Layla was helping Kayalie shooting with the super-bow now.Bruno had taken out the time-note from his younger self and was reading it and sighing. Dasmon and Starkin was dueling, but then the young Warrior from Clan Nutsy yelled something and Dasmon walked over and began inspecting the sword and bending it back into position. Marie and Layfette were giggling over something, and Carlos and Lief were talking.
"Hey, Starkin?" Kayi reached up and tapped his shoulder, avoiding the scarred part and the part that the chunk was missing out of.
"Hmm? Oh, it's just you, Cricket," he commented, smiling lightly.
"Do you miss being young, Starkin?" Kayi asked.
Starkin breathed out a bit of fire. "I knew it would happen to me sssomeday, but now that it'sss happened... Ah, youth is wasted on the young. Cherish the timess when you don't have to worry about dying."
"Do you still love Layla?" Kayi asked.
Starkin braethed out deeply again, this time with ice instead. "You were young and confident. I'm not a handsome Dragoon-knight anymore, Kayi."
Kayi was persistant, though. "Starkin, looks don't matter, I mean..."
"I'm one old bangaa now, Kayi. Too young for romanssing and the sssuch. Ah, there wasss a time in the passst..."
Kayi listened that Starkin related to her one of his missions to go hunt down a murderer, which ended with an all-out duel in the Jadgs.
"But have you guys ever been in a Jadg battle?" Kayi asked.
Starkin wheezed and nodded. "Of courssse! Many timesss we taunted death!" He then began rattling on about one of the engagements in the Jagds, but revealed to her a suprising resolution-
"We let 'em all live. Just a bunch of young'uns, except for a viera, who had five kids back home."
Kayi pretended to listen as Starkin began to tell another tale, this time about the biggest dragon that they had encountered.
"And then, when we thought that she was about to die-"
"But you told us that she was a he before!" a voice exclaimed.
"Huh?" Kayi turned to see the pretty viera, Callypso, from before. Her expression was amused, and Callypso was leaning on a young man.
"You told us that it was a he," the young man said in a matter-of-factly tone.
Starkin huffed. "Well, I wasss tesssting you. Ssso then, we thought she wasss dead, when he suddenly started flapping his huge wingsss, and thossse weren't ordinary wingsss either..."
The couple behind her was listening with rapt attention.
"And then, Sssirasss just shot a Capture, head-on, and netted him right then and there!"
"Where is the Wyrm now?" Callypso asked.
Starkin looked into the distance. "Used to be the sssweetesst little Wyrm anyone could set eyesss upon. Died ages ago."
"That's sad," Kayi said.
Irisa's presence hovered above the cavern, unseen and intangible.