get it. Why are they thinking differently about her than before? What happened? How did they know that she's not bad? I'm thinking that either Perdrue had told everyone in the village the truth about EVERYTHING and they actually don't care if he and Bajara were mates and they were screwing each other late at night, or Chira actually had a guilty conscience after Bajara was exiled because of her and she told the chief the truth herself. I guess, we'll find out when we get there.

Bajara as it turned out, when she shook her head, wasn't trying to ask him about that, "It's not that. I...I want to ask you about Perdrue. Is he still there? Is he still alive?"

Hentu chuckled deeply as he looked ahead, we were about out of the woods as we see the edge of them, "He is." My heart leaped when I heard his answer, and Luna gasped happily near me. Yes! He is alive!

Bajara gasped in joy when her ears went up, "Really? He is?"

Hentu confirmed it without looking at her, "Yes, he is. A decade had passed since you were gone and he still talks about you." He peeked a bit behind him with a smile, "He misses you. We all do."

Bajara curiously frowned, no doubt wondering why the villagers don't hate her now, "You do, huh?"

Hentu spoke when she asked, "We do. And you'll be coming back home." As we all came out of the forest, I see Hentu's village far ahead. Seeing the tall wooden wall that surrounds it, just like Merana's village. He pointed at his home with a finger raised, "There it is."

I chuckled a bit as we stepped out on the meadow, "Heh, the second cheetah village I come across and they both look the same."

Luna said as her tail swished behind her, "I see what you mean. Tall wooden walls and all that."

Bajara giggled behind me when she stated, "I'm sure every cheetah village has those walls, Mike."

I rolled up my eyes, "I figured." Hell, why wouldn't they have those walls if a war's going on in the land of Avarilan? Then I made another thought. Well, now that I think about it, there's not much of a point of having them if Lost Souls can use teleportation stones to get past them and they have those big catapults that'll throw huge rocks that fucking destroy houses. I would know! Because that's what happened to Merana's village!

I certainly hope that after me, Luna and Bajara show up in this village, something like that won't happen.

As all four of us continued to stroll through the meadow and went more closer to the village, towards the huge gates on the massive wall, I can see on top of it that there are about seven cheetahs and they were aiming their arrows at us.

While I still held Hentu by his arm, all of us stopped in our tracks and I was waving my hand at them, "Whoa! Hold on there, cheetah dudes!"

Bajara cried out with her wings flared, "Don't shoot!"

From down below, I can see their surprised expressions as they fully concentrated on Bajara. One of them hollered, "Bajara? Is that you?"

I can feel a sense of relief building up in me as Bajara hollered back with her tail making a loud thump on the ground behind her, "Yes!"

Then I could see them smiling as they lowered their weapons and the one on the far right cried out happily, "No way, it is her!"

I see one of them in the middle frowning when he looked right at me, "Hey Hentu, are you alright? What's that weird looking creature with you?"

I laughed and playfully shot back, "Yes, I look weird! But I'm not the only weird creature here!" Hentu glared at me when he figured out what I was talking about. I giggled sheepishly and said in a whisper, "Well, you sorta do."

I heard one of them asking me a question, "What in Avarilan are you? A furless cheetah?"

I knew one of them would call me that, "No! I'm a damn human!"

Another cheetah made a glare and tried to argue, "A human? Wait a second, how can we trust something like him? Hentu, what's going on?"

Hentu joined in, trying to defend for me, "It's okay, he saved my life! I was attacked by the enemy earlier and he helped Bajara save me! I'm hurt and he's just carrying me!"

The same cheetah on the wall bared his teeth at the sight of Luna and pointed a furious finger down at her, "What about her?! She's Dark Storm!"

Luna was shaking her head when she protested, "Wait! I saved him too!"

Hentu shouted up at his companions, "She's right! Don't shoot! Don't fire! She's not gonna hurt any of us! She has killed her former allies! Don't shoot her!"

The cheetah who had that anger, held that look for another second before he seemed to have loosened up his attitude as he puffed his chest and let out his air. I let out a whoosh of air on my end. Goodness. I saw Luna sighing in relief herself.

I hollered at them after the tension went down, "Listen guys, Hentu needs some help right now! A Lost Soul cut his leg and he's bleeding!"

Bajara commanded while she folded her wings on her back, "Open the doors! Let us in!"

Hentu hollered out once more, "They're right, I need help! Don't worry, the human and the black dragoness won't harm anyone! They come in peace! Now open the gates!"

I see a cheetah has nodded, "Alright!" Then he was waving his hand high in the air, shouting this real loudly, "Open the gates!"

A second later, the gates started to open for us and the four of us resumed our pace. Shortly there after, we all entered through them and see the wooden made houses of the village inside that huge wall. It wasn't long that after we came in here, the big gates closed behind us with a loud slam.

Hentu said to me and Luna in a hospitable tone, "Welcome to my village, strangers." Then he said to Bajara as she came up to stand beside him, "And welcome home, Bajara."

Bajara looked down at me and him, and said to the green cheetah in gratitude, "Thank you, Hentu." She trailed her gaze around her home, breathing in through her nose, "I can't believe that I'm home. Nothing appeared to have changed much."

Hentu said, "Trust me. Some things HAVE changed."

I frowned, "Like what?"

Bajara was waving her forepaw at us, "Never mind that, Mike." Then she snaked her snout down to Hentu's level with her eyes showing total anticipation, "Hentu, where's Perdrue? Where is he? Is he at his house? What was he doing before you left the village?" Her face had gotten closer to him, her nose barely touched his, "Please. Tell me. I need to see him!"

Hentu looked her in the eye and playfully giggled when he reached up with his hand and patted her cheek, "He's at the chief's house. I'm sure you'll find him there."

The ex-host of her own cave drew back her wrinkled face in confusion, "What? Why's he there?"

After Bajara asked, two cheetahs have ran over to take Hentu away. Healers that'll help him with his wound I'm sure that's what they are. They both waved at Bajara, since apparently they know her too and they were happy to see her, but she didn't notice. All she was focused on was Perdrue. Hentu replied, "You'll see. Just head over there." He looked at me and Luna, "You better go with her, since you're guests and you need to announce yourselves to him."

Luna nodded, "Sure thing."

I said to the two cheetahs who are waiting for me to hand Hentu over to them, "Alright, guys, there you go." I was getting a bit worn of carrying him now anyway. I gave Hentu to them and the green furred cheetah had managed to have his arms around each of their shoulders. After Hentu's arms were around their shoulders, the healers started to carry him off slowly as Hentu just hopped between them.

Bajara rose her head as she watched them leave us, then when they were just far away I heard her mumbling to herself, "The chief's house." She turned to me and my best friend with a relieved smile on her snout, "Well, I guess we didn't have to find that spot in the woods after all to find the village. And getting in here was better than I'd thought earlier."

Luna turned her whole body to face her, wings curled on her back, and she shrugged with a paw, "Eh, a tiny setback, but at least they didn't shoot me."

Bajara then frowned, "Yeah....Guys, do you think Perdrue's at the chief's house?"

I motioned my hand to my right, "Well what are you waiting for? Go check it out and see." I went up and patted her forelimb in encouragement, "This is what you've wanted for a long time. Go find him!"

Luna nodded at that in agreement, "Yeah! Go find him!"

Bajara formed a look of determination and only gave us one nod, "You're right." Her gaze went off at a different direction, "The chief's house is this way. Follow me." Without any more words, she started to pad away from us and we just followed her from behind. A huge, exciting smile came upon my face. THIS IS HAPPENING!

The three of us trotted around the village, earning waves from every cheetah we walk by. Man, Hentu wasn't kidding around. They aren't thinking Bajara as a traitor now. That part in the village really has changed. But I still wonder why that has happened. Other than that, there's another bright side of things. The cheetahs we've walked by weren't being hostile towards Luna. That's a good thing, so far.

After a couple more minutes of walking, Bajara said that the house not far from us is the chief's. Boy, I'm sure Perdrue would be so happy to see Bajara had came home. I can see a tearful, romantic reunion coming.

As I still walked beside Luna, Bajara bounded faster than us, her red tail swinging in a fast rate behind her. Very eager to find her mate. Me and Luna giggled in amusement and stopped at where we were, decided to watch this scene about to happen. Don't want to ruin the moment. From a good distance, I think I saw a lone cheetah coming out of the house and stopped when he saw Bajara coming. He had a wide look on his face, that I can see from where I'm at. I can also tell he has blue fur on him. The tall red dragoness came up close to the smaller creature, sat down on her haunches, and picked him up with her forepaws to embrace the little dude close to her chest. The blue cheetah didn't resist the hug and I can see that he was rubbing his furred cheek lovingly against her chest scales.

That's when I knew that she was embracing Perdrue.

She finally has him in her limbs....After a decade.

I giggled without pulling my gaze away from the cute scene, "Well that didn't take long."

Luna lowly said at what she saw, "Awww." She snaked her snout to beside my head and whispered, "Look at this....Don't you find this very cute?"

I slowly turned to her, still having a smile on me, "I do."

She chuckled when she turned her eyes to me, "Can you imagine if we did that?" Then she was giggling deviously, "Maybe I should do that to you. I want to squeeze you so tight against me."

I playfully rolled my eyes when I reached to caress her cheek, "I'm sure you do." I leaned forward to kiss her nose, "So, do you want to meet the host's lovable mate now?"

My best friend giggled and raised her head above my level, "Yeah, and what about you? Do you also want to meet Perdrue now? Or do you want to leave them alone for a bit?"

"Sure I want to meet him!" I did have the urge to run over there and meet the cheetah that Bajara had talked about over and over again, but I had a second thought that stopped me. I found myself raising a hand and placing my fingers to my temple, thinking about this a bit more, "Well....If they're still hugging, then I think we should leave them alone." I lowered my hand when the two of us looked at the couple. I've seen that Perdrue had already been put down by Bajara and was waving his hand over for us to come to them.

Luna let out a breath and stated, "Looks like their alone time is over with." As she started to walk forward, she twisted her neck to say this to me, "Let's go." I nodded and walked in fast strides with her to where Bajara and Perdrue are at. When me and Luna made it, I stared right at the cheetah close to Bajara, who was wearing brown pants, a vest and even has a red cape behind him.

I looked up at Bajara, "I know the answer, but I just have to ask." I pointed at her companion near her, "Is that Perdrue?"

Bajara giggled, pointing her claw at him as she still sat on the ground, "Well why don't you just ask him, silly?"

I laughed, "I guess." I glanced to Perdrue, "Hi there. You must be Perdrue. My name's Mike."

Perdrue was smiling at me, "Hello, and welcome to my village, traveler." Then he locked his eyes onto Luna's as he looked up at her, a blank look on his face, "And hello....Lunasin."

Luna looked away, guilty at what she did before.

Perdrue brought the smile back on his muzzle and he waved at her to put her at ease, "It's alright. I'm not angry." He thumbed to Bajara, "Bajara here told me that you two gave her some company and you were the ones who brought her back. Thank you very much."

Luna looked back down at him with a bit of surprise from hearing that, "Uh....You're welcome."

Perdrue said, "I mean it to the both of you, thank you. Especially you, Lunasin. You've certainly changed your ways. Bringing a fellow villager back to where she belongs. That wasn't like you back then. You didn't care. But...You do now."

Luna grinned, slowly moving her tail behind her, "Well doing good is better than doing bad, in my opinion."

Bajara smiled brightly at the two of us, "And you've certainly did. Both of you. I can never repay you both for this." She glanced at her mate and I think her eyes were about to mist in tears of joy, "This is the happiest time of my life."

I shrugged my shoulders, "Eh, there was no need to repay us, anyways." Then I frowned at Perdrue, "Okay, so now here's the question that we all want to ask....What's going on here?" I shook my head and clarified, "What I mean is how come the whole village-"

Perdrue replied before I finished, "Trusts Bajara now?" He giggled as he waved his hand towards Bajara, "I guess you know all about what Bajara went through, right? Exiling from her own village and all?" Me and Luna both nodded and he said, "Well, since I'm the chief of the village, I better give you three a good explanation."

Bajara seemed to have held back her tears when she tilted her head and tapped her tail on the ground, "Wait....You're the chief now?" Perdrue turned to her and gave her a nod. That had her fondly looking at him in surprise and proudness, "You are? That's amazing, Perdrue!" Mine and Luna's faces went wide. Wow! He's the chief these days?!

Perdrue chuckled in amusement and said to her with a nod of gratitude, "Thank you."

When my wide look went away, my brain just clicked upon the revelation. Huh....Now it makes sense why he was at the chief's house. Because he IS the chief! This was one of the things that've changed in this village! Now I understand why Hentu only told us that Perdrue was just at the chief's house. He didn't want to say anything about THIS because he wanted Bajara to find out for herself.

Ha! Hentu you really gave her, and us, a surprise.

Luna cocked her head, "Alright....So what happened here?"

Perdrue locked eyes on us, "How about I get you three something to eat. You're probably hungry right now. Well so am I. Come eat with me and I'll explain everything." Then he pointed right at me, "And also you can tell me all about yourself. I've never seen a creature like you before."

I stared at him for a little bit, before I slowly nodded at him as he was right. I was getting kinda hungry. I replied, "Sure."

Before we could move a muscle, we heard a voice. TWO of them, in fact, "Bajara!" Bajara turned her snout and I followed the sound of the voices, and saw two little cheetahs wearing brown tunics and pants running up to us. Right at her to be exact.

Bajara happily gasped as she sees them, "Nitac! Kamu!" She lowered her head down for them and both of them on each side of her head was lovingly hugging her. I heard Bajara crooning in affection for them as her long tail was swishing across the grass. I smiled at them. I think I know who they are. They're Perdrue's cubs.

Nitac and Kamu. So that's what their names are.

Then I thought about Chira, their mother. Boy, I hope I don't have to meet up with her. Knowing what kind of a woman and mother she is. But the boys seemed to be okay. Well, why wouldn't they be? They really are happy to see her. I watched Bajara nuzzling each of them against their chests like they were her children. Bajara was right. She does act motherly to them. And she's happy to see them, too.

Bajara rose her head and said to the cubs, "I'm so happy to see you two."

One of the little cheetahs, who appeared to be a bit taller than the other one and has blue fur, said with a very big smile on his face, "We are too." Then he tilted his head a bit, "Where'd you go? We haven't seen you forever!"

The shorter one, who has yellow fur with spots, added with a nod of his own, "Yeah. I missed riding on your back!"

Bajara giggled and shifted a bit on the ground, curling her tail around herself, "Oh, it's a long story."

The shorter cub asked her questions with excited eyes, "Did you go on many adventures?! Where?! Where'd you go?!" I quietly snickered nearby. I can understand that those two never knew that Bajara was exiled. They believe that she had left them for a long time for some sort of adventure or something.

Heh....Kids.

I think Bajara was a bit surprised when she heard that, probably expecting to hear something different out of their mouths. But she played along as she let out a breath, "Well....Any place you can imagine." She rose a talon, "BUUT I can tell you that I have been to this 'beautiful' cave that would make a perfect home for any traveler who comes by it."

The older brother just frowned, "Are you gonna tell us where else you went, Bajara? You know we hardly go outside the village with dad."

She nodded slowly, "Maybe later." The red dragon gave them a huge smile, "But first off, I want to say that you two look a bit grown since I've last saw you." She commented to the older sibling, "Especially you, Kamu. You've certainly gotten taller. Grown to become STRONG like your proud father."

Kamu closed his eyes and made a toothy grin as he placed his hand on his chest, "I certainly have."

His little brother, Nitac moaned, "Aw, why does HE get to be strong? I want to be strong, too!" Nitac glared at Kamu and gave him a shove, "Kamu, quit getting stronger! Let me catch up!"

Kamu just ignored the shove as he shot his eyes open, giggled and flexed one of his arms, "No way! I'll be the most strongest warrior ever! Just like dad!" Then he held up his chin, "I'll even fight the evil dragon, Abyss and end the war! I'll be a hero!"

Nitac huffed, "But I want to end the war, too!"

Kamu retorted, "Are you kidding me? You'll end up being destroyed!" Then he smirked, "At least, I'll have the skills to destroy Abyss. I KNOW I can beat him."

Luna giggled and whispered to me as she watched this, "This is cute." I giggled in reply. Their argument reminded me of Scott and myself from back then. Geez, my brother was such a spaz. Then when I imagined them as me and Scott when we were little, I felt my heart crack. I didn't show it, but I was feeling sad. Aw....I wish things were just different. I wish Scott never hated me.

Then a second later, the forms changed back to Nitac and Kamu, and now I was thinking about their future together...As brothers. Oh guys....I hope you don't end up like me and....Scott.

I glanced at the very tall wall, like I was staring through it. Scott...

I had my sight back on the cubs as the younger one heatedly shot at Kamu, "I'll probably destroy YOU!"

His older brother adamantly shook his head, "No you won't! If you tried, I'll be destorying you!"

"Would not!

"Would to!"

"Would not!"

"Would to!"

Bajara chuckled at their bicker as they still shot at each other back and forth and her wings moved on her back a bit, "Oh boy."

Perdrue came up to his sons, "Alright boys, enough." His hands clasped on each of their shoulders, ending the whole argument amongst them and he had their eyes turned to him. He gave them both a stern look, "There will be no destroying each other while I'm around. Understand?"

They both mumbled, "Yes."

Perdrue stared at them for a bit before he grinned, "Good." Then he gestured to me and my best friend behind him, "And don't be rude. Bajara brought guests to the village. Go meet them."

Kamu and Nitac peeked around their father and both their brows were raised when they spotted us, like they didn't see us when they came to see Bajara. Me and Luna snickered, and I waved at them. Then the cubs trotted up slowly to us. Well, Kamu was faster than his little brother. Nitac looked nervous. I'm sure he hasn't seen another dragon other than Bajara before, that was why he was nervous. Well, he's probably nervous of seeing me too. Knowing what I am.

The eldest cub stood right in front of me, as Nitac stopped a few feet behind him. Kamu tilted his head at us as Luna lowered her head to his level, "Hi. My name's Lunasin."

That was when Kamu narrowed his eyes at her, and other than anger there was also a bit of confusion in them as well, "Wait....The Dark Storm?"

Luna's silver eyes widened up and she rose her head fast above him, speechless after what he said, "Uhhhh." I can imagine what went through her head. Hearing that from a cub wasn't what she'd expected.

Perdrue walked up and patted his son's shoulder, his son gazing at him now, "Was, but not anymore. She's fighting against Abyss now." Then he giggled, "If she was, then Bajara wouldn't be here, would she?"

Kamu's narrowed look went away as he got the picture, "I...I guess you're right." Then he formed a smile and looked up at her, "Sorry."

Luna made a smile on her snout and shook it softly, "It's alright. I wasn't offended."

Then Perdrue turned and went back for his other son and patted his back, "Don't be nervous. Trust me, they're nice."

Bajara helped out nearby, "Your dad's right. You can trust them."

Nitac sorta looked nervous still, but he took his father's and Bajara's words in consideration and timidly nodded. He was taking one step at a time in a very slow pace, until he was right beside Kamu. Nitac nervously looked at me and Luna, and just muttered as quietly as he could, "H-Hi."

Luna said to the other cub in politeness, "Hello there. Is your name Nitac? My name's Lunasin." She shot her head down to me, "And this is my best friend. The furless cheetah named Mike." I shot a playful, narrowing look at her. I'll get you for that, you devious dragon.

Kamu just giggled loudly at me, "That's what you are? Furless cheetah? What happened to you? Why don't you have any fur? Did the sun make it all fall off or something?" Luna snickered in response.

Sheesh, I see he hasn't been taught some manners. I crossed my arms across my chest, "For your information, that's not what I am. I am a human." Then I rolled up my eyes, gesturing them to my hair, "And my 'fur' is up there."

Kamu replied, "Human, eh? ....No wonder you don't look like a cheetah." He was deviously grinning, "Actually, it's no wonder you don't look strong like my dad here!"

Luna was howling in laughter as my jaw dropped. Why that little shit! Then an idea for a comeback came, and I grinned at him and his little brother, "Does your father do archery well? I bet I can shoot a lot better than him."

Luna was rolling her eyes in sarcasm, "Oh, Mike."

Perdrue while he paced forward said, "He's probably right, guys. I can't do archery well."

Kamu turned to grin at his father when he stopped beside them, "I don't know. Maybe you'll beat him if you tried." I was just smiling to myself. Ohhhh....I relish the challenge.

His father giggled, shaking his head, "I don't think he's in the mood for archery, son. He's probably feeling hungry." He looked to me and then he slowly trailed his eyes off me to Luna, "I believe both of them and Bajara are." He looked right at Kamu, "Look, can you and your brother go back to your mother? I need to make some food and talk to them alone."

Kamu nodded without an argument, "Yeah, sure. Me and Nitac only came here to say hello to Bajara since we've heard she's back." He looked beside him at Nitac, "C'mon. Dad wants to speak to them alone."

Nitac didn't argue as well and he whirled around and bounded away from me and Luna, "Alright, bye dad! Bye Bajara!" Kamu spun around and only just strode after him.

Perdrue waved at his boys, "I'll see you later!"

Kamu, after his little brother ran past Bajara, looked up at her with a curious look, "Hey Bajara? You're not gonna leave soon, are you?" He was nervously rubbing his neck, "I mean, you've just got back, and-"

Bajara was showing reassurance in her golden eyes, "Don't worry, sweetie. I'm not going anywhere. I promise, things will be like they were." She smiled, "Ok?"

Kamu nodded after taking in her word, "Good." Then he walked up and rose his hand to rub her scales affectionately, "Thanks for coming back. Dad always talked about you.....And Nitac too." Without another word, he turned and ran off after Nitac.

Perdrue puffed out his chest and let it out as his boys left us, "Well, that's done." He glanced at each of us and spoke on, "Alright, everyone. I'll go and make the food."

I replied as he was starting to walk off, "Ok, then." I looked at Bajara as she watched her mate leave. Fondness was shone in her eyes. And now I was thinking about her, Perdrue, and the cubs.

Boy, things have gone real well. That's a big relief for her. I can see that she isn't sad and defeated anymore. She looks a lot better. She finally sees both her mate and his cubs again, after ten long years.

I'm happy for you, Bajara. I really am.