Suishou paced the hallway outside the Temple infirmary. Atash sat on a nearby cushion, anxiously gnawing on the dull of his tail spike. Neither of them spoke.

After Lila's miraculous revival, the Temple's medical staff had requested a "quick" check up to make sure the purple dragoness was really okay. Suishou and Atash had promised to wait outside the infirmary until she was done. They had been waiting there for more than three hours.

The first hour had been filled with chatter as the two excitedly discussed their friend's revival, and speculated about the identity of the would be killer. Things quieted down during the second hour, the only talk during this time was Suishou's complaining about being board. By the third hour, both had started to worry that something had gone wrong, but neither was brave enough to voice that fear.

The fourth hour started and neither dragon was in any mood to talk. Minutes dragged on and on as the two waited for any news on their friend. As time past, the excitement of the last few hours started to catch up to Atash. His eyes slowly got heavier and his head lighter. Atash shook his head, no, he wasn't going to let himself sleep until he was sure Lila was okay. What kind of friend would he be if he fell asleep at a time like this? He pulled himself to his feet and joined the blue scaled dragoness in her pacing.

He only had to pace for about five or so minutes before the infirmary door swung open and a tall, gold scale dragon walked out. He didn't even get a chance to open his mouth before Atash and Suishou were upon him, "I-is Lila okay?" Atash stuttered as Suishou demanded to be taken to the purple dragness.

"Lila's perfectly fine," The gold dragon assured them and Atash released a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in, "If you'd like to talk to her she's right this way," He turned to lead the two younger dragons into the infirmary.

The infirmary was a large, circular room, the walls of which were lined with at least two dozen beds. In the center of the room was a shelf, holding hundreds of glowing spirit gems -mostly red and green, though a few blue gems could be found if one were to look hard enough- and various medical supplies.

As the two young dragons followed their older counterpart Suishou demanded, "What the hell took so long? It doesn't take three hours to make sure someone's not dying, does it?"

The gold dragon sighed a short, exasperated sigh, before opening his mouth to form a reply, but he didn't make it past the first syllable, for at that moment a high pitched shout from Lila filled the room, "You've had me laying on that damn bed for the past three and a half hours! I don't need any more 'down time'!"

The gold scaled dragon raised an eye ridge at Suishou and Atash as if to ask, "Does that answer your question?"

The two ignored him and instead ran to the other side of the room. There they found Lila -who was sucking on a red Spirit Gem- arguing with the doctor, an old, blue scaled dragoness that wore a look of exhausted exasperation,

"Yes you do," The doctor growled through clenched teeth, "You were just shot. You need your rest. Also, watch your language. I don't care that you're the purple dragon, no one your age should be using such language."

Atash found himself smiling at the scene. Lila's stuberness never ceased to be amusing.

"You know," Suishou said, announcing her presence to the Purple Dragoness, "I have to agree with her. Well, on the resting part that is."

Lila turned to her friend with a pout, "Traitor," She paused and glanced at Atash, "You're with me though... Right buddy?"

"Hey, I'm not getting involved."

Lila gave the red scaled dragon a dirty look, before grumbling, "Fine. I'll lay down for a bit,"

The doctor let out a sigh of relief, "Ancestor's be praised. She can see reason."

"But I'm not tired!" The purple dragoness quickly added.

The doctor simply rolled her eyes.

Suishou set herself down next to Lila's bed, chuckling slightly. Atash followed suit. Lila stuck her tongue out at them, turning Suishou's chuckle into a full on laugh. Atash and the purple dragoness joined in a moment later.

It took them a long while to stop laughing. After all the stress that evening, it felt nice just to laugh together. It was several minutes before any of them regained enough composure to speak.

"So how are you feeling?" Atash finally asked, "Does it still hurt where you got shot?"

"I feel fine. It's stupid that they're making me stay here for the rest of the night."

"I'd agree with you," Suishou said, "But you don't really have anywhere else to sleep tonight. Incase you somehow missed it, there's broken glass and blood all over your room."

"Who said anything about sleeping?" Lila asked, "I'm not tired." The rings under her eyes told a different story.

Atash struggled not to chuckle at Lila's stubbornness, "Just lay down for a couple hours. It's less work than fighting with the doctor's until morning."

Lila frowned, "But I'm not tired. Why should I lay down if I don't feel like it?"

Why is she fighting this? Atash wondered, as replied, "Because you'll be fighting the doctor's all night if you don't. It's easier to just give them this one."

"Traitor." Lila grumbled again.

"Let's not fight about this," Atash suggested, "I mean, we've only got so long to talk before we're going to have to go back to bed. Let's not waste it."

"Okay. Fair point," Lila replied. There was a brief moment of silence before the purple dragoness spoke again, "So has my killer been caught yet?"

Suishou shook her head, "I don't think so. We haven't heard anything, at least," She paused, then added, "You think he'll come back?"

"No!" Lila said a little too quickly, "Of course not. I mean, he killed me right? He has no idea I'm okay, and so no reason to come back."

"True," Atash said, "And even if he were to come back, there are enough guards on patrol now that he wouldn't make it anywhere near you." He put emphasis on the last part.

Lila visibly relaxed, "Yeah. You guy's don't have anything to worry about."

Atash smiled, "Of corse."

Kaze pushed open the door to the science lab- which was still a wreck from yesterday's rather exciting lesson- and trotted over to his desk. He plopped down with an exhausted sigh, if only the exploding water had been the most violent occurrence in the past 24 hours. The white scaled dragon briefly wondered what had possessed him to apply for the role of Guardian in the first place; why didn't he just go to art school like he'd originally intended?

He shook his head. It wasn't the time to be regretting his life choices. There was more to be done before he could rest.

Kaze reached into his desk, produced a piece of paper and his favorite fountain pen and began to compose a letter to the C.E.O, explaining all that had happened in the past few hours and requesting a building in Volans. It only took Kaze a few minutes to write the letter.

It wasn't until he'd sealed and addressed the letter that he noticed an envelope sitting on his desk, baring the C.E.O's seal. His heart skipped a beat. How long has that been sitting there for?

He quickly tore open the envelope and pulled the letter out. It was the same letter Terrla and Lila had found the day before. As he read it Kaze's eye's widened in shock. After finishing the Guardian of Wind read the letter again, just to make sure he'd not misunderstood. He hadn't.

Kaze sighed, rubbing his temples with his forepaw, "Rida. What the hell are you up to?"