"We probably should." Skobeloff said with a small nod. "Wouldn't want to keep everyone at the Treehold waiting for too long." Despite saying this, Skobeloff only moved a little bit faster when he started moving again. Skobeloff needed to extract that secret before they reached their destination. If they arrived before then, Garrock wouldn't be willing to share with others about. At the same time, Skobeloff needed to keep the conversation casual. Any attempt at rushing Garrock along would most likely put his guard up. And so Skobeloff schemed, thinking of what directions he could steer this casual conversation in to put Garrock in the mindset to open up.

Stargaze gave a relieved and hopeful smile to Fellwing in response. She nodded to Fellwing and she agreed with her friend on her words, "Yeah! Let's get there together!"

Stargaze was able to lead the way with Fellwing's and Kyte's help. However, things seemed to get darker and quieter as they made it to their destination. Seeing the dark vines made Stargaze tense and uneasy. She stopped when Fellwing brought up her question.

She asked Fellwing quietly, "Hear what...?"

She took a moment to look around and survey the area, but...this place is so different now. All she saw were vines, vines, and more vines. She didn't even hear the sound of a cricket chirping...

She shook her head to Fellwing as though to say that she didn't hear or see anything.

Now that Skobeloff had gotten Garrock's guard down and mood up, the Trickster's best bet was try to strike a casual conversation once more, though this time leaning more towards current events.

---

At Fellwing's question, Alpin and Kyte merely looked at each other blankly while Shieldwing just shook his head. It seems none of them had heard it either.

Endora's voice continued, "There's nothing to be afraid of, Fellwing. After all, I'm here now..." Though it still sounded like the older dragon, Fellwing would note that it took on a more soft, playful tone than she'd ever used before. It sounded a little further away also, as if it were trying to lure Fellwing further back into the woods.

Once again, Kyte spoke up as if the other voice had never been there. "Should I try flying again? Maybe I can spot the captured dragons from above," they said. They motioned to the vines with their head. "Certainly seems safer than trying to walk through all this."

A mischievous gleam appeared in Skobeloff's eye as he settled on his next topic of conversation. "As dangerous as this island is, part of me is glad to be here rather than back on the mainland." Skobeloff commented. "Everyone just talking about Rothscar day in and day out was starting to get a little samey."

At the mention of the Rothscar situation, Garrock's face melted from its somewhat embarrassed smile into possibly the most exaggerated frown Skobeloff had ever seen. "Don't even get me started on that," Garrock said. "If I have to see that Topaz's smug face on one more of her campaign posts, I am going to lose my mind." Clearly, Skobeloff had hit a sore topic.

"Yeah, with the rate those posts are coming out, I wouldn't be surprised if they've started calling her Topaz the Relentlessly Insufferable by the time we get back." Skobeloff joked. "Thankfully those who can't stand her have the mystery of Kurkar's disappearance to take their minds off his obnoxious offspring."

Garrock gives a snort of laughter at Skobeloff's comment about Topaz. "Didn't like her much before she became the dragon everyone's talking about, don't like her much more now," he says. He glances over at Skobeloff. "Surprised you're not much of a fan though."

"Eh, I'm not really a fan of any politician." Skobeloff said with a dismissive wave of his tail. "I mean just look at where we are now. Their bickering has made this island decide it would rather take its chances with the Cloudstalker than spend another day hearing about why Topaz should or should not be Rothscar's new head-of-house." After a moment, Skobeloff fully internalized what Garrock had said first. "Wait..." Skobeloff said as he looked up at the older dragon. "You knew Topaz before all of this started?"

Garrock again had to pause midstep as he realised he may have said too much. "Well, I, err... I didn't 'know' her exactly," he said. "Not well, at least but I was... aware of her. And had met her a couple of times." His face flickered through multiple expressions as he tried to figure out how best to explain how he was in any way acquainted with such a notable dragon, especially considering how little mingling there was between the Houses of Rothscar and Tessith due to how antithetical their philosophies were. He eventually must have realised that it was better to just come out and say it rather than dance around the truth, as he gave a sigh. "We're kind of... sort of... related," he says. "I believe non-dragons have term for what we are, hold on." He thinks for a moment as he tries to remember the word. "Begins with a 'c'... cuh... cousings? Something like that?"

"Topaz the Radiant is your cousin?" Skobeloff said, eyes wide with excitement. "That's incredible! It's one thing to meet someone famous, but to actually be related to them? There aren't many who can say that." Skobeloff's head then tilted in curiosity. "You mentioned you've met her a few times." Skobeloff said. "Were any of these meetings particularly eventful?"

Garrock makes a face when Skobeloff refers to Topaz by her title. "I hate that she gets people to call her that, but yes," he says. "Kurkar and one of my parents were siblings, and at one point they were close enough that they thought to introduce their offspring to one another." He shakes his head. "It only happened a couple of times, neither particulary notable. Kurkar's other children were nice enough, I suppose, but they were much younger than me and my sibling, who had almost grown into our wings at that point. We didn't have much to talk about." He frowns. "But Topaz, she was different from the rest of them. At those meetings, I felt she wanted to be there even less than rest of us did, like she was already bored of us from the very moment we met." He sighs. "Anyway, we only met a couple of times, and once Kurkar became head-of-house, he talked far less to my parent. I've only seen Topaz a couple of times since while about in the Capitol, and I got the feeling she either recognise me or even remember me." He looks slightly offended for a moment, but then shrugs. "I guess it doesn't matter. I doubt we'd have any more to talk about now than we did back then."

"I suppose not." Skobeloff said when Garrock declared that it didn't matter and that he doubted they'd have any more to talk about than they did back then. The journey continued in silence for a few moments before Skobeloff spoke up again. "You said one of your parents was Kurkar's sibling." The Trickster said. "Which one of your parents was that exactly?"

Stargaze had a bad feeling about this.

She looked between Fellwing and Kyte as she listened to them. Fellwing may have passed it off, but Stargaze had a feeling that if Fellwing can see things that others can't, then she could probably also hear things that others can't.

She answers Kyte's suggestion, "No, it's okay, Kyte. I think we should stick together from here on out,"

She looks to Fellwing and asks Fellwing, "Fellwing, let us know if you hear something again, okay? Better to be safe than sorry,"

After that, she takes the lead to continue onwards.

Garrock glances over at the trickster. "Her name is Sunglow," he says eventually. "She's a Semscale elder." He turns his head back to the path in front of him before adding quietly, and somewhat solemnly, "Though probably not for much longer."

---

Kyte shrugs and continues following the rest of the group on foot as they push on through this new, darker, thornier part of the jungle.

The voice doesn't speak to Fellwing again. In fact, almost the moment Stargaze asked Fellwing to tell them about it, it fell eerily silent, and the Seer senses a feeling of deep irritation in that silence, like someone who has been interrupted.

After pressing on for a good few minutes, the seemingly endless tangles of vines and the lack of good lighting in the area beginning to make continuing forward near impossible as Fellwing is unable to spot the three entangled dragons she saw within her vision. In fact, there doesn't seem to be any signs of life besides their own breathing and footfalls. What will the group do now?

"Probably not" Skobeloff murmured, an uneasy look settling over his features as he was reminded what awaited dragons that grew too old. Neither option for ascension sat well with Skobeloff. To the Trickster, becoming a Mystic meant becoming a prisoner within your own body and becoming an Ancient meant spending the rest of all eternity as a voiceless, near-invisible slave to one of the moons. Skobeloff shuddered at both prospects. Eventually, the drake pulled himself from those dark thoughts and tried to drive them back into the recesses of his subconscious with memories of the time he dreamed about a drunk bugbear carrying him around a hag's cottage. "We're almost there." Skobeloff said. "We'll be able to see it once we're make it past that rock formation over there."

Stargaze continues leading the group forwards. After a while, she realizes that she isn't sure what they were looking for. She had to stop and think about it. She spoke out loud, "....Echo did say that all life comes from somewhere. All plants come from a seed. Maybe if we find where the thorns originated from, we might be able to find the other dragons who are trapped here,"

She looks around trying to find the origin of the thorns and the subsequent darkness.

Garrock merely nodded in response, his mind clearly too occupied with his own solemn thoughts to speak.

Just as Skobeloff says, it's not long before they set eyes upon the Stronghold. As they approach the hollowed out tree, Skobeloff will note that the air feels a lot less still, less lifeless, than it did before, as if living beings other than himself have recently come this way. This becomes more apparent as they draw close enough to the tree, as they can now hear voices coming from within. Upon entering the stronghold, Skobeloff will recognise Fogcloud's soft voice, accompanied by a much louder, higher-pitched that doesn't seem particularly pleased. This second voice isn't quite shouting, but they sound as if they would like to. These voices seem to be originating from the kitchen area that Skobeloff was in earlier.

---

Stargaze's attempt to locate the source of the Darkness takes some time, as there doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason to the vines and thorns growing around them. In fact, she quickly realises none of the plantlife on this island would normally grow like this, meaning the corruption in this area is very strong. Strong enough to warp living beings into something else, something contrary to what nature made them to be. Just like it did with the brownies.

As she is trying to pinpoint what on Adulare could have made this area like, she suddenly becomes aware of breathing. At first, she assumes its one of her companions, but the more she focuses on it, the louder, raspier, and downright uncanny it becomes. Like the breathing of something that doesn't need to do so, that isn't used to breathing. As she follows the sound, she raises her head to see that there, just a few paces in front of her, seperated by a particularly large partition of thorny vines, is a dragon.

Or at least, it's a shape that resembles a dragon, seemingly of bearded age judging by its size. It's crouching, its head lowered as it seems to be watching the group. Upon realising its been seen, the breathing abruptly stops and the dragon begins to back away slowly. The vines surrounding the group start to twitch, as if expectant to see what they will do next.

"Looks like we dropped by just in time" Skobeloff said to Garrock as the sound of Fogdance speaking with someone became audible. "Interesting things are afoot at the Tessith Tree." With that said, Skobeloff made his way closer to the kitchen to listen in on what was being said.

Fogdance's voice came again. "Listen, I don't understand why we can't come to an agreement about this," she says. "We're all in the same boat, after all."

"So you keep saying," the unfamiliar voice responds. "But I still ain't convinced."

"If you want to search the whole stronghold again in search of your fellows, me or the twins would be happy to give you yet another guided tour."

"Well, obviously, you wouldn't be just keeping them out in plain sight," the stranger continued. "You could have them hidden away somewhere. We're small, after all. We don't take up too much space, unlike some creatures I could name."

Another equally high-pitched voice chimed in. "Well, I still think one of you might have eaten them," they said.

"Now that is preposterous," Fogdance answers. "Absolutely preposterous. When in the history of all the Isles has a dragon ever eaten a pixie?"

"Well, actually, there have been some reports of accidental consumption of-"

"Not helping, Tamba!" Fogdance cut in quickly, silencing the voice of the younger dragon.