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"Jasmine, I’m so sorry--"

She waved it off "Don’t worry It had to be done, right? Besides, once it’s charged, the land can go a while in these conditions And you did what you needed Everything’s okay with Isaac and my namesake, which was the whole purpose"

She then proceeded to give us an account of how things had been in both kingdoe and statistics that Shayapeople and resources, but she did ain foron a lotthe lands’ caretaker Her report gavepicture wasn’t much different froiel, she hadn’t accepted any of his stolen goods--though she was undecided on whether what he was doing rong

My kingdo with the Yew Land We were one of the few kingdoms that had a steady strea copper supply We couldn’t eat copper, of course, and had no other significant food sources The crops in both kingdoms favored eather, and the animals in the Thorn Land hadn’t been able to survive at all The Rowan Land had soame that had providedWith limited food and a lot of copper that no one else could afford to buy, trading with the Yew Land had seemed like the only option

"I’m sorry," said Jasmine "I e didn’t have to-- especially since those bastards are probably responsible for this mess"

"It’s okay," I assured her "You had to feed the people, and the copper was doing us no good"

A servant arrived just then to announce a group of guests had arrived: Dorian, Shaya, Rurik, and Pagiel "How’d they get here so fast?" I asked, once the servant went to fetch theical communication, the trip from Dorian’s land would’ve taken a while

"They were all in the Rowan Land," explained Jasave us a heads-up that youout there He brought Pagiel because he figured you’d want to talk to hiht," I said Despite his quirks, Dorian always had a good feel for what I was thinking

My heart leapt when I saw hiht, Dorian’s presence was a breath of life and exciteh this were an ordinary state visit He wore his typically rich, brightly colored garreen cloak old e hair look like a wave of fire that gave the illusion of war heavy outerwear, so theythe room Probably whatever Dorian had for the cold weather wasn’t fashionable enough for him

He held my eyes for a hts Hoe’d said good-bye The memories of his body that had haunted ain, the knowledge that he ain

"The ard queen returns," he said as though none of those other matters existed A quick assessment revealed to him what Jasmine had also discovered "Considerably less of her"

His tone was light, but I could tell that, also like Jasnancy and was hesitant to presume

"That’s because I left ht too, but theirleft an ache insidewell"

Shaya looked awestruck "Truly? They’re thriving after being born that early?" She shook her head in amazement "Human medicine," was all she said on the matter From the moment I’dtechnology," but I think this had h to handle hearing about ave way to joy She eiel didn’t, both keeping their distance for entirely different reasons Once the welcomes were done and ere all seated, Rurik leaned back and sighed with satisfaction

"Well, then," he said "Now that you’re back, we can get rid of this blight"

There it was again I gris?"

"You’re Storhter," he replied "The weather obeys you"

"Not this weather," I said "I mean, the little parts, yeah, but all of it? It’s an enchanter than just a weather pattern It’s permeated the core of the landcorrupted it"

Dorian nodded "I know exactly what you mean And I suspected as h to break this"

Rurik see the weather, can’t all of you justI don’t knowband together and break the spell?"