"Hey! You look just like my mama!"

Azura turned around. There was a girl in front of her wearing a beaming smile and a ridiculous bun that was balled and folded onto her head. "W-What?"

"I said you look like my mama. You've got a pretty dress that looks like hers, and your hair is the same shade of blue," the girl replied.

"Oh…" Azura had no reply.

"Do you know her? My mama, I mean. Did you guys both come from Va—oops! I forgot I'm not supposed to say that!"

"I… don't know," said Azura, "I don't know who your mama is. There were only a few people I remember from the days… before, and none of them look like me except my own mother. And even then, she only looks a little like me. One of the people I do remember looked a little like you, though."

"Like me? Really?"

"Yes… I'm sure of it. But he was a boy, so it couldn't have been you."

The girl was disappointed. She pinched her chin and hummed so Azura would know she was thinking hard. "Well, I'm stumped. Anyway, it's not often we get kids around my age joining the order! D'you wanna be friends?"

Azura watched as the girl held out her hand. She didn't take it. "N-No thank you. I don't talk to people I don't already know."

"What? How do you make friends if you don't talk to new people?"

"I don't. I don't have friends."

The girl's face fell. "Whaaaat?! That's so sad! Look, my name's Kana, okay? My papa's name is Corrin, and he's the nicest papa in the whole world! There, now you know me, so we can be friends, right?"

"You seem like a nice person, Kana, but I don't really want any new friends," Azura answered.

"Huh? Why not?"

"The last time I met new people, a bunch of bad things happened. My mother disappeared, and the new people I met started disappearing, too. Until there were only a few of them left. Then people started shouting at me like I'd done things wrong, but I could never tell what it was they were angry about. Then they started hitting me, and I just… I went to go lay down, and I was crying, and… and…"

"People were hitting you?" Kana started, "What a buncha meanies! Let's make a deal: if you'll be my friend, I promise to beat up anyone who tries to hurt you. I'll do a good job, too! I can turn into a big, scary dragon! Lots of people get really scared when I tell them that!"

"Why do you care so much about being my friend, anyway?"

"Huh? Do I need a reason to want new friends?"

"Opening yourself up to other people like that… it just invites more pain. If you let yourself get close to others, it only hurts more when they end up leaving you. And it makes it easier for them to hurt you on purpose."

"Sure, I guess, but what kinda lousy friend would go and hurt their friend on purpose?"

"People are predictable, Kana. They only ever deal with others because they want things. Relationships only start so that they can end, and everybody feels worse when they do, so I've chosen not to have any. Things come and things go, because the gods are capricious. You live just to suffer, and no one cares."

"Oh." Kana looked at the ground. "Um, Azura, I don't wanna make you mad, but… I think that's dumb."

"You think it's… 'dumb?'"

"Yeah! I mean… well, yeah." Kana tilted her head back and forth, as if rolling around the thoughts in her head so that they would drop down into her throat. "See, I was born in a place called the Deeprealms. It was a weird place compared to the world I know, but it didn't seem like it when I lived there. It was like a big island out in the middle of nowhere, with a little forest, a river, and a big lake, and there was a mansion at the center of it all. I lived in that mansion with a bunch of people I didn't know who said they were there to take care of me. It was only once in a while that I got to see my mama and papa, and I was so happy when I did! Then they would leave again, and I'd get really sad. But everyone in the mansion told me all about how they were doing great things to save the world. That made me happy again! So I kept on talking to everybody in the mansion to learn more about my parents while I waited for them to come back. I became friends with everyone that way!"

"So… your parents left, too. Weren't you angry at them? Weren't you upset that they left?"

"I was never really angry… I guess I cried a few times when they left, but all I kept hearing about was how hard they were working to build a world that was safe for me, and I figured it was kind of selfish to be mad at them if they were working so hard just for me. I decided I'd train and get strong like them so that I could help them. If I could make the world safe faster, then I'd get to be with them more!"

"I don't understand," said Azura, scrutinizing the dragon girl's eyes. "They abandoned you, but you kept working to see them again? Why?"

"Well, what else was I gonna do?" Kana shrugged. "I could've sat in my room and been sad, but that wouldn't have made me feel any better. At least if I was doing something, it felt like moving forward."

"But what would you have done if they never let you join them? What if everything you did was for nothing?"

"Then I'd have to keep trying, I guess. Until I found something that would change their minds."

"But what if nothing did change their minds?"

"That's silly. Something would. Eventually. Or if they wouldn't take me with them, I'd have found my own way out of the Deeprealms. I'd find a way to be with them for good, whatever it was."

"What if the gods themselves stopped you from leaving the Deeprealms? What would you do then?"

"Papa told me I'm not supposed to say this to people, but… well… the kind of gods most people believe in don't exist. The kind that control people and the destiny of the world… my papa says that more often than not, those kind of gods are just excuses people use to justify bad things that they do, or shortcomings that they have, instead of actually doing something to change themselves."

"The gods… don't exist…" Azura's gaze was miles away. "I think your papa is wrong, Kana, but I understand what he means. Maybe he has a point."

"Told ya!" Kana was grinning again. "So, that's why I want to make as many friends as I can. I didn't know a lot of people outside of my Deeprealm growing up, but now, being with the Order of Heroes, I can learn all kinds of things from all sorts of people, and make them all my friends! Isn't that cool?"

"I guess…"

"Plus, when people tell me about what things were like in their worlds, it makes me feel like I got to share in it. Mr. Zephiel told me that his papa was really mean to him, and that made him like dragons like me better—he thought we could change the world and make it a nicer place. Myrrh told me about how she lost her parents and had to find humans like Ephraim and Eirika to help her. Morgan told me she traveled through time to help her papa put a stop to an evil dragon who was trying to destroy their world. Ike told me about how the god of his world tried to freeze people and start the whole world over, but he stopped her with the help of entire armies. Celica told me that when her papa died, she had to go and ask one of the gods of her world themselves for help, and she ended up fighting a different one!"

"These people… fought the gods?"

"Yeah! Crazy stories, huh?"

"There are a lot of different people here, but I didn't think any of them were… like that. Could this really be such a different place?"

"Oh, and Mr. Marth is super cool! He makes sure to thank everyone for their effort after every battle. He says that's because none of us individually can hold a candle to the power we possess collectively. And he talks all the time about the long journeys he made to find people to help save his homeland. It's a really incredible story!"

Azura listened and supported her head with her hand as she thought. When Kana had finished and was once again beaming at her new acquaintance, Azura met her eyes again. "Maybe you're right, Kana. I was worried about new people being dangerous, but… well, it occurs to me that the other Heroes might have a lot to teach me if I just listen for a bit, and I suppose listening isn't so bad."

"See? See? I'm pretty smart, you know. My papa always says so."

"Right, your papa… he's the one who gave you these ideas to begin with, right?"

"Yep." Kana nodded enthusiastically. "Papa does the same things I do—he goes around and talks to all the Heroes to find out how to deal with the problems in his world. I don't think he talks about the same kinds of things as I do with the Heroes, but it's the same idea."

Azura hummed. "Do you think I could meet your papa, Kana? I think I want to talk to him about some things. Maybe your mama, too, if she's like me."

"Oh, sure! I'll take you to them right away! I bet they'll be so excited to meet you!" Kana seized her new friend by the hand and began dragging her away. "Come on! We'll all have a good, long chat!"