I explained everything that we talked about to Mitch and the others and they understood. I refused their offer to take me to the skies to look. If we're going to be hauling a dragon I don't think it's smart to use any of our fuel, especially since we don't know yet how far we'll need to carry them. They got to work on getting a couple of large nets ready. One for the ship to carry and one for Nirosa to carry.

I borrowed some hiking gear and set out right away. I'll do my best to follow the old river path back to it's source. Hopefully there is still enough of a depression in the ground to make it all the way there. If not I'll just have to use my instincts and knowledge to find my way.

Jordan and Mira decided they were coming with me without asking me if I was okay with that. Still it lightened my load a bit since Mira grabbed the climbing gear and Jordan decided to carry the medical supplies and food. I had the tents and utensils. That might sound unbalanced, but climbing gear for three people wasn't light and neither was food and medical supplies for not only us, but the dragons as well. We are expecting either injured or sick dragons so we had to be prepared.

Hopefully we'll find the dragons and explain everything to them, then make it back before Nirosa arrives. Mitch said he'd explain things to the villagers while they're away, but he's still worried Nirosa showing up might make the village uneasy. He decided to send her a quick message explaining everything and that if she does arrive before he gets back to try and not freak them out. He paused for a moment when she answered him back. She simply said she understood and promised to be careful.

"Something on your mind, Zion? You stopped walking and look lost in thought," Mira said. He waved her off and explained he was just communicating with the dragon that was coming to help them.

"I've been wondering about that, Zion. I mean if you are able to communicate with dragons over a long distance, then why not reach out to these Dragons the same way?" Jordan asked.

"It's not possible to do that right now. I'm not able to do long distance communication with Dragons who haven't given me their names yet," I replied.

"Couldn't you have asked their son back there to give you their names to make it easier?" Mira asked.

"No. A dragon's name is important to them and shouldn't be freely given to just anyone, especially not without their permission. From what I understand, giving their name to someone, especially a Whisperer, is like handing that person some control over them and shouldn't be taken lightly. To earn a dragon's name is like earning their trust or respect," I said, trying to explain it as best I could.

"I see, but don't you keep a journal of the dragons you meet? If it's really that important then aren't you afraid someone might steal it or read it?" Jordan asked.

"As possible as that might be, it's important that I have a way to keep track of their names. If I accidentally call upon the wrong one, then I might accidentally call a fire dragon instead of a water dragon to put out a fire, for example," I said. He had to admit that definitely would be an inconvenience.

"Still though you'd better do everything you can to make sure your book doesn't end up in the wrong hands. If their names hold some kind of special power over them, then who knows what they would do with Elder Dragon's names," Mira said.

"I won't let that happen. Lana and her alone knows where I keep it hidden. If anything at all were to ever happen to me she knows to burn it right away. If for some reason she can't bring herself to, then I know you two and even Mitch will do what needs to be done," I said. They nodded firmly, understanding the task should the need arise.

After a long walk they came to a fork in the ground indentations. After some observations we decided to go up towards the mountain rather than down towards the more heavily forested area. After all if you want to find the source of a river or lake look for the higher elevation. Water never flows upward, mainly downward.

After a little while more of walking they started to see water and eventually came to a pond or small lake, which was clearly a whole lot bigger before than it was now.

"I see, they're probably weak because the lake has significantly decreased, meaning their food source has diminished as well," Mira mumbled. He nodded in agreement.

"I don't see any dragons. Do you, I don't know, sense anything?" Jordan mumbled. I shook my head telling him that I don't sense anything yet. Could they be further up stream? Maybe at the source itself?

"We should climb up, they could be up higher and if not then we might at least get a better view of the area," Mira said and I had to agree with her.

As we reached the top of the ridge we were startled by a young flying dragon that flew right over our heads. I had to catch Jordan from losing his footing and falling over the edge. That surprised all of us. The young dragon wasn't as young as Soranos, but certainly wasn't full grown either.

"I'm willing to bet we'll find the Dragons we're looking for in the direction that dragon just came from," Jordan said. I had to admire how calm he sounded, even though he nearly fell. We pushed on ahead once we were sure that young dragon wasn't going to attack us. Had it even seen us to start with?

We came to another lake/pond area and I instantly could tell there were dragons here. Not only because we could see them, but I could feel quite a few more that I wasn't expecting.

"Humans?!" I heard one yell out in warning, but also in confusion. Their reactions were all understandable and they distanced themselves pretty quickly.