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All three adult Silvers were waiting for them when they jumped into Waldhafen. Arran in particular looked tired and worn like he hadn’t been sleeping well.

“How are your foster daughter and her heart friend?” Lydia asked.

He gave her a weary smile. “Much better. The healers here are remarkably skilled. They’ve already let her heart friend out of stasis and said that soon she’ll be out of bed. And as they heal her, Ali seems to be healing spontaneously. At least she’s more and more like the girl I remember from before Melissa was killed.”

“Councillor Weide says they’ve never seen injuries like them though,” Faith said. “Not that someone survived anyway.” She frowned at Lydia. “Your eyes changed colour and you feel different. What happened to you?”

“That’s a rather long story,” Lydia said. “But the short version is I got kidnapped, partly transformed into a Kithreia, rescued and turned into a dragon to save my life.”

Faith’s eyebrows shot up. “I think I need to hear the long version if we have time.”

“Well it relates to why we are here,” Matthias said. “So yes, we have time.” He turned to Saeaera who was waiting near by. “May we borrow a room to discuss this more comfortably, Councillor?”

“Of course,” she said. “You can use any of them.” She eyed Lydia curiously. “You don’t feel like a normal dragon. May I hear what happened as well?”

“Of course,” Matthias said. “You do have an interest in learning this.”

“Thank you.” She led them to a small side chamber and ordered refreshments for them. “So tell us what happened.”

Sonia took a deep breath before telling them about their trip into the void and Lydia being dragged into the tear and kidnapped by Xantaria.

“Sweet heaven,” Faith said. “You must have been scared, girl!”

“I was,” Lydia said. “But I was rescued.”

“I’m glad to see it,” Faith said. “So they had to turn you into a dragon to save you? Why were you in danger? And you don’t quite feel like the other dragons we’ve met… Not that we’ve met many of course.”

“I wasn’t a full Kithreia and there was no way for me to return to Kithra to complete the transformation without being captured. The inbetween state isn’t sustainable.”

Faith looked at her thoughtfully. “I see, I think. You feel different because you started out different.”

“Yes, and the dragons are excited because I’m not hungry all the time,” Lydia said.

“Interesting,” Arran said. “So they hope you may be the key to a cure for their problem? Are you still a psychevore?”

Lydia nodded. “Yes, but I know when I’ve fed enough.”

“How do you feel about dragons in general?” Sonia asked.

“They’re just people, really, from what I can tell from the ones I’ve met.” Faith shrugged. “They have an unusual problem and some of them are evil but that’s true of humans too. Why?”

“We have a bit of a problem and we were hoping you would help us,” Matthias said. “We think you’d be good at it.” He explained the situation with Savira including what she’d done and what they wanted to do.

“You want us to raise her?” Faith hummed to herself. “You think she’s capable of reforming?”

“Probably,” Sonia said. “I mean her experiments were apparently so horrible that no one wants to descibe them to us but people also say she had ethics of sorts.”

“I see.” Faith closed her eyes for a moment. “And there is her heart friend too consider, isn’t there. She’s guilty of nothing. Okay, we’ll do it.” She looked over at Arran. “Do you and Mari want to do it or shall I?”

“I’ve got my hands full with Logan and Ali,” he said. “You do it.”

“She’d like to meet you first,” Matthias said.

“That’s not a bad idea,” Faith said. “That way I can judge if she is likely to reform.”

—

A/N: Thanks to the readers who volunteered to read the Haventon edit. I sent you the manuscript over the weekend so please confirm you received it.

A/N2: I now have an ask.fm account, so if you want to ask me question about any of my stories feel free.

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