Astrid Explains Her Suspicions

"No more than ten minutes," Astrid said.

She walked far enough up the tunnel to be beyond both sight and hearing of Velus, then spoke to the lamp: "All right, Astra. You can come out now." A wisp of blue smoke emerged from the lamp and swiftly solidified into Astra.

"I assume you heard my conversation with Velus," Astrid said. "It was very tempting to go into that cross-passage of his in the hope that I'd be transformed back like he supposedly was. Maybe even you would be too. But I delayed, and let him go on thinking that I was you, because his so convenient transformation back from dog to human made me rather suspicious. Is it really Velus, or could it be someone else - someone who seems to know everything about us that Velus knew? Even if it is Velus, could he be an evil shapeshifter rather than the innocent victim of the dragon that we had assumed? With your magical abilities, it occurs to me that you might be able to determine his true nature."

1. "Yes, I can, Mistress."
2. "Mistress, I can tell you that the boy and the dog have the same lifeforce - are the same person, in other words, so that this really is Velus. But I can't tell whether this is his true form, or whether he is good or evil."
3. "I'm afraid that it is beyond my abilities, Mistress."
4. "I'm afraid it would need a wish to give me the power to do that, Mistress."

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