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Azuri found himself back in his home forest. He couldn't believe that Florian guards caught him before he could get back to his friends. Were they okay? Is Queen Oasis cured of mind control? Do the guards know about them? Azuri thought to himself in panic. He couldn't go back to them now, he was going to be punished and he knew it. The Florian guards escorted him to a familiar part of the forest, noticing the small palace within the trees with a glow coming from the top. Usually, the queen sits up there on her throne. What was she going to think of him?

The guards take him inside the throne room, and he notices Queen Morfurn. She had a similar appearance to Azuri, with light blue markings running along her forehead and cheeks. She also appeared to be slightly larger than Azuri. Azuri noticed Uhrwerk and Sandstorm standing beside the throne, two guards by their sides. Sandstorm looked over to Azuri with a surprised expression before blurting "I promise that I didn't tell them that we were dating!" Her mouth scrunched as her eyes looked up to Morfern, who didn't appear amused at Azuri. Uhrwerk just looked at her for a second, before turning his attention to Azuri walking into the room.

Uhrwerk watches Azuri approach the queen, before the guards stop him three meters away from her. As silence fell upon the room, the queen looked down at him with curious eyes. "Azuri, your mother tells me that you ran away shortly after your house had a fire. She's deeply worried and angry with you." The queen's voice made Azuri feel a wave of shame and fear, causing him to cower slightly. "What do you have to say for yourself?" Azuri's gaze wandered back over to Uhrwerk, who was a little scared and was also cowering in fear. He was trembling a little as well, and Azuri could tell that he was on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Sandstorm on the other hand was pressing her claw up along her neck and wording out, "Can I kill her now?" One of the guards beside her looked down at her suspiciously. Her ears flopped down over her head and she retreated innocently behind Uhrwerk.

Azuri was looking into Morfurn's eyes with fear, "I uh..."

Suddenly, Azuri heard his mother's voice behind him, which caught him off guard.

"Azuri!"

He felt his stomach sink like a stone in water when he heard her walking up from behind. "There you are! Where in all of Lanta have you been?!"

Azuri gulped, and Beckar continued. "You have a lot of explaining to do, young dragon! 8 years old and you're already being taken to the Queen! I didn't think my son would become a criminal, particularly at such a young age--"

"Enough," said Queen Morfurn, "allow him to speak!"

Azuri begins thinking about how he should explain himself. He heard his mother being stopped by the guards behind him, forcing her to keep her distance. That's when he remembered the note that he still had with him. It was the first piece of evidence that could easily explain why he left. Though, how was he going to explain Uhrwerk? Sandstorm didn't need much of an explanation besides why she was going with them. Nobody really knew her that well, so it was more likely that the queen would let her go.

Then Azuri started thinking about Uhrwerk. Would she lock him up? Or would she release him back to the Luminian forest and tell him to never return? He had no other choice, he was going to have to tell the truth and hope she wouldn't throw Uhrwerk into the pit. He pulled the note out and unfolded it, rereading the writing silently. He noticed the queen's eyes widening at curiosity from the note in his claws. "I suppose I should begin with why I left," Azuri said with a tremble in his voice.

He reached out the note toward the queen, one of the guards coming over and taking it from him. They glanced down at the writing before handing it over to the queen.

Azuri then began to explain. "I found that note left behind in our house after the Stellarian attacked it. When I saw it, I thought it was a suspicious message." As soon as the queen finished reading it, she looked up into Azuri's eyes.

"Why did you think it was suspicious? And if you did, why didn't you turn it in for the guards to investigate?"

Azuri started to think back to those moments when he first saw the note. He couldn't remember the reason for why he didn't turn it in. Azuri knew that his mom taught him better than that. However, Azuri had the sinking feeling that maybe that wasn't the case. Azuri started remembering back to BossBiss and his mind powers controlling people. What if the note did the same to him? That wouldn't explain why BossBiss couldn't see into his mind though, or at least claim he couldn't.

"I..." Azuri started, trying to think of the right words, "I don't know, I just saw it and had a sinking feeling that I should investigate it without anyone knowing." His eyes looked over to Uhrwerk. "I was already doomed to be in trouble anyway..." The queen noticed his gaze directed toward Uhrwerk, which made her raise an eyebrow.

"Were you hiding him?" Her voice gave him shivers from that question, it was like the tone his mother would speak in when Azuri did something bad. "Shouldn't you know better than to trust Luminians, especially lone ones?"

"But your Majesty, there's something you should know about him," he started, looking at Uhrwerk again. "He's... not like most Luminians that you have heard of. When I found him, he was crying by a pond outside the forest and didn't have anywhere to go. He wasn't mean when I found him. If he was, then why did he save me from the fire that the Stellarian started in our house?" This made the entire room fall silent, even his mother. The queen looked down at the Luminian for a second, then gestured for him to stand beside Azuri.

The queen didn't say anything for the longest of time, then she finally sighed. "Tell me something, Luminian, and be honest with your response." Uhrwerk nodded to her, keeping his head bowed. "How old are you?"

"I-I'm eight years old," Uhrwerk replied nervously.

Queen Morfurn gave him a suspicious look. "Why were you near our side of the forest? Additionally, were you with anyone else? And who are your parents, if I may?" Uhrwerk gulped, glancing at Azuri with a little fear creeping down his neck.

"I... had nowhere else to go..." Uhrwerk started as he started rubbing his arm with his paw. "I don't have anybody left to take care of me, my mom and dad died recently... My mom was taking care of me earlier that day, but..." He stopped himself as a tear ran down his cheek. "S-she wasn't moving when I found her." The queen grunted an acknowledgement, lifting a claw to her chin and scratching it as she thought to herself.

She then hopped off the throne, slowly approaching the Luminian until she was towering over him. She raised a claw and used it to lift his chin to look up at her. She examined his expression and eyes for what felt to be forever. She then let go of his chin and took a step back. Her eyes wandered the room, like she was looking for something or someone. After a few moments, she made a deep sigh as she looked at Azuri, then his mother. "As much as I... Dislike... Luminians, I never once blamed the children of their tribe for their parents' wrongdoings to our own tribe. They merely followed in the footsteps of their elders." She declared out loud with a frown.

"As a result of that, I have no reason to believe that this Luminian is a threat. However, because he doesn't have anywhere else to go. I will allow him to stay here until I can--."

"Your majesty, wait!" Azuri interrupted. Queen Morfurn stopped and glared at him. "Yes, Azuri?"

"I just want to say that I offered him to stay at our house even though I knew you and my mom wouldn't like that idea. So, it was my idea for him to stay at my house. I promise you that he wasn't going into the forest at the time-"

Morfurn raised a claw to halt him.

"I understand. However, if your mother wants to adopt a Luminian, I cannot make that decision. That decision is entirely up to your mother." Her eyes glanced over to Azuri's mother, still behind Azuri's guards. "...And considering he's young and not a threat, I will personally be accepting of him staying at any Florian household. That is, at least until Luminia's ruler asks for him back to theirs. Though, if one dares to adopt him here, I may see about getting permission from their ruler. Of course, assuming the mother accepts such an offer..." The queen and the mother met eyes, Azuri looked back toward her. He had pleading eyes, hoping his mother would say yes.

However, his mother quickly shook her head. "No your majesty, I don't think I will accept the offer."

"But mom!" Azuri pleaded.

"Silence! She has made her choice, I will give Uhrwerk a place to stay until I can either find someone who will take him in, or contact his tribe to return him to them." That's when Azuri felt a wave of sadness and disappointment wash over him. After all of what he did and what his mother heard from Uhrwerk's own lips, he failed at what he wanted to do, to help Uhrwerk stay somewhere safe and grow up happy. Azuri had always wanted a playmate, brother, or friend, but that chance was gone now. Azuri's mother was too stubborn, too bullheaded to see the truth about Uhrwerk. Would she ever see the real him like he has? The queen gestured for the guards to take Uhrwerk out of the room, dismissing his presence. "Take him to the interrogation rooms for further questioning, and get in contact with the ruler of Luminia."

The guards began to chauffeur Uhrwerk away, and the queen turned to Azuri.

"With that being taken care of, explain to me what you were doing in Stellaris."

Azuri gulped. Oh dear, this was going to be a doozy. Azuri started from the beginning and what he saw at the palace. He told her about BossBiss and what he looked like. Azuri even talked about BossBiss locking him in a cell for no reason besides something about him incapable of seeing inside his head. Then, he talked about the mind powers and how they can be reversed by the Californian herb. He explained how he met Sandstorm and how she helped him save Uhrwerk and queen Oasis from BossBiss's mind control. He was about to go off tangent and talk about him stabbing BossBiss's eye, when another dragon walked through the doorway. "What's going on here?"

When Azuri heard the voice, his eyes widened in surprise. He knew that voice, he hadn't heard it in six years. The entire room turned their attention back to the doorway, where a familiar silhouette walked into the room. It took Azuri a second to focus on the figure. When he did, he couldn't believe his eyes. The dragon he was looking at in that exact moment was none other than his own father. He was still alive, Azuri hadn't heard about him since he left. Even Beckar's expression was frozen in shock, her mouth slightly agape as she faced her ex-husband. "A-Aphure?" Azuri's mother cried out in shock, still incapable of believing her eyes of what was right in front of her.

Aphure stopped a few meters in, halfway from Azuri's mother. The both of them stared at each other, neither moving for what felt like ages. Finally, Aphure turned his head toward Azuri in front of guards near the queen. That's when his eyes widened at the sight. "Azuri? What's going on here, Morfern? Why is my son here?"

"Aphure, please wait by the doorway. We aren't done here, I'll explain it to you afterwards." Aphure went silent, taking a few steps back until he got to the doorway. The queen cleared her throat as her eyes looked down at Azuri again. "Anyway, from what I can gather about your story. It appears you have been quite busy with this 'BossBiss' dragon that you suppose is evil, am I right?" Azuri nodded his head. "I see..."

Her eyes go back up toward Aphure. Her expression seemed like she was currently piecing together the information in her head. "I will say Aphure, your son reminds me a lot like you. Running straight into danger without thinking about the consequences." Azuri looked back toward his dad, who just stood by the doorway with an uninterested expression and rolling his eyes. He eventually turned his head around and looked outside from the doorway.

When Azuri met Morfurn's eyes again, she had a half smile now. "Well, before I come to my final verdict, I must ask Sandstorm to come forth, I just want to hear your point of view on all of this." The guards pull Sandstorm over beside Azuri.

Sandstorm instantly turned to him and whispered into his ear. "You don't think I can get in trouble for attempted murder, right? She's not exactly my queen." Azuri shrugged his shoulders. Sandstorm turned to the Queen with a sheepish smile, but Queen Morfurn was unamused.

"Sandstorm, may I ask how old you are?" Azuri glanced over to her for a second. He thought she was about the same age as him. However, he was surprised when he heard her response.

"I'm ten and a half." She informs the queen with the sheepish grin.

"Hm, and where do you live?" Sandstorm appeared to hesitantly answer her, scratching the back of her neck.

"Vaermia, I live with my mom and dad." The queen nodded.

"I see, the one with only the military running the place, right?" Sandstorm nodded to her. "What was your intention of helping Azuri and Uhrwerk?" Sandstorm took a second to think to herself, Azuri could tell that she was trying to find the right words to say.

"Well, I first met Azuri by bumping into him when he was flying away from Stellaris. I was kind of wondering what was going on there, and Azuri told me that it wasn't safe. So when he said that he was going back to save his friend, I decided to come with him so I could protect him." The queen raised an eyebrow.

"Protect him?" Azuri could tell that the queen wasn't believing that last part. Obviously it had to do with their ages, but Sandstorm was older than him and Uhrwerk. One could assume that it wasn't too hard to believe that she could protect them.

"Yes, I was trained very well back in Vaermia. My parents made sure I could fight any dragon that stood up to me." The queen just scoffed at her, like she wasn't believing Sandstorm's words.

"And why should I believe you," the Queen asked incredulously, "particularly considering you are, if I have this right, 10 years old?"

"Do you want me to show you the corpses that I've personally killed? My parents buried them for me when I slit their throats. It's pretty disturbing if I'd to be honest." Sandstorm appeared to be happy to admit this, it was like she's been waiting to tell the truth to someone for a long time. "I could always just ask my parents to come here and tell you themselves. I'm sure they'd love to show you." She grew a large menacing grin.

The queen's expression grew a little disturbed by her openly admitting her murders to her, especially as a ten year old. "I think I've heard enough, you're dismissed for now."

Sandstorm grinned proudly at her, before whispering into Azuri's ear. "I'll be waiting outside for you." She started to leave the room willingly, the guards not escorting her out. As she passed by Aphure, she glanced at him before walking past. Azuri kept his head lowered before looking up to Morfurn.

Once Sandstorm left the room, the queen raised an eyebrow down at Azuri. "Should I ask why you're hanging around with a serial killer?" Azuri could feel a shiver down his spine from the question.

"I uh..." Azuri started, not sure what to say without possibly getting in trouble, "I didn't know she was when I met her. She seemed nice so I let her tag along."

"Are you sure?" The queen asked, her eyebrow still raised as Azuri nodded his head. "Hmm..." Morfurn finally lowered her eyebrow, clearing her throat. "I think I have settled on my final decision. Azuri, you will be sent to jail until we can investigate further and come up with more conclusive evidence. We must ensure you don't run off and make more trouble for yourself." Azuri could feel the entire world crumble around him. The guards beside him grabbed his arms and started to escort him out through another passageway. Azuri turned his head back to look at his mom, who's eyes were fixated on him with deep disappointment, anger and even disgust. Azuri saw his father still by the doorway, watching Azuri being taken away. Azuri couldn't read his father's face, so he just watched himself being taken away.