Only Kaelan remained restless.
Bria felt it in the hand still resting against her back. His concern and the need to understand what danger threatened her. And how he might stop it.
Lord Oaken was the first to break the silence. “Your great-grandmother is not the only one who waited.”
Bria looked around the hall. “What do you mean?”
“It was never enough to preserve Driochmor,” Seren said. “We had to preserve knowledge as well.”
“The old gifts,” Rowan added quietly.
“The bloodlines,” Tavian said.
Marek folded his arms across his chest. “The future.”
Bria frowned. “I still do not understand.”
Wynn gave her hand a reassuring squeeze. “When King Halric turned against magic, many believed he would eventually demand more than banishment.”
“He would never have been satisfied with Driochmor alone,” Seren said.
“He feared what he could not control,” Tavian added.
“And fear rarely remains contained,” Lord Oaken said.
“The council saw what was coming,” Marek said. “Not the details. Not the exact path. But enough.”
Bria listened carefully. “What did you do?”
“We prepared,” Wynn said.
“How?” Kaelan asked, intrigued but guarded.
Lord Oaken leaned back slightly. “We sent families into Scotara.”
Silence followed as that revelation settled in.
“Not exiles,” Seren corrected immediately.
“Volunteers,” Tavian said.
“Guardians,” Rowan offered.
Marek nodded. “Those willing to sacrifice their own desires for the future.”
Bria’s thoughts immediately turned to her parents. “My parents volunteered?”
“Aye, they did. They knew exactly what they were doing.” The pride in Wynn’s voice was unmistakable. “They left family behind. Friends. Their home. Everything familiar.”
“But why?” Bria asked.
“Because one day Scotara would need them.”
The certainty in Lord Oaken’s voice left little room for doubt.
“Need them for what?” Kaelan asked.
The room grew quiet.
