"I<em>hunger</em>."<br/><br/>The word came with a flicker of endless need.  It was the hunger of fire, insatiable and consuming.<br/><br/>"You have already given me what I want Naiobe.  Many times."<br/><br/>The world around them shifted then, with the suddenness of a dream that flitted from one image to another.  Images of Naiobe's life appeared and faded around them... The dryad bearing roses in her bleeding lips... the toy she'd snarled carelessly to earn her father's wrath... all of her playthings...<br/><br/>Only one remained longer than a heartbeat, the healer who'd tended her as a child.  Standing there off to one side of the sunny glade and reaching out to her.<br/><br/>"You have fed my hunger well Naiobe Percivan and you will continue to do so in one manner or another."<br/><br/>The image shifted to a young Naiobe laying in her bed, watching the doctor approach with fearful eyes as he carried a cup of steaming tea.<br/><br/>"I think you found it preferable to be the flail though did you not?"<br/><br/>And the scene faded to an older Naiobe.  To the day when she'd broken free of that cruel smiling old man's hold.<br/><br/>"Accept and I will extend my power into you as I did when I spared you from your little flower's charms.  You will share my strength...  and my hunger.  This is the pact."