Crack!

The sound of the slap echoed, but as the injury was inflicted within the walls of the suite that had been given to the Ljósálfr ambassadors only the Ljósálfr heard. Arlen lowered his hand with a perfectly neutral expression as if he did not care less about the injury he had given to the figure that stood in front of him. Unfortunately, the truth of the matter was that he didn't care.

Tilaria raised her head slowly, her silky golden hair falling over her face, not quite able to hide Arlen's handprint that glowed on her cheek. Her body healed the injury almost instantly, and the injury did not dull the furious fire within her crystal-like irises.

"Did I not act sufficiently elfin for you?" She hissed at Arlen in a tone that mocked respect.

The ambassador apprised her with his purple eyes, and their dark and stormy violet color echoed his own dark mood. "Although you did remind that fool Odin of his place you are no elf. My orders before we left Alfheim were clear to you half-breed. You are even more worthless then an Æsir for they at least know how to follow orders."

Tilaria gave no indication that Arlen's words hurt, for to her they didn't. It was simply how she was spoken to. What surprised Tilaria were not Arlen's words, but the fact that Arlen was the one speaking them. He was a Night Hair, so he was usually quite tolerant towards someone half-Æsir like her.

His personality had changed when she had tried to kill King Hallien, Arlen's oldest and first friend. After that "Uncle Arlen" had begun to distance himself from both Tilaria and Prince Eragon, Hallien and Anastasia trueborn son and crown heir to Alfheim's throne. Tilaria also didn't understand why Arlen was keeping his distance from Eragon either, and it wasn't fair on him.

"You were to stay in your quarters, not taint us with your presence at the feast held in my name." Arlen spat.

"I am your Heiress," Tilaria taunted.

Crack!

The second slap had Arlen's full force behind it and knocked her off her feet. Tilaria did not cry out or whimper like a weakling Æsir might have, and instead remained silently kneeling in front of Arlen. Hallien had Tilaria had often argued or fought before her attempt to kill him, but through all that Arlen had never been cruel or irrational towards her.

Why was he suddenly acting so different? Had trying to kill his childhood friend truly upset him this much? Arlen knew they always fought though, and whenever they did he usually stayed out of it and kept little Eragon distracted so Eragon wouldn't see his family fighting.

Arlen looked down at Tilaria, aware that no elf, not Ljósálfr or Dökkálfr, knelt. It was a stupid sign of submission that inferior races like the Æsir or Vanir did. He remembered Hallien's orders to him, and the reason why Tilaria had been allowed to accompany him to Asgard.

Tilaria was supposed to die. By having an heir to Alfheim's throne die on Asgardian soil things would become dangerous, but the true point that would goad thing into conflict was that Arlen was supposed to arrange it for her to be killed by Asgardians. Arlen's first guess would be to recruit the Golden Eagle faction here on Asgard that wanted Odin dethroned. They'd be eager to help start a war that would end in Odin's blood.

Since they were Asgardians, Asgard would be blamed for Tilaria's death. It would look like they no longer had control or the good will of its people, and Hallien would be able to say that Asgard had no place to rule the realms if it couldn't keep its own people from killing a visiting member of another royal family.

Odin would never give his power to rule away, so the Light Elves were prepared to take it by force. Tilaria's murder would mark the beginning of the end of Asgard's rule, and the start of Alfheim's own. Her murder would give Hallien the reason he needed to start a war against Asgard, a war the Ljósálfr would win. When Alfheim defeated Asgard it would take Asgard's place as the rulers of the Nine Realms.

One life was a small price to pay to be for that, especially the life of a mixed blood like Tilaira. If things went exceedingly well then Tilaria would befriend Asgard's princes, and so would be near at least one of them when she was killed and they would be killed with her. The ideal outcome was to kill both of Odin's sons with her, although Arlen would settle for just one prince. Thor was the crown heir and the most beloved by his father and Asgard, but there was something about Loki and his magic that unsettled Arlen. Either of their deaths would do although Thor's would be more demoralizing then Loki's, he had a feeling it might be safer in the long run if Loki died now.

"Return to your rooms." Arlen ordered Tilaria, keeping his hands away from her as if contact with her would contaminate him. "And remain there you mongrel, whose existence would dare dilute the perfect blood of the elves with such lowly creatures as Asgardians."

When he waved a short dismissal Tilaria stood in a short move that still held elfin grace and glided to the room she had been given, her emotional control preventing her from slamming the door behind her. What was going on with Arlen? As a Night Hair with supposed Dökkálfr blood he understood the prejudice against one who was half-Æsir as she was.

He had never acted like this towards her before, so what had changed? Was it really because of her attempt to kill Hallien? She hadn't actually managed to kill him though, so Tilaria didn't understand why he'd be upset with her. Why had Hallien even let her come to Asgard with Arlen and the others? What was going on?

That night the Ljósálfr settled down to sleep in their wing. Gladsheimr was dark and quiet as everyone went to bed after the tense and disastrous feast. Tilaria was asleep with the other Ljósálfr in her room, and so was Arlen.

Arlen's dream was not a dream so much as a conversation. Using a technique called Dreamspeaking he was currently in a conversation with an ally. He stood on an asteroid that floated in a small dimensional pocket. There were other asteroids in the field, and the light came from a blue star.

Standing across from Arlen was his ally Crow. Crow's initial appearance had been disconcerting, but he was used to him now. He wore a blue cloak with some cold highlighting. The hood was pulled up to hide the upper half of his face, but Arlen could still see the gold frame worn on his face. His skin was a washed out indigo-blue and he had two thumbs on each hand.

"It seems your king's plan is working," Crow told Arlen in a hissed voice that had made Arlen step back before he got used to it.

"Yes Crow," Arlen agreed with a nod. "I thank you for suggesting this idea of using Tilaria as bait to me, for it is working out wonderfully. Tilaria has no idea why she was invited to come to Asgard with me."

"I am glad," Crow informed him in an honest voice. "All you have to do now is contact the Golden Eagles to kill her and the princes."

Arlen nodded in agreement, and his lips parted in a smile. There was a slightly dazed look in his eyes from Crow's presence. His manipulation with Arlen was the first time Crow had tried directly to manipulate the soul of a Realmer in thousands of years. He wanted to make sure he hadn't lost his touch, for he would need it for his plans that followed.

"Are you sure it's wise to incorporate the Golden Eagles though?" Crow asked Arlen innocently.

"What do you mean?" Arlen lowered his eyebrows. "I know they will have no complaints about killing Odin's sons, and they won't hesitate at killing Tilaria even if she is young."

"True," Crow admitted as he tested how well he could sway a mortal's will. "But they are Asgardians. Who's to say they won't reveal you put them up to the killings? Æsir are hardly reliable."

Arlen quieted, realizing that neither he nor Hallien had given serious thought to that possibility. They had assumed that the Golden Eagles would be happy at the chance to overthrow Odin and would not jeopardize it. What if they did though?

Asgard had in the past taken the artifacts of realms they defeated and locked them in the Weapon's Vault so the defeated realms could never gather the power to challenge them again. From Jötunnheim's Casket of Ancient Winters to Surtr's mystical sword Twilight, many artifacts were hoarded there. By some miracle, Alfheim had managed to keep ahold of the Emerald Crown, its most powerful artifact. If Asgard found out about their plot to start a war, Alfheim might lose it.

Just as Crow had thought, only a few words were needed to awaken the mortal's fears. It had been child's play for Crow to convince Arlen of this plot to trade Tilaria's head for Alfheim's rule, even considering that Arlen was usually lenient towards Tilaria. Ever since Tilaria had tried to kill Hallien, Crow had been fostering the dark feelings in Arlen's heart.

This was the final act for Tilaria and the first for Crow, for if things went according to plan here than Crow would know he had not lost his touch when it came to manipulating mortals. Then he would be ready for the next step in his plan.

"What then?" Arlen asked warily. "The plan has been set in motion and our army is ready to move on Asgard. I cannot back down, Crow. Surely you know that."

"I know," Crow promised, "but why not change the plan a little and eliminate the middle man of the Golden Eagles?"

Arlen narrowed his eyes, dark violet as he was deep in thought. "What do you have in mind?"

Crow smiled in victory.

Readers, what do you think of Tilaria after this? I really want to get her character right so please leave a review and tell me what you think about her.

I'm also a little curious about what you think about the Ljósálfr (Light Elves). Please tell me because if you don't then i have no way to know if i'm presenting my characters and the story correctly.

If you are reading ahead in my stories then you might know who Crow is. I won't say his real name, but i will say that he is interested in the Nine Realms for his own reason, and will keep returning. Twisting Arlen into this villain role is simply him testing his powers. His next act will be the real one.