Page 28 of The White Dragon Revealed

“Nap?” She exaggerated her lip movements as she repeated Caden’s word. “You can’t be serious? It’s a beautiful day!”

“Yeah, napping in the sun is awesome.” Caden’s head tilted to the side and his eyes glazed over as he talked of naps. “You like naps in the sun, too, right, Valerius?”

“I do,” Valerius said.

“Big butt,” Kaila whispered.

He shot her a look that had her grinning. “But we have to do something fun! We’re all here and we’renevertogether. We can’t just waste the time!”

“You do have a point, Kaila,” Esme said.

“Yes! Maybe we can do a fake aerial battle!” Kaila started to describe the scene. “Valerius can chase Caden past each of us. We do our powerful attacks--just missing him of course--but to the people below it will look real! There will be dive bombing of the crowds. People will shout and clap and--”

“Scream?” Tez raised an eyebrow.

“Not if we tell them we’re just doing a show! Like the most ultimate show on Earth!” Kaila enthused. “Just look at how excited people were to watch Iolaire and Raziel fight!”

“That wasn’t good. People died, Kaila. It wasn’t for fun.” Caden shivered and Valerius held him tighter.

“Oh, yes, of course, you’re right. That--that was terrible, but I was just thinking about how much my people love to see me use my powers while the rest of you hide yours ever so much.”

“Maybe a fake battle later? When people are less edgy after all the bombs and stuff,” Caden suggested.

“Indeed, speaking of the bombs,” Esme began.

Esme folded her napkin and placed it beside her plate. She looked meaningfully at Valerius to see if he wanted to bring Kaila into the know about the possible war on the world by the Faith. Valerius had no doubts about Kaila. She had nothing to do with any of this. Her butterfly-like mind was immune to such zealotry. And though like all of them, Kaila could be fierce, she did not have the desire to hold onto anything--especially anger and hatred--for long. So Valerius nodded.

“We were all discussing the bombings and current events,” Esme began.

“Oh, boring! Gah! Esme, don’t let us talk about those terrible things!” Kaila stuck out her tongue. “I didn’t think of them at all which is why I didn’t realize the fake attack wouldn’t be good!”

“But it’s important, Kaila,” Caden said earnestly.

“Yes, yes, I know! But…” Kaila struggled to find the words for what she felt, but finally she found them and they rushed out in a torrent, “There has always been hatred in people’s hearts and there always will be. It’s pointless to think you can change that. And pointless things are boring!”

“If it was just trying to stop people from hating, I would agree with you,” Caden said carefully. His earnest heart could not imagine clearly not trying to fix things. “But this is a conspiracy to cause death and chaos. We can stop that.”

“Perhaps!” She set the hoverboard down and started to glide around the table in a large circle. “But violence is inevitable. Death and chaos are inevitable.”

“Why do you say that?” Tez blinked at her.

“Because there’s an imbalance.” Kaila though was perfectly balanced as she spun around.

“Between humans and Shifters?” Caden asked.

“Yes. And between humans and humans. And between Shifters and Shifters,” Kaila explained as she stretched her arms upwards, fluttering her fingers in the sunlight. “But yes, the most obvious overall imbalance is between humans and Shifters. Humans thought they were on top for a very long time. Now, they see they are not. And those that are wise enough to see that know things are not going to get better for humanity in the years ahead.”

Valerius frowned. “I do not see why we cannot sustain some kind of balance through--”

“Our influence? Our wills?” Kaila stopped gliding and stared at him as if he had suddenly turned into a frog. “Valerius, you, of all people, I thought would understand this! You’ve kept your hands off things in the past but now you want to try and mold the world?” Then her eyes flickered between him and Caden. She noted the arm he had around Caden’s shoulders. The way Caden snuggled against him. A sad smile crossed her face. “Ah, I see!”

“What do you see?” Valerius growled. If she was going to think that his desire to stop the current violence that was ongoing was some kind of lovesick action, he would have words with her.

Raziel, however, did not seem to think this was a problem. It murmured,Iolaire is worth much. I would have this world sing for Iolaire.

Yes, as I would for Caden. But she intimates that we are being blind to reality because of our… affections,Valerius pointed out to his Spirit.I feel much more clear-sighted than I have ever been! Like I have woken after adeep sleep and now am fully awake once more! Do you not feel this way, Raziel?

I do, but that it comes from love does not make it any less.Raziel closed its eyelids as it said this.

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