“Are you sure you can make it to the next island?” Andy asked Ann. “I’m fine. You should know that,” she insisted. The problem was, he did know and she wasn’t fine. Dragons formed a bond when they mated, even if it wasn’t with another dragon. That bond allowed them to feel what the other felt, both emotionally and physically. He knew how she felt. She was tired. It would be a push for her to reach the next island. He also could see her magic energy level. It was getting quite low. Her level was dropping faster than Bre’s. She seemed to hold fairly steady during the day but each night it dropped. Andy did what he could to help raise it, but he wasn’t much of a mage. Andy did have magic of his own, to his own great surprise. He had grown up on Earth, a world without magic. How he developed it, no one knew. But it had developed in a fashion. For the longest time, it had been useless, decayed from exposure to an eta-vie, a metal that blocked and even damaged magic, known as copper. But, when battling Nor’than, he cast a spell and it drained him, putting him in a wizard’s trance. When he recovered and his magic came back, it was almost normal. It wasn’t much. There was a total of three spells he could cast on his own although as his magic continued to improve, that might change. He could use it with his Augmenter abilities to help strengthen others. To him, that was more important. Now, he was strengthening Ann. He used her own energy while he could but he couldn’t strengthen her fully and each day it was getting less. At the rate things were going, it would be a tossup whether she slipped into a trance or not before they reached Tricon. “How about Andy ride with me?” Pt’this suggested. “Give you a little bit of a break but allow us to keep going.” Ann nodded in agreement. **** They landed roughly. It had been quite a push to get to this island but they hadn’t a choice. There had been no islands closer. Pt’this was carrying all of them now and it was pushing his limits. He generally didn’t carry more than two people, if he could help it. Most days, Ann was barely conscious. Andy was mixing his magic with hers to keep her out of a trance. Bre had taken a turn for the worse too, but he was still not as bad off as Ann. It was then that they realized that Ann had secretly been giving Bre some of her energy each night. She still blamed herself for him being poisoned too. They were still a day out from Tricon. It would be another difficult day tomorrow. Andy wondered if they shouldn’t give Pt’this a day to rest. He just didn’t know if Ann could make it that long. He was running out of energy to give her. They all feared if she went into a trance, she’d never come out. Pt’this rested while Sapphire cooked dinner. She’d taken over from Andy because Ann seemed to need more and more of his attentions. “Talk to me, Andy. Don’t let me fall asleep before dinner,” Pt’this requested. Andy smiled. He remembered Pt’this making that request once before when they had first met. “What should I talk about?” Andy asked. He had said the same thing the last time too if he remembered correctly. “Anything,” Pt’this said and smiled. “We’ve had this conversation before haven’t we?” Andy nodded. “Just don’t ask me about my homeland. You’ve been there.” Pt’this laughed. “That I have. It was interesting to see but I’m glad we didn’t have to stay.” “I agree. How do you think Ti and Dae are doing with the kids?” “I’d imagine quite well. Ti had Chormi hanging upside down from the ceiling for misbehaving. Nim got rather creative when disciplining Ann. Ti’s drawing from that.” “I wasn’t the only one who was hung upside down,” Ann said weakly. “Dae was several times.” “Sapphire said he had you bury a dragon out in the desert.” “That was Dae too. It was only up to her neck, not her head. That wasn’t a punishment though, well, not for me. For me, it was practice using magic properly. For Dae it was punishment. I don’t remember what she did but her father was very upset. He left her there all night. She had been terrified. She didn’t know it but he watched over her the whole time to make sure she was okay.” “She sure has matured over these last two years,” Pt’this said. “Taking care of Ti had a big hand in it. He was totally dependent on her for the first few weeks and emotionally for longer. He was worried he’d scar or that he wouldn’t heal properly.” “He should see Nim’s scars,” Pt’this said. Ann nodded. “Nim has scars?” Andy asked. “His left arm and his back and chest. His arm looks terrible. I haven’t seen the others. He tries to keep them hidden. They don’t show much under his scales.” “What happened?” “Do you remember how in my journal Mirimar wrote that I tried to roast him? I got his arm pretty bad. I was on the verge of mad dragon. That snapped me out. I tried to get him to let a healer look at it but he wouldn’t. “His chest and back are from a fall when he was little. He impaled himself on a tree while trying to learn to fly. It makes it rather difficult for him to breathe fire.” “That was him?” Ann asked. “They talked about it in class.” “Still? He was unhappy to learn they had mentioned it to other classes.” “It wasn’t the teacher, just the young ones gossiping.” “Has he started hunting again?” Sapphire asked from where she was cooking. Ann nodded. “He’s taken me out a few times. He says I need to learn. He acts like he’s still my mentor.” “He takes Thailyn’s request that you learn all about being a dragon seriously. It wasn’t long after that the dinner was ready and then they all slept well.