“Probably better that way,” Seersha said at once. “You can say what needs saying without Mirai and I tagging along. If there’s more that needs telling, we can have our time later.”
Aphenglow was not entirely happy with this. She had not experienced events in the way that Seersha had, and Mirai, to a lesser extent. But she knew she should not go against her grandfather’s wishes.
“Sorry, but I have to go back to the gardens and finish my work,” Arling said, interrupting her thoughts. She turned and started off. “I’ll be back before midday.”
Aphen watched her go, then she said to the other two, “We had better talk everything through one more time. I don’t want to leave anything out when I go to see Grandfather.”
So, in painstaking detail, Seersha and Mirai went through it all again.
The morning passed quickly, even taking into account the slog entailed in retelling the fate of the doomed Druid expedition, and by midday Aphenglow was dressed and ready to meet with the King. She hugged Seersha and Mirai both, as much as for her own reassurance as for theirs, and set out for the palace with Arling beside her.
“I should have let you be the one to talk to Uncle Ellich,” Arling said to her after a few minutes of silence.
Aphen moved over and put her arm around her sister. “I should have asked you to do it in the first place. You’re just as able as I am.”
“Maybe now, but not so much before.” She leaned into Aphen. “I feel … more capable, somehow. I think it’s because I have finally stopped denying what the Ellcrys wants me to do.”
“You seem stronger.”
“I’m doing the best I can.”
Aphen could barely make herself ask, “Have you come to terms with what’s being asked of you, Arling?”
Her sister didn’t look at her, clearly uncomfortable with the question. “I’ve accepted what it means. I’ve found that I can face the idea of it. I don’t know that I can do it, though. Maybe I can. Maybe I can find a way through it.” She shook her head. “I don’t know.”
They walked on a bit farther without speaking. Then Arling said, “After you left, I went back to the Ellcrys and spoke to her again, as I said I would. I spoke with her a long time. Then I went back again the next night. I went every night. Each time, we spoke a little longer, a little more openly. It became easier, even thought I was still terrified. She was kind to me. She made me understand what it was like for her. She was a girl like me once, and she remembers how she felt when she was chosen. She ran far away, trying to escape what she had been asked to do. In the end, she came back. She felt strongly enough that she had to. Even so, her delay cost lives. Many lives, I think. She still lives with that memory. She can’t forget, and she wants to save me from the same fate. It’s a powerful argument, Aphen.”
Aphenglow felt a chill in her heart. “Are you saying she has persuaded you? Have you decided to do what she wants?”
Arling shook her head. “I am saying that at least I begin to understand her. I am not saying I am her. I am not saying her path should be mine. But maybe if it is required of me, I might find a way to accept it.”
Aphen nodded and said nothing. She did not want to lose her sister, not for any reason. She didn’t know how she could prevent it, but she was as determined now as she had ever been to find a way.
They walked the remainder of the way in silence and found Ellich Elessedil waiting for them at the edge of the palace grounds. He was out of sight when they first appeared, but stepped into view at once and motioned them down a side path that was heavily sheltered by a grove of conifers. When they had gone a short distance, he turned and embraced Aphenglow warmly.
“I’m so glad you are back safely, Aphen. It must have been terrible for you. Arling told me some of it.”