Kali bent over to help him with his tomes. Many of them had a strange odor to them, as if they hadn't been cleaned or washed. Normally, books didn't require such a thing, but these had been placed in his hut, right next to him for gods only knew how long. If nothing else, he needed a bath.

"Kutur, you've got to put down those books-" she sniffed the air, exaggerating the sound to make him see her point. "-not to mention get cleaned up." I swear, the way you spend so much time with these tomes, I'd almost say you were in love with them. Maybe you should look for someone else when it comes to that sorta thing. Someone like... me!" Kali was a pretty kobold, but not exactly drop-dead gorgeous. She took Kutur's hand. "Come on. We've got some time before your skills are needed. I know a nice place by the river where we can get you cleaned up and then we can-"

"Kutur!" One of the imperial guards marched up to Kutur, pike in hand. "His imperial majesty requests your presence." That was another thing. The title of emperor was one which no dracon dared to claim, for Dememoras himself had claimed it. As a king was a ruler over a single country, an emperor was the monarch of many countries at once. Claiming such a title also hinted at a claim over the lands of others, something no dracon realm would tolerate. Even though Rughoi's holdings were smaller than that of any dracon kingdom and even smaller than many independent dracon duchies, his title was still inflated beyond what they were comfortable with. 

"Fine, let's just go to see what Rughoi wants" Kali sighed, defeated. "The sooner we deal with it, the sooner we can get on with our own fun. Maybe his toes are acting up again..."