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After the cloak room, there was a sitting room, very similar to Mari's sitting room, but it had more chairs and an extra table. Like Mari's cabin, it too had two doorways leading off of it, one to a dining room (again the table was bigger and had more chairs here), and one to a hallway.

"This way," Mari murmured to the group, leading them towards the dining room. She led them through it to a kitchen that was a fair size.

Kyrie was in there, rolling a ball of dough in her hands, and with her was a woman, only slightly taller than Kyrie, though she was clearly fully dark elven. She looked older than most elves - there were traces of silver in her black hair, and there were a few faint creases around her eyes - though she moved with the ease of someone young. She had a large bowl out and was busy measuring ingredients into it. Both she and Kyrie had smudges of flour on their faces, and both of them seemed to be ignoring it.

When the group entered, the woman - Dae'er - paused what she was doing and looked at them. "Hello," she said quietly; and though her tone was friendly, there was suspicion in her eyes.

"Everyone, this is Dae'er, mother to the boys you met, and Iadrim," Mari introduced the woman to the group. And then she introduced the rest of them.

Dae'er nodded at each of them in turn as they were introduced. "I am pleased to meet you," she said softly. "Kyrie told me what happened to your husband, Lin. I wish you all the best ... and that you can get to him before it is too late."

"Don't frighten them, Dae'er," Mari frowned; and she stepped forward and put one hand on the woman's shoulder. She turned to the others. "Dae'er was imprisoned by the General for five years for refusing to become his mistress. She is quite familiar with his prison."

"Forgive me for asking," Lancaeriel spoke up curiously, "but we were speaking with ... Janos, I believe it was, outside, and he seemed rather loathe to speak with us before we had spoken with you. Is it so unsafe to trust people here?"

Dae'er averted her eyes for a moment, took a deep breath, and then looked back at Lancaeriel. "Sometimes, and sometimes not," she said quietly. "And perhaps I'm just too fearful. Our eldest son was taken from us, and since then it has been difficult to trust people."

She glanced at the dark elven princess and a light blush rose on her cheeks. "I didn't even trust Mari for years after we moved here."

"But the time has come for him to be stopped," Mari smiled. "The time is not so far away now, Dae'er, when you will see your son again."

The woman looked hopeful. "You truly believe that?"

Mari grinned at those around her. "With all my heart. Beginning this afternoon, we shall be working on a plan to stop the General as soon as possible. We are still in the process of gathering information, though - Kyrie, we're going to need your help with that once you're finished here."

"The dough's nearly ready," Kyrie nodded, still rolling it in her hands. "Shouldn't be more than a few minutes longer."

"Then we can wait for you," Mari decided. She was about to add something else when there came the sound of the front door bursting open and Janos, the youngest son, came tearing into the kitchen.

"Soldiers!" he cried, panting for breath. "Hurry! They sound like they're on a mission today!"

Mari cursed under her breath. "Quickly, follow me," she said in a low tone to the others. "This way."

She led them back through the sitting room and down the hallway. Janos, Wren, Lancaeriel and Andarien hurried to follow, but Kyrie and Dae'er stayed where they were.

At the end of the hallway there were two rooms across from each other, one a bedroom, the other a study, and Mari led them into the study. There, Janos lifted a portion of the floor, and Mari motioned for the others to descend into the blackness.

"Quickly," she urged them.

At that same moment, they could hear someone banging on the front door.

As with the underground area at Mari's cabin, it was pitch black down there, and impossible to tell how big or small it was. Once the others had gone down, Janos followed them; but even before he had taken the first step, they could hear the soldiers' voices from the other end of the cabin, and Dae'er's voice answering them.

Then Janos was down as well, and he closed the trapdoor to hide them.

"Follow me," Mari's voice came in a whisper

"Where are you?" Andarien whispered back. "You can't see a thing in here!"

"Ah, of course - how easily I forget." There was a brief pause, and then suddenly a light began to glow in the shape of a white dragon. It was on the floor in the middle of everyone, and it gave off just enough light to illuminate their lower legs and a bit of the area around them.

"Now follow me," Mari whispered again; and she started off into the darkness. Suddenly the dragon started moving, too: trotting along at Mari's side like a pet dog.

The room was large, possibly as large as the cabin above it, but in various places there were tunnels leading out from it, and it was to one of these tunnels that Mari was heading. It was a silent walk. She led them down the tunnel to another large room, and from there they went down yet another long tunnel. When they arrived in yet another large room, they found Ruaven, Hamir and Iadrim already huddled together.

"Janos!" Iadrim burst out in a loud whisper when she saw him approaching in the light of the dragon. She ran over and threw her arms around his waist and hugged him tightly. "You did make it!"

Janos smiled and put one hand on his sister's head. "They've never caught us yet," he murmured.

"Is it safe to talk here?" Lancaeriel asked softly.

"Yes," Mari replied, "but quietly." In the soft light, they could see her turn towards the dragon, and she said, "Kasal, a bit more light is fine now."

The dragon grew suddenly to be about as long as Mari was tall, and the light around it grew brighter with it, enough that all of them could see the area they were in. They could also see the dragon more clearly: though it was white, the edges of its scales were golden, like Uruloki's, as was its underside.

Mari smiled and put one hand on the dragon's neck, and stroked it lovingly.

"We are," she murmured softly. "He was a gift to me from Kyrie, just before she stopped traveling. Someone I can always depend on."

The white dragon turned its head and nuzzled Mari's hand. "It goes both ways, you know," he said in a voice deeper than Uruloki's, rich and smooth.