Chapter 13Iola was not at all resigned to staying on the surface of the earth. She was still thin, but she was filled with angry vigor, as if she gathered energy from the crossing day itself and the dragons were reaching up to animate her, half-mad already. The promise of a half-year of needlework and keeping Iola partly sane did nothing to improve Darna’s mood.
“I can’t stay,” Iola said. “I’m the ambassadress. We’ve cheated the dragons of too much already. Let me go. It will help.”
“It won’t be enough, and besides, it’s not up to me. The Aralel said you can’t go,” Darna said.
“They can’t stop me.”
Darna wondered how far Iola would go to get her way, and how far the Aralel was willing to go to prevent her. With the earth shifting so much, Darna was convinced that Iola needed to stay am
