Catreg followed Rumonadil from the kitchen.
"Well, there's plain speaking," Idalia said ruefully.
"I see that out hospitality is not all that it should be," Jermayan said, smiling gently.
"I'm sure that Tadolad and Kannert are bringing what Catreg considers 'proper tea' with them, and there's certainly butter here. High Reaches tea, though they call it Smokeleaf, is not actually made from a leaf, but a kind of bark; I think the tree grows in the Flower Forest. He can certainly go look for some once he's finished with his work. Or I could "
"You could rest, as he's suggested," Jermayan said firmly. "Though I fear the news from Halacira must come first. Walk with me, if you will, in the gardens."
* * * * *
BY now Jermayan's heavy winter cloak was dry. As they reached the door, Idalia retrieved her own cloak from a peg. It was one Jermayan had not seen before. The cloak was made of heavy violet velvet, lined with soft deep brown fur. A gift, perhaps, from a grateful patient, for even in the depths of war and disaster, life still went on.
The garden at the House of Leaf and Stat was designed to be beautiful at any hour of any season, and even now, at noon, a day or so before Midwinter, it was lovely. Tall hedges of evergreen sculpted the snow into pleasing patterns, and the holly bushes glittered with ice. Here, people had even taken the time to build the ornamental snow-sculptures of gentler times, for the House of Leaf and Star and its gardens were truly the heart of Sentarshadeen, to be tended and defended when nothing else could be. Here the paths were swept clean, and the ornamental benches stood invitingly in their stone bowers. The stone braziers beside the benches were filled and ready, inviting those who wished to sit and linger to kindle them and enjoy a pleasant warmth.
When they had come a good distance from the house, Jermayan kindled two of the braziers, and seated himself upon the bench. Idalia settled herself beside him.
"It must be ill news indeed," she said quietly.
"Kellen asks the impossible, and I do not know how to answer him. Vestakia has had… perhaps it is as well to call it a vision."
Quickly Jermayan told Idalia all that he and the others had spoken of at Halacira.
"And I know not what to do. Kellen is certain there is some magic to answer hers… "
"There has to have been," Idalia said in frustration. "We're all still here, and you've fought the Endarkened twice before. Only… it would be good to know how you could have won."
Jermayan sighed and smiled. "In the First War there were many Elven Mages, and Great Queen Vielissar Farcarinon made her pact with the dragons, so that they added their power to ours. In those days, the world was not as it is now, for Men had not yet come to be, and the Wild Magic was not as it is now. It was then that He Who Is was banished from the world. In the Great War, all the races of the Light fought together to defeat the Enemy, and though there were no Elven Mages, there were Wildmages, and Knight-Mages, and dragons, and even, from what Cilarnen tells us, High Mages, all blending their magics together. And so, once again, the Enemy was cast down that time, so we thought, forever."
"All very nice," Idalia said absently, "but I'm more interested in the First War. If He Who Is was banished then, there must have been something around that was powerful enough to banish him."
"Idalia," Jermayan said gently, "it was a very long time ago. Before your race had truly taken form. Not even we, with our long memories, truly remember those days."
"Someone must," Idalia said stubbornly. "After all, you remembered He Who Is."
"Perhaps, then, we should go talk to Ancaladar," Jermayan said.
* * * * *
ONCE more Jermayan crossed the city, this time with Idalia at his side, and returned to Ancaladar's comfortable refuge beyond the House of Sword and Shield.
The dragon looked as if he had only been waiting for them to arrive.
"Idalia, Jermayan," Ancaladar greeted them in his soft deep voice.
"Hello, Ancaladar," Idalia said. "I've come to ask you a question. How did Vielissar Farcarinon defeat He Who Is?"
Ancaladar cocked his head. "She did not defeat him, Idalia. Vielissar Farcarinon riddled with dragons. Every Elven child knows that. If you would gain a prize from a dragon, that is what you must do. Bonding with a dragon to use its magic is quite another matter. And I must warn you, I am already Bonded."
"Oh, can't you just tell me?" Idalia demanded irritably. She was instantly contrite. If Ancaladar could tell her what she wanted to know, she was certain he already would have. Sometimes magic was simply… inconvenient.
"I'm sorry, Ancaladar."
The dragon lowered his head. When he rested his chin on the ground, Idalia still had to reach up to give him a comforting rub along the soft skin of his jaw. It was odd how a creature so covered with hard scales everywhere else could have parts that were so soft. Quite silky, really. As she rubbed, he half-closed his pupil-less golden eyes with pleasure, and she found herself staring into their golden surface.
"If you can't tell us what we need to know, Ancaladar, can you show us?" she said at last.
Ancaladar sighed with relief.
"Here is a riddle, Idalia. If there is will, and desire, and memory, then you can see. What is the answer to that?"
"I really should kick you, Beloved," Jermayan said conversationally.
"No," Idalia said. "It's a riddle and a simple one. Three people. Desire, that's me, because I need this answer. You're memory, Jermayan, because the Elves are known for having the longest memories of all. And will who has a stronger will than a Knight-Mage? So that has to be Kellen. The three of us together will be able to see the answer. Right, Ancaladar?"
"Correct, Idalia. You have solved the riddle. If Kellen will come, Jermayan will give you the answer you seek, though he does not know it yet."
Idalia looked at Jermayan, who regarded her with a blank expression. Obviously Ancaladar's words were as incomprehensible to him as they were to her.
"Then it seems I must send for Kellen with all due haste," the Elven Knight said slowly. "And trust he will hold this mysterious task to be as urgent as we do."
* * * * *
KELLEN and Shalkan arrived a few hours after dawn of the next day, having been sent word by unicorn messenger. They rode directly to Ancaladar's paddock, where Jermayan had already erected an ice-pavilion for the spell to come.
"You look awful," he told Idalia as he hugged her. "You should get more rest."
"Pot to kettle," she said simply. "When was the last time you slept in a bed?"
Kellen grinned tiredly. "I really can't remember. Before we left for the Gathering Plain, I think and don't ask me when the last time was I was actually warm. Now, why am I here?"
"You said there must be something powerful enough to banish He Who Is from the world," Idalia said. "We know there is, because he was banished once, a very long time ago. Ancaladar and Jermayan are going to help us find it."
"This should be fun," Shalkan said.
"Find it how?" Kellen asked.
Idalia shrugged. "By looking for it."
* * * * *
THE four of them entered the ice-pavilion, while Ancaladar coiled himself around the outside, thrusting his large head into the opening. There were braziers set at the four corners of the pavilion, warming the enclosure considerably, and several thick fur rugs had been placed upon the ice floor for them to sit upon.
"Now what?" Kellen asked, when the three of them were seated in a ring facing each other in the center of the pavilion. Shalkan had taken up a position near the door, beside Ancaladar.
"Idalia must contemplate her desire for this answer," Ancaladar said. "You, Kellen, must will her to succeed. And you, Jermayan, must remember a time before the light of the stars looked upon the face of your father a hundred generations gone."