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"Just reviewing old notes," Lancaeriel replied easily, motioning for Lin and Iorlas to sit next to her. "Every time I read through them again, I remember things that I'd forgotten. Things that really ought never to be forgotten by those who work magic that goes against their nature ..."

She tucked her hair behind her ears and smiled at the others. "But I'm sure that's not what you wanted to know. Is there something I might help you with?"

Iorlas sat on the ground and smoothed out her skirt, hesitating before she spoke. "Well ... Lin and I had some questions," she murmured, "and ... depending on your answers, I may need some help."

Lancaeriel listened patiently to their explanations, saying nothing until both of them were finished, and then she looked at Iorlas calmly.

"You put it forth in such a lovely manner," she said softly, "but what you're really saying now is that you would like to ... how do they say ... push your agenda forward?"

Iorlas blushed, but she nodded silently, and Lancaeriel turned to face Lin.

"And now the time for honesty is at hand," she murmured. "Dragons can be such a dishonest lot. And yes," she added quickly, before Iorlas could protest, "I know. You have been as honest as you possibly could. In truth, you are the only dragon I know that tries to be honest. However, there are some things that you have held back from your friends, and while I have respected that until now, you have come to me with Lin asking about things that can only be answered if the truth is made plain. Since I am sure that you knew this before coming to me and yet you brought Lin with you anyways, I shall assume that that is your way of giving me permission to explain everything."

Iorlas nodded slowly, her eyes fixed on the ground.

"That contrary to what Iorlas has been saying all this time, she is not currently an elf," Lancaeriel replied gently. "Just as Miyuki is not truly a fox when she shifts, but rather, a kitsune in a fox's form, Iorlas is still as much a dragon as ever she was, but in elven form. Each of the different types of dragon has a different ability, and it so happens that the silver dragon, to which Iorlas and Ioreth belong, has the ability to take on elven form. As such, her blood will be as potent now for bestowing the gift of languages as if she were in her true form."

She looked back at Iorlas. "That is also why she is finding it so difficult to remain in her elven form of late. Her instincts are those of a dragon. To hunt, to feed, to ... hmm ... acquire things, shall we say - all of those instincts are present. The same must also be said of Ioreth: that though she appears to be an elf, she is as much a dragon as ever she was. The curse I laid upon them has not altered either of them, it simply bound the two of them together in their shifting abilities, so that Ioreth cannot change, at least not for long periods of time, until Iorlas first does so."

Lancaeriel smiled ruefully. "Well, she would, I imagine, be more or less exactly as she is now," she replied thoughtfully. "Perhaps the urge to kill would be gone, perhaps riches would lose their lure to her ... mind you, I can't say for certain ... and, being an elf, rather than a dragon, she would be able to ... hmm, how shall I put this delicately?"

Iorlas looked up at her friend and murmured softly, "Daeron and I would be able to have children?" she suggested.

Lancaeriel nodded. "Yes. Thank you. Because of course, as you are now, you cannot. There is one more thing, though that is less a result of being made an elf than simply the result of the need to first revert back to your true form before I could do that for you."

Iorlas knew exactly what she meant. "Ioreth."

"If she is free, she will find Iorlas soon enough," Lancaeriel said knowingly. "That is part of the curse that binds them ... just as Ioreth cannot revert until Iorlas does so, she is connected with her in other ways. She will always find Iorlas again, while they both live."

"Can you tell us if she's still in prison?" Iorlas asked softly. "Or if she's been freed?

Lancaeriel watched her thoughtfully. "Do you want her to be freed?"

Iorlas nodded, setting her jaw determinedly. "I do."

"So that you can be truly changed."

"Yes."

There was a slight pause, and then Lancaeriel murmured, "She will kill you. And any others that she can, probably beginning with the one you care most about."

Iorlas nodded, her eyes filled with determination. "Not if I kill her first."

"But she has always been stronger than you," her friend pointed out.

"But I have something she does not," Iorlas replied. "Loved ones to protect, and the will to live. She has nothing but the will to kill, as she always has had. But that will not be enough for her to beat me. I will not die."

Iorlas nodded at Lin. "Yes. If I don't, she will only haunt me until it does happen, and until that time, Daeron and I can't be happy, not truly. As strange as it still is to me, that is all that I want now."

Lancaeriel reached for her bag and tucked her book away. "Then give me a moment to prepare, and I will see if she is still in the Westland," she told the others.

Lancaeriel smiled and shook her head at Lin. "Unless you'd like to prepare something to collect Iorlas's blood for Andarien, no," she replied. "As for seeing whether Ioreth is still in the Westland or not, well, that's simply a matter of concentration than anything."

She changed her position slightly so that she was sitting on her knees, then nodded at Iorlas. "Directly in front of me, if you will," she smiled. "Thank you."

Iorlas mirrored Lancaeriel's position, kneeling directly in front of her, and held her hands out to her.

"The bond between the sisters allows me to see much more than I usually would be able to," Lancaeriel explained to Lin as she took Iorlas's hands in her own. "Or perhaps I should say, the bond I created between the two of them."