Signum was wrong on two counts: opposing her would have been as simple as dismissing the field and invoking his ring of polymorphing to assume dragon form, and he could have followed her since his overland flight spell had only been suppressed, not dispelled -- again a simple matter of dismissing the spell.

But he elected not to do either of those things. Aibghalien let her go. In part it was hope that he had made a difference in her quest for magic -- either by the volume of power he had provided, or by showing her that others on the ship could be trusted to help her and trust her in turn. In part it was legitimate fear. Did he have a hope of defeating her as a polymorphed dragon? And in part it was a simple and curious feeling that, if he fought her as a dragon, he would in some way be tainting that form.

All those reasons circling in his head, he watched her go with only regret that he couldn't have helped the problem, only treated the symptoms.