The group of adventurers rode in silence as rain began to fall from the sky. Ever since entering the marshes, Dart had been able to taste the humidity in the air. For the last couple hours, he had been strangely uncomfortable breathing it in; it had set his teeth on edge. He'd ignored the feeling for some time, especially given the events at the Seventh Fort, but now, as raindrops plopped into his hair and onto his arms, this discomfort intensified drastically. He was acutely aware of each drop of water oozing its way across his skin, digging itself into his scalp, fighting to get into his very soul. He continuously wiped his arms to remove the excess, which seemed to help a little bit, but he winced every time his hands touched the liquid. He longed desperately for shelter and a warm fire. Several times, he nearly requested to go back to the fort until the rain passed, so great was his discomfort, but he understood the callousness of such a request and refrained from making it.

Eventually, they made it out of the massive trees and into the open marshes at the feet of the Serdian Mountains. The rain fell freely here, quickly soaking Dart through, even beneath his armor, and making him want to scream at the sensation. At last, he could take it no longer; he had to say something.

"We have to get out of this rain," he said, calling over the downpour. He gritted his teeth and fidgeted uncomfortably.

"Is something wrong?" asked Shana. Rain had already soaked her hair and clothing. How could she stand it?

"I don't know," said Dart irritably. "I just can't stand being wet like this. I feel like I might go crazy if I stay out here much longer."

"Since when? We used to play in the rain all the time."

"Probably since Hoax," interrupted Rose, cutting Dart off from a response. "The red-eyed dragoon controls fire, which is one of the seven elements, and it's now part of Dart, worked into his being. Fire and water are opposites. It's grating on you because you hold fire within you now, and it feels like the rain is trying to snuff it out. We would probably do well to find shelter before Dart accidentally explodes."

"Yes… that," muttered Dart. Rose was right. It felt as if the rain were trying to wriggle its way into his very being, and it was a feeling he never wanted to have to withstand again.

"Alright then," said Lavitz. "There should be somewhere closer to the mountains. Let's hurry up and get over there."

He turned east and accelerated to a trot, despite being difficult to maintain in the muddy terrain. Shana cast Dart a worried glance and followed. With a heavy sigh, Dart tried to remember what it was like to be dry and comfortable as the mountains sluggishly drew nearer.

After a time, Rose found her way next to him and said, "In the meantime, you may be able to stay some of the irritation through magic."

"What?" said Dart, a little more sharply than he intended. "I can use magic right now?"

"We have a limited control over our elements in human form as well. I said there was a fire within you. Use it to heat yourself."

Dart sighed heavily and tried to focus. It seemed impossible to block out the water, and instead he tried to think of flames. He imagined sitting next to a blazing fire, in the heat of the day, the warm sun beating down on him. He tried to step closer and closer to the fire, until it was almost burning his skin. Finally, warmth rose within him, holding back the chill of the water, at least in part. He looked down at his arms and watched in alarm as steam radiated from him, drifting into the atmosphere.

"There you go," said Rose.

The discomfort had not completely dissipated, but he felt more at ease than before. "Thank you," he said through the rain.

"It's nothing," came her curt reply.

Embracing the warmth now swirling within him, he thought over the brief training that Rose had given him. He wondered how much more there was to know about dragoons. It was frustrating that he could not take the time to learn more with their constant travel, but with his limited fatigue, perhaps he and Rose could practice some more on breaks.

After what seemed an eternity, they reached the roots of the mountain where the ground began to climb sharply upward, and they followed a path carved by wildlife that wound along until it reached the top of the short cliffside. To Dart's delight, this cliffside was dotted with tiny caves, a few that were just large enough for a small party to rest out of the rain. At the first, they piled inside and dismounted.

The stony ground was cool and sloped, and there was barely room for them all to lie down, but it was dry. Dripping all over the floor, Dart moved as far from the rain as possible and immediately removed his armor, maintaining his inner warmth all the while to dry off as soon as he could. Shana and Lavitz did the same, and soon they were both huddling in the back of the cave.

"It would be nice if we had some dry wood to start a fire," murmured Shana. She sat, wrapping herself in her arms as she began to shiver.

"You can sit next to me if you want," offered Dart as he eased down near her.

With an odd expression, she nodded and scooted close to him. Gingerly, he placed his arm around her shoulders, wincing as his arm touched the soaked cloth. He could feel the coolness of her skin pull the heat from him, and he fought to maintain it.

"Better?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," she whispered as she leaned into him.

Dart cast an irritated glance over at Lavitz, who was watching them intently with a smirk. Upon meeting his gaze, Lavitz quickly spoke.

"That's all well and good for Shana, but what about the rest of us? Rose and I are freezing!"

Rose scoffed and said under her breath, "Speak for yourself."

"I don't know what to tell you," said Dart apologetically. "There's no way we could light any wood that's been out in this downpour. And I'm definitely not going out there to find any."

Sighing heavily, Rose stared out into the rain and said, "You can make a small fire without much effort and sustain it for a while. It may be long enough to dry out Lavitz."

"What? Without any fuel?"

"Yes. It is magic, after all."

"How much can I do in human form, anyway?" asked Dart as he moved away from Shana to focus, resting on his knees.

"Your skills will expand with experience. Right now, a small fire is probably the extent of it."

Dart nodded and held out his hands to facilitate his focus. He closed his eyes, imagining himself warming his hands in front of a simple campfire. He could feel the heat rise in him, and then Lavitz laughed. Opening his eyes, Dart saw that he had been successful. Before him, hovering six inches off the stone floor, was a small flame just big enough to fit in both his hands. He smiled and sat back carefully, reveling in its heat, and put his arm back around Shana.

"Amazing," grinned Lavitz. "I can think of a time or two when this would have come in handy."

He sidled up closer to the fire on Shana's other side, but Rose stayed on the edge of the cave, staring out across the marshes while drops of water occasionally fell from her long, black hair.

Over the next several hours, the sky grew darker, and the rain continued. The horses fell asleep, grateful for the shelter, and after a while Shana did as well after she was finally dry. Lightning flashed in the distance, and rolls of thunder fought their way toward them. Dart's flame persisted, working well enough to dry Lavitz in only an hour. As time crept on, Dart found it more and more difficult to maintain his focus on the fire, and the flames began to dwindle. For the first time since his recovery in Hoax, Dart felt drained of energy, and he suspected that the fire was to blame.

An hour or so later, he began to drift into sleep. He fought it, trying to maintain their heat source, but eventually he was overcome. Once, he jerked his head up, having dozed off, and found that they were in darkness. Lavitz had sprawled out in the limited space to the right, and Shana still leaned against him, dozing quietly on his chest. Then he looked for Rose and was startled to find her gone. But a moment later, a flash of lightning illuminated her silhouette, still sitting at attention at the edge of the shelter.

He found it curious that she blended so well into the shadows. As he recalled Shana's comment about his warm skin in Hoax, he supposed that each type of dragoon had its own quirk. While he maintained a constant heat within himself, Rose could become one with the night. He wondered what else Rose could do that he hadn't seen yet.

Still feeling the fatigue of magic, he leaned his head back against the rock as his eyes drooped. The steady sound of rain lulled him into sleep while he clung to the resting Shana, and despite the events of the day, he was more at peace now than he'd been in a long time.

As Dart slowly came to consciousness, he became vaguely aware of an object resting against his right thigh. The air had turned cold, and he felt condensation under his hand as he moved it across the stone floor. Opening his eyes, he saw the wide opening of the rocky alcove and the sun cresting over the distant mountains while shining brightly on his face. Looking down, he saw Shana still asleep as her head rested on his leg, and he smiled as her breaths moved her shoulder up and down. The sun was just beginning to creep over her, and her brown hair seemed almost blonde where the rays reached it.

Dart's eyes lingered on her delicate features for several minutes, and he watched the beam of sunlight crawl across her skin as it rose higher into the sky. His left hand lifted from the stone and alighted on her forehead, brushing her hair to the side and feeling the smoothness of her skin. Then she stirred, and he jumped and pulled his hand back.

To his right, he heard a soft chuckle and turned to see Lavitz smirking again, arms crossed, sitting at the edge of the cave and watching the marshes. Dart narrowed his eyes but looked back down as Shana shifted to her back before opening her tired eyes.

She met his gaze and gave a small smile before sitting up and rubbing her face. After a moment, she glanced around and said, "Where's Rose?"

"I don't know," replied Lavitz. "She was gone before I woke. But her horse is still here, which means she's probably coming back."

With a start, Dart realized that Rose was indeed missing, and he stood to peek out for her. As his feet bore weight, he winced to find that his legs had fallen asleep, and now a thousand tiny stars pricked his soles as he neared the edge of the cave. Stepping out, he took a deep breath of the fresh morning air as he gazed down at the marshes. Yesterday's downpour had raised the water noticeably, and the river that ran through was now sloshing with momentum. With a sigh, he sat next to Lavitz.

"I guess we'll have to wait until she comes back," he said.

"Seems likely," agreed Lavitz. "Rose seems to have a will of her own, and she has no interest in our desire to rein her in."

"Got that right," muttered Dart. "She scares me."

Shana sat on Dart's left and handed over some cured meat, which the two accepted gratefully.

"She scares me, too," replied Shana. "But I think she's a lot kinder than we think she is. We just have to wait for her to offer that part of herself."

"The wisdom of Shana strikes again," grinned Lavitz. "I don't think Rose is a horrible person. If she was, she wouldn't have helped Dart with the dragon the first time. She didn't even know you were a dragoon at that point."

"That's fair," nodded Dart.

"Honestly, I just want to know how she knows so much about dragoons. It doesn't make any sense to me."

"Why don't you ask her?" suggested Shana.

"I did, though, and she avoided the answer. I think there's something about her that she doesn't want us to know."

"As long as she helps fight the dragon, I don't really mind what she hides from us," muttered Dart as he leaned back on his palms.

"Do you think you can defeat it?" asked Shana with a small voice.

With a sigh, Dart squinted at the marshes, and his eyes were drawn to the forest far off to the north wherein lay the Seventh Fort. Yesterday's training with Rose had left him feeling confident and powerful, but that had all but vanished in the face of the death of a knighthood. Those labored breaths of both soldiers haunted him, and he couldn't decide whether he had the ability to fight such a beast. The dragon's teeth and claws were no longer his worst fear.

"I don't know," he replied.

"But it's not just you," said Lavitz. "Rose will help, too. She said that your gems have actual dragon spirits in them. So, it's kind of like two against one, right?"

"Maybe..." mumbled Dart.

For a few moments, they were silent, and a somber mood settled over them.

"His name was Malcolm," said Lavitz suddenly. "We all called him Mal. He was the head of the Tenth Knighthood, an amazing soldier, and a good friend. I actually trained him a few years ago. Couldn't have been much older than you."

Closing his eyes, Dart hung his head as he remembered.

Lavitz turned to him. "Men like that are why we fight, Dart. We have been given a great responsibility and a great honor, having been chosen to protect them. But it's still a choice we have to make every day, whether we keep fighting or just walk away. The lives of so many people depend on us... on you, to defeat the dragon. If you don't, the Seventh Fort will only be the beginning. Bale will be a pile of ash as Sandora's wrath spreads." Lavitz paused and closed his eyes for a moment. "You are capable of so much more than you believe. I saw your potential the first time I ever met you, and still, you have been astounding me ever since. Only twenty-three, and already you are more skilled and powerful than most of the seasoned soldiers I've fought with."

Lavitz placed a hand on Dart's shoulder, but Dart avoided his gaze, preferring instead to watch the sun illuminate the marshes. "You have everything you need. You just need to realize it."

A strange mixture of guilt and pride whirled around inside Dart. Such a compliment from Lavitz warmed his heart in a way that no fire ever could, but he sharply felt the shame of having wished, even for a moment, to circumvent the coming battle. In Hoax, he had put off any conversations with Rose, realizing their eventual outcome, and now, he would pay the price. He felt far from ready, and he began to wonder if he would have been able to push forward if his friends were not beside him. Would he have run from this responsibility?

Part of him wanted to even now. Where were those simple days of playing in the woods with Shana? What happened to the easy jobs he'd been able to fulfill out east? How had he become the sole hope of an entire nation?

Despite Lavitz's words, Dart felt weak, afraid, and unworthy of his companions. And yet, Lavitz thought that he possessed the strength and skill to defeat a dragon. He felt a lump in his throat as tears threatened to escape, and he swallowed to keep them at bay.

"I hope I can live up to your expectations," he managed to say.

"You will," said Lavitz simply, and a smile crept onto his face as he turned to watch the sun continue to rise above the mountains.

After several minutes, they heard footsteps and turned to see Rose walking down the path toward them.

"Where have you been?" asked Dart.

"Scouting our path," she replied as she snatched a waterskin and sat on the other side of Shana. "This trail leads into the mountains, but it turns north as soon as it hits the tree line. If we go south at that point, I saw a downed tree and some large footprints that I think will lead us to our destination."

"Why wouldn't the dragon have flown?" asked Lavitz.

"Probably trying to stay hidden from your scouts."

"This dragon breathes poison, right?" asked Shana.

Rose nodded.

"Are all dragons like that?"

Rose shook her head. "Each type of dragon is different. This is a jade dragon, and it controls air. It's a master of aerial combat, too, so we should hope that we can manage to fight it on the ground."

"That makes me feel better," muttered Dart.

"The poison won't affect us," replied Rose. "Us dragoons, anyway."

Dart sat forward. "Really?"

"Dragoons are impervious to most poisons."

"That really does make me feel better," he said.

"See?" said Lavitz with a smile. "It isn't impossible, after all. We should get going, though. We need to find this thing before they use it on anyone else."

Everyone agreed, and they quickly gathered their things and left. Following the small mountain path, they surged forward with renewed vigor until they plunged into the Serdian Mountains.