Oof, I'm glad I write these journal entries that recap things 'cause otherwise I'd forget what happened and have to read the previous chapter again, lol. Of course, I have to do that with my other stories... Ah well, anyways! Angsty chapter here, because you know I love drama. Have fun!

August 15th

Just got back from an unintentional adventure in Telmak. Mabel and I had gone with Teeth and Shade to look for something we hadn't seen yet. Well, we got what we wanted. And then some…

Dionysus and Bill showed up suddenly. Bill was trying to escape Dionysus, who was very intoxicated, but to no avail. Dionysus ended up following him all the way to Telmak, and then he accidentally got Bill covered in mud. Dionysus' solution? Magic. Of course, we've seen before that when Dionysus uses magic in an intoxicated state, it doesn't exactly go as planned. He ended up accidentally forcing Bill into his dragon form and also de-aged him. A lot. He turned Bill into a yearling dragonling. Bill was livid. Before Dionysus could fix the problem, some horrible beast swooped down from the sky and grabbed Bill, Mabel, and myself then flew off with us in its claws. Bill called it a Sky Terror.

Sky Terror –

Big, four-legged reptilian-avian hybrid.

Covered in blue-green feathers nearly all over.

Feathered wings.

Green, scaly face and hands/legs.

Long tail.

Yellow eyes with vertical pupils.

Sharp teeth. Clearly a carnivore.

Huge talons.

About Rawly's height, I think. 8 or 9 feet tall.

Not friendly.

Turns out Sky Terrors are named so for being terrible. And flying. They prey on literally anything they can pick up and carry to their nest, and apparently, they can pick up a lot because I definitely saw the skull of some kind of triceratops or something in the nest. It carried us high over the Badlands where the Nightshade Amaranths grow, and brought us all the way to its nest on a craggy mountain there. We ended up having no choice but to jump into a dark pit to escape which, luckily, led to a portal that threw us into a river instead of on solid ground. Unfortunately, the water was FREEZING. I was sure I was going to drown, too, and I ended up blacking out. When I came to, I was soaking wet on the riverbank in some forest. Mabel and Bill were okay, too.

This big green dragoness showed up out of nowhere. I guess she smelled the fire we made to warm up, or maybe she could hear or sense us? Either way, she told us that the nearest portal was in a dragon city called Hyal-Belrai (High Lightning), which is located at the top of a big mountain, which is located in the Thunderstruck Savannah, which was, at the time, very far away from where we were. Apparently, we were in "the wilds" and she was the only dragon around for miles. She didn't bother to come with us or fly us there. She just told us where to go and how to get there on foot. You know, I just realized that we never even learned her name…

The Mysterious Recluse Dragoness –

Bright green all over, nearly blends in with the forest.

About Ghost's size, but thinner.

Only has one eye (left one). The other is gone and a big scar is across her face there. Looks like it got gouged out by something with claws.

Really cool horns.

Fins like ears, but didn't seem to be a type of water dragon.

Perfectly triangular spikes down her back and armor-like chitin instead of scales. Kinda reminds me of Bill.

Quadrupedal. Stands tall and talks very proper. Reminds me of Gaia in a way.

For an immortal dragon, looked somewhat old and tired.

Overall, a bit intimidating.

Something about that dragon bugs me… Mabel asked Bill if he knew her, but he didn't seem to remember, which is odd. He doesn't tend to forget things. Bill seemed intimidated by her, but that might have been because he was a baby dragon at the time.

The Thunderstruck Savannah is a fascinating and absolutely horrible place. I hate it. It's all just tall dry grass with a few trees here and there. The sky is forever blanketed by dark storm clouds, and crazy lightning storms happen every single night. The animals there have evolved in some freakish way to live by absorbing the lightning and, therefore, have basically turned themselves into lightning rods. Unfortunately for us, the lightning makes the animals go berserk! Thankfully, some earth dragons dug underground safe spots across the Savannah and marked them with tall pointed stones. The dens are safe from lightning, supercharged animals, and fires (which apparently occur rather frequently there).

Swifthoof –

Dark bluish-black with white stripes all over.

Dark fur is smooth but stripes are coarse.

Bristly mohawk and short tail.

Looks like a zebra.

Docile and friendly in the day. Will let you climb right up and ride it for miles.

Lightning rods and scary at night.

Lightning Eater –

Gray with glowing blue stripes.

Very tall with spiraled horns sticking up from the head.

Big paws with five huge claws on each.

Looks like a mutant cross between a giraffe and a Komodo dragon.

Literally just walks around waiting to get struck by lightning.

Crystal Antelope –

Blue antelope-like animals with green crystal horns.

Not sure if the horns are actual crystal or not.

Tend to mind their own business.

Raiju –

Big, blue, hairy beast with big horns.

Big bear claws.

Sharp teeth.

Looks like what would happen if a lion was combined with a werewolf.

Horrible.

Terrifying.

The first night, we took shelter in one of those underground dens. It muffled the sounds, but the thunder was still so loud. It took me a while to fall asleep. As I was falling asleep, though, I felt something and looked down to see Bill curling up against my leg. It was cute, in a weird way…

In the morning, and for a few hours, Bill complained that he was hungry. I honestly didn't think that guy actually needed to eat at all, but as a dragon… apparently, he does. But there wasn't anything around to eat! After hitching a ride on another Swifthoof, we finally made it to the base of the mountain. Bill wasn't doing so good, but I thought he was just being dramatic or messing with us. I feel bad about it now…

We couldn't find a way up the mountain and night was suddenly upon us. The lightning began almost immediately and struck the Swifthoof. We got knocked over and I hit my head on something sharp. Then, a supercharged Raiju attacked us. We would've been fried and eaten if not for Zephyr showing up. Turns out he can make sonic booms with just his wings.

Zephyr carried us all the way up to Hyal-Belrai then proceeded to scold and berate us for almost getting killed. He was also not happy to see Bill's sickly state he was in from not eating. Zephyr sent us to stay the night with a dragoness called Tempest and her two kids. In the morning, Bill was okay and actually ended up playing a game of chase with the two dragonlings. At first, he seemed confused or startled by them trying to play with him. From things I've heard from others and the Enchiridion, I'm sure Bill was, at some point in time, a kid. But I don't think he ever got to act like one…

Anyways, Zephyr took us to Gaia, who turned Bill back into an adult before sending us on our way with Zephyr to escort us home. Bill was so excited to see Amy, that he lifted her off the ground. But not so excited that he forgot about how he wanted to break Dionysus' arm. Which he did. Rawly told me that, upon finding out what happened, Amy punched Dionysus so hard that it left a big bruise on his arm. The hay pile near her also spontaneously erupted into flames and Rawly and Teeth had to put it out before it spread.

I learned a lot about dragonlings these past few days. They're very playful and almost cat-like at times. They have this instinctive desire to chase and pounce on things. They like physical contact. Yearlings are not able to breath fire yet, as their lungs are underdeveloped and can't handle the smoke feedback yet. When dragons (at least the ones with wings) are mad or startled, they make themselves look bigger by standing straight up and spreading their wings as wide as possible to intimidate others. Yearlings and younger need to eat every two or so hours when they're not sleeping or they get really sick. Yearlings don't usually talk very well, but Bill's vocabulary is…vast.

I also learned that Crusade apparently has a thing for Zephyr. I think… I'm not actually sure if he was just messing with him to get a reaction, because he definitely seemed to enjoy Zephyr's reaction. Zephyr's reaction to Crusade noticing him made me think that this happens rather often when they meet. Crusade was literally flirting with him. He even said some very… suggestive things that made Zephyr's feathers bristle and his face turn red. I was not aware that dragons could blush until now. Crusade is a bit flirty in general, but this was something else. I caught him muttering some VERY inappropriate things to himself about Zephyr. Things I wish that I did not hear.

Anyways… I wonder if the Enchiridion will tell or show me some things about that mysterious green dragoness we met?

…

It was late at night and Dipper could not get himself to fall asleep. He kept thinking of the mysterious green dragoness they had encountered and wondering who she was. But why? Why did he want to know so badly? There was something nagging at him about it in the back of his mind, but he just could not understand exactly why.

A sound like pages flipping pulled his attention over to the Enchiridion resting on his bedside table. The book had opened itself and was turning its pages rapidly.

He sat up and called for his sister. "Mabel. Mabel, wake up!"

"Mm, what?"

"The Enchiridion is going crazy!"

"Huh?" She sat up, rubbing her eyes. "What time is it? I've only been asleep for two hours? What the heck, Dipper? Whoa…" she noticed the book flipping its pages back and forth and got up to get a closer look. "What's going on? What did you ask it?"

"I didn't ask it anything," he told her. "I was just laying here when it suddenly started going nuts!"

The book's pages began to glow with a golden light before it suddenly jumped and shut itself, causing the twins to flinch. After a long moment of nothing happening, Dipper went over to pick up the book and brought it back to the bed with him; Mabel joined him.

"Um… Enchiridion, are you okay?"

The book opened its cover and began to write in dragon text. Luckily, Dipper had been taking time with Ford to study and learn the dragon language from Crusade and the written text from Shade.

"What does it say?" Mabel asked.

"It says it's fine. It was just collecting new information." He continued to read a bit before translating the rest. "Previously unknown knowledge has been allowed to join the archives."

"Whatever that means…" Mabel said.

"What did you learn that's new?" Dipper asked the book. He scanned the text that it responded with. "Many things. Huh, okay. Oh, uh, Enchiridion, I was wondering…" He paused as it wrote something. "Yeah, actually. …Hey!"

"What? What did it say?"

"It already knew I wanted to ask it about that green dragon we met."

"The one we forgot to ask her name?"

"Yeah. It also basically called us nosy."

"I mean, is it wrong?" His sister shrugged.

"Whatever! Are you gonna show us, or not?"

The book flipped three pages and began to show them something, but it was certainly not what they had expected it to show them. They appeared to be viewing a scene from the past but it looked strange to them. It would have been difficult for either of them to describe it in a way that made any real sense.

Before them, they saw Atë, in the form they had only once seen her in. She was a triangle as dark as a blackhole with a golden glow around the edges and a golden eye that stared from the darkness of her being and observed all that was around her. She was certainly a sight to behold, and intimidating at that.

There were several other strange shape creatures all around, but the one that stood out the most besides Atë herself was one the twins recognized from an image the Enchiridion had once shown to Bill. It was a big circle, much larger than Atë and all of the other creatures, with a pair of something like horns on its head. Sitting atop it, between its horns, was what appeared to be some sort of crown. The creature itself was a dark bluish-black color with two multicolored eyes and a wide toothy grin. It was positioned above the other creatures so that it could look down upon them from its pedestal. Behind it was a massive pink crystal or something that was floating above some kind of hole or well.

"What's this about?" Dipper asked.

Mabel shushed him. "Listen!"

"I'm here to report, Bates," Atë said. She did not appear very pleased and nearly spat the other creature's name.

The big grinning circle peered down at her from his pedestal and his grin widened, if that was even possible. "Oh? Well, look who's back! Well, go on then and report. I don't have all day!" Bates' voice was coarse and almost staticky in a way, and he spoke without opening his mouth.

Atë rolled her eye. "As if you plan to do anything other than sit around on your lazy ass."

"Report, Atë!" he boomed, his eyes flashing colors.

"Fine, fine! Relax before you hurt yourself. I came to tell you that Dimension L03T/ has successfully been overtaken. They didn't put up much of fight, though. Pathetic, really. I say we just blow it all up. It's not worth the time."

"That is not for you to decide, now, is it?"

She scoffed.

"You're lucky the Alpha finds you useful," Bates growled through his toothy smile. "If you were not as useful and powerful as you are, I would rip you in half for your audacity and flay the two halves of your corpse to make new tapestries."

She laughed. "Oh, please."

"Please do!"

They seemed surprised by the new voice and looked down at the yellow triangle who had suddenly appeared.

"Is that Bill?" Mabel asked. This time it was Dipper who shushed her.

In the scene of the past that the Enchiridion was displaying, Bill did not have his bowtie or his hat. He was much smaller than Atë, or any of the other creatures nearby. This, and his voice, led the twins to believe that he was rather young in this scene, perhaps even what would be considered a child.

"Who let him in here!?" Bates demanded.

"Good question," Atë said as she disappeared and reappeared closer to Bill, hovering over him menacingly. "Who did let you in here, little brother?"

"No one," he replied, vanishing himself and reappearing a safe distance away from her. "I got past those chump guards easy."

"I'll have to kill them later, then…" Bates muttered, his smile now a toothy frown. "What do you want?"

"I just came to show you guys a new trick, is all."

"Is that all you have? Tricks? Atë, I knew your younger sibling was pathetic but you never said that he was a clown."

She crossed her arms and watched Bill, looking very irritated by him. "Oh yes. Let's see how he makes a fool of himself this time."

"I'm sure this'll change your minds about that," Bill said. "I just need a victim… You! Hold still!" He pointed a finger at someone.

The unnamed creature yelped and leapt out of the way as a blast of blue light flew from Bill's fingertip.

"Shit!" Bill shouted.

The shot struck the big crystal and made a loud pinging sound that echoed all around. Everyone froze, looking startled, until they realized that nothing was happening and instead began to laugh. Only Bates and Atë were not laughing, though Bates' grin had returned; Atë just groaned in annoyance.

"You missed," Bates told him. "A poorly executed –" He was cut off by everything shifting slightly. "What the… What did you do?"

Bill shrugged. "I dunno. I wasn't trying to hit the core!"

Suddenly, everything, their entire world, began to rumble and shake. The world began steadily tilting to one side, causing many of the creatures and objects to slide and roll away. Everyone looked frightened and bewildered, and Bates' smile had quickly turned into a concerned frown as he began to roll away. He sprouted four thin black limbs from his sides and dug his claws into the floor, which was now the wall and steadily becoming the ceiling.

"WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!?"

Bill looked startled. "Oh shit…"

The Enchiridion suddenly turned a page and changed the scene. It appeared to be some point just after the incident it had just shown them, but everything appeared to be fixed now. Whatever Bill had accidentally done must have been corrected by someone else between the two scenes.

Bill was staring at the ground as a larger, bright green triangle paced back and forth before him. After a minute or two, it turned to face him and spoke with a voice that sounded incredibly familiar to Dipper and Mabel.

"I do not even have the words to express how livid I am right now," she told him. "Are you absolutely fucking serious right now? You literally flipped our ENTIRE dimension UPSIDE-DOWN! What were you THINKING!?"

Bill did not respond and hardly looked at her.

"What did I tell you about pulling these stupid stunts!?"

"I was just –"

"Shut up! Do not defend your ridiculous actions! Just stop! Stop trying to impress the higher-ups! Stop trying to be something that you are not! You will never be good enough!" She pressed her hand to her forehead and sighed. "I cannot believe I spawned something as fucking incompetent as you. Don't you understand how lucky it is that they have not killed you yet? A weak little runt like you, that clearly shows signs of empathy and compassion. Ugh! All the others get purged, but you! I'm stuck trying to get your foolish little self to understand your damn place!"

He remained silent but looked rather upset.

"Do not cry," his mother warned. "How many times do I have to tell you not to do that!? Just – get out!"

She flicked her wrist and, with some sort of magic or telekinesis, practically threw him out of whatever room it was that they were in.

The Enchiridion flipped a few more pages.

"Whoa," Mabel said. "Was that his mom? She was so…mean."

"Looks like they all were," Dipper agreed. "I think it was expected. Hey, do you find her voice sounds, I dunno, familiar?"

"Yeah, kind of…"

The Enchiridion stopped and began to write something.

Mabel nudged her brother and pointed at the pages. "What's it saying?"

"'The green dragoness you met in Telmak is a disguise. One way to keep a physical form in a more physical world.' Huh? What are you talking about?" He watched it write some more. "… 'She is not a dragon. Her name is…'" Dipper paused a moment, trying to work out the symbols. "Esmeray? Wait… I asked about that dragoness but you showed us this… Is Esmeray Bill's mom!?"

A slanted line crossed the page, the book's way of saying yes.

"Oh my god!" Mabel shouted. "What!?"

"Shh!" Dipper hushed her and she quickly covered her own mouth with both hands. "It's the middle of the night!" he whispered.

"Sorry… But holy crap! We met Bill's mom!"

"And she didn't say a thing about it," Dipper said. "But she did seem to recognize Bill, even as a baby dragon."

"Why didn't he recognize her?"

He shrugged. "I don't know, but if she treated him like that, then why did she help us when she found us? And why is she hiding in Telmak as a dragon?"

"Maybe she had a change of heart?"

"Wait a minute…" Dipper glared down at the book. "That time Bill asked about who survived when his world was destroyed, you never mentioned his mom! Why not?"

It is a part of the new knowledge I have just obtained, the book wrote.

"Should we tell Bill?" Mabel asked.

"I don't know if that's a good idea."

"But he deserves to know, doesn't he? I mean, it's his mom!"

"Yeah, but… It didn't seem like they got along very well. Also, he'll get mad at us for snooping again."

"We should tell him, Dipper."

He sighed. "Okay, okay, you're probably right. He should know. But we'll wait 'til daytime. Despite all the crazy stuff we just learned, I'm finally starting to get sleepy."

She nodded. "We have to make sure we tell him at the right time, or else it'll be a disaster." She got up and walked over to her own bed.

Dipper placed the Enchiridion on his bedside table. "I have a feeling that there will literally not be a 'right time' to tell him this. Let's just be careful how much we tell him, you know?"

"Okay."

In the morning, the twins went to the kitchen for breakfast and found Dionysus and Crusade in human forms sitting across from each other at the table. Stan and Rawly were also sitting at the table, Stan reading a newspaper while Rawly ate breakfast.

"What's for breakfast?" Mabel asked as they entered the kitchen.

"Pancakes and eggs," Amy replied as she set plates for them at the table. "There's some bacon, too."

"Mm, yum!"

"Hey, Crusade," Dionysus said with a grin. Crusade looked up from his plate. "Do you want to see a cool butterfly?"

Crusade straightened himself. "Yes."

Amy spun around and shouted at them. "Dionysus no –!"

But it was too late. Dionysus had already scooped up a huge wad of butter an threw it across the room. It smacked into the wall of the fish tank, causing the fish inside to flee into hiding. Bill had walked in at that exact moment and stopped to stare at the splatter of butter on the glass wall.

"You idiots!" Amy shouted.

Dionysus, Crusade, and Stan were laughing. Rawly looked startled and ducked under the table as Amy went over and hit the three of them each in head.

"Ow!"

"Ouch!"

"What'd I do?!" Stan shouted.

She ignored him. "Dionysus, clean that up, right now!"

"But I'm not done with my breakf-"

"NOW!"

A wave of heat caused him to flinch and he immediately got up from the table. "Yes ma'am!"

"Idiot," Bill muttered as he passed him, but Dionysus only shrugged.

"Amy," Dipper said. "Your magic must be getting stronger or something. Whenever you get mad lately, things really start to heat up. Like, literally."

Rawly poked his head up and, deeming it safe, climbed back into his chair. "Y-Yes," he agreed. "Perhaps you should be careful? Er, I-I mean! It's just – You nearly set the old barn ablaze the other day…"

"Well," she said, "I wouldn't be having so much trouble controlling it if these two fools weren't always behaving so childishly!"

"How was I supposed to know that was what he meant?" Crusade shrugged then smiled sheepishly when she shot him a glare. "Okay, okay, so I knew what he meant! I'm sorry."

"No you're not."

"My offer to break all their bones still stands," Bill told her as she passed behind him. He had taken Dionysus' seat.

"No," she replied and stopped to playfully flick his bangs. "It wouldn't teach them anything anyway."

"Perhaps that depends how you went about breaking them?" Rawly suggested.

"Hey!" Crusade said.

"W-Well, the two of you are rather irritating at times…"

Crusade mocked offense. "Rawly! How could you?"

"Easily."

Crusade let out a laugh at that remark.

While Dipper listened, he ate his breakfast. A nudging against his arm pulled his attention over to his sister beside him.

"Should we tell him now?" she whispered.

He nearly choked on a bite of food. "What?! No!" he whispered back. "We can't tell him now!"

"Tell who what now?" Crusade said loudly. "You're very bad at whispering, you know!"

The twins winced and sat up straight as all eyes turned on them.

"Ooh, hoo, hoo," Crusade chuckled. "Caught conspiring! Well, go on then. Who is it that you want to tell something to? Is it me?" He placed an elbow on the table and rested his chin in his hand, smiling as he watched them exchanged an awkward glance.

"N-No," Dipper said. "It's, um, well, we have something that we need to tell Bill…"

"Oh?" Crusade looked intrigued. "Do tell."

The twins glanced over at Bill, who was watching them with his arms crossed. Beside him, Rawly looked desperately as though he was trying to mind his own business and kept shoving his mouth full of food.

"Er, well," Dipper was trying to find the words. "Um, you remember that green dragoness we met recently?"

"Yeah. What about her?" Bill looked uninterested.

"Well, she… Um, oh gosh… This maybe isn't the best time to explain…"

He raised an eyebrow at him.

"Does the name… Esmeray, mean anything to you?"

Everyone turned to look at Bill now, aside from Rawly. Bill had not responded and was staring at him with wide-eyed shock. After a long silence, he managed to growl through his clenched teeth, speaking slowly, "What do you think you're doing, boy?"

"Nothing! It's just, you know, the Enchiridion –"

Everyone jumped and Rawly choked as Bill suddenly slammed his hands on the table and stood up in one quick motion. "THAT FUCKING BOOK! What the hell were you two little fucks hoping to learn now, huh!?"

Mabel was the one to burst. "We wanted to know about that green dragoness and the book said that she's actually your mom!" she said very hastily.

He looked even more stunned and furious now. "WHAT!? How DARE you! That woman is DEAD!"

"Bill," Amy said. "Calm down!"

"NO!" A wave of blue energy burst from his feet in all directions, throwing the table and all that it had been holding, knocking the twins and Stan over, cracking the glass of the fish tank, and causing Bud to run out of the room. Bill suddenly turned on Amy. "YOU! This is YOUR fault!"

"My fault?!"

"You're the one who gave them that FUCKING BOOK! I can't STAND it anymore! I don't want to know! I don't want to remember any of it anymore!" Blood was beginning to trickle down from the eyepatch that covered his right eye while his left eye was starting to glow a slight reddish color. "WHY DID YOU GIVE THEM THAT FUCKING BOOK!?"

Despite what was happening, the others present were surprised to see that Amy was relatively calm, at least outwardly. Though she had taken a slight step back as he stepped towards her while yelling, she stopped herself and stood her ground.

"I –!" He stopped suddenly and held his face, covering the right side and turning away from her. "Amy, I… I'm sorry…"

"It's okay, Bill," she told him.

"No… No, it's not. I just…" he trailed off.

She stepped closer and carefully grabbed his hand to move it aside, then pressed her forehead to his. "No. It's okay. I'm right here. I love you."

He moved to bury his face into her neck, nearly forgetting his anger as he relished the embrace she now held him in. It was a warm and lavish comfort that he had only ever experienced through her and no one else. "…I love you, too," he said quietly to her.

"Let's go upstairs and get you cleaned up," Amy said after a while.

Without another word, Bill released her and left the kitchen. Amy followed, but stopped a moment to speak to the others.

"Are any of you hurt?"

They shook their heads.

"Good." She sighed. "Dipper. Mabel. Return the Enchiridion to its pedestal, please. And do not use it again."

Neither twin bothered to argue. "Yes ma'am."

"Dionysus. Crusade. Can you two clean up the kitchen, please?"

"Sure, Amy," Crusade said with a nod.

Dionysus was carefully tracing the cracks on the fish tank with his finger and sealing them with magic. "Let me fix this first and I'll help clean."

Amy left to head upstairs.

"Uh, hey," Crusade said, causing Dipper and Mabel to stop on their way out. "Um, sorry about all that."

"It's okay," Mabel told him.

"Yeah," her brother agreed. "Honestly, I think his reaction would have been pretty much the same no matter how or when we told him."

"Right, but…still."

After returning the Enchiridion to the pedestal in the room of strange collections and artifacts, Dipper and Mabel went back downstairs to their room. After a few minutes of sitting around in silence, there was a light knocking at their door and Mabel told whoever it was to enter. They were mildly surprised to see Rawly walk in.

"Are you two all right?" he asked as he quietly closed the door behind himself.

"Yeah, we're fine," Mabel replied.

"Bummed that we're not allowed to use the Enchiridion ever again," Dipper added, "but we'll be okay without it. Maybe it's for the best. All we ever did was use it to meddle and snoop around. Look where that got us."

"Well," Rawly said, "they say that the only thing stronger than fear is curiosity. They also say that curiosity killed the cat, but that's besides the point… Speaking of curiousness… The dragon you met… Is she really Bill's mother?"

"According to the Enchiridion, yeah."

"I see. And, um, what exactly did the Enchiridion show you?"

He exchanged a worried look with his sister but they decided to tell him anyway. "It showed us some stuff from Bill's past when he was like a kid or something. His mom was really harsh and verbally abusive."

"They all were," Mabel added. "Maybe even physically, too…"

Rawly thought for a moment. "Hm. And how was she when you met her in Telmak?"

They exchanged another glance. "She seemed…tired," Dipper said.

"She wasn't mean or anything," Mabel said. "She didn't even say anything about Bill or any of it."

"I see…" Rawly seemed to be pondering something.

"I wish we could know just a little more," Dipper admitted. "Like, what she's doing hiding in Telmak as a dragon, and why she didn't say anything. Does Gaia know she's there?"

"Oh, I'm sure Gaia is aware," Rawly told him. "As for your other questions… Perhaps you could go ask his mother in person?" They looked surprised at him. "Do not mistake me… I merely just want… I think that perhaps…" He sighed. "I feel as though there are some things about this that must be uncovered. You've already gone this far. You might as well see it through, yes?"

"You're telling us to keep snooping?"

Rawly tapped his fingertips together. "…When I was little, Bill once, very briefly, mentioned his mother to me. There is… something that he said about her that is now ringing in my mind."

"What did he say?"

Rawly shook his head a little. "Never mind that now. Could the two of you go and ask her for her side of things? And could I, perhaps, accompany you?"

Now they were very surprised, but they ended up agreeing nonetheless. Shortly after, the three teenagers left the house and made their way through to the portal in the canopied part of the forest. As they approached it, Rawly transformed into a dragon and the portal lit up with a swirling light. On the other side, in Telmak, Rawly began to lead the way over to the tether tree.

Gaia was currently absent, but Zephyr was perched atop one of the large roots and preening the feathers of his wings. As they approached, he stopped and craned his neck to look down at them.

"Oh, it's you two again… And who is your guide?" He narrowed his eyes at Rawly. "You're only half dragon, aren't you?"

"Yes," Rawly replied. He seemed a lot more calm and confident speaking to something that was not human. Still, he retained his manners. "My name is Rawly. I am originally from Necronire." He bowed his head politely.

To Dipper and Mabel's surprise, Zephyr returned the gesture. "Greetings, Rawly. I am Zephyr of Telmak. Son of Astro and Clairabell. Who is your sire and dame?"

"I have never known my parents."

"I see. And what have you come here for? As you can see, the Great Mother Gaia is away on business at the moment."

"I've just come with these two."

"Remember that green dragoness we told you about?" Mabel asked.

Zephyr thought about it for a moment. "Vaguely."

"Well, we want to talk to her about something really important. But she lives alone somewhere around the Thunderstruck Savannah. Like, opposite of Hyal-Belrai."

"The portal to Hyal-Belrai is on the other side of the tether tree," he stated. "But I highly advise against traveling through the Thunderstruck Savannah. Again."

"We don't want that either. Trust me."

Rawly spoke up again. "Erm, Mister Zephyr? You are a sky dragon, correct?"

"What of it?"

"Well, that would mean you can fly at great speeds. If I may be so bold to ask, could you please fly us across the Savannah?"

Zephyr's feathers bristled a little but quickly smoothed again. "If I do, then you must deliver a message to someone for me."

"That is most agreeable."

He nodded. "Indeed." Then, he leapt down from the tree root and lowered himself for them to climb onto his back. To make it easier, Rawly had taken to his human form first.

The feeling of the wind was stinging and cold on their skin as Zephyr soared over the Savannah. Dipper figured that Zephyr's feathers must protect him from such a thing, because the white and blue dragon did not appear bothered by the wind. Unlike the ones riding on his back, Zephyr was also able to keep his eyes open wide as he flew. After a while, they lowered themselves closer to his body, using his feathers to try and protect themselves. What took the better part of two days on one of the fastest land creatures they had even known, took Zephyr only two or three hours to fly.

Finally, they reached the cliff wall and Zephyr began to ascend, landing gracefully once he reached the top.

"My face feels funny," Mabel said as she rubbed her face.

"Thank you, sir," Rawly said as he transformed back into a dragon. He bowed. "If you don't mind, could you wait here for us? Or, perhaps you would like to accompany us?"

Zephyr eyed him. "I suppose I will follow to make sure that those two humans don't get themselves killed. Last time we met, they nearly became a Raiju's dinner."

"How are we going to find Esmeray?" Mabel asked.

Rawly smiled and tapped a claw to his nose. "My sense of smell is about as impressive as Bud's, you know. I've already caught a new dragon's scent. Follow me."

The forest was as serene as the last time, with warm sunlight poking through the trees and birdsong all around. After some time of following Rawly around, they finally came to a stop in a large clearing where the base of a small mountain was located. In the rock wall was the dark entrance to a large den.

"In there," Rawly told the others.

Cautiously, they approached the den, stopping just outside to peer into it. As their eyes adjusted to the darkness within, Dipper and Mabel's eyes taking longer than Rawly and Zephyr's, they could make out the shape of the green dragoness laying on her belly with her head on her paws. Upon noticing them, she raised her head up and said calmly, "Come in, then."

With a quick look at each other, the four of them entered the den and lingered awkwardly within. Aside from Zephyr, who sat down as if he had been there before.

The dragoness surveyed each of them carefully before speaking again. "You two humans… What did you call yourselves again?"

"I'm Mabel, and this is my brother, Dipper."

"Ah, yes. I remember now. And the dragon? I already know of Zephyr."

"My name is Rawly." He bowed.

She gave him a curt nod then looked back to the humans. "…Where is the little one?"

"You mean Bill?" Dipper said carefully. "He's not little anymore. That was Dionysus' fault, but Gaia fixed it."

"I see."

He was trying to read her, looking for any kind of reaction.

"…Why have you come here?" she asked at last.

"You mean you don't know?" He was genuinely surprised. If she was like Bill, wouldn't that mean she was able to see and know things that she otherwise shouldn't? "Can't you see that kind of thing?"

She watched him closely. "Are you asking me if I am capable of foresight?"

"Well, aren't you a dreamweaver dragon?" Zephyr snorted.

"I lost the curse of omnipotent sight long ago."

"So, you are Esmeray, aren't you?" Dipper asked. "Bill Cipher's mom?"

"…How is that you have come to know this?"

Mabel glanced at Zephyr, who did not appear at all surprised by the information. Meanwhile, Dipper answered Esmeray's question. "A book called the Enchiridion showed us."

"Enchiridion?" she echoed the word as if it was foreign to her.

Zephyr was the one to explain. "The Enchiridion is a dragon book that Great Mother Gaia herself created using the magic of the Golden Halls." He was boasting. "It can show the past or the present, but the laws of dragons prevent it from sharing the future."

"Hm." Esmeray stared down at Dipper. "Yes. I am called Esmeray. Yes. I am the mother of the one you have come to know as 'Bill Cipher'. For what reason have you come asking me such things if you already knew?"

"We want to know the full story."

"Yeah," Mabel agreed. "The Enchiridion showed us how badly you treated Bill. You and all the others. What the heck was that all about? And how come you didn't say anything when we first met you by the river? How did you and Atë survive when Bill destroyed your world?"

Esmeray looked somewhat stunned or offended upon hearing Atë's name. "I would ask that you do not speak my daughter's name again."

"She's dead, you know," Dipper told her.

"What?"

"She tried to kill Bill and the rest of us, but we trapped her with dragon sealing magic and vaporized her with a gamma ray."

Esmeray stared, wide-eyed, at him for a moment before closing her eye. "Is that so?"

"It's true," Rawly said with a nod.

"You're not mad or upset that we killed your daughter?" Dipper prodded.

Esmeray opened her eye to look at them again. "It is for the best. In the eyes of our people, she was born a perfect specimen. She could never have changed. You said that you wanted to know the full story? Very well. I do not know what you are already aware of, but I will tell you…

The dimension that we are from was a world where the residents lacked empathy and compassion. Love for others did not exist. Such things were looked down upon and, as such, were forbidden. We existed only to conquer and destroy without a second thought. Reproduction of offspring only occurred as a rare necessity and nothing more. The offspring were expected to be 'perfect'. However, there were even rarer times when an offspring would be born with the ability of compassion and caring. The things our kind saw as weak and unnecessary. These offspring were often purged, but some were left alive for the entertainment of the others. A plaything to belittle and beat whenever they became bored.

I was one of such offspring. But I was able to mask that side of myself to avoid punishment or death. My firstborn was considered perfect. A powerful and evil thing of destruction and dark chaos. My second offspring was not. He was, unfortunately for him, born like myself. He showed signs of this early on in life. In true nature of our kind, his elder sibling often berated and lashed out at him. As did others. Many times, the higher-ups questioned me and debated on killing him, but I would argue each time. I fed them lies that I could make him into the perfect tool they desired and they accepted my excuses. Despite what I secretly wanted, I treated my youngest offspring with cruelty and false contempt in hopes that it would keep him safe from the wrath of the others.

Do you see this scar upon my face where the right eye should be? When Bill accidentally struck our world's core one day, it caused quite a stir. The alpha was able to correct it upon his return but was furious nonetheless. I was summoned before him and the other higher-ups once again to defend my son. They agreed to let him live once more, but at the cost of my own all-seeing eye. I was torn open and my eye gouged out. That is how I lost the curse of omnipotent sight. But that pain was nothing compared to what I felt years later. I was wrong about my son. He was far stronger in the field of destruction than I or any of the others knew. Though, perhaps it was only due to his pain and suffering at our own hands.

I watched as he, filled with complete fury and hatred, turned against our kind. I watched as he killed his father and stole his power. I watched as he attacked and killed and destroyed our people and our home. I watched…and said nothing. I did nothing to stop him. I felt no sorrow or rage over the destruction of our world or the death of our people. But I felt a great pain within myself at seeing my once kind-hearted son becoming cold and violent."

"So, you treated him the way you did to protect him?" Mabel asked.

"But how did you and some of the others of your kind survive?" Dipper asked.

Esmeray closed her eye for a moment. "…The ones who survived were stronger than Bill. Though, he did damage them severely. I too had believed that they had perished before finding out that they survived and managed to flee as our world collapsed. As for myself… There was a moment when it all began that Bill confronted me. I wished at that moment to be able to comfort him. To express the truth. Instead, I remained silent and awaited my death. I do not know why, but he did not attack me. He did not even speak to me. He merely looked down at me for a time before leaving to complete the task he had given himself. …Eventually, I came here, to Telmak. But I found that my natural form was not physical enough to exist here. That is why you see me as I am now. A pathetic, hollow, coward of a dragon that has secluded myself from others. Gaia allowed me to remain here. And so, here I am."

"So, that's it," Dipper said. "Thanks for telling us."

"I do not know why you wished to know such things other than simple curiosity, but if you are satisfied now, I would ask that you leave."

He looked to Rawly, who nodded. "Yeah. We'll leave you alone now. Sorry for bringing up all of those bad memories."

"There is not a day that goes by in which I do not recall those memories and hate myself for the way I treated my beloved son. You mentioning them has not changed that fact."

Esmeray remained where she was as her guests exited her den. The four of them walked in silence through the forest and remained silent until finally reaching the portal in the Great Plains that would take them back to Avas.

"What is the message you wish for me to deliver and to whom?" Rawly asked Zephyr.

"Ah, yes, that…" He glanced at the humans, his feathers bristling slightly, then leaned forward to whisper so that only Rawly could hear.

"Oh, yes. Of course I can tell him. Farewell, now."

Zephyr straightened himself and nodded briskly.

To be continued…