Others also had awakened with the coming of the dawn. Trowa stood outside in the dewy morning with Rastis by his side. The wolf stood stock still with his nose to the wind, seemingly heedless to the world around him. Neither stirred as another figure joined them in the open air.
"Trowa."
The taller lad acknowledged the greeting with the slight forward motion of his head. For moments afterward they kept the silence, until joined by the third member who took up a song as he exited the hut. In unison the other two joined their voices to harmonize with the singer.
Forth to the day at hand,
The morning light awaits
To guide us all along the way.
As in the darkness stand
We all with faces raising
Behold the light as it heralds the day.
We band together here
In song a chorus raise
And watch as rays of light
Do set the world ablaze.
Behold the light conquers the darkness!
Behold the sun, whose warmth doth nurture well.
Behold the dark is now receding,
As comes the light, to break the dark that fell.
Here in the song, Trowa and Quatre stepped closer to one another and held out their hands to each other, palm to palm.
We come to face the light,
As touch we now the rays;
We seek to banish darkness
And champion the day.
The light fell on the glen, and as it touched them, the two vanished into the beams, leaving a single voice to finish the last line. Rastis finally shook himself out of his trance and trotted over to the remaining member. Trevor scratched the wolf behind the ears before leading the way into the dwelling.
"Come Rastis, let us make up something to give us strength for waiting."
-
Elsewhere on the continent others stirred as well. The Elven Court sat in session much as it had the previous evening. None had moved since the flow of information had begun the day before. Now silence blanketed the room where they convened, the messengers having finished the retelling.
"And you are sure of this?" The query broke the silence, and the elf addressed nodded.
"Yes my liege. Quite certain. The roots are buried deep and glean much from the soil around them. There can be no mistake; war is coming to the world." His voice dropped lower, face remaining grim. "It is best that we be prepared."
"Perhaps."
Altisen now stood to his feet, stepping forward to stand with his underlings. "Princess, as is our duty we can only suggest these things. Should war pour over our borders..."
"There will be no war." Firm words broke into his speech. The princess turned to face him, face serene. "We do not have the force to withstand it in any case. If something should happen, we will evoke sanctuary for the people and the court. Then one final time I shall appear before 'he who lost his name' and beseech him on behalf of our blood kinship to stay his hand."
Several elven faces paled at the mention of this last ditch effort, the lengths at which the heir apparent would go to protect the people. Sanctuary was a spell that had been cast by their brethren in the shadows years earlier in order to place their last remaining strongholds in a differing plane of influence. They now resided in the shadow realm, a subspace dimension of their own making. It was secure by cutting off the entire rest of the world.
If the spell were cast, only elven blood would be able to access their cities ever again. The elves would fade away into legend like so many other races before them.
The princess held her poise in front of her subjects, letting none of them see the strain that she tarried under. Only her guardian, the ancient sage Pagan knew the turmoil that plagued her daily. Though the elves had maintained centuries of peaceful existence, even now it slipped from their grasp. The ones who forbade killing while in a rage lest you lose the right to be one of the people, now found themselves surrounded by anger on all sides.
Relena. The old sage's heart went out to his charge. As the only human allowed any status in the court, the guardian of the princess accompanied her to all state functions. Throughout the entire time spent here he maintained his silence, only choosing to speak when required by protocol to do so. Inwardly though, he longed for the whole thing to end. In the privacy of the royal chambers the princess would once again find the peace that seemed to elude her grasp in the outside world.
In the center now, Altisen bowed his head. "As you wish, leader of my people. May light show you the path, peace upon your bowers."
An elder elf stood then and declared the assembly closed. With no further ado the court broke up into two's and three's, leaving the chambers in the utmost silence. Proper decorum dictated that no noise be made upon entrance and exit to such meetings of great import, that the partakers of such might give their thoughts over to the task at hand and not the petty cares of gossip or speculation.
At last the room stood empty, save for the princess and her entourage. Relena gestured to the servants and they hastened to lead the way out of the meeting place. Pagan followed behind them, slow in his walk as his age dictated. Three hundred and fifty-seven was old for a man, though not so much for one who walked the paths of knowledge and power. Still, the body was not so quick to respond nowadays.
Their path took them deep within the palace grounds to the center where the living gardens were located. Here the princess stayed, most of those with her leaving to attend to predetermined tasks. Her guardian stilled himself beside a flowing stream, taking a seat upon the sun warmed rocks. Patiently he waited for the outpouring that he knew was to come.
"Why Pagan? Why?"
The near despair felt by the princess was evident in her tone and it tore at the old man's heart. Sadly he shook his head, although he tried to keep up a cheerful tone for her sake. "It seems the lot of most mortals to war between themselves to one degree or another. Perhaps it is just in our nature, though some of us find that other path called peace." Aged eyes watched as the elven maiden began to pace slowly through the ferns beside the stream.
"You cannot change everyone, young one. They must make their own decision for peace or conflict. It is the way that things must be. It is the way that we were first created; Freedom."
Relena stopped her movement to gaze at her mentor. Slowly she nodded, though the burden still did not lift from her heart. "Yes that is so. Yet I feel that I must do all that is within my power to stay the coming conflict; else I find myself lacking the heart to continue living. Peace is not such an unattainable goal, is it?"
The old man smiled at her, shifting his staff in his hands. "Ah, if it were, then would it not cease to exist even as a concept?"
-
Later in her chambers, Relena sat and enjoyed the afternoon sun as it shed its beams through her windows to the west. "You can come out now Noin."
At her request her shadow elongated, morphing into the form of a beautiful elf. Dark hair fell over her eyes as she straightened up and she brushed it back without a thought as she faced the princess. "How may I serve you, my lady?"
The princess sighed and turned to regard the sunbeams that flowed from the windows to the floor. Her shadow stood patiently, waiting for command or question. It came as Relena returned her attention to the inside of the room.
"What do you think of Zechs, will he listen?"
Noin pondered this for a moment, her form wreathed in shadow. "Perhaps, my lady."
At the inquiring glance, she continued. "He who lost..."
"Do not stand on the protocols for the court inside the private chambers, his name is Zechs." Relena interposed quietly. Her eyes remained sad, regardless. Loss of both parents and her brother on the same day still hung heavy on her heart.
The bodyguard nodded before resuming the explanation. "Yes my lady. Zechs is not the same as Milliardo. Your brother did indeed die that day, upon slaying in anger. To what he has become, I do not know how to answer your question. It may be however, that even from beyond the blood may call and bring reason to one in the grip of madness."
Blood binds us all, the life we live.
Love is the life we hold,
The courage to defend today,
Like heat against the cold...
Life is warmth, death is cold.
As long as there is life, there is hope.
"But when hope departs, life is gone."
"Do not give up hope, my lady. He may yet listen. Zechs has still your best interests at heart; else he never would have sought you out to give you his name. Though how it manifests itself in his current quest I know not."
The princess laughed, a genuine sound of joy. "Perhaps you are right. My brother yet lives, dead though he may be to us. For his sake, I won't give up hope."
"Yes, my lady." A whisper from her shadow. "Never give up hope."
-
Nearly a world away, another figure stood in the shadows. An iron mask covered half of his face, the rest of his features concealed under the dark hood that he wore. Emotions remained unseen by passersby, hidden as they were by the mask. His voice, roughened by overuse in the previous day sounded forth in a whisper from the dark corner.
"Keep away, sister mine. Between the living and the dead there should not be any communion. I would not that you be destroyed with those already dead. You are too pure for that. You must live on for our people, so that they do not lose their hope and so diminish from the world."
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For those of you reading this, I've a few words of explanation and appology. I've just been hit recently as I look back at the dialogue that I've already written and realised that this is going be a long road to travel to get to the conclusion. And a hard road for my readers: it's not been as easy to read as I had hoped. For that I appologise. I'll try to improve, but right now putting the plot down on file is the most important thing.
As for Quatre and Trowa, they've gone off to attend to the second portion of the "Master of Light" ceremony. I may or may not follow them in coming chapters. The scene above a ritual that teleported them to the necessary sacred place to fulfill it.
I do have some ideas for romantic entanglements within the plotline, but if any of you readers out there wish to make suggestions, please feel free. Reviews have been most appreciated, even though I'm too lazy to round up all the individual names and post them at the end of the chapter. Consider this my thanks.
Trevor X1
