As soon as Greene saw Paul again when she returned from the dragon assembly it was shortly after noon. She was gone for four days. She landed right outside the tower and called for him. “Paul, I’m back.”
Paul quickly ran out of the tower and looked at her. He smiled. “Welcome back. I can’t wait to show you the progress I made while you were gone.”
“I want to see it,” she said quietly. “But I need to ask you something.” She took a deep breath, not wanting to ask this question. She had to though. If she didn’t it would rattle around inside her head until the answer forced itself upon her. When she knew she had his attention she continued. “To get better at magic, you don’t need a dragon’s flame, do you?”
His eyes widened with shock. “Of course not,” he said loudly. “Why would I need a dragon’s flame to do magic? Literally, anyone can do magic. I doubt just anyone can take a dragon’s flame. Are you sure that there are wizards who use dragon flame?”
She narrowed her eyes. “You have something dark in your belongings. I smelled it when I carried your wagon.”
“What?” He looked confused. “Wait, I may know what that was. Just a second. He ran into the tower and came back a couple of minutes later holding something small in his hands. “Was it this?”
He held it up so that Greene could see it. It was a human clock. Its face appeared to be made of ebony and two fiery blue hands moved as it ticked. Around the face, the clock was a dull silver and had black vines snaking up it. A blue dial was sticking out the top.
She sniffed the air and then covered her snout with her talons. It smelled like something rotten in a way much worse than anything she had smelled before. Flames wrapped around her jaw. “That is filthy.”
“You know… I was wondering what made the clock so powerful. Stopping all time for however long I want isn’t something that I can do on my own. Usually magical objects draw on the power you already have or the power in the environment” He looked the clock over. “Whoever made this probably put something powerful in here.”
“Like dragon flame?” She asked as she moved further away.
“Yes, from an old dragon.” He looked at her and frowned. “It wasn’t me if you were wondering. This is the clock I stole from Timiditempestius. You know I would never willingly used a stolen dragon’s flame.”
She sighed. “I’m sorry. After the assembly, I felt there was a chance, but I should have known. You wouldn’t do something that evil.”
“It’s okay.” He set the clock down inside the tower and than walked closer to her. “Do you think that Timiditempestius has been using dragon flame?”
“Yes.” She said quietly. “By the way, don’t use that clock anymore. In fact we should probably destroy it and free the flame.”
He looked down at the clock. “I agree, but we should wait just in case Timiditempestius comes here. I don’t know how difficult it will be to destroy and I will read in my books to find ways to destroy magical objects.” He stood up and stretched. “I will check on my experiment first though.”
Draconic Ramblings 
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