~{The Stars Incline Us}~
~Throne Room~
Alessandra sat at the long dining table, hands fiddling with the amethyst crystal. She twirled it over and over in her fingers like a knifeman twirling his dagger with precision. It was a nervous act she had acquired as a child and over the centuries could not rid herself of. Her eyes fell lower, landing on the leather boots she had stolen from her brother. She had opted for their harder sole, more sturdier and would serve her better than the flimsy sandals she had been given to replace the ones she destroyed. They sat high on her calves and were quite fitted as Björn had sinewy limbs for a man. However, they were loose enough that she was able to slide her silver dagger in and its pressure was a welcomed comfort against her leg. She had taken the dagger from her room after ensuring that Aria to Björn were locked away safely. It was something she normally carried on her person at all times, but had nearly forgotten about with the chaos that ensued upon arrival at Arborlon.
Her eyes slowly rose and examined the others in the room carefully. The King was poised at the head of the table, standing with hands palm down on the surface as he took in whatever information he was being bombarded with. He looked old to her, weary in the eyes, as though time had not been quite so kind to him as stories may convey. He had grown fat in his old age and the switch of duty from the sword to the pen had worn him down. She could see the deep set worry lines that stretched across his forehead, crows feet at each corner of his eyes, and a set jaw that expressed his determination despite everything else.
Alessandra allowed her eyes to drift right where Bandon stood back behind the King and Wil. His hands fumbled over each other as he stood hunched again. His eyes were cast downwards, afraid to meet anyone's stare and appearing as though wishing to disappear. She looked him over, scenes from what Aria had shown her coming to mind. The mask, the chains, the screams... it was no surprise that he shied away from people. His gift was both a blessing and a curse. To see death in the people you touched, anyone you touched, was horrible. Alessandra couldn't imagine getting close to someone, loving someone, and then seeing their death in each touch. This boy, Bandon, was broken because of it. He was afraid, with good reason, but like Aria he only needed training to overcome it.
A movement from Wil broke Alessandra's concentration and she turned to look at him. He stood across the table, eyes trained on Amberle to her left. They exchanged worried glances. The Elemental saw something else though in Wil's eyes. It was not just worry, but worry for Amberle. That look, that heartfelt piercing look, was one of love. He loved the Princess. Alessandra looked to the girl on her left, examining her closely. She saw emotion, but it was not love. It was concern regret.
"I cannot believe this thing is running wild in my Kingdom." The King's low, booming voice rolled over the table and the room. He looked up from his end of the table and to Allanon, who stood at the opposite end with the Druid Codex open. Alessandra stared at the Druid, watching him meticulously turning the pages as he searched for answers in its depths. His warm, chocolate eyes drifted from left to right as he read the ancient markings of his people's language. Her eyes came to rest on the markings that were etched into his skin like brands, marring the flesh around his neck and head.
Druid magic. – She realized, eyes running over the markings again. They were Druid rune symbols intended to give him strength. Alessandra looked down at her hands, examining the faded white marks that resided there. They were not harsh like his. Instead, hers were calming and only a decoration meant to mark her for what she was.
"Yours are not for the same purpose as my own, I imagine."
The voice inside her head startled her despite its calm, welcoming vibrato. She recognized it, but its presence had not been invited. She saw Allanon's eyes dart in her direction, catching her stare for a brief moment before he returned to his research.
"What kind of Druid trick is this?" Alessandra questioned, her voice not unpleasant or angry, but mystified.
"One my master taught me many centuries ago when the Druids were fighting amongst ourselves. When we needed to be able to communicate without unwelcomed ears." His voice fell away as though they were in a deep cavern, syllables echoing until they faded from existence. His voice rose again in the deep recess of her mind. "You have not answered my question."
"I did not hear a question asked." She bantered, knowing it would aggravate him. Her voice lifted through the darkness, the tunnel between their minds. It faded away briskly. She knew they did not have time for idle chitchat. So, why was he engaging her in it?
"Your markings," his gaze dated over at her again and she placed her hands on the tabletop as she continued to fumble with the amethyst so that he could better see the faint white markings, "what are they for?"
"To show what I am." She answered simply.
"A Pygmy?"
"A Guardian." She corrected him. She could sense his confusion through this strange connection they shared. It was very different from the day before when she had allowed him free passage to roam her mind. That was as though her mind had been a maze of hallways and doors. He had access, but she was able to limit it. This felt more like they sat in a tunnel at opposite ends, an obstruction keeping each other's mind from view. Only their words could travel.
"Despite you being included into the secret that I am not a real Guardian," She began again, hearing her own voice lilt and drift away into the distance, "my people do not yet know. They believe I am a full Guardian."
"Where do they believe your Keeper is?" Allanon's gaze rose to meet hers; fierce and piercing. "If they revere you, as Björn explained, then you must have lied."
"They need hope. That lie, my lie, is a comforting façade. My people are desperate, Druid. We are at the brink of extinction. I am the last chance we have at survival." Alessandra's tone had gotten severe as she met his stare with one of her own; just as fierce and just as penetrating. This was not what she wanted to discuss with him. There were other topics that would make this conversation a moot point if only she could explain everything.
"Your markings," Allanon understood in her voice that she did not wish to speak on the matter. It was a sore subject that obviously was a searing open wound. He did not want to add insult to injury. Especially, seeing the fire burning within her and feeling the heat coursing through the connection of their minds, "they are fading."
"Yes." She replied and looked over his own markings. "So are yours."
Allanon had no reply. Their eyes locked, each having caught the other in some tangle of truth and lie. Her markings, though fading, were nothing of real life-threatening consequence. His markings, the source of his power, were however.
"As your markings fade, so does your magic." She spoke again, but once more he left her in silence. He adverted his gaze back to the Codex and turned the aged pages.
"We should speak later on these matters. There are other more pressing issues at hand."
"Certainly Druid." Her tone was challenging as her gaze fixated on his form, piercing through this wall she recognized within him. "If only you can make time for me in your ever-busying schedule. There are things the Ellcrys wishes for me to tell you."
Allanon says nothing in response to her and she wondered if he had broken off whatever magic he had been using to communicate with her. His eyes were cast downwards into the Codex, scanning left to right as his gloved fingers turned the thick pages.
"What is this beast we face, Allanon?" The King questioned, straightening himself at the end of the table near Alessandra. Her eyes turned to him, looking at him briefly before she turned her attention to the amethyst crystal. She turned it round and round in her fingers, watching the dying light of the sun catch it.
"A Changeling. It is an ancient Demon." Allanon's voice was careful as he picked up the Druid Codex, opened to a certain page that depicted the creature and took a deep breath. "It is a shape-shifter that can inhabit the form of any being it chooses."
"That explains how it's been able to hide in the palace." Wil commented, bouncing gently from one foot to the other with anxiousness. Allanon walked towards the King, behind Wil, with the Codex in hand and placed the book on the table. The image of the beast was horrid; flesh being pulled from skull to reveal its true form. Alessandra gripped the crystal tightly in her right palm so hard that her knuckles turned white.
"That thing killed Lorin." Amberle's voice quaked with hate, regret, and pain as she stared at the artistic rendition of the creature on the page. She shook her head from side to side and then turned to pace. "The Ellcrys was trying to warn me... and I ran."
The group was quiet for only a moment as the weight of her words settled around them. Alessandra lifted her gaze and met Allanon's stare.
Puppet master this tree is. Manipulative. Deceitful. – she knew not whether Allanon could hear her words this time, but she didn't care either way. Her dislike of the sapient tree was growing. It was good, Alessandra understood that, but it was using them for the end goal of saving the Four Lands and itself... and being used no matter the reason felt good and instead left a bitter taste on the tongue.
"If you had not run," Alessandra raised her gaze to the girl whose eyes held tears, "then you would have joined their fate. Do not doubt your instincts, Princess. They kept you alive."
"Alessandra is right." The King's solid, rumbling voice agreed with Alessandra. His eyes followed his granddaughter as Amberle shook her head and paced slightly. "You would be dead by now and all hope would be lost. All the Chosen would be dead and so would the last defense; the Ellcrys."
Amberle scoffed, shaking her head again as heavy tears rolled down her cheeks. Alessandra turned to watch Wil, who watched the young Princess with compassion and desire to comfort her. She could see the desire to lurch across the table and to take her in his arms as his eyes burned with emotion. He understood, though, that she was a princess. She was the last Chosen. He needed to keep a fair distance for Amberle to complete what she must do.
"Now the demon" the King spoke up again, eyes traveling to the others in the room. "does not know that we are aware of its existence. That could work to our advantage."
"Do not be so sure, King." Alessandra interrupted and looked to Eventine. No malice was within her words nor her stare. Just calm resolve and understanding. "Demons can be quite crafty. This Changeling has already proved to be far more clever then ourselves and it has a desire for bloodshed that is severe."
"Are you saying it already suspects we know about its existence?" The King challenged her, but she took his anger and matched it with calm determination.
"No, Eventine." Alessandra answered honestly and met his hard stare. "I believe it might know, but I am merely saying we cannot afford to assume it does not suspect anything. It can alter itself into any form; man, elf, dwarf, or other. The possibilities are virtually limitless. That makes this situation delicate. One wrong step and everything we have been working for is over."
Allanon watched the Elemental carefully as she looked away to focus on the table again. She tapped the amethyst gently against the thick wood as her mind worked. He could see she was thinking things over, formulating plans.
"We must be overly careful." She breathed out, tapping of the crystal becoming lighter. "It has already shown us its cruelty and savagery. It has murdered all but one of the Chosen and that was only because of a fluke that it did not succeed in ending them all. We need to stay one step ahead of it now for all our sakes. As of right now, the odds are in the Changelings favor."
"And what do you suggest?" Allanon questioned her, coming round the King and standing close to her. He stared down at her as he gently rested his left gloved hand on the table, blocking her line of sight from that of the King's. She met his stare and her features contorted, eyes narrowing in distaste of the thought rolling around in her mind.
"You're not going to like it." She breathed out in a heavy sigh that expressed she did not fancy it herself. Taking another deep breath, she trudged onwards. "The Changeling was sent here, obviously, to stop the Chosen. They alone can give the Ellcrys a rebirth with its Seed by traveling to Safehold and giving it to the Bloodfire. Yes, we all agree?"
Alessandra looked around the room at her comrades. She did not know whether she were correct or not. It was a gut feeling, but upon seeing several heads nod she understood the pieces now that were falling into place. She noticed Allanon's narrowed glance, his features begging her to explain her knowledge of the subject.
"Well," Alessandra ignored Allanon's stare and paused again as she looked away, bobbing her head from side to side. Her mind was still racing forward and she was trying to keep pace, "we still have one of the Chosen left."
"Me." Amberle's voice was hollow as she looked to the older woman with disbelief. Her eyes narrowed into slits. "You want to use me as bait."
"Want? No. Feel there is a need? Yes." Alessandra did not hide her displeasure at her own plan, but it seemed the only route they could take. "It would certainly draw the creature out from hiding behind these facades and if we can lure it out, we can defeat it. So long as the thing is able to hide from us, the more challenging it is to locate and destroy."
"She is the last of the Chosen." Allanon scolded Alessandra, but she saw in his eyes that this was the only plan that made sense. "We are not offering her up as bait. Think again."
"Without drawing the beast out on our terms, we fair little against it. You know this, Allanon." Alessandra argued against him, turning in her seat to face him fully. She stared up into his intimidating presence, but matched it with hard eyes of set determination. "It can cloak itself behind whatever guise it steals. Common folk, peasants, maids, soldiers, knights, even the king himself. We need to draw it out now and stop it before it becomes more powerful. Every skin it steals means one more face it can hide behind."
"What do you mean every skin it steals?" Wil leaned onto the table, palms flat against the solid surface. Alessandra looked to the boy and sighed heavily, not wanting to explain. His eyes begged her for knowledge and she found herself inwardly scoffing as how easily she could be broken down.
"It can only use the faces of those it has killed. Meaning, once dead the Changeling takes their skins, their faces, and claims them as their own. They can use them freely and as often as they like." Alessandra explained and placed her hands into her lap with the amethyst still in her fingers. "Which makes it an incredibly dangerous foe. Especially in a place where there are hundreds of people roaming around close quarters."
"We are not using the princess as bait. That is final." Allanon grumbled down at Alessandra, who whipped her head back to him. She could not believe his stubbornness.
"You are as stubborn as an ox, Druid. How many Changelings have you fought against in your lifetime? How many have any of your kind fought and lived?" She challenged him, feeling bitterness bubbling up within her from centuries of Elemental and Druid fueled disagreement. He stood silent against her questioning and only stared at her.
"I have faced one." Alessandra threw up a single digit in the hand that clasped the amethyst. She jostled the digit as she tried to reign in her anger. "Just one... and it did not end pretty. People die when they are skulking around. Horrible, nightmarish ways. Torn apart limb from limb or flayed. Good people. Innocent people."
The Throne Room is quiet. Songbirds outside call for the setting sun that sunk lower in the sky. Alessandra's eyes, hard and set, bore into Allanon's. He questioned her knowledge, her truth. Had she really fought a Changeling before? Her eyes swore she did and her bitter tone instructed him to believe her as he had never faced one himself. Nor had his mentor. His knowledge came from others. The ancient Druid of times passed who wrote their experiences and methods in books and on parchments. Experience had to win out over learnt knowledge. For the safety of them all.
"The more time we waste arguing the more blood it spills." Alessandra's voice was firm. More so than Allanon had heard ever before since their first meeting. She was determined like an old crooked tree that refused to release its roots and topple over. He felt his lips beginning to curl into a smirk.
"So, I say we need to draw it out." Alessandra continued and looked away towards the others. "We need to face it on our terms. The longer we hide the Chosen away, the more identities will be stolen. That will only make this daunting task ever more challenging and risk failing on all fronts."
"We are not using the princess." Allanon reiterated, voice low, but losing his fortitude. She made sense. Everything she told them made sense. Alessandra stood up from her seat and stood before him fully. She was shorter than him, forehead to his lips, but met his hard stance with one of her own. She was unafraid and confident in herself, her abilities. The tension in the room grew thick and heavy like molasses as the Elemental and Druid glowered at one another. They were like rams bashing their antlers into one another, hoping for the other to back down. Neither was willing to though either rout of stubbornness or pride.
"What if we use a decoy?" Wil suddenly spoke up, eyes moving from Druid to Elemental and then back again. "Someone with nothing to lose."
"Eretria will never help us." Amberle scoffed at the idea and shook her head of chestnut waves. Wil met her aggravated gaze and felt himself shrink away.
"She will. If it's in her own self-interest." Wil concluded and looked to the King for appraisal. The King mulled it over for a moment and then looked to Alessandra and Allanon, who had not come out of their battle of gazes. He could see similarities in the two; stubbornness, sense of duty, knowledge, goodness, a desire to help. How similar they were almost made the King laugh outright. Allanon had finally met his match and in the form of a beautiful woman.
"Good." The King's voice reverberated around the Thorne Room like a chime. It called Alessandra and Allanon from their battle, requiring their attention. "Now, go convince her."
Allanon took a step back from Alessandra, turning away from her and towards the Codex that lay open on the table. He reached low to pick it up, eyes rising to stare daggers at Wil for interfering. Wil shrugged and Allanon moved away again, book in steady hands.
"You, Elemental." Allanon ordered to Alessandra. "You're coming with me. We have other matters to discuss."
She turned her gaze upwards in her sockets and took a deep breath. She sighed her frustrations out heavily before picking herself up from the chair and turning to push it back into the table.
"Be patient with him, my dear." Eventine's voice caused her to turn around and face the old king. "While he has been in the Druid Sleep for the last thirty years, he never did have much sense when it came to delicate matters. Especially those involving his human heart."
Alessandra was confused for a moment and narrowed her eyes at him.
"As a Druid, they are taught to cut themselves off from the world. Isolate themselves so they can be practical. Allanon was a different man before the Durids claimed him as one of theirs. He has always clung to his human side, but that puts him at odds with the Druid he has been taught to be. It makes him..."
"Aggravatingly altruistic?" She suggested, and the King returned her notion with a gentle chortle. He nodded his head, smile spreading across his lips.
"Woman! We don't have much time!" Allanon's voice roared from the hallway and she shook her head. Alessandra turned away from the king, eyebrows knitted together and looked over her shoulder at the elf once more. He stood tall, hands behind his back and chest puffed out in regal fashion.
"Is he to be trusted?" Alessandra found herself curious as to the king's belief. He pondered the question a moment, mulling over the idea and the term.
"Allanon has always had trouble seeing the few instead of the many. It makes him appear as though he has his own agenda. I promise you however that he only means the best."
"You didn't answer my question, king." Alessandra turned her head slightly, eyes narrowing again at him.
"Yes. My trust in him has never wavered." Eventine admits, standing straighter. She nodded her head at him, satisfied with the answer. She then followed after Allanon through the hallways. He did not speak and neither did she, too distracted by her own thoughts. She only followed behind him as he led her to her own chambers, not bothering to wait for her to open the door, but standing back to allow her first entrance
Alessandra walked into her room with Allanon close behind her, hearing him close the door once they were inside. She thrust her hair, tied still in a high ponytail, from her shoulder and felt it slap her backside. She stalked to the balcony, threw open the doors and bathed in the rising moonlight. The sun barely peeked out from its position on the horizon.
She breathed heavily. Once... hold… release. Twice... hold... release... Thrice... she felt everything washing away. Her aggravation. Her fear. She felt worry cling though. An unwanted guest in the back of her mind.
Allanon watched her from the middle of her room, hand still gripping the Codex. Her hands gripped the knobs of the doors. Her back was straight and form steady. She tilted her chin up with closed eyes, allowing the moon's light to wash over her as the sun blinked from existence.
"We need to speak." Allanon's voice was rough, hurried as though this was a troublesome matter he would rather postpone.
"We have other matters at hand." Alessandra tried to give him, as well as herself, a way out. Now that they were alone, had made time to speak about everything, she wanted to shy away. "We should make ready for the Changeling."
"Wil and Amberle need to convince the Rover that portraying herself as the princess is in her best interest first. Then we can make ready." His voice had risen and then slowly fell as he resigned himself back to a calm nature. Alessandra could sense the worry within him. It rolled over him like sap over a bug on a tree; encasing, entombing. "We have a small window of opportunity to speak. We should take it."
"What would you like to speak about then, Druid?" She turned and looked back at him, features softening as the moonlight formed a soft spotlight on her.
"I want to understand," he corrected, keeping to where he stood firmly at the center of her room. "as you seem to."
"Understand…" Alessandra licked her lips slowly as she decided on what her next move would be. She looked back out into the night and felt the tension in her shoulders dissipate as she gave in.
"Come sit with me, Allanon." She spoke softly, breath on the breeze of the night as she walked out onto the balcony. She pulled herself onto the stone railing and positioned herself so that her back rested against a large stone pot that was fused to it. She patted the seat beside her on the ledge. "I hope we have long enough to get through it all now. I do hate interruptions."
Allanon moved to the balcony and leaned back against the ledge. He crossed his arms over his broad chest, turned his head left and watched the Elemental as she bathed in the moonlight.
"Forgive me, usually Björn is the better with things like this. He has a way with words. I prefer to turn inwards." She cast a smug smile in the Druid's direction. "Where would you like for me to begin?"
"When did your kind come to be?" Allanon asked, sensing her resolve faltering as though this was not what she had expected him to question her on. She had wanted to speak with him and he with her, but she had other things she wished to converse on; more pressing matters; more meaningful matters. They had time now. Sparse as it may be, but enough to clear up some things and if her people's existence was what he was most concerned with, then she would honor his curiosities.
"That is an easy one. We have always existed. Despite what those elven fools claim." Alessandra gave a small, scathing laugh and shook her head at the question. "Elves always think they are the first at everything, but unlike them we had not needed to hide back in the beginning. We lived peacefully alongside the World of Men back before the great calamity."
Allanon could not hide the smirk that threatened to creep onto his lips. The fire he saw in the woman's eyes so suddenly, the look of taunting, was almost endearing on her. It was a change from the sad, broken woman he had conversed with the last few days. This was fresh and new and enticing.
"Back then, the Elementals kept to themselves, separated by their individual abilities. Pygmies lived in the woods, the forests, fields, mountains. We had most of the physical earth to ourselves because we were the first and we were the strongest. Then the Undines took to the rivers, lakes, waterfalls, oceans. Sylphs were sneaky, able to move around wherever they damn well pleased. Salamanders were confined to volcanoes, lightning storms, and the fires humans burned in their hearths. Mainly because they were unpredictable."
Allanon watched her with a steady eye as she looked down at her hands in her lap. She rubbed her fingers over the faint white markings and the burns that lingered from the springs. Her skin was puckered and an angry shade of red. They pained her, but her face did not portray it. It was in her eyes; swirling blue orbs that hid everything about her. Allanon wished he had brought her the salve in his room. It would have healed them much quicker than her abilities seemed to be doing. Which appeared naught at all.
Alessandra noticed his gaze on her damaged hands and crossed her arms over her chest, hiding her burns from view.
"Back when there used to be more of us, a long time before the Great Wars, Guardians did not need a Keeper. We had free reign, our powers were stronger, but now things have changed." Alessandra looked out at the stars longingly and leaned her head back against the large pot behind her. Her voice had grown ariose as she continued, trudging ahead. This was not where his question had meant to lead, but it was where she was going to bring it. She needed to push him towards this direction, down this path. The Ellcrys had made it incredibly obvious that they needed to discuss this and now.
"Your brother claims that every Guardian needs a Keeper who is their equal and opposite." Allanon remembered Björn's words clearly in his head. The words of the siblings confused him. They were at odds with one another.
"Yes, that is true now. When our kind began to be hunted, the conditions for Guardians were altered. It became necessary to pair a Guardian with a Keeper for protection of the Guardian lineages; to ensure that the Guardians would survive and thus the race of Elementals. The Keeper is not always another Elemental though. There have been gnomes, trolls, elves, dwarves, and humans who have taken up that duty." Alessandra turned her head and looked out over the balcony to the trees as her mind drifted away. She had not thought about these things in centuries.
"Guardians are never just women either." She looked over at him briefly, gauging his reaction. "If you have a male Guardian, he needs a female Keeper who is comparable in skill and energy. If the Keeper is another Elemental, they must be the Guardian's opposite; water to fire, air to earth, earth to water, fire to air. There has to be a balance. The Keeper needs to be able to keep the Guardian under control when their abilities become too much."
"Too much?" Allanon noticed the change in her tone. It had dropped as though she had not meant to say what she had.
"Absolute power corrupts absolutely." Alessandra met his stare, eyes jerking away left and right before returning to him once more. "We are not above being corrupted. Keepers are supposed to quell the darkness, keep us from falling prey to it."
They fell into a gentle silence. The small chirps of crickets and the hoots of owls filled the air.
"You spoke of a Keeper... when you came out of the Ellcrys." His voice was calm, low like the start of a great thunderstorm as it rolled over hills and valleys. Alessandra watched him carefully, not quite sure what his words meant or where his train of thought was heading. Allanon met her stare. "You said the Ellcrys told you that you needed a Keeper."
"Yes." Alessandra admitted, recounting all the great sapient tree had told her over the last few days. What a whirlwind it had all been. "She did. Many times in fact. She is very adamant about it too. Said I needed to find my Keeper and become a Guardian."
"Why is that?" Allanon found himself reaching towards her, trying to anticipate what she would say next. Her mind, though, was barricaded to him. Had the Ellcrys told her something similar? Did she already know what he knew?
"I assume it is because once I become a Guardian, my abilities grow exponentially. You can thank your ancestors for that, Druid. They were the ones who put the stipulation on Guardians needing Keepers."
This, he did know. This was one of the few things he had learned about the Elementals during his studies centuries ago. There was always a record of the beings the Druids had needed to interfere with. It was both for recollection, for study, and for their own egos.
"My abilities will solidify into something more tangible." She explained, not quite understanding it herself. She had been told, time and time again, about becoming a Guardian. It had been drilled into her head like nail through wood. Yet, she still didn't understand what it meant. "As I am, I can only channel the energy as it sees fit. When I become a Guardian, supposedly, I will have the ability to use the energy as I see fit instead."
"Instead of being a conduit, an item to channel the energy, you will be a source of power yourself." Allanon understood perfectly. She was similar to any conduit that was touched by magic. Channel it until completely imbued, then become the source of power with no need for constant connection.
"Precisely." Alessandra could see understanding etched across his features. It was in the way his body straightened before her and hands clasped before him, one hand holding opposite loosely.
"What else did the Ellcrys say to you?" Allanon took a careful step closer to her and the stone railing, robes swaying heavily and thwapping against his legs.
"She kept telling me that we still had time." Alessandra motioned to herself and him with a pointer finger. "I assumed she meant about saving her and stopping Dagda Mor."
"And?" Allanon sensed there was more. Sensed that she was holding something back now. Alessandra took a deep breath and rolled her head back and forth, looking up at the starry sky.
"She said I need to take my Vows and become who I was meant to be." Alessandra let her gaze fall to her hands in her lap. "She also mentioned that there was another traveling the same path as myself."
Her words, she had hoped, would force a reaction out of the Druid. Instead, his emotions were kept hidden well behind that wall she felt he had put up against her. He met her gaze, eyes locking on each other as their emotions swirled and clashed. He turned his head away as he became lost to his own thoughts.
"Allanon?" She questioned, but he ignored her. His eyes lingered on the stones of the balcony floor. An image of the flower, the Stargazer, flashed before her mind from the recess of her memory. She narrowed her eyes at his visage. "What did the Stargazer mean to you?"
His eyes immediately found hers, but he remained silent in his flabbergast. Something crept up on her like frost coating grass in early winter. Her eyes narrowed further in pointed condemnation at him.
"You have seen the flower before, Druid." She breathed out and could see in his eyes that she was correct. A little voice in the back of her mind screamed at her, told her to remember what the Ellcrys had said to her. The sapient tree had not explicitly told her that he did or did not know, but that he was different and would understand.
But... did he already suspect? Had the Ellcrys given him similar, surreptitious information as she had done with her? Did he know what he was supposed to be to her? Had he known the whole time?
"Where have you seen it?" She questioned him, but he said nothing. Alessandra sat up straight and swung her legs over the railing so her feet hovered above the stone floor of the balcony. "Allanon, what does the flower mean to you?"
"Yes, I have seen it before." His voice was low, waves crashing against rock. She noticed his body tensed, his gaze averted, but then he met her stare. His was hard, resolved, but she could see aching as though she had dug a finger into a wound. "It plagued me for a time... and acted as a beacon to hold onto while lost to the darkness."
"Lost…? To the darkness?" Alessandra's voice was breathy, warm in the chill of the spring night. She watched him as he turned away from her, robe swaying as he went. His shoulders were tense and broad, robe across them taut. Her eyes briskly scanned over the etching in his skin around his scalp as his words bleed into her mind. "...what darkness?"
"It was the Druid's Sleep." Allanon ran a gloved hand over his mouth and chin as he thought back to that time; the limbo. The flower had called to him. It had held him. It had brought him back. Now, here it was again doing the same thing and more. Had it been her all along? She was an Elemental, a Pygmy, was the flower some kind of symbol of her? Had it been her calling to him all those years?
Alessandra watched him carefully as he kept his back to her. The air shifted and she sensed his unease. She knew his mind was racing away from him. She slid herself off of the stone railing and her feet softly landed on the cobble balcony. She moved closer to him, standing off at his side as she tried to catch his gaze.
"Something is happening, Allanon. Something much greater than you or I realized." Her voice held a slight tinge of worry. He slowly turned to meet her stare with big brown eyes that reminded her of rich soil. It was a comfort she welcomed. He too appeared to share her feeling of worry and unease.
"Some force brought me to you in the forest that day." She shook her head as though not wanting to believe it, not wanting to believe the Ellcrys still. She was losing this battle. "A force I have not felt since the War of Races ended. It's been thirty years since I have felt this; a pull on my heart."
"Thirty years...?" Allanon's ears perked up at this and his whole demeanor changed instantly. He was completely on edge now, body going rigid as though a jolt of pain had hit him. Alessandra was confused, and her features expressed it.
"Yes." Alessandra found herself beginning to question him, watching as he took to pacing slowly from left to right across her balcony. His robes swayed and thwapped as he moved. His boots fell heavy and thumped against the cobble floor. Her eyes narrowed in question again as her gaze followed his movements. "Is that somehow significant to you?"
He stopped suddenly and his back was to her again. He straightened and stared out at nothing in the darkness of the night.
How can this be? – He thought to himself. He understood destiny. He understood coincidence. How could this be his? It was too... perfect. Slowly he turned to face her, eyes landing on her face. She watched him carefully, her narrowed eyes softening as though becoming worried for him; about him. Suddenly, he felt acceptance. As the moonlight struck her, causing her hair to almost glow, cheeks red from exasperation, and eyes large and blue like sapphires, she resembled that damned flower. She was that damned flower.
"I awoke from my Druid Sleep just a few days ago." Allanon began, not truly speaking to her, but trying to gather his thoughts as the gears in his mind began to turn.
"Druid Sleep...?" Alessandra's tone conveyed her confusion yet again and then she remembered the King's words. He too had mentioned this sleep. "Is it magic? A curse? Had someone truly cursed you in such a way? Why?"
She felt herself growing more worried, more anxiety ridden. Allanon, however, felt his worries and anxiety flowing out of him. His tensed shoulders relaxed as he watched Alessandra soak up his emotions like a sponge.
"It is a state the Druids place ourselves in for a time where we are rejuvenated and our lives prolonged. We cannot resist its call when it beckons us." Allanon explained calmly, though she could sense something deeper growing within him.
"But you were bleeding out when I found you. You were awake. Had something happened while you slumbered? Or was it within your slumber and come true as you awoke?" Alessandra challenged, but could see instantly in his gaze that she had not found him at the time of his awakening. He had already awakened by the time she came across him.
"I awoke from the sleep in the caves of Paranor." Allanon corrected her, staring down into her deep pools that reflected the soft white glow of the moon's light. He moved closer to her, staring down at her. He realized then how small she appeared, head only coming to his chin.
"Why? Did someone wake you?" She could sense, feel in her heart that something was wrong. A Druid woken from a sacred sleep, her finding him bloodied and near death by a sensation she had not felt in thirty years. Something was desperately wrong. She understood, but she wanted to be wrong. Please, oh please, elders let her be wrong! This was too much. She just wanted to go home, take her niece and flee all of this. The responsibility was crushing her.
Allanon could see this. He saw her shoulders slump as a great weight planted itself on her. He saw the tiredness in her eyes.
"It was the same being that had called you; the Ellcrys." It was all he need say for her to feel her heart fall. The puppet master... The Ellcrys had been working their strings for much longer than she had originally thought. Years... decades... how long had the Ellcrys truly been tugging on her?
"The Druid Sleep cannot sustain one forever, but I was called forth from it by the Ellcrys." Allanon continued, feeling a sensation in his hands to reach out to her. So, he did. He placed a heavy, gloved hand on her shoulder and she looked down, shaking her head.
"I would certainly hope it couldn't sustain one forever." Alessandra scoffed and sighed heavily. She scratched her forehead gently in frustrated thought. She didn't like being toyed with as the Ellcrys was doing now; had been doing. Her whole life she had felt powerless, not in control of her life, now it seemed she knew why. Destiny... fate... whatever anyone wanted to call it. She couldn't escape it. And it seemed, neither could he. Their destinies were entwined now. They always had been.
"Why do you say this?" His tone was not angry, nor was it concerned. He was curious of her answer alone. He had his own feelings for the sleep, his own hatred of its overwhelming call. His hand on her shoulder squeezed gently as he would to Wil when the boy was needing encouragement; strength.
"Life is not meant to be prolonged in such a state." Alessandra waved a hand absent mindedly as she broke free of his hold. She paced, hand returning to her hip to match the other and place her in akimbo. "It is meant to be lived and then end. Nothing in this world lasts forever. Except, seemingly, my fate."
"Yes, except for you." Allanon's words sent a spike through her heart. Her pacing ceased on the spot and she felt herself waver before him. He returned his hands before him, clasping one wrist again. "The Ellcrys showed you the future where you would live forever."
"Yes. Alone and in sorrow. That is my destiny." Alessandra spoke the words aloud, feeling them grip her heart in an icy clasp.
"Why?" Allanon asked before he could stop himself. He was becoming careless and needed to reel himself back in. They were off topic. There were things they needed to discuss. More important matters to handle. He was curious though; about the Elementals, the Guardians, the Pygmies, her. He wanted to know her; everything, all, good and bad.
"There is a reason Earth Guardians have not existed for centuries." Her voice was bitter and sharp like a poisoned blade. One wrong move, one wrong word, and she would pierce him without intending to. "Undines are emotional. Sylphs are flighty. Salamanders unpredictable. But Pygmies... we are uncontrollable."
"I don't understand." Allanon knitted his eyebrows together and shook his head at her. She moved to sit down in one of the chairs on the balcony, sitting in it sideways and ran her hands over her face.
"Pygmies are powerful from a very early age. We have a connection with the energy that the others do not share. We are grounded in the same ways, thrive in the same ways. We are two sides of the same coin and that means we can feed off each other with no boundaries." She continued to explain raising her face from her hands and staring at the balcony floor. She moved her hands up and pushed them into her hair. "Sometimes... we lose ourselves in the energy."
Allanon felt a chill run up his arms and down his spine. The air shifted and brought with it a cool breeze that lapped at his cheek. He watched her with careful eyes. He sensed something was wrong with her. She was admitting something that he was certain she shouldn't. It was a truth that he knew she had needed to lie about. So why tell him? Why now?
"What I am," she began again and met his stare. He saw tears swell in her eyes as he registered pain as it crossed her features. He moved closer and dropped to one knee before her, taking her hands from her head where she tugged her hair painfully. He held them in her lap and tried to force her to meet his gaze. She avoided his stare, but allowed the touch, "Pygmy and Guardian... they are at odds with one another for some reason all the time."
Alessandra closed her eyes, feeling the war waging within her even now. She had gotten very good over the centuries at ignoring it, becoming numb to it. It was always there though; deep beneath the surface.
"I constantly feel myself at war, being pulled one direction and then the other. Both strong, but different, offering different things." She opened her eyes and met his stare. "Promising different things."
"What happened to the other Pygmies? The other Earth Guardians?" Allanon felt something dark creep over him, slithering like a serpent that threatened to constrict the life out of his heart. He had a sense he understood his own questions, knew the answers, but he needed to hear it. It was too awful too think about. He needed confirmation.
Did the Ellcrys know about all of this? If so, why then? – he thought heatedly as his hold on Alessandra's hand tightened.
"There hasn't been an Earth Guardian in thousands of years. They grow too powerful and they succumb to it. They turn dark." Alessandra's voice broke away. This was not what she wanted to speak about. How had their conversation gotten here? Why? Why did he make her relive this, expose herself like this?
"Pygmies who show signs of Guardianship are murdered as babes." She turned her head towards the railing and looked through its rungs into the trees. "The only reason I escaped was because of my brothers. They stole me away from parents who were all too willing to feed me to the wolves and raised me in secret in a village far south of here near the Vale."
She couldn't meet his gaze. Why was she admitting all this? Was it the work of the Ellcrys again?
No. – She thought to herself. – You want him to know. You want him to understand, for someone to understand.
"This is so wrong." She felt the words leave her before she could stop them. Once they had left, she felt the last of her resolve crumble. Tears burned her eyes and blurred her vision. "I cannot do what the Ellcrys demands of me."
"What did the Ellcrys demand?" Allanon lifted a gloved hand and brushed away the tears from her cheek. Alessandra pushed his hand away and wiped her own tears from her eyes, her cheeks, her chin.
"It's not the illness nor the fear, you know." Her voice was soft, almost as though afraid of itself. She felt the war within her barrage her like a stampede. She felt a chill spread over her, squeezing her heart. "It's the heart wrenching sadness... so great that it feels as though it may swallow me whole. That will be my undoing and the Ellcrys does not care. She takes and demands without concern of the damage it will leave in the wake."
"It may not always be so. The future is ever-changing." Allanon understood now where her mind had gone. The prophecy of her future. However, the Ellcrys had shown him something different. Something much more than the darkness and suffering she saw in her future. He had seen hope, laughter, light... love.
"The Ellcrys demanded you become my Keeper." Alessandra blurted it, no restraint in her left and only slight. Allanon said nothing. He already knew this. The Ellcrys had been very clear with him. "The Last Druid and the Last Guardian, oh what a pair we would make."
"Would?" This caught him off guard.
"No matter what the Ellcrys demands, I will not force anyone into something so permanent and doomed." Alessandra scoffed and looked away from him away as fresh tears burned her eyes, trailing hotly down her cheeks. "There is no future with me. My fate is sealed. My people will perish with me left to linger."
"No fate is sealed." Allanon argued, sensing she was tail spinning.
"Mine is. Always has been." Alessandra looked back to him, her eyes begging him to comfort her. He couldn't... the Druid in him fought hard against his human instincts. He had other things to concern himself with. But the Ellcrys had made its demand, made it clear what it expected of him. Was that not just as important? ...was she not just as important? He was torn again; Druid fighting for dominance against Human.
"You are wrong, Alessandra." His tone was soft, hands clenching as he stood up straight. Alessandra shot up following him.
"How do you know, Druid?!" She shouted at him, tears falling from her jaw. She was turning venomous. She was angry, but he understood not with him. With the Ellcrys, with her life, with what she had been promised the future would hold.
Why had the Ellcrys not shown her? - He was upset by this. The Ellcrys had shown them both something different. Alessandra saw a never-ending life of sorrow, pain, and loneliness. He had seen the opposite. Would it not have been easier if they had been promised the same thing?
"Alessandra?" Allanon noticed she had closed her eyes so tightly that her face scrunched. She appeared in pain, hands clenched so tightly that her knuckles were going white. The white... spread. Like long tendrils, it seemed to creep up her hands, creating intricate designs on her burned flesh and continued slowly up her wrist.
"What is happening?" He watched the white tendrils disappear under her sleeves. He felt something in the air; static, a tingling. It crawled over his skin and brought forth gooseflesh.
She is losing control. – He surmised as he watched Alessandra turn her back to him, shoulders rising and falling with heavy breaths.
She cannot protect the Ellcrys.
She cannot protect you.
She cannot even protect herself.
The words of Dagda Mor resounded in his head as images flashed in his mind.
She needs a Keeper...
The voice of the Ellcrys drowned out Dagda Mor. Allanon watched Alessandra as she recomposed herself. Her body relaxed, and her shoulders fell. He could hear her soft breathing as it returned to normal.
Without a Keeper, the Guardian is unprotected.
If the Guardian is unprotected, she is vulnerable to the Dark One.
The Dark One. – he did not know specifically until that moment who or what the Dark One was. He moved closer to Alessandra, placing his hands on her shoulders and finding that she did not refuse his touch. She kept her eyes closed, features softening as she continued to focus on her breathing.
"Earth Guardians need a Keeper because they grow too powerful." His voice was gentle, but regretful as the truth poured from him. "Pygmies are uncontrollable. They are powerful from an early age and continue to grow more powerful as they age."
Alessandra refused to meet his gaze still. She could feel the pull within her, fought it off the best she could.
"You have a connection with the energy where you both feed off each other with no boundaries; no regulation or constraints. You lose yourself in the energy." Allanon moved his right hand and used a single knuckle to lift her chin. She opened her eyes and he could see she had burst a blood vessel in her left eye. The red was sheer against the white and the blue. "Without a Keeper you are unstable. You will fall to the darkness."
She is the Dark One. It is the part of her that cannot control itself and its use of the energy. It is the part of her that has become corrupted. – he gently moved his right hand from her chin and placed it against her cheek, touching below her left eye carefully as he looked over the burst.
"The Ellcrys knows you need a Keeper," he began and moved his gaze to meet hers while leaving his hand on her cheek, "to protect you from yourself and the energy."
"Allanon! Alessandra!" Wil's voice burst through the door of her room. He stood with hand on the doorknob in the doorway, Amberle behind him and looking over his shoulder. Wil's eyes moved from Alessandra to Allanon to his hand on her cheek and the way they stood beneath the moonlight.
"Um, are we uh interrupting something?" Wil asked, though it was clear he and Amberle had stumbled into something private. He had never seen Allanon so... comforting? It was odd to see the Druid, hard and focused, acting so with the strange Elemental woman.
"She said yes." Amberle called from behind Wil. Alessandra scoffed and looked down towards her feet. Allanon's hand felt heavy and solid against her cheek before it slipped away. He growled lowly, eyes lifting and looking over the top of her head.
"And as always," Alessandra's voice was scathing as she looked to Allanon once more. He could see her anger, her distraught, "duty calls."
He was a Druid first and foremost. He had a duty to uphold. He had responsibility.
She is your duty.
She is your future, Allanon.
Trust her. Trust in her
She needs you.
Take the Vows.
The voice of the Ellcrys screamed at him. Alessandra turned away from Allanon and walked into her room again to face the young elves, and he followed. As she questioned Wil and Amberle, he stood silent as though watching the scene unfold before him. Her voice floated away, her movements slowed to a fraction of normal pace. He no longer heard her voice, her words nor the words of Wil and Amberle.
His eyes were set on her. Only her.
She is your duty.
She needs you.
But what did he need?
"All right. We will." Wil announced, his voice breaking Allanon out of his stare and drawing his gaze to him. "Allanon?"
The Druid nodded his head once, having no idea what they had spoken about. He trusted Alessandra's plan, her competence. He would place his trust in her as he had been instructed. The little rebellious human act set the Druid in him on edge. He felt his chest tighten as he followed Wil and Amberle out the door of Alessandra's room.
He stopped in the doorway, taking hold of the knob and looked back at her. She stood where she had been, eyes trained on him and full of some emotion that sent a shockwave of fear through him.
Defeat.
Slowly, Alessandra blinked and turned away from him to head to the balcony. He too turned away, closing the door behind him.
