Avalonna, town of Asterette

Drow sighed softly as he held Avalonna close in their room at the Astertte Inn. She was in tears, weeping for her fallen city. She heard everything from the guards, how they murdered innocents and burned down the village. Avalonna was stunned beyond words until she sat down in the room and began to let her emotions get the best of her.

She felt terrible sadness for the senseless violence that had occurred She felt a horrible, crippling feeling of guilt that somehow, deep down, she knew this was all her fault. Beneath these feelings lay her rage and anger, her hatred of the Red King and Queen for doing such things. She knew now more than ever that they had to be stopped, for her mother's sake, for Eversong's sake, and for the sake of Aster.

"Drow..." She managed to say after a few moments,
"Connor and Lydia...do you think they are ..." She couldn't even force out the word.

"No. Of course not, Val. Do not worry yourself with such thoughts. If your brother is anything like you, then he would have found a way out and saved himself and Lydia." he replied, embracing Avalonna softly.

"How could the Nitehardts do such a thing?" She asked quietly, almost as if to herself.
"It's all my fault." She said, closing her eyes and touching her necklace softly.

"No, Avalonna." Drow said firmly,
"You must not think that. It is not your fault you were born, is it? You are what you are, and nobody can use that against you. The Red King's malice has nothing to do with you, he's as bloodthirsty as he was before you were born." He paused to brush Avalonna's hair out of her face and kiss her cheek softly.

"Now we know for sure what lengths he will go to in order to eliminate magic. The harder he tries to kill magic just reveals how truly scared of it he actually is." He added.

Avalonna nodded in reply and exhaled slowly, breathing out all her grief.
"Yes, we know magic can defeat him. Magic must defeat him. We can't let this go unpunished." She replied.

"What do you propose we do?" Drow asked.

"We have to accept that...that we may not have Connor or Lydia to help us anymore." Avalonna started, speaking slowly.
"If that is the case, when we get to the 13th Council in the northern wilderness, we must not only get then to train me, but to join us as well." She stated.

Drow raised an eyebrow questioningly but only nodded slowly in reply.

"After that, we hope that our combined magic can defeat the Red Guard and the army of Aster." Avalonna finished, half saying the statement, half trying to convince herself it was at all possible.

"If we are going up against an army," Drow started saying,
"Then we will need one of our own. Witches and warlocks are not the only magical creatures still alive in Aster." He said with a slight grin.

"What? What do you mean?" Avalonna questioned, confused.

"I would have to review my maps and reports, but as far as I know there are several pockets of nonhuman creatures spread out around the kingdom. King Leonidas of course, tried to eliminate them all years ago, but some prove harder to kill than others. " he replied.

"What kind of creatures?" Avalonna asked.

"Elves, dragons, fairies, spirits, vampires, many kinds exist in this world of ours, Val. The trick is knowing where to look."

"My mother told me something similar to that when I was a child." She replied with a soft smile.

"She must have been quite wise." Drow said with a grin and went to go look through his belongings.

"Ah yes, here it is." He said, pulling out a scroll with various symbols and lettering that Avalonna could not read.

"Well... this could work." He said, smiling as he read the scroll.

"What is it?" Avalonna asked as she walked over to his side.

"It is a recollection of a lost Dwarven Kingdom, wiped out by the Red King's father. He too was afraid of magic, but decided to eliminate any creatures that weren't human instead of witches and warlocks. This scroll tells us that though the city was lost, the dwarves were not. Some survived and moved on to establish a new colony, underground."

"Underground? How is that possible?" Avalonna asked, not sure what to make with the knowledge of the existence of these creatures.

"Dwarves, though small in stature, are quite sturdy and durable. They dug their way under the city and built tunnels and a whole new colony for themselves." Drow replied.

"Under the city... Wait, you mean under Asterette?"

"Yes," Drow said with a grin,
"The dwarves built a new home under the Red King's prized city and he never even knew about it."

Avalonna smiled at this good news. There were dwarves nearby who hated the Red King as much as she did. This would work perfectly in their goal to end his reign.

"So what are we waiting for? Let's go do some digging and find these dwarves." She said, pulling on Drow's arm and smiling.

"It's not quite that simple, darling." He replied with a light laugh.
"They are well hidden, we will need magic to find them. Besides that, you need your rest, remember?" He said, leading her back her bed.

She sighed and sat down slowly.
"I wish I did not lose energy so quickly, then we could do something now to help against the king." She said.
"Are you sure healing my own energy won't work?" She asked.

"I am sure, it will just deplete your energy as fast as it replenishes it." Drow replied with a smile, which after a moment turned into a more serious expression.
"However... There is one thing you could try." He stated.

"What would that be?" Avalonna asked hopefully.

"Well if you really want your energy back, I've heard of a spell that could do it. Some witches have the ability to drain the energy or powers from their victim and use it to replenish themselves." Drow replied, staring at his shoes.

"Wait, you're suggesting I take the energy from you?" Avalonna asked, horrified at the idea.

"Why not? I need to sleep anyway, and with more energy you will have time to study and prepare for tomorrow." He replied.

"How will I study? I have no teachers here and the book of spells Lydia gave me isnt exactly a tutor, more of a rule book."

"I have a suggestion for that too." Drow said, looking sheepish as he rubbed the back of his neck.

"I hesitate to ask again, but what is it?" She said with a slight smile.

"Well, this will only work after you take my energy, but I'll be asleep from the results of your spell. While you have both our strength, focus on your necklace and ring and say reditum. Concentrate on your magic and energy, you'll get help after you do the spell." He replied.

"Drow, I can't take your energy, it's just wrong." Avalonna said.

"It will be alright, this will help you quite a lot and I need rest anyway." Drow said with a smile.
"Plus I will recover by morning."

Avalonna thought this over an sighed to herself.
"Ok, I suppose... what's the spell?" She asked.

"Concentrate on the flow of energy for both of us and say exhaurire." Drow replied while bracing himself and preparing his space on the bed.

Avalonna exhaled slowly and concerted best she could. She imagined the flow of energy and the magic going through her.

"Exhaurire." She let the word slowly escape her lips, wincing slightly as a sharp sensation went through her body.

Her hands and Drow's eyes began to glow a light green and within a few moments he went limp and fell sideways in the bed. Avalonna felt the energy come in to her and actually smiled slightly as she began to feel better than ever before.

"Oh Drow, this is wonderful!" She said and then stopped herself, forgetting he had gone to sleep. She smiled fondly and let green magical sparks flutter from her fingertips.

"I've never felt like this before," she said to herself happily.
"I should do this more often...but first things first." She said and touched her finger and ring to her necklace.

"Reditum." She said as the gemstones in the jewelry glowed. The light shined brilliantly and glowed brighter until it filled the whole room in a blinding flash. When the light settled, Avalonna uncovered her eyes and looked around the room. Nothing had changed and she sighed to herself softly.

"Well, that wasn't very helpful." She muttered.

"Oh, I wouldn't say that, Val." A pleasant female voice said from behind Avalonna.

She turned around and for the second time that day her knees went weak and she wanted to shed tears.

"Mother...?" She managed to say breathlessly, standing face to face with Meredith Bishop.