Quite some time had passed since Chanyeol had explained everything to Sunny about what had happened with the heat damage. In turn, he also explained what had happened with Baekhyun and why he was no longer with him. 

“A dragon,” Sunny said in shock, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that there was a dragon living somewhere that was not too far from them at all. “A real dragon?” 

“Unless I was hallucinating and got burned by something else,” Chanyeol replied. “And dragons and wizards don’t get along well as I’ve told you.”

The room went silent again as she scratched her head and took in all of this information. A dragon? Something that was only heard of now in books. They were creatures believed to have vanished long ago. Yet there was one so close? It seemed impossible for that to be true, but she knew Chanyeol was not lying to her. 

Both of them knew Clair must have been listening to their conversation as well as she sat in the kitchen with the stew, but that did not bother them. Clair already knew everything else anyways, so a bit more information would not do any harm. 

They had been talking and distracted by their conversation so much that they had no clue just how much time had passed. It was not until Clair came out of the kitchen and told them dinner was ready that they realized they had spent the last two hours sitting on the couch together. 

“Come on, let’s lighten up the mood a bit and go eat,” Sunny told him cheerfully as she got up and stretched a little.

----

It had been over a week since Baekhyun had started his research about wizards, magic, and dragons. While he had some of his questions answered, he felt like he had formed even more questions that were not getting answered. Books were scattered everywhere, his notes were a mess with things crossed out, arrows to connect different topics together, and messily added in last minute notes. 

The entire time, Molzey had not left the castle. Baekhyun thought it was strange that she was not leaving his side, but then as he thought about it he realized the wolf had not been appearing in the forest or howling. He was a bit glad that Molzey had not been going out though because it had been snowing on and off the past couple of days and the ground and trees were dusted with it. 

“What do you think about a hot drink, Molzey? I think there’s still a bit of apple cider left for you,” Baekhyun stated as he leaned back in his chair and looked over at Molzey who was curled up in the corner of the table and taking a small, light nap.

Her head instantly popped up, showing her interest. Baekhyun heaved himself out of his chair and went to the library door, quickly followed by Molzey.

The two of them were not in the kitchen for long before heading back to the library with Baekhyun carrying the warm apple cider for Molzey and some warm tea for himself. When they arrived back in the library, however, Baekhyun paused at the door. 

“Kyungsoo...were you looking for me?” Baekhyun asked when he saw the dragon hunching over the table.

Kyungsoo turned his head towards Baekhyun and let out a small growl that rumbled through his throat. “Is this what you’ve been wasting your time with? Pointless research?” Kyungsoo asked while moving away from the table, his claws scraping against the floor.

Baekhyun moved into the library more and placed the two cups down onto the table. His hands were wiped on his pants as he looked at the messy table before glancing back at Kyungsoo.

“Do you have a problem with me doing this?” Baekhyun then asked. “It’s just because I’m curious.”

“You’re curious so you’re reading books that are biased towards wizards?” the dragon asked in a disapproving voice. 

“Considering they are all that I have available to me...yes,” he answered, not appreciating the tone Kyungsoo was speaking in. After all, it was not like any of the books were saying that all the dragons should die or instructing how to take them down. 

“You need real books that come from the perspective of dragons. They are more uncommon, but they are out there,” Kyungsoo told him, holding his head high.

“Wouldn’t those be just as biased then?” Baekhyun asked in a snarky tone to match Kyungsoo’s. “Is there ever going to be a book that holds no sort of small bias?”

“So you’re admitting to reading biased books filled with lies!” Kyungsoo accused through squinted eyes.

Right now Baekhyun was becoming so confused about why Kyungsoo was acting so snappy all of the sudden. The dragon had left him alone for the past week or so and had only exchanged small greetings with him and complained a bit about the smell of the food he was making. Other than those couple of times, everything had been peaceful. 

“What is your problem!?” Baekhyun then shouted, throwing his arms up in agitation. 

Kyungsoo moved away from the table even more and headed towards the library doors, letting his claws sink deeper into the wood floor. The splintering sound of the wood caused Baekhyun to flinch away and give himself more room between himself and Kyungsoo. 

“Just wait for tomorrow,” Kyungsoo replied before trudging through the doorway and leaving Baekhyun alone again. 

Moving towards the door, Baekhyun looked down the hallway to see that Kyungsoo was already out of sight. With his head tilted to the side, he then went back inside and closed the door behind him. Molzey was sitting on his chair giving him just as confused as a look, her tail twitching in agitation and one of her ears lowered slightly. Clearly neither of them had been a fan of that interaction with Kyungsoo.

“I guess...we’ll wait for tomorrow…” Baekhyun told her with a shrug of his shoulders. “Let’s not mind him too much though. He doesn’t know what he’s talking about. Something must have just put him in a bad mood. 

The rest of the night passed by without another word from Kyungsoo or even seeing the dragon for that matter. After their encounter though, Baekhyun was not really bothered by that fact. All he really cared about that night was getting to his room without having another shouting match starting with the dragon. 

When the next morning came, Baekhyun decided that he needed to wash up a bit since it had been quite some time since giving himself a thorough cleaning. Although Molzey had still been sleeping when he woke up, he left his bedroom door open so she could have the ability to roam around if she wanted to. 

He stripped off his clothes, tossing them onto the floor and placing his ring onto the table so he would not misplace it. Going off to a small side area where he could pull a curtain closed and have access to water, though limited, he had a private place to wash up. 

Right when Baekhyun slid the curtain closed and the sound of sloshing water could be heard, Molzey perked up. As if she knew, she hopped out of the bed and jumped right onto the table where Baekhyun’s ring was sitting, still on its string so he could wear it right after his shower. Taking the ring into , Molzey prepared to jump down from the table when the string got tangled around one of her legs. Instead of landing lightly on her feet, she toppled to the floor with quite a loud bang. Instantly, Baekhyun pushed the curtain to the side, and saw her already getting to her feet and untangled.

“Molzey, no!” Baekhyun shouted. “Drop it!”

A towel was snatched up as he bolted towards Molzey to get the ring from . As he ran towards her, however, she bolted towards the door and ran out, never slowing her pace even slightly. Baekhyun cursed under his breath as his soaking wet hair dripped in front of his eyes. There was no other choice but to get dressed quickly and go search for her. Perhaps she was just in a playful mood after being cooped up in the library constantly.

With a fresh shirt and pair of pants pulled on along with warm socks and his boots, Baekhyun headed out of his room. His hair was still partially damp, but since he was not planning on going outside he did not think it mattered too much.

“Molzey!” Baekhyun called as he walked down the hallway. “Molzey girl, come here! We can play if that’s what you want!” 

Throughout the halls he continued to call for her but to no avail. He never so much as heard her small claws clacking against the floor.

“Molzey!” he called even louder this time.

“Oh shut your mouth already!” Kyungsoo groaned in annoyance. “She already went outside. Can you not keep an eye on your small creature?” 

“I see you’re still in a foul mood,” Baekhyun commented with a roll of his eyes. He then remembered what Kyungsoo had said yesterday. “It’s the next day, so what am I supposed to wait for?” 

A small growl could be heard from Kyungsoo before he finally spoke up and replied, “Wizards from your old home are coming to collect me so that I can return and have a chat with them for a couple of days or...something like that.”

“What!? Why did I not know about this!?” Baekhyun asked.

“I’m telling you about it now,” Kyungsoo stated as if it did not matter or pertain to Baekhyun. 

“That’s why you were in such a bad mood yesterday.”

“Of course...it’s never fun dealing with wizards that I can’t torch,” the dragon replied as he exhaled a small puff of smoke.

“When will they arrive?” Baekhyun then questioned.

Right then the sound of whining horses could be heard along with a few shouts. Kyungsoo gave Baekhyun a silent look before trudging towards the front of the castle. Baekhyun was quick to follow behind him, curious as to what would happen with him. After all, if they took Kyungsoo away, nothing was keeping him from running away. 

Before Kyungsoo could even reach the front doors, they flew open with a powerful blast. The force was enough to almost make Baekhyun topple backwards, while Kyung