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Teeg had to worry with Wilffox, Wilffin and the warlocks while Farzi, Nenzi and the others took"See?" Farzi lifted a branch of one of the drakus plants The leaves were dry and brittle, as if they hadn’t been watered Except they had In fact, the ground was still da earlier

"None of the other fields are like this?" I peered into the distance--it would take half a click just to walk to the opposite end of this field

"One more on other side," Farzi pointed in front of us I started walking through the field with Nenzi, Farzi and six other reptanoids following , but the farther I walked along, the hotter I felt until I thought my insides would melt What did this mean? I stopped still and looked at Farzi "Farzi, do you feel hot right now?" I asked,breathless

"No, our Reah Are you not well?" Farzi came and put a hand to my forehead "Your forehead does not feel like fever"

"I don’t feel like a fever either--not there, anyway," I said "I feel it, here" I pointed toFarzi off; I think he was about to fling me inside Nenzi’s hovercar and rush me back to the plantation "It just feels really war, I wanted to contact Gavril and ask hi ideas around with him often led to better conclusions He never looked at , and this was definitely sounding crazy

"I want to walk a little farther," I said Farzi didn’t want ue withbeside me silently as I strode farther and farther into a field of drakus seed that stretched as far as the eye could see I knew immediately when I reached the warmest spot in the field The plants were almost completely brown around me, but even without that visual confir my eyes, I concentrated on the heat itself

"Our Reah, are you well?" Farzi eventually reached one

"Farzi," I s hiain, are you well?"

"Yes, Farzi, I am well," I assured him "Now, you said before that you kneas different when you met me"

"Yes We not kno, but we know" Nenzi had co

"Then I ask you not to be frightened when I show you what I anize ," I warned before undressing and concentrating on the turn I sat on the ground to ht faces were turned upward asdown "Our Reah," Nenzi was breathless as he gazed at me in wonder

"I won’t hurt you," I pro down at hi I stretched out old of s

"What is our Reah?" Yanzi knelt down before s that co of a monster I would know if they were de back to myself Nenzi helped me dress "Were you afraid?" I asked him

"No," he said "Our Reah is a queen"

"No, Nenzi I’m not a queen," I shook my head "But I thank you for the compliment"

"Your skin scaled--like ours" Farzi seemed happy about that

"Yes it is" I smiled at hi, I think

"We are kin," I tapped his chest "Here, if nowhere else"

"What did you learn?" Teeg asked as soon as alked into the kitchen He’d been waiting on us I barely had tiether

"So, as if they’re not getting enough water," I said "But they are The fields around those two are doing fine The ground is damp and still the plants are brown"

"Only two fields, not a lot to worry about unless it spreads," Teeg brushed it off I left it at that I didn’t tell hi fields I’d wandered through earlier I hadn’t even told Farzi and the others what I was thinking That was a secret I was holding onto as long as I could