Beta Reader: Kolimanien, FF net.

Changes came one year after the imprisonment. The Child King Yugo visited him in the White Dimension to tell him about Pherris' death. Qilby thought he should be happy because this damned lizard got what he deserved. But he wasn't. The old dragon deserved a better death, in fight or in peace, not because somebody blackmailed him!

It started when Yugo brought chess. At the beginning, Qilby didn't even want to listen to him, but the need socialize. Chess, checkers, Ecaflipian poker (they quickly resign from this one because the rules were so complicated that they had to be the native Ecaflips to understand them!) and 'pearl boats'- a game Yugo learned from a fisherman who once came to Emelka.

Then the young Eliatrope brought books and new clothes. Qilby was sceptical, expecting bad literature, but he had to admit that the people from the World of Twelve had imagination. The novels about the dragons amused him a bit, because of essential errors, but they had their undeniable charm.

At one point, Qilby suggested to Yugo that he would teach him things Adamai and Balthazar certainly didn't know. About their culture, their skills. The boy agreed, though in the White Dimension, their abilities were severely limited. But slowly, a bond was established. The old Eliatrope cared about it, he didn't want to lose the fragile trust the little King had given him. Not again, not by his damned ambition.

Until one day Yugo came to him, pale, shivering, feverish. Sick. He could barely walk and Qilby had to catch him, because the boy stumbled and fell forward.

"Adamai went away," Yugo whispered, looking up into space. "He's not here, I can't..."

"Shh" whispered Qilby, holding the young Eliatrope to his chest. Tears of the child king wet his shirt." Calm down, I know how much it hurts, really. But I can assure you his soul is safe. You two will meet again."

Yugo nodded and tugged his face closer to the man's shoulder. Chronologically, the boy was almost twenty years old and was certainly more mature than his appearance would tell, but he was still a child. Ripening, but still one foot in childhood. He needed support in situations like these.

Finally, the young Eliatrope relaxed and fell asleep, his face still on Qilby's shoulder. He had to be very exhausted. A sudden break of the bond between the Eliatrope and their dragon siblings was extremely painful and exhausting experience for this one who survived.

"I'll take him to Alibert. With his family, it will be easier for him," Qilby muttered, gently stroking the boy's hair. Watching from the other side of the portal, Baltazar growled. "Oh, come on, you know well that I can't do anything without the Eliacube, I'm almost out of power!"

"One trick, traitor, and you're coming back here faster than you can say 'Zinit'," Baltazar snapped, showing a few blunted teeth, but allowing Qilby to leave. It might seem surreal, but it was about their king, so any animosities had to be set aside.

On the day Alibert found a pair of small blue wings on his adoptive son's head, he swore to himself that he would never be shocked again, so when his twin brother was discovered as a small, voracious dragon, Alibert wasn't even surprised. With Chibi and Grougal he could also "somehow" deal with. But the view of the man who almost killed them all and allowed the demon to possess Adamai, at the door of his inn and with his son in his arm, was at least surprising.

"Qilby..." Alibert blinked.

"I'll explain" coughed the Eliatrope. The portal from the White Dimension threw him about half a mile away from the target. "Yugo's room is upstairs, right?"

Without asking for the Enutrof's approval, he carried Yugo up, avoiding the jaws of a small black dragon targeting his leg.

"Ever since Adamai disappeared, Yugo still blamed himself for it. He has nightmares," Alibert explained, giving the tea to his unexpected guest. "I took him to several Eniripsa healers and two medics using non-magical methods. Yesterday, BOOM! He demolished his room in his sleep!"

"Sleepwalking?" Qilby asked, though he suspected that Yugo had probably not moved out of bed.

"I wish," Alibert said, confirming Qilby's suspicions. "And this morning, he got fever and went to you."

"Wonderful..." the old Eliatrope sighed as he drank half a cup.

"Are..." Alibert bit his lip. "Will he be alright?"

"If Adamai actually left," sighed Qilby, "then all we can do is help Yugo in his mourning. It will take awhile, but he should be fine."

Alibert nodded and grimly pacified Grougal with a leg from the stool, lest the little dragon's teeth sink themselves into the calf of the old Eliatrope.

At the edge of the forest, three figures watched the inn. Night was about to fall. The light went out in the building. Its residents had settled down to sleep.

"Now?"

"Now."