The two walked across the damp soil, Agate Mountain rising high above the two. Even if dragons were the largest creatures to walk across Pyrrhia, Torrent was humbled by the mountain. He was nothing to it.

Small trees grew off to the side of Torrent and Griffin's path, shading their way slightly. It was sunny today, a rare occurrence in the late spring here. Still, snow remained at the top of the mountain, and the smooth sheet stretching from the old peak to the new remained unmelted. A small stream ran in front of Torrent and Griffin. Griffin carefully stepped over it, whereas Torrent splashed through, as if it wasn't even there.

"So what happened?" Griffin asked Torrent. "Why didn't you defeat Darkstalker?"

The SeaWing sighed. "It turns out that he had some defenses. Because I had to allow the animus magic of the caves to go down there, it was able to prevent us from getting to Darkstalker. They're alive or something, like you." Griffin felt somewhat uncomfortable at that remark. "Crystal and I escaped, but we weren't able to get to him."

"You gave up?"

Torrent glanced away, as if he was ashamed. His webbed paws continued to walk forward. "I suppose so. Better that we escape with our lives, and it's not like Darkstalker could actually do anything bad with his magic, being asleep."

"What if he wasn't asleep?" Griffin asked.

Torrent frowned, confused. "What do you mean? Wasn't he enchanted to be asleep?"

Griffin shook his feathered head. "I mean as a hypothetical. What if he wasn't asleep, and was just staying down there, minding his own business for the last two-thousand years?"

Torrent thought for a moment. "It's Darkstalker. Out of everything the legends said about him, idle and conservatory of his powers wasn't one of them."

"But what if he had a change of heart? Would you still leave him alone?" Griffin pressed. What he really wanted to know is if Torrent had changed — if he no longer believed that any animus, innocent dragonet or not, should be killed.

"We didn't have a choice," Torrent answered, "we had to leave him alone. There was no way we could have killed him, and at least this way, we kept our lives." He nervously tapped a few of his claws on the ground while walking.

Griffin sighed, and gave up. He didn't seem to be getting anywhere. "So, you and Crystal just stayed here the entire time after giving up on Darkstalker? I remember a few more animus dragons in the Sand Kingdom, why didn't you go after them? Decided to stop trying to kill them?"

Torrent shook his head. "No. We thought about it, but, er, decided it was a bad idea. Too far, and we wanted to be back for you."

Griffin felt a little guilty again. He had made the two just stay in Agate Mountain the entire time. "Ah," he acknowledged. The two had started to walk upwards along the mountain, and the path had started to thin, forcing Griffin to walk directly in front of Torrent and swivel his head around to talk to the SeaWing. "I did a lot of flying," he stated, trying to change the subject a little.

"Where to?" Torrent asked.

Griffin grimaced a little. "Trustbreaker brought me to see Fracture, in the southern Ice Kingdom. I saw Avalanche and Crystal's sister there. I, um, also visited Schist."

Griffin had expected a larger reaction from Torrent to this, but he remained calm, and treated it as ordinary. "Oh," Torrent replied, "is he doing well?"

"Sort of," Griffin murmured. "He's with Glen, in Adobe's city. She's doing very well, at least. They seem to be in negotiations with Queen Moorhen."

"She's reasonable," Torrent pointed out.

Griffin shrugged his wings up and down, unsure of Torrent's claim. "I hope so. Anyways, Schist decided he didn't really want me around, so I went to the Claws of the Clouds with Trustbreaker, and worked with a couple MudWings to set up a sort of hideout."

"Ah," Torrent replied, not really paying attention, "sounds interesting."
Griffin glanced towards Torrent with a sigh, still continuing to walk up the side of the mountain. At this point, they were now a considerable height above the woods they had been walking alongside, and there was a nice view over the valley below. "I just wanted to apologize," he let out with a puff.

"For what?" Torrent asked, somewhat uncertain.

"For leaving you for so long," Griffin answered, "I shouldn't have just let you and Crystal wondering if I'd ever come back."

"Oh, it's fine," Torrent murmured.

"Also, with Darkstalker," Griffin continued. "I knew he was under Agate Mountain, and I kept it a secret from you. I shouldn't have done that."

"No worries," Torrent grumbled, still pacing up the mountain.
"Yeah, but you could have gotten seriously hurt," Griffin protested. "What if Crystal had gone into the caves and you somehow suffocated her by it? Or if Darkstalker really was awake? Look, I'm sorry for keeping that from you, and I don't want our friendship to be like that. We should be open with each other."

Torrent uncomfortably squirmed, eliciting a sigh from Griffin. It was bluntly obvious by now that he was trying to hide something. "Torrent," Griffin sighed.

"So, was that whole apology just for this?" Torrent snapped back.

Griffin shook his head, his feathers waving back and forth. "No, no! I meant everything I said. Look, you don't have to tell me anything if you don't want to."

"It doesn't matter anyways," Torrent grumbled. "Crystal and I were planning to talk to you together, but it's not like we could have hid it. We had an egg, alright?"

Griffin blinked for a moment. "An egg?" he squawked in confusion. "With Crystal? You mean, a dragon egg, not like you're hatching fish eggs together?"

"Yes," Torrent replied in exasperation, "a dragon egg. Our dragon egg."

"But why?" Griffin exclaimed.

"I love her, and she loves me back," Torrent growled defensively. "Alright?" He tensed up his talons, digging them into the damp ground.

Griffin fluffed up his feathers, and sighed. "Alright," he muttered unhappily.

The two continued their walk in mostly silence, and after providing limited conversation with each other consisting of short snippets and directions, they returned back to the cave. Torrent went inside first, Griffin trotting in afterwards. He still wasn't sure exactly what to think. Why Crystal? Couldn't Torrent had chosen someone with . . . more qualms about killing dragonets? Someone who wasn't willing to lie so much? It felt slightly hypocritical thinking about it, considering his own apologies to Torrent.

"Crystal!" Torrent called out, his voice echoing off the cave walls. "Griffin came back while you were sleeping. I told him."

So she was actually sleeping, Griffin inferred. Slowly, Crystal's yawning blue snout peeked over the ledge at the back of the cave. The Darkstone swung back and forth around her neck as she lifted herself up, setting her and Torrent's egg a safe distance above before doing so.

To Griffin, it was strange seeing it. Two overlapping tones of blue covered the thick surface, darkening where they intersected, and brightening where neither took place. The shades were scattered around the eggshell with neither rhyme or reason, forming mishapen blobs. Light reflected off its surface, tossed around the cave. It was large to the sub-dragon sized Griffin, and from the way Crystal carried it, it seemed close to the maximum weight that Griffin could hold while flying.

Crystal looked at Griffin cautiously, as if she wasn't sure what to think of him. "Their name will be Austral or Aurora," she stated, uncertain if Griffin was interested in the information or not.

Griffin glanced at Crystal again. "Why is she still wearing the Darkstone?" he asked, turning to Torrent for an answer.

"You can ask me," Crystal hissed, frustrated. "This way it's safer, and it's not like I can use it for magic anymore. You come back, and the first thing you do is accuse me?"

"I was just curious!" Griffin defensively answered. "You know what it can do, you should be more suspect of it. What if you got magic suddenly, or even became an animus permanently?"

"It doesn't work like that," Crystal grumbled. "Unless you're related to an animus, which I am not."

"And how are you sure of that?" Griffin squawked.

"My father learned it in his research," Crystal lied. It had Calamity who'd told her, but he'd asked her not to tell anyone about him, especially not Griffin.

"Ah yes, the father that you killed," Griffin muttered. Crystal grimaced slightly. "Oh, did Torrent not know about that?"

"I knew," Torrent sighed, his wings drooping. "She told me in the Sky Kingdom."

"And you didn't tell us?" Griffin questioned. "Maybe if you had, there'd be a RainWing dragonet still living, flying around the rainforest happily!"

"That was me," Torrent stiffened up. He'd hoped for at least a day before this tired debate came up again. "I did that, not Crystal."

"Yeah, well she was the one to convinced you to," Griffin retorted. He scratched his talons on the ground, and puffed out his neck. "She's an awful influence on you, getting you to kill innocent dragonets."

"Oh please," Crystal growled, "just like before you left, you think I'm some sort of monster, somehow forcing Torrent to do my bidding and kill animuses?"

"Well, how would you like it if I killed your dragonet?" Griffin snapped "Torrent's sister was an animus, so could his dragonets."

Crystal stepped a little closer to the egg, and gave Griffin a cold glare. Torrent took a step between the two.

"Ok, maybe that was too far," Griffin muttered in a half-hearted apology, speaking directly to Torrent, "but you need to stay away from her. She's a bad influence on you, getting you to murder dragonets."

"She's my mate," Torrent growled quietly.

"He's not your pet to take care of and make sure the scary IceWing doesn't 'corrupt' him," Crystal snapped at Griffin. "Torrent can think for himself, just like me, and if you wanted a say in our relationship, you shouldn't have abandoned us for a year."

"Please stop fighting," Torrent grumbled, glaring at Griffin.

Why can't he see I'm just trying to help? Griffin wondered in frustration.

"It's late, and I'm sure Griffin is tired from his flight," Torrent sighed. "Maybe when he's had a better night's rest, he'll think more clearly. Crystal, let's go."

Griffin bitterly wanted to make a remark as the two left, but held his tongue. The dragons exited the cave, making sure to carefully carry the egg down the ledge into the next cavern, leaving Griffin alone, his feathers twitching in rage, starting to regret returning so soon.