Soon after the trial was over, Erza's mother, Isilith Vely Dragomir, the Queen of Atlantis, watched over her daughter and tended to her wounds. Day after day, she sat by Erza's bedside, feeding her broth, changing her bandages, brushing the ice from her hair. She did not speak much. She did not need to. Her presence was enough.
Erza thought, perhaps, that the elders would finally accept her. She had survived the Snow Forest. She had killed the bear. She had emerged from her cocoon stronger than before. Surely, they would see that she was worthy.
She was wrong.
