"Mali gave you gifts for caring for the hatchlings?" The news was indeed worrying, because if those gifts were integrated into the foreigners, then in a way, those who had the boons were more compromised by Malicant than those who had been tainted. Valdis didn't want to even think about what that information meant for the turtle hatchlings, but luckily her mind was drawn away by Raine's acceptance.

"Thank you," She replied, her body noticeably relaxing. "I couldn't ask anyone else because I couldn't trust anyone else to follow through."

She knew that it wasn't so much that she would lose control of herself, but more that she would lose control of her power and the only way to attack that power would be to attack her. Yet that brought her full circle to her concerns about the hatchlings.

"If it was 'Asti' who asked you to care for the hatchlings, then how does this all affect them?"