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By Root 463 0

muscles and rubbing cool salve into his wounds; this ointment had magically wiped away his injuries, and he felt truly healthy for the first time in weeks. He could still feel the warped dragonmark across his back, but even that felt more like the presence of a warming fire than the aggravating itch that had tormented him before. What does it do? he wondered. Even he knew that the size of a dragonmark reflected its power. He closed his eyes, sinking into the water and concentrating on that sensation of heat. He tried to remember everything he’d heard about controlling dragonmarks. He tried to trace the pattern with his thoughts, following the sensation on his skin.

Nothing.

“I offer my apologies.”

“What’s that, Xu?” Daine opened his eyes—and snapped them shut again. Xu’sasar had moved next to him. Both Lei and Daine had found a few scraps of cloth to preserve their modesty in the water, but it seemed that Xu’sasar’s people had little use for modesty. Considering how little she wore in battle, it was hardly surprising that she would shed it all to bathe. Taking a deep breath, Daine opened his eyes again, carefully looking straight ahead. “There’s no need.”

“When you took me from my death, I thought you a fool, and weak,” Xu’sasar said. Even looking away, Daine could see her reflection in the water, her pale eyes and silver hair shining in the faint light that permeated the room. “Yet I have learned that it was not my time to die, and I have watched you in battle. You fight bravely and well, and you risk your lives for others, even making a fool’s bargain to buy us shelter. I still do not know your ways, and I am sorry for the difficulty that I have caused, but you have my gratitude.”

“Yes,” Daine said. He glanced over at Lei, praying for an interruption, but her eyes were closed in blissful enoyment of the bath. “Well, don’t worry. We’ll find a way to return you to your people.”

“My people?” Xu’sasar always spoke swiftly, mimicking her fluid native tongue. But now her words caught in her throat. “My people are dead. I am the last of my family, and the burning jungle is no home to me. You heard the voice of Vulkoor. My path lies with you. You are my people now, and I will follow you until death takes us both.”

She leaned against his arm, resting her head against his shoulder. Daine could hear the sorrow and loneliness in her voice, and he couldn’t bring himself to push her away.

“Honored guests, your presence is requested!”

At the sound of Kin’s voice, Lei’s eyes snapped open—and widened as she saw the drow girl leaning on Daine’s shoulder. Daine leapt to his feet, sending Xu’sasar tumbling into the water. He felt Lei’s icy glare as he helped Xu’sasar up. He turned to give Lei a hand, but she had already climbed out of the pool.

“We took the liberty of cleaning and mending your clothes and armor,” Kin said. “Have no fear, Master Daine, for your companion Pierce maintained the vigil of a hawk throughout our work, and you will find your goods intact. You will also find gifts from her majesty. I will leave you to decide what would be most suitable to wear to the feast.”

“How kind of you,” Daine said. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned over our long night, it’s not to trust strangers with gifts.”

Then he saw the gifts.

“Lei?” he said, looking down at the marble table. “Can we keep them?”

Two items had been set next to Daine’s clothes. The first was a coat of mithral chainmail painted in black enamel. Despite the density of the chain links, the shirt was almost weightless, one of the finest pieces of smithwork he’d seen. The second gift was a hooded cloak of shifting black glamerweave, clasped with a dragonshard brooch.

“The magic in these items is benign,” Pierce said. The warforged had been waiting for them in the antechamber, and Daine couldn’t remember ever seeing Pierce in such good condition. All signs of damage had been repaired, his metal plates polished.

“I have had time to study these objects while you cleansed yourselves,” Pierce continued. “The armor is mystically reinforced, the mithral strengthened