Lost family

Evandar POV(early spring of 644 ADG)
"He did WHAT?!", Loivissa shouted infuriated.

Evandar had never seen his sister so angry before. She very well could have been angrier back when Mercury had betrayed and exiled her, but by the time that she had eventually returned to Alagaësia, her feelings had no doubt calmed down considerably.

He had expected her to be upset about the news, and he had slightly feared that it might push her even deeper into the dangerous waters that she had to constantly thread in to keep their group alive and functioning.

"Our contacts within Carvahall have informed us that Garth took off yesterday", he repeated cautiously, "according to their accounts, upon hearing the news, he went into a blind rage, publically vowed to bring down the usurper and did not even wait for his guards to gather before riding towards Ilirea".

Evandar watched as Loivissa forcibly calmed herself, seated as she was behind the desk in her office. He certainly did not envy her at the moment. Over the past two and a half years, she had had to deal with one crisis after another, while constantly having to keep everyone focused on the goal.

She had had to deal with the silly infighting and squabbling of Aiedail's members, while being further and further alienated by the people around her for having to be the one that made the hard choices. He was ashamed to admit that he had once been one of those people.

If it had not been for their fight right before Vanir had died, Evandar might still have been amongst those people. Perhaps he would have even been leading them in trying to replace her. In hindsight, it had not been fair of him to think that she did not care about them, as he had since accepted that as the leader of the only resistance group left, she had no choice but to never allow her personal turmoil to influence her decisions.

Still, from time to time, Evandar still wished to see glimpses of his old sister behind the masque of this new one.

"Foolish boy…", his sister murmured and dragged him out of his musings, "if he had just stayed where he was, then we might have been able to salvage the situation, but after making that vow, and in public no less…"

"His fate is sealed then?", Evandar asked saddened. He had come to like the young human.

"One way or the other, it is", Loivissa said darkly and shook her head, "there is no chance that Mercury will not learn of what has been said, so our only hope for him is that he wizens up before actually reaching Ilirea. If he does, then we can at least save the boy's life by hiding him here".

"Let us hope that he does", Evandar nodded, "it would be a tragedy to lose both the father and the son because of this".

"Do not forget that we also lost the last allies that were willing to do more than just charge us for information", Loivissa corrected him.

"We lost the rest too?!", Evandar asked shocked.

"Yeah, with our history, there were not that many to begin with, and after the news had spread about what happened last week, the rest of them decided to sever all relations with us as well", Loivissa answered with a tired sigh, "I got the last of the messages this very morning".

Evandar did not know what to say. Obviously, 'I am sorry' would hardly suffice, and neither did he think that his sister would appreciate the underlying pity in it. Her actions ever since she had had to take over leadership of Aiedail had shown him that if given the choice, she would rather suffer alone than let others be affected by her sorrow.

His musings on how to comfort her without it seeming like pity were interrupted when Loivissa made a loud sigh and slowly but surely said, "brother…I think that I screwed up too much this time for me to continue doing this. I am unworthy to lead".

Evandar was speechless. Never in his wildest dreams had he ever imagined that she would give up like she was doing right now. As much as he hated to admit it, she was the whole of Aiedail's rock. She was the one person that everyone could always count on knowing how to go on from here, and if she was to step down after this, then it was very likely that those not bound by oaths in the Ancient language, like himself, would leave as well.

So he slapped her.

"You think that you can just give up like this!?", Evandar shouted at his surprised sister, whom was holding a tentative hand to the place that he had hit her, "you think that just because you feel guilty about this, it gives you the right to give up? Have everything that has happened until now really meant that little to you?"

"But I caused this", Loivissa said meekly, "if it had not been for my selfishness, Earl Karl would not have been arrested for treason, his son would not be riding towards his death and our last allies would not be dead or have abandoned us. I knew that the possibility of it being a trap was high, and yet I still sent those people to their deaths. I do not deserve to continue leading Aiedail after such recklessness".

"Yes, it was a reckless and selfish move, but damn it, you were faced with the possibility of reuniting with Adûn", Evandar said angrily, "ask any dragon rider whether he or she would have done the same in your position, and each and every one of them could have said nothing but yes. If it had been me calling the shots, and I had had even a slimmer of hope to connect with Delvaria once more, then I would have jumped in head first and made every single member of Aiedail come with me in my attempt to free her.

Yet you still kept your head clear enough to realize that it might be a trap and decided to send out a scouting party instead of immediately going there yourself. That was a level of control that I would not have shown, and neither do I think that Dweyrn or Lifael would have".

"But if I had not become emotionally involved, then I would have never ordered something so risky to be done in the first place", Loivissa continued, "if I had been better at keeping my emotions at bay, then none of them would have had to die".

Upon hearing that, Evandar slapped her again, harder this time.

"Earl Karl knew the risks involved when HE decided to be our spy within the court, as did those that you sent out to scout", he scolded her, "it was his duty to report the information to us, even though it ended up being a setup by the bastard. If you want to blame someone for their fates, then blame Mercury the Traitorous".

"You really think that I am still worthy to lead after all that has happened?", Loivissa seemed desperate to know.

"You are the only one that can lead us at this point", Evandar flat out stated, "I would never have been able to make some of the decisions that you have been forced to make".

His little sister took a deep breath to let his words sink in and her worries seep out, before she opened her eyes once again. Gone was the uncertainty and guilt that had plagued them moments before, and in their place, he found a steely resolve and an emotion that he had never seen in them before, but that he desperately wished would leave after they had defeated Mercury.

"You are right, this is no time for self-pity", she said determinedly, "I want you to be the one that takes this message to Lord Elwing, but you can get Lifael and Ziruvit to transport you. Tell him that his services are needed, but that it will be a dangerous mission that I will send him on. If he accepts, I want you to inform him that he is to do whatever it takes to become the representative of the Bedegraine province in the Albion province. Furthermore, if he agrees to our usual conditions, he will also have to be our new primary sponsor".

"You want him to replace Earl Karl in every way then", Evandar stated and nodded. It made sense that her first action would be to ensure that they were once again funded and had a source of information within Mercury's court.

"Yes, we cannot allow this setback to change our overall strategy", Loivissa agreed, "no matter what happens, the dauthdaert must be finished, and we have yet to find a way to approach him without being stopped first. To do that, I will need to continue my work on the aide, and to reach her, I need a person on the inside".

"I understand", Evandar replied and turned to leave, but just as he did so, his sister called his name, and when he turned around to hear what she wanted, her tone of voice had changed to a darker more commanding one, "brother, under no circumstances may you reveal what I said earlier to anyone. Is that understood?"

Instead of answering with words, Evandar gave a small nod and continued out the door. Once he was safely out of her sight, he allowed his posture to relax and breathed a tired sigh as he leaned up against an adjacent stonewall.

He had never before hit his sister, and the fact that he had done so in there, twice no less, weighed heavily on his consciousness. It had been the right thing to do, that much was evident, but it still went against every fibre and bone in his body to ever lay hands on any woman.

Reflexively, he clenched and unclenched his right hand, the hand that had slapped her both times. It felt slightly sore from the impact, which meant that she had to be quite sore as well. Perhaps he should not have done it as hard as he had the second time, but it was too late to correct the mistake now.

His hand would no doubt leave a bruise on her unblemished skin, which would be highly visible thanks to her pale complexion. The thought of how she would explain the bruise left him chuckling a dark humourless chuckle.

"What happened in there?", Lifael asked, as he seemingly appeared out of nowhere.

"Lifael, good, I was about to look for you anyway", Evandar said and dodged the question, "I need you and Ziruvit to take me to Du Weldenvarden".

"She just blundered that heavily and she still expects us to do her bidding just like that!?", he snorted, "if it was up to me, I would have her replaced immediately for endangering our lives and the purpose of our group".

Whether it was because of the things that had happened in Loivissa's office, which still lingered on his mind, or just a natural instinct to protect his little sister, Evandar did not know. The fact remained though, that almost before the last syllable had left Lifael's mouth, the elf found himself pinned against the wall by Evandar's strong grip.

"Do not EVER dare to insinuate that this is not taking its toll on her, or in ANY way draw her leadership into question", Evandar snarled, "I am sick and tired of your constant attempts to usurp a position of power for yourself without regards to what the job actually requires of you. You WILL stop any and all of such attempts in the future, is that understood!?"

Evandar could see fear, confusion and anger simmer beneath the surface of the elven rider, but eventually though, he made his decision and acknowledged defeat, "I promise that I will not try to usurp power within Aiedail for myself ever again".

Evandar let him go, before the both of them stormed away in different directions. Already as he was leaving the scene, Evandar regretted acting in the way that he had. Sure, it had stopped Lifael from any further attempts at harassing his little sister, but he might have just damaged Lifael's pride in such a way that he might leave the group if he was not appeased in some way or another.

How does she deal with this every day?, he thought despairingly, as he turned to go apologize to the elven rider.

Loivissa POV
It had been a few weeks since she had first heard of Garth's rash decision to free his father, since her brother had had to slap some sense back into her. It had been an episode that she was deeply ashamed of, primarily because she had allowed her self-pity to get the best of her.

I have no right to stop halfway through, Loivissa mused, not after everything that has happened and everything that I have done.

She had to be strong, had to be fearless and above all else, she had to remain steadfast. Her brother had confirmed her belief that no one else was capable of making the choices that she had been forced to, and so, she had no choice but to continue leading everyone.

I am the only one that can, she reassured herself, even if it means that I will have to sacrifice my own wants and desires, I must succeed. Yes, I owe it to everyone that has died. It was me that started this 400 years ago, and therefore, it has to be me that finish it as well.

A rough grunt that rumbled and wheezed tore her out of her thoughts. Loivissa did not know when Rhunön had entered her office, but she knew that the elven smith had not knocked beforehand. It was one of the traits that you had to get used to when dealing with her; she was blunt in her speech and cared little for meaningless gestures of etiquette.

"If I did not know better, I would have thought that you had turned to stone", Rhunön commented.

It had taken a while, but eventually, Rhunön had begun primarily speaking in the human tongue when addressing Loivissa or her brother, instead of the Ancient language that she preferred. Loivissa and Evandar had grown up and spent most of their adult lives surrounded by cultures of all kinds and shapes, and they therefore felt more comfortable talking in the human tongue, as the chance that someone knew that was far greater than any other language in Alagaësia.

Loivissa furthermore liked the human tongue over the Ancient language, because she did not have to mind every single word that she uttered in it. In the Ancient language, a blasé choice of words could quickly turn into a horrible oath that might last for hundreds of years.

"I hope that you have come with some good news at last", Loivissa said dryly, "I have had enough bad news these last few weeks to last several years".

"Hmm, what else has happened?", Rhunön sounded curious to know.

"You know the circumstances concerning Earl Karl's capture?", Loivissa wanted to know first.

It was not always that the elven smith cared enough about the outside world to hear about these things, so it was better to check how far back she had to go before starting on her tale.

"Yes, Mercury let slip a piece of information to the earl that might have made it possible to free Adûn, but it was a trap, and when you sent scouts ahead, they were butchered and the earl was arrested for treason", Rhunön summarized, "what else has happened?"

So she does not know about Garth then, Loivissa mused internally, before she decided to tell the smith the last bits of the sad tale, "after his arrest, Earl Karl's son, Garth, became furious and publically vowed to bring the usurper to justice, after which he rode to Ilirea to free his father.

We had hoped that his head might have cooled underway, or that we had been able to find another way of reaching him, but neither happened in the end. According to what we know, Garth rode directly into the city, continued up to Ilirea Castle, drew his sword and brandished it while yelling for Mercury to meet him in a duel. If he won, his father would have to be freed".

"The boy expected THAT to work?", Rhunön snorted.

"Mercury accepted the duel", Loivissa bluntly said, "right before it started, the foolish boy supposedly exclaimed that the gods would guide his hands in dealing out justice. Mercury laughed at him and told him that there were no gods, and that even if there had been any, then they had no power over the living. And then he proceeded to slay the boy in less than a minute".

"That did not take long", Rhunön commented dryly.

"Some of our informants say that it lasted considerably less time", Loivissa snorted, "anyway, afterwards, Mercury proceeded to have the earl executed and demanded that Earl Karl's and Lady Elsa's youngest remaining son, Leif, was to be brought to Ilirea as a ward of the court until he came of age to inherit his father's title. The boy is only 10 years old, and yet he is still being used as a hostage to ensure the peaceful cooperation of the Carvahall earldom".

"What about the daughter, did Karl not have one of those as well?", Rhunön inquired.

"Katrina? She is safe for now", Loivissa was more surprised that Rhunön remembered the name than anything else, "her marriage to the son of the duke of Aberon, and the fact that she is in the final stages of her pregnancy, has made her untouchable to Mercury, unless he wishes to incite the wrath of his nobles".

"So, apart from the mother, every single one of the Stronghammer clan is either dead or a prisoner in some way or another", Rhunön said sadly, "that you cannot even guarantee your own core members' safety is not exactly the best signal to send to the public".

"Oh right, I forgot that detail", Loivissa suddenly remembered, "Lady Elsa was allowed to make arrangements to bury her son and husband, but she was put to death for her involvement in the conspiracy immediately after and then buried next to their bodies".

"That does not seem all that good for Aiedail", Rhunön bluntly commented in her rough rumbling and wheezing voice, "it means that you will no longer have the support of Carvahall behind you, and that means that what I am about to demand of you will be made even more perilous than it already is".

"We have suffered losses, yes, but I have made arrangements that should replace some of them at least", Loivissa acknowledged, before her curiosity was piqued by Rhunön's last statement, "but what do you mean by new demands? I thought that we had already supplied you with the materials that you needed?"

It had not exactly been cheap materials that Rhunön had demanded, and more than once, Loivissa had been forced to ask Earl Karl to either sell some of his own jewellery or melt some of it down to supply the materials.

"Those were just to get a gist of whether I actually could repair Loivissa", Rhunön stated.

"And you now believe that you can?", Loivissa wanted to know.

"I think that the possibility that I might succeed is now good enough to count on it", Rhunön said with a small nod as she pushed a rolled up scroll over the desk to let Loivissa see her list, "but as I said, it will take more time and a whole new set of base materials. Also, there is one particular item that I simply cannot be without. It is near the bottom, I think".

"…You want…one of the Alliance's enchanted amethysts?", Loivissa said and blinked several times to make sure that she was reading the script right, before she looked up again said the single thing that came to mind, "why?"

"I hope that by studying the enchantments in one of them, my memory might be jogged", Rhunön stated with a shrug, "even if the two are as different as water and oil, it is still my best bet to try and remember exactly what we once did back then".

"I thought that you said that you had never before or since heard more ingenious enchantments uttered?", Loivissa asked, "so why would you need to refresh your memory?"

"It happened thousands of years ago, and I was not the only one involved in the process back then", Rhunön answered sourly, "if I forget even a single word or meaningful sentence, then I might very well undo everything that I have done so far, so excuse me for wanting to try and prepare as much as I can before going into this blind".

The elven smith was right, she realized. Loivissa had been too hasty and impatient, and if it had been any other, then they might have tried to accommodate her wish of working faster, but Rhunön was not just anyone. If she did something, she would do it right.

"I will try and fulfil the requirements", Loivissa decided that it was safest to just pretend that she had not been an impatient little girl, "but some of the items will take more time to get than others, so I need you to categorize how soon you need the different materials".

"I will", Rhunön promised and grabbed the scroll once again, but before she walked out, she turned around and looked directly into Loivissa's eyes, as she said, "I hope that your end will be worth what it took to get there".

"It will be. Alagaësia will thank us afterwards", Loivissa assured the elven smith, as much as herself, before she watched Rhunön leave, they have to.


I did mention that there would be blood, did I not?

And who are you, the proud lord said,
that I must bow so low?
Only a cat of a different coat,
that's all the truth I know.
In a coat of gold or a coat of red,
a lion still has claws,
And mine are long and sharp, my lord,
as long and sharp as yours.
And so he spoke, and so he spoke,
that lord of Castamere,
But now the rains weep o'er his hall,
with no one there to hear.
Yes now the rains weep o'er his hall,
and not a soul to hear.