Ardghal sighed inside as he worked at the forge yet again. The memories haunted him without mercy and here he was having to do something that would only make them stronger. And of course, it was due to the stupidity and incompetence of another. Camvor take Eliz! Camvor take her and her lack of diplomacy! Now the village was flooding and he had to turn the precious dragon bone into a gift for Stormcaller. Such a rare find mostly gone because someone couldn't avoid offending their [i]friends[/i]. He snarled his frustration as he did his best to turn the gift from the gods into a peace offering to smooth over the mistakes of another.

He had high hopes for this dragon bone though. It would make a fine suit of armor and there should be enough left for a sword. Father and mother would be proud... They were in Camvor's noble grasp now but he would [i]never[/i] let them down. Maybe Titania would let him keep the sword. Even if it were unlikely to be reality, Ardghal couldn't help but breathe in a sigh of contentment as he imagined thrusting a sword of dragon bone through the heart of the High King. Ah, Camvor had been kind to give him (and Titania) enough dragon bone to not only patch over the folly of one who shouldn't have been put on the Council in the first place but also to forge a blade worthy of carrying out the holiest justice and retribution.

Wait. Eliz shouldn't have been let onto the Council. It was too late to change the past but damage control could still be done. He knew Maire disliked both him and Eliz. Hopefully, that was due to her associating him with the dark child. She would be a good ally in his attempts to protect the clan from further folly. He would approach her once he was done in the forge...