Cham stared at the silver-haired woman who had turned into a giant lizard before utterly destroying Geroth by breathing on him really hard. She had boldly declared that they could save Rosalyn and produced a gleaming silver egg from some incomprehensible hole in space. If she wasn't so numb from the events of the last few minutes, she might have gasped at the gorgeous silver egg and the intricate swirl patterns that adorned its surface. Unfortunately, she had other things on her mind. Unsure what exactly they were doing as she desperately fed holy power into the rapidly cooling body of one of her two remaining kids Cham continued to stare, afraid that questions would distract this strange creature and kill Rosalyn.
“Okay, I am going to let go of my compression momentarily. Do not be alarmed when I do so. I must say, I am impressed that you are not afraid of me. I remember halflings as being rather timid when it came to large things that could eat them in a single bite. My name is Serena by the by. It is wonderful to meet you.” Cham stared flatly at Serena before looking down at Rosalyn’s body. “What are we doing?”
“Probably something we shouldn’t. Still want to try?”
Turning her eyes away from the dragoness as she once again grew into a large and fearsome beast and to the unmoving body of her kid, she replied “Yes.”
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It had been three days of non-stop work from the two of them, and Cham was using every scrap of holy power in her body to keep Rosalyn’s soul tenuously tethered to the mortal coil while Serena was doing… something. Cham couldn’t exactly tell what she was doing to be honest. Occasionally she would glimpse fine blue spider-webs of energy sparkle between the egg and Rosalyn, but the dragoness gave no indication what exactly she was trying to acomplish.
Little conversation had gone on between the two of them, but through their shared struggle Cham had slowly came to respect Serena. She obviously was trying her best to complete whatever it was she was doing, but there had been no explanation yet despite the question before they had started.
In fact, the room would have probably been completely silent except for the small kobold that kept flittering back and forth. The small thing was pacing back and forth while wringing his hands in worry. Occasionally he would disappear and then reappear a short while later and press a small metal cup to Cham’s mouth that was filled with water or occasionally a milky white broth that tasted of fish and horseradish. Cham was grateful and she silently showed her appreciation with a smile and a nod, causing him to nod back and then go back to his frantic pacing.
Their work however, continued.
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At some point during the sixth day Cham had passed out, unable to continue producing energy. Around the start of the fifth day she had started burning her own vitality to keep up with the demands, but she had eventually ran out of that as well and lost her hold on consciousness.
Waking up in a slight panic, Cham bolted up and found that she was no longer in the cave. She was in a simple, but comfortable bed, and someone had given her a bath and put her in a hugely oversized silk nightie. Cham jumped out of bed going from a slight to a total panic, but immediately fell on her face as her legs gave out when she put weight on them. Cham let out a groan and lay on the ground twitching in both pain and slight embarrassment. Rolling onto her back Cham croaked out, “Serena? Are you there?”
She was relieved when an audible “Ah!” sounded from the other side of the bedroom door, and Serena walked into the room in her silver-haired human guise. The kobold from the cavern was standing behind her hiding behind her dress like a shy child. “I am glad you are awake, I feared the worst when you passed out. It has been a week since you fell unconscious, and before you distress too much… We did it. She is alive.”
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Relief and confusion warred in Cham’s heart and she decided that she needed to vocalize both. “Where is she… and… what exactly did we do? You kind of skirted the topic when I brought it up the first time.” Serena listened and nodded her head at the question, and instead of giving a verbal answer she bent over and gingerly picked up Cham’s form and carried her out of the room.
They appeared to be in a moderately sized cottage. She could see the sunshine stream through several tall windows and she counted at least four other rooms as Serena silently walked down the hall and through a door that led outside. Momentarily blinded by the sunlight, Cham was surprised by their location. They were on a cliff overlooking a vast evergreen forest to one side. She took in the fenced in yard with an appraising eye. There was a small shed in one corner, with a large oak tree with a rope swing hanging from the branches. Several young kobolds were swinging merrily from the rope and making happy hooting noises. A few more kobolds, including one with wings, were working together to draw a bucket from an old stone well in the middle of the property. Looking behind her at the cottage she confirmed her earlier suspicion of it being a cozy single story dwelling, although her eyes were drawn to a stone tower on one corner of the cottage that appeared to be at least three stories in height.
It was the tower that Serena carried her into, bypassing stairs that led up higher she passed sacks of grain and what Cham thought were potatoes and descended a staircase in the back of the storehouse. Cham tried counting the stairs as they walked down a roughhewn doubled-back flight of stairs, but she decided to stop after she got lightheaded from the mental exertion. Closing her eyes, she let out a long ragged sigh. When she opened them again they had stopped and Serena was staring down at her with worry in her eyes.
“Are you okay Cham?” Looking up at Serena, Cham grunted and replied “I… don’t know. Using all my holy power wouldn’t normally put me down like this. Divine knows I did it many times during the war… However, I went far past that and drew on my own self the last two days. I fear I might have done some permanent damage. Still, I don’t think I am in any life threatening danger. Thank you for your concern.” Watching relief flood across the beautiful face, Cham chuckled.
“I figured a dragon would be a bit scarier.” Letting out a musical laugh, Serena rocked her head from side to side with a coy smile on her face. “We are here. There she is.” Looking at where Serena was indicating, Cham’s breath caught in her throat. Filling the room was a literal dragon’s horde of treasure. Gold and silver coins were strewn haphazardly across the floor and everything from marble statues to impressive suits of armor lined the walls. There was even what looked like a produce crate full of glittering gems off to one side. However, the centerpiece of the whole room was sitting on the same purple pillow it was when Cham first saw it. The gorgeous glittering silver egg was even more breathtaking that the last time she had laid eyes on it, for now the lines and swirl patterns danced with a silver and blue light that caused a faint strobe effect in the room. The effect on the precious metals and gems was truly mesmerizing. At odds with the over the top wealth on display was a simple wooden rocking chair and a small table sitting to the side of the egg. On the small table was a stack of books and a small lyre.
“She is there in the egg?” Cham looked back up to Serena, who met her gaze. “Yes. She will be reborn as a dragon, as my daughter, although she should still be Rosalyn. There might be some holes to start with, but everything should come back to her in time.” As if hearing their conversation, the egg gently rocked back and forth and Cham felt hot tears at the corners of her eyes. “It was a close thing, I thought we lost her when you fainted at the end. However, her spirit hung around long enough to finish transferring her mana and the ‘spark’ of her life into the egg.”
Looking down at the egg as it stopped rocking and shaking, Cham whispered as tears streamed down her face, “So she won’t be human anymore? She will be a dragon? I’m not sure how I feel about that, it is a lot to digest… but honestly… I am just happy she isn’t gone. We lost so much, so quickly.” Choking back a sob she continued, “I pushed it all to the side because she was still alive. I don’t think I would have survived if I had to watch another of my children die. Thank you. Thank you.” Rubbing her snot covered face into the soft silk-like fabric of Serena’s silver sun dress she sobbed silently while Serena held her in the gently glittering light. Eventually, the fatigue and stress overcame Cham and she fell into a deep sleep.
She dreamed of merrily riding through the air on the back of a large silver dragon with all of her dead kids snuggled under her arms.