In her fourteen years, Lila had only been allowed off the Temple Grounds a small handful of times. The Guardians had been quite resolute about keeping her away from the public eye. So naturally she snuck off at every opportunity.
It started when she was seven. While out on a flying lesson with Terrla, the purple dragoness noticed a small cave on the far side of the Silver River. Lila asked the Guardian if they could explore it, but was informed that she wasn't allowed to leave the grounds until she was older. She pouted, but Terrla was resolute.
That evening Lila stole away from dinner and explored it anyways. Or at least she tried to. Terrla, predicting that her student would do something of the sort, had been waiting for her by the mouth of the cave.
As the long years went on Lila started to resent being trapped in the Temple. She started to sneak out more and more often, slowly, but surely learning how to avoid being caught. By the time she was twelve, the purple dragoness had explored most of the Silver Valley, including the swamp where Spyro had supposedly been raised, and the ruins of the old Temple where it was said he trained. On the topic of training; when Suishou started studying elementalism, the two would sneak out in the dead of night, so that the ice dragoness could pass her newly gained knowledge to Lila.
Even with all of this, Lila wanted nothing more than to leave the valley. She wanted to see the world. Or, at least she thought she did.
As Lila stood in the Temple entryway, watching the airship that would soon be taking her away, come to a rest on the far side of the river, she was struck with a sudden wave of nostalgia. The Temple was the only home she'd ever known. What would come of it now? How long would it be before she saw it again?
The air all around the purple dragoness was filled with the excited chatter of her classmates. Like her, so few of the others had ever been to Volans, but Lila seemed to be the only one who still wasn't excited. Even those, such as Atash, who had been worried when Kopaka first broke the news, were buzzing with anticipation for the move.
Lila sighed, and turned to move inside. She should probably finish packing. She pushed her way through the crowded entrance hall, and was soon in the eerily quiet girl's dorms.
Lila started to move towards her room, when she noticed one of the doors near the end of the hallway standing open. Curious to see who else had decided to ignore the arrival of the airship, she trotted towards it. It took her a moment, but as she approached, she realised that it was the door to Suishou's room.
Lila tapped lightly on the door as she poked her head into the room, "You in here, Suishou?"
Indeed she was. The ice dragoness had been sitting on her mattress, staring absently out the window. The sound of Lila's voice seemed to pull her from her thoughts, and she gave the new arrival a quick smile, "Hey. What are you doing in here? I thought you of all people would be excited to see the airship land."
"I hadn't finished packing," Lila said, not entirely untruthfully.
Suishou chuckled lightly, "Of course you haven't."
The purple dragoness gave a sheepish smile, then, after a moment asked, "So why are you in here? Aren't you excited?"
Suishou shrugged, "Don't like the crowd."
Lila frowned, "You're a bigger extrovert than me."
The blue scaled dragoness' gaze darted from Lila back to the window, "Just don't feel like crowds today."
Lila decided not to push the subject any further. There was a brief silence. "Um... I'm going to go finish packing..." The purple dragoness muttered, excusing herself.
Suishou blinked, her gaze returning to Lila, "Hm? Oh. Yeah. I can help ya finish, if ya want," The blue scaled dragoness jumped to her feet, and hurriedly followed her friend out of the room.
It only took them a moment to reach Lila's quarters. The two dragoness' were hit by a warm draft as Suishou opened the door. The window that had been broken in the assassination attempt hadn't been replaced yet. Seeing as it was the middle of the warm season, the purple dragoness had seen no reason to move to a new room, and the Temple Staff had been so busy coordinating the move that no one had time to see to it.
Lila's room, which was more of a disorganized mess than it normally was, had been torn apart as it's owner tried to figure out what was and wasn't worth packing. Open textbooks and a number of campy adventure novels littered the floor, the mattress was covered in half written essays- most of which were due weeks earlier- and ink had been spilled all over the writing desk. In the middle of all this, a large trunk sat open, inside had been placed a grand total of two items, an old beat up sketch book, and a small jar of scale ointment.
"Wow," Suishou said after a moment, "You've been... busy."
Lila smiled sheepishly, "Just didn't know what to pack." She muttered.
Suishou sighed, "Well let's get started."
Plomistis' head spun. His paw burned. He wasn't quite sure where he was.
The panther was slumped against the inside wall of an old, abandoned factory, somewhere in the southern district. It was almost morning, and Plomistis had finally run out of energy. He knew the panda's men were close to finding him, but he couldn't go any further. He'd lost too much blood. He'd lost too much energy.
He'd managed to avoid the panda's men for almost three hours. He'd sprinted through Volans, trying his best to stay off the main streets. He'd only stopped twice all night, once to bandage his wounds with strips of fabric from his coat, and then again an hour later to throw up.
By the time he'd reached the abandoned factory, Plomistis had bled through the bandage on his paw. He tore yet another a strip from his coat to replace it. Slowly unraveling the dressing, the panther was met with a noxious smell. His stomach churned, and if he hadn't already vomited that evening, it's contents likely would have escaped.
The wound in his paw was deep. Even after several hours, blood flowed freely the moment the bandage was removed. Plomistis knew that without the assistance of a skilled white mage his paw would never be the same. Even then, it would take some powerful magic to repair the multitude of small bones that had undoubtedly been broken. Not for the first time, the panther wished that red gems were more readily available to non-draconics.
Plomistis was forced out of this train of thought when he heard muffled footsteps coming from somewhere above him. He cursed under his breath. They'd found him far sooner than he had anticipated.
The panther forced himself to his feet. His vision blurred, and he had to fight to remain on his feet. He'd lost far too much blood. Despite this Plomistis loaded his pistol, ready to go out fighting.
On his way into the building, Plomistis had taken note of every entrance and exit he passed, including stair cases. The nearest was a few dozen feet to his left.
Plomistis hobbled over to the staircase, and propped himself up against the wall. As it was so dark, the panther couldn't see how far up the stairs went. He pointed his pistol into the blackness, ready to fire at the slightest provocation.
The footsteps slowly grew louder, until the panther was sure the source was directly above him. Then, they stopped. Plomistis took a deep breath, trying to steady his aim.
"Hello?" A husky voice, originating from the top of the staircase, caused Plomistis to start, "I'm coming down, okay?"
Plomistis kept silent. The footsteps started again. After a moment the panther could see something bipedal moving in the darkness. He trained the pistol on it. Whatever it was put it's hands in the air, "Please don't shoot me," the husky voice said, quite calmly.
"Who are you?" Plomistis hissed.
"Just an old dog," The voice- dog- replied, "I promise, I'm far too decrepit to pose a threat; even to someone as injured as yourself," He was quiet for just a moment, "which reminds me," it continued, "I have a red gem."
Plomistis would have laughed had he not been in so much pain, "You expect me to believe you can afford that? Or that you'd use it on me?"
"What makes you think I bought it?" The dog asked.
"Even if you didn't, why use it on me?"
"Because I know you need it."
Plomistis knew the dog was right. He would pass out if he lost much more blood. "Keep your hands above your head and come here. Do anything funny and I'll shoot you."
"As you wish." The figure moved slowly in Plomistis' direction. As it grew closer Plomistis was able to make out details. It was indeed a dog, quite an old one at that. His fur was more grey than it's natural black, and he walked with the kind of limp that only comes with weakening bones.
After a moment the two were standing snout to snout.
"Where's the gem?" Plomistis hissed.
"Back left pocket," The dog replied.
Plomistis slowly ducked behind the dog, keeping the pistol raised and ready to fire. He slipped his injured paw into the pocket, and was struck by a sudden wave of warmth.
"Holy shit..." The panther muttered as he slowly drew the slightly luminescent red gem from the pocket.
"Didn't believe me?" The dog chucked, as Plomistis bit off a large chuck of the magic crystal.
Plomistis felt a sharp pain as the bone and flesh that had been destroyed rapidly reformed. He clenched his teeth, but it only hurt for a moment. In less than a minute the injury was gone, and only a jagged, but faded scar suggested that it had ever been there in the first place.
"Are you going to keep pointing that gun at me, or can we talk like civilized people?" The canine asked.
"Not until you tell me who you are." Plomistis hissed.
"My name's Dalr if that's what you're after."
"Don't get smart with me."
The dog shrugged, "You asked who I am."
"You don't have much regard for your life, do you?"
"I'm old. I'm going to croak soon anyways," the canine said with a horse laugh, that after a moment turned to a hacking cough.
Plomistis sighed, "Just tell me who, if anyone, you work for."
"I used to work for a dragon named Viento. He's dead now, so I guess I don't work for him any more."
Plomistis almost choked. He'd heard the name before. Supposedly Viento was a leader, perhaps even founder of Fire Claw. He was well known on the streets as a violent and radical dragon. "Viento's dead?" The Panther finally spat out.
"Yesterday afternoon. I don't have much information, but it seems to be a political killing," There was a moment of quiet, "Now would you mind pointing that thing somewhere else?"
Plomistis sighed, lowering his pistol, but not holstering it, "So what exactly are you here for?"
"Looking for help," The dog said simply, "You're good at tracking missing dragons, are you not?"
Plomistis nodded slowly.
"Well," The dog continued, "I'm looking for Mr. Viento's two children. And I would most certainly pay for your help."
"You sure they're still alive?" Plomistis asked.
"Well the authorities haven't yet found them dead."
"What's the pay look like?"
"20,000 once they're both found."
Plomistis smiled, "That's quite a bit for a couple o' brats. How do I know you're not gonna to bale on me once we find them?"
The dog reached into his pocket and pulled out a half dozen large chunks of red gem, "I'd estimate these are worth about 800-900 each. I'd give them all to you right now if you agree to work with me. The rest would come after we've found the children."
"Alright, you've convinced me," Plomistis said with a grin, "Just tell me the brat's names."
"Breeze and Tremor."