Astrid started a fire for Dev, and while the fish was cooking, Dev went to get water. When he returned, the ghost dragon was surprisingly still there.

“Where do you live?” Dev asked politely, turning the fish.

“Oh…” Astrid gazed in the direction of the other caves. “Somewhere over there, I think. And you?”

“I—” Dev stopped abruptly. “I guess I don’t live anywhere anymore.”

“That must be nice,” said the dragon wistfully. “It’s what we ghost dragons all want. To disappear. Not to be stuck here in the cavelands forever. There’s nothing to do. Endless waiting.”

“I haven’t exactly disappeared,” Dev pointed out, but the dragon seemed lost in thought. “I… I still exist.” Though for a split second, Dev wondered if it were true. If everyone thought he was dead, did he actually still exist? Who decided a person’s status in life or death? The person himself? Or others who report it? The thoughts troubled him. He certainly felt like he existed, although insignificantly.

Abruptly Dev changed the subject, turning to some of the questions about the images he’d seen, figuring it was worth asking a ghost dragon about them. “Do you know where the big bulbous palace is? It’s purple and orange and red, with gold that caps all of the turrets and rooftops. It’s very beautiful.” He pulled the fish off the fire and dropped it to the ground in front of him to cool, burning his fingertips in the process.

The dragon turned. “The palace,” she mused. “I haven’t thought of it in many years. Yes, it’s just over there.” She pointed with her tail to the south.

Dev turned to look, seeing nothing but cavelands and desert, and mountains beyond that. “Where?”

“On the other side of that mountain range, about a half day’s journey. It’s the land west of the crater lake, where Ashguard the curmudgeon rules. Surely you’ve been there.”

“I may have been,” Dev said, though he doubted it. “A half day’s journey walking?”

“Flying,” said the dragon. “It would take weeks walking there from here. The mountains would be nearly impossible to cross.”

“Oh.” Dev’s heart sank. He was feeling better, but not that good. He didn’t think he had it in him to walk and climb for weeks in his condition.

They talked about other things—sometimes the same things they’d already discussed, due to the dragon’s forgetfulness. But Dev didn’t mind. He found it almost comforting. Astrid was pleasant, and it was nice to have someone big on his side for once.

As the morning progressed, he told her all about what the Revinir was doing in Grimere—twice, just in case it helped her retain the information. And he warned her to beware of the Revinir’s growing power.

“Ah yes. I’d like to snap my jaws around that one,” the dragon lamented, once she remembered who the Revinir was. “Too bad we can’t. Won’t anyone come and take back our land? Is no one left to free us? Allow us to go on to the next life? Doesn’t anyone care about the land of the dragons? I fear we are a doomed species.”