That night, we made it to the kingdom of fire and reported to the king. He, upon seeing us, had the castle's doctor look at us, we weren't seriously hurt, mostly just bruises, though my shoulder had a cut in it; it was easily patched up. And they sewed our clothes where the cuts were. We were then given a room to sleep in, and we had a good night's sleep after the exhausting day, at least if you don’t count the nightmares.

  Then the next morning, we were told by one of the king's attendants that there would be a festival, and that they would wait until tomorrow to give us the dragon's blessing.

  So we went to check out the festival, and Sid was given a fire-red dress. She again looked pretty. We were given an escort, a man with leather brown skin as if burned by the sun too many times, and red hair. He wore a sword and a club. I asked why he didn't have a mace instead, and he said, “I like clubs; they are cheap, disposable, and not as dangerous as maces.”

  Looking around, all the people except the heroes looked like our escort; the buildings were made of bricks, but plenty of people lived in tents, there were jugglers performing, and bards singing.

  We went to a restaurant. Evidently, the land of fire was famous for tropical foods, we sat down at a table and ordered food and alcohol. We were given coconuts, pineapples, and many fruits. They tasted good. But I was most surprised by the wine; it tasted sweet and tropical with a vanilla aftertaste. I asked what it was made out of and was told that it was made out of coconuts, and they asked me if I wanted to try pineapple wine? I quickly agreed and soon became drunk after tasting all sorts of wine. It was hazy, but I think Sid took care of me. I felt sorry for burdening her. But then I pulled her toward me and hugged her, then I said in my drunk stupor, “Thank you for always standing by me. I love you.” She broke free and said, “Yeah, yeah, get better.”

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  Some time passed, and I was starting to sober up, then she warned me not to drink so much. And I remembered what I told her. I was embarrassed and turned red thinking about it, but she didn't mention it, and we went back to the castle, where we ate with the king, whose name evidently was Ember. He asked about our travels, and it somehow became a conversation about me and Sid's relationship. Once I said, “She's just a friend,” he smiled and said, “Then how about you marry my daughter, Princess Pyre?” I turned him down and said, “Only friends for now, but I like her.” King Ember seemed upset about this, but accepted it.

  Then we went to the room we were given, and to my surprise, it had only one bed. I apologized to Sid, and she said, “It's ok, I know you just said that to get out of the marriage.” Then I replied, “Actually, I meant it.” She looked at me in terror and said, “I’m not someone you should love, for your own good.” I asked why, and she said, “I can't explain, but believe me.” I then asked, “Am I not good enough?”

  She sighed and said, “That's not the problem; you would be better off with Princess Pyre. Once this is over, you will probably never see me again.” I then looked at her quizzically and said, “What if I move to the kingdom of wind?” She replied, “I wish it were that simple, but that's not the problem; just believe me, it’s a bad idea to love me.” I then said, “Too late, I love you.” She tried to convince me otherwise for a while, but then gave up and said, “If you really are serious, then once this is all over, find me and save me.” This last part confused me. I asked, “Save you from what?” She said, “I can't tell you, but I wish luck for both of us.”

  Then we went to sleep, and I slept on the floor; it was more comfortable than sleeping outside. I went to sleep wondering what she meant, save her, from what?