It was summertime, and the sun felt good on her skin. It warmed her down to the bone. Although the ride had been long and cold while crossing the mountains, Aeotha was pleased to shed her cloak and abandon the often too warm robes of a Priestess of Lorien. Within Ithacles' homeland Aeotha was free to travel as she pleased. The knights here knew her by name because of Prince Ithacles. They knew her stories as well as they knew their own lands. It was nice to be here. The sun filtered past the strong boughs of the evergreen trees that nestled into the walls as if the stone had grown with them. She loved it here. There was no pressure upon her shoulders as she passed quietly on foot through the streets and towards the main palace.

If anything, no one wanted to burden her with anything more than what she'd been burdened with in her long life. She passed children playing an assortment of games she wasn't familiar with. Humans and Elves were different from childhood on, and while the songs they sang sometimes took on a familiar tune, there was so much to learn here. She enjoyed the difference in customs and in the songs they sang. She loved the smell of the market here with their summer hauls of apples and pears, along with roses of every shape and color.

( If she wanted to, she could have lived out the rest of her days somewhere inside the palace. )

It felt like years since Aeotha had stepped into the castle seeking an audience with the king. Then the mood had been sad on the King's part, Angry on Aeotha's part, the death of Eibhear was a tragedy to all elven kind. Some had taken it much better than others. Eiron, for example, assumed a mantle of new power. Etain moved on to a quiet life, Aeotha had not seen her friend since the funeral. But Aeotha had been standing on the sidelines for quite some time, just watching. She'd already left Ellthorien and had been seeking guidance from a friend in Iasa. A priest who believed in her, and the dreams she'd had. When he was called to attend a ball within the palace. Aeotha got a message as well, both were summoned to be in attendance. It took a night of thinking before Aeotha decided she still owed allegiance to the king. She left the next day on horseback.

( Returning to the capital )

When the fire crackled it seemed to whisper to him. A musician heard a song in every sound, no matter how callous and harsh the sound. If music was the collection of sounds to express something - an idea, a thought or an emotion - than even the most terrible of sounds had a place in the pantheon of performance. Even the most wretched terrible things could be made beautiful if they were molded by the right hands. Koe had no such illusions about his own hands, but he had an ear for the sounds which gave lie to the state of things. A fire was a destructive force, but it could be the bringer of life as well. A snore could be a breath gone wrong or a true sign of sleep. In Ilyien's case it was the latter. And in the case of Onainat, who was a tricksome creature at the core of her being, it was the former. Still he didn't look up from his work. Cleaning each and every opening atop his ocarina was proving to be more trouble than he was used to. At least, on the road. He didn't want to miss anything. And he didn't want to let Onainat know that he was watching.

There had been times when she was a child that he thought they would never be separated. Minaht had been more interested in crusades than in raising a child, and if Koe had no taste for them it was because he had seen what a country in upheaval could do to those who looked to a crown or a throne for protection. Times of great change were not kind to those who endured the worst of it. And anyway he didn't thrive on such things. His desire to see the world existed in a different place from Onainat's. And her mother's desire was somewhere far, far gone from both of them. The distance Minaht had created between father and daughter with her stupidity was very real. Very real, and very heartbreaking for a father who was used to being worshiped. Who actually had been worshiped once. Ending and beginning her world with a nod was not what he wanted, but at the same time he couldn't imagine a life without having some sort of...

( Now he sounded like he was about to weep. )