Something touched Asimona's claw and she looked down to see an Onyx stone at her feet. She ignored Father for a moment and instead picked up the new stone. There was magic in it, she could tell. It was strong.

She sighed and looked towards the red dragon. "Perhaps I wouldn't make a good mother now. But that gem has a whole cycle to grow. I have a whole cycle to get ready...and to get rid of you."

His eyes widened with surprise and he didn't have time to react as she lunged forward and swept right through him. She felt nothing as she went through. She was right...he wasn't real and he could do nothing but talk. She just had to learn to not listen to his annoying degrading speech.

She carried this onyx stone with her as she continued to look for treasures. She was growing tired and she desired to get back to the quartz she had left in her cold little alcove. She wanted to get back to all her treasures and protect them. Even if some of them weren't alive or even partially alive, she wanted to protect them. Was it her draconian instinct or the desires of a mother?

She picked up another mini quartz, obviously just a plain gemstone, as she walked and thought. Was father right? Did she not have the kind of willpower she needed to be a mother? Or could she do it just by believing in herself? She had never really had a reason to believe in herself. Besides her magic, she was proud of nothing. She had accomplished nothing. She hadn't done much good. All she had done was partially keep away from her own head trying to hurt her. Pathetic.

Motherhood is hard.

Asimona turned and was surprised to see Mother standing just behind her. And not only was she there but she wasn't screaming and yelling and trying to kill her. She was looking unusually subdued and serious. But still, she had dared to appear again. Asimona growled. "What would you know about it? You're not a mother...you're just a figment of my head."

A flash of anger crossed across her eyes and she took a step forward, but all the hostility drained away in a second. "That's true. Perhaps, then, I'm just telling you what you already know. It's not going to be easy. Especially with us flying around."

Asimona tilted her head, a little confused. She couldn't wrap her head around what Mother was saying to her but she seemed to know what she was doing. "We're going to bother you. We always will and you know it. I don't care what you do about it but at least now you'll have children, I guess."

Asimona blinked slowly, very confused, but she didn't have a chance to respond. Mother suddenly disappeared and she was left even more confused then before. But it was then that she realized that she didn't want to understand. Understanding would just make it more confusing. The want to understand had brought her here and now things already felt worse. She had to make them better again.

She would make them better again. She had a purpose now, a reason. So she turned herself around and began heading back to her cave, determined to pick up one more crystal before she arrived back at her home.

She managed to grab a couple more stones on her way, but they were devoid of life. Now that she had a few more crystals in her collection that had some kind of life in them she wanted more. Yes, she could give life to the ones she had but something in her made her want to still have more. Perhaps it was selfish, perhaps it was greedy. But her cycles of loneliness just made her all the more want to be surrounded by something living - even if they were just rocks.

But, of course, wouldn't she be surrounded by the life of Father, Mother, and Sister? Technically yes, they were still alive. They were part of her. And they could talk to. But she really didn't them to be living with her constantly and to be the only outlet in her life. Yeah, the best would be if she had a real thing with her. And, well, she would! The children! She was going to do a full litter. She had to. Why did she have to? She didn't know. It was all very confusing.

She stopped for a moment. "Sister? Are you still here?"

She waited a moment. Nothing happened. She continued to wait. And wait. And wait. It seemed to take forever of her standing there when she finally got her reply. I'm here, Asimona. And the little brown dragon appeared in front of her.

For some reason, even knowing she wasn't real, Asimona was comforted by her just being there. She felt good, knowing that there was someone there that cared for her, even if it was herself. She was right - she couldn't just let her go. "I'm glad you are," she whispered, finally.