Shrine of the Dragon

A day later, the Winx are all in Balloons over China - and Daphne watches Bloom's form with a smile. Her little sister wanted to see all the realms in the Magical Dimension when she was staying at Lake Roccaluce, filled with a curiosity about everything magical and all the things that people know how to do with it. That sense of wonder and curiosity was seemingly crushed back in Cloudtower - it was, in fact, hidden under a deep sense of paranoia and the fear that she'd get taken away again and never escape.

So now, Bloom's been alternating between reading Eldora's Diary and seeing everything around them - Daphne can just imagine Bloom's real pupils completely dilated behind her sunglasses, taking in every new sight.

And, according to Loki - who she's talked to a few times since Bloom ran off to find Odin - she's literally always been this curious about stuff, magic in particular. He answered a million 'hows' about spells and magic - not why it works but how to do it, always wanting to learn and do more magic - and she never seemed to run out of curiosity about magic or what she could learn.

So now that curiosity has just focused on what Eldora was doing in China.

And everyone else has noticed, Stella even joked that they should have just gone on a road trip with Roxy - everyone said 'only if someone else drove.' That, of course, got her all offended.

Bloom says "It looks like Eldora's been all over China! This is amazing!"

Stella says "And freezing! Get over here, Bloom!" Stella and Flora huddle next to her, their shivering instantly getting better. Stella then changes their clothes from Alexandria into coats - unfortunately, those coats are far too big to even balance in.

Bloom snaps her fingers and the coats all change to they fit their forms instead of turning them into walking bowling balls.

Musa says "Thank you, Bloom. Much better."

"Not a problem." She flips a page with a little magic, and says "Eldora went somewhere called the Shrine of the Green Dragon. But there's no mention of where it is or why. There's a name though, Lu Wei. He might know."

Loki's voice suddenly sounds in her ears, saying If you lean any further over that, you're going to fall out, Sister.

She smiles to herself, and mumbles "Like that's any problem for me. Seems like you've had a lot more time on your hands, Loki."

Hm, one of the benefits of not being on the throne. Thor to is wondering how you realized so fast the truth about the throne.

"I paid attention. That's all."

Stella nudges her in the ribs, and asks "Is there a certain brother of yours watching us?"

"Yeah, why?"

Flora says "It's cute how they care."

Bloom's eyes flash orange with an idea, and says "Loki, we're looking for a guy called Lu Wei. Eldora even drew a picture of him. Or you could just search for Eldora herself, though given the fact that her name never came up with the Wizards of the Black Circle it's not impossible that she knows how to hide."

Okay, give me a minute.

Sure enough, exactly sixty seconds later, Loki's illusion appears in the balloon basket and says "The Shrine is on that mountain over there. As you said, sister, Eldora knows how to hide her magic. Couldn't find a trace of her. This Lu Wei however, he's a normal human. So he couldn't hide from a simple spell to find him with the Scrying spell."

Bloom grins, and says "Perfect, thank you Brother."

They land, and Musa asks "Are you ever not checking in on Bloom?"

"When I'm not in the library or out at the training ring, I'm in the room with the scrying bowl, spending some time with two of my three sisters. Or attempting to teach Thor a modicum of diplomacy since he's the current King of Asgard."

Bloom sputters out a laugh, and says "Good luck with that." At their questioning looks, Bloom says "Thor tends to think in a straight line. He's a warrior, through and through. Ask him to plan a battle, or fight one and survive, he's all over it. Ask him to work out a peace treaty, it'll likely blow up in a gigantic mess." She shrugs, and says "Wordplay's never been his thing. Ever. Hammer-play, on the other hand…"

Loki grins now, and says "Good luck with this guy. Oh, and the place has huge dragon statues all over the place. You'll love it, Bloom. I'll keep an eye on four witches in Cloudtower."

He grins again and disappears, and Stella asks "Did he point to that little column of ground over there with a building on it? If so, let's get a move on!"

When they get there however, the man that answers the door says there's nothing he can do to help - even when Stella says they're the good guys in this mess.

Maybe five minutes later, they're all debating about what to do when the sky clouds up with Stormy's dark magic - a dark thunderstorm, with purple lightning. Go figure. Moments later, green dragons that remind all seven fairies of the firedragon Bloom can summon appear in the sky.

Stella sarcastically says "And cue Selina's interference. Right on time, as usual."

The three creatures are supposed to be friendly - either the story is wrong or Selina's powers are messing with their heads, because nobody's definition friendly includes shooting fireballs at them.

The man from before must be Lu Wei, as he is now riding a red dragon and challenging the three green ones. He gets knocked off, and Bloom catches him with some magic and sets him on the ground. He tells them that they have to find three Pearls called 'the Pearls of Restraint' - the one thing that can control these dragons.

Bloom says "Okay. Girls, you find the Pearls. I'll keep these three busy."

At Lu Wei's look, she says "You might say I'm sort of an unofficial Dragon Tamer, not like you though."

Musa lets out a snort of laughter, and says "There's an understatement. Where are the Pearls?"

Lu Wei points them to a nearby mountain, and the six girls go flying while Bloom heads up and gets the dragons' attention. She lets out an ear-piercing whistle, effectively becoming the target for the three snaky flying creatures.

Much to Lu Wei's shock, she somehow manages to get on the back of one, and stays on despite its bucking and roaring. And then, she somehow manages to take control of it somehow - seems this day is literally the craziest he's had since Eldora left for good.

In minutes the six other girls return carrying three glowing objects - they get the Pearls back in the dragon's collars, instantly taming the creatures. Lu Wei thanks the seven girls, giving Bloom a very long look for some obvious reasons, and apologizes for not trusting them before.

Bloom says to forget about it, it's perfectly natural to not trust a group of total strangers right off the bat - she of all people would know that better than anyone.

Unfortunately, he really doesn't know where Eldora went. He does, however, have one clue for them: she always talked about retiring somewhere surrounded by her favorite flower. He has no clue what that flower is called though, or where it grows, but they seem confident the girl with the flower-themed outfit will know. Unfortunately, when he brings out the odd, crystalline flower she left him as a reminder of her, she seems every bit as stumped as him.

Bloom says "There's something about this flower. I know it from somewhere - but I have no idea where though."

After a moment, Musa says "Well, as far as puzzles go, this one takes the cake!"

AN: Alright, next chapter is up! Side-note, there will be a lot more of Loki in this season - he now has much more free time to help Bloom, Daphne, and the rest of the Winx in their adventures. Not on Earth, as Dr. Strange will likely send him falling through a black hole forever, but he can use the scrying bowl to keep in touch and help. He's not pretending to be Odin while Thor, Sif, the Warriors Three, and Heimdall keep the Nine Realms from descending into chaos, so now that Thor's officially on the throne Loki's got all day to himself and his own devices. And seeing as Hela's busy training the Einherjar, Sif and the Warriors Three are still quelling trouble around the Nine Realms, those devices usually consist of either reading in the library or keeping in touch with his closest sister. Anyway, enjoy! More chapters in production. Hope you all love the next things I'm going to throw at Bloom - no spoilers, but anticipate some unexpected enemies. Please review!