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With a smile, his father stood and welcomed their guests. “Elves of Eria, how glad I am that you all arrived safely and are in attendance on such a beautiful night. Please fully partake of the food and wine around you.”
The stress headache that pounded behind Relian’s eyes worsened. Could his father cut short the pleasantries? No, maybe it was better that his father droned on forever. Through the muddle of his mind, he became aware Talion addressed the core of the matter—the reason for the celebration – and was well into the speech already.
“...council and I believe all this has to be related. Why else would the veil take interest in a particular human, in any human at all, if this weren’t the case?”
Like the last time with the council, Talion paused briefly before his voice rang out again. “A handful of weeks ago, he was brought together with this human through the working of the veil. In an event never before experienced in our world, they met in its actual mists.”
Voices murmured in the crowd but quieted after their king held up a hand for silence.
“Please draw your memory back to a festival some ten years ago. I believe all who were there will remember seeing a young human. We have reason to suspect that the girl and the woman are one and the same.”
His father purposefully skirted around the subject of the binding, saving it until the very end. Relian drove all expression from his face. It wouldn’t be long now. All would soon know.
“After Relian’s meeting with the woman, he woke up the next morning with an unlooked-for token, one that will shape his destiny. Relian, your hand.”
As the king began to reveal the bracelet that would change his life forevermore, the moment stretched out inexplicably. The soft material of his sleeve glided over his skin. He felt the air on his now bare arm, and the lightness of the binding seemed heavier than anything he’d ever experienced. The sensation of being vulnerable and naked washed over him.
He fought the urge to close his eyes as the crowd broke into whispers and gasps. More than a few eivain gave disappointed sighs. The king again raised his hand for silence, probably to end this farce.
A spark lit on the edge of his consciousness. Relian tensed, looking around, and froze at the sight that met his eyes. A mist formed on the right side of the clearing. Could...could Cal be on the other side? Did the others notice the veil? After a brief inspection, he saw many were turned in the direction he’d been gazing and that everyone stood as if frozen in place.
Disbelief and fear filled the sweetly scented air. His people stared and pointed, their fingers shaking with nervousness. Families drew together. Even though most had seen the mist before, it must’ve seemed as if an omen appeared before their very eyes since the king had just spoken of the veil.
The mist thickened and, after several minutes, slowly started to disappear. Kenhel and his father signaled the warriors present to stay back and those hidden to remain so, but all stayed on alert. Two figures started to take shape inside the mist.
Excitement and trepidation roiled in his stomach. His people waited with bated breath, their tension palpable, to see who or what might be revealed. Many quiet voices offered definite opinions, which soon would be substantiated or proven null. He gripped the back of his father’s chair. His own conviction about what was in that mist would soon be uncovered as true or false.
