Strolling beneath the sun, Annan reached the Square, where the City Lord's Mansion came into view.
He walked past the mansion without going in, but the Guards spotted him as he passed the sunflower field, and Olmedo hurried out.
"Finally managed to tear yourself away from your sweetheart?" Olmedo asked deliberately.
"What's that strange smell?" Annan frowned and waved a hand. "Smells like jealousy mixed with envy."
Olmedo shot back, "Good thing you're back. Free City has plenty of matters that need you here."
"Did you know we can't breathe while we're smiling?" Annan suddenly asked.
Puzzled, Olmedo breathed and smiled.
Annan seized the moment. "Actually, I just wanted to see you smile."
While Olmedo stood there stunned, Annan slipped into the neighboring Crystal Lair.
Illymoyas was still asleep. Her elegant, slender dragon body lay across a glittering heap of treasure, like a beautiful painting unrolled before him.
Annan wanted to climb onto her back while she slept... but if she rolled over, she would crush him to death.
Abandoning the idea, he beckoned to the Ghosts. "How much longer will she sleep?"
The Three-Color Ghosts were certain: she would wake before winter!
Annan then visited the three youngsters next door. He had seen them only two months ago, but they had grown another size and were maturing from hatchlings into Young Dragons.
Their little lair was nearly too small to hold them and their treasure...
"But what's this?"
Annan pointed at the spinning machine in Grasti's lair.
"A Susan Spinning Machine."
"I know what it is. I mean, why would you put one in your lair?"
Yumirs's and Kritalia's lairs were much more ordinary. With their parents and older sister taking their share, they could only decorate their nests with pretty stones and cover the floor with a thin