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With the knowledge that her mother was also named 'Avila' and Xiciro had been holding all the information within him, Avila could understand a bit about Xiciro's reckless behavior. Though Avila could defend herself and she was only fighting low-spirited humans, Xiciro took it onto himself and took most of the army with him while leaving the dragons to the other Argoons. He was trying to protect her, just like what a father would do if he wanted a long-lasting family. Even then, the reason why he wanted to risk his life was to keep the memory of his mate.

Avila wished she couldn't have known all these answers and assumptions, wanting to keep it as a mystery. Yet the dragon could not help it. She was always known to analyze and read other's emotion, especially to those she's close to. Only Seraphor knew the reason why, and that was because of his own grudge against her, something that both had chosen to forgotten, based on mutual reason.

This had given her a noticeable change of behavior through the next few days, with her father wondering about it. Avila became more silent and wanted to think. At first, Xiciro did not want to know or even care, but Avet somehow became concerned and came to her on the second day.

"Hey, you have a minute?" asked the one-eyed Argoon.

Avila turned to him as if surprised. She said, "Yes?"

"What are you doing?"

"Thinking."

"Everyone can see that, but didn't Xiciro tell you about his relationship?"

"I know that...it's just...I can't seem to grasp why he named me after my mother."

"Why is that important? Some humans named their offspring after themselves with the 'junior' at the back, right? In fact, I think the reason your name is your mother's too is because he wants to remember her in you." Avet sighed. "Look, you're thinking too much. I don't want to tell you to stop. I know it's out of habit from our journey together, but just accept the obvious and open up to your father more."

"I want answers, sooner or later, and yes...I guess I am thinking too much. But seriously, now that no elder is appointed, how are you supposed to defend this place? Nia Baleth is no longer positioned in between worlds anymore."

Avet looked at her, then towards where the archive building was. It was damaged, but not damaged enough to endanger the knowledge within. It's not surprising, given that the place is also the only place their history were kept. By this point he couldn't find any way to tell his allies that the western Argoon kept their history, since he could only find two.

"I can call others to defend this place. Even though many of us become employed with the Dragonsbane, we can and will go back and fight if we must. That's our calling to protect the knowledge within Nia Baleth."

"Well that's cute, hearing it from a dragon like you."

Avet turned towards the source of the voice.

"Mitra..."

"Do you think we'll just let you off the hook just because you got half your face blown off? More importantly, take back that comment before I rip that support of your face."

Seeing how angry Mitra was, Avila wanted to keep silent, but her curiosity took the better of her.

"What's wrong?"

Mitra seemed annoyed when asked, but upon seeing the young dragoness, she relaxed and said, "Nia Baleth is not only a haven for Argoon dragons, but it is also the hub of our activities throughout the South. With the activity of the dragon slayers and the dragon prison ready to recondition dragons into slaves, we took it upon ourselves and act as open as possible to the southern dragons. But then, I guess that plan backfired, and the elder paid for the consequences.

"When we looked at the elder's body, we found traces of black magic used to kill him. With Nia Baleth not having new outsider visitors except you and the old one, we suspected you two, but the trace only belongs to one particular dragon: Scalder."

This surprised Avila. "That healer?"

"Turns out he's the one that deactivated the shield and temporal device in the archive. Even though the elder has died, the device would still be working, except if the fail-safe mechanism was tampered in such a way that the whole thing fails. You two were immediately out of suspicion since there's no way you can understand the way it works. Only one healer that had been inside the elder's archive for over a hundred years knows the way it works, and it requires frequent observations."

"So Scalder is a sleeper agent? But why now? Those Dragonsbane must've known that they don't stand a chance against a settlement full of dark dragons."

"I think the reason why they hastened their attack is because of your arrival," said Mitra. "Scalder might've been alarmed the moment you told him your name, and took it upon himself to kill you."

Mitra then look around, as if trying not to make other dragons hear her. She then walked closer towards Avila and said, "You're...not exactly honest with us, are you?" "Like what?"

"Like your identity. You're not just a western Argoon, but something far more frightening for the Dragonsbane to make them run away just because you scare them."

Avila realized what Mitra was talking about. Even though she didn't want to tell her, given how private her objective was, she could feel the tension of uncertainty from Mitra. The Argoon didn't want to talk about it, but she wouldn't want to be enemies with them, either.

"I... almost killed a whole army..."

"Any dragon can do that, but tell me the real reason why you're doing that."

"It's just...I have been separated from my mate for a whole century and they came and snatch him away right in front of my eyes. How can you not be angry by that? I felt great rage and helplessness of unable to help him. I didn't know what I did, but Xiciro...my father, he told me everything. He told me that I almost cause a whole army to commit suicide because I gave them their worst nightmares."

Avet and Mitra went silent the moment they heard about it, but acted indifferent, which made Avila felt as if she said something wrong. After a while, Mitra said, "Damn, so that's why they ran away. You practically made them lose their pride without laying a claw on them."

"Is that going to be something I regret?"

"If you're one of them, then yes, it will. But for now, I guess it's safe to assume that you're one of us. Avet is the problem."

Avet wanted to say something, but Mitra stopped him by saying, "If you think for once he can be trusted, I won't stop you, but he must be kept on watch all the time and restrained if it is a must."

"What?! You can't restrain me like some goddamn beast!"

"If we can't trust a dragon that had been respected for a hundred years, we can't trust a dragon that came in and suddenly everything went down, even though that dragon has half of his face blown off. We need to be cautious."

Avet couldn't say anything and solemnly nodded. Avila wanted to say something, but Avet had walked away, with Mitra watching over him as he was escorted away by her underlings.

"You don't need to be so harsh with him, you know," said Avila.

"I don't know how you Westerns able to survive these days, but around this place, you don't trust outsiders that easily, unless they've proved themselves, like you."

"Haven't done anything that worth merit."

Mitra smiled. "You may not think of it as an achievement, but the fact that you are a dark dimension type proved it. The truth is, we don't have any for a thousand years."

"So you want to enlist our help?"

"More or less. Unlike you two, Southern Argoons don't tend to trust that easily, and to be frank, we are not as strong as you two. Avila...will you help us?"

The black Argoon dragon had been thinking about this for a while, knowing very well that darkness ability alone cannot help her brethren since the dragon slayers now have darkness defense. She looked towards the archive, thinking of all the knowledge inside, and the possibility of understanding her race's history and possibly her own affliction.

Even so, she did not plan to give her service for free.

"I am willing to help you, but in return, give me the direction towards the dragon prison."

This surprised Mitra. "Why? That place's a hell hole!"

"My mate is being held there, at least on the information I got from Avet. I will help you boost your defense for 6 months, but in return show me the way. I won't be causing you another concern, because I am planning to go to that place alone."

"How about your..."

"My father may be strong, but he's reckless. I've seen how his actions almost got himself killed. His compassion is genuine and his anger is justified, but he cannot control his actions the moment his emotions took the best of him. He's just...not accustomed to that."

Unknown to her, Xiciro was just around the corner the moment she said that. He wanted to bond with his daughter, now that the fighting's over, but she had declared that he couldn't fight properly because his judgement was clouded by anger. Of course, given how he always acted, he would deny everything and made random arrogant remark, but this time it's different. Avila wasn't his enemy; she was his daughter. He knew how protective she was to loved ones, and given how unceremoniously she found out about him, she would be sure he wouldn't be going anywhere.

Avet then walked beside him, without escort. His escort was just behind him, waiting for him to finish the talk. Xiciro noticed them and said, "Lost your respect, young one?"

"No, it's just precautions," said Avet scratching his chin. "Turns out Scalder is the traitor."

"So it seems. But will they mind if we go out from Nia Baleth for a moment?"

Avet looked towards his two escorts, but didn't notice Xiciro walking towards them. He asked them about it, but after a while, the let him do what he wants.

"So, fancy a stroll outside the city border?"

They opened their wings and flew away towards where Erakor fell. Xiciro looked towards the hastily erected grave and the bloodied floor where the dragon once laid in rest. The body of the elder was cremated, as do all dragons when they die (at least for the civilized ones). But Xiciro did not have the time to be overwhelmed with grief. He needed to do talk about something important.

As they went outside Nia Baleth, Xiciro never realized the settlement itself was massive, compared with the ruins of Dracokin and Qeveriyt. It was as if the place was a gold city for dragons, even though it was the dragons living in it living in seclusion. He landed near the place where the door once was.

Avet looked at Xiciro and said, "So what are you going to talk about?"

"Oh, it's not that important. I have all the time in the world. Let's say we walk around a bit and...freshen our minds from the pressure."

They walked around Nia Baleth for at least two hours before they settled behind the settlement. Xiciro sat and relaxed himself, followed by Avet.

"You know...I'm terrible at relationship reconciling. That's why I don't have that much friend. Well...to be honest, I don't have any friends, until recently."

That comment felt painful to Avet. He assumed that Xiciro had more friends since he was so charismatic and soft-spoken, even if Avila claimed that he was an arrogant jerk. Even so, Avet learned to trust him.

"And I don't plan to have more than what I have. Everything I did end up hurting them. So...I want to do something that you might want to consider helping."

Avet didn't like the sound of it, but he was intrigued.

"Do you want to...accompany me back to the West?"

"Back to the West? And why do you want to do that after flying all the way here to find your daughter's lost mate?"

"I am planning to do that, but first, I need to make things clear between the West and your race," said Xiciro. "Also, we need more than two dragons to help."

"Like what?"

Xiciro smiled. "You'll be surprised on many new things in the West you haven't known yet. But...we will set off immediately."

"What? Now?"

"Why? You want to wait until nighttime like you usually do. This time, however, I know the way, and I can use my ability to the fullest."

"Don't you want to say goodbye to your daughter first?"

Xiciro didn't immediately answer, but when he did, he said, "I've given her one, inside our quarters. So, what do you say?"

Avet, despite of wanting to follow Xiciro, had doubts on travelling through enemy territory. But seeing how the two Western Argoons fend the enemies off like it's breakfast for them made him sure that whichever 'help' the dragon had could be something that both of them could rely on. Besides, he was branded as suspicious, anyway, so he needed to cut some slack.

"I guess I got no choice. You still need a guide through the Outback, old one. I'll help you, but in return, let me live in the West."

"Quite a demand you have there. Don't you want to be with your brethren."

"Not if they're always that suspicious. You Western dragons look more open than us. I don't like living with suspicious dragons."

"Hmm...it is true. But, let's see when we get there. Shall we?"

Both of them opened their wings and started beating it down to earth, lifting them up to the sky. Doing this would surely took everyone's notice, but their only concern was the misinterpretation of their actions. Both Xiciro and Avet were dragons formerly employed by the Dragonsbane (though only Avila knew that he was a Defiler), but at least they didn't cause more harm than it would.

Avila returned to her quarters to find no one in there. She assumed Xiciro was only taking a stroll, but a glowing word caught her attention. After moving the haystack away, she found a text, somehow a letter, written in ancient draconic. Only Xiciro would test someone's knowledge by writing a language no dragon had ever used for thousands of years, yet this time it's a passionate text, with meaning and not just gibberish as he always did, and what he did back in Pol Hain.

It read as follows:

_ "Avila, my child. By the time you are reading this, I am halfway back to the West, with or without Avet. I know this seems out of ordinary for you, a dragoness that has known me for a while as both an enemy and a friend. But, you're right. To be honest with you, I've been wanting to talk to you about this since my memories returned, but I don't have the courage to even start a heart to heart conversation, if that's the term you use. As you have known, I'm your father. Even though I am a 500-years old dragon, I can still be overwhelmed by feelings of relief, but also of that of a parent._

_ "I am well aware of your desire to continue the journey to the dragon prison every dragon is talking about, but alas, both of us are ill-prepared for what's coming. The place, if it is as rumored, can lead us to our deaths in our current condition. Let me be blunt, just for this once. You are too fixated to Seraphor that you've forgotten how to restrain yourself, while I'm far too emotional to be honest with you aside from these words._

_ "Do not try to find me or continue your journey without me. Help those Argoons any way you can. I know you will. When we get through this emotional journey together, let us reconvene and talk to each other like father and daughter. I will try to be ready. Xiciro."_

After reading all of them, Avila looked away, trying to hide the fact that he was right. Xiciro struck her as an arrogant dragon, but deep down, he was a good dragon, and a good father. His recklessness was partially Avila's fault, due to her own inability to realize that Seraphor was captured.

Just before she left, and just at the same time Mitra came in, she stumbled upon a glowing sentence. It was continuing the message.

"You are just like your namesake, Avila. Your mother will always do what's necessary for me, and for you, if she's still here with us."

She was stunned, yet glad at the same time. She never knew her mother before, but she could say that she's a good dragon. Mitra looked at the writing. After skimming through it, she said, "He's gone, huh?" "He is," replied Avila. "Both of us need this."

"But what will you do now?"

Avila hesitated on an answer, but she knew the answer to the question. She was unable to talk about it. But, despite of the revelations and Xiciro's decision, she wanted to be of use, or at least to be a better dragon, than what she was. It's time to use her leadership in helping the disorganized Argoons.

"I'll keep my end of the bargain, as long as I want it to be."