A/N: Oh that third season! I'm still screaming inside; it was amazing! And, it really helped in writing this chapter now that I have more characterizations for Viren, Rayla, and Soren.

So I did make a mistake. In... I think it's chapter 5 when Marcos informs Harrow and Viren that there is an elf infiltrator. I forgot to have him say the specific elf type and found that that small detail was important for this chapter. I fixed it, so Harrow and Viren know that there are Moonshadow elves. You can reread it if you want, but it's really not a big change for the reader. For me on the other hand...

I hope you enjoy this chapter. It will probably be my last chapter for the year. Have a Merry Christmas, everyone!

Grumbling, Viren stomped up the stairs to the chambers he shared with his children. At this point in the day, Soren should have been running through Crownsguard drills, but with the alarm of an infiltrator, he was more likely on patrol around the wall. As he opened the door, he saw Claudia with her nose in a book and what looked to be a peanut butter sandwich in her hand.

"The librarian will have your head if you get those pages sticky."

Claudia looked up and swallowed audibly, a mischievous smirk, strikingly similar to her mother, crossing her features.

"I know how to multitask, Dad." She looked him up and down and Viren suppressed rolling his eyes at his daughter's blatant studying of him. She was… not subtle when it came to social interactions. "Everything okay?"

With an irritated grunt, Viren went over to a cupboard that contained mostly harmless ingredients and specimens for dark magic. Things for using around their living quarters that didn't necessarily have to be kept in the lab. For some reason, Claudia had thought keeping the moon moth here was better than the designated space he had for it in the lab. At the time it seemed nonsensical, and it still probably was, but now it saved him a trip down to his lab when time was running short.

"It seems that we may be facing an attack from Moonshadow elves."

Claudia jumped up, dropping her book. "Moonshadow elves?! How-what-when-" Her arms moved haltingly, trying to process the information. Viren turned and watched his daughter in her moment when she froze, hands in her hair. "Tonight is a full moon! Does the king know they're coming?"

"Of course he knows," he snapped. "A guard warned us, and it is up to me to track them down before they get here," he motioned to the box in his hands. "While we try and stem this before something tragic happens, I need you to talk the princes."

Strife momentarily substituted for confusion, Claudia asked, "Why do you need the princes?"

Viren's frown grew deeper, eyes darkening. Questions of where it was and why did they take it still remained unanswered. It unsettled him. If they were working with an elf…

"From what I can tell, the princes have taken and hidden the dragon egg. They may have had an accomplice because I found three sets of footprints leading out of the lab."

"They took the egg?! Why?"

"I don't know, Claudia! That is why I need you to talk to them!" Viren burst. Seeing his daughter's startled expression, the mage cleared his throat and attempted a calmer tone. "You're their friend. Figure out what they've done with the dragon egg and figure out a way to get it back."

Claudia opened her mouth to say something, but a knock on the door interrupted her. Viren turned to the door and pulled it open unnecessarily hard to face one of the throne room guards.

"What?" Viren demanded.

"Th-the king needs you back immediately. Something has come up."

"Of course," Viren mumbled, pinching the bridge of his nose with his fingers. Glancing back at Claudia, he sighed. "Claudia, I'm sorry. Please just… go find them."

"Okay, Dad," she said quietly just before he slipped out and followed the guard back to the throne room, moon moth box in hand.

Viren's mind was running through multiple scenarios of how to save their hides from this infiltrator and whatever back up they had brought to Katolis when the guard opened the door and stood aside for Viren to pass. Harrow was staring at the table map. The princes were no longer in the room, but the guards there were glancing at Viren warily.

He approached Harrow, prepared to offer the basic bones of a plan. "I was told something has come up?"

"Yes, Viren," his king answered, and immediately Viren sensed something wrong. Harrow was agitated, testified by his stiff shoulders and clenched fists and the frustration radiating off him like heat. What was happening? "I need you to tell me about the dragon egg you've been keeping for the last few months."

Viren gulped, trying to compose himself. They told him!

"The dragon egg," he repeated, attempting to buy time to put together an explanation. Harrow remained focused on the table map before him, fists clenched.

"The Dragon Prince's egg. You know, the egg we- I thought was destroyed along with Thunder? The reason why there are Moonshadow assassins in our realm? That dragon egg!"

Viren scowled. "I know which egg you mean. What do you want to know about it?"

That was not the right answer. Harrow slammed his fist against the sturdy oak and glared at his chief advisor. "I want a straight answer from you, Viren! Why was that egg here?!"

"I took it after we defeated Thunder," Viren defended. "Dragon eggs are incredibly rare. We could have used it to our advantage!"

"Using your creative solutions!" Harrow accused.

"You've never complained about them before!"

"I have always had my reservations about dark magic! More and more ever since…" The king cut off; his face stricken with memories of loss. Taking a deep breath that steadied him, Harrow went on. "It is a shortcut. We may not pay now but we will have to pay the blood price eventually! You stole the one thing that has led us to the brink of war with the elves!"

"I did what I had to! To save your life and many others! Taking that egg could save our kingdom! Maybe all of humanity!"

"It. Is. An. Egg!"

"And it would have become the most powerful creature in the world! It probably will anyway now that your sons have given it to an elf!" He suspected what they had done, what he knew deep in his bones. To hear himself say it out loud was a sort of vindication in and of itself, but Harrow's reaction doused that satisfaction in ice. The princes had given the most powerful weapon back to the elves, and his king knew about it!

Harrow narrowed his eyes and drew himself up to his full height. "You forget yourself, Lord Viren," he growled through gritted teeth. "My sons did what they did to protect us, naïve though it was. If their plan succeeds, you would do well to remember to thank them."

"Their plan?!"

"The elves only want the egg. The infiltrator came to find the egg and was able to convince Prince Ezran and Prince Callum to assist. She is on her way to her team now, and with the Dragon Prince in their hands, they will leave. No blood. No loss tonight."

"You can't possibly believe Xadian assassins will back off so easily!"

"I trust my sons! But, as King, I am not foolish enough to enact their plan without conditions. I will be sending Marcos out with a guard to make sure the elves are leaving."

Viren drew back a respectful distance; his scowl deepened to withhold everything he wanted to say. His king's sons had endangered all of them in an attempt to do what they thought was right? It was absurd, childish nonsense! Whether they attacked tonight or not, the elves would have the egg! They would raise it and, when they were ready, have dragons knocking on their doorstep. Their kingdom was in trouble, and Harrow didn't seem to grasp that! Or worse… he didn't care.

Instead, Viren placed the box he was carrying on the table.

"Inside is a Lunar Moth," Viren ground out. "It is drawn to moon primal energy and will lead us to where the Moonshadow elves are. If the princes are correct, then the scouting group we send out will find the moth heading back towards Xadia."

Harrow stared at the box for a moment and then turned to one of the guards in the throne room. "Deliver this," he motioned to the box, "to Marcos and have him gather a team to escort the Moonshadow elves out of our kingdom."

"Yes, Your Majesty," the guard bowed, took the box and left Viren and Harrow in a tense silence.

"Primal stone?"

Callum was looking out of the key lock to see if he could see the guards in front of the door. "Yeah," he answered. "It's a ball of primal energy used for magic. Unfortunately, me from the past hasn't connected with an arcanum yet, so I'll have to use a stone for now."

"I don't get it. How are you… you? Is my Callum okay?"

Future Callum stood up straighter and gave Ezran that look his brother did whenever he tried to comfort him. Ezran was glad some things never change.

"I- he's fine, Ez. Just… asleep. I used startouch magic to place my memory in the ring. I can only come out in my own body and I don't know how long it will last, so we need to get that stone quick."

"Dad said we're supposed to pack for the Banther Lodge. I don't think the guards will just let us go out for a walk."

Callum looked around the room, Ezran noticing the critical look in his eye. For all of the confidence and 'maturity' that threw the youngest prince off when future Callum took over, he noticed that his brother really didn't change at all either.

"We could use the passageway again," Callum mused.

"Yeah, but then that could scare the guards and Dad again."

"Well, then I guess we pack. We tell the guards we're ready and they can escort us to the gate."

"And you expect to sneak away from them?"

"Somehow."

Ezran shrugged, squeezing Bait. "Okay, Callum… but I hope you know what you're doing."

"Yeah. So do I."

The brothers shoved clothes in satchels as quickly as they could. When they figured it was enough, Ezran opened the door and told the guards they were done with packing.

"Follow us, Your Highnesses. We will stop at the stables and escort you to the Banther Lodge."

As they walked, Ezran shot his brother a 'what now' look.

"So…" Callum spoke, sounding a little like his normal- younger?- self. "Could we stop at the library before we head out? The Banther Lodge doesn't have much in good reading material."

"Our orders were to escort you as soon as possible, Prince Callum."

"I know. But-"

"Please?" Ezran piped up, putting on his most innocent look, willing Bait to look just as cute and begging. "It won't take too long."

The guard looked between his princes and Ezran beamed inside at the guard's resigned look. "As long as it's quick."

"Thank you so much!" Ezran chirped and Bait burped. "Bait says thanks as well."

The guard sighed. "Of course, Your Highness."

Ezran hung back a little, pulling future Callum back with him.

"Why the library?" he whispered to his brother.

"That's where I found her before. Just trying to trace my steps at this point."

The guards escorted the princes to the library, one of them sighing with a murmur for them to hurry. Callum went to the shelf he knew had a book on Xadia where he remembered Claudia first showing him the sky primal stone. Ezran noticed his brother pretending to look and started meandering through the large library. It was a few minutes when he circled back and found Callum in the same spot.

"Have you seen her?" Callum asked.

"No. You?"

Callum shook his head and sighed. "I should have figured this time around would be different. Everything else already is."

"Maybe we'll run into her on the way to the stables?" Ezran offered.

Callum took a book to make it seem like coming to the library was for a purpose and then began walking out with Ezran beside him. "The only other place I could think of her being is Viren's lab, but that was up a few flights of stairs already."

"Do you need me to cause a distraction?"

"Perhaps-"

"Callum! Ezran!"

Ezran turned and saw Claudia down at the other end of the hall waving furiously at them.

"Or not," Callum amended with a frown. Ezran raised an eyebrow at his brother's sudden change in demeanor but filed it away for later. Claudia caught up with the princes, hands on her knees as she took a dramatically deep breath. Ezran noticed the large satchel against Claudia's hip. Was she carrying Callum's stone?

"I've been looking everywhere for you," she explained breathlessly.

"Dad's sending us to the Banther Lodge," Ezran said. "Are you going to walk with us?"

"I guess I can, but I need to ask you something first. Did you really take the egg?"

Ezran blanched a little. Claudia knew about the egg?

"You… you knew your dad was keeping the Dragon Prince?"

Claudia blew a hair out of her face. "Of course. Dad saved it from the dragons. Can you imagine what kind of a weapon the elves would have used it for?" she explained as if it completely made sense. Ezran could admit that maybe there was a little bit of sense if it meant protecting your home, but the egg wasn't a weapon. It was a baby. A baby who missed his mom from what Ezran could hear behind the shell.

"Zym isn't a weapon, Claudia," Callum growled.

"Zym? What's a zym?"

"Azymondias, the Dragon Prince. He's in that egg and we are going to make sure he gets back to his mother," Callum declared.

Claudia looked bewildered and scoffed a little. "You can't be serious."

Before either Ezran or Callum could answer, one the guards cleared her throat. "Um, my princes? Could we continue this conversation later? We must get you to safety."

"Yeah, about that…" Callum mumbled when he suddenly struck. Ezran could hardly see it, he was so fast, but suddenly Ezran and Callum were on one side of the hall, a magical looking stone in Callum's hand, with Claudia and the guards on the other.

Drawing a rune in the air, Callum called, "Aspiro frigis!" and blew towards the ground at the others' feet. A layer of ice coated the floor between them and ran over the top of Claudia and the guards' feet, sticking them in place.

"Wha- Callum!"

Callum grabbed his brother's hand and took off the opposite direction. "Let's go, Ez!"

"Sorry, Claudia!" Ezran called back and followed his brother with Bait in tow. They shot around the corner and took off down another hall. "So now what?"

"Now we-" Callum cringed, stumbling to a stop.

"Callum? Callum!"

Ezran looked on at his brother who slid to his knees, his hands cradling his head. "Callum! Are you okay?"

"Ezran?"

And he was back. Ez could hear it in the change of his voice. His Callum looked up dazed. "What… what's going on?"

"Do you remember anything?"

"I- I don't-"

"Callum! Ezran!"

Ezran looked up worriedly. Future Callum was so sure about needing the primal stone. They couldn't let Claudia get it back.

"Come on," Ezran urged his brother back to his feet. "I'll explain everything on the way."

"On the way to where?"

"Someplace safe."

"I… don't remember… this climb being that… difficult," Rayla panted to herself as she scaled the sheer cliff up to Katolis Castle. Then again, the last time she made this journey she wasn't thoroughly exhausted from being thrown back in time nor was she carrying the Dragon Prince's egg on her back. Rayla turned to make sure Zym's egg was doing okay. Seeing no change, Rayla rolled her eyes and stuck one of her swords into the cliff face. Of course, he was fine. He was an egg! There wasn't much he could do to make this worse.

Rayla checked the sky and frowned at the oranges and pinks she saw growing stronger. Sunset would soon be upon them and the full moon not far behind twilight. She had to hurry.

Redoubling her efforts, Rayla scaled the cliff up to the castle's outer wall as fast as she could. Taking a deep breath, she folded her sword hooks and sheathed them before leaping up the handholds that jutted up the height of the wall. As her hands deftly climbed the wall, her mind started planning on what do once she was back in the castle. She would need to find Ezran and Callum again, of course, and warn them that her team was still coming to kill the king. Thinking about Runaan and the others left a burning frustration in her chest. She had shown them there was another way. Why couldn't they just listen?

She flipped herself over the edge of the outer wall and sighed in relief. Her younger body was only adding to her frustrations. She had trained since her childhood and yet her current body still wasn't capable of what her older mind pushed for. When she had taken a few breaths, Rayla ran along the wall, keeping low and to the shadows so that the guards posted wouldn't notice her.

Just like her earlier infiltration, she headed towards Callum and Ezran's old room first. Finding it empty, Rayla began to sort where in the castle they could possibly be. Callum always enjoyed the library. They also could be in the throne room, possibly with King Harrow. Then again they could be-

"Well, look at what I found."

Whipping around, Rayla steeled herself only to be face-to-face with Soren.

"Soren!" she greeted but caught herself when Soren's face turned dark. This was the past. Soren wasn't her friend here. Rayla internally cursed Callum for sending her back.

"It's bad enough that you somehow snuck in here, elf, but spying on me?" He lifted his sword and swung it towards her head. Rayla ducked down, unsheathing her sword-hooks and catching them around his ankles.

"WHA!" Soren yelped, falling back with a thud. Rayla spun on her heel, leaping back a few feet away from him.

"I'm sorry that I can't explain right now, but I have to find the princes."

Soren pushed himself up. "Why? So you can kill them? Not while I'm a Crownsguard!" He charged forward stabbing towards Rayla's chest. Rayla tried to dodge to the side but was caught by an uppercut from Soren's unoccupied fist. The punch sent her reeling, but before she could catch herself she was sent sprawling to the ground with a kick in the side. Thankfully she landed on her stomach, Zym's egg unharmed.

As she pushed herself to her elbows, she looked up only to have Soren's sword a hair's length from her nose.

"Just give up, elf," he said smugly, "and maybe you'll get to live."

A part of Rayla wanted to snarl and attack, but this was delicate. She couldn't waste time with Soren and she couldn't risk Zym. From what she knew watching Ez as king, prisoners were brought before Katolis' monarch for judgment. She hated the idea of giving up, especially to Soren of all people, but it looked like it was going to be the only way.

Rayla hung her head and put her hands up, only half listening as Soren called for more guards from down the hall to bring rope. She bit back her vitriol as he took her swords, but then he reached for the egg.

"NO!" Rayla shouted, wrapping her arms around Zym's egg and holding it away from him. "If you want me to come quietly, I keep the egg," she growled.

"It's not like I really need you to come quietly, you know."

"We don't have time for anything else. I won't fight so long as Zym stays with me."

Rayla bit her lip. Soren may not have been quick, but he was smart in his own way. She had learned to appreciate that and his steadfast loyalty as time went on. She was banking on the Soren she would eventually know to shine now.

Soren rolled his eyes and planted his hands on his hips. "Whatever. You can keep your egg. Either way, I'm totally getting a commendation for this," he smirked and took the rope from a guard near him. Rayla secured the egg to her back a little tighter than before and let her hands be bound.

"Besides," he spoke up again, shoving her forward. "It's not like you'll get to keep it for long. Not after the king figures out what to do with you."