Jake felt a fuzzy warmth as he woke up, and a distant roaring slowly came closer until it turned into voices.

"You are sure it's him?" A deep, feminine voice asked with obvious curiosity.

"Yes, it's Jake, I know it is! See, Tir is nodding! I told you I was speaking the truth!" A girl screamed back in a high pitched voice.

Nodding? The second voice was familiar, and Jake tried to remember. His mind was clearing up quickly, and his stomach began making loud complaints. The loud rumbling silenced the voices before Jake could figure out who the second one was.

"I think he is awake." The first voice said, and Jake opened his eyes.

A smooth, purple-tinged white ceiling hung far above him, blue-energy particles swirling below it like a small thunder cloud. As he looked around, he saw he was in a large chamber, lying on a gleaming white stone slab. Next to the slab stood a small, dark-blue dragon with purplish highlights. Two clear and dark-blue eyes stared at him while a happy smile spread across the small snout. Tir nestled in her arms, crooning softly as she nuzzled the dragon.

"Jake!" The happiness in the familiar voice joined with the eyes caused Jake to shoot up on his haunches and stare at her.

"EMMA!" It was as if a dam had broken, and the smaller dragon jumped forward, winding her neck around his as she began talking and crying at the same time. Tir jumped aside, sitting on the edge of the bed with her head tilted as she watched what happened.

"I am so glad you're here. Nobody believed me! They said I was crazy, that something went wrong with my awakening. How is Mason? Is Ter with him? Where are the others?"

A long litany of questions followed as Jake tried to make sense of it all. Finally, he pushed the smaller dragon away and stared at her until she quieted down. "Emma… how did you survive?"

The small dragon shrugged and grinned. "At the moment, that stupid crocodile thing bit my leg off my merging began. I blacked out and woke up here, all fine." She stared at Jake proudly before a soft giggle caused her to blink.

Jake looked to the side and finally noticed there was a tall Kobold standing beside them. She had beautiful teal and blue scales and thick dark teal frills that dangled from the top of her head like dreadlocks. She wore a simple white gown, while beautiful gleaming-white bracelets adorned her slim teal arms.

She stared at Jake with eyes so green and clear Jake could see part of the room reflected in them.

"Don't be afraid. You are safe now. I have cleared the poison from the Shadsir fish from your blood, and you should be feeling better. I am Lady Talia Firstborn, and I welcome all the new dragons who find their way to us." Her voice was deep for a woman but soft, and it held a songlike quality.

Jake nodded dumbly, taking a quick look at Emma, who just smiled at him.

"Thank you. I feel a lot better now."

The kobold smiled before continuing. "I am glad you are awake. Emma has been telling us some odd stories, and we are curious if you could help us make sense of them!"

"That's not fair, Lady Talia! I've only told you the tru-"

Talia raised her hand, silencing Emma with practiced ease before shaking her head. "Yes, so you say. But all of it is very strange, and all we have is your word."

Emma hung her blue-scaled head, a disgruntled look on her sharp dragon face.

Wondering what the hell was going on here, Jake examined the kobold before replying. "I don't know what she has told you, but would it be ok to ask where I am?" As he spoke, he suddenly felt the pull of his instinct, stronger and more powerful than ever before, and it seemed to point directly below the room. His gaze snapped down.

"As you are obviously sensing right now, you are at the place you should be. The place all of those with Lauruna's blood belong and are drawn to! You are home!" Talia smiled as she looked at him.

Home? An image of a small stone house in an urban area, a bus ride from the downtime skyline that could be seen from its top windows, popped up in Jake's mind, and he shook his head. Wherever he was, he wasn't home. And he probably never would be again. The realization came fast and with such undeniable surety that it felt like someone had hit him in the gut. His dragon instincts barely managed to dull the blow, and without thinking, Jake pulled in the energy floating in the room. A sheen of ice-covered him, and immediately his mind cleared.

Talia let out a startled cry and jumped to the other side of the room. A shimmer appeared around her, and she grew rapidly, stopping only when she swallowed and raised a hand to point at him.

A soft scream came from Tir, and she bolted across the room to hide below a table in a corner.

"You are a frost dragon! Impossible, those are extinct!" Talia said, not taking her eyes away from the ice on Jake's scales.

Jake frowned at her, examining the glimmer and wondering how she just grew two heads taller. When she took a few shuddering breaths, the glimmer disappeared, and she shrunk down to her previous size. Jake's scaly eyebrows rose as an idea surfaced in his mind.

"You're a dragon!" he blurted, staring at her in wonder.

Emma giggled loudly. "Of course she is!"

Talia stared at Jake for a while, a calculating look in her eyes before she nodded. "I am sorry if I scared you!" An air of power and surety came across her as she puffed out her chest and stared at him along the sides of her reptilian nose.

"Last of the legendary frost dragons, I welcome you to the city of Azurill, first of the cities in the kingdom of Lauruna. With what you have just shown us, it seems far more likely that Emma spoke the truth all along."

She stopped Emma's protests with a single derisive gaze before looking around the room for a moment.

"Please stay here for now. I will have food brought to you, and if you have any needs, tell them to those who bring the food. After you have rested and eaten, I will come back and bring you to meet the others." She nodded curtly before leaving through the arched door and closing the door behind her.

Jake and Emma stared at the door for a short moment before looking at each other. A big smile spread across Emma's face, and she jumped forward to curl her neck around Jake's. She was so much smaller than him that she barely reached the base of his neck, and her head rested atop his shoulder.

"I am so glad you found me! I was afraid I was going to have to wait until I grew up before I could go and search for you! They wouldn't let me leave. They said it was too dangerous and I was too young and immature, and, and-" She continued rambling, almost incoherently for minutes before finally halting.

When she backed up, Jake grinned at her. She had changed a lot from the insecure, quiet little girl he remembered. He wasn't sure how, but if he had to guess, she gained more from the change than he had. At least on a mental level.

"Why are you looking at me like that!" Emma snorted, averting her eyes as she looked at everything but him.

"Oh, no reason. Just wondering what happened to the quiet little Emma I knew."

"I am still quiet! Just... just not right now!" Emma blurted out, and Jake grinned again.

He felt a knot untie in his belly, a thing he hadn't realized was there. It had probably been there since he had heard she had died. Although he still felt a deep, simmering need to search for Mason, now that he had found Emma, it seemed less urgent. Mason was strong. He could take care of himself. Emma, on the other hand, probably needed his help a lot more. Although- and Jake examined Emma's muscular dragon physique.

"How did you get so buff?" He asked, scrunching his eyebrows and trying to recall if he had been like that after waking up. He didn't think so.

Emma raised one of her arms, flexing it with such a serious look that Jake snorted before bursting out laughing. Emma glowered at him, but it only made it worse, and all of a sudden, he couldn't stop, his shoulders heaving as he laughed so loudly he didn't even notice when the door opened.

Only when he saw Emma's worried look did he finally manage to calm down, and he wiped his eyes. "Sorry." He muttered before turning to follow her pointed look.

Three Kobold women stood in the door opening, blue and purple scaled, all with their frills adorned with shiny white beads. Carrying enormous plates filled with what looked like fish and vegetables, they stared at him with puzzled looks. Jake put a quick smile on his lips and nodded.

"Thank you for the food. We will be fine now!"

More purple scaled than blue, the lead woman frowned before walking into the room and placing her plate on the table that stood against the wall. She stepped back as the others copied her, and then they all left without as much as a word.

Jake felt the last of the hilarity wash away as he thought about their cold, inquisitive looks. A soft tapping drew his attention, and he saw Tir scuttle towards the table now filled with food. She scrambled up the wall, and Jake cringed when he saw that her nails left puncture marks. When Tir reached the plate, she cried happily, grabbing fish meat and stuffing it in her mouth. As she ate, more and more blue energy particles drifted towards her, fusing with her scales.

Jake looked at her for a moment before he sat down and examined Emma.

"Perhaps you better tell me everything that has happened since you got here. Wait, how long have you been here?"

Emma shrugged. "I don't know for sure, a month? Time went really fast after they sent me to the school."

A momentary silence reigned in the room as Jake ogled her. "School?" He finally blurted out.

"Yes, that's not so weird is it? There are lots of children here. This city alone has a dozen schools!"

Jake nodded as he looked through the room again. It makes sense, he thought as he noticed the craftsmanship and a stunning wall painting. It depicted a curled-up blue dragon that snarled at a shadow. In the curls of her tail sat five blue and white eggs with different markings. This wasn't created by a bunch of savages. He remembered the town of the Antracii, all wood, and rope. Compared to that, this was light years ahead.

"I guess not. So what do they teach you at that school?"

Emma sighed and lay down on the stone on which Jake had woken upon.

"Mostly fighting, how to defeat the Skrill and Hydra, and stories about how it used to be." As she spoke, her eyes got a sheen, and her head perked up. "You don't know yet!"

Grinning, Jake shook his head, wondering what Skrill were. "I don't know a lot of things! Why don't you tell me?" Seeing Emma, happy and carefree, made him happy. Since he had known her, she had never shown this side of herself, except when playing with the other kobold children in the sea.

Moving her head closer, Emma spoke in a hushed tone. "That thing you are sensing? It's a dragon!"

Jake looked at her, expecting her to elaborate, but she kept silent. "So? I see a dragon right now!" he said as he pointed at her with his tail.

A soft giggle filled the room, and Emma shook her head. "Hell no! We aren't real dragons! Don't you remember what those Kobolds told us?"

Jake frowned. He did remember, but he had never really thought much of it. It sounded too much like some fairy tale, even to him who had changed from a human into a dragon. Realizing the oddity of those thoughts, he blinked. Since when did changing into a dragon become normal?

"I remember. So you're telling me that we are not really dragons yet, but there is a real one here?"

"Not just a real dragon, but the dragon! Lauruna herself!" Emma seemed incredibly excited now.

"She is always sleeping, but even then, she is magnificent! Compared to her, you are just a mouse!"

Jake blinked at the thought that he was a mouse but was distracted by the name. It sounded familiar, and something was nagging him in the back of his mind. I have heard that name before… It took him a few moments to dig it up, but then he sat up straight as he remembered. When he was swimming back to where Mason and the others were, shortly after changing to a dragon, he had come across a giant thing in the sea. It had said he was of Lauruna's brood!

"Have you talked with her?" Jake asked curiously.

Emma laughed, staring at him with glittering eyes. "No! I told you, she is asleep. She hasn't woken up in hundreds of years."

A soft tap came from the other side of the room as Tir jumped down the table, her belly so stuffed she could barely walk straight. She waggled towards Emma and crawled beside her.

Emma stroked the lizard for a while and then turned to Jake with a more serious look in her eyes this time. "Why doesn't she talk anymore? And where is Ter? Did Mason come back?"

The happy glow Jake felt whittled away at her words, and he sighed. Lying down on the ground, he stared at Emma, wondering what to tell her.