The Hero and the Crown

Aerin and Talat ride for days. Aerin tries to find comfort in the survival of the surrounding farmlands but feels empty. After some time, Tor and Arlbeth arrive and are deeply alarmed by her appearance. Tor grabs her arm, and she tries to scream in pain but coughs up blood and collapses on Talat’s neck. They manage to get Aerin back to the city; as she rides in, grievously wounded, she thinks about the procession that followed the body of a dragonslaying king centuries before. She stops when she discovers that someone has placed Maur’s skull in the castle courtyard.

As time passes, Aerin slowly recovers from her burns, but the healers cannot heal her cough or her ruined voice. She enters a depressive state, unable to taste or enjoy food. Her hair begins to grow out but is straight and darker red than before. Arlbeth “punishes” her by telling her to not carry her sword for half a year—a foregone conclusion given the extent of her injuries. At a banquet thrown in her honor, Aerin begins to hear Maru’s voice coming from the dragon’s skull, taunting her for her heritage and survival.