Rowan awoke to the beams of sunlight leaking through the cracks in the barn walls. "Ketara?" he yawned. Rowan rubbed the sleep from his eyes and looked around the room. Ketara was nowhere to be seen. "She's probably out for her morning flight." He thought as he got to his feet and returned to the house to check on everyone.

"Hello anyone home." A delicate voice asked as she opened the door

Astraea walked out of the kitchen with a mug in her hand, froze as she saw the newcomer, and put a hand on her sword. "Who are you?" she asked eyeing the girl up and down.

"Have you seen Rowan around?" the girl asked.

"No, I haven't." Astraea scowled as she took a sip. "Who are you again?"

"I'm Rika, Rowan's sister. I was away at school."

"Oh," Astraea relaxes slightly as she sat on the sofa "Where is Rowan, anyway?"

"Who knows? He will show up soon," Rika shrugged, "I have a surprise for him."

"I better go check on Katrina and Astraea hopefully they are on the mend." Rowan said aloud. He yawned, stretched and proceeded to the house.

Rika walked to the kitchen and poured herself a cup of coffee. She sat on the couch with Astraea. Drank the coffee and continued to chat.

"Surprises are always fun," Astraea smiled. "What lessons are you taking?"

"I have been training with a blade and learning to control my dragon. He is off on his routine flight." Rika went on.

Astraea whistled "Excellent choices."

"Rowan might not like that I have dated in school. I don't want to talk about that. Plus I missed the farm." Rika said

"Well you should tell him to mind his own business," Astraea scoffed.

Rowan approached the door to the sound of voices and the smell of fresh coffee. "How is everyone faring today...Ri...Rika! Oh, my goodness I am so glad to see you,"

Astraea turned to Rowan, "I took the liberty of making coffee hope you don't mind."

"I'm surprised to see you up and about Astraea. How are you feeling?"

"As if I've been stabbed," she grimaced "But really I'm feeling well."

Rika jumped up and hugged Rowan to death. Rowan wrapped his arms around he and squeezed her tight.

"Sister, I have missed you so. How is your learning going?"

Astraea quietly slipped out of the room to check on Katrina and the others.

"Good, plus I have dragon!" Rika exclaimed. "He is out on flight for now."

"A dragon?!? How did you find a dragon?" Rowan inquired shocked by his sister's revelation.

"I found a dragon egg while I was at school. They had a class for learning about dragons." Rika declared.

"I see..." Rowan looked skeptical but accepted Rika's response. "And what is his name? I wonder what Ketara will think."

"His name is Spike, Rowan," Rick went on.

"That's an interesting name choice. What type of dragon is he?" Rowan asked still excited about the news.

"He is a lighting dragon," Rika said with a smile.

Astraea came back after seeing that the others were still resting, "Speaking of which, I have to tell you guys something, but I can't seem to decide whether to wait until the others are awake or not."

"Astraea if the message is of importance it may wait until the others awake." Rowan suggested.

"Yes you're right," Astraea replied muttering under her breath she added, "We will need all the people we can get"

Katrina awoke to voices outside the door. "Ugh. Why is it so loud?"

"A lightning dragon you say..." Rowan turned to see Katrina in the doorway of the bedroom, "Lady you shouldn't be up and about yet. Your wound can hardly have had any time to heal."

"Yes, I got lucky. Oh yeah. He is young dragon. He likes to sleep in my hood." Rika continued

"Such a small dragon needs extra care. How long have you had him?"

Astraea rose from the couch to take Katrina back to bed. "You seriously shouldn't be up yet."

"About one year. But he is my best friend." Rika said

Siobhan walked out of the bed, rubbing sleep from her eyes.

"Siobhan, tell me some good news, did Cathal die in his sleep?" Astraea said half seriously.

"No, I'm quite alive, thank you." Cathal's voice came from the other room.

"Clearly he didn't die in his sleep," Siobhan said rolling her eyes.

Astraea scowled, "Clearly. Who was that wolf with Katrina?"

"His name is Sephtis, he's a shapeshifter," Siobhan answered.

"That's why he could talk!" Astraea exclaimed at the revelation. "I've heard of them but never actually met one."

Sephtis walked in the front door with a few carrots in his hands. "Hello. I see everyone is up." He said crunching into a carrot.

"I tried to put Katrina back to sleep but..." Astraea said but Katrina cut in.

"No. I need to be out here."

"Fine," Astraea conceded.

"I see." Sephtis replied rushing to Katrina, "You should really be in bed!" He snapped

"How is your wound Astraea?" Katrina inquired ignoring Sephtis.

"It's healing," Astraea said placing her hand on the bandage. "How's yours?" She pointed.

"That's good to hear." Katrina looked down, half forgetting that she had been injured, "I'm fine. No need to worry. Sephtis I'm fine." She said. Sephtis gave her a disapproving look.

"Now that everyone is up, I have to tell you all something." Astraea declared.

"Yes?"

"Rowan, I'm going to relax for a bit." Rika said picking up her bag and heading off to her room.

"That's a good plan Rika, I'm sure your journey was long." Rowan turned to Sephtis. "Seph what's with the carrots?" he asked trying to ease some of the tension in the air.

"Why not carrots? I needed a snack." Sephtis replied a slight smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.

"The real reason why I've come to these woods is the Bandit Camp. A few weeks ago, the Dragon Masters of Volatia had a robbery. Two of their dragon eggs were stolen along with a pretty substantial amount of gold. They called in the favor I owed them to get the eggs back. Now, I don't think Rolf knows that he has two dragon eggs in his hands, but we can never know for sure. I was confronted by bandits on my way here. Most of them are now dead, but one of them got away, same one who shot the arrow at me. I was coming here to warn you. Rolf doesn't like anything powerful that doesn't belong to him... and your dragon Ketara is pretty powerful. It's also fun to piss Rolf off so, two birds one stone." Astraea warned.

"So you're a bandit?" Katrina asked.

Astraea scowled at her, "Whatever gave you that idea?" she snapped, "I'm here to destroy the Bandit camp not become a part of it."

"S-sorry," Katrina stammered. She began to wobble and griped her wound.

Sephtis caught her before she completely lost balance. "You should sit at least." He eased her on to the couch.

"Shit! I didn't mean to..." Astraea staggered trying to get to Katrina's side. "Fuck! Katrina are you okay?" She reached out and took her hand.

"Lady are you alright?" Rowan asked.

Katrina nodded her ascension.

Satisfied that Katrina was ok Rowan said, "I've never heard of Rolf, but if he has these eggs, we need to rescue them somehow. The need proper care or they will never hatch.

"Rowan I know that. Dragons are rare, but that is not the only problem. He is a bandit lord; it's pretty dangerous if he has dragons.

"Well we need to save those little guys." Katrina urged.

"We do," Astraea agreed.

"We should start planning today and soon." Katrina implores. "We will free those little eggs."

"But you need to get better first," Astraea protested.

"I'll heal. Those eggs need to be in a safe place before they can no longer grow." Katrina declared. She tried to stand up, but fell back unto the couch.

Astraea looked into Katrina's eyes, "Look, they do need proper care, but they're not the only ones who do. You helped me, and I'm going to help you. It's bad enough that the dragon eggs are with that asshole, but there are actual dragons in the vicinity. If Rolf gets the idea that there are dragons here, he will stop at nothing to make them his, or kill them."

"This is not something we can rush into; we need to have a proper plan." Rowan stated. "Astraea do you remember where the camp is? Perhaps we can scout it and see just how much Rolf knows."

"I got pretty close to it. Astraea affirmed.

"I don't need worried over," Katrina argued. "We need to focus on the dragons. We need to plan this and strike." Rowan is right maybe we send in a spy?"

"A Spy? We should send Cathal, he's dispensable." Astraea said shooting Cathal a look.

Rowan looked at both of the injured women, "Both of you need to heal. If we are to face the bandits, we will need you to be functional."

"Agreed," Sephtis said, "Both of you need to rest and take care of yourselves."

"No, I have a job to do, and I'm going to do it." Astraea said rising to her full height and grimacing.

"You can't do it if your dead!" Sephtis growled more wolf than human.

"I didn't ask for your opinion man-I-just-met," Astraea snapped glaring at Seph.

"Perhaps Seph would make the best choice as he can transform and would be less likely to be suspected." Rowan suggested. "I mean if you feel comfortable with that Seph."

"I could. I have experience at being undetected. Of course" Sephtis nodded. Noting Astraea's clear frustration he said, "Don't glare at me like that."

Astraea turned away. "Well we could do that... but I'm still not keen on sending a spy in." she back peddled.

"Why not?" Rowan demanded.

Katrina started, "W-why... Seph..." and began nodding in and out.

Sephtis rushed to Katrina, "I'm taking her back to the bed. I'll be back." Lifting her in his arms he carefully took back to Rowan's room.

"I don't know, Rolf is pretty shrewd" Astraea went on, "If he even thinks something is off..."

"I have experience. I can deal with anything." Sephtis said retuning to the main room.

"Are you sure?" Astraea entreated.

"I am positive. I'll become friends with them, while you make a plan to retrieve the eggs." Seph assured her.

"We need this to work, we're going to have to kill a Bandit so that Seph can take his place. Can I suggest the asshole who shot the arrow at me?" Astraea smirked.

Sephtis shook his head, "That is too risky. It would be better if I convinced Rolf, he needs another member to become the strongest."

"You'd need to find out where they hide their loot, Seph."

"Yeah. I'll make sure to get you the information I find."

"So we're not killing?" Astraea pouted.

"No killing." Seph repeated, "It would tip him off that something is wrong."

"Fine," Astraea huffed, and then whispered to herself, "I'll just kill him during the raid."

Sephtis glared at her,

"What? Astraea asked innocently shrugging her shoulders.

"Nothing Astraea." He said shaking his head.

"It's settled then Seph will find the camp and report back here." Rowan said.

"Okay I'll show him the way," Astraea nodded.

"Indeed, Rowan." Sephtis assented. "First I need to do something." Sephtis left the house running into the woods. He returned minutes later looking like he was in a fight. "Okay. Let's go!"

"What did you just do?" Astraea began to ask, but not wishing to waste more time said, "Never mind."

"I just strengthened my story," He smiled.

"Oh good thinking. Wait...Did you kill someone? Without me?!" Astraea asked incredulously.

"No! What is with you and killing?" Sephtis asked exasperated.

"A girl's gotta do something to kill her boredom," She shrugged. "Let's just go."

"Sure," he sighed, "I just got a few new bruises and a reputation," he smirked. "Let's go."

Astraea narrowed her eyes "Men and their reputations." She thought.

Rika returned from her room after overhearing the conversation.

"Rowan do you guys need help, I'm willing to help." She pleaded.

"I don't think that'd be a good idea Rika. If something should go wrong... I could never forgive myself..."

"I will be fine brother," She looked at him a moment then conceded, "Well if you need extra manpower I am here."

"Thank you sister. We will know more when Astraea and Sephtis return. Hopefully..." Rowan said kissing her on the forehead.

"Welcome," she whispered. "I might as well go find Spike."

"That is probably for the best. I'm sure Ketara will love to meet him." Rowan sat down at the table with a cup up coffee, hoping that his friends would be safe.

Rika left the house to look for a spike, wishing that her brother would trust her more. After all, she was not a kid anymore. She walked out to the open field past the barn and called for Spike. She waited for a few minutes, until he landed on her head.