The Last Dragon Chronicles: Fire World: Fire World by Chris D'Lacey

it?”
    Strømberg turned to face her. “Would it not be considered odd – anomalous, even – that an aspirant, chosen by you, had recently had a child de:constructed? Hardly   the   ideal   qualification   for

    Aunthood.”
    Aunt Gwyneth took a step forward. Sheseemed to grow in height as she sought tomeet Thorren Strømberg’s eye. “You aretreading a dangerous line, Counsellor. Donot think to interfere with my business.”
    “It’s my business to advise people,” Strømberg said frankly. “In my opinion,the facts are very plain. It’s up to you whatyou do with them,   Aunt   .”
    Her gaze slanted sideways to David. “The boy might never wake up.”
    “Then what threat can he be?”
    Aunt Gwyneth breathed in deeply. “Very well,” she said, waving a hand. “You may keep your ‘therapy’ intact. But Iwill be back to see this boy again. If hismelancholia worsens or his terrors return,that will be an end to it.” And with one

    more skewed look at David Merriman, she strode out of the room, kicking a book across the floor as she departed.
    Mr Henry sighed with relief. “Thank you,” he whispered, patting Strømberg’s
    arm.
    “We must go carefully now,” Thorren Strømberg told him. “That encounter will have prickled her spine. I may not always find a winning argument against her.”
    “What do you want me to do?”
    “Exactly what I told her. You must monitor the boy.”
    “Do you think he will recover?”
    Strømberg considered the question carefully. “I hope so. I think he’s got a lot more to show us.”
    “His parents, will they be informed of his condition?”

    “The mother may learn through the Aunt, but I’d rather keep it from his father, for now. Telling him gains us nothing. He’s already accepted that the boy is out of bounds while in our care. I don’t want
    him losing focus, not with his research at such a critical stage.”
    Mr Henry nodded. “What about this?” He held up the dragon book.
    “I’ll take that. I need to talk to Rosa. Where will I find her?”
    Charles Henry pointed to the nearest window. “Outside, in her favourite place – the fields.”
    Rosa was sitting cross-legged amongst thedaisies, with her back to the librarium,hair dancing in the breeze. She did nottake her gaze away from the horizon when

Thorren Strømberg came and crouchedbeside her. Speaking quietly, he said, “I’msorry you had to go through that. Aunt Gwyneth has gone. David is staying in thelibrarium.”
    The girl swallowed hard and closed hereyes. When she opened them again, thelashes were wet. She noticed Strømberglooking and said, “I suppose you think I’ma freak, as well, don’t you?”
    Strømberg shook his head. “Very few ofmy ideas coincide with Aunt Gwyneth’s.”
    Rosa’s face grew dark with loathing. “Ihate that woman – if she is a woman.”
    “Oh yes, she’s human,” the counsellor said. “She would have had emotions once, but her fain overpowered them long ago. She’s not all bad, Rosa. She’s in the business of producing perfect offspring for

    perfect parents in a perfect world. You’re always going to be an irritation to her kind.”
    The girl picked a daisy and twiddled it in her fingers. “Will David be OK?”   How could any world be perfect without him?
    “I’m not sure,” Strømberg answered truthfully. “If he stays melancholic, he   will   fade away.” He saw her shoulders drop and he pressed on quickly. “What happened, Rosa – in the room, before you ran? How did you come to have this?”
    She looked at the dragon book in his hands. “The red firebird came. It picked it off a shelf and dropped it on David.”
    “To hurt him?”
    “No.” Lips tight, she shook her head. “It
    looked sort of… sorry for what it had
    done.”

    “So the book was a   gift ?”
    “I don’t know,” she said.
    Strømberg thought about this for a moment. He ran his hand across the tops of the