Passing the threshold of the stone archway alone would have terrified Azmond. His legs almost moved without him telling them to, as if he was one of those magnets Smith Gault had shown him. Rael’s comforting presence was behind him though, their rough hand enveloping his own. The prickling in his horns that he’d begun to associate with magic grew into a low buzz. Not as obvious, but the feeling surrounded him completely. He tightened his grip on Rael’s hand.

When they reached the other side, the two let out a breath. Nothing had changed. Until they turned around. They could not see beyond the fog that closed behind them. Rael waved a hand through the fog, hands passing through nothing.

“You can leave any time.” A deep voice said from in front of them.

Rael pulled Azmond behind them, ready to defend him against…a rabbit wearing spectacles. The rabbit cocked its head to the side.

“I am no danger to Scaled or Dragonward.” The deep voice came from the rabbit, but its mouth did not move.

“Sorry, I wasn’t…sure who’d be here.” Rael slowly eased away from Azmond.

“You are Dragonward, protecting Scaled.” The rabbit stated matter-of-factly. He spoke as if they were more than titles, but rather, names. Rael’s eyes widened.

‘Those are the names Az and I went by with the other fae. Can they somehow communicate?’

“You have us at a disadvantage. Who are you?” Rael got on one knee to speak more evenly to the fae.

“I am Rabbit.” The fae’s ears bent in the approximation of a curtsey.

Rael and Azmond looked at each other, then at Rabbit, waiting for him to continue. He did not. He continued to stare at them with his beady black eyes. The more the pair looked at him, the stranger he became. He was…too perfect. No dirt in his fur, no signs of weakness, and every one of his movements was specifically paced. Every breath lasted the same amount of time, his snout twitched every two seconds on the dot, and even his back legs shuddered like a real rabbit’s would, only at ten second intervals. Rabbit was not actually a rabbit but pretended to be one so perfectly that he fundamentally could not be mistaken for one.

“Why are you here?” Rael clarified, more than a little disturbed.

“I am curious.” Rabbit answered.

Rael wanted to throw their arms in the air in exasperation. At least this place wasn’t hurting Azmond. They took a few deep breaths, clearing their mind as Norn Astrid taught them. They shouldn’t be angry, Rabbit had answered every question Rael had posed. Fae could never lie and were often led around by impulses and feelings. Rael was too used to dealing with human intelligences.

“Want to follow us?” Azmond gave a nervous smile to Rabbit. Rabbit hopped around in circles.

“May I?” His deep voice was hopeful and innocent.

Azmond faced Rael, wide eyes practically sparkling. Rael sighed and rubbed their forehead. Maybe they could use this to their advantage?

“I am curious too, Rabbit.” Rael started. “Do you mind if we ask questions?”

“A question answered in exchange for a question answered.” Rabbit’s ears straightened attentively.

Rael nodded and got up. The path looked straight, but the more they focused further along the path, the more their eyes grew confused. The path would twist through itself, or upside down, or even go back the way it came. They wanted to ask Rabbit about it, but then the fae would be the one to set the next question. Rael just settled the strangeness of the path to another peculiarity of the feywilds.

Azmond took the first step and the world around them changed. The stone path remained unchanged, but the wilderness had morphed into a familiar scene. Hewn wood replaced dirt and grass, a nearby boulder flattened out to become a platform. Faulkie men and women cheered as two people fought each other atop the dais. A young woman was fighting a man riddled with scars. ‘Not a woman.’ Rael corrected. ‘Me. This was the fight I had with Klai.’

Rael watched with rapt attention, cringing at the openings they’d left open, frowning at every missed opportunity. The Rael on stage fought well, but their spells were largely ineffective. They’d wasted a lot of energy generating water to attack Klai with, which he easily broke apart. Too much focus spent on sharpening blades of water that would be ineffective. Rael shook themselves out of the fight, trying to find Azmond in the memory.

He tugged at their hand, towards the other side. Rael turned their attention to the other side of the road, where a lone Azmond was struggling against a shaman. Rael’s heart sank. This was Azmond’s most vulnerable moments, being manhandled by an aggressive shaman when Rael was too busy to save him. Rael pulled the real Az closer to themselves and held him tight. Together, they watched past-Azmond struggle away from the shaman’s grip.

“Can’t we help?” Az looked at Rael with teary eyes. Rael shook their head.

“I think it’s a memory.”

Past-Azmond threw punches into the shaman’s side and bolted.

“Did you really hit him that well?” Rael tousled Azmond’s hair, the youth’s swelling pride distracting him from the event. He nodded with a smile. “Great job.”

Pain blasted through their bodies, Rael and Azmond wincing at the surprise. Past-Azmond writhed in pain from the shaman’s spell, struggling to break free of his grip. The pair were less affected by the pain. But the memory affected Azmond deeply, the child crying out in pain. As quickly as it came, the pain disappeared, the memory dissipating back into wilderness the second a thick arm grabbed the shaman.

“Are you okay?” Rael checked on Az, who was burying his head in the crook of their neck.

The boy nodded softly, but the wetness Rael felt on their chest spoke a different story. The Dragonward held onto him, burning the image of the shaman in their mind.

“Why did the man hurt Scaled?” Rabbit’s question broke the two out of their moment. Rael kept the sniffling child close, but he pushed himself away.

What could Rael say? How could Rael explain cruelty to something that may not understand it, or worse, should not understand it? Even Az had cocked his head to listen closely to Rael’s answer.

“I don’t know why some people enjoy inflicting pain on others.” Rael admitted, looking at their own fists. Fists that have broken bone and bruised skin in their childhood.

‘Am I any different? Just because I was in pain did not mean I should have acted that way.’ The people they hurt in their violent youth, did Rael have a choice? At some point, they’d leave a young Raela and her brother alone, but Raela sometimes went out looking for fights were there were none. Maybe because they liked fighting. Maybe because they had no other way of being in control. Or maybe it was because they could not hold all the pain in themselves, choking their heart on the bile and hate that came their way.

“Then I will ask another question.” Rabbit stood up on his hind legs. “Why were you not protecting Scaled?”

Its question was like the others before it. No accusation in its voice, just curiosity. Rael bit their lip. If all the fae’s questions would be so hard hitting, they might have a harder time treading this path.

“Among the Faulk, I need to prove I am strong to be recognized as worthy.” The Dragonward avoided the rabbit’s inquisitive gaze. Rael stood up and took a step forwards.

The scenery shifted again. A more recent event manifested around them. Darkness crept in all around them until all they saw were the Norns under a spotlight on one side of the path and Rael under another on the opposite side. The interview—or interrogation— went just as they remembered. Rael couldn’t help but have their attention drawn to the ring that floated around past-Rael. The Ring of Veritas could compel someone to speak the truth. It would stand to reason there are relics that could control people. Maybe make them open to influence, or more directly subjugate their minds. Rael shivered, looking away from the ring. Azmond took the next step, and their surroundings changed once more. Another memory, one of Azmond playing with a girl from Greem’s village.

“Does every step replay our memories?” Rael wondered aloud.

“Only the first few.” Rabbit hopped forwards.

“And after that?” Rael kept a sidelong glance at the rabbit. It said nothing.

Past-Azmond and Past-Bleffy chased each other around, Azmond even holding a warg skull over his head as he played tag. Bleffy would squeal in delight, giggling as she ran away. Present-Azmond watched from the path, almost leaning over it. He liked being with Rael, but he didn’t play as much with them as he could with others. Rael would get tired after a few hours, but a bunch of kids could keep up with Azmond for most of the day! Real put their hand on his shoulder and rubbed it.

“Once we’re out, we’ll go find Bleffy.” Azmond beamed at his amused ward. “You deserve some fun after following me around a bunch for boring adult stuff.”

Every step each took brought back a memory, each further in the past from the last. Rael’s were mostly fights. Spars, but also the battle with the demon. That one was messy enough for Rael to cover Azmond’s eyes. Even so, Rael watched the battle, noting all the obvious mistakes they made. Again, they found that their offensive spells were intensive on their body; they could see their body mass shrink as the fight went on, the spell’s continuous toll too great for their body.

‘All my magical methods of attacking are too weak. Only by casting several spells at once do I become a threat.’ Rael bit their lip as they went over the spells they used in their past duels. [Hydro-kinesis] would be their base spell, to summon and move water to act as a medium for other spells. True, they could use water to bat around other opponents. If they were cruel, they could even put a bubble of water around an opponent’s head. But once the construct was broken, it took more energy to reform it. Worse yet, it took some time for rushing water to gain enough momentum to be used as a weapon, more time than most fights lasted. Rael thought they’d be able to shortcut this process by using blades of water and adding multiple instances of [Minor Cut] to amplify their danger potential. These blades were hard to control and fragile.

Rael noted as much when they watched the memory of the fight with the demon. It was inefficient and wild, the blades slipping off the monster’s hide or outright spiraling away and out of range. Rael pursed their lips; they shouldn’t have let the Faulk call them demonslayer. To Rael, this fight was a desperate struggle to maintain an advantage over the demon with too many losses to be called a victory. Rael was lucky the demon was out of tricks.

“What’s all that noise, Rael?” Azmond’s eyes were still covered, but his ears were still open to battle cries and rending flesh.

“Nothing more than a bad memory.” Rael marched onwards.

Together, Rael and Azmond witnesses the feasts they shared together and the friends they’d made in Feldon. Rael found too many scenes of themselves brooding in some corner, keeping a watchful eye on Az. When Rael wasn’t watching over Azmond, they were forging, or fighting, or tying ropes on sails. Azmond however, had a plethora of recollections involving the kids he’d had fun with, odd conversations with Gault that seemed to start and stop randomly, and more than a few involving Azmond’s mischievous misadventures. Az had been in a lot of places where, had he not been a Child of Dragons, he would have upset quite a few people.

“Why were you hiding in Captain Derrol’s rowboat?” Azmond avoided Rael’s pointed gaze.

“…I wanted to spook him.” Azmond finally said. “Like how he scared me when he jumped out of the big chest in his longhouse.”

“And when he brought that lady friend, you just kept hiding?” Despite Rael’s stern tone, mirth filled their eyes. Finally, they had something over Derrol’s head!

“I didn’t want to scare her, only Captain Derrol!” Azmond squirmed and crossed him arms stubbornly.

“Makes sense.” Rael hid a smile by nodding sagely and took the next step.

The surrounding changed again, to a swamp with a Dragonneedle peering from a small pile of mud. This was where Azmond collapsed. Rael was confused, though, because the Dragonneedle was blurry. Its indistinct form emitted a hazy glow that made it impossible to see if it was the same one. The fae who’d happily trailed along quietly this whole time spoke up.

“What is that?”

“A Dragonneedle.” Rael answered as they watched a canoe with Ulric and Kip glide in by one with Rael, Azmond, and Derrol. Just as they remembered. Why was this one different?

“Why can’t we see what the Dragonneedle looks like?” Rael asked, focusing on Rabbit.

“Some objects made by the Dragons cannot be perceived by fae.” Rabbit hopped along unbothered. ‘Why?’ danced on the tip of Rael’s tongue, but they got a feeling Rabbit didn’t know either.

It took a bit long for Rael to realize that Azmond was stock-still. He stood there, clenching Rael as if he’d been frozen.

“What’s wrong?”

Rael barely had a chance to ask anything before the scenery melted away, Azmond’s eyes rolling back as he collapsed to the ground. Rael caught him before he hit the ground, their heart beating rapidly. They felt his pulse and let out a sigh of relief. If not that, then…Rael cringed when they felt his forehead. Hot.

‘A fever? Now? Didn’t this happen—’

It happened before. At the Dragonneedle. Was this place too dangerous for Azmond? Were Dragonneedles traps for the Children of Dragons? Why else would Azmond collapse every time he saw one? Rael shook themselves from the paranoia. This was like before. Was it because of the other fae did something? Rael didn’t know enough, and they hated it.

“Worry not, Dragonward.” A new voice said from behind them.

Rael blinked, feeling their anxieties melt away with the woman’s words. When they turned around, Rabbit was bowing to a woman in a dress made of frozen tears. Her face was of unnatural beauty, too symmetrical to be human. Her blue eyes were like the sky on a clear morning, smiling bright. Her hair was white and fluffy, bouncing with every step. It was as if the most beautiful day had woven itself a human body out of the elements and walked right off the grass.

“Scaled is merely resting. He should have been given time to recuperate.” The woman’s sweet voice danced into Rael’s ears.

“Time to recuperate? From what?” Rael blinked a few times, trying to keep their eyes off the woman.

“Meeting wild fae and ‘communicating’ with the Dragonneedle.” The woman’s mouth moved out of sync with her words, as if the concepts she used were incongruent with Rael’s capacity to understand. “He should not have relied on the knowledge so much.”

“When? What knowledge?” Rael took a few deep breaths, focusing on the feeling they got by meditating.

“That which one refers to as ‘Insight of the Dragons’.” The woman waved her hands, and scenes played out before them. Azmond’s memories of his conversations with Gault, cut short or skipping entire sections as if something had ripped the memories from Azmond. “His mind needs time to adjust, to digest the great sum of information imparted onto him.”

“Gault.” Rael grit their teeth.

“Why would your friend hurt him?” Rabbit bounded in with a question.

“Another tough one.” Rael muttered as they tried to come up with an answer. “Gault probably didn’t realize it was hurting him. Or what he gained made him blind to what he was doing. I should have known the allure would have been too much for him.” The Dragonward shook their head.

“Then calm your anger, Dragonward.” The woman got on both knees and offered a comforting hand to Rael. “For although Scaled cannot yet walk the path, you can.”

“I’m not sure that’s on my list of priorities.” Rael caressed the unconscious Azmond’s face, thundering heart slowing pace as his face relaxed. “I need to make sure Az can recover from this.”

“This is a delicate matter.” The woman nodded. “One beyond even my powers to heal immediately. But I can put a lock on the Insight, allow it time to settle. He will recover.”

Rael looked over the woman again. Her beauty was unlike Rael had ever seen, one that no human could possibly emulate. She was fae. Her mercy would not be free.

“What do you want in exchange?” Rael frowned at the woman, barely reacting when her bright smile morphed into a predator’s, sharp teeth salivating with hunger.

“I enjoy firsts. Your first child, your first love, your first kiss, your first memory…” The fae’s eyes gleamed dangerously. But they dimmed somewhat. She did want those things, but Rael could tell she needed something else.

“What do you need in exchange?” Rael repeated the question, beginning to understand how the fae worked. Everything was literal to them. Sometimes word choice made all the difference. As Rael thought, the woman’s face returned to a state of serene beauty. What she wanted and what she needed were different things, though Rael failed to understand how a fae could need something.

“You are bound to this child.” The woman sat up, snow sliding away from her sparkling dress in a cloud, strange lights dancing in her shadows. “Not just by name. Your fates have entwined themselves into a thick cord. Scaled is a Child of Dragons, he is involved with the Breach. You must get him to open the Breach again.”

‘Breach? What are they on about?’ Rael’s expression of confusion must have been enough for the fae to keep explaining.

“The Dragon’s Firewall must be breached, as it was a few seasons ago. It is necessary.”

Rael gaped. ‘She wants the Edge of the World gone.’

“You want the Edge-sorry, the Firewall gone.” Rael kept their tone measured.

“Not gone.” The fae shook her head. “Too dangerous. The Dragons specified it must be breached for the Inheritor to complete their duties.”

The Dragonward rubbed their forehead in confusion. Every time the fae answered, it’d throw out some new term that Rael knew nothing about. They were getting nowhere. Rael had to cut to the root of the issue.

“Who or what is the Inheritor?”

The fae woman paused, her features flickering on her face. For the first time since Rael had seen her, the fae blinked. Several times in quick succession. When she looked back at Rael, her face was stiff and her eyes lacked the life they once had.

“The Inheritor is whomever inherits the Dragon’s Legacy, the sum total of magic, resources, and responsibilities necessary to achieve the Solution.” Her expression was glazed over and her voice monotone. ‘Just like Az when he did his ‘insight of the dragons’ thing.’ She blinked a few more times and shook herself from her daze. “You can see why I am interested in finishing the final duty given to us. We lose ourselves to the duties assigned to us more often now that many of the parameters are fulfilled.”

Rael’s head was buzzing with all the information the fae just dropped on them. Why would the Dragons separate Galladia from the rest of the world, only to get the fae to push people to go through the Edge? What was the Dragon’s Legacy exactly? And how did that lead to the ‘Solution’, whatever that was? ‘Why in the hells can’t the overgrown lizards do it themselves?’ Rael was putting together a puzzle with missing pieces. From what they could tell, whatever the Dragon’s Legacy was, it would be bad if it got into the wrong hands. What were the right hands, though? This was too much for Rael to deal with by themselves.

Rael picked up a catatonic Azmond and made to leave. They stopped, focusing on the staring fae woman and Rabbit. Rael was tempted to keep going, as there were bound to be more revelations the more they walked. Curiosity tugged at Rael, but Azmond’s well-being was more important. Rael felt the need to ask one more question.

“How would one find the Dragon’s Legacy?” Rael turned around but kept their eyes locked on the fae.

“Follow the Dragon’s gaze and connect the nodes.” The woman bowed and waved. Rael had no time to ask what she meant by such a cryptic phrase. They blinked and they were underneath the stone archway again, facing the hill in the center of the Stone Circle.

“Dragonward Rael, you’re back.” Norn Astrid gestured them forwards, frowning wen she saw Azmond. She was about to open her mouth to comment when Rael explained.

“A fae told me that Azmond has to wait a while before he can go back.” Rael walked ahead, Azmond drooling on their shoulder.

“Intriguing.” Astrid rubbed her chin. “Did you learn anything?”

“Too much. Have you ever heard of the ‘Dragon’s Legacy’?”