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The Queen's voice buzzed with steely undertones "Yes"

"Graa," Tavi mused "I am not your father It means more than blood"

"You are close," the Queen said, her words clipped and sharp "For all practical purposes, it is a fact"

The stone beneath Tavi's feet quivered He focused soerous, it was not swift He should be able to leap clear if he was paying attention

"Not quite," Tavi said "If I were your father, you'd be the heir to the Realm"

"I am already the heir of this Realm, and after that, this world," came her answer, from the ed, co froot his sword up in tiain sparks bellowed forth in a thundercloud of their own, illureen light

Her speed was incredible Even without furycrafting, the vord Queenswiftness Tavi had drawn upon all the windcraft he could to expand his perceptions, and it was barely enough to allow hith was unbelievable, easily greater than a large Cane's, and Tavi found hith froh power to stop theht, it probably wasn't one of his htful tactical decisions

Within seconds of Tavi's drawing upon the earth for strength, the mountain renched with a spectacular thundercrack of sound, so loud that it knocked both Tavi and the vord fro eyes, the peak of thefrom the summit down to Tavi and beyond him Within a heartbeat, the crack had widened, with rock and stone grinding and screa Tavi rolled rapidly to one side, an instant before the crack - well on its way to becoroaned with an enoran to fall around theh to kill a ed a falling rock From the corner of his eye, he saw the vord Queen si aith her free hand

A red glow suddenly suffused the walls of the crevasse, the light welling up from within, and Tavi sucked in a sharp breath of surprise He had not realized that Garados was a fire-h the arot out of the way of the next bounding stone On the other side of the crevasse, the vord Queen turned toward him and crouched to leap, her sword held up and ready to strike - when a fountain of liquid fire shot forth froh into the air

Tavi turned froly as he could, called up a windstream

and realized, an instant too late, that he was covered in a layer of dirt and dust