The Holy City: Can you help her, Etoh?

Parn once again pulled Deedlit up into the saddle before him. She had always been light and easy to lift, but now she seemed even lighter and more delicate, as if there wasn't much of her there at all. He wrapped his arms around her slim form to keep her from falling off and held the reins securely in his left hand. She slumped against him and whispered, "Thank you." It worried him how weak her voice was.

"Be quiet, Deed. You need your strength." He spoke with a strained tone that was alien to him. He tightened his arms about her for a moment. There was an odd limpness to her, as if her bones were made of unhardened clay. "We're almost to Valis. You can see it over that hill."

"I know," she said.

"Are you going to be alright, Deed?" he asked desperately.

She nodded slightly, but she felt cold against him, and it felt to him almost like he carried a corpse before him. He pushed the thought away. Deedlit might be very ill, but she wasn't going to die. He would not let her die.

Parn sighed and gave up on conversation. She was clearly too ill to talk much, and he should be silent and let her rest. He pushed some of her silver hair out of his face. Please, Deed, he thought, you have to be alright. Don't die on me.

In the palace courtyard of Valis, Parn slid down from his horse. He helped Deedlit down, but this time there were no jokes. She truly needed his help now, even for so simple an action as dismounting. Indeed, even the small exertion required for that seemed to be too much for her, and she fell. He caught her deftly and snapped at one of the guards. "Someone get Etoh! Quick!"

"I'm already here, Parn," Etoh stated, stepping forward. "We saw you riding in. Is Deedlit alright?" The priest's face was concerned, but still marked with the same peace that had always been there. He had changed little in the past ten years, though his face had matured slightly. He still wore his dark hair in the same priestly style, still wore the same simple white robes, for all that he was married to a queen.

Parn turned to face his old friend, still holding Deedlit in his arms. "I don't know, Etoh. She's been sick for the past few days. She says we have to go the Forest of Light, but I don't think she can make it that far. I had hoped you could help her."

"I'll try," Etoh promised. "Take her up to my study, and I'll see what I can do." He smiled encouragingly at Parn.

"Please stop that," Etoh said calmly, his glowing hands stretched out of over Deedlit's pale form, as she lay in a semi-conscious state. "Pacing isn't going to do you or her any good. If you can't sit still, why don't you go talk to the emissaries from Flaim or maybe find yourself some dinner. You're distracting me, and I need to concentrate if I'm going to help her."

"Sorry, Etoh." Parn sat down uneasily on one of the chairs. "Is she going to be alright?" It was the third time he had asked the same question.

"I don't know yet." Etoh's voice was characteristically patient as he spoke to his old friend. "I won't until I have a few minutes of silence to assess her condition." He stared down at the elven woman for several seconds, studying parts of her that Parn couldn't see or even understand: energies, auras, pulses, other things for which the Common Tongue had no words. He had healed Deedlit several times in the past, and he knew what he ought to be seeing. Normally there was a brilliant green-gold aura with flashes of silver running through it and a heart of the deepest green. Her essence was normally pure, clear, and bright, utterly unlike that of a mortal. The deep green heart was different now, as if something dark were eating away at it. The rest, the energy that radiated out from that heart, was weak and faint, clearly the work of whatever was destroying her body and soul from the inside out. What could have caused this? he wondered. Whatever disease was gnawing at Deedlit had invaded her spirit as much as her body.

"Well," he said at last. "I can at least try to help her. I don't know how much help I'll be able to provide. We shall see. At worst, I can strengthen her for your journey to the Forest. This may take a while, Parn. I know you don't like sitting still. Please, go see the emissaries from Flaim."

Parn looked towards Deedlit reluctantly. He plainly didn't want to leave her side.

"She'll be fine in my care." Etoh had changed more than was visible in his appearance. His was voice was still gentle, but it was firm, with a command in it that had not always been there.

"I know that, Etoh. It's just-" Parn cut protest off short.

"Just that you don't like letting her out of your sight?" Etoh gave his friend a smile that was almost teasing. "I do understand. I feel the same way about Fianna."

There was a slight pink tint to Parn's face. "It's not like-"

Etoh didn't argue with Parn on that issue, though he knew that Parn's feelings for the fair elf-woman mirrored his own feelings for his beautiful wife. He had always wondered why those feelings that Deedlit plainly shared had never gone further between the warrior and the elf. After ten years traveling together, Etoh would have thought that the two of them might would have finally spoken those words aloud, and yet they never had. "She'll be fine. Go! You'll enjoy yourself. You even know them."

Parn looked puzzled. "Who?"

"Shiris and Orson." Etoh noticed as Parn winced at Shiris' name. "What's wrong with Shiris?" he asked as he drew up a chair to Deedlet's side.

"Aside from the fact that she's the most difficult woman I've ever met?"

Etoh raised his eyebrows. "I should think Karla might top that list.

Parn rubbed at his forehead tired. "I don't think she even counted as a woman."

"That still doesn't answer the question of what is wrong with Shiris," Etoh pointed out.

"I'm not in the mood for drinking and verbal sparring matches," Parn said at last.

"She's mellowed over the past few years, you know, ever since she and Orson retired to Flaim. Mercenary work had gotten to dangerous for them with Orson's . . . problem." Etoh sighed. He had not been able to help Orson with that, even as he wondered at his own ability to help Deedlit now. There were far too many harms in the world that he could mend. It troubled him. "Parn, I don't care where you go or what you do, provided you don't kill anyone, but it would make it much easier for me to help Deedlit if you would go somewhere else. For me to help her there must be no distractions." Then he added, "And it would be very impolite for you to be here a the same time as them and then not at least say hello to them."

Etoh's words were true, Parn acknowledge to himself. It was hardly fair to avoid old friends, even if he did find Shiris oddly intimidating.

It was Orson who noticed him first, when the renowned Free Knight entered the room. "It's been a while," he said to Parn, as the younger man stood in the doorway.

"It has," Parn agreed.

Only when Parn spoke did Shiris realize he was in the room and turn around to face him. "We didn't know you were going to be here!" Within moments, she was on her feet and had crossed the room to embrace the knight.

"I didn't either," Parn said simply. "Deedlit's sick."

Abruptly, Shiris stepped back, shocked. "She is? But I thought elves didn't get sick."

"They don't, normally," Parn agreed. He shrugged and walked over to a nearby window to stare out. He leaned against the wall to the left of the window. "How are the two of you?"

The two were silent for a bit. "Etoh didn't tell you?" Orson asked at last.

"Tell me what?" Parn glanced away from the window to where Shiris and Orson stood. Neither wore armor or even any visible weapons. The berserker's arm was wrapped gently around Shiris waist, and the once fierce woman did not appear to object to the familiarity. Both appeared happy, even relaxed. A softness had come into Shiris' face, and Orson's face seemed less tortured.

"We were married two summers ago," Shiris said. "We tried to get word to you and Deedlit, but no one knew where to look for you."

Parn thought a moment. "I think we were in Alania then. I'm sorry we didn't make it to your wedding."

"It's alright," Orson said. "We're glad to see you now. How long will you be in Valis?"

"Not long," Parn answered. "I have to take Deedlit back to the Forest."

"Well, then we should make the most of the time we have." Shiris reached for a bottle of wine in a nearby cabinet.

Orson cleared his throat. "Etoh said you shouldn't."

She froze for a moment, but did not replace the bottle. "Well, that's no reason the two of you can't have any. I'll pour for both of you and you can drink to Deedlit's health." She paused, looking with a sad longing look at the bottle. It was a very good vintage. "And to mine too." Saying this, she filled two glasses and handed one to each of the men.

With PArn safely out of the room, Etoh returned his attention to Deedlit. Cautiously he began to feed divine Falis energy into her own, until the pure white light suffused her aura and it brightened again to its usual color, though the verdant heart of it still seemed shadowed. Whatever lay at the root of her illness was beyond his power to resolve. At last, Deedlit's eyes slowly opened.

"Well," Etoh said, leaning backward into his chair. "Welcome back to Valis and the land of the living, Deedlit."

"Hello, Etoh," she said quietly. Her voice was still weak, yet there seemed some animation in her face and a bit of the glow that had always been so much a part of her.

"Parn's worried about you," he informed her.

Her eyes softened for a moment and Etoh marked it. "I know."

He stared down at her. She was one of his oldest friends, and he was well able to read her expressions and their meanings. Parn in his naivete might not see it, but she had been keeping secrets about this illness of hers. "I think," he said, "that you had better tell me all about it. Maybe I can do more to help you. It would kill Parn if something happened to you, you know."

Deedlit sat up slightly. She seemed to have regained enough energy for at least slight activity, for the effort did not seem to affect her greatly. "I suppose you're right. You must make me a promise first though."

"What must I promise?"

"You must promise," she replied, "not to tell Parn."

Etoh's eyes widened in shock. "I can't do that, Deedlit. He's been my friend for years. My best friend. And he's so worried about you."

She crossed her arms delicately. "Then I won't tell you."

He didn't really have any choice after that. There was the Falis Oath after all, "to stand always against the Darkness, to heal what wounds I may, to never reveal the secrets of the Order or the secrets entrusted to me in good faith, to act with kindness and mercy to those in need, to never refuse aid to one who asks it with a clean heart." She needed his help, and for him to help her would require him to keep her secrets. "Very well," he said at last. "I will keep your secrets, Deedlit. But I urge you to tell everything to Parn."

"I'm dying."

Etoh stared at her, though not with disbelief, for he had feared that it might be so.

Deedlit went on, "The High Elves are so much a part of the Forest of Light that our lives are tied to its. The Forest is dying, so all of us, all the elves, are dying too."

"What's killing the Forest?" Etoh inquired.

"I don't know," she replied tiredly. "Something dark and horrible. I feel it within me, eating away at me. But I don't know what it is."

Etoh remembered the shadow within the emerald heart of her spirit and nodded. It made sense. "Something dark and horrible." He sighed. "Why haven't you told Parn?"

She shrugged. "I don't want him to worry anymore than he has to." She paused. "And . . . maybe, if he reaches the Forest, I won't die anyway. If anyone can save it, it's him, isn't it?"

"You think Parn can do anything, don't you?" Etoh smiled at her.

Deedlit stared down at her hands. "I hope he can. If he can't save it, at least he will try. And at least I can die there. At home. With him nearby. I couldn't really ask for more than that."

"You should tell him," Etoh told her. "He will find out when you reach the Forest anyhow. Isn't it cruel not to tell him? Not to give him time to adjust to the idea?" He glance back at the door that led to his wife's own study. "Give him time to say goodbye, if he has to." He clenched his fists, imagining what it would do to him to have to say goodbye to Fianna.

"I can't bring myself to do it." Her eyes sparkled with tears. "I just can't."

"I'm sorry, Deedlit." Etoh placed his hand on hers. "I shouldn't have pushed you. I understand. He's my friend, too, you know."

Deedlit wept freely then. Etoh pat her hand and offered her a handkerchief. She took it gratefully and wiped her tears then said, "I don't want to hurt him, Etoh."

"I know you don't," Etoh answered. "Is that also the reason for the other secret you're keeping from him?"

Deedlit looked confused. "What other secret? That's the only thing he doesn't know."

Etoh sighed, realizing that Deedlit was as unlikely to admit anything to him as was Parn. He changed the subject. Whatever was keeping the two of them apart, it likely wasn't for lack of knowing how the other felt. They were as obvious as the Midsummer sun. "Why don't we go find him? He'll be very glad to see you awake."

They found Parn quickly, sitting with Shiris and Orson. He and Orson had mostly full glasses of wine and were listening while Shiris discussed the plans for the house that King Kashue was having built for them. Yet, Parn's expression revealed clearly that his thoughts were elsewhere. Etoh thought that Parn looked like nothing more than an expectant father just then, and he wished that the circumstances were so joyous.

Parn spotted them immediately and rose to his feet. "Deed! You're up! Did Etoh heal you?

Deedlit shook her head slowly. "No."

Parn's eyes had begun to shine with hope, but that one word caused them to dull again. "Oh. I'm sorry. I had hoped-"

"Don't worry, Parn." Deedlit smiled, and Etoh knew the effort it took her. "Etoh gave me enough strength to continue the journey. We can go to the Forest of Light now."

"And you'll be healed there?"

Deedlit paused. "I hope so."

"Deedlit-"

"Yes?"

"Are you going to be alright?"

He had said that to her so many times since she had first fallen. She did want to tell him the truth, because lying to him hurt her, but she truly did not want to see those blue eyes grow even sadder. So she forced another smile and said, "Of course, I will."

Then he had helped her to seat beside him. "So Orson and Shiris are married now," he told her.

And so Deedlit congratulated the pair, barely remembering the jealousy she had once felt towards Shiris. There was no jealousy now, though some envy. She wished she could be as happy as Shiris was. The woman was positively glowing and it was obvious how happy she and Orson were. Deedlit wished she could have that kind of happiness, but it seemed even more impossible now, if for different reason than it had before.

The five old friends spent the evening in conversation, and Deedlit did the best she could to pretend that she was not dying. A couple times she almost succeeded.

The next day Parn once again pulled Deedlit up before him on the horse. She no longer seemed quite a dead weight, and she smiled as he lifted her. Parn smiled back at her. It reminded him almost of their first days travelling together after he had saved her from Wagnard. "Let's go!" he said, and they set out at a brisk pace onward towards the Forest of Light.
Author's Note: This chapter required a bit more revision than Chapter One. I can't believe I mentioned Shiris and Orson being there in the previous version and then didn't have them appear in the story even once. Anyway, I hope you enjoy the revised version of this chapter.