Yllouwen and Helena sat at the large strategy table deep in the heart of the Darklogue Dragon territory further south of the known world than most Avalonians knew existed. They had been travelling for weeks with their dragon guide Kyorana, who now sat with her head down further down the table. She had violated over a dozen laws bringing the two outsiders. One a Leonite from Lionhaven on the eastern Continent of Avalonia, the other human not even from this world but from another called earth. They were the first outsiders in centuries and it was not clear whether they would be killed or listened to. One thing was for sure they were not going to be ignored. Now that they could find the mythical dragon territory they could not be allowed to leave just like that.

Yllouwen, heir to the leonite throne (if they could ever liberate it) sat very still waiting for the dragon representative. His normally short golden hair had grown almost to his shoulders looking almost like the mane it became when he took his lion form. His hand was clutched tightly by Helena who looked incredibly pale and scared. He gave her hand a squeeze and smiled at her when she looked his way. She was beautiful he thought and so brave. None of this could have been easy for her. Being transplanted from her own world into the middle of a war between Lionhaven and Tigeria. He had fallen in love with her that first day two turns ago, when he and his rebels had found her wondering lost. Though frightened and extremely confused, she had remained always in control of herself and he found her quiet bravery inspiring. In the time since, she had saved his life more than once and now carried both his heart and his unborn child. He intended to make her his queen when all this was over.

Yllouwen had been fighting for his crown for nearly ten years since the Tigerians had invaded and assasinated his father, King Owen shortly after his 14th name day. He had only barely escaped with his life and only through the help of the few loyal leonite followers left. He lived in hiding for the first few years so as to allow the Tigerian dictator to believe he had also died in the invasian and subsequent fighting. Those years had been terribly frustrating with Yllouwen longing to avenge his fathers death and watching as the Tigleians laid waste to his home and the leonites became little more than slaves. Among the leonites who had escaped the palace was a young soldier named Li and Yllouwen's tutor Leronen. Between the two of them, they tutored Yllouwen in all he would need to know to regain the throne. Li taught him the sword and hand to hand combat while his tutor taught him about the history of his homeland and the world they lived in as well as the magic inherent in his family line that linked him and his kin with lionhaven. It also about this time that Leronen told him of the legendary dragonlogue dragons and of the bargain they had made with his ancestor long ago. At this point, Yllouwen just wanted to call in the favour and get the dragons to help them right now. He couldn't understand why they waited when they had help such as this at their disposal. Why with the dragons help they could be back in the palace in days. Leronen told him as gently as he could the two problems with that theory. The first being that no one knew if any existed any longer as they had withdrawn from all other species on Avalonia shortly after the bargain was struck over four hundred years ago and even if some had survived all these years, no-one had a clue where to start looking for them.

The second reason had been that for dragonlogue dragons, bargain or not, there was always a price to pay and if you couldn't meet it you were doomed. Yllouwen accepted this but over the years as he slowly amassed a large army of rebels, he always kept the dragons in a little corner at the back of his mind certain that one day they would play a part in the retrieval of his country.