Celia awoke with a yawn to the sound of the first bell as the noise rang through the entire town. The human slowly stretched as she opened her eyes. "Good evening...." After she rubbed her eyes, the human slowly rolled out of the sack and stood to her feet. "Ahhh," she took a deep breath and lifted her arms to the sky as she relaxed. "It feels good to sleep in a sack filled with dragon feathers again. This was so much better than everything else I have slept on. Nothing beats home."

Celia looked over to Verbena as the dragonet continued to snooze in her blanket nest. The human smiled a bit, then walked over to the well of water and splashed a double handful of the fresh liquid into her face. Celia took a deep breath and looked to her shimmering reflection in the pool.

Celia fingered her hands through her hair as she noticed its length. While she was on her quest, her red hair had grown a few inches. Celia looked to the green blurs that represented her eyes, then turned back to Verbena.

Celia smiled a bit as she noticed the green dragon had also grown, even if her size was still smaller than average. Verbena even matured a bit over their journey as well. The journey enhanced her strength, and it showed in her muscles. Her smile broadened as she walked over to the dragonet.

"Hey, it's time to get up," Celia gently patted Verbena's side. When the young dragon still did move, Celia gently nudged her side again. "Verbena, time to get up," The human pushed against Verbena's shoulder.

'I wanna sleep...," Verbena finally responded, even if it was a groan. She exhaled, then settled deeper into the blanket. 'I'm comfy,' she curled into a tighter ball and attempted to ignore Celia, 'this is better than the cold snow.'

Celia sighed a bit and rubbed her forehead, 'Verbena, please? We need to go get Xan and talk to Guild Master Orthos.' She attempted to mentally communicate with her draconic companion to see if the results changed.

When Verbena simply snorted in response, Celia sighed. "Will mentioning Valiant make you move? I do not think he will approve of you sleeping when we are a team. A team that needs to finish this quest together." Celia's voice slowly became a mix of determination and emotion.

Verbena lifted her head and looked to Celia, 'you are right,' she nuzzled Celia's uncovered face. 'Let's go,' the dragonet rose to her feet. 'We have a quest to finish because we are the bringers of light! It is our destiny!' She emitted a rather loud roar of declaration that everyone in the town probably heard.

"Thank you for finally deciding to get up," Celia stroked Verbena's head but did not have the heart to tell her that there was no destiny. Xan was probably the only reason they had gotten this far. Furthermore, at least to Celia's eyes, they found the first piece with mere luck, not destiny. "Now, let's go retrieve Xan and Irin so we can all go and talk to the guild master."

Verbena nodded with a bit of excitement, then followed her determined partner. 'Let's return light to the world!' The dragonet held her head high and trumpeted a bit in a display only a dragon could create.

Celia smiled a bit as she pushed aside the curtain that separated the room from the hall. "Good evening, world," a wide grin spread across the human's face as she strolled through the web of tunnels.

Unlike last morning, life filed the town's tunnels as many people from the differing guilds wandered them. Those with the day shift headed to bed while the night shift rose from it. Since everyone in the small town knew each other, several people gave Celia shocked looks, but others simply continued on their way. Surprised whispers followed the dragon rider as she walked down the path, but she ignored them as she continued on her self-imposed mission.

"C-Celia?" A familiar voice spoke from behind Celia just before she was tackled in a hug. "I thought you were dead," Sabrina wiped her tears with her sleeve as she released Celia. "I was scared I would never see you again, what happened? Where did you go? What happened to you?"

Verbena paused in her trot and looked back to Celia. 'Mom Sabrina!' The dragonet exclaimed, then hesitated as she noticed that the two humans in a hug. The dragonet decided to blow them to have their moment, uninterrupted.

"It is a long story," Celia managed to turn around to face her mother, then looked up to her mom. Celia wrapped her arms around the other rider and returned the hug, "I missed you. I have to talk to Guild Master Orthos first, but I promise I will tell you later." She released the hug and smiled a bit to her mother. "I love you, and I promise I will explain everything to you at another time."

"I understand," Sabrina slowly nodded and attempted to smile, though worried crease marks remained on her forehead. "Though I am glad you are unhurt, I do want an explanation sometime soon."

"I will explain, I promise," Celia assures, "but I have to go see Guild Master Orthos right now."

Sabrina hesitated, then nodded in response. "Go then, sweetie. But remember that I love you." A small smile spread across her face as she gingerly kissed her daughter's forehead. "I will see you later then. Have a great night." She released the hug and took a step back.

"Likewise," Celia smiled to her mom, then walked down the tunnel. When she caught back up to Verbena, she smiled and put a hand on the dragonet's shoulder. "Let's go retrieve Xan and speak to Guild Master Orthos."

"Right!" Verbena quickly nodded and slightly increased her pace as they walked through the maze of tunnels. She continued to lead, despite her limited knowledge of the path when compared to Celia's knowledge.

"Turn left!" Celia swiftly instructed as Verbena almost completely missed the proper turn. "We need to turn left here," She touched Verbena's shoulder with one hand and pointed with the other, "this way." Celia took the lead and guided Verbena to the proper room.

When they arrived, Celia knocked on the stone next to the curtain. "Xan?" She called out to the space beyond the curtain. "Irin?"

Soft sounds of movement drifted through the cloth barrier before Irin poked his head under the curtain. 'Oh! Good night!" The blue dragon walks out of the room with the curtain still draped across his back. "Is it time to speak to the master of the guild?" He shook until the curtain fell off of his wings.

"Yes," Celia nodded to the dragon. "Is Xan awake? I do not know how long Guild Master Orthos has been waiting for us already."

"I will wake him," Irin nods and forces his way through the curtain again. 'Xan, wake up.' The curtain failed to block his mental voice, even if it did muffle the audible sounds from the other room.

After a few imperceivable yells of surprise, Xan shoved the cloth barrier to the side and exited the room. He swiped a tiny handful of water over his disheveled hair to calm the wayward strands. "All right, I'm up," he breathes.

'I tried to wake you up earlier,' Irin calmly stated as he also emerged from behind the fabric, 'but you did not want to wake up." The dragon emitted a snort, then looked to Verbena, 'hello Verbena," he made a "ruuurrr" in his draconic greeting.

Verbena softly returned the greeting with a bob of her face with a slight wag of her tail, 'hello Irin.'

"Let's get going. I do not want to leave Guild Master Orthos waiting any longer than necessary," Celia told Xan and Irin. "I will take us there, so follow me," she motioned for them to follow her down the tunnel.

Xan and both dragons followed Celia as she walked through the winding and branching paths of her hometown. "So how is this going to happen?" Xan glanced up to Celia, "how are we going to talk to the guild master?"

Celia mentally hesitated as she continued to walk, "I am not completely sure how Guild Master Orthos is going to react. Nothing like this has ever really happened before. All I can say is that if he does not allow us to aid in the retrieval of the last piece, I am going to sneak away and help in the effort anyway. Verbena and I have come too far to quit now. I at least want to help see this to the end."

"I want to help too," Xan admitted, "and my knowledge of the area will be helpful as well. If he does not allow us to go, I could probably help sneak us into the town. I have a theory on how we can get in, though I have never been in Urre before. It may not work, but I think it is worth a shot if we are to get the last ray of light."

"Thank you, Xan," Celia looked back to the male human in question a small grateful smile, then refocused on the hallway in front of her. "We are almost there," she promised, "Guild Master Orthos's office is not much farther."

Since many of the other people who previously traveled the paths already reached their destination, so the group more easily traversed the tunnels with fewer people populating the space.

Soon, they reached the guild master's office. "Here we are," she moved the curtain aside, which revealed a waiting room with one of the few wooden doors in the town. When Celia looked inside, she could see Orthos through the open door.

When he noticed movement out of the corner of his eye, the guild master looked up from his work and locked eyes with Celia. "Ah, Celia, Xan, come in."

Celia took a deep breath and gathered her courage, then entered the room with determination in her heart. 

Author Note!

Sorry about the later than usual update! The storm that is around us has flooded our arrive and I have been helping to get everything up on bricks!