The pair looked at one another and smiled. Vass had taken them to a shop on the way to their mother's home. She said the shop specialized in ancient fashions, especially that of the Humans. Vass had picked out some things that she said she'd seen in an old book at the Royal Library. After leaving there, they'd come straight to his mothers home. Vass led them to a set of crystal stairs and then left. Markus and Mala climbed to the top of the stairs and finally stood before the dragon he saw in his dream. She was sitting on a perch like a giant bird, her eyes closed. Then her wings unfolded and her eyes opened. a tear falling over her scaly cheek. "My son, it fills my heart with joy to finally have you with me again. Yet my heart breaks from the knowledge of what you have endured in the years you've spent in 'his' clutches. Come to me, and let me hold you in my arms once again." With that she picked up Markus and held him as one would a child. "And you also Mala. For you are the one who has made my son truly happy for the first time in his life. And his happiness will only grow with you at his side." "But your time together will be limited at first. The war will be short, but it will keep you apart for all of it. Only at the end will you be reunited. But before that you will have a week to experience the joy that you will know for the rest of your lives. And Mala, you will also have to endure the Ritual of Separation prior to meeting Marius." "Mala will meet Marius?" The man asked. His mother turned to him. "You can call him your brother. For though he is not so by birth, he is your brother by the ordeal you have endured. And I would be proud to call him a son." She smiled to him. "That way you will not be my only one." "You do have four daughters. Odd though they may be." The Queen laughed. "My boy! I have given birth to exactly one hundred daughters in my ten thousand years of life, dragon and half dragon. But only one son has fate seen fit to give me. The four sisters you met today are my joy and sorrow. Joy at the love of life that they all have. But sorrow at the fact that they will never be able to pass that love on to children of their own. For they are incapable of having babies. I feel their sadness everyday. But they have learned to live with this. So you two must be prepared. For the love they have will be given to your children. Never will there be children more loved than yours." "But we must fly from here. Mala's people gather at the edge of the city. There they will celebrate their freedom from the bands. They can not show emotion in their faces and voices, but their music will lift your soul high. And a glance in the eye will tell you all you need to know of what's in their hearts." And so, for three days, markus removed slave bands from Mala's kin. Not once did he rest, yet never did he tire. Not until the last bands were removed from a child. Then he found himself fatigued, barely able to stand. His mother lifted him and Mala and flew them to the home she had prepared for them. The four sisters took their brother and, with Mala, carried him to his bed. Mala cared for him for the next day and night while he slept. For the dissolusion of that much magic had drained him. And for the first time, his sleep was not troubled by visions of pain and death.