Darmok rushed through the streets of the Skinscale hive with Glavas in tow. The hunter's steps were uncoordinated. Sometimes, he swayed from side to side so much that he had to lean against the wall to maintain his balance. No amount of Darmok's offers to help him out were accepted. The weight of the situation kept Glavas as sober as possible, given the amount of alcohol he had ingested that night. As the old dragon gently tapped the stone door to the infirmary, Glavas practically flew inside the moment it opened.

The dragons had a unique idea about running their hospitals. Each bed was in its own, small, separate room. The walls were painted to look like windows into different sceneries, making the recovering patient feel closer to nature.

Surdi's room was the third one on the right. The decorations made the place look like a small shack on the shore. A painted wooden texture was coating most of the walls, with the exception of a big drawing of a window looking out to the sea and palm beach. The young dragon was lying in bed. His usual clothes were replaced with a set of very light yet durable apparel of mint colour. Alma was sitting right beside him on a small wooden chair.

[Hi,] he slowly signed. As his hands moved, the wide sleeves rolled up, revealing the boy's bandaged forearms.

"Leave us, Darmok," Glavas growled at the dragon.

"Why?" he asked. The way the hunter spoke seemed full of anger. For a moment, the gate guard considered the possibility of him not being as good of a father as he might have seemed. The dragon's hand slowly slid onto the hilt of his blade as he awaited the answer.

"I need to talk with my kids. I don't want extra eyes."

"Talk then. But you better do just that," Darmok replied and gave them the requested privacy.

For a moment Glavas wanted to snap back at him and question what he meant by his last comment, but this was no time and place to argue. He slowly approached the bed and kneeled down beside it. His knees hit the floor with a thud and the grace of a falling rock.

"You're drunk," Alma rolled her eyes.

"Not important," he replied and turned to his son. "Surdi, hey. What happened? What did you do?"

[It's complicated.]

"Don't give me that. I heard from Darmok what happened. Your scales... You did that to yourself? Why? If there is something troubling you..."

[No! Nothing is troubling me! That's what everyone is refusing to understand!]

"People without troubles don't harm themselves on purpose."

[You call it self-harm because that is the first thing that comes to your mind. For wizards, this is called sacrifice. Isn't it weird how the same concept has different names depending on why you do it?]

"What? Slow down, I don't understand."

[You taught us magic. The basics. But I can't do that. I don't know what is the correct pronunciation of the incantations. I never will. So I wanted to try something different. Magic requires payment. Usually, it's mana, sometimes it's magical objects, but there is something you haven't really told us.]

"And that is?"

[Magic loves sacrifice. That's why spells get stronger if they have some sort of weakness, or why blood magic produces such incredible results. It's not just about payment. It's about sacrifice. The goddess of magic appreciates when people show their dedication by giving something up.]

Glavas rubbed his eyes. The boy's words were difficult to understand. "So you did it for what? For a spell? You mutilated your own body for magic?!"

[Not mutilated. Scales will regrow. I just thought about how dragons enrich the water in the mana cave and then got the idea for a ritual. Not something written in a book. A ritual of my own. And Glavas, I understand it! I understand how rituals work! You don't need a book! You don't need some crazy knowledge or a university education! Pretty much all you need is a–]

"Sacrifice?" Glavas gently grabbed the dragon's hands. Surdi replied with a quick nod, waiting for what his father would tell him.

"Surdi, listen, I am happy that you found a hobby. It's amazing that you are interested in magic and are overcoming your own limitations. But you have to realise that this isn't just about pain or discomfort. There's also us. Me and your sister. We care about you. When you hurt yourself... When you do this so-called sacrifice, you hurt us as well, because we don't want to see this happen to you. We want you to be happy and healthy. Seeing you like this... It's terrible."

Surdi looked at Alma. Her faint nod gave even more weight to Glavas' words. She agreed with him. That was not something the boy expected.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, avoiding looking his father in the eyes.

"It's alright. Just please, promise me you won't do something so crazy in the future, alright? If you wish to do some ritual, then come talk to me or Alma and we can find a solution that won't require any sacrifice, alright? Or at least not one this crazy."

Surdi nodded. Glavas let go of his hand and gently pat him on the head, right between the horns.

"Careful, he bites," Alma warned Glavas and told him what she heard from Darmok regarding his injured hand.

The night slowly crept in, pushing fatigue onto the backs of everyone. Surdi was the first to fall into sleep's alluring embrace. After everything that happened that day, he was more than happy to get some rest. Alma followed soon after. Once her worries about her brother fell from her shoulders and she dropped into the comfortable nest in her room, she was almost instantly sleeping like a log.

"Don't forget to thank the blacksmith," Darmok spoke to Glavas when he ran into him as he was heading off to bed as well.

"The blacksmith? Why him?" the hunter asked.

"He's the one who found your son. Apparently, he wandered to his workshop and asked for help. Collapsed soon after, so young Rovak took him to the infirmary."

"Wow, good chap. I will be sure to stop by tomorrow. Will bring him a gift or something."

"That would be great."

With that, the two wished each other good night and decided to leave the busy day behind them. Darmok swiped the flew drops of sweat from his forehead. "Damn... Life is way crazier with them around."

The following morning was livelier than the dragons were used to. Nevertheless, nobody complained. After all, it was the good kind of liveliness that brought people together and awoke excitement. In the small pub/restaurant where Glavas had spent most of his time last night, dragons were sitting at their tables, gathered and eagerly awaiting the next person to come running through the entrance. It had already been more than two hours and fortunately for them, they did not have to wait much longer. Veloc flew into the establishment in a flash of yellow light, tossing tiny stray lightning bolts on all sides. Glavas was not far behind. A few seconds later, even he ran inside with a big smile on his face and sweat dripping from his forehead.

"Ha! Yes! Suck it, Glavas! I'm here first! And... behold, people!" the yellow-scaled dragon lifted up his arms. Three hairy creatures were danging from each of his hands. When the locals saw the fruits of his morning hunt, they clapped and cheered. Orders started coming in and the chefs quickly took the dead animals away to begin preparing them.

"So I am the better hunter! Let all Skinscale know that their chief hunter is the goddamn best!" As Veloc continued boasting, Glavas smiled.

"Sure, you got here a few seconds earlier, thanks to your magic, which I would consider cheating, but I suppose nobody here cares about that. However, you're not better when it comes to the hunt." He reached into his pocket and pulled out his sealing scroll, which he quickly rolled out. As he did, a massive, bear-sized creature fell onto the floor. Its sheer size and presence filled the whole restaurant with utter silence. "I know a fair share of things about dragons," the elf spoke. "You guys consider Zerliaks a delicacy. A meat so juicy it just keeps on giving, tusks that can be grounded down into a rare spice, bones for broth, and you probably know the rest. This here could be the entire menu for today. Not to mention that there might be some leftovers for tomorrow as well. So, who is the best hunter in all of Ezma?!" Glavas shouted and raised his hands. The cheers and clapping that followed were so loud that they practically pushed the exhausted Veloc into a chair. The dragons did not wait long and began calling in reinforcements. Within minutes, butchers from all corners of the hive began working on the beast, making sure that all parts of it would be processed and nothing would go to waste.

"Alright, I'll give it to ya, Glavas. You're indeed one hell of a hunter," Veloc admitted and raised cheers to his newfound friend.

"You're not bad either. To find, track down, and kill six Wulters in such a short time is quite admirable."

"Ha! Speed and precision! That's my game! Say, would you be interested in joining me for lunch?"

"No, sorry, not today. I want to go see my kids and spend some time with them."

"Right. How's your son?" Veloc asked and his usually cheerful demeanour suddenly vanished. "I heard he did it to himself. Is everything alright? I know a person who is great with healing some... less visible wounds, if you get me. Maybe that boy of yours could use it? I'm not trying to tell you you're not doing enough, but–"

"It's not like that. He was just experimenting with magic. Needed a sacrifice. Crazy right? Where the hell did he get an idea like that?"

"Beats me. But if he's already making a blood sacrifice at his age, then I can tell he's nuts." Veloc smiled again, showing his razor-sharp teeth. "Best wizards always have stories of how they nearly killed themselves with their experiments during their early years. Who knows, maybe you've got a Circle member in the making."

"Absolutely not. He can study magic all he wants, but he is not getting anywhere near Valimar and the Circle."

"Huh? Not a big fan of the city of mages?"

"No, not at all. The less they know about us the better."

"Ooh, now it sounds like you've got something crazy to hide and that there is a Valimar hitman on your tail. Ever mind telling me who exactly you were running from?"

"Later," Glavas brushed him off and picked up a packed lunch from the counter. "I have hungry children I promised to bring food to. I should go before they attempt to cook something themselves."

Veloc smiled. "Heh, would that be a tragedy?"

"With the amount of trouble they keep getting themselves into? Most likely."