“Star.” Minx smiled. “It's been a while.” Darina smiled too. “I know. With all the painting, I can't take the smell at the inn.” Minx wrinkled her nose. “Oh I know. I think the only thing we dwarves have in common with the dragons is our strong sense of smell. I don't know how Kith stands it.” Darina shook her head. “Neither do I.” “So what brings you by? Is your mom okay?” “About as okay she can be.” “The nurse working out well?” Darina nodded. “Very well. Thanks for the suggestion.” “Always happy to help. Dark's not here. Did you need him?” “No. He requested a new batch of potions. Nriti's working on them now. I came to get the crate I left here last time.” “Oh, okay. I can get that for you.” She went back into the office and returned a moment later with the crate. “When are we going to get to meet that healer?” “We stopped by yesterday. No one was here.” “We had an emergency. Is he still in town?” Darina shook her head. “He had to leave early this morning.” “Maybe the next time.” Minx shrugged. “Come, have some coffee. We need to catch up.” “I can't. I need to get this back.” She gestured to the crate. “Another time.” Minx nodded. “Another time.” Darina agreed as she left. “Star.” Merrada came up from behind her. “Go away. I don't care what you offer. I am not going to be a prostitute.” She backed away, fingering Lyni's tooth. “I was looking for Slippurse. You’re her friend. Have you seen her?” “Not in months. She got married and moved to Sen-gan. She is also retired.” Merrada frowned. “Married? To whom?” “Your information network seems to be lacking. She married King Emeton.” Merrada raised an eyebrow “The new queen is a thief?” Darina could see his eyes calculating; how could he exploit this? “Don't even think about messing with her. Emeton pardoned her for any crimes she may have committed. And if anyone causes her trouble, Prince Tolin will bring the army after him along with three very protective dragons.” She continued on her way. He followed. “You're pretty well-informed for a bankrupt merchant. Maybe you'd like to be one of my informants. The pay is good.” “I don't need or want your money. I paid off my father's debts. I have a good job and so does Lyni.” “Lyni. That's funny. I've had my men looked into him. We can't find him anywhere. We checked Illia. There's only two clinics there. Neither has a healer named Lyni.” “It's not my problem.” She wondered if it was Merrada’s men that Thailyn has assumed was the Council looking for him. “I don't like doing business with liars.” “Ha!” “I just find it rather odd. Here's this purple dragon who's a great healer who is going by a fake name. Do you know how many purple dragons are?” “I can't say that I do.” “My sources say there are only two in Menthanla.” “Are these the same sources that didn't tell you Slippurse was married? I do believe there are only about four dragons living in Menthanla. Two out of four is half. Yeah, that is quite rare.” She laughed. “There are none in Baj-tisk.” “Why are you telling me this? Why do you even care?” “People who use false names are hiding from someone.” “And you think I'd tell you who it is? When Lyni threw you, did you land on your head? Merrada, not everyone is as corrupt as you are. What's my real name? Do you know? I don't go by Star to hide who I am. I go by Star because it's good for business. The Shimmering Star makes people think of magic. If they associate the two, then when they need magic, they think of the Shimmering Star, me. Many dragons have long complicated names. They use shortened versions of them. Look at Kith. His name is Esharakithmarin. He used to be called Eshar when he was little. He didn't like it. It took decades for people to get used to calling him Kithmar instead. It's probably something similar. Now, go away and let me get back to work.” She slipped into the shop and shut the door in his face. Nriti raised an eyebrow but then he saw Merrada out the window and nodded. **** Darina wandered the market. She didn't want to go home yet. Thailyn was gone and the nurse was watching her mother. She missed her friends. Kith and Vor both passed messages to Tylan but both were quite busy. The owner of the Dragon’s Wine wanted to sell it. Vor was helping fix the place up and the owner had hired Kith to help with repairs also. She wished she could spend time with them. None of her friends knew she was pregnant yet. She wanted to tell them rather than them hearing it through gossip. She was starting to show a little, but not much yet. Only those who knew her would notice and they'd probably just assumed she'd put on a little weight. It wouldn't be long before she'd need to get but maternity clothes. She decided to go and browse one of the shops. There was only one other customer in the store and she had a child in her arms. The boy wasn't old enough to be talking but he babbled as if he was. “Yes, Tohan. I do think we should get the dress, but we'll talk with Daddy.” The woman replied, as if she understood the boy. Darina smiled at that. The woman smiled and blushed when she saw. “He tries so hard to communicate. I feel bad not understanding so I pretend I do. I don't know. Maybe he gets frustrated because I don't respond correctly.” “Maybe he's happy for the attempt.” Darina suggested. “Is he your first?” “First and second.” The woman patted her belly. “You?” “Just this one.” Darina indicated her own belly. “Do you know if it's a boy or girl?” “We think a girl. It's a little hard to tell so soon.” “Darkham is a pretty good healer. I've been to all three in town.” “The baby's father's pretty good too.” Darina winked. The woman's eyes grew wide. “I'm sorry. I didn't mean to imply your husband wasn't good.” “It's okay. He doesn't have a clinic here. You couldn't have meant him. And Darkham is a good healer. My husband travels. When he's not here, I go to Darkham too.” “It must be hard not to see your husband.” Darina nodded. “It can be. But he tries to get home as often as possible.” “Speaking of getting home, we should too. Dad is going to be home soon. It was nice meeting you.” The woman smiled. Darina smiled too. “It was nice meeting you too.” The woman hurried off and Darina continued browsing. **** “Has Merrada given you any more trouble?” Fria ask them one day at dinner. “I haven't seen him in weeks.” Darina assured her. “Weeks?” Thailyn frowned. “I told you about that. He was looking for Slippurse.” Thailyn nodded. “That's right.” “He knows Lyni will make him suffer.” Fria nodded. “People say don't mess with dragons. But really, it's immortals you don't want to mess with.” “Immortals?” Thailyn looked confused. “Don't worry. I'll keep your secret.” Fria assured him. “I know most humans aren't comfortable with fullbloods.” “Fullbloods?” Fullbloods were what immortals called themselves if they were pure immortal with no mortal ancestry. Crossbreeds were those who had mortal ancestry. Those who were at least half immortal also didn't age. Those with one quarter immortal blood aged about the same as dragons and it diminished from there. Fria nodded. “You think I'm a full-blooded immortal?” Thailyn asked. “How else could you be transporting back and forth to Illia, especially after healing all day. That's got to be taking a toll.” Obviously, Fria, like many others didn't realize healing magic and regular magic weren't related. He couldn't use magic to add to his healing or vice versa. And one didn’t drain the other. He could cast until he was drained and still perform emergency healing. “Fria…” He started. “It's okay. I won't tell. I'm just glad Darina found another immortal to accept her.” “Another immortal?” Thailyn asked. Darina had never mentioned any other suitors. Fria nodded again. “Our bloodline is getting thin. Her magic is weak. It's good that she found you. You treat her well and it'll strengthen the bloodline again. She shook her head. “Listen to me. I sound like I have something against mortals. I don't or I wouldn't have married one. It's just Darina is so limited.” Thailyn's mind was reeling. Darina was part immortal. He could tell Fria wasn't confused with this. His mate was carrying a dragon-immortal crossbreed that he'd created. “Mom, what are you talking about? I'm no immortal.” Darina frowned. “Not fully. You're mostly human. Of course, so am I. My grandma was the fullblood. I told you all this.” Fria insisted. “No, Mom, you didn't. You've never said anything. Is this why you didn't want me to go to the college?” “You didn't need to go to the college. Your grandmother and I could teach you everything you’d learn there.” “But Grandma Lonna died.” “Even full bloods can be killed. If she hadn't gone off to look for her mother, she'd still be alive. Why do you think I thought my great aunt should still be alive? Because she is immortal. I haven't lost all my faculties yet.” “But…” “Dar, it's okay. Your mom got confused. Do you remember what I told you about my grandfather? I didn't learn that about him until I was 500.” Thailyn's grandfather had been extremely weak in magic to the point most look down on him and the family was pretty much disgraced on Tricon. “I know but…” She started. “It's okay. Don't worry.” He assured her, not giving her a chance to voice her concerns. He felt them too. What would happen to the baby? Would she go insane and lose control like the other crossbreeds? Of course, she'd be born in human form. If they didn't give her a vial, she wouldn't be able to breathe fire to hurt people. Would they be able to handle her then? “Kith needs a rest from talking,” he said, hoping she'd understand. “Kith? He's not here.” Fria frowned. “He's not sick again, is he?” “No. Never mind.” Thailyn waved it off. “Fria, forgive my indelicacy but for an immortal, you look a lot older than 60 years old. Your illness may age you some but not that much.” Thailyn chose to change the subject. “I'm not 60. I'm over 400.” She looked at Darina. “Where did you get that idea?” “Dad told me your 45 about 15 years ago. Didn't he know?” “Of course he knew. I lost track of how old I was ages ago so he always told people I was 45.” “Is Darina really 23?” Thailyn asked. Fria thought for a moment, and then nodded. “I think so. She's close to that.” “Do I have any brothers or sisters?” Darina asked. Thailyn wondered the same thing. If Fria was over 400, chances were good she had at least one other child. Fria shook her head. “Nope. Your father is the only man I ever loved. Are you sure we didn't have this conversation already?” “I think I'd remember.” Darina told her. “I'm sorry.” “It's okay.” Darina assured her but to Thailyn she felt anything but okay. **** “Thailyn, I'm sorry. I swear I didn't know. I would've told you.” She told him later when they were alone. “I know. You don't keep things from your mate. You can't. Even if I didn't trust you, I can tell by the way you feel.” “What are we going to do?” “About what? You're my mate and I love you. Nothing changes that.” He insisted. “What about the baby? She's dragon and immortal. They always go insane and kill people.” Thailyn nodded. “Permanent mad dragon I've been told. But she'll be in human form. She won't be able to breathe fire.” “But she'll be a mage.” Darina protested. “Dragons can't cast while they're mad.” “She'll be part immortal. What if she does?” Darina pressed. “We could collar her.” Thailyn suggested, though he hated the idea. Collaring was to put shackles and the collar made of copper on a mage to keep her from casting. The copper burned strong mages and would leave scars and even damaged the mage's ability to cast if left on too long. “That's horrible.” Darina frowned. “If we wrapped the copper in silk, it won't burn.” “But we'd have to deny so much of who she was.” “Would be better if she was never born?” Thailyn asked, hating himself for even suggesting it. Darina frowned. “You mean killed her now? Tell me you aren’t considering it.” She demanded. Thailyn growled. He did not want to kill his daughter, though it may eventually become necessary. He shook his head. “I couldn't. She's just a child, my child, our child.” He took Darina in his arms. “I still can't feel a difference.” He told her. “You're only an eighth immortal and your mom said it limited your magic. She'll only be a sixteenth, maybe so little amount won't matter.” “Do you think so?” Darina felt the glimmer of hope. Thailyn nodded. “People with one sixteenth dragon blood share virtually no traits with dragons. The others were always half immortal. It was the dragon blood they thinned.” “We'll get through this.” Darina decided. He agreed. Author’s note. The next 2 sections will contain mild violence.