Stained in red

the Wind and the Waves.

Kassa fired, swirling in her anger. But she couldn't harness her emotions, couldn't control what she needed to. The Dragon stood atop the spear of cliff, her wings crinkled open like pieces of paper and then Aureus was on the platform of jagged rock along with the two Bloods.

I stood still for a minute, breathing in the salt in the wind that hummed along my scales. Then I leapt into position.

My claws unsheathed themselves and struck the stone with six long gashes. My teeth were bared, white as bones, and I squinted my eyes into two purple slits that held promise of all hell braking loose. I slashed my tail with such rathe and fury that every ember of power left in the sky was snatched into my jaws and snuffed into a bare ember.

The attention was drawn to me. My show of dominance and fury had worked perfectly.

And no one breathed. No one except for me, who gave a low growl and huffed big clouds of smoke into the aromatic wind.

Kassa looked like she was about to cry, the shivers not from the cold. And the Yellow Blood kept quiet, his face rock solid.

I made my claws click on the stone and leave gash marks and I prowled over to Kassa. Barely two steps had I made before my claws met her toes and I gazed upon her distraught face. I softened your harsh features and studied her.

The Eirth Bond fluttered in my chest. She closed her eyes. The pain of the magic had been numbed on her side, but the ripples then pounded over to me.

I renewed my snarl and gazed to Sarkon. I stared deeply into the lynx of his past. It looked up to me, it's frosty eyes gleaming with admiration and understanding. Like a teacher to a student he lowered his ears to his head and purred deep in his chest.

His plane face was no mask to me. I saw the terrified questioning soldier who peered at me with wary and caution. I felt his mouth go dry, I felt his tight stomach clench. I felt the twist of utter emotion. He was lost, for he was no longer a soldier. He was no longer a son. He was no longer a husband or a friend. But he was forgetting the love that still lay in Kassa's heart, deep under the power that now controlled her every move.

For her goodbye to him was still to come. And when she is to leave this world, her spirit will remain with him.

I growled. Picked Sarkon up with a sharp claw. Got Kassa with the other. And flew to Vatsweila. Leaving August and the rest behind.

The numb pain reminded me of what was still to come.

And each foot closer to Vatsweila reminded me of the reunion with Serta, Jax and Kassa. Hopefully they could drag her further from the well of power that she seemed to have buried herself in.

More pain. I knew that Kassa had discovered two of her other powers. The wind...And the Waves.