In the middle of a room in the palace, Leila and Grimmy were lying next to each other. In front of them, on the ground, a thick tome made of stone was spread open in front of them. On the left side of the stone book, there were carved pictures of strange creatures. On the right side, there was a description written in an ancient language. Every time the two dragons turned the pages of the tome, a different creature and description would pop up.

“This one looks pretty dangerous, doesn’t it?” Leila asked and raised an eyebrow.

Grimmy chuckled. “These are all sealed creatures,” he said. “All of them are dangerous. If they weren’t dangerous, they wouldn’t be sealed in the first place.”

There was a shuffling sound, and the two dragons raised their heads. Grimmy closed the stone book and casually slid it under his belly, hiding it from view. A relatively small head poked into the room and looked around with wary eyes.

“Ramon?” Leila asked. “What’s wrong?”

Ramon limped into the room and sniffled. “I want to go home.”

“Why are you walking like that?” Leila asked and frowned. She noticed a big bump just above the base of Ramon’s tail. “Did someone hit you?”

“Grandma spanked me because I didn’t memorize the alphabet in time,” Ramon said, his lips trembling.

“Come here,” Leila said and sighed. She placed her paw on top of Ramon’s head, and her eyes glowed with a silver light. A glow enveloped the bump on Ramon’s haunches, and within seconds, it disappeared. When it was gone, Leila’s eyes stopped glowing, and she took her paw off of Ramon. “Did your grandmother not give you enough time to learn? How come you didn’t memorize the alphabet?”

“I was practicing the technique Vur taught me,” Ramon said and pouted. “But I wasn’t good enough at it, and I fell asleep without learning anything.”

“Vur taught you a technique?” Grimmy asked. “What was it?”

“He taught me how to learn in my sleep.”

Leila’s brow furrowed. “You should forget about that technique until you’re older,” she said. “When you’re still young, you should spend more time awake and exploring the world. The older you get, the more energy you’ll need to do things. There’s no reason to sleep so much while you’re still so little.”

“But I want to be an adult!” Ramon said and slapped his tail against the ground. “Vur said if I was an adult, then no one would hurt me anymore! And he said the best way to become an adult is by eating lots and sleeping lots.”

Grimmy rubbed his chin. “It’s true that you’ll get hurt less as an adult,” he said. “But to become an adult that can’t get hurt, you’ll have to experience things that can hurt you first. It’s a part of growing up.”

Ramon lowered his head and stared at the ground. Wasn’t that the same thing Vur said? Getting hit was a normal part of growing up. He frowned and stomped his foot against the ground. Wasn’t he a dragon? Weren’t dragons supposed to be the greatest creatures? “Isn’t there a way to not get hurt while growing up?”

Leila patted Ramon’s head. “You’re a holy dragon, remember? Even if you get hurt, you can always heal yourself.”

“But I don’t want to get hurt in the first place!”

“That’s why you have to listen to your grandma,” Leila said. “If you go through all her lessons, you’ll be strong enough to protect yourself from all harm in the future. Have you ever seen your dad get hurt? No, right? That’s because he went through the same thing you’re going through now.”

Ramon pouted and made eye contact with Grimmy. “You learned all the alphabets too?”

Grimmy nodded. “They might not seem useful now, but they’re the foundation for everything. Without knowing the alphabet, how will you record your experimental results? How can you read what other people have written? How can you unseal ancient evils without knowing the unsealing language?”

Ramon tilted his head. Were those things important? As long as he could hit and bite things harder than anyone else, did he really need to learn all the other stuff?

***

Kondra frowned. Since Lulu had left with Grimmy’s little elf, it was clear that the two of them should’ve been heading towards the southern continent to follow after Grimmy. However, she couldn’t sense any hint of her youngest daughter’s aura at all. Kondra turned her head towards her mate. “Can you sense Lulu’s traces?”

Kondra’s mate shook his head. “It’s strange. I couldn’t sense it at all even when we left the cave. Did the elf use a masking spell?”

“I don’t know,” Kondra said and narrowed her eyes. Currently, the two holy dragons were flying over the ocean separating the eastern continent from the southern continent. “Once we reach land, it won’t be too hard to find traces of them.”

“Even if we can’t find Lulu, it shouldn’t be difficult to find Grimmoldesser. We can ask him where Lulu went,” Kondra’s mate said. “While we’re there, we can see our grandchildren as well. Do you think they’re being taken care of? I hope they’re not being abused by Gren and Kal.”

Kondra snorted. “If they harm a single scale on Gloria’s body, I’ll fight them to the death,” she said and bared her teeth.

“Just Gloria?” Kondra’s mate asked and raised an eyebrow. “What about Ramon?”

“Ramon’s a troublemaker,” Kondra said. “If he does something wrong, he deserves to be punished. In fact, if Gren and Kal aren’t properly educating Ramon, I’ll fight them to the death.”

“Do all the fights have to be to the death?” Kondra’s mate asked. “If we really fought to the death, whose side do you think Leila would take?”

Kondra fell silent. For a while, only the sounds of the dragons beating wings could be heard. Kondra snorted, breaking the silence. “I’ll fight Gren and Kal to the point of near-death.”