Haern let his cloaks fall forward, and his hands rest on the hilts of his blades. “Very well. Tessanna, follow me.”

He led them up the stairs and to Aurelia.

T arlak was kneeling by his sister’s bed when they arrived. He glanced up, his face hiding any surprise upon seeing Tessanna.

“A visitor to our tower?” he asked, standing. “I was not informed. I would have swept first.”

“She is here to help,” Qurrah said. He placed his hands on Tessanna’s shoulders and whispered into her ear. She glanced back, her eyes afraid. Qurrah merely nodded and gestured to Aurelia.

“Very well,” she said. She approached the bed, all eyes upon her.

“What is her name?” Tessanna asked.

“Aurelia Thyne,” Haern whispered.

Tessanna nodded. She knelt, curling her slender fingers around Aurelia’s wrist. Her head lowered, and long black hair fell across the bed. Silence filled the room as she meditated there.

“Who is she?” Harruq whispered to his brother.

“No different than us,” Qurrah whispered back. “Her life, her childhood, rivals that of our own. But her power…”

He stopped, for light had begun to fill the dimly lit room. Tessanna’s lips quivered with healing words that felt foreign to her tongue. The flesh of her hands shone white, gradually growing in power. Her hair floated in the air, as if blown by the softest of winds. She arched her head back, her face full of pain. Harruq shot a glance to Qurrah, but his brother’s look ordered him not to move. Haern drew his blades, but a hand from Tarlak kept him still.

A sound like the shattering of a boulder accompanied the great surge of healing magic into Aurelia’s body. The elf’s chest lurched upward as she cried out in pain. Tears flowed down Tessanna’s face, yet still she kept the magic flowing.

“I can’t cure it,” she cried, the light fading from her hands. “I’m not strong enough!”