"Are you Fiona?" Kiera asked.

"Yes," Fiona replied.

"I must decide if I am going to kill you now, Heritor Kiera." The Elder Saint said.

Kiera whimpered. "Have I, violated my oaths?" She asked.

"You have not," Fiona said. "I have reached a conclusion on my experiment."

The Elder Saint perked up slightly, though did not reveal her face beyond her slightly glowing cheekbones. "And?" she asked.

"Heritor Kiera, what is your highest ideal?" Fiona asked.

Kiera was speechless. "I, um... don't know. Please, great Elder..."

"You do know," the Elder Saint said. "As oculomancers we will be able to tell if you are lying. Speak truthfully to me."

Her voice was the coldest, most emotionless voice Kiera had ever heard before.

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"I wish to care for others." Kiera said. "I, want my aura to be used for good, to be donated to charity."

"See?" Fiona said. "Harmless, as I said. We should take away her aura and begin training her. She might prove useful, there might even be a path for her, to help us."

The Elder Saint stood. When she did, all of the Heritors bowed. Even Fiona bowed.

"Take her as an apprentice then." The Elder Saint said. "Do as you please Fiona. You have not failed me before, not in a thousand years. I will not kill her today."

Fiona led Kiera and the others out of the chamber. "So you live," Fiona said. "That is surprising. I expected that she would kill you."

"Mother summer!" Sasha said. "I thought she was going to kill all of us. Please, Sir Zachary, remind me in the future to never be in the same room as that, that thing!"

"Do not speak ill of her," Fiona said. "She saved the world, we owe her a great deal."

Kiera trembled, "what, what is she?"

"She is a witch," Fiona said. "And so am I. And so are you."

"Me?" Kiera asked.

"You are an etherborne, born with great magical powers. It's rare. Usually we kill etherborne immediately. However, your were working as a nurse at a hospital taking care of people, and you were also a Heritor. I was able to make a case that you should not be killed when you started to manifest your powers. And I am surprised, but she also agreed to allow me to continue with this experiment."

"Thank you," Kiera said, trembling. "But, why? Why do the witches need to be killed?"

"Questions are more important than answers, my apprentice. You will come to realize that, in time. I promise."