Turmoil and Treachery
Chapter 21
Nothing was going according to plan! While Ginny had pretended to listen to her, Hermione knew that the message had not been heeded.
Ginny had been hurt more than Hermione had previously imagined. She seemed under the impression that Holly's existence prevented her from developing her relationship with Harry any further. She had even taken off Harry's ring. That was definitely not good.
To make matters worse, Gudrun had called Matt's bluff, wishing him and Heidi all the best. Even now, after a week, there were no signs of Gudrun changing her mind. Needless to say, Matt had been devastated, and Mary hadn't talked to her mum since. However, the silent treatment was loads better than the venomous glances the little girl had shot Heidi over the past eight days.
Matt had gone about his duties listlessly, and Hermione had been forced to do most of the preliminary planning for their little trip to the Caer Sidi estate, where they would take inventory of all the treasures in the vault. They'd also have to find out whether the treasure could be moved to a more secure location.
They had been ready to go the day before, but Doc, who would be designing and casting the security charms, had been called away on a big family emergency. Apparently his youngest brother, Quark, had tried to sell their mother into slavery. Since no one nearly as skilled as Doc had been available, they'd been forced to wait another day for the half-goblin to finish his family business.
"He can't help it, really," Doc said. He was busy picking a complicated magic-proof lock to keep in practice. "The teasing we got from the goblin children about being half human has always bothered him more than the rest of us. He's trying to overcompensate by out-goblining the most ruthless goblins. Precept of Procurement ninety-eight: 'Sell your own mother, if it'll turn a profit.' Problem is, Mum's human."
"Ninety-eight? I'm somewhat familiar with the Precepts of Procurement." Aberforth, who had also decided to tag along, frowned. "I thought ninety-eight was: 'Never sleep with the boss's sister.'"
"Oh no, it used to be." Doc nodded. "But they revised the Precepts about twenty years ago and added twenty-one new ones. These days, 'Never sleep with the boss's sister' is one hundred and twelve."
"What about the boss's wife?" Hermione asked out of curiosity. "Do the goblins have rules for that too?"
"Of course. In fact, 'Never sleep with the boss's wife' is the fifth Precept of Procurement. Goblins only marry their daughters off to the most successful goblins. Hence, having a wife is the ultimate symbol of financial achievement. It would be bad form for some other goblin to be pawing the owner's property."
Hermione's eyes narrowed. What did Doc mean with property?
"Same goes for humans," Aberforth smiled, "although financial achievement isn't the primary reason they get married. By the way, do goblins ever re-marry if they survive their partner?"
"If they can afford it," Doc answered.
"How so?" Hermione asked, feeling more irritated by the second. She knew that goblin females were oppressed, but she'd had no idea they were bought and sold like slaves.
"Second wives are an expensive proposition," Doc explained. "Having a second wife, either simultaneously with, or after the passing of the first wife, would be the ultimate status symbol. It would be a trophy wife in every sense of the word. Only the richest goblins do this, so the fathers of the prospective brides really hike up the prices."
"Fascinating." Aberforth nodded, although Hermione thought disgusting would have been a better word. "What about you, Doc? Do you have your eye on a girl?"
"Girls…" Doc shrugged. "The powers that be didn't exactly hand me the best tools to break into that vault. While they envy the fact that I can do magic, goblins see my career choice as a joke. I make a decent living, but for a society in which material wealth is everything, it isn't good enough."
"What about witches?" Hermione asked.
Doc gave her an odd look. "The odds of meeting a woman who likes ugly half-goblins is negligible."
"There's your mother," Aberforth pointed out. "There might be more witches like her."
"True, but as I said, the odds are rather slim. Besides, I'm more attracted to goblin girls." The complicated locking mechanism popped open, and Doc nodded with satisfaction. He glanced at Aberforth. "What about you, Aberforth? Ever been married?"
Aberforth smiled sadly and shook his head. "I was engaged to a woman…a fellow Ranger. But she died before we had a chance to be together."
"I'm sorry," Hermione said quietly.
"Well, that was over a century ago." Aberforth shrugged. "I choose to remember the good times we had together."
"And you never fancied anyone else?"
"Of course I have. But as I advanced in rank I tended to concentrate on my work. I had a few relationships every now and then, but the women couldn't cope with my lifestyle. After I retired, everyone thought I was crazy, so that didn't exactly make things easy either. I once suggested to Minerva McGonagall that we ought to get together." Aberforth chuckled. "Left her speechless, that did. It must have been embarrassing."
"You are old enough to be her grandfather."
"It wasn't the age difference. It was my supposed insanity," Aberforth insisted. "Did you know that Poppy Pomfrey had a little crush on Albus? And he's old enough to be her grandfather too. I thought they'd make a nice couple. I even sent Albus a pair of earmuffs I knew would be a big hit with her…"
Hermione shook her head. Maybe Aberforth wasn't insane in the sense that he couldn't function in society, but he was definitely a pleasantly disturbed old warlock.
"I'm getting bored," Aberforth said after a while. "How long until we reach Caer Sidi?"
Hermione checked her watch. "Four hours."
"That long? We've got to kill time. I know a game. I'll look around the cargo hold and pick an object. You'll have to guess what it is! All right, here goes. I spy, I spy with my little eye, something that begins with a B."
Hermione looked around. The whole cargo hold was filled with all sorts of boxes. "A box?" she ventured.
"Right! I spy, I spy with my little eye, something that begins with an M."
Hermione frowned. There was nothing she could see that would begin with an M.
"More boxes," Doc guessed.
"Correct!" Aberforth cheered. "That's one each! All right, I spy, I spy with my little eye, something that begins with an E."
Hermione decided that she wasn't going to dignify that one with an answer, and she called down a levitation square that would take her to the upper level.
"Anyone?" Aberforth asked.
"Even more boxes, you crazy old—" The rest of Doc's answer was cut off from Hermione's hearing as she reached the upper level.
Rachel Esklove sat at the controls of the Cruiser. She'd trained ceaselessly in learning how to pilot the Cruiser, and she seemed to have mastered it in record time. Captain Yee, the Chief Artificer Ranger, had expressed enough faith in her abilities to allow her go on the mission, as long as Doc, who was an auxiliary artificer, would be supervising. Clearly the half-goblin trusted Rachel enough to let her fly the cruiser by herself.
Her sisters, Danielle and Sarah, who had also been assigned to help out, were asking her all sorts of questions about the Cruiser. Commander Nomvete had decided that an assignment like this was a perfect opportunity for these raw recruits to learn about field missions without exposing them to any actual danger.
"Where's Matt?" Hermione asked.
Danielle pointed to the back of the Cruiser, where the small sickbay was located.
When Hermione peeked in, she found Matt stretched out on the bed. "Feeling okay?"
"Just thinking."
"About Gudrun?"
Matt nodded.
Hermione sat on the edge of the bed and looked at Matt. "Listen, you shouldn't give up yet. Lieutenant Cliff thinks that you and Gudrun might be Twin Flames."
"She told me." Matt nodded. "That doesn't mean that we're going to end up together, though. Maybe we're just supposed to be friends after all. I'd rather have her as a friend, so I'm not going mess that up by forcing this issue any longer."
Hermione sighed. Gudrun's feelings for Matt definitely went beyond friendship. She'd seen how Gudrun behaved when Matt had been asleep. "She's in love with you."
"I don't want to think about her," Matt said with a tone of finality. "Thinking about her hurts. I spontaneously get a headache every time I do. But I can't help it. Every waking moment when I'm not doing something that requires all my concentration, I think about her. When I'm asleep, I dream about her."
"And what do you dream about?"
"I see us together in quiet times. When we've dealt with the biggest threats to the world and we can just argue and wonder what to do next. Deciding to do things together. I saw…" Matt's voice broke and his eyes grew tearful. "I saw myself introducing her to my family, and saw them make a place for her in their hearts and their lives. I'm sure things would have gone differently in reality, if they'd met under different circumstances. Dad might have been an ass about it, but I'm sure Gudrun would have changed his mind in the end.
"I saw hundreds of great possibilities for our life together, and the only thing that saddened me was that we couldn't live them all. I used to have dreams where Gudrun and I were walking along a beach where I used to surf, our tracks in the sand, side by side."
"Why didn't you tell her all this?" Hermione asked.
"She wouldn't believe me. She told me there's no way I could really love her like I say I do. But I feel like I've known her forever. I remember all these little things about her, like what her favourite food is, her favourite colour, what kind of music she listens too. And I didn't even have to try. They just stuck with me. I've never bothered to remember all that about any other woman."
Hermione patted his knee. "If you tell her exactly what you've told me just now, I can't imagine her not changing her mind."
"You think so?"
"Yes, I do. And I have a very active imagination."
Matt smiled ruefully. "Great, now I've got my hopes up again. Why do I have the feeling that I'll just wipe out again."
"Wipe out?"
"Surfing term."
"Oh." Hermione decided that it would be best to change the topic, and surfing was just as good as any subject. "I understand you used to live near Never Never. That's far inland. How did you ever pick up a hobby like surfing?"
"Hobby?" Matt looked insulted. "It isn't a hobby. It's a sport and art all rolled into one. There's nothing quite like riding a monster wave. I rode a huge one once…one so big that wiping out would likely end in death because you'd be crushed inside the waves. For those brief moments, I felt like a god."
"All right, I'm sorry." Hermione smiled. "It isn't a hobby. But you still haven't answered my question."
"I didn't take up surfing in Australia. I lived in Australia until I was about four. Then we moved to Oahu in Hawaii, because my dad had established his corporate headquarters there. I body-boarded until I was nine. Then I moved onto real surfing. I used to spend both holidays surfing. Winter is the best time to catch waves, because of the swells caused by storms. But I surfed in summer too. The waves are less impressive, but it's still fun. My dad hated me for it. He said it was a waste of time."
"That's funny. You never told me you lived in Hawaii."
"Dad's got a house on every continent."
"Every continent?" Hermione smirked. "Even Antarctica?"
"He owns a cabin there."
"What on earth for?"
"He liked to hunt Ice-worms. His idea of an exciting safari," Matt answered. "I think I'll sell the cabin. It's cruel to hunt Ice-worms."
Hermione shook her head. Unbelievable, how these rich purebloods killed innocent Ice-worms for sport. She remembered Malfoy gloating about attending a hunt. At least Matt didn't seem to endorse it.
She smiled. Matt was really a nice bloke, now that he wasn't obnoxious anymore. Either way, he'd never let his wealth got to his head. That took a lot of character. Hopefully Gudrun would wake up and smell… Oahu?
Her mouth went dry, and she carefully cast a glance at Matt. His eyes were closed, so she held her gaze. Did Gudrun know that Matt had lived there? Had Matt known John? Was it possible that he and John were the same person? The ages matched, as did their looks, save for the hair and eye colour.
But those could be changed. She remembered the question Ron had asked Matt's mum, and the explanation.
"After he was nine, we just cast a cosmetic charm on his eyes before he mingled with Muggles."
No, it simply wasn't possible. When Gudrun met John, she had been part of the wizarding world long enough to identify a wizard when she saw one. But that brought up another thing Lynette had told Hermione about her sons.
"In fact, to confuse potential evildoers further, we raised our boys to be convincing Muggles. They grew up with toy broomsticks, but they also watched Saturday morning cartoons on television. Nathan could put on a decent show after a few years, but Matt took to it like a fish to water…within months, he became indistinguishable from Muggle children."
Hermione's heart was pounding like crazy and she struggled to keep her breathing even. Mary's smile…her strut…her rebelliousness towards a parent. Was it coincedence, or was she just her father's daughter?
"Matt…" She paused to erase the squeak in her voice.
"Yes, Hermione?" Matt opened his eyes. "Are you all right? You don't look so well."
She didn't feel well. This whole issue was turning her stomach upside down. "Just a little nauseous. I think I'm airsick," she lied.
Matt frowned. "That's funny. The Cruisers are charmed to make their flight unnoticeable to their passengers. Maybe this one needs an overhaul. We should tell Doc…"
"It could be something I ate," Hermione said quickly. "Listen, can I ask you something?"
"Ask away, as long as it isn't too personal." Matt smiled.
Hermione blushed. It was sort of personal, but there was no other way to ask. "Your mum told me that someone tried to kidnap you and Nathan when you were toddlers. She also told me that they took certain measures to protect you from harm. Did they also change the way you looked?"
"Oh yeah! They changed our eyes, obviously. Purple and feline eyes aren't exactly low profile. Usually they also gave us a different hair colour and put a wave or some curls into them. I didn't look too bad as a brunet" Matt grinned. "And in extreme cases, we were just Polyjuiced. Why?"
"No reason, really. I just thought it would be a good idea to consider these things. I've made quite a few enemies, and my future children might need some protection."
Matt's face lit up. "Are you pregnant?"
Hermione shook her head, suddenly overtaken by sadness. "No…n-not yet."
Matt's face fell. "Oh, sorry. I didn't mean to bring it up. Don't worry though. Lilia told me, and everyone else, about Ron's sample. What were the words she used again? Ah yes, 'Ron could knock up the barren soil of Azkaban if he gave it a try, '" he said, straining his voice to imitate Lilia's soprano voice.
Hermione smiled weakly and hoped that Ron wouldn't find out about Lilia's comments. She opened her mouth again, but closed it immediately. Confronting Matt with this was a bad idea. If he and John Smith were indeed the same person, surely he would have had good reason not to tell Gudrun, wouldn't he?
There was only one way to find out discreetly. And for that she needed help from a fellow Medical Ranger.
*
'I know you can only see the negative right now,' Hermione had argued. 'You need to remember the positive! There's light whenever you and Harry connect. He didn't have that with Heidi, and I'm sure he didn't have that with Carey either. Ginny, the only reason he got together with Carey in the first place was because she reminded him of you. Not so much in looks, but in behaviour. He was very vulnerable at the time. I'm sure he never would have done anything with Carey if his life hadn't been a mess.'
'And whose fault is that?' Ginny had asked quietly. 'It's my own fault. He wouldn't have been vulnerable to begin with if I hadn't rejected him when he needed me the most. That's when I lost him. If I had been there for Harry, if he'd had just one more supporter, would he have felt so crushed in spirit that he felt he had no choice but to become a Ranger, just to get away from us? …And if he hadn't been a Ranger, he wouldn't have become involved with Heidi or this Carey. And Holly wouldn't even exist. I'd be married to Harry now, and I'd be having his children! But it's too late now.'
'You shouldn't drive yourself crazy with those thoughts. If Harry hadn't become a Ranger, Padma would be dead, and maybe quite a few Rangers. There are advantages and disadvantages to every twist of fate. But more importantly, it isn't too late!'
Ginny shook her head. If only Hermione knew what it meant for a man to have a child…more importantly, the first child with someone else, like Aria had said. It placed a mark on a relationship, a mark that would never go away, and would always continue influencing the relationship.
Her thoughts were interrupted by the buzzing sound of a communications Mirror in the small office adjacent to the lab. "Natasha, please keep an eye on that restorative for me!"
The nurse nodded, and Ginny was relieved that she had got the name right. Since she spent a lot of time among the artificers, she didn't know the non-Ranger personnel as well as the others.
Non-Ranger personnel came to the Citadel by Portkey from a location outside Concordia, and they were rotated as unpredictably as possible. Moreover, once inside the Citadel, they would take another Portkey straight to their workstation. They couldn't wander around the Citadel. So even if the enemy managed to find out who they were and get at one of them, they wouldn't be of much use. A rigorous screening preceding every shift in the Citadel went a long way to ensure that they were clean. Ginny knew that the commanders would rather do without them entirely, but that would increase the workload of the Rangers even more.
Ginny tapped the screen, coming face to face with Hermione. She frowned. Had Hermione called her to argue Harry's case for him again? "What's the matter?"
"Nothing…" Hermione did her best to keep her voice down. "I just need a favour."
There was something odd about Hermione's demeanour. "You sound like you want me to break the rules!" Ginny said, and Hermione's guilty blush showed that she must have touched a nerve.
"Don't be ridiculous. This transmission is being monitored. I just don't want someone at my end to hear this. I need you to find Mary's blood sample. It's a sub-file under Gudrun. Do you know how to find it?"
"Just a moment…" Ginny pressed a button under the side of the desk, and a large panel with several rune keys and other controls slid upwards. She divided the screen in half, limiting Hermione's face to one half and using the second half to pull up. Gudrun's file. "What do you need it for?"
"I need you to run a paternity spell on it."
Ginny grimaced. Paternity…she really didn't want to be thinking about that. "I need the supposed father's blood for that too."
"I know. Use Matt's."
Ginny started at the mirror screen incredulously. "Hermione, it crossed my mind too, but seriously—"
"Did you know Matt moved from Australia to Oahu when he was four? He went to school in Australia, but he spent his holidays on Oahu…surfing! His mum told me Matt and Nathan were taught to emulate Muggles as a safety precaution, after someone tried to kidnap them when they were children. They also changed their appearances…just indulge me!" Hermione hissed.
Ginny shook her head and drew up Matt's file. Then she looked up where she could find the blood samples in storage. As she did so, the screen listed information about the blood. Second nature took over and she briefly scanned the data. "I'm looking at the information about their blood, Hermione. I don't have to use the spell to determine that Matt isn't Mary's father. Mary's an A negative and Gudrun is an O negative. Matt's a B negative, so he can't be the father. Mary's father has to be—"
"An A or an AB," Hermione finished disappointedly.
"Right." Ginny nodded.
"I guess it was too weird to be true." Hermione sighed. "Thanks anyway."
"You're welcome." Ginny nodded before Hermione's face faded away. She was about to get up, when Commander Ironheart's face appeared in front of her.
"Ah, Miss Weasley, good! How would you like to assist Lieutenant Montoya with a special assignment? The botanical gardens are about to release their first batch of Miraculum Weed, and we're going to test the effects of the Miraculum-enriched Wolfsbane Potion on regular werewolves."
"Why bother? It won't cure them, right?"
Ironheart nodded. "I've been told that the potion only cures bite victims if administered before the next full moon. However, the weed boosts the potency of the potion enormously. And wouldn't it be fun to find out what the effects are?"
Ginny smiled. This sounded like something Hermione would love to do. But Ginny preferred to work on her project down in the maintenance bay. "I was hoping to tackle some problems that arose in the mech performance simulations. Gudrun is counting on me. And this werewolf project will take months, won't it?"
"Actually, someone came up with the ingenious plan to spread the experiment out over the world with various subjects, so we can make the maximum amount of progress in one night. However, you are right, the project will take several full moons. I just thought I'd ask you, since Remus Lupin is one of the volunteers. Since the next full moon is December 30th, I'll grant you a couple of extra days off so you can spend New Year with your family, since you'd be in England anyway."
It was very nice of Commander Ironheart to offer her this chance. But she couldn't face her family now, and she didn't think the humiliation would be any less in a month. "Can I think about it?" she asked, feeling herself grow uncomfortably warm under Ironheart's stare. Could he read minds through the mirror as well?
"Of course. I'm not handing out new assignments yet."
"Thank you, Commander."
"You're welcome. And Miss Weasley?"
"Yes?"
"Forget everything my wife might told you. She meant well, but she's wrong. There's a huge difference in your situation with Harry, and mine with my wife. You're the one Harry is meant to be with. There's true love there. My wife and I have reached an understanding over the years. She's one strong woman, never taking out the bitterness caused by my actions on our children, and I respect her for that. But our marriage was wrong to begin with. I married her to avert a bloody family feud.
"I know Holly's appearance seems like an attack on your relationship with Harry, but perhaps it could be a blessing in disguise. Harry's never had blood relatives who cared about him. It may actually do him a lot of good. Think about that."
Ginny sat stock still in the chair, minutes after Ironheart's face had faded from the mirror screen, waiting for the emotional anguish to come. But she felt surprisingly numb. Her eyes drifted to the finger that Harry's ring used to encircle. He had said that the diamond would always glow brightly as long as she loved Harry. But it had shattered from the inside out. Did that mean she no longer loved Harry?
*
Hermione was actually glad that her suspicions had been the result of an overactive imagination. If Matt actually had been John, it would have raised a lot of new questions. However, given the fact that they'd both surfed on the same island and were the same age, maybe Matt knew John.
Could she ask Matt about him though? What would she say if he asked her why she wanted to know? Oh, he's Mary's father and Gudrun wants to find him and tell him about her.
That answer was no good. It might lead Matt to believe that John was a rival worth considering. After all, Gudrun never told him about John and Hermione strongly suspected it was because Gudrun still had some feelings for the father of her child deep down, no matter how brief their time together might have been. This could also be contributing to Gudrun's refusal to have Matt's child.
"We're here!" Rachel Esklove called out.
Hermione looked out of the large viewport and saw the island rise out of the sea. Glancing at the Cruiser's control panel, she saw the Cruiser's magic detectors light up as they picked up the heavy illusion and interdiction charms that prevented Muggles from seeing and reaching the island.
Just then, Doc rose out of the cargo hold and skipped over to the co-pilot's console. He plopped down into the chair. "Send out a detection pulse to probe for anything unusual."
"Sending," Rachel reported.
"All clear," Sarah said after a few seconds.
"All right, maintain invisibility and set her down by those rocks!"
Rachel grinned and shoved the yoke forward. The Cruiser's nose dipped dangerously low and they started losing altitude fast. However, the due to the charms that dampened inertia, Hermione didn't feel a thing. The sight of the ground rushing up to meet them was still unnerving, and she heaved a sigh of relief the Cruiser drew level with only ten feet to spare.
Doc raised his eyebrows at Rachel. "Ten whole feet? Is that supposed to scare me?"
"As if you can do better," Rachel challenged.
"Take her to a thousand feet and I'll show you how it's done, little girl."
"Some other time, Docmor," Hermione pleaded. "Besides, we have work to do."
"Another time then." Doc grinned. "Where's Matt?"
"I'm here," Matt answered as he came out of the sick bay. "Who's coming along?"
"Rachel and Sarah will remain on the Cruiser," Hermione began, but groans from the people in question made it clear that they didn't agree. "You need to keep an eye out for danger from here. It's really important."
"Why does Danielle get to go?" Sarah complained.
"Isn't it obvious? Because I'm better than you two," the third triplet answered.
"Relax," Doc said soothingly. "You two are staying because you're more valuable here. Maybe Matt will take you into the vault after we're done here."
"Don't worry, sis, I'll take pictures," Danielle teased.
Sarah scowled and muttered something under her breath.
"That's enough, children," Doc announced. "Aberforth will remain behind as well. Hermione, Matt, Danielle…let's move out."
They grabbed their gear, which consisted mostly of means to take inventory of all the artefacts inside the vault. Knowing there were Apparition wards on the island, they then activated their personal Portkeys set to the co-ordinates just outside the Cruiser.
They hadn't walked thirty paces, before six Ministry wizards challenged them. A security force had been introduced after the Kellys' deaths.
Ironheart had announced their visit to a few trusted people within the Ministry. While the people Ironheart knew were trustworthy, the same could not be said for all their colleagues, so while these wizards might have known about their visit, they didn't know exactly why they were visiting. Their cover was an inspection, which was partially true.
"What's the password?" the lead wizard asked gruffly.
"Lord of the castle," Matt answered gloomily.
The wizards relaxed and lowered their wands. "Welcome to Caer Sidi. Please go around the castle and use the second entrance. We're keeping the main entrance closed for security reasons."
That said, they went around and made their way to the other side of the castle and entered through an archway with a heavy stone door. The grooves in the floor indicated that it slid into place to close off the doorway.
"Stop!" Doc said suddenly, peering intently at the floor. "Those markings etched…anti-teleportation square!" he gasped and went for his wand.
"Stupefy!" an angry voice screamed, followed by several others.
As she lost consciousness, Hermione realised that they had walked into a trap.
***
Foxfur: If Harry can turn Max back to the side of light before he dies? LOL, it's really funny that you mention it like that. The next chapter will explain what's so funny.
Gogirl: You know what they say; the opposite of love isn't hate, but indifference. Obi-Wan…not exactly, LOL.
BigDaddy753: I thank you for the review, no matter how brief.
crazyfriendsfan: Yeah, poor Ginny. Speaking of which; there's an article about an interview with J.K. Rowling when she's asked if Harry will even notice Ginny, to which her answer is something like 'Poor Ginny, eh?' As the OoTP draws ever closer, I keep getting the feeling that it could very well be Ginny who will die. :-(
StarWest45: Even Hermione can't solve everything.
Bane: Hmm, maybe the chapters are getting a little shorter, but not much. Don't worry, I'll never drop below 4,000 words.
Hannah: Oh, c'mon, you're not being fair to poor Ginny. Being in love with Harry isn't easy. ;-)
Lady Reaper of the Shadows: The significance is open to interpretation.
amy: Ginny got the ring in chapter 16, I think.
nycgal: There will be plenty of triplet presence in the near future.
CR: Still bored?
The.grey.lady: I thought I'd been clear enough about Ironheart…apparently not, since you're not the only one who asked about it. Yes, Holly is the winged creature Ironheart was tracking down. Draconians can sprout wings at will.
Lord Dreadnault: True, but it still hurts.
LadySiri: Keep hoping.
Lioness-07863: Every question will be answered in time.
Lamina Court: That seems to be the question; why did the diamond shatter?
jona: Be afraid!
Maverick Davis: The connection can't be broken, for better or for worse.
Maab: Escaflowne…^-^ you have no idea!
GothQueen: I know. That's why I'll reduce the twists and bombshells and start lengthening the chapters.
Casual Reader: Theories, eh?
Petals: It can get much worse.
James: I updated, I updated!
Jemima Blue: Jacqueline Hyde, got it. And yeah, I do enjoy making the character's lives miserable.