It is not as easy as it seems

Healing Meera was no easy task. Sabrina thought it would be rather simple. Get Meera to meet her at her living quarters in Dashen's mansion and then heal her. If only things were that simple. The power that Xin Yi transferred to her has its limitations. It was not enough to heal Meera. The woman's cancer has spread far more than she thought. No human medicine and technology can help Meera at this stage. She is terminal and it looks that her oncologist was being optimistic when he gave her 6 months. It was likely 3 months if what she has been able to sense from her borrowed powers is accurate. This is not good. Not good at all. She won't have time to do anything to help and it is still far too dangerous to let Xin Yi do it. The little girl has proven more powerful than she initially thought. Not only does she have special divining powers, she has healing powers and the ability to hide her powers.

After Dashen questioned Sabrina over unusual power-like activities in his mansion when he was not around, she had made her way back to warn the little girl to tone it down a bit. Xin Yi had shrugged nonchalantly, not in the least perturbed.

"Oh, I can hide it very well, papa will never notice," she said.

"Well, your papa noticed and that is why I am telling you to be careful, unless you want to be sent to the palace for training right now," Sabrina told her.

"No, Auntie Sabrina…you don't understand. I can HIDE my powers, no one can sense it, I just forgot to hide it when playing with Zi An kor kor,"the little girl responded.

That was when she realised Xin Yi is no regular dragon. The little girl is destined for bigger things. There is a possibility that she could be even more powerful than Dashen or any of the 11 elders in the council. This means she has to help Xin Yi hide it from the elders until she turns 12. It will not do for them to find out that an 8-year-old girl has gained her dragon powers and she is more powerful than the elders. This means that Sabrina will have to teach the little girl about control and channeling her powers so that she does not cause harm. Although, it would seem that the little girl is a natural. She seemed to have mastered it within the few days that Sabrina was over at Kavan's, trying to figure out a way to stop his parents from forcing an arranged marriage on him.

Now, Sabrina stared at Meera. The other woman is sitting with her eyes closed, thinking that Sabrina is doing the work to heal her. Sabrina tried a few times but her borrowed powers fizzled out the moment she touched the cancer within Meera. It couldn't do anything at all. Her borrowed powers are totally useless. She is now seriously considering getting Xin Yi to do it although the risks is high. They will have to tell Meera and she might accidentally tell Dashen about it. There is also the possibility of a misfire of powers by Xin Yi during the healing process since she is an untrained dragon. One tiny mistake and she could kill Meera. That is a high risk. No dragon power can bring back the dead. Necromancy involved dark magic and the dragons do not meddle with dark powers. It looks like they are out of options.

"Well?" Meera asked, expectation high in her voice.

Sabrina doesn't know what to say to her. It would be terribly disappointing for Meera to find out that there was no other way for her to get better except to go to Dashen. There was now only one option left. Dashen. Tell him and hope he will do the necessary without forcing Meera to become immortal.

"I'm sorry Meera…" she started to say.

Meera's eyes flew open and noticing Sabrina's expression, disappointment gleamed in her eyes.

"It's okay, at least you tried," she said calmly though Sabrina is sure that Meera is feeling anything but calm.

"Meera, you should really tell Dashen," Sabrina said. She wondered why Dashen has not detected it himself. Surely he would know? Especially when he and Meera are always having sex.

"No, I can't…I have made him promise not to use his powers on me and I want to keep it that way," Meera said.

This explains why Dashen is still in the dark. He had agreed not to use any of his powers on Meera and this meant that he will not be able to detect any of her health issues at all.

"But Meera…now is not the time for this. Dashen can easily heal you and you can go on to live many good years watching your children grow up and develop powers or integrating in the human realm, whichever they end up as," she said.

"You know why I can't tell him…he will force me to be an immortal," Meera said.

"What if I make him promise not to do that? To leave the choice entirely up to you? Will you allow him to heal you then?"

"Can you do that? He is always a stubborn old dragon!" Meera said. "We have had countless arguments over it and there was never once that he would even listen to my explanations or rationale for refusing immortality,"

Typical Dashen behaviour. But Sabrina has a trick up her sleeves that she thinks might just work. Dashen does not give in easily to threats or orders. However, he can be bargained with and if he thinks there is a good trade-off, he might even consider it. They only need to find his weakest point and use that as a bargaining chip. His weakest point now is Meera and their children.

Sabrina's trick will involve some sacrifice on her part but if it can help Meera, she supposed she is willing to do it. Anything to get Dashen to heal Meera and divorce Sabrina all in one go. It can turn out to be a win-win for everyone all around in the end.

"Well, I have an idea of how to convince him, that is if you will join me in executing this plan," she told Meera.

Meera is intrigued. In all the years she spent with Dashen, she has never gotten past his stubborn one-mindedness except for the few occasions after particularly hot sessions of lovemaking.

"So, tell me, how do you plan to get Dashen to heal me and not turn me immortal in the process? Because I know him, he will tell me he is healing me but in the end, he might sneakily make me immortal,"

"Do you know that there are three things that Dashen valued more than anything in this world and our world?" Sabrina asked in return.

"If you mean to say me and the kids, that is only natural but what has it got to do with anything?"

"Well, the plan involved you and the kids to encourage him to follow along with what we…I mean, you, want," Sabrina said.

"We? You want something from him too? What do you want from him?" Meera was too sharp not to notice the 'we'.