"............" Ryker was silent as Eke passed out.

He looked at him, before slumping down a little, and making sure Eke was comfortably positioned.

Once that was done, he looked at the souvenir tooth he'd broken off from the elder dragon, and then looked at his broken knuckles.

"...damn it." he cursed.

Then, while Eke slept, he grabbed a small slab of wood, laid it against his knuckles, and started binding it to his hand with cloth scraps they had.

Ryker had not fallen asleep, and was shocked and startled when Eke started calling out his name.

"Eke! Hey!" he said, gently shaking him.

"Eke! It's me! Ryker!" he said further.

"You're having a nightmare! Wake up!" he went on, trying to get Eke to awaken from whatever nightmare he was locked in.

Ryker held Eke in response.

"Yeah, I'm ok." he said.

'...for the most part...' he added mentally.

"Why?" he asked.

"What was that nightmare you were having?"

Ryker looked at Eke when he said all that, and sighed.

"I'd imagine that would be quite harrowing." he said.

"And.... questions you won't have answers to until you're older?" he asked.

"That's... admittedly, an intriguing statement." he muttered.

"But so long as you're all right at the moment." he continued, rising to his feet.

Ryker just sighed in response.

"Good." he said.

"At least it won't split open again." he muttered.

He then looked around them, and bit his lip some.

"Well, then." he mumbled.

"Suppose we should try and... head off, I suppose. Maybe find a place where we can get food." he suggested.

Ryker just sighed deeply, and started to walk as well.

"If there's a stream around, we can try and catch some fish or something." he said.

"...not sure if there's anywhere else we can get food right away...." he muttered further.

"Hm." he mumbled.

"There might be some fruit trees barely clinging to the remaining fruit they have around." he then added.

"Huh?" Ryker muttered.

"Eke?" he asked.

"What's up?" he asked further.

"You said there was a river nearby, and that we could fish. So... should we head to the river?" he suggested.

'...looks like he underwent a sudden attitude change...' he then thought.

'Wonder what's going on...'

"............................." Ryker was shocked at this sudden development.

'What the hell...?' he wondered.

'The... hell?' was all he could mentally manage.

Eke was not acting like... Eke.

He was acting completely different.

'Is this... like... some kinda draconic puberty?' Ryker then wondered.

Again, Ryker was silent as Eke said what he did.

"Uhhh..." he mumbled.

"Hm." he muttered, before building a fire.

He then grabbed his knife and cut the fishes into steaks, before starting to cook them over the fire.

"You okay?" he asked.

".....mm." Ryker muttered.

He then looked back at the hunk of fish he'd been cooking.

"This one's done." he said, taking it off.

"Hera ya go." he said to Eke, handing it towards him.

"Eat up."