Late at night, Ember was still awake, watching the silver woman whose name she still didn’t know. She regretted not listening to the pre-battle announcement when the woman was introduced. 

‘Does she ever sleep?’ Ember wondered.

During her vigil, the woman stayed in her meditative state for hours and hours on end. Her eyes never cracked open once except when she felt Ember’s eyes peering into her. Ember hoped that the woman at least slept once in a while. A dragon could go for quite some time without proper rest, but it was still recommended to take a full night’s rest once a week. Most dragons Ember knew did it every night to pass the time. 

‘If she doesn’t sleep, then she’ll be even more susceptible to her emotions completely taking over her.’

Ember wanted to see just how far gone the woman was, but she didn’t want to try while the woman was still awake. That’s why she was biding her time for when the woman fell asleep. That plan didn’t seem to have much of a chance now. 

She would just reason with the woman. A nice conversation between two ladies where the silver lady would come to understand why Ember was worried and wholeheartedly agree to let Ember examine her. But that was just a fantasy. Ember doubted she could even start a conversation much less get the woman to let Ember touch her.

‘She might try to kill me,’ she thought. ‘That would be bad.’

And so, Ember concocted another plan. A plan that was considerably more risky for her health than waiting for the woman to sleep, but one that was also much safer than asking the lady outright. The reason she hadn’t started the plan yet was because she needed to steel her nerves. 

‘Sleeping spells. Easy. Done them all the time,’ she thought with a nod. ‘You can do this girl. It’ll only take a few seconds. Two seconds, even.’

What she was mainly worried about was the fact that the woman had instincts and senses that Ember knew many would kill for. It would put her in the upper echelons if she was from the cities. Getting close enough to the woman without her lashing out would be an ordeal that Ember wasn’t sure if she was ready to deal with. Then she needed to physically touch the woman in order to ensure that the spell had the maximum power. 

‘Because if she doesn’t sleep immediately or the spell fails, I’m going to have problems.’

Right now seemed to be the best chance she had given that she doubted the woman would sleep tonight. It was late at night and the woman hadn’t stirred for hours now. She would be in a trance and her awareness would be at its lowest. It might give Ember the window she needed to do the spell.

‘Alright. Can’t be scared. You’re a dragon, girl. You’re no imp.’

She readied the spell in her mind. If she used it then and there, there was a high chance that the woman would sense the magic. As she prepared, she thanked her stars that sleep spells didn’t require too much mana. The suppression within the room wouldn’t allow her to do anything stronger. 

Eyeing the distance between her and the woman, Ember tensed her legs and focused on her target. Then she sprang forward, reaching out with her hand. As she jumped, she summoned the spell on the palm of her hand.

When her hand touched the woman’s head, she braced herself for the woman’s inevitable reaction. Nothing came. The woman’s eyes stayed shut and only a small sigh was let out from her lips. Confused, Ember moved to the woman’s front and stared at her, keeping her hand on the woman’s head. 

The woman still didn’t move. She wasn’t asleep, judging from her breathing, but she didn’t seem quite aware at the moment. She was most definitely not meditating. 

‘What is she doing?’ Ember wondered.

Her questions stopped as she observed the woman’s face some more. This was the first real look she had of the silver lady. During the day, she avoided looking since she was worried about triggering the woman. At night, it was too dim and Ember only looked from the side. But now, with a full view of the woman’s face, she came to one conclusion.

‘She’s gorgeous.’

The dim lamps of the room reflected their light off of the woman’s silver hair, illuminating her in a soft glow. In the dim light, the woman’s skin had a softer tone that made her look gentler than in the harsh sunlight of the arena. A stray strand of hair dangled beside her closed eyes. Ember resisted the urge to move it away.

‘Wait. What am I doing?’ she thought. ‘I probably look like such a creep.’

Shoving other thoughts from her mind, she activated the sleeping spell. The woman stiffened a bit before slumping forward. Ember made sure that she didn’t fall forward. 

‘Alright. Time to see what I have. Pardon the intrusion.’

Leaning forward, Ember pressed her forehead against the woman’s and shut her own eyes. 

‘Show me your emotions.’

She opened up herself and braced for the storm that was inevitable to come. It came like a howling blizzard and screaming storm combined in one. A wall of rage and hate slammed against her mind, a wave of sorrow following in its wake. 

Ember let out a gasp and her eyes shot open. Her head jerked away from the woman, her heart pounding in her chest. Sympathy welled up within her as she watched the woman who rose up and down with rhythmic breaths.

‘How has she not broken yet?’ Ember thought. She admired the woman’s strength of will. ‘But how did she come to such a state? Was there no one there to help her?’ 

The amount of emotions Ember had felt in that second was impossible for someone to accrue from one event. She refused to believe such a thing could happen. It felt like the result of years and years of emotions being repressed and shoved someplace deep to be ignored. 

‘What’s her history?’ 

This woman obviously was not from the dragon cities. An omnidragon like her would never be able to avoid being detected by the lords. If she was from the cities, she would know not to suppress such volatile emotions. But a dragon being unaccounted for was rare. A dragon made from such a rare core even more so. So rare, that Ember had never heard of such a thing happening. 

‘She needs my help. Desperately,’ Ember thought, absentmindedly reaching out and brushing that stray stand away. ‘I knew it before, but now it’s even urgent.’

Ember didn’t know how much she could hold. It certainly wasn’t enough to completely help the woman. But she hoped that it was enough to bring the woman down to a state of reason so that they could talk and Ember could understand. 

There was also something else Ember could do if she wanted to help lessen the woman’s emotions. Locate the trigger and resolve it or help resolve it. Once whatever was causing such violent feelings was gone, the woman’s emotions should dampen further, thought that was only if she hadn’t been lost beforehand. 

‘But to release this much pain and sadness and invoke so much hatred,’ Ember thought. ‘Something very personal must have happened. To cause this much grief to a dragon is something I can’t ignore.’

She went back to her own bed and laid down. With a snap of her fingers, she released the woman from the sleep spell and listened as the woman inhaled sharply. The woman opened her eyes and looked around in confusion before shutting her eyes once more to do whatever she was doing. 

‘I can’t stand to see someone like this. I’ll help her. I must.’

The help, however, would have to wait a few days. She needed to wait until the violent sea within the woman was at its lowest. That was going to be after a fight when the woman vented at least some of her anger on to her next opponent. Ember didn’t know what that would occur, but it wouldn’t be too far away from now. 

Then a through struck her as she realised what she was going to do.

‘Wait. That amount of emotions being transferred between two people. Wouldn’t that…’ She felt herself heat up from the realization that was rapidly forming in her mind. ‘No. No. No. That shouldn’t be something that you should be worrying about, Ember. Focus on helping. This is just to help.’

She nodded her head with finality and pulled the thin sheets of her bed over her body as she shut her eyes to sleep. As her mind began to drift away, the image of the woman’s gorgeous face appeared. 

‘Well. I wouldn’t mind if it did happen with someone like her.’