Hearing this acknowledgment, ...

Esswyn's brilliant red scales paled in a Dragon blush. However, she refused to embarrass herself by stammering, so it took her a few moments to bring her churning thoughts under control before she replied.

"My Lord Sylvanus is much too kind. I am still a poor student, just beginning my life-quest for knowledge. While I am grateful that he finds my poor attempts to aid him to be pleasing, still, if either of you have suggestions as to how to proceed in assisting him ..."

It had been firmly fixed in her mind since the suggestion for a Conclave was made that one or the other of these mighty beings surely could help her Master. However, both the upraised heads swiveled from side to side in a very Human expression of negation.

The fact of it astounded her. She knew from her studies that MacBeatha was, by Dragon standards, still quite young. At about three quarters of a millennium in age, he still had much to learn. However, the Lady Bronratha ...

Essa's sense of disappointment was keen. Even so, those around her in this meeting could feel the palpable sense of determination that swept over her. "No? Then I shall continue my studies until I find the answer. I will find a way to help my Lord Sylvanus recover himself. It shall be." There was an odd twist to the very fabric of existence as she said the last three words. The statement hung in the air before them, its content having an unusual reverberation and sense of permanence. Esswyn just had made a Life Vow*, and the action was irreversible.

~~~~~~~~~~ 8 ~~~~~~~~~~
* Life Vow - A promise or commitment to action that will be completed within the life of the one uttering the Vow. In the terms of the Uroloki, a Life Vow is a rare form of enchantment. Most Dragons studiously avoid committing themselves to declarations that bind them for their remaining days. It was a measure of Esswyn's complete devotion to Sylvanus that she was willing to burden herself with such a promise at so tender an age before witnesses, although there are occurrences in Dragon Lore that suggest the making of a Life Vow does not require them.

One aspect of such a vow is that if Sylvanus should precede in death the completion of her vow, Esswyn would be locked into an eternity of seeking for a way to "reverse his condition", by annulling his death. Since such a matter is, of course, not possible for beings in this plane of existence, this meant that she would live forever, but in a hellish circumstance, being compelled and driven to resolve the conundrum. It is for just such aspects and reasons that Dragons almost never allow themselves to commit to a Life Vow.