"Then we'll hope it works again, for all our sakes."
"And if it does and probably even if it doesn't I'll see you soon," Idalia said.
She gave him a quick hug. Kellen mounted Shalkan, and the unicorn trotted off across the snow. She watched after him until the two of them, unicorn and rider, had vanished.
"Well, come on then, Jermayan. Let's go do the impossible."
Jermayan bowed and offered her his arm in an exaggerated courtly gesture.
Idalia laughed briefly and strode off ahead of him.
* * * * *
IT was still several hours before Idalia and Jermayan could speak to Andoreniel, for when they reached his bedchamber, he was sleeping, and Nelirtil refused to waken him. Even though her errand was urgent, Idalia had to agree: Andoreniel's life still hung by a thread, and what she had come to ask of him would severely tax what little strength he had regained.
What she needed, nothing short of a miracle could gain her, in any event. The spell of Kindolhinadetil's Mirror, which had merely required the consent of the Allied Army, had taken most of a day to put into place, and the army had been relatively small, and all gathered into one convenient location. For this spell, everyone in the land must be asked, even those who would certainly say "no" such as the Armethaliehans. Even in summer, in peacetime, just the asking would take moonturns…
At last, Nelirtil grudgingly admitted that Andoreniel was awake.
"I trust this is as important as you believe it is, Idalia," the Elven Healer said, with a heavy sigh.
Idalia went in and seated herself beside the Elven King's bedside. She took his hand in hers, very gently. The skin was papery and dry, the once-firm flesh wasted away, until the hand she now held was no more than a claw of bone and sinew. It was the drawn-out fever that had consumed him so; most of the plague victims died long before they reached this state.
It meant that his recovery would be a thing of many long sennights.
She spoke slowly, carefully, in a low even voice. Explaining what she must do, and what she needed. The part of her trained as a Healer rebelled against doing this to a patient under her care what Andoreniel needed now was rest, and more rest. But the need of the land in his care of the lands beyond his care was greater even than that.
His dark eyes watched her face, but he gave no other sign of consciousness.
At last he took a deep breath, obviously summoning all his will in order to speak.
"Tokens… Council Chambers… " His eyes closed again.
"Thank you, Andoreniel," Idalia whispered. She could feel in her bones what the effort had cost him. She would ask nothing more.
"The King has answered my need," she said to Nelirtil, as she rose to her feet.
Nelirtil inclined her head. "Do not come to him again, Idalia," she said. The tone of her voice was all-but-pleading.
"I swear to you that I will not, Nelirtil," Idalia answered.
* * * * *
JERMAYAN rose to his feet as Idalia entered the outer chamber.
"More riddles," she sighed. "Maybe you can help solve this one."
"I shall do all that is within my power," Jermayan answered, puzzled.
* * * * *
THE Council Chamber was located at the center of the House of Leaf and Star. It was a high-ceilinged room, paneled and floored in smooth pale wood, completely circular, and unlike nearly every other room of Elven making, had no windows at all. It was illuminated by a large hanging chandelier of mirrored lamps that, when lit, rendered the chamber as bright as day.
As they entered, Jermayan lit the lamps with a wave of his hand. Light flooded the room, illuminating the familiar furnishings.
They closed the door behind them and looked around.
In the center of the room was the frostwood council table, with the Great Seal of Leaf and Star inlaid in its center in purest silver. Set around the table were the Council chairs. Two were draped in white, indicating that two of the Council were dead. One more was draped in green Ashaniel's seat for she was absent. The colored glass mosaics set into the backs of the remaining chairs sparkled brightly in the lamplight.
Hung around the edge of the room were thirteen narrow banners of brightly colored silk, each bearing a single elaborate symbol worked upon it in shining silver. The green one duplicated the design inset into the table. There was a yellow one that oddly resembled the Great Seal of Armethalieh, but none of the rest were at all familiar to Idalia.
"I told Andoreniel what I meant to do, and what I needed. He said something about tokens, and the Council Chamber, but that was all he was able to tell me, and to say that much took all his strength," Idalia said. She looked around again. "There's nothing here but the furniture. And the banners. Is there?" she added unnecessarily.
"The banners are said to be the tokens of the Great Alliance among the Peoples of the Light," Jermayan said slowly. "Perhaps they ate… something more."
"Only one way to find out," Idalia said.
The next several minutes was spent climbing up on chairs and detaching the banners from the walls, until they lay in a multicolored pile in the center of the Council table. If they were indeed as old as Jermayan suggested, they were in very good condition. And not dusty at all.
She ran the silk through her fingers more carefully, closing her eyes. If she could put a name to what she was doing, it would be listening, in much the way she had once listened, using gan stones as markers, to find the source of the drought attacking the Elven Lands.
"There is magic here," Idalia said slowly. "Jermayan, I'm pretty sure these are what we need. If they are… promises to help against Them if They come again, then the consent I need for a Greater Summoning has already been asked and given. But I need to test them, to see if that's really what they are… and to see if they're still good."
She began rolling the banners up together into a tight bundle.
* * * * *
IT had been many moonturns since Idalia had seen her small house in Sentarshadeen, and so much had happened in the intervening sennights that it seemed as if the place belonged to a stranger. But she had left the dwelling in good order, and everything she needed to cast her spells of Seeking and Knowing was here.
Although the floor would be perhaps a bit the worse for her efforts.
She quickly brought a small brazier, a bowl, and a bottle of wine from the kitchen. The herbs she had ready in her beltpouch. With Jermayan's help, Idalia spread the banners out on the living room floor, careful to keep them from touching each other, and settled herself in the midst of them.
Jermayan stood in the doorway of her bedroom, watching.
Quickly she kindled the charcoal. The bowl she would use for her scrying spell was already half-filled with water. Now she added wine to the water, floated fern leaf upon the water for the scrying spelland sprinkled other herbs onto the burning charcoal, finishing with three drops of her blood to Find.
Then she waited.
* * * * *
WHEN I call, will you come?
Suddenly Idalia was… elsewhere.
"We will come, son of the House of Caerthalien. Who holds our token holds our pledge, for the aid of all our people, in whatever hour, for whatever purpose. This consent is given freely and without constraint, with our whole hearts and our whole spirits, for the good of all, and against the Shadow. Only the death of all our kind will release us from this pledge."