WH: *checks pocket watch* IT is time. Red sun rises after the full moon in the first month of summer. The summer of children is long gone already. Now is the Season of the Dragon.

SN: Um, who are you talking to?

WH: The sky obviously, why else would I just be talking into the sky and monologing like this? *Everyone looks at each other in worry as the sun rises.*

Dumnorix looked around the encampment and smiled at how genuinely well things were coming along in building up their scattered forces. Mavis had found and 'altered' an empty hollow of a mountain in order to hide the Forest Barbarian remnants so they had a central base of command. It had barely been two weeks since Mavis had returned but she had quite a following already due to her wand and True Dragon. He still shuddered in both awe and fear at that beast thanking his luck that the supposedly extinct creature was under Mavis's command. He then sighed wishing how Selene could be here now to help them, good Gods did he miss her. As he was caught up in this he noticed the… 'I think it's the 'Madam' of the Red Dragon Inn and Bordello' he thought to himself as she came up and spoke to him.

"Sir Dumnorix…" He shushed her then and spoke quickly.

"Not sir, just Dumnorix. I am no noble or knight." She then nodded remaining silent for several seconds before speaking again.

"Well whatever you wish to be addressed as, I wish to speak with Mavis. I have knowledge that may help our cause with the help of the dragon she has under her command." He raised his eyebrow at her and rubbed his beard for a second before nodding in agreement.

"Very well, I will take you to her." They moved through the encampment towards Mavis's command tent.

As they moved he took in the Madam of the Inn and Bordello and again wondered who exactly she was. While she walked and held herself like a Madam he could see a relaxed wariness that warriors often had about them and a lightness to her feet that did not match her demeanor. But what's more he found that she looked and came across surprisingly familiar for some reason. She seemed close to her mid to late 50's, like he was, with her shoulder length hair as much grey as it was red framing her freckled face and sharp cunning green eyes. He could also tell she was shorter than most and not as well 'built' as he thought a person whose livelihood revolved around pleasing men would be; almost childlike in some regards. 'Eh, probably like a younger version of my grandma.' He thought shrugging as they heard Mavis's tent. The surrounding area was filled with tents and small workshop areas where weapons, armor, and other supplies were gathered and maintained. It was actually thanks to the Bordello that they managed to get most of the supplies out here in the first place with the whores pitching in to help set things up. He smiled at the rebels interacting with each other and opened the tent walking in and speaking up.

"Mavis, the Red Dragon Madam wishes to…" He trailed off as he took in the sight of Mavis breast feeding Ancalagon who was curled up on her lap. "…uhm…" As he stared she spoke up nonchalantly.

"What, can a mother not feed her child?" The Madam and Dumnorix looked at each other in confusion before shrugging. "Well he doesn't need milk per say but I still do this for him as he seems to benefit from the milk." Her voice then got all cutesy as she leaned down to Ancalagon. "Plus he looks absolutely adorable doesn't he." She rubbed his neck with Ancalagon purring slightly under Mavis's touch. "So what is it you needed?" The madam cleared her throat and stepped forward speaking up.

"Actually it is about the true dragon at your breast." Mavis looked up sharply with a protective air about her. "No no, it's not going to hurt him." Mavis relaxed slightly at that. "There are some things about True Dragons most people wouldn't believe are true to the point where the truth is more fantastical then the stories. True Dragons have many strange abilities like using latent magic to bend reality around them, the power to tamper with minds, and even command other creatures to their will." Dumnorix outright scoffed at that speaking up.

"What else do they do; hoard treasure, speak in riddles, kidnap princesses, learn professional magic?" The Madam rolled her eyes as he continued. "For that matter how do you really know what True Dragons are like? They have been extinct for centuries and knowledge on them is sparse, far beyond the reach of someone like yourself." The Madam went to reply but Mavis cut her off.

"Wait." They both looked at her as she glanced at her wand with the color wavering a little bit and a humming sound coming from it. "I will hear what she has to say first." Dumnorix nodded and sat back with The Madam talking.

"Well all draconic creatures are in a way connected by what is known as 'The Spirits of Shimazu' a magical force specific to dragons. True Dragons have a far stronger connection to it than other Draconic creatures and can use it in ways some might deem unnatural. Your 'child' might have a grasp of these powe… *sigh* I'll make this simple. You know of the recent migration of fire drakes right?" Mavis nodded in response to The Madam. "Well my view is perhaps your 'child' could command the drakes in the way a general would command an army." Mavis stared at her blankly for a few seconds while Ancalagon finished eating and pulled away before speaking.

"Well…" She seemed to pause as a humming sound came from the wand. "… I will consider it." Dumnorix looked at Mavis shocked as he spoke up now.

"Wait, you believe her?" Mavis put back on her top as she replied.

"I said I would consider it. There is much that may or may not be true about Ancalagon and I am willing to try out anything at this point. In case if you are not aware we are still far behind Moon at this point and need every advantage that we can get." Dumnorix nodded in begrudging consent as Mavis stood up adjusting her rather well-endowed bust at this point. "Now unless if there is any other news or propositions I have business I need to attend to." She walked out of the tent leading Ancalagon along with Dumnorix scratching his chin in confusion and The Madame looking at Mavis's bust with a 'not bad' expression on her face.

"Steady, steady…" Star spoke to herself as she maneuvered the pieces of the ship she was building inside of a bottle. Star was using her wand to do this and the pink magic held things up carefully putting them into place like a puzzle…

"Star." Star leapt up at the voice and, with her concentration broken, the ship fell to pieces.

"Marco, can't you see I'm busy?" Star called over her shoulder to Marco who looked into the room with an annoyed look on his face.

"Star my parents are coming home and we promised them we'd have the house completely cleaned when they came back." His eyes roamed over her room taking in several dozen ship-in-a-bottles. "Um are you building a whole new Mewman navy or are those more than enough ships." Star faced him with a 'really' face and replied.

"Too many ships? Marco do you even know me?" Marco sighed and replied to that.

"Fair point. Just be sure to do your half of the chores ok." Star nodded sighing in annoyance and waved her wand with the magic suddenly turning a sickly green color shooting out a grey cloud with a face on it. "… uhm, who is that?" Marco pointed to the cloud.

"Oh that's cloudy; he helps me out in maintaining my room." Star gestured to her clean and well organized room. "Cloudy, take out the garbage." Cloudy looked around the room as if in a daze and spoke up in a squeaky voice.

"Oh, hehehehe, hello there Star. What's that you want me to take out the garbage?" Star nodded with Cloudy chuckling again. "Ok, guess that task is too 'common' and 'dirty' for a princess's delicate hands." He giggled as he flew off with Marco watching him go before turning back to Star.

"Um, does he normally act like this?" Star got up and walked out of the room as she replied.

"Not exactly, usually he's pink and a lot more chipper. Come on, the sooner we can resolve these chores the better." Marco watched Star walk off with a bit of concern as she was acting a bit more annoyed then normal and how he thought he saw green magic like when she had a PTSD episode. Shaking his head mentally prepping himself for whatever was coming he followed Star out.

Mavis looked out across the flat to where the drakes had gathered up in their annual migration route hearing a low chittering sound that was the drakes interacting with each other. She then looked back at the group she had gathered with her to test out the Madam's theory and sighed. The two Alucards had told her to test out the Madam's theory but she was still a bit unsure about this especially as Ancalagon nuzzled up next to Mavis chittering in concern. This was her baby, the child she never had and despite him not being Mewman she found herself being closer to him than any other being she had ever known. She rubbed the feather's on his head comforting him as best as possible as she spoke to the group.

"Alright in case if you do not know or remember why we are here allow me to refresh your memory. Supposedly Ancalagon can command the other drakes to do his bidding according to some ancient knowledge." She looked out over the crowd with everyone nodding with suspicion in their eyes. "If this proves false then we will most likely need to fight our way out as the drakes are not going to take our intrusion lying down. But IF it proves correct we will have ourselves a second army right off the bat. Any questions?" The group looked back and forth between each other before one spoke up.

"How are you sure enough for this to work that you are willing to risk it?" At this the wand spoke to her.

"Nothing ventured nothing gained your Majesty." Mavis spoke up to the warrior.

"I just have a feeling." She gestured for them to follow her with everyone falling in behind her.

As they moved across the flat silently she looked back over her group tallying that everyone was in fact here. She knew she should have trusted the warriors to follow her but considering her past experiences with them she noted it was for the best to keep an eye on them. She noticed several people who were followers of her's before the wand shattering with Dumnorix sticking out amongst them. She knew she could rely on that man above all else and thanked the Gods he was still up and kicking. She also noted with a sigh that Selene was still gone and hoped Selene would find her way back after hearing about Mavis and her new wand. She didn't note anything important about the others but one short one kept her hood up over her face the whole time while carrying a strangely high end and elaborate bow. 'Well, can't really judge based on appearances.' Mavis thought and shrugged as they made it across the flat to the entrance of the gathering grounds.

Despite how it may have appeared this was not in fact a mating gathering as that would not be happening for months at this point. Instead it was one of the 'cycling' migrations where the drake population just switched locations with each other. Once roughly every six months half of the drake population of an area would move to a new area with that population sending its half to a different area. From what scholars could tell it helped insure drake populations remained fluid and dynamic as well as to insure an exchange of information. Drakes were rather intelligent creatures and could learn how to overcome different obstacles as well as teach others how to. This migration also helped push excess population out of their lands and into new areas with their numbers insuring they had a higher chance of survival. This of course led to the fact that every six months at least one kingdom would have to deal with Drakes going after farmers.

As they finally got in to the edge of the area Mavis looked out over the grounds where drakes were mostly sleeping or 'conversing' with each other. She looked over her posse again getting nervous but steadfast looks from them. She nodded and whispered to Ancalagon.

"Go on out there and be yourself, I will be right here in case if things go bad." Ancalagon chirped at her and trotted out into the main area.

"Uh warchief?" Mavis turned to see one of the Danter triplets, three short men stacked on top of one another usually, approach her. "What exactly is the plan again?" Mavis nodded consenting to his point and gestured for everyone to come in close before speaking.

"Well a new entity approaching this gathering ground that looks like a drake is going to rile up some interest. According to the Madam what Ancalagon needs to do is get the so called Alpha of the group's attention and challenge him for dominance. Now we don't need to strictly have that happen but removing the Alpha is needed so our method will be to, once we discover it, kill it when it's guard is down." Mumbled roars from the main area drew their attention back to the main area.

Ancalagon was going through the area untouched but multiple drakes were staring at him suspiciously and sniffing the air. It was then Mavis finally got a good look at the drakes and marveled at how different they looked in shape and size and was able to actually name several. There were stocky Gronckles, spined Deadly Nadders, mysterious Changewings, cute Terrible Terrors, exotic Zipplebacks, and many more different varieties she could not name. She noticed most of them were only about the same size or smaller then Ancalagon if you took his wings into account. However mostly clustered in the center, with a few scattered amongst the several hundred or so lazing about, were those that were not only bigger but some were easily twice the size of Ancalagon. And considering he was the size of a small brown bear that was no small feat. Mavis repressed a shudder of worry as Ancalagon approached the center with the group of big boys pulling apart to look at him suspiciously. She noticed this group was mostly full of monstrous Nightmares, a drake said to be able to set themselves on fire if they were in close combat.

Ancalagon paused a second and looked back at where he left Mavis who gestured for him to go on nervously. He chittered again in worry and stepped forward to within a few feet of the central group who warned him off with growls and hisses. This got the attention of the drakes lazing about who all immediately looked at Ancalagon who was clearly feeling the pressure now. As he glanced about in worry two final drakes unfurled itself from the mound and cast an annoyed glance at Ancalagon; both three times his size. As they both loomed over him with annoyance for being disturbed by a newcomer Mavis heard one of her band members speak aloud.

"The one on the left, it's a Timberjack." She pointed to one that was golden colored with massive wings and a relatively small body. "Supposedly it's wings are so sharp it can cut down a whole forest just by flying through it. But what is that…" She gestured towards the one on the right with Dumnorix speaking up.

"That is a Bonenapper." Everyone gasped and hunkered down as they took in what looked like a skeleton dragon. "Considering it's great size and bulk, not even taking into account the stories of this beast, I would saw that one is the Alpha." Everyone nodded in consent especially when the Timberjack, the second most powerful of the bunch, seemed to bow to the Bonenapper as if addressing a superior.

Everyone held their breath as the drakes communicated amongst themselves for a second with the Bonenapper not saying much. After a little while though Ancalagon began 'speaking' to them which did take the Bonenapper's interest. With a surprisingly silent voice it chittered to Ancalagon engaging him in a 'conversation' of sorts. Everyone in her group let out a held breath with Mavis giving silent signals to everyone. They could technically talk but now that the area was pretty silent and everyone was alert it would likely be best to just keep quite. The group nodded and got out crossbows and bows aiming them in the direction of the Bonenapper in case if things went south. The Bonenapper then stepped towards Ancalagon and sniffed him cautiously blinking in confusion for a second before pulling back. When the 'conversation' started up again Ancalagon responded rather eagerly to the Bonenapper's words and gestured towards where Mavis and the others were hiding. Feeling the attention of the Bonenapper focus in on them, as well as the other drakes, Mavis spoke up quietly to everyone.

"Ok, I did not account for this in the slightest." As a drake peaked around some rocks seeing them and roaring out one of the warriors spoke up.

"So we are in trouble then?" The other drakes immediately began growling at where they were hiding with Mavis responding.

"Oh yes most definitely."

Star finished up the attic cobweb dusting with a sneeze before flipping from her hold on the ceiling and landed on the floor. As she brushed herself off Marco called from down below with concern in his voice.

"Star you might want to see this." Star groaned in exasperation and started downstairs calling out to Marco.

"I'll take care of the bathrooms in a minute, I just finished up the attic dusting." As she got downstairs Marco's worried look made her mood soften. "It's not about my chores is it?" Marco rubbed his arm in worry as he replied.

"Well not exactly." He pointed to the kitchen with Star poking her head in to see Cloudy throwing the garbage all over the place. "Are you sure you cast the right spell on him?" Star nervously rushed out and began yelling at Cloudy.

"Cloudy, what are you doing?!" Cloudy threw aside what was left of the garbage bag and giggled gleefully before speaking.

"Oh hey Star *hehe* don't know what's going on with me right now. Guess I just have a lot of energy from all that iced tea." As Cloudy giggled Star got annoyed again and spoke sharply to Cloudy.

"Cloudy pick up this mess right now! I told you to take out the garbage not scatter it everywhere." Cloudy chuckled and flew into the living room and began pouring rain everywhere speaking again.

"Welp there goes the iced tea. WHEEEEEEE!" He twirled around knocking items to the ground with Star groaning even more in annoyance before going to cast 'Sunshi-'. "Sunshine rainbow friendship? Looks like someone is allergic to good vibs." He blew wind at Star forcefully messing up her hair and flustering her with her wand turning the poison green color again.

Marco noticed and ran up to stop Star but he was too late as she cast a 'Sunshine rainbow friendship' with the corrupted magic and hit Cloudy. Cloudy now glowed an eerie toxic green color and turned on Star with an angry look on his face. Star realized the mistake she had made too late and shot a 'Mystical Exit Beam' at Cloudy sending him outside the house. With him outside Marco quickly leapt at every door and window in the house with cartoonish speed locking everything down. As he finished up what sounded like a storm was brewing outside Making Star rub her tail nervously. Marco and Star looked at each other and spoke in unison.

"We need Glossarick." They ran upstairs at breakneck speed with Star bursting into her room and opening up the book of spells calling out.

"Glossarick. We have a problem here." As she opened the book to where he was she stopped and stared at his limp figure with a crusting of pink 'stuff' on the side of his head. "Um Glossarick, are you ok?" Glossarick turned towards the duo groaning as he spoke.

"Ohhhhh, not so loud please." Star and Marco looked at each other in concern before Marco whispered to Glossarick.

"Is this quite enough?" Glossarick moaned before nodding with Star speaking up again.

"What happened to you?" Glossarick moaned again as he answered.

"I had an accident. Never use magic on your face people." Star shook her head in annoyance again as she spoke up.

"Glossarick I think there's something wrong with my wand." Glossarick asked her what was wrong with it and Star elaborated. "Well when I cast it the magic… comes out weird. It's not doing what it's supposed to." Glossarick moaned again before replying.

"Well perhaps the problem is you, ever stopped to think about that." Star blinked in shock at this and began growling at Glossarick speaking up with her eyes going cat-pupil yellow.

"I am good at magic. Don't throw around accusations like I am…" She immediately stopped when Marco began combing her hair with the special comb as Glossarick responded.

"Well perhaps what I'm saying is… there is something wrong with everyone. I mean take me for instance, I did this to myself and I have lifetimes of experience all added up." Marco sighed and responded to Glossarick as Star calmed down.

"No help as usual."

"It hurts everywhere." Glossarick spoke as he closed the book on himself with Marco turning to Star.

"As strange as it may sound he may be onto something." Star looked at Marco in shock as he elaborated. "I mean ever since I interrupted your ship building you've been acting more… annoyed than usual." Star glared at him with narrowed eyes. "I mean usually when someone tells you that perhaps you did something wrong you try to find out what you did wrong. But you just threatened Glossarick back there." He put his hand on Star's shoulder looking at her with a worried expression. "Is everything ok? Did… I mess up somewhere?" Star's annoyance immediately and completely dissipated at Marco's face and she hugged him close before speaking.

"No nonononono, you didn't do anything. I mean you interrupted me when I was ship building but that was it." She stepped back taking a deep breath before continuing. "I just… well… all these are just worse because…" She fidgeted for a moment before blurting it out. "… I'm going through my time of the month!" Marco blinked blankly for a second before the realization hit him and he freaked out a little taking a few steps back from Star. "It's just… it's never been this bad before." She grabbed at her abdomen. "I woke up feeling like my 'bits' had just been clobbered by Dumnorix and sent through a blender on puree. I also feel like there's wax paper over my mind which has been put in an electric chair and keeps on getting shocked. I tried distracting myself with zen time but the music only seemed to annoy me and I couldn't read properly. So I tried distracting myself with the ships in bottles but then you told me to help you out and I destroyed my Flagship by accident at the interruption. And well… I kept on overreacting at all the annoyances." She grabbed her tail and started rubbing it. "I am so sorry about this Marco, I didn't mean to make you worry like that it's just…" Marco grabbed Star and turned her towards him before placing a kiss square on her lips immediately relaxing her. After a few seconds of calm they pulled apart with Marco speaking up.

"Better?" Star nodded softly. "Next time things are this bad for you just let me know and I'll take care of you. I don't know much about… these things." Marco cringed internally as he shied away from the idea of a period. "But I can help you as mom and dad actually taught me how to take care of a girl when she is in that state." He rubbed Star's cheek with her smiling at him her eyes going purplish-green despite everything.

Their quite moment was interrupted however by the windows shaking in their panes due to Cloudy's influence.