A few more Demons had joined them as they walked to the Princess's rooms, and now their presence was explained.  Minas approached the dying girl's bed, touched her fingertips to her forehead, and did what everyone had been trying to do and no one else could achieve.<br/><br/>It was a miracle, nothing short-- Tamlin would have thought it sent from<i>Ainu</i>, but no, this was magic from Minas' own hand.  Incredible, impossible magic; all the Elves were intensely focused, watching and filling the air with heavy anticipation and anxiety.  Even Naviin's rage was abated by concern for his sister, and more than a little awe at what was unfolding before him.  Sharia was coming back to life: her desiccated skin healed, her bones no longer thrusting towards the surface but instead covered with the muscle and fat she'd lost, body filling out a little more, then a little more.  She was starting to look like herself again, not a corpse...  And it was thanks to an enemy's touch.  Enemy no longer.<br/><br/>Then Minas called for a Demon, a toadlike one who stepped forth and busied himself with a box carried on the back of another, who settled on the floor.  The room started to smell faintly medicinal, of unknown flowers and herbs and other things; the toad demon went to work mixing something together, and though the elves all tensed as he pricked the Princess's arm, none stopped him.  There was too much at stake to be suspicious, and wrong.<br/><br/>Slowly, the Princess opened her eyes, soft gold irises with flecks of distant green.  They were unfocused, blind, but that didn't last long.  Bit by bit, Sharia began to see again, but what she was seeing made no sense.  Her mother and father were there, brothers too... but there were others, strangely shaped, curiously formed, with animal faces and bodies.  Her vision was still weak, the image shimmery like looking through water, and she could barely focus her gaze on more than one figure at a time.<br/><br/>At first she was quiet, just the slightly eased rasps of her breathing, but then a small voice trickled out.  "<i>Amma</i>... am I dreaming...?"  She sounded doubtful; even as horrifically sick as she was, even half-delirious, the girl seemed to suspect she was no longer drifting in an unconscious limbo.<br/><br/>Riasa smiled at her daughter, a wide smile that momentarily broke the mask of stone all the Dark Elves seemed to wear, and shook her head.  "No...  Sharia, this is Minas, Queen of Demons.  She has come to talk with us."  The purpose of the visit was left vague; Sharia had become ill before much of the planning had occured, though she had been aware of the initial contact before falling to the disease's insidious attack.  Now was not exactly a time to involve her in discussions.<br/><br/>The princess's hazy gaze landed on the Demon Queen, taking in her sleek black fur, the shining horn on her head, her glittering dark eyes; she did not appear afraid, though perhaps that was due to her current state.  Instead she simply blinked, and smiled a little, just a twitch of her pale lips.<br/><br/>"You're very pretty."  The words were a whisper, a sigh of sound; Sharia was better, but she was still deeply sick, and she was already exhausted.  The girl shifted, her body stiff but now only from disuse and not the final stages of her ailment, and a tiny frown formed as she felt a pain in her arm.  "My arm hurts..."  Her attention was all over the place, her mind a fevered mess after such an ordeal, one that was not yet over.  She noticed a frog looking at her, and stared back with a glassy, puzzled gaze.<br/><br/>As the Princess struggled to make sense of her surroundings, Tamlin leaned against a wall, and let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.  Great relief washed over him, taking away his fear; Sharia was no longer going to die...  Or at least, she was safer, and stood a chance to be cured entirely.  His heart was full as he watched his little sister regain some of herself again.  He would marry anyone he was told to-- the Demons had held up their part of the bargain.  Now it was their turn to do the same.