Dragons always look hazy at first, then as if the dew around the grass infuses your body with ability to see clearly vision focuses. I guess there is something you can learn from napping in the grass. Right around the time I can see clearly, see the dragon resting on the mountain I realize that I don't have to, mom is right behind me. "Yua!" She calls and pulls me into a hug and I get a good whiff of her perfume "Yua, do you know how much I love you dear?" I shake my head and say no. "Well I love you as much as you can imagine, if love were wingspan it would be bigger than that dragon's! Also not just you but Ryu and Father as well!" I thought about this for a moment before stating the obvious "Wow Mom that is a lot of love! Thank you so much for loving me!" And I go to embrace her even tighter when I realize that my arms are going through her that is mom is fading away. "Mom!" I cry out and I look up to see Mom favoring me with an ear-to-ear smile before she fades out completely, and not just here but the entire world fades to black…

… And then my eyes open. Everything is black because it is about 3 am judging by the position of the full moon. The warmth of Mom's smile and the smell of her perfume are replaced by the warmth of a campfire and the smell of a roasted fish. Ryu is cooking the day's catch. He notices that I am awake and gives a simple "How are you Patty?" before asking if I would like some fish. I politely decline and pull myself up to a sitting position and begin rubbing the sleep from my eyes. Whenever I have the dragon dreams I feel happy and sad at the same time and no sleep comes after one of those dreams. "So what are you doing up so early" I ask, "Bow is on watch right now," pointing to his back about 20 feet from us, cross bow raised. Ryu sighs and gives me a strange look, before sighing and saying "Well it is weird, I have this… dream about a … Dragon when I was a kid. In it I always see my, well my mom and she tells me she loves me and then it fades and I wake up. It leaves me feeling… complicated and I can't sleep. So I figured I'd try the fish I caught the other day." He pauses and turns the fish before over to finish it before starting again "What is weirder is that I have never told anyone else about this dream, not even Bow or Nina, yet I feel; I know that I can trust you with it. And it's not because you're an orphan to but because… because I just know, that's why."

I smile and feel warm at the feeling of connection and then, there is sudden stabbing of wince-inducing sadness. I don't know why but hearing this from Ryu makes me feel happy and sad at the same time, just like the dream. Things with Ryu just seem to fit, and after glancing over at Katt and Rand who are asleep literally sitting up back-to-back I realize that some people just click together. Then it hit me why, that Ryu reminds me of my actual brother Ryu who I have not seen in 10 years. With this realization I feel the sadness rushing at me, threatening to evaporate the happiness like they way Mom had evaporated in my dream. Desperate to escape this pit I turn to Ryu and say "I think I changed my mind about that fish, are you still offering?" Ryu responds with a simple "Sure" before cutting me off a piece. Dinner is always better with a friend, or a brother.

Epilogue

The next night Valerie Bateson visits both her children in their dreams. They are young like they were ten years ago so much so that she is able to sit and have her right arm around Ryu and her left around Yua. Her mouth is a radiant smile though tears come from her eyes to stain her cheeks. "I thank all the gods that ever were that my two children have reunited. Now with my prayer, they will meet Ganer again and now that they are amongst family."