Ellysetta continued to shiver in his arms, and her teeth began to chatter as fear gave way to shock. Rain gathered her in his arms, dropped smoothly to the lair floor on a slide of Air, and headed for one of the large tunnels leading away from the nesting lair.

"Where are we going?"

"You are chilled. There is an underground lake in Fey'Bahren, warmed by the mountain's volcanic heart."

"I'm all right," she protested. "I don't need a hot bath. And there's no need for you to carry me."

"You will take the bath to ease my mind. And it is my pleasure to carry you." If the formless evil attacked her again, he wanted to be close enough to hold her and sense what she sensed.

"What of Merdrahl? He's gone, isn't he?"

"Aiyah. He is gone. That was the purpose of our Fire Song: to free him, Cahlah, and their dead kit from this life so they could enter the next."

She glanced across the sands to the place Merdrahl had been. Rain knew the moment she recognized what remained of the two tairen and their lost kit. Despite her shivering, her spine stiffened, and amazement flooded every point of contact between them.

"Rain, put me down." She squirmed free. "Is that… ?" She took three steps before he caught her hand to halt her.

"Nei, do not touch it. It is still quite hot." He glanced at the tumble of dark, glossy crystal, radiance glimmering in its multifaceted depths. Kingdoms had been conquered for the minutest portion of what lay there in the black sands. "Aiyah, it is what you think." Tairen's Eye crystal, two great boulders and one smaller, darker globe of it: all that remained in this world of Merdrahl, Cahlah, and their kit.

"How is that possible? You once told me that Tairen's Eye crystal could not be made or unmade."

"I said that the Fey could not make or unmake it. Only the tairen can do so, and only by performing the rite of passage that you just witnessed. The rite requires at least twelve adult tairen to sing the Fire Song."

She touched the two crystals that hung around her neck. "These are the…bodies of a dead tairen?"

"They once were, but the Fire Song transforms what was and leaves in its place something quite different." He laid the back of his hand against her cheek. "And that, Ellysetta," he warned gently, "is a secret you must never tell another soul. Even the Fey do not know how Tairen's Eye crystal comes into being. It is a treasure guarded by the tairen and the Feyreisen who walk among them as brothers."

She nodded. "I will not speak of it."

They passed through the tunnel entrance, to the broad, timeworn pathway that led down deeper into the heart of Fey'Bahren. Small pebbles clattered behind them, and Ellysetta turned her head towards the source of the noise.

"The tairen are following us." She sounded surprised.

"They are curious. It has been a very long time since anyone but me has come to Fey'Bahren."

She stopped. "I am not bathing with an audience. Even if they are tairen."

Celierian modesty. Part of him hoped she would never lose it. He loved the way her cheeks turned pink when she blushed. "I will weave a screen for you, shei'tani."

The tunnel opened up into another large cavern. Rain called Fire to light the sconces around the perimeter and illuminate the clear, still waters of the lake. Though not as wide as the nesting lair nor as tall, the cavern was still impressive. Scores of adult tairen could comfortably bask on the rocks surrounding the vast, glassy lake, and above, the domed ceiling arched high enough to allow even the largest tairen to fully extend his wings for drying. The walls were smooth and polished from millennia of young tairen testing their flame beneath the pride's watchful eyes. Rain himself had joined his tairen cradle friends in spewing gouts of flame into rock, learning how to control the flame and its heat, and how to breathe fire without singeing his muzzle.

Ellysetta walked to the edge of the lake and knelt to dip her hand. "It is warm."

"Fey'Bahren is a volcano. Its heat warms the waters of this lake." He smiled faintly. "The tairen like their comforts." He led her to a shallow section of the lake, where underwater ledges formed a perfect soaking spot. "Here, Ellysetta."

She hesitated. "I'm really much warmer now."

"Ellysetta, if you stripped naked and raced through the tunnels of Fey'Bahren, the tairen would think nothing of it."

"Yes…well…" Her cheeks flushed a brighter pink. "I don't believe I'll be putting that to the test anytime soon."

So prim. So … Celierian. He smiled and shook his head. Earth blazed at his fingertips, and her travel leathers became a soft linen bathing dress. "There. Now get in the water and let it warm you. And stay there until I say you may get out."

She arched a brow at his high-handedness.

"Teska." Please.

She sniffed. "Fine. I'll get in. But I'll get back out when I say so, not you."

Sybharukai purred and climbed to her basking ledge. «It is good your mate lets you know who is makai.» Her dark gray ears twitched with amusement.

Rain gave the wise one a sour look. «You will not think so when it is you she challenges.» He took a seat on a boulder beside Sybharukai and watched his mate ease into the warm waters, her eyes closing in bliss as the heat penetrated her cold skin. "Ellysetta said she sensed a presence when we sang the Fire Song for Merdrahl and Cahlah. Something cold and evil. She said it called her name. Did you feel it?"