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everything remained a little blurry. They shuffled to the back of the hall.
They must have been the last to arrive. Jakkobb nodded a silent farewell and skirted
around the edge of the gathering of the elves and closer to the dais at the far end of the room.
On the carpeted dais the crown prince stood in the center. His face revealed no
expression, but his eyes were wide and broken. Prince Alsalon, Baroness Evelyn of Elloan, the
mayor of Riverfall and Duke Farallon of the Aeolian Plateau surrounded him. Sir Amthros
rigidly stood in front of the dais, guarding the princes, even here.
Behind Der and Kelin, the doors swung shut of their own accord. The room dimmed
even more. Der glanced at the door anxiously; she almost entirely settled into the pattern of
not having doors at all around here. She rolled her shoulders back nervously.
A song rose in the room; it needed no aid from instruments to sound beautiful. The slow
melody was a river, washing through the soul. It scoured even those dark and forgotten
corners, and then the song suddenly became hot as it whipped up speed. The music was
agonizingly beautiful. It pricked at the heart. Its magic wove into Der s mind and washed her far
away from the elvish city. Her parents filtered across her vision. A worn memory surged
upward. Two years ago, the river flooded and Der and Riodan rushed into town to help save
people. They were lucky. No one perished. Der remembered the hot dinner Rhoesia and
Chera prepared them when they arrived home, soaking wet. The family relaxed in their house
on the hill and ate dinner together while watching the water pass. She pressed a hand over her
heart and realized how much she missed them. At least she could go home.
Then, one final glorious note pierced the heart and saturated the air for one endless
moment of bittersweet ecstasy.
Silence seized the hall.
All Things Impossible Crown of the Realm Dalton171
Prince Alsalon flashed a quick glance to his older brother, who nodded almost
imperceptibly. The younger prince pried his lips open with his tongue. We must never forget
those whose grace has been stolen by the hand of our enemy. His words began to pick up
momentum. We will always remember the warriors slain in combat and the innocent murdered
by deceit.
He dropped his gaze. They killed our king and queen in our own sacred palace. Such a
crime has never even been attempted, and is still unfathomable to my brother and me. We
were there that day; we did not want to leave them. Our parents forced us to run whilst they
remained. They were marked for death. The tears on his face carried more water than a
rainstorm. From there, my guard and I traveled through the forest of Cambreth. We met no
troubles by grace of the Tree. We hid for a cycle of the moon in the forest before it was safe to
venture here.
He began the next song. This time the music went on for a long, long time. The song
melded with the walls and bounced back in perfect harmony. It was a song of mourning and
loss. The room caught the music and quietly whispered it into the ears of anyone who entered
the hall from that day forward.
Kelin grabbed his head and gasped. The song pounded with the rhythm of his heart. He
saw in his mind, and suddenly came to know the individuals who died. He knew their names,
where they were from and what they did in life. A mental picture of the slain materialized; not at
their point of death, but a smiling moment. Kelin wished he didn t know. It would have hurt less
as he watched their spirits swirled across his vision.
Grief choked him. He d thought the weeks had numbed him to the sensation, but the
very real emotion left him dizzy. He recognized a few of the laughing faces as they passed into
his memory. And they were dead! These amazing people were dead! He couldn t contain the
searing hot pressure building in his chest. It was too hot to touch, but he couldn t help it. He
was boiling from the inside.
The song surged around him with the elvish voices beautiful and unbroken but so
incredibly sad. He was overwhelming relieved he was in the back row and could not see most
of the elves faces it would break his heart if he could.
He stumbled back into the wall he couldn t stand this anymore! How could the elves
do this to themselves? Then, he realized this was a facet of the elves humans didn t see. What
an honor, he thought through the haze of memories.
He looked at Der, her face wet with tears, and staring straightforward. Her knees shook
and her fists were white at her sides and her jaw trembled, but she remained standing. Kelin
glared, this was so typical of her!
He ripped his gaze away from her and let it settled on the dais. Farallon competed with
Der for the straightest face. Kelin hung his gaze. Death hurts them more, he thought, but they
also learned to appreciate life a thousand times more.
The song continued. The elven king and queen crystallized in his mind. Their dulcet,
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