Valerian and I were running out of viable options. We could ask Melisande for help once again, but I didn't think the charm she made me would last for another trip to the desert and back. I wasn't willing to risk my magic going haywire while transporting my soulmate through the space between the realms.
It took her a lot of magical juice to make the dampening charm and I wasn't currently able to conjure the rare ingredients she liked as payment. After being forced to relocate to the desert, I didn't believe she was in the business of helping us for free.
We talked to his father about the prophecy hoping to find some details of it that eluded us. He was just as pleased to speak to me as the first time we met; which is to say not at all. It was a fruitless mission anyway, as far
