Solaris woke up a few days later, being stared at by an unfamiliar man and woman. They were dressed like a butler and maid. The woman nodded to be butler, while saying "Go fetch Captain Neil, and tell him the other young lad has awoken." The butler dashed off, and Solaris laid there for a moment, slightly confused. He tried to sit up, yet was stopped by the maid. "You were quite injured, please take it easy."

He felt a sharp pain in his chest as he lay back down "Ouch, damnit! So that's why you told me to take it easy." He looked down at his bandaged chest, and arms. He peeked under the blankets, noticing most of his legs were also wrapped. "You guys should ask if you want me to dress like a mummy. I'm not ok with this. Aside from that..." he began to remove the bandages from his arms.

The maid attempted to stop him, he motioned for her to stop and continued unwrapping himself. He inspected his arms. They were nearly completely healed, much to his surprise. "Exactly how long was I out for?"

"About 9 days" said the maid.

"Wow, that's longer than when the dragon smacked me. Guess I took more damage than I thought" he said as he looked down at his chest. The bandage was still slightly bloody.
"Damn right you did. That Eber guy was a pain in the ass"

Solaris looked toward the door, Romel and Neil were leaning on the sides of the door way. Neil was holding a crutch, still dealing with the injury Solaris had given him. He had a few cuts and bruises, but was still, still relatively well.

Solaris looked over at Romel. "You look like you've been through hell"

Indeed, Romel looked to be on far worse condition than both Neil and Solaris. He was also on a crutch after taking considerable damage to his left leg. His right arm was in a sling, and his head, left arm, and left leg were wrapped with bandages.

The maid glared at Romel "You should be resting in bed!"

The butler spoke up from behind them: "Elaine, is that any way to speak to one of the lords of the manor?!"

She gave the butler a piercing glare and he retreated back behind Neil. Solaris raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me, did you say 'lord of the manor'?"

The butler stepped out of hiding, "Yes, I did sir."

Solaris looked at Romel, who seemed equally surprised. "Uhm, wait... what?" he said, nearly stumbling over his words.

"I figured you'd know, I kinda just regained consciousness" Solaris replied.

"I only woke up a few hours ago at most, I'm just as lost." Romel muttered.

The butler stepped forward and turned to everyone. "Allow me to introduce myself: my name is Frith. I am the head butler." He bowed as he finished his sentence.

Elaine stepped forward and introduced herself as well. "I am Elaine, which I'm sure you've already figured out, I am the chief made and resident physician."

"Ok, pleased to meet you both, but that doesn't explain the 'lord' thing" Solaris said. "You were clearly referring to Romel, who doesn't seem to know any more than me. What's going on, and where the hell are we? How did we get here?"

Neil stepped forward "Perhaps I should formally introduce myself to the both of you, and answer those questions. As you all know, my name is Neil, I am the commander of this city's defense forces, and also of the manor's guards. You are in Azidon manor. This is the same place where you had the battle with the former ruler Eber. We are on the other side of the estate. With your injuries as they were, we couldn't take you far for treatment, so after everything settled down and the staff returned, we had you brought to the infirmary. I've had these 2 oversee you recovery efforts."

"Ok, that's most of the questions, but it still doesn't explain the 'lord' thing. We don't wanna be a bother about it, we're just curious, is it something the staff here just does or what?" Asked Romel.

"Well, it’s something that is usually done for honored guests. I'm the temporary head of this manor for the moment. However, your demonstration of strength and character in the events leading up to and during the fight with Eber..."

Neil was cut off by Frith. "We saw nearly everything, it was amazing!!!" he exclaimed with the excitement nearly identical to that of a schoolboy.

"Well, he did try to kill us, we just defended ourselves." Said Romel.

"That blue-balled bastard cut my hair with an ice dagger!" Solaris replied to them. "He deserved what he got."

"Even so, the staff were wondering who would become the permanent head of the manor and surrounding area." Elaine said.

"That would obviously be Neil, would it not?" asked Romel.

Neil looked at each of them, seeming quite comfortable while leaning on the wall. "Well, honestly, I think either of you would do great as head of this estate. It’s not something I particularly want, but if the job must be done, I will do it I suppose."

Romel looked at Solaris and pointed "I vote for him!"

Solaris seemed stunned by this sudden vote of confidence from Romel. "Maybe I'm still asleep, and dreaming or something, this is as weird as the fact that he was keeping up with Eber in that fight. Someone pinch me."

Elaine did so, with frightening enthusiasm. "Ouch, so I'm not sleeping now. What about that fight with Eber again?" He said, looking at Romel. Romel turned to Neil.

"You did give that old man a decent burial right?"

"Yes, and a medal of valor." Replied Neil.

"Thank you. That man deserved it" Romel nodded.

"What did the old guy do?" Solaris questioned.

"Some weird thing with magic. I still haven’t gotten used to it, but I’m pretty sure whatever he did is the reason I’m not dead, and actually am able to stand now."

"I'm going to guess that he used soul binding magic" Solaris muttered.

"What the hell is that? Sounds painful."

"You could say that. It's magic that has increased duration based on the life-force put into it. Basically, it takes some of the caster's life as cost, and does insane things. He didn't make it after casting that spell, did he?"

"Sadly, no. He cast that and that was the end of him. He didn't listen when I told him to stop casting." Romel's expression darkened as he spoke.

"He could've been perfectly fine and still would've died after casting something like that. I know of such a spell, but I don’t know the name, and can’t cast it myself even if I knew the whole thing. Don't blame yourself. He did what he wanted to do". Solaris's attempt to console his comrade was only slightly successful, so he sought to reroute the conversation. "About this 'lord of the manor' thing. They rule the manor and surrounding area, the town, right?"

"Yes, that's right" Neil nodded.

"Don't the townsfolk get any say in who rules the area?" Solaris questioned back.

"We've been out amongst the town's people. Those who witnessed the battle seem to think highly if you, especially Valencia and Andrew. Also, you've been in this town longer than you realize. You were remembered from your previous stay as well".

Still in disbelief, Solaris continued to question them. "Anyways Romel, why the sudden vote of confidence in me?"

"Why? I can answer that. It's not a 'sudden' vote of confidence. I've traveled with you for a while now, and fought alongside you. I've gotten to see you character. Also, you can fucking FLY, without using levitation magic! I don't think there are many others who can do that, except for phoenix masters, which you are apparently not, which makes it that much more awesome. And now for a question; where are you from?"

Solaris scratched his head. "Well, uhm..."

"Too hard for you, ok, where do you live?" Romel continued.

Solaris sat silently.

"Homeless? That's too bad. Last question; would you ever go and exploit the people of this area, and put them through the same things Eber did?"

"This seems to be the only question I can actually answer, and no, I would never do that" Solaris said with a very serious expression as he locked eyes with Romel.

"I rest my case. You have the power to protect this place, the respect of the people, and have seen firsthand what tyrant assholes do. Plus, and most important in your case, you don't exactly have a place to call home. You can’t just freeload at other people's houses all the time you know, even if Valencia and Andrew are ok with it. All in favor of this golden hair guy being ruler of the manor say 'I'." Romel said with a laugh.

There was a unanimous "I" from all inhabitants of the room, and 2 passing maids outside of the door.

"So, we shall call you lord Solaris?" said Frith.

Solaris scratched his head. "You know, normally we find ourselves in bad and/or life threatening situations. This is quite different, but even so, when I can get up, I'll kick your ass for having me put on the spot like this Romel!"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm sure it still has to go by an official vote of some sort. I doubt things will be decided otherwise, unless Neil has an objection. Just enjoy this for a bit, I'm staying here too, and we could use the rest. Speaking of which, I'm going back to bed" Romel said as he hobbled down the hallway.

He mumbled to himself while walking off, "I was kinda kidding, I didn’t think everyone would be so enthusiastic about it."

Solaris mumbled to himself "I still think 'lord Solaris; sounds weird, but I have other stuff to worry about. I'll deal with it until we can travel again I suppose."

A few days later, an official vote was taken including all the staff and what remained of the guards to determine the new area leadership. It came as no surprise to everyone, with the exception of Solaris, that he was unanimously nominated as the head of Azidon manor. A small coronation ceremony was help soon after. Everyone who was present during the escape and battle was present, including Valencia and Andrew, who brought back Solaris's bag and Romel's pendent. It was safer to say that the ceremony was closer to a party. There was music, dancing, drinking, and of course food.

Madam angry was there as well, and she made herself quite at home. Unlike the last time they saw her, she was smiling, though everyone soon noticed it was likely due to the fact that she was drunk. Everyone was enjoying the event. Solaris gazed over the room and everyone dancing, drinking and being merry. He seemed quite lost in thought. Romel hobbled up to him and tapped him on the shoulder.

"You OK goldilocks?" he asked.

"What just happened? The last things I clearly remember are a fight to the death with Eber, waking up in a place I'm not familiar with, and the fact that I'm wearing this crown on my head." Solaris said as he pointed up to the shiny golden headpiece.

"Yeah, I have to admit, it's a bit strange. Maybe everyone is just happy that Eber got kicked out."

"Indeed they are" said Neil as he approached them. "Sorry for the interruption, I couldn't help but overhear. That's about how I felt when Eber retreated. It seems you are nervous about this leadership thing."

"Like you, it's not something that I exactly wanted. I suppose it’s cool, though I've only had the title of 'Lord of Azidon' for mere hours. I'm not going to have to fight a war or anything am I? I'm already on a mission that surpasses wars and kingdom boundaries."

Neil raised an eyebrow. "May I ask for details?"

Romel and Solaris then retold the tails of their adventures, and their meeting with Quasar. Neil's eyes widened in astonishment.

"I must say, if I hadn't witnessed firsthand the power that the 2 of you possess, I most certainly wouldn't believe you. The proof even shows in your amazing recovery."

Solaris hadn't even given it any thought, but he was completely healed from the previous battle that was only about 2 weeks ago.

Romel clearly still had quite a ways to go with his recovery and was still walking on a crutch and had his arm in a sling, yet was still farther along than he would’ve been without the magic imposed on him.

Evening had fallen upon the manor, and the guests were tired, and or drunk. It was clear that most of there weren't fit to make the trip home. Solaris had them moved to separate rooms to stay the night in the manor. The manor, which was effectively a small castle, had no shortage of rooms.

This decision was called into question the following morning when madam angry nearly got into a fight with a maid. Neil and Solaris went to the scene to find the room a mess and the maid cowering in fear.

"Ma’am, what’s going on here? Also, I don't believe we caught your name." Neil said sternly.

"The name is Red, and she woke me up. I don't like being woken up" she replied with the familiar scowl returning to her face.

"Look, Red. I was nice enough to let you and all the other guests stay the night. This isn't a very good way to show gratitude. Not to mention your ruckus has woken up a few of the other guests." He pointed behind him to the yawning Andrew, and 1 of the random strong men who was with them during the escape.

"Oh, Neil, see if this guy and his other large friend would be interested in joining the guard or something. They seem like they would do well."

"Will do sir." Neil replied.

Solaris turned back to Red. "Now, if you have that much anger to burn off, run around the manor, spar with a guard, or go home and do… whatever it is you do to calm yourself down."

"Spar with a guard eh? How about the one standing next to you?" she pointed to Neil.

Solaris looked down at Neil's right ankle. "Not him, he's injured. Neil, go round up some of the bored guards, she can spar with some of them."

Neil went off to do so. The rest of the onlookers went back to their rooms and made their preparations to return home. About half an hour later, Red was seen exchanging blows with some of the guards in the east courtyard. She was in fact quite impressive to watch as she defeated 3 guards in a row in close combat. They walked away shocked and beaten.

Neil, Romel, and Solaris watched from the walkways atop one of the walls.

"She's good." Neil said.

"Aye" Romel replied. Solaris simply nodded in agreement.

"Oh, Neil, there were some things I've been meaning to ask you"

"Yes, my lord?" Neil said as he turned to Solaris.

"This city, isn't the human capital, right? I never got the chance to ask earlier. I've wanted to visit there for a while now."

"No, it is not. The capital of the entire human kingdom is the city of Fujima, to the northwest of here. It’s on the other side of the mountain range."

"I see. I shall take a trip there.”

Romel joined the conversation. "I won't be going anywhere for a while."

"Obviously" said Solaris with a laugh. "We'll stay here until you heal, then we'll head out on our journey again. Oh, Neil, can you let me know of any information regarding the elven prophecy of destruction, or anything about the mysterious woman I told you about?"

Neil nodded and bowed, and took his leave, just as Red finished defeating 3 more guards in an archery competition. She proved to be a better archer than close range combatant, and it was more appropriate to call the archery ‘competition’ a unilateral slaughter.

Solaris called down to her "You know Red, you really put those guards to shame! I must admit, I'm amused, and impressed."

"You wanna try me blondie?" She yelled back.

He clinched his fist, and noticed Romel's hand on his shoulder. "Don't do it, especially not when you're annoyed. You just got leadership of this place. You wouldn't want to get chased out by an angry mob."

Solaris looked down at the defeated guards sulking in the courtyard. "Maybe another time, or you could fight Romel when he heals."

"Hey, don't go volunteering me for fights against people!" protested Romel.

"You should be a good match, since both of you can take out these guards. At the very least, it should prove to be a more satisfying battle for her, and quite entertaining for me."

"I am so done with this conversation" Romel said as he hobbled off to his room.

Red somehow managed to take up residence in the manor, occupying her own room and building her own daily routine. No one thought to question it until she had already done so, and most of the maids and guards were too afraid to approach her about it. Eventually, Frith brought up the issue with Solaris and Romel, neither of who seemed to mind, so long as she didn't cause another scene such as she did on her first day there.

The 3 of them remained in the manor for the next few weeks, training and in Romel's case, recovering. He too began training with the guards once he was well enough to do so. He improved his combat skills a bit, and he took his first steps into the world of magic. The first spell he learned was a basic fire and heat defense spell. He figured it would prove essential to have in case Solaris got serious in combat. He started practicing more complicated spells to, such as the fire tornado that the old man used back in the escape. The result was a few explosions every so often. He was eventually asked to practice that spell off manor grounds, or at least in places that wouldn’t destroy buildings.

Red's skill with ranged weapons had become even more impressive. She was able to use various bows and crossbows with amazing accuracy, she wasn't too bad with a sword either. Romel ordered a set of light armor crafted especially for her, since their trip to the armory on that fateful day proved not very accommodating to many of the armor users.

Even Solaris practiced his swordsmanship. He wasn't quite as good as Neil, but his power was incredible. He made it a point to try and understand the skill he used during the fight with Eber as well, which, upon finding the time to sit down and look though Quasar's book, he found the skill to be called "gravity break". It manifested itself in different ways amongst the Flame Keepers. Laziness caught up to him before he finished reading the 2nd half of the skill description. Needless to say, he didn't make it to the rest of the book. He closed it and it again sealed itself as the minor activation of nova faded.

Several weeks after the battle, and after the rebuilding of the west wing of the manor had started, Romel and Solaris were ready to head out, back to the elven kingdom after receiving reports that no one seemed to be looking for them anymore.

They were ready to depart by carriage to Trystine, where they would again fly to Algarost. As they rode out, a thud was heard coming from just outside the carriage. Romel looked out the window to see an arrow sticking outside with a note attached. He signaled the driver to stop, and got out with his sword drawn. Solaris removed the arrow and inspected the note. It read:

"I get bored here, and it would be more boring with you 2 not around. I'm still waiting for that battle with you and Romel. I'm sure I'll be of help to you on your trip.

Sincerely,

Red

P.S.: In case that wasn’t clear enough, I’m coming with you. I shall be ready and outside in 5 minutes."

3 minutes after they finished reading the note, Red could be seen approaching the carriage, dressed in her armor and holding a shiny new bow.

"Who said you could come along?" Solaris asked her.

Romel added "You know this could be extremely dangerous. I've nearly died about 3 times traveling with this guy. Are you sure you want to do this?"

"I should ask you the same thing if you've been that close to death so many times. I'm adding myself to your party, and I can cook" Red said proudly.

Romel and Solaris looked at each other. Romel grinned “Oh, prove it. We skipped breakfast anyways”

“I swear to god if you ask me to make you a sandwich…” Red growled.

Solaris said as she walked off "We'd feel bad if you got hurt, even if you are excellent in combat. If you really are good at cooking, you can join us, this breakfast will determine that.”

A short while later, they were presented with breakfast, which they practically inhaled.

"This is amazing. You gotta show me how to make this" Romel said.

Solaris stared at the empty plate. "That was far better than anything either of us could've made. There wouldn't be any more would there?"

Red shook her head. "It was just sausage and eggs, nothing special at all, really. Anyways, the cooks here are pretty good, they taught me some things, the rest I'd picked up over the years. I was once a wife and mother after all."

Solaris and Romel's mouths nearly met the table.

"You were married, and had kids?!" Romel asked in surprise.

Solaris seemed equally shocked. "Why are all those in the past tense, you didn't lose your temper or anything did you?"

She looked at them both. "Of course not! As for why they are all past tense, I won't ruin a good meal with the story. Based on your reactions to the meal, I'd say it’s safe to say that I shall be joining you. I'll be waiting in the carriage."

“Geez, such a willful woman” Romel muttered.

“Better get used to it. Looks like she’ll be tagging along for a while” Solaris laughed.

Red groaned “What do you mean ‘tagging along’? I can carry my own weight just fine!”

“What do you mean ‘what do you mean’?” Romel grinned. “It sounded pretty obvious to me, you’re coming along… and about carrying your own weight…”

By the time Red noticed Romel’s slightly sinister smile, it was too late. Solaris was already beside her, and she was instantly picked up and held in his arms in a princess carry.

“Ahh! Put me down! Put me doooown!” Red screamed as she smacked him.

“Hey now! Careful or I might drop you. That being said, I can carry your weight too. You aren’t actually very heavy at all. Yo Romel, CATCH!”

“Huh?” Romel recovered from his stupor just in time to be hit by a flying Red. With no time to react, he did the only thing he could do, break her fall, by acting as a human cushion.

Solaris chucked “I suppose you can’t carry her weight”.

Romel and Red replied in unison “That’s cuz you threw her, you asshole!” and “That’s cuz you threw me, you asshole!” respectively.

Red picked herself up off Romel and helped him to his feet. They dusted themselves off, all the while, glaring at Solaris. They returned to their rooms for the time being, to let their breakfast settle and to make final checks for their belongings.

A butler brought them lunches for the journey to Trystine, and the 3 made their way back out to the carriage.

"Hey look!" Romel pointed to the front of the carriage.

"What am I supposed to be looking at?" Solaris asked. He saw Neil waving from the north gate. He yelled "You keep things under control while we're gone. Might be a while, just so you know."

"I will!" he replied.

Romel pointed again to the horses at the front of the carriage. "Recognize one of them?"
Solaris walked around to the front of the carriage. Frost was one of the 4 horses pulling the carriage.

"Looks like at least for now, we have yet another old friend with us." Solaris said as he boarded the carriage.

They signaled the driver and were off for Trystine. They bid farewell to Azidon manor, and the town, as they headed out in the noonday sun. Their journey had begun again.

They took a leisurely ride through Azidon, bidding those who passed farewell. The townspeople seemed much more cheerful with Eber out of power, probably due to the fact that taxes were cut and they had money now. It was bittersweet though as they passed Valencia and Andrew's house. They would be continuing their adventure, yet bidding the town farewell, and the uncertainty of their fates started to catch up to 2 of them. They would however, continue their journey. They left the Azidon area, bound north for the city of Trystine, which they made it to without incident about a few days later.They saw large plumes off smoke could be seen as they made their approach.

"That wasn't here the last time we were here" Romel said, pointing out the obvious.

"I wonder what's going on" Red added.

"We'll find out soon enough" replied Solaris.

The smoke became much thicker as they approached the skydock. They arrived to find that most of it was on fire. They stared in disbelief as dock workers raced to and fro trying to fight the fire.

"I suppose we should help." Romel said, captivated by the flames.

Solaris was already outside, standing next to the flames, dropping his head in them occasionally. This show of apparent stupidity from him came as a total shock to Romel, Red, the carriage driver, and even Frost, who all looked at him with mild concern.
Solaris turned around, he'd activated nova, and was staring at them with glowing eyes which perfectly matched the color of the flames behind him.

"What? I wanted to see what it tasted like." he told them, as if it were to be expected.

"Hun, is he alright in the head" Red asked Romel.

Well, I thought so, until a few seconds ago. He replied. He turned to Solaris, "Hey, flame face, stop tasting the fire and do something about it. Dumbass!"

"Watch your mouth boy!" Red scolded and smacked him. "And both of you do something about that fire!" She ordered them.

"Yes ma'am!" they each replied and nodded.

They went to grab shovels and buckets, Red included. Solaris went to ask about the cause of the fire which was determined to be caused by a corruption of a ships magical reactor. The core gem had to be removed, or the fire had to be put out with magic, or it would be incredibly difficult to stop. Solaris explained the situation to them. Romel's reaction was less than pleased.

"What do you mean 'we can't put it out'?!" Romel shouted as he stepped back from the flames. He cast the only spell he knew on both him and Red, the fire defense spell.

"A better question is, how big is the core gem? If it's not too large, I should be able to get it" Solaris replied calmly.

"Hun, you looked at that fire? It's pretty big. I don't think a person can just walk into that and come back out." Red looked at him with confusion and a bit of worry.

"You have quite a bit to learn, about both of us, as we have much to learn of you. I'll be back soon." He activated nova once more and walked into the flames, just as easily and carelessly as one would walk down the street. He soon disappeared from sight.

"Well, he apparently eats fire, and is of an ancient and nearly extict race of people who are based on the sun. I'd suppose he'd be fireproof too." Romel commented. "I will however admit, i didn't know he ate fire."

"He's what?!" Red asked while picking up her shovel and running off to some of the surrounded dock workers.

"I'll explain later, we gotta get those guys out first." He said as he followed her. The moved with little difficulty, as the spell he cast shielded them for the time being.
They rescued worker after worker who found themselves trapped in the flames. A total of 6 were saved. Meanwhile, Solaris made his way to the heart of the fire, still walking as if it was a pleasant spring day. He maneuvered around burning ships and dock parts searching for the core gem. It didn't take him long to notice the ship that was almost entirely gone. The flames around it were huge. He made his way towards it, but was knocked down by parts of the dock that were collapsing. It wasn't anything particularly dangerous to him, however it did manage to tear his already smoldering clothes.

"Damn, I'll have to buy more clothes." He muttered to himself as he pulled himself out of the pile of rubble. "Next time I'll have to ask that dragon for fireproof clothes I guess". He continued through the flames, getting closer to his goal. He could see it now, the core gem. It was cracked and radiating power, which burned anything that could be burned around it.

Solaris drew his sword and cut through piles of debris in his path. He finally made it to the core gem. He cut it from its bracing and bid farewell to the rest of his clothes as he did so. The only thing he had left on was the sheath for his sword, which he noticed when he put away his weapon his weapon. "So, what am I supposed to do with this?" he thought. He tasted more flames as he picked up the large crystal. It was large enough to require him to use both hands to pick it up.

He thought to himself, "I can't take this out of here, or more stuff will burn, and waiting for its energy to run out probably isn't a good idea either. Where's a high mage when you need one?" He took a look around. He could see in the flames without issues, however the magical energy from the crystal was blinding even to him. In addition, he noticed that it was hurting his arms. Nova protected him from most of the heat, but the raw magical power was in fact damaging him. He was slowly but surely being burned. It was totally new to him, and he didn't like it. He didn't have long to decide what to do with the blazing rock.

"This will be mildly embarrassing" he said as he decided his course of action. "It will also probably hurt, quite a lot" He stared up at the sky with the intention of throwing the crystal up, only to find that his feet were no longer touching the ground. He'd taken off using gravity break unknowingly. "This simplifies things a bit" he said as he continued his ascent, at a slightly faster pace.

"This damn rock is a nuisance" he said as he came to a stop quite a ways above the ground. He threw the gem higher into the air and drew his sword, just as the sheath and shoulder strap reached their last moments. They fell to the ground in flames as he few up towards the gem. He gave the mystical rock a mighty blow with his sword, which cracked it nearly completely through. In the span of a few seconds, he'd delivered strike after strike, reducing the crystal to mere shards of its former self. Each hit released huge amounts of energy, resulting in explosions which surely caught the entire town's attention. The shards fell to ground moments later, exhausted of their power. Solaris caught one of the stones, which was still glowing with energy, however, this one was much more manageable and he held onto it as he began his descent. He landed near the edge of the fire, which was now being fought back as the dock workers came over with shovels and buckets, and a few mages offered their assistance.

Romel was watching the explosions in the sky and ran to the carriage, grabbing another set of clothes for Solaris. He was waiting near the edge of the flames and tossed them to Solaris as he emerged from the fire.

"We really need to…"

Solaris finished his sentence, "…find me some fireproof clothes. Yeah, I know." He dropped his sword and tossed the stone to Romel, then caught the clothes and proceeded to dress himself, just as a crowd of onlookers realized where he was.

"Damnit, I was hoping to get dressed BEFORE this happened!" he said with a groan.
He was surrounded by a ring of rocks as he finished the sentence. A nearby mage had also witnessed the events unfolding and decided to help out a bit. He finished getting dressed and picked up his sword, then jumped out into the open. The surrounding crowd clapped and cheered as the fire behind them was starting to be fought back.

They continued to help fight the fire until it was put out that completely that evening. The party of 3 all learned against their carriage that night. Their driver walked up with 2 mean a moment later.

"You look like you were off to some place. If you were planning to take an airship, you are obviously out of luck. However, thank you for your help earlier. You actions saved many lives and homes." Said one of the men accompanying the driver.

"Anyways, it looks like you may be in need of a place to stay, I have an inn not far from here. You are welcome to stay as long as you like" said the other man.

"It may be a few weeks before the skydock is fully operational again. There is about 30% of the skydock that was undamaged in the fires. Those undamaged ships will likely resume the more important routes after the checks are complete to see if they are safe to fly." Said the first man.
"Thank you." Red replied, "Seems we'll be here for a while."

"If nothing else, recovering from today would be a good idea." Solaris said while inspecting the damage to his arms and chest from the stone. He looked up at the men. "Do either of you know of a place where I can get a new sheath, and maybe a place where I can have this stone's power added to a weapon?"

They both pointed down the road to a blacksmith's shop. "Thanks, I'll be back in a bit." He ran off dragging his sword behind him.

"That gem must've hurt him earlier, he never drags his sword like that" Romel noted.

"You 2 have some explaining to do." Red said as if she was preparing to interrogate him.

"Like I haven't done that before; we'll explain when Solaris comes back."

Solaris beckoned for them to come over to him. Upon reaching him, they noticed he'd bought a new sheath, thought it wasn't sure how long the sheath would be of use to him. His sword was cracked in various places, much like his last one. The fact that it was made from dragon's claws made it far stronger than a normal sword, even if it was badly damaged. The more impressive fact was that the sword was damaged at all. The blacksmith seemed quite surprised.

"I guess that means that large magical attacks are effective against dragons." Romel said with a surprised look on his face.

"Just because he's a dragon doesn't make him invincible. You should see him fight though. He hits hard, really hard." Solaris replied.

"What dragon? What are you boys talking about?" Red questioned.

"Red, may I see your bow?" Solaris asked, completely ignoring the questions.

"What for? Stop ignoring me!" She protested.

The blacksmith held up the stone. "I was asked to add this to the bow. It will give it some extra magical power. It will basically hurt more, and actually do some type of damage to armored creatures and enemies. If you do come across a dragon, it would be wise to do so".

Red handed over her bow with an annoyed look on her face. "Take good care of that, I like it."

The blacksmith nodded "Yes ma'am. It'll be finished in the morning. And don't worry about payment; I too witnessed all of your acts of valor today. This shall be free of charge."

"Wow, aren't we lucky!" Red said, smiling a bit. Romel and Solaris were still surprised, as they weren't used to seeing her smile.

"Well, it's been a long day. I'm off to that inn for the night." Solaris said as he sheathed his sword and headed towards the carriage. "Oh, by the way, as soon as my arms are better, we'll be heading off to Fujima."

Romel sighed. "This guy just doesn't know when or how to take a proper break does he?"

"Break?!" Red said, "We just left Azidon after being there for weeks. I don't blame him, I'm all for it."

Romel turned around and headed towards the carriage. The 2 men were still waiting for them. They all checked in for the night, and rested well. They spent the next few days exploring the town, or the parts of it that hadn't been incinerated. Most of the things they did were free out of gratitude for their efforts with the fire. They made sure to enjoy themselves.

3 days after the fire, they set out for Fujima, complete with a nice supply of food for their journey, a newly enchanted bow, and relatively fire resistant set of clothing for Solaris.

As they rode off, Red turned to Solaris. "So, about that dragon, and the fire, and…"

Romel interrupted her, "Yes, yes, we know. Solaris, we have to give the explanation… again."
"So, here's how it started…" Solaris said.

"We should be pretty good at this by now. We've have to explain a few times, especially Goldilocks here" Romel interrupted again.

"Hey, don't cut me off, you'll get your turn too!" Solaris glared at him.

Red smacked him. "It's not polite to interrupt, I ignored the first time."

Romel leaned over in the corner of the carriage as if he were put in time out. It was going to be quite a journey indeed.