Haku, king of all dragons

The next morning the march resumed as usual. The patrols had found no trace of Carrion, and as a result it was now virtually certain that he had indeed been disintegrated. Luckily none of the patrols were lost, so there was no need for the dragons to go looking for them; all returned an hour before sunrise, and by dawn the beastmen broke camp and moved on. For the next few days there were no hitches; the greatest danger they encountered was a group of sand sharks which were quickly eliminated without much effort on their part. With no more Carrion chasing them and with the Thul Oasis now very close, everyone's morale was skyrocketing. Everyone was convinced that the journey would soon be over and that they could finally really build a new home. After all, even the most intrepid of that huge group were tired of travelling, including the dragons themselves. They wanted to be able to finally settle somewhere and think about building a new future.

Finally, after a few days of walking, even the beastmen were able to notice a glint in the distance. It was the reflection of sunlight on the crystalline water of the Thul Oasis. They had finally arrived. A few more kilometers and they would have made it! That sight was greeted with cries of joy, and such was the satisfaction that the beastmen even accelerated their march, ignoring any kind of tiredness, and if Zamor and the other leaders hadn't stopped them they would have even started running towards the oasis just to get there as quickly as possible. Fortunately both the lizardman and all those in command knew very well that such an action would only cause confusion and risk losing someone along the way, or even someone falling and being trampled by others, so they preferred to continue on with an orderly march and not terribly fast. Even at that pace, after all, they'd be at the oasis by the end of the day.

Haku had found himself watching the Thul Oasis sitting on top of a dune. He had waited so long to be able to reach it: a placid and isolated sanctuary in which he and his family could live peacefully for the next few years, until they reached adulthood and then climbed the first rung of the food chain. And finally, they had arrived. Way behind schedule, but they got there. Even if in a slightly different way than he had imagined; he hadn't expected to have to share their new home with thousands of refugee beastmen when he'd prepared that plan. But after all, many things had changed in those two years. His family now had new priorities, new interests, new friendships. And while he didn't fully endorse some of their picks, it was his duty to support each of his siblings in them. Even at the cost of building a new company from scratch, piece by piece.

He was alone for a while, then the sound of footsteps jolted him from his thoughts. He looked down and saw Rhaegal climbing the dune beside him. "Hey" he greeted him. "Our sisters have sent me to make sure you don't sit here too long. The caravan is moving on"

Haku let out a chuckle. "We both know we can reach them in minutes. The newcomers are awfully slow, even when they try to be fast" he said, then let out a sigh. "I was just reflecting. Think how far we've come, Rhaegal. In the end, despite all the obstacles, we got there"

Rhaegal smiled. He knew how much that victory meant to Haku. His brother had always wanted to make sure that everyone in the family survived, at least until they reached adulthood, so he could spit in their mother's face who claimed that only the strongest of the litter would survive. Instead, working together they had managed to go far further than many dragons had since the end of the second sun catastrophe. They had remained together, they had remained a family, and now before them was the possibility of living a peaceful life for the next few years. Then one day they would have to make some changes… but for now, they could finally breathe a sigh of relief and rest. There, in the middle of that desert, no one would ever bother them. "Yes, it's really beautiful. I wish our sisters could see it too"

Rhaegal was referring to Maldor, Kotaru, Malchia and Sisna, who being in hibernation did not even know that they had managed to get there. Even Haku felt a bad taste in his mouth thinking about it, but he knew that for Rhaegal it was worse: after all, from his brother's perspective, it was his fault that they had to stay in the realm of humans. "Someday they'll see it too" he assured him. "Maybe when Isaac has perfected the communication devices we could get him one. That way we could hear their voices again and show them what the place is like. In the meantime, let's make sure we turn that oasis into the best home possible, so we won't bad impression when the time comes"

Rhaegal smiled at his brother's joke. "Yes, you're right" he said, then his face became more serious. "You weren't just thinking about that, were you?"

"You know my head is always full of thoughts" Haku replied, but his claws dug slightly into the sand in a clear sign of tension.

"Haku, you know what I mean. I've been seeing you in a state of constant anxiety for days, we've all noticed it. You need to stop thinking about what that spirit told you" Rhaegal said. "I don't know what that strange sentence means... but I don't think you should think about it. Just hearing it gave me chills. It's disturbing. If you keep thinking about it, you'll end up going crazy"

Ever since Inpu had told Haku about the 'great resurrection', the dragon had been particularly restless. He couldn't understand what that sentence meant and above all what repercussions it would have had on the mortal world and consequently on his family. He couldn't get the fact out of his head that it was something very important, but he couldn't figure out why. He had questioned Inpu every night in the hope of gleaning more, but the spirit hadn't been much help as he didn't know anything either. "So you want me to stop and forget?"

"No, I know you could never do that. I only ask that you suspend your research until you have more information or find a way to get it" Rhaegal answered. "Thinking about it now that you know next to nothing will only wear you down. So there's no point in continuing to focus on this thing. One day we'll capture another spirit and talk to him, or we'll come up with something else, but for now there's nothing we can do. And then... Inpu said there wasn't much time left, but he had heard that phrase several decades ago, right? For all we know 'not long' for these creatures could be thousands of years. Nonsense think about it now, focus on more pressing issues. We're finally here, now we just need to settle down. And that's what we need you for"

Haku snorted. Perhaps the brother was right. At the moment he had far too few clues. "You are talking like Darbi now" he said jokingly. "By the way, where is he?" he asked then, realizing the absence of his brother who had rarely failed to show up in their 'discussions between boys'. Even when they wanted to talk privately he found a way to intervene.

Rhaegal gave a sheepish look. "At first our sisters wanted to ask him to come find you but he was... busy digging a hole"

Haku looked at him confused. "Why was Darbi digging a hole?"

Rhaegal raised a paw in front of his face and shook his head in disappointment. "That friend of him, Brenno... when he sighted the oasis he took a mug of beer from his personal stash and swallowed it in one go. It was a rather strong beer and in fact he got drunk, and in full of the hangover asked Darbi to prepare the place for his burial, because where having tasted such joy there was no longer any sense in continuing to live since he had reached the ecstasy of pleasure"

"And Darbi did it!?"

"Well... he's Darbi"

"Nobody tried to stop him? Our sisters? Maybe that lizardman who is also their friend?"

"They are currently betting on whether Brenno will really get buried or not"

Haku let out a long sigh. It was a ridiculous situation, but at least his family was having fun. He only wished Darbi had enough sense to avoid actually burying his friend, or at least digging him out before he could choke to death. "I'm starting to have doubts about the friends our brother hangs out with" he said jokingly. "And you? What about yours?"

Rhaegal was caught off guard. "What about mine?"

"Oh, come on, brother. I don't understand much about these things, but I noticed that those five humans with whom you, Serengal and Corgorin were so close before now have become more... distant, let's say" Haku replied. "Did something happen between you?"

Rhaegal let out a soft growl. He, Corgorin, and Serengal had not spoken to the five adventurers since their exploration of the underground. Efren had occasionally come to him and tried to mediate, but the other four didn't want to have a dialogue with those who didn't consider them worthy of trust. And sadly for Rhaegal, unfortunately Serengal and Corgorin had also recently become more hostile, since they thought that the adventurers were overdoing the situation. He sighed; sometimes it seemed to him that he and Efren were the only two adults in their group… which wasn't even true, since he was technically just a kid. "We had a discussion about the concept of trust"

"What happened?" Haku asked him. "If you explain it to me, maybe I can..."

"No thanks. This is something I have to sort out myself" Rhaegal replied. While he wouldn't have disdained some advice, he didn't want Haju to know that they had given their blood to the five humans. He didn't want to have another discussion about safety and caution.

Haku was a little annoyed, but decided to respect his brother's privacy. After all, it was only right that he solve problems like that on his own. "Well, I understand you want to act on your own, but still remember that I'm here if you ever need advice...although, considering the problem and my abilities in interpersonal relatinoships, you'd most likely do well to go to the brother who is currently burying a drunken minotaur in the sand"

Rhaegal laughed heartily as he heard those words. "Put it like that, it doesn't sound very encouraging... but you're actually right. Amazing to say, Darbi is the best at this kind of things" he said. "Thanks, brother. It's good to know you're always here to help"

"Well, that's what brothers are for, isn't it?" Haku replied.

Rhaegal nodded smiling. "Right, brothers exist to help each other. So I'll help you now" he said. "I'll make you forget what that stupid spirit told you. Let's go have some fun. What do you say? A good hunt like in the old days? After all, we still have to bring Zamor that sand worm we promised him"

Haku had to admit that actually, that would have been a great way to distract himself, at least momentarily, from the annoying thoughts in his head. However, he didn't really want to go hunting anything, since they had technically not done so even a week ago. So he opted for another possibility. "What if we go exploring instead? The Thul Oasis is ahead of us and we both can't wait to see what it's really like. We could take a nice run over there and have a look. So we'll also get the best place to sleep"

"A scout mission, huh? I like it" Rhaegal replied satisfied. "Since today we are just brothers having fun, shall we also bring the buryer of minotaurs with us?"

Haku nodded. In fact it would have been more fun with Darbi. They wouldn't mind having that little 'adventure' between brothers, and as a result they couldn't leave the funniest member of the team behind. "Let's go get him right away" he confirmed, and the two immediately started running to catch up with the rest of the caravan and go and get Darbi.