Having been raised well balanced, with a chip on both shoulders, Ferdinand Junior did not know what to do with himself when Sam faced bankruptcy. So he sought out his hated father.

Ferdinand Senior had retreated to his horde far off in the lonely mountains. When Junior finally asked nose to nose why his father had never spent a gem on him, Ferdinand Senior revealed that under dragon law, as long as his ex-wife was unemployed, all alimony payments went to the General Fund for Distressed Dragonfolk, and Ferdinand would not have got a shekel. So Ferdinand Senior had saved it all up until his son was old enough to receive it himself.

Ferdinand Junior has used his inheritance to fund a sporting club for young firebreathers. He has also bought a farm, where dragons in his employ research the properties of peppers, aiming to improve the quality of fire breathing for all dragonhood. He has also become an advocate for the rights of excluded parents.