Setting up a makeshift lab would be out of the question until the proper equipment arrived. That was the biggest annoyance to Qilby at the moment, but it couldn't be helped since it would take Joris several days to bring everything he needed back to Emelka. Second biggest was the way the two doctors kept watching him from the corners of their eyes, like he was some wild beast that might go berserk and attack them at any moment.

Qilby twitched as something sharp bit into his left calf muscle. Ah, no. That was incorrect.

Grougal was the second most annoying thing at the moment, and was currently sinking his pointy little teeth into Qilby's leg. Qilby let out a long sigh as he looked down at his leg to see what the damage was. Blood was starting to stain his pantleg as Grougal let go and spat on the ground, eager to get the taste of the traitor out of his mouth. At least he let go this time. It took Yugo trying to persuade the dragonet into letting go for about five minutes and eventually ended in him prying Grougal's jaws off of Qilby's arm the last time this happened.

"Now that was uncalled for," Korden said, in a tone that suggested she was scolding a small child. Not too far off. It seemed the shock of seeing Grougal latch onto Qilby's leg had shaken her from her fear of him for the time being.

"Back off," Grougal snarled as he turned to her. "You don't know about this, it's none of your business." Small flames began to lick at the inside of Grougal's mouth as he stared Korden down, daring her to reply.

"Uh-hah," Pirwit's laugh came from somewhere just behind Qilby, causing the old Eliatrope to jump with surprise; the doctor still moved silently despite his having abandoned Sram some time in the past. Before Grougal could properly turn to face him Pirwit darted forward and seized the young dragon by the scruff of the neck, "Very amusing, small dragon. But we do know, and we have chosen to remain anyway."

"Let go of me!" Grougal squirmed but was unable to break the doctor's iron grip.

"We are about to start some very important work," Pirwit made his way to the nearest door, maintaining his tight grip on Grougal all the while. He dropped the dragonet outside once he reached it. "There are things more important than your grudge at stake here, do not interrupt us again." The door swung shut, closing with a finality that stated this as the end of the matter.

Grougal glared at the door for a few moments after Pirwit was gone, then shook himself to settle his scales and started to wander away. Having a human able to snatch him up like that was humiliating, he would have to make sure that the skull man wasn't around when he tried to get at Qilby next, and maybe get a little payback on the human for so rudely picking him up too.

The dragonet slunk onward, eyes fixed on the ground as he grumbled to himself. A footprint in the dirt caught his eye as he passed the window to Qilby's room, and he paused to examine it more closely. It was scuffed to the point where he would've passed it over had his eyes not been focused on the ground, and the largeness of it was what struck him first, then the shape; it looked as if Adamaï or a dragoturkey could've made it, but it had five toes instead of three. Grougal cocked his head to one side as he stared at the print. There was no animal he could think of that would make a print like this, none that lived in this region anyway. He gave it an exploratory sniff, and sneezed when he accidentally inhaled dirt along with the scent.

A hurried look around confirmed that no one had been there to see Grougal's embarrassing little tracking accident, and he turned his attention to the footprint again and sniffed at it more carefully this time. The main scent was faint and one he didn't recognize, mixed with a few that were familiar: dried meat, leather, steel...

He looked up, searching for more tracks. A whole trail of them crossed the yard, halting just below the nearest window and doubling back to disappear beneath the shade of the forest. Grougal pushed himself up onto his hind legs and padded over to the window, jumping nimbly up onto the sill once he was just below it.

"Qilby's room?" he wondered to himself as he looked inside and spotted the stacks of books on the floor, the desk piled with notes and journals. Suspicion immediately flared in his mind. What was this thing doing around Qilby's window? Was he plotting against them already?

Grougal hopped down from the window and followed the tracks back into the woods, only to lose them after getting a few feet in. The leaf litter was too thick and the smells of passing animals too strong in the place the footprints led to, and Grougal was too inexperienced with tracking to find them again without the actual footprints. He scowled and took to the air, small wings kicking up the dead leaves as he darted away. One final search of the area turned up nothing else, as it seemed whatever made them had managed to successfully cover its trail once in the forest.

Definitely an unsettling development. Grougal turned and flew back to the inn; Adamaï would have to know about this.

[Subject may be the Revered Inventor. Code style between journals and source documents are identical. Extremely knowledgeable. Orders?]

The common room shook with uproarious laughter as Yugo entered, a basket of bread in his arms. Even after years of practice Alibert still burnt the inn's bread from time to time, and he had asked Yugo to run to the baker's and buy some rather than allow their guests to go without. He met Alibert at the door to the kitchen and handed the basket off.

"So who's the new entertainment?" Yugo looked in the direction of the laughter, where a large cluster of guests was gathered in one corner of the common room.

"A Feca adventurer arrived while you were picking up the bread," Alibert replied. He sniffed the basket of bread appreciatively and nodded toward the group of guests, "Why don't you go meet him? I can handle the lunch rush for now," he chuckled. "They won't worry much about the wait."

Yugo found that Chibi was among the throng of jolly listeners, seated in a chair right at the front where he would be able to listen to and see the Feca without anyone to get in his way. The Feca himself was lounging in one of the chairs, one elbow propped on the table with a mug of ale in its accompanying hand. As with most Fecas he wore a pair of round glasses, and his short hair was a subdued, pleasant blue color. His equipment was worn but well-made, easily able to withstand the wear and tear of daily adventure.

"Ah, you must be—" the Feca leaned forward when he spotted Yugo and raised his free hand to adjust his glasses. "You're Yugo the Eliatrope, aren't you?"

"Yeah, that's me," Yugo replied, giving the Feca a grin and a wave.

"The name's Fennius Andoreus," the Feca set his mug on the tabletop and offered his right hand to shake. "A pleasure to meet as well-travelled a hero as yourself, and at such a young age, too!"

"Nice to meet you," Yugo shook Fennius's outstretched hand.

The Feca had a firm grip and looked Yugo right in the eye as they shook hands, a genuinely happy expression on his face. "I was just telling everyone about my last adventure, but I'd love to hear some of yours."

Chibi's disappointed expression at hearing this did not slip past Yugo unnoticed.

"Actually it gets kinda tiring telling them over and over, and I'm pretty sure everyone here's heard them already," there was a chorus of agreement from the crowd as Fennius released Yugo's hand. "Would you mind telling some more of yours?"

"Well," Fennius glanced around at the eager faces that surrounded him. "If you insist."

{Do not use this line of communication for jokes.}

[I make no joke. He is ancient, correct species, has information on base strain. May interfere with plans. Awaiting orders.]

"Qilby."

The old Eliatrope looked up at the sound of someone saying his name, and turned to find that Adamaï had entered his room while he was reading. "Yes?"

"Are you planning to betray us?"

"No, I'm not," Qilby replied, after pausing to overcome his surprise at being asked such a question.

Adamaï's eyes narrowed with suspicion as he watched Qilby, but for the moment he said nothing. "Then what are you planning to do?" the dragon asked.

It was a question that Qilby had considered before, though he had not yet found a satisfactory long-term answer for it himself. "Find a cure for the Red Plague," he replied. That was the short-term truth, at least. As for after that... Well, he would have to wait and see.

"And after that?"

Another pause as Qilby's gaze began to drift toward the floor while he thought. "I'm not sure," Qilby said finally. He wondered what might have pushed the young dragon to asking such questions, though it didn't come as a surprise given his own traitor status. It was more the fact that they came so late compared to when Adamaï could have asked them that surprised Qilby. "Why do you ask?" he looked up at Adamaï as he spoke, hoping to read some sort of answer in the dragon's face if Adamaï chose to remain silent.

The young dragon's eyes flicked briefly to the window beyond, then returned to Qilby's face. "Security measures," was his curt reply. Adamaï lingered for a few moments as he watched Qilby, then turned and left when he could find no indication of whatever he was looking for in the older Eliatrope's expression.

Qilby stared at the empty doorway for a few seconds before trying to return his attention to what he was reading earlier. How odd... It was only natural for Adamaï to be more suspicious of Qilby than Yugo, but the dragon seemed more so than usual, as if something had tipped him off to a possible betrayal. Not that Qilby had anything planned, he'd been telling Adamaï the honest truth, but still, strange.

And that glance at the window when Qilby asked the reason, that had to mean something. Adamaï probably didn't tell him what because he didn't trust him, or because he didn't trust Baltazar's handiwork. Qilby's heel tapped against the floorboards as he tried to focus his attention on reading again.

Curiosity circled him like a hungry fish, each stray thought like an insistent nip on one of his fingers. Adamaï found something outside the window? What was it? It must've been something out of the ordinary for him to question me like this. What could it be? Soon it was almost impossible to focus on his present task, and Qilby set the book aside and got to his feet. A quick look wouldn't hurt, just to quiet his curiosity.

The hallway was empty when Qilby poked his head out to check. Good, no Adamaï or Grougal around to worry him for now. If he was lucky it would stay that way.

He made his way to the nearest outside door, treading as carefully as he could to avoid making excessive noise. The mild breeze of late afternoon met him as he opened the door, a pleasant reminder of how nice the weather tended to be here in Emelka. Qilby slipped out and shut the door behind himself.

Nothing seemed out of the ordinary as Qilby approached his window from the outside, much to his disappointment. There had to be something, Adamaï wasn't one to get riled up over nothing. He turned his attention to the ground. If it's something that still might be here it's probably—

And there it was, a large almost-faded footprint pressed into the dirt near his window. Qilby knelt beside it to get a better look, eyebrows drawn together as he ran what details he could through his vast collection of memories. Definitely reptilian, bipedal judging by the depth, big and heavy. The only reason the tracks were still visible was due to the weight of the creature that made them; any lighter and they would've properly faded. But... The arrangement of the toes was just odd for a reptile, with the innermost toe being the largest while the outermost barely made a mark compared to the others. Almost as if this were some bizarre hybrid of reptile and humanoid. Even a human-form dragon was out of the question: they tended to have feet that were almost entirely human save for the claws, this was far too animal-like for one of them.

"Trying to cover up signs of your accomplice?"

The sound of Grougal's snide voice interrupted Qilby's thoughts, and he looked up to find that the black dragonet was now crouching just across from him. "Actually I'm trying to figure out what manner of creature made these," he replied, careful to keep his voice level as he spoke. He was sick of Grougal's constant harassment but saying anything that might anger the dragonet would only make things more painful.

"Oh really," Grougal's tone suggested that he didn't believe a word and he began to circle around to the old Eliatrope's left side, hopping nimbly over the trail as he went. "So what manner of creature do you think made them then?"

"Well," Qilby looked down at the prints again. There were very few creatures he knew of that made similar tracks... "It looks a bit similar to fossil tracks I've—" his head snapped up as Grougal crouched, finally realizing that the dragonet had been positioning himself on his unguarded side and was now ready to strike.

The pathetic stump that was all that remained of Qilby's left arm lifted in a futile attempt to ward off the blow—though his mind remembered its loss, his body had still managed to forget. It was an easy strike for Grougal to make, as Qilby's left side was completely open and he had not managed to get his right arm around in time. Throbbing pain punctuated by smaller, more intense bursts flared on the left side of Qilby's ribcage as Grougal made contact, throwing him to the ground and knocking the wind out of him with the force of the blow.

"A likely story," Grougal snapped as he leapt up onto Qilby again.

For the first time in days, Qilby felt anger begin to rise past the numb resignation. He took a few moments to get his breath back before looking up at Grougal, "Just because it doesn't make sense to you doesn't mean I'm lying." He returned Grougal's glare, his mouth a grim line as he grit his teeth against the pain of the dragonet's back feet digging into the bruise on his ribs. Ah yes, Qilby could remember this side of Grougal quite clearly; prideful to a fault and stubborn, it always took more than mere words to dissuade him from whatever his present course was, especially when he was this young.

The dragonet didn't reply. Instead bright orange flames began to lick at the corners of Grougal's mouth, and he took a deep breath as he prepared to unload a mouthful of fire in Qilby's face.

"Grougal!"

The voice was forceful enough to snap the dragonet out of his present state of mind, and the flames fizzled out as he looked up for whoever was yelling at him.

Qilby looked up as well, momentarily spared the pain of having his face singed, and found that Yugo was standing just across the trail of tracks from them. The young Eliatrope had his arms crossed over his chest as he looked down at Grougal, shoulders squared and back straight, his expression showing clear disappointment with the dragonet's behavior.

"Off," Yugo said, pointing at the ground beside Qilby. His voice sounded deeper than usual, in order to express his will and authority as he dealt with the dragonet.

Grougal began to turn back toward Qilby but thought better of it and hopped down to the ground instead. He seemed temporarily cowed by Yugo's sudden forcefulness; apparently the young Eliatrope was finally starting to discover how to properly deal with him when he misbehaved like this.

"I am very disappointed in you, Grougal," Yugo managed to keep the tone, though Qilby noticed that it was starting to waver slightly. "Go to your room for now, I'll talk with you later."

For a moment it looked as if Grougal was going to protest. However, in the end he bowed his head in embarassed submission and started back toward the door.

Yugo watched the dragonet until he was out of sight, then relaxed and let out a sigh that was half cough and walked over to where Qilby still lay in the dirt. "Here," he offered a hand to the older Eliatrope.

Qilby turned over to free his right arm, wincing as his bruised ribs made contact with the ground, and accepted the hand up. Even with help getting to his feet was as chore thanks to how much his ribs hurt now. Grougal was quite strong for his small size but hopefully none were broken. Hopefully. "Thank you," the old Eliatrope muttered as he did his best to brush the dirt off his shirt without touching the bruise by accident.

"What are you doing out here, Qilby?" Yugo's tone was one of tired frustration, the first time Qilby had heard this incarnation of the young Eliatrope speak in such a way toward him. He also sounded a little hoarse from what Qilby could hear—forcing his voice deeper for dealing with Grougal must've been a strain on it.

Well, nothing for it but to tell the truth. "Adamaï asked if I was planning to betray you—and I said no," he added quickly upon seeing the worried expression that came to Yugo's face. "I thought it was strange that he would ask so late, so I asked if there was reason for it. He didn't answer, but he looked at my window when I asked so I came out here to see if I could find anything."

"So did you?"

"See for yourself," Qilby gestured toward the ground with his one arm.

Yugo stared at Qilby for a moment, probably wary of possible treachery, then looked at the ground between them. It took him a couple passes to notice the footprints, but he didn't lean down for a closer look until Qilby knelt beside the trail himself. "I've never seen prints like these," Yugo said, brushing one of the toes on the print with the tips of his fingers.

"I don't know of any creature native to the World of Twelve with such prints," Qilby added, spreading his thumb and forefinger beside the nearest print; it easily dwarfed his hand in size, the comparison displaying just how large the creature must have been. And yet, Qilby could not recall hearing or seeing something so large near his window. That meant it was able to move quietly, or it had managed to get near his window while he wasn't in the room. Either way, it was disconcerting to know that something this big was lurking around his window. He would have to be sure to draw the curtains tonight.

Another mark beside the trail got his attention, one he had not yet found due to Grougal's interuption. "Look at this," Qilby pointed to two short lines traced in the dirt, both seeming to run toward each other. "Might be tail marks," he said, half to himself as he considered what sort of tail might make marks like this. "A forked tail?" he frowned to himself as he tried to guess at what this creature might look like.

"Huh. Have you tried following them out?" Yugo pointed toward the forest, where the tracks disappeared behind the wide roots of a tree.

"Not yet," Qilby got to his feet and started toward the trees, Yugo following close behind him.

They followed the tracks into a section of forest floor that was awash with leaf litter. Here the footprints disappeared, much to Qilby's surprise; he had a great deal of experience tracking beasts, and yet this large creature had managed to simply vanish as far as its tracks were concerned. That could mean any number of things when it came to the creature itself: it could be intelligent, possess magic, maybe it could fly, perhaps any combination of the three. A small chill ran down Qilby's spine as he and Yugo walked back to the inn—he didn't know what would come next, but the prints gave him cause for worry and for excitement. Here was something new. Something he'd never seen.

The haze that had hung over his mind since he was retrieved from the Blank Dimension lifted a little, shifted by the movement of the unseen forces around him.

Whatever might come next, he expected that it would be... Interesting.

Grougal was curled up on the carpet when Yugo entered the room shared by the dragonet and his brother Chibi. It was a room any pair of young boys would be proud of, filled with craft materials and toys; the paints and brushes were Chibi's favorite, while Grougal preferred playing with the adventurer figures that Joris had brought for them on one of his visits.

"How does this help anything, Grougal?" Yugo asked with a sigh as he walked over to Grougal.

"You don't understand," Grougal's muffled voice floated up to Yugo from somewhere among the thread of the rug.

"Then tell me," Yugo settled himself beside Grougal and crossed his legs before himself. He felt a bit unnerved seeing Grougal like this, it wasn't like the dragonet to give up this easily and Yugo wasn't about to think he could change so suddenly. Something was definitely bothering Grougal, and he would have to find out what.

"It's—" Grougal halted and turned his head to the side, away from Yugo. "I just, I hate him and I don't know why," the corners of his mouth began to droop downward as his tone drifted closer to an actual whine.

"Well he did beat you up and—"

"It's not even that," Grougal cut Yugo off as he started to uncurl himself, still staring at the opposite wall. "I hear this echo whenever I look at him. Like people screaming," the dragonet hauled himself to his feet, acting as though he weighed much more than usual. "It's in my head but I know they were real, I know they existed," his tone gradually drifted closer and closer to a sob as he went on, his eyes full of fear as he finally looked up at Yugo. "They were real people, and they were hurting, and dying" his voice cracked at the last word, he began to pace like a caged beast, head held low to the ground and close to tears. "And I know it's his fault."

Grougal continued to pace for a few more moments before looking up at Yugo. "I'm not crazy! They're real!" two large tears rolled down his snout and dripped onto the rug, leaving two dark stains as they soaked through. "You believe me, right?" Grougal pleaded as he began backing into a corner of the room, unable to stop the flow of tears now that it started.

Yugo got to his feet and moved over to Grougal. "C'mere, Grougal," he scooped the dragonet up and carried him over to the bed, where he sat with Grougal resting in his lap. "This doesn't sound like something you'd make up," Yugo said finally. No, it was too strange to be something Grougal made up, Yugo knew the sorts of stories the dragonet would tell if he was too embarrassed to admit the truth and this wasn't one of them.

"I'm scared, Yugo," Grougal whimpered, two more large tears rolling down his face and dripping onto Yugo's leg. His small body shook with a few unrestrained sobs, and more tears dripped onto Yugo's leg and the bedspread beneath them.

"It's okay," Yugo rubbed his fingertips across Grougal's back in the space between his wings, soothing the dragonet as he tried to work out what they should do next. Those screams he was talking about, and that he knew Qilby was to blame... Was it possible that Grougal was hearing the echoes of Qilby's betrayal all those years ago? But why? How could Grougal remember that if they were supposed to lose their memories when they were reborn? "We'll figure this out, don't worry," he added.

"Grougal?"

Yugo looked up to find Chibi standing in the doorway. An uncharacteristically troubled expression rested on Chibi's face now, and it deepened when he spotted Grougal curled up in Yugo's lap.

Chibi hurried over without another word and pulled himself onto the bed beside Yugo, where he would be able to sit next to his brother. Once up he rested his forehead against Grougal's, and the dragonet started to calm as the flow of tears stopped.

Good, looks like Grougal is starting to calm down. Yugo thought to himself as he settled an arm around Chibi as well. There was still the matter of these echoes to deal with regardless, and the sooner the better given Grougal's distress over them. He was stumped on what to do for the moment, but one thing was for sure: keeping Grougal and Qilby separate would have to be the temporary fix until they had this figured out.

"Hey, I have an idea," Yugo said aloud, looking down at the twins.

Chibi and Grougal looked up in unison, each showing interest in what Yugo might suggest.

"Why don't you guys go on a picnic with dad tomorrow, just the three of you?" Yugo smiled as the two began to get excited; picnics were something they particularly enjoyed as an opportunity to get away from the inn for a while and have a little adventure of their own, however small it might actually be. "I'll watch the inn while dad's away so you guys can spend the whole day together, what do you say?"

"Yeah!" Chibi was already grinning as he thought of all the things he wanted to do while out on their little day trip. "Wanna go, Grougal?" he turned to his brother, a hopeful expression on his face.

"Okay," Grougal replied. He was far from worry-free at this point, but the picnic gave him something to look forward to, at least.

The plans for the next day were settled, but Grougal didn't get up. Seemed he wasn't yet ready to leave the security that being with Yugo provided, and Yugo didn't mind. Sitting here with the two would give him some opportunity to think. There was one solution he could think of now, and he knew that Grougal wouldn't like it in the slightest. The Eliacube was out of reach and the Zinit was out of the question, leaving only one valid option for acquiring the answers he needed: Yugo would have to ask Qilby about it, and trust that the collar got him to tell the truth. Tomorrow would be the best time while Grougal was away on the outing, no chance of the dragonet stumbling in on their conversation.

His mind made up, Yugo pulled a few pillows over, propped them against the wall, and leaned back to wait for the twins to fall asleep.

{Contact with headquarters currently unavailable. Will launch inquiry on matter once reestablished. Interfere but maintain cover at all cost.}

[Understood.]

The front door swung open with such force that it slammed against the wall it was attached to, attracting the attention of those enjoying dinner or drink in the common room. An Eniripsa hurried in, followed closely by an Iop and a much younger Eniripsa bearing a ginger-haired toddler in her arms. Tired worry could be found on each of their faces, and they huddled together as they moved, as if something was chasing them.

Yugo watched from the kitchen door as Alibert met them in front of the counter, but he was too far away to hear what was said. He turned back to prepping the picnic lunch that Chibi and Grougal would be taking with them on their outing the next day; Alibert would tell him if there were special conditions he would have to keep in mind while dealing with these new guests.

"Four servings of gobball stew for tonight, and four of porridge and fruits early tomorrow morning," Alibert said as he entered the kitchen. "They'll need help getting supplies tomorrow too, so be ready to help them with that."

"So they're just passing through?" Yugo threw four steaks on the grills and started to cut up the vegetables. Even now he was wondering what might be troubling these strangers, and whether he might be able to help in any way.

"Yeah, heading for less populated parts," the worry was evident in Alibert's voice, and Yugo was about to ask what was wrong when his father continued. "They're running from the Red Plague."

"It hit their town?" Yugo almost dropped the knife as he turned to look at Alibert.

"No, but they mentioned something strange that made them think it would," Alibert replied. "She said that where the ivory ravens appear, the Red Plague follows."