Rasa

When the little cavern was discovered, it was a shock that any were alive at all - two Gaolers curled around a nest of Banescale eggs. Even for the Icewarden's children, it had simply been too cold, and where they once had vivid scales and bright fur, now only a sickly rot remained.

But they remained, even in this strange unlife, and so did their charges.

When the eggs hatched, however, it was clear that despite the best efforts of their guards, the hatchlings too had suffered from the cold. The same rot, the same wounds never quite healing. But worse was their dull eyes, their blank stares. The cold had driven the song from their minds and the fire from their hearts.

These are not the monsters we were meant to destroy, not any longer.

And so the Gaolers took pity on these lost children - for while their broken bodies would never truly heal, their spirits could.

---

"Was it worth it?"

She could not look him in the eyes as she asked, looking at the sad, limp creatures before them. Sick, broken things - not truly alive, not dead, just there. She had believed them when they said this was the only way, that the Banescale Scourge had to be stopped. She had heard another volunteer as an eternal guard, and noble sacrifice seemed the best way to honor those mages who had given their lives already. She would stand eternal watch!

But now that watch was ended, and the consequences lay before her.

"Yes." His voice startled her. "They have a chance to exist now, to know something other than war and destruction. We will teach them a new way."

As she turned, she saw his eyes bright with hope. He always was the stronger of us, she reflected. But I can be strong too. For them.

And so she began to clean the little hatchlings as best as she could, murmuring stories of courage and perseverance, and hoping they would sink in.