Editing Eldramin (section)

== Chapter 22 ==
''Faith''

“Okay, starting where our knowledge ends, what happened?” Dad leaned forward and stared intently at Via. 

She took a deep breath and began. “After the soldiers attacked, they sent Isabell down to the lower dungeons where the other prisoners were held. From all accounts, Jana was ready to give her back. She’d been testing Isabell to see if she was the Eldramin and had no results. However, after the attack, her magic spiked. She healed everyone in those prisons, on purpose or on accident, I’m not sure, but it confirmed Jana’s suspicions. No regular seven-year-old can heal three dozen people at once.

“Plans were made to staunch her magic somehow, to prevent her from growing stronger in magic.” Via paused as she saw Mom make a weird face. 

“But, Izzy wasn’t the Eldramin, she couldn’t touch the water. And why would Jana want to keep her from getting stronger, healing magic can’t cause harm.” 

Eli clasped his hands together and looked up at Mom. “Apparently, there’s some old Shifter prophecy in which some being with unnaturally strong magic destroys a race of Shifters. Jana seems to think that means Izzy was going to wipe out the dragons.”

This time, I interjected. “She was ''seven''.” I thought back to what I had learned about prophecies. I didn’t know much, but from what my parents had told me, they weren’t very trustworthy. “And that’s just one interpretation of the prophecy, it wouldn’t warrant such extreme action.” 

Via shrugged again. “Deraal Jana isn’t in her right mind, everything she does is extreme, but also calculated. We have to assume she had some other plan behind it.” We all grumbled and let her continue. 

“Before any of the plans were able to come into play, one of Jana’s attendants let u- the ''prisoners'' free. They were taken to centaur territory. The chief centaur had consulted the star seers and they had seen what had to be done to save Isabell. She had been tainted by Jana, so-”

“-excuse me, she had been ''what?''” The alarm in Jayson’s voice made all of us look at him. 

Via let out a pent-up breath and explained. “Jana somehow has the ability to control people’s minds. When she does, it leaves the host’s hair black, and when it’s active, their eyes and nails also turn black. Those who know about it refer to it as ‘tainting’.” 

“How do you know about it?” Dad raised an eyebrow skeptically at her. “You seem to know an awful lot about what happened.” 

Eli glared at him and grabbed Via’s hand. “Via was one of the prisoners that escaped with Izzy. She saw it all firsthand.” She looked down at their entwined hands and bit her lip. 

An awkward silence ensued until Jayson interpreted it again. “So then what happened?”

“The centaurs found a way to cast a protection spell that would stop Jana from regaining control of Isabell, but they couldn’t fully remove the tainting. They knew they couldn’t keep her hidden for long, so plans were made to send her somewhere safe.” Mom looked alarmed. “The star seers identified one of the planets as her safest option and said if she was sent there, fate would bring her home again. 

“Isabell’s memories were blocked and she began life on Alithos believing herself to be Fannara Harpson, daughter of farmers who abandoned her during a famine. She didn’t know who she was until a few days ago.” 

Dad put a hand on his chin as he thought, a question clearly forming in his eyes. “So, how did she find out?” 

“Weeeell.” Via glanced at Eli, making some sort of expression that meant he had something to do with this. 

“Let’s just say fate got a little boost.” Eli avoided the questioning looks we were all giving him. “Before I left government, part of my training with Ana Keleth included choosing a student to join the foreign exchange program, so Izzy is on Lathra IV now…. And Moren should have been the one who told her.” 

Mom slowly lowered her hands from where they had been covering her mouth and furrowed her brows, not quite glaring at Eli, but giving him the ‘you stupid child, how are you my offspring’ look. “That is possibly the worst way you could have done that.”

Via nodded. “Yeah, it didn’t go quite as planned. I tried to talk to her first, but then campus got attacked and it got too crazy and-”

“-''what?”'' Eli and Via looked like two puppies getting reprimanded as Dad looked at them like they were crazy. “Well, if you were going to tell her, then why didn’t you wait longer?”

“Well, Jana found out, and now there’s full-out war, and they were going to send her home so I had to-”

“-''WHAT?”'' 

Via covered her face with her hands and let out a long breath. “Oh, I am not explaining this well.” 

“Noted.” Jayson’s tone was dry and unamused. 

Mom sighed and leaned back in her chair. “So let me get this straight, our daughter didn’t die, she’s the Eldramin, she doesn’t remember us, she’s on Lathra IV, and Jana ''knows'' and has started a ''war?'' Is there anything else I’m missing?” Both Via and Eli were quiet for a while, trying to remember if they missed anything.

“Just that,” Eli started, “we can go home now.” Home. What a weird idea. For as long as I can remember, this has been home. Thinking of some foreign world in a different solar system as home felt bizarre. 

I didn’t think Mom and Dad were actually considering it until Dad stood up and said, “Well then, guess we’d better start packing.” 

“You’re joking, right?” I asked, looking up at his face. It looked determined. 

He shook his head. “Faith, if they’re right, we have to go back.” 

“I’ll start figuring out paperwork.” Mom stood up and walked up the stairs to her office. Jayson and I remained seated as all the adults started running around the house. I vaguely realized the smoke detector had stopped beeping. 

Jay looked over at me, and I met his eyes. He gave me a little smile. “It’s okay, we’ll be back before you know it.” He stood up and jogged upstairs to start packing. 

What a great start to the summer.