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TO BE MATED 1382
"So it is his fault?" Elder Goman asked. There was no blame in his voice; he merely wanted to know the facts.Alana considered for a moment before nodding her head. "If he would've kept his cool, I think Beth would still be alive. I don't think it's really his fault; he certainly didn't mean to, but..."She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence."What others do can hurt us; but what we do ourselves truly breaks us," Elder Goman said with a sigh."What do I do?" Alana asked. "He's such a good man and I don't want this to ruin him."Elder Goman leaned back in his chair and put his fingertips together. "It's easier to mend a broken egg than a broken heart. You didn't cause the damage, so you can't repair it.""I thought if I told him how I felt it might..." Alana blinked trying to hold the moisture at the corner of her eyes at bay. "I thought he might see that at least some of us knows he's a good guy."Elder Goman smiled kindly. "Believe it or not, I think it did help. I think h
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He raised an eyebrow. "Someone of your birth parents' stature can't keep things like this a complete secret, no matter how hard they tried.""You won't tell anyone will you?" Alana pleaded."Your secret is safe with me," Elder Goman assured her.She let out a breath she didn't realize she'd been holding. "Thank you.""You are welcome, but you should tell Ethan. Secrets like this have a way of tearing relationships apart if kept for too long.""I know it's just..." she sighed. "People have a way of treating me differently when they find out.""I'm not surprised given your parentage," Elder Goman said. "But you can either choose to continue living a lie with Ethan; or you can tell him the truth. Either way, if he finds out before you tell him it won't bode well for your relationship.""I know.""You've lived your entire life as Alana Tarihowen, daughter of simple staff growers." He locked eyes with Alana, "But your birth family's name isn't a curse... Alana Kalon."She smiled weakly. "T
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And there was a steel gray dragon.It laid unmoving at the bottom of the ravine. His arms, legs and wings were flopped on the ground and he looked decidedly the worse for wear. There were small patches of scales missing from his hide and those places had dried blood caked on. The dragon's wings were clearly cut in a few places and they lay limp against the ground instead of being tucked up against his body."You see it?" Prayle whispered from twenty feet behind Taloni.She nodded."What do you think?" Prayla asked.The Fey bit her lip; there was something odd about this dragon. Every dragon that she'd ever heard about was described a vicious monster. They were primal forces of nature that fought tooth and claw to survive at any cost. But this dragon didn't seem to fit that description."Is it safe?" Prayla whispered.Taloni beckoned her forward and Prayla appeared at her elbow moments later."Is it dead?" She asked.Taloni shook her head. Even from this far away, she could tell the dr
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Rachel stepped over to Alana and put an arm around her shoulder. "We'll find him and he'll be fine. Ethan is one of the toughest men I've ever met; I can't imagine him getting into trouble he can't get out of.""I hope you're right," Alana replied, then turned to Serif. "You've been awfully quite; time to weigh in."Serif's face was unreadable as he replied. "Ethan could be in trouble, but there's no way to know for sure.""A response without an answer," Rachel observed."Insufficient data does not compute," he replied."Thank you mister Spock," Hailey rolled her eyes. Everyone else looked at her blankly, so she continued. "It's from a TV show- Nevermind, I agree with Alana. He might be in trouble.""We need to take the Argo and go find him," Alana insisted."Would that be a prudent course of action?" Serif asked. "If Ethan decides to return to us, he'll likely return to the Argo.""And if the Argo isn't here, we could be looking for each for months," Rachel finished. "Good point.""P
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Taloni felt tears well up in her eyes. How could anyone - especially a dragon - do that for her? What could possibly make him do that? She didn't understand it, it didn't make any sense.Then it registered with her that this dragon was about to fight a dozen armed men. They all had experience fighting dragons and he was in a weakened state.She couldn't let that happen.She couldn't let anyone hurt him."Wait!" Taloni scrambled to her feet and ran in between the dragon and Thaltien's men. "It's okay, I'm fine and he hasn't hurt me."Thaltien stopped his advance and signaled his men to do the same. "Explain.""He was hurt," Taloni said. "Another dragon took his gold and he's dying. Please, just let him be and I'll come quietly."The dragon growled.Taloni turned to him. "It's fine, really. He's my owner and it's his right."The disgust was as obvious as the dragon spoke. "Not on my watch."Taloni took a step toward the dragon and looked into his eyes. "It's okay. Really, I'll be fine.
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Rachel stood on the deck of the Argo watching the rising sun. It reminded her of her conversation with Ethan two weeks prior and their talk about homes. As she glanced around the Argo, she realized it didn't quite feel like home. It was nice, and right now she needed to be there; but something was missing."Penny for your thoughts?" Hailey asked.Rachel smiled. "I was just thinking about a conversation I had with Ethan that started with the exact same question.""What did you talk about?" Hailey asked."Homes and our place in the world," Rachel replied."Speaking of," Hailey said. "I was wondering if - after we find Ethan - there was any chance we could figure out how I got here so I could go back.""Ethan might like to leave too," Rachel mused."It would be great to have company," Hailey said. "I just, I don't belong in this world you know. I should getting ready to graduate college, not stuck in this God forsaken world.""Illuminar hasn't forsaken anything," Rachel replied almost au
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He barely reacted to her presence."Ethan?" Taloni said.The dragon made a small noise in its throat, but calling it a grunt would've been generous. He appeared to be halfway between awake and asleep."Ethan, I brought some food for you," Taloni set the bits of meat in front of him.The dragon sniffed, and it looked like he tried to move his head, but he gave up rather quickly.Taloni put a hand on the dragon and discovered his scales weren't nearly as warm as they had been the previous night. She focused all her senses on the dragon trying to get a sense for his health. It took some time, but she was able to see how he was doing.It wasn't good.His regular mana was completely exhausted and his deep mana was much lower than was healthy. It was slow, but his deep mana was being used to keep him alive and wasn't being replenished. The only good news was that his deep mana wasn't too depleted; she could use regular mana to help."I'm going to give you some of my mana," Taloni said.The
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But satisfaction brought her back"I don't feel like it," Taloni replied while trying to shoo Pralya out of her shack, but she wasn't going easily. She slipped around the Fey and into the room, standing there with her hands on her hips."Come on, it'll be fun," Prayla said in her annoying sing-song voice. "You've been moping all afternoon and some fun will do you some good.""I don't feel like dancing," Taloni countered. Outside, night was fast approaching and she could hear the miners preparing for what was sure to be a marvelous party."Since when has a Fey not felt like dancing?" Prayla said, then she cocked her head to the side. "What's wrong?""Nothing,""Dragon shit," Prayla replied. "You've been moping since that cave-in this afternoon. It's not like anybody died - mostly thanks to your healing magic - so what gives?"Taloni opened her mouth, then shook her head and flopped down on the makeshift roll of blankets that she used for a bed. The cave-in earlier hadn't been bad, but
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