"Well, maybe. You have shown great potential and are clearly not human. If you go on as you have, you could reach enormous heights. Greater than most, even myself."
"Thank you for your help," Sonder said.
There came a low sound from the throne, something like a tired exhale.
"It is no great thing. Or at least, it should not have been so. Yet, even so…"
The voice paused.
The figure on the throne had gone still, stiller than before.
The hair on the man was turning colorless and crumbling at the edges. Fine cracks raced across his skin like a dry riverbed, and then, without ceremony, his form collapsed, and ash spilled down the throne, scattering softly across the stone.
Sonder staggered back a step, shock cutting through her face.
She was silent, but the voice remained, filling the hall as it always had.
"Do not mourn," it said. "That body was barely alive to begin with. A tether. Nothing more."
Sonder stared at the ash. "Still. It feels wrong."
"I remain. That is enough," the voice replied. "You are kind-hearted. Dangerously so, for someone who walks the paths you do. For that reason, you are always welcome in these lands."
There was a pause.
"Though I would rue the day you ever truly feel the need to return."
The dust-creature, a bit drawn into itself, as if it were unsettled by the sudden emptiness of the throne, circled around and then settled near Sonder's shoulder, shedding a bit of dust and cooing.
"Take good care of her," the voice said.
As Sonder put her hand gently on the creature, she asked. "What is it?"
"It? She's a featherling. A type of dragon. You've already seen one. Though at the present, she is far from that. What you see is a larval state. Or, if you prefer simpler terms, a sentient egg."
Sonder looked at it, then laughed softly. "You're a baby?"
"Feed her," the voice said. "Care for her. Let her remain close to you, and do not smother her growth, not with fear or restraint."
"And then?"
"And then she will grow," he replied. "Strong. A worthy ally and companion. It seems she already has attached herself to you, and she will walk with you until she is strong, if you survive long enough to see her become great."
Sonder's expression softened. She cradled the small, drifting form against her chest.
"I'll take care of her," she said quietly. "I promise. For as long as she wants to stay with me."
"I believe you," the voice answered.
"Why are you helping me this much?"
There was a laugh. "Would you believe me if I said that I just want you gone?"