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I sed That was going to be one hell of a dinner party "You know on" I blurted it out before I realized what I was saying

Vishana laughed "Yes, re years should prove interesting"

And then the chie motioned for us to stand quiet He turned to Hyto and held out his hands, palms up A hush descended on the hall

"To walk freely in the halls of the Dragon Reaches means to abide by its rules You have broken your vows You have dishonored the halls You have dishonored your race You have dishonored your name You have cast yourself out by your actions You are cursed to wander the abyss, barred fro Stars forever You alk in limbo, your spirit forever bound to wander between the worlds Your name will be stricken froed fro the exiles Hyto, you are no more the son of your father You are no hters You are denied on all sides You are no longer of the hive You are alone You were pronounced pariah Now you are pronounced cast to oblivion"

And then, with a single gesture, a bolt of lightning struck out fro as it seared into his body Hyto began to screaht fire Still the lightning played across him, until his pale skin was black with crust And then the wind gusted through, as the lightning stopped, and he cruht hion Reaches, into the softly falling snow

At that moment, my collar loosened and fell to the floor I was free

After that, it was a blur of voices andfrorandfather would pass to hi theift, whispering that it was a teift and a better one would follow

"Oneup his hand "Lady Caes for what happened to you We should not have let hio free when he tried to kill Vishana and are we indirectly responsible for his assault on you We owe you reparations What would you ask? Jewels? Gold? A hoon Reaches?"

I stared at thehis rank He’d just offered lanced over at my mother-in-law She believed in honor She’d been just and fair with me

"Sir, Ladygold and ge joy I have a hoh for ainst the demons? Smo--Lord Iampaatar told me that much"

"We do"

"Then I ask a boon I ask that when--if--we need your help to fight against the deons will come to our aid That you will be on our side in the dee sucked in a deep breath, but then he smiled, full lipped and sensuous "Lady Careater by far than our ems But it is also one we cannot--and will not--refuse Consider us your allies"

And then ere surrounded again, by dragons on all sides in their huratulate us on surviving Hyto’s attacks

After another half hour, ere able to slip away

"I need to get home They o now But soet a feel for how grand this place is"

I already had a feel for it but decided to play along Smoky was proud of his home, and well he should be I wrappedpresent between us, as he swept me up and hirled our way into the Ionyc Seas and returned to the barrow

As soon as we came out of it, I just wanted to sleep The Ionyc Seas always et inside and--

"Camille! It’s Ca outside the door, and she screamed to the others inside when she saw us A little unsteady on ht her in ht The nextout, followed by everyone else We stood in the freezing snow, hugging, all talking at once

"We thought you were dead I was getting ready to go to Y’Elestrial to see if your soul statue was still unbroken We thoughtwe thought" Delilah burst into huge sobs and Shade pulled her into his arh!" Smoky’s voice thundered over the mayhem "Everyone inside so we can tell you what happened"

As we entered the barrow, I saw that Hanna was up, a haunted look on her face And there were Georgio and Estelle Thank gods for Shade He’d saved our poor friend, and I would forever love hie Hurt me? Fine Hurt my friends? Not so much

Everybody settled down, and I realized that ere near sunset "Give it ten minutes until Menolly is up--I don’t want to have to repeat this"

"Nice dress," Trillian said, his eyes shining at me "You are so beautiful I was so worried,his way out of the wheelchair "I don’t knohat I’d do without you"