The underground journey between our two tunnels is a lot shorter than the overground route. Part of that is because of the shape of the mountain but mostly it’s due to the long and winding shape of Raven’s tunnel. That wasn’t intentional on his part, it was more due to the way the Pure Energy had fed itself through cracks in the ground rock to escape – it hadn’t exactly moved in a straight line. Skipping that tunnel definitely saves us a lot of time.

No matter how short it actually is, though, this journey feels long, far longer than it should due to my apprehension about what we’ll find on the other side. Approaching where the blockage used to be, we carefully navigate the stone that sticks out from the walls, threatening to land us in the Pure Energy.

Tempted as I might be to touch it again, I know that it’s not a good idea, especially not right now. I’m relieved that Bastet doesn’t seem to be attracted in the same way as before either, though I do notice her sending a few longing glances at the stream as we walk.

Past the most difficult bit, it’s not long before we reach the shapes in the tunnel floor which were the very first things I made with Earth-Shaping. The hollow which used to contain the eggs is noticeably empty.

Raven? I ask warily. Where are you?

Even as I ask the question, I hear movement coming from above us. I look up just as a massive head comes through the hole that leads to Raven’s tunnel. I can’t help but tense in reaction to his sudden appearance. But he only says one thing before withdrawing it again.

Come.

I exchange apprehensive glances with Bastet and Catch, then move forwards, leading them to the hole. Getting out of it isn’t easy, but we’re used to it – we all had to climb in and out of this tunnel multiple times in the first three days of our acquaintance with Raven. That was when I worked on Earth-Shaping and others came to report to me failures of other efforts.

In the larger area above the tunnel, Aingeal’s constant light shines on Raven, his wing protectively covering something. The hatchlings, I assume.

“What’s happened?” I ask the alcaoris quietly. He hesitates, then withdraws his wing.

I suck in a breath as the hatchlings are revealed. Similar shock echoes down the Bond from my two companions. I’m…pretty sure they’re not meant to look like that.

One hatchling’s wings look too small for its body, one side of its body visibly larger and more developed than the other. Another’s legs are mismatched, the hatchling limping as it shifts position. The third is worryingly still, odd growths all over its form.

“Raven?” I ask again, not sure how to feel. I don’t want to assume that something’s gone wrong, but from the look of things….

I ruined them, he says plaintively, nudging at one of the hatchlings gently with his nose. I thought I was helping them, but I ruined them.

Abrupt sympathy explodes from Bastet. I suppose if anyone would understand making decisions for the good of her young which might end in disaster, it’s her. I send her a hint of reassurance down the Bond and she accepts it gratefully, then my attention is drawn back to the babies.

The hatchling with the mismatched wings makes a quiet squeaking sound, then sneezes, a curl of flame coming out of its nose. Odd shapes or not, I can’t help almost cooing at it – baby dragons, even if they’re deformed, are adorable. But I quickly sober as I look up at the agonised body language of their father.

“How?” I ask. “And how can I help?”

He’s silent for a long moment.

I thought that more Energy would help them, and they drank it up so eagerly. But yet….

It suddenly becomes clear. I know that Raven had been concerned about whatever had caused the explosion which created the area where my den now is. But he had seemed confident about the other two eggs which hadn’t seemed affected. Now, though, it appears that damage was happening even if he couldn’t see it.

“And you would like me to take a look at them?” I guess.

It is most likely a vain hope, but yes. If you are capable of helping them in any way, I would be most grateful.

“Alright. Would you like me to start with any one in particular?”

Raven nudges forwards the hatchling which had shot a flame out of its nose.

This one is least damaged from what I can see. She is the most likely to survive. He sounds completely desolate at the thought. Unsurprisingly so, considering how fiercely he guarded them, and how he brought them here to give them a better chance at life.

After I exchange a quick glance with Bastet and Catch, they move automatically to guard my back. If Raven does anything untoward while I’m focussing on the hatchling, they’ll prod me mentally until I respond. I then kneel down next to the hatchling who noses at me curiously.

A pale shade of pink, she’s about the size of a large dog already – she must have really been packed tightly in that egg. Her build is more of a greyhound’s than a rottweiler’s – probably because she’s supposed to be able to fly. With her wings as they are, however, I suspect that that won’t happen without my intervention.

This close, I can see that her face is deformed too – instead of the streamlined ridges of her father, one side of her face looks like it’s been moulded against something flat where the other looks too bulbous. By how her bone ridges are being pressed into one of her eye sockets and are half-covering the other, I suspect that her vision is impacted – if her eyes are working correctly anyway.

With her father chirping at her, perhaps in reassurance, I gently stroke my hands along her body feeling for things which don’t seem right. I’ve never touched an alcaoris hatchling before, of course, but I’ve seen her father in many different positions both during our fight and since.

I feel kinks in the bones, and joints which aren’t the same on both sides. If this is the least damaged, I’m even more apprehensive about what I’ll find on the most damaged.

Oddly enough, though, when I cast an Inspect on her, it doesn’t show anything highlighted in wispy red – the usual indication of an injury. Considering everything, that’s not a good sign.

Stolen story; please report.

The Inspect indicates that the alcaoris is a Tier one beast, with the burgeoning ability to breathe fire. Her health is very low, barely more than mine when I first arrived in this world – considering how powerful her father is, I was expecting far more. It’s a similar story with her mana. However, one oddity is that she practically shines with golden light under the influence of Inspect.

After I’ve observed as much with my eyes and hands as I can, I close my eyes and try to inspect her with my magical senses. Immediately, I withdraw my hand and open my eyes, blinking as I try to recover my vision.

What’s wrong? Bastet asks urgently.

She’s…she’s just full of Energy, I tell the raptorcat disbelievingly. Not even an Energy Heart was as full as this little alcaoris. Or rather, I realise as I carefully inspect her again, it’s not that she contains more Energy than an Energy Heart, but that it’s far more active.

An Energy Heart is remarkably calm. I venture to say that the Energy within the Heart acts like the crystal it appears to be. Perhaps that’s the reason it looks like a crystal in the first place: the Energy behaves in a calm, settled, crystalline fashion, and so the Heart appears as such.

The Energy within this alcaoris is not at all calm. Instead, it seems to act more like in the Pure Energy stream – constantly shifting. I don’t feel the same draw to it that I do when I’m near the stream, but it’s certainly reminiscent. The Energy is so in-your-face that I’m actually unable to inspect the hatchling’s body with my magical senses – I’m blinded and desensitised as soon as I try.

The other two hatchling’s bodies reveal much the same when it comes to an exterior examination of their physical problems, though even worse. However, the third, most damaged hatchling, is the opposite when it comes to Energy. I’m able to see inside that one’s body with no difficulty at all. In fact, there isn’t even a trace of any Energy there which suddenly feels rather weird.

I wonder whether I’ve perhaps just got used to there being so much Energy in the other two hatchlings’ bodies that it’s like walking into a dark room with sun-blinded eyes – I can’t see the light that’s already there because I’ve got used to a much-higher level of light. To test that, I check Bastet’s and Catch’s bodies, looking for Energy.

It’s not something I’ve ever tried to see, but now with a comparison of the hatchling, I see that there is a lightness, a presence which I’ve never paid attention to. Like my luminous blackness which I only saw when a deeper blackness was set in contrast.

Except, I feel it when I practise Flesh-Shaping, I remind myself. The pressure which surrounds my mental presence. It’s the reason I couldn’t do more than the most basic healing on Kalanthia when she had the tooth issue, and why I had to Bind Lathani when she was severely injured – without the Bond, their internal pressure pushed me out.

That doesn’t seem to exist in the third hatchling, though it does in the first two. Is that linked to Energy somehow?

Too many questions, not enough answers. I sigh as I shift away from the hatchlings. Looking up at the adult alcaoris, I tell him what I’ve been able to observe.

Do you think you can help? he asks after I finish.

“Not the two less damaged hatchlings, not while they have that amount of Energy in their system,” I answer. “But the other one…I’ll give it a go. Can you send me what a healthy hatchling should look like, please? Ideally, what it should feel like as well. Basically, any information you can give me would be helpful.”

Raven silently sends me as much as he can. I turn to the third hatchling, the dark-coloured one who has barely even moved since I’ve been here, even when I was running my hands along his body. Armed with Raven’s images of a healthy alcaoris hatchling, I start trying to work on his tail. It’s badly kinked where it should be straight, and the arrow-shaped end is more of a ball of bone. It’s certainly not the biggest of the hatchling’s issues, but in the absence of a life-threatening injury, I’d rather experiment on an aspect of his body which isn’t as essential as everything else.

Focussing on the first bone kink, I try to heal it, but my magic does nothing. After a moment of thought, I understand why. It’s the same reason why my Inspect came back without highlighting any injuries: the body doesn’t think it is injured. This deformation is normal according to the blueprint which determines the body’s shape and growth.

I’m undeterred. After all, I traded my Lay-on-Hands Skill in for Flesh-Shaping long ago. A pure healing Skill might not be able to do anything, but I’ve been using my magic to make weapons and tools out of the body parts of creatures for a while now.

I pour in mana, focussing on transforming the deformed section of tail into a straight and streamlined section.

A few moments later, I release my focus and look up at Raven.

“Well, the answer is that yes, I can potentially help at least this hatchling.”

I sense a hesitation, the alcaoris observes suspiciously.

“Just unkinking one small section of his tail took more than half my mana supply. Dealing with the myriad of other issues he has will be a long and drawn out process if that trend continues, and it might even be dangerous if I run out of mana halfway through repairing his heart, for example.”

Then you are saying that it’s not possible? Raven growls, though I sense that it’s that familiar anger again. Not directed at me – this time, I recognise it for the guilty, frustrated anger which is far more damaging to the person feeling it than anyone else. I can’t help but sympathise – I’ve felt the same fury eat me up from inside.

“I’m not saying it’s impossible, but I suspect that you won’t like the only way I can see this working,” I tell him, bracing myself.

Which is?

“You and I are connected through one of my Skills, through a Bond which is formed by our agreement. In this, neither party is dominant. However, I have another Skill which gives me a lot more control over those I Bind to me with it. I suspect that I would be more easily able to help your hatchlings with one of those Bonds. However, even then it’s not guaranteed.”

What is the disadvantage of this? What are you not telling me? he demands suspiciously.

“Only I can release the Bond without causing significant soul damage. And even if I do release the Bond willingly, the longer the Bond is in place, the more damage its release can cause. You would have to trust that I will release your hatchlings at the end of all this. And that they would wish to go,” I warn him then wait for his decision.

Without doing this, you cannot help my hatchlings? Raven checks, giving no clue either in body language or through the Bond as to what he’s thinking.

I hesitate, but ultimately shake my head.

“No.”

The thing is that technically, yes, I could maybe help the most damaged hatchling a bit. But I have far more things to be doing with my mana for my own people that I just can’t dedicate the time and energy it will take to heal him. Not if he’s not one of my Bound. And without it, I can’t even see what’s going on with the other two hatchlings’ internal matrices. I would bet my hat that those are damaged in some way too. And if Raven’s question about whether I had healed my Bound damaged by his Acid Attack is any judge, he thinks so too.

What would be your price if I agree to this? Raven asks, his tone measured. Interesting. He hasn’t rejected it outright. Instead, it seems like he’s actually considering going through with it. And it’s a good question: what would be my price? If I put in the effort, I’ll want to see something out of it.

I take a few moments to think through the options before I speak.

“First, I would like three favours from you that I can call in at a time of my choosing. This is whether I end up being able to heal them or not – I’m going to be putting in a lot of time and effort to help them, with no guarantee that it will actually have any significant effect. Second, when they are healed, I would like the hatchlings to be given the opportunity to stay with me and my group. If at least one of them does, I shall consider the debt paid in full. If not, I would like another three favours from you. Do you accept the price?”