Disclaimer: I don't own Dragon Knights. I really wish I was there.

Chapter Three: Finally!

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Later that evening, after dinner, Adeena's room

A knock sounded upon her door. "If you have food or clothing you may enter. Otherwise, go away!" she called.

The door opened. In walked a servant with a tray of food. Following him was one with a pile of clothing. Following that one was Lykouleon.

To the first servant she said "Put the tray on the table. Thank you." To the second she said "Place them on the dresser to your left. Thank you." Both servants left and Lykouleon started to shut the door as she said to him "You I did not request. Please leave" and turned to look out the open window once more.

"Mind if I light some candles?" Lykouleon asked, shutting the door and moving further into the room.

"Yes. I have enough light in here. I got used to having very little light at night" as she continued staring out the window.

"Aren't you a little cold in that?" he queried as he came over and sat beside her.

"No. This robe is warmer than most of what I've had to wear these past few years. Besides, I was planning on getting some sleep after I ate. Another reason for you to leave" came the icy rejoinder.

"Adeena …" he started as she got up and walked to the table. Selecting a piece of fruit she returned to the window and started eating as he continued "You've made three of my officers drink so much they're singing tavern songs."

"Only three? What about you?"

"No, not me and not Ruwalk either" he replied looking out the window so he missed the pained expression on her face.

"I was told he was second in charge here, yet I haven't seen him once. Why?"

"I believe the others are trying to protect him as much as possible. You haven't been very nice to any of us so far. I guess we don't want to see him hurting like that again" and he stands to go.

"Lykouleon, I could not hurt Ruwalk, no matter what you might think."

"Alright. I'll let him know the Dragon Knight of Wind wants to talk to him." And he leaves, shutting the door quietly behind him. He locates a servant and sends him off with the message for Ruwalk then heads for his own chambers thinking he'd have a very miserable officer in the morning.

Minutes later a knock sounds at her door. Upon hearing her call to enter, the door opens and Ruwalk comes through. Pausing only long enough to close the door, let his eyes adjust to the dim lighting and scan the room, he moves to the empty seat next to her at the window. "You asked to see me?" he said as he calmly sat down.

"Not quite the words I used but that's more or less the point" she smiled, holding out her arm for Wind to land. "It's been quite some time, hasn't it?"

"Yes. You have Alfeegi, Kai-stern and Tetheus upset. They started drinking rather heavily before dinner and then even more during dinner. I'm afraid we'll have to go over what they've packed for us in the morning."

"Yes, I kinda figured that. I knew about the drinking, Lykouleon told me."

"It's not their fault."

"It's too bad I don't see it that way. At least four of you should have been able to see the hole I fell in" as she moved to the table once more. "I'm not faulting any of you for following orders but couldn't you have found me before you received those orders?" as she picked up another piece of fruit, walked over and sat down on the bed, and started sharing the fruit with Wind, who had hopped off her arm and onto the bed.

"We looked, unfortunately not in the right place. We were all set to sneak out of the castle and come back, but he put guards on all of us, constant watch."

"So I heard, from the Red Dragon Officer when she found me years later."

"She told me she had found you but that it was best if I didn't say or do anything about it. Said Lykouleon knew, that's why she had been sent up there in the first place" stated rather morosely as he stared out the window. "All I could do was ask her to pass verbal messages to you."

"You don't know how much that helped. Especially since …" she trailed off as tears began to fall.

Ruwalk turned at the sound of her tears. "Adeena, what happened?" as he sat on the bed and cradled her in his arms.

"Cesia" was all he could understand of her reply.

"I don't understand. What about Cesia? Are you referring to the fortune teller by that name or someone else?" he questioned, beginning to worry.

"I'm trying to tell you about Cesia" she gulped, trying to stop her tears. "Yes, the one you know as a fortune teller. She's more than that, she's full blood dragon clan."

"What?!"

"She's the reason I'm still alive. I couldn't let her die."

"I'm confused," he said, pulling back a little to look at her. "How could she be your reason for not dying? She wasn't even born yet when we lost you."

"Exactly. She wasn't born but I could feel her heartbeat."

"You mean she's …" he trailed off.

"Yes, ours" when he couldn't finish.

"Does he know?"

"You're the first, not even the Red Dragon Officer knows. She found me when I went searching for Cesia. She'd been such a good child but then one day she disappeared. I was frantic. I looked everywhere but there was no trace of her. I was heading this way to get help when I was found and told to go back home – Lykouleon would search for Cesia but I would have to stay hidden because of Nadil and what he had done to Raseleane. I guess he figured that if it took him that long to find me, Nadil would have problems too. I kept asking about Cesia every time she came back to see me but I never learned anything new. She never showed for our last meeting – I waited. I met Kai-stern and Cesia on my way here. I didn't recognize her right away – it had been so long. Then she went one way, looking for someone named Rath, and Kai-stern escorted me here."

"From what I've heard, you weren't nice to any of the others. Why?" as he carried her back to the window seat. "I would have thought you'd be glad to see them."

"I am glad to see them but I had to do something to keep from breaking down before I had a chance to talk to you. Poor Kai-stern. I was really rough on him. I don't know how I'll make it up to him. The only one I'm really upset with is Lykouleon."

"Poor him. I'm glad you're not mad at the rest of us, although …, seeing those three drunk is a rare treat. But about Cesia, she's really …" he broke off again, still unable to complete the sentence.

"Yes, Ruwalk. She really is our daughter" and laid her head down on his shoulder as they both looked out at the stars. "Zoma, you might want to come in and get some sleep. We're leaving at dawn and you're coming along," she said to the figure sitting in the tree outside her window. "And don't go repeating what you heard tonight to anyone, not even Cesia. We'll tell her. Got it?"

Adeena: "Here ends the third chapter of our story."

Suzi: "Not ours, yours."

Adeena: "Fine. No more reading my scribblings before they're typed for you."

Suzi: "Waah!" :(

Adeena: "Any way, please let me know if you like it. Good or bad but please no flaming!"