A/N: This chapter is absolute dog shit, so fair warning about that. Also I know I haven't posted in a while but W R I T E R S B L O C K I S A B I T C H A N D A H A L F.

"Eetu, stop complaining. You walked into it. Literally." Zephrine rolled her eyes at her brother, who had stepped in some poison ivy and had rashes all up and down his leg.

"If you had warned me, I wouldn't have stepped in it."

"I thought you knew."

Eetu was always like this on long trips. He got flustered whenever things weren't moving quickly, and walking to Viâna with an injured dragon, was making very little progress. Five days, and they barely made it halfway through the canyon, all because Zephrine said Seyr needed to rest every ten hours.

"More poison ivy!" Zephrine called as Eetu approached a patch of it.

"Thank you." He stepped aside. "At least you warned me this time." He added under his breath.

"I heard that." Zephrine rolled her eyes.

"Kinda meant for you to."

Seyr flapped her wings in annoyance, up on top of the canyon, walking alongside the siblings. The floor was too thin for her to squeeze through, so she and Zephrine came to the agreement that she could walk up above with them.

"See, even Seyr's tired of you."

"Well, I wouldn't know that, would I? You're the one who can talk to dragons." Eetu snapped.

"Oh, you're gonna play that card?" Zephrine stopped, faking surprise. "I didn't even know I could until less than a week ago!"

"Zephrine... please." Seyr interjected. "It's not worth fighting over."

"Like hell it isn't!" Zephrine yelled back, before turning to her brother. "I'm just as confused about this as you are, I just took a more positive outlook! You should try it sometime, you'd be surprised at how much of a difference it'll make."

"I'm sorry that I'm just trying wrap my head around the fact that, not only is my sister a sorceress, but the rest of our family is dead."

Zephrine stumbled back like she'd been slapped. "Don't say that. They aren't dead."

"They have to be. I don't like it, but it's true."

"Zephrine! Now is not the time to fight!" Seyr flapped her wings again.

Eetu looked up toward Seyr, annoyed by the gust of wind that her wings generated, and saw, in the trees up ahead, a very small, very minuscule glint of metal, and part of the Callenda coat of arms.

Realizing the metal glint was none other than a crossbow arrow, he slowly shoved his sister behind him.

Then the arrow whistled through the air and the sickening thud of metal piercing skin sounded.