"Mother?"
Islanzadi looked down at the bright face that shone below her, surrounded by green springgrass and maroon vesvivela flowers, native to Evander's home district within the vast forests of Du Weldenvarden. Native to a cold and hilly region, Evander used magic to maintain their health in the vastly different climate of Gillendel.
"Yes, my luanyasternes?" Islanzadi cooed, bestowing the Eleven honorific of Moonstar to her beloved daughter. Her firstborn, Alauinel. She had the beauty of Islanzadi with the brashness of Evander. Despite this, she was gracious and well-mannered, loved by all she met. Islanzadi also noticed a somewhat distantness to Alauinel. She was kind, but when her sweetness graced you, it felt as if it had been carried by the wind across a deep and treacherous canyon.
"Why won't Father ever die?" Alauinel chirped.
Islanzadi balked, shaking her head and giving her daughter a quizzical look.
"What kind of question is that, Alauinel? You mustn't say such things." Islanzadi's eyes lingered on her daughter as the young girl averted her gaze. Islanzadi peeled her pupils from Alauinel's pleasant expression, and followed the child's attention, until finally they both lingered on the misty blue mountains of Gereben in the distance, wraith-like with an almost terrifying majesty.
"Aren't you going to ask me why I asked of Father?" Alauinel said after a long spell of silence. Islanzadi drew her breath in heavily, the sweet air of Gillendel filling her lungs, and preparing her spirits for what dark matters Alauinel had conjured.
"Why.. why did you ask of the Auresaire's death?"
Islanzadi could feel Alauinel as she gathered her thoughts beside her. The girl was fifty five years old, and possessed an almost prophetic intellect, coupled with a morbid curiosity best saved for witches and warlocks, not a princess of the crown.
"I have been watching nature lately." Alauinel started happily.
"The trees. The animals." She continued. Islanzadi felt it then, the flashpoint of darkness that would burst from Alauinel for a slight moment, a flicker of a second- but lingering just enough to almost antagonistically announce its presence.
"The prey and the predator." Alauinel paused, almost as if waiting for Islanzadi to speak. Just as the queen opened her mouth to do so, the princess continued.
"It is an endless cycle. Death and life. An end and a beginning, a rebirth." Alauinel said.
"Evander is an Elf, as are all of us. We exist outside the constraints of the sullied realm- we will live on forever unless killed. You know this."
Could she have been joking? Is this some sort of game? Islanzadi asked this and a dozen more questions within her mind as she warily appraised her daughter. The girl was still fixated on the cloudy behemoths beyond, bright blond hair blowing across ruddy cheeks.
"I know that, mother!" Alauinel said playfully as she moved her billowing hair behind elongated ears.
"I am not referring to Evander's death in that sense. I.. well, in human kingdoms, the King rules until he dies, or he is killed. Then, there's a new King. Or Queen!" Alauinel giggled. Islanzadi's throat closed as her daughter continued.
"I would want to be Queen one day. But that would mean Father would have to die. Or be killed. I wouldn't ever wish Father to be killed, but at the same time, he will never die." Alauinel spoke with an almost educational tone disarming for her age.
"But that is against the natural order. When I was referring to predators and prey, I did not question the fact that they died. But that they continued. A rabbit is killed by a hawk, but its child lives on and carries that legacy. They inherit it. But me . . ." Alauinel's voice dwindled into a crypt as Islanzadi's mind refused to understand the words that her daughter so carelessly spoke.
Alauinel hummed boredly until Islanzadi erupted back into the present, no longer held by the blankness of disbelief.
"Let's go home." Islanzadi said suddenly. Alauinel smiled and offered her small hand to her mother. Islanzadi returned the smile, but it was tired. And even deeper, it was afraid.
That fear hid itself as Alauinel grew older. The girl lost her strikes of darkness, but Islanzadi felt as if her daughter did not truly lose her inclination towards morbidity, but rather learned to contain it. However, Islanzadi's private misgivings were not shared.
"Mother,"
Alauinel's icy blue eyes flashed cheerfully. Islanzadi stepped backwards, taking in the full sight of Alauinel's beauty. The young Elf wore a black tunic that was tightly wound at her waist by traditional elven scarfs baring a spectrum of warm colors. Her legs were garbed in ebony leathers, and her feet wore pointed black boots. On her waist, a Rider's sword hung. Even in its sheath, it seemed to reverberate with pride bordering on malice.
"I am growing bored with my studies" Alauinel complained absently. Islanzadi shook her eyes free of Alauinel's resting blade and offered her daughter a curt nod.
"You have always been like this." Islanzadi said.
"You learned faster than we could teach you. I'll finally concede to that." The queen's daughter chortled softly. Islanzadi raised her eyebrow in response.
"That isn't something you need to admit. I've known that for some time." Alauinel delivered with the grace of a feather alighting onto a bed of summer grass.
"And it is the same now. Morzan even got in trouble advancing my studies. So the council is holding me back as well." Alauinel grinned happily.
"I suppose their response warrants my ability, albeit in the wrong direction." She quipped. Islanzadi nodded and grinned and laughed with hollow eyes as Alauinel went on to talk about her newly hatched dragon, new spells she had learned, and other innocent topics. Then, they embraced and said goodbye, with Alauinel returning to her new home among the Riders.
"Mother."
Islanzadi's heart slowed to the beat of Evander's dripping blood. The throne room of Gillendel was cast in a pallid light cast from a miasmic moon. Evander's body was curled in shadow as it slid down Alauinel's blade. Alauinel herself was hunched towards Evander's chest, her blonde hair ablaze in the horrid and unnerving light.
"Alauinel . . ." Islanzadi stammered. She reached for her blade, pausing her hand over the new life sprouting within her stomach as she did so.
"Evander declared war on Galbatorix." Evander's murderer said matter-of-factly. The killer spun on her heels, pulling her sword from her father's corpse with an artistic flourish.
"To save you from death.. Not just you. But your people. And your new child." Alauinel turned with her back faced to Islanzadi. The body of the King laid eerily still. Islanzadi was shocked beyond grief.
"You don't care about that. You never did. Not about anything. We were your playthings, at best. Distractions. Nothing ever truly meant anything to you." Islanzadi spoke with calmness as the centuries of parenthood Islanzadi had accrued were finally able to deduce who Alauinel was. Almost as if in reward, Alauinel turned and offered Islanzadi a beaming smile. Islanzadi remembered that was the last time she saw the beauty of her daughter.
It didn't take long for the Elves to find out about Alauinel's crimes. A loyal and proud race, they rejected Alauinel's bid for power, and backed Islanzadi as queen. Islanzadi's first action as queen was to banish Alauinel, removing her name and bestowing her with the cursed title of Omshurtag.
it was then that the banished one's madness begun.