Eramire strode alongside Queen Kallah deep into the recesses of the castle. The halls dimmed until they had to be lit by torches for lack of the natural light from above. The queen of Celeblas had fetched her from her late breakfast, saying the Sanarian Council was convening.

Eramire's heart pounded. She had been preparing for this meeting since they'd started the journey. They were going to discuss the vision. She must choose her words carefully, or everything they had worked toward by coming here would come crashing down.

There were twelve members—six from Calapheran and six from Celeblas. All were powerful mages, gifted with magic of one kind or another. Most could create potions or grow plants at will. Some, like Luric and herself, had powers that reached far beyond the typical.

Queen Kallah hardly spoke or acknowledged Eramire's presence as they wound down hundreds of stairs, deep into the earth. Eramire suppressed her excitement as they came closer and closer to the Hall of the Mallospen. The stonework had turned pure silver, changed by the unrelenting essence of the flower.

They came to a pair of silver doors. The handles were carved in the shape of the plant they protected. Kallah muttered a few sacred words, and they swung silently inward. The chamber was huge and filled with silvery light and shadows. A large, round table stood in the center, and above it was the mallospen. The sight of it brought tears to Eramire's eyes, and her throat closed. She had never seen the sacred plant in person. The bush was huge, at least seven feet high and across. Blossoms the size of dinner platters speckled it. The flowers had dozens of elegant curling petals, each unique and twisting its own path from the center where the precious nectar gathered and shone like diamonds. The bush glowed, acting like a prism, reflecting its own light around the room so rainbows danced across the ground and walls. The plant's roots fed through the middle of the table, into the ground and out, tracing across the floor in all manner of shapes. Eramire studied them and soon realized the shapes were not random but in the configuration of more flowers and leaves, creating a pattern that not even the most skilled embroiderer could recreate.

She tore her eyes from the captivating bush and noticed for the first time the people sitting about it. Most of the members were solid looking enough, but five had shimmering halos about their beings. Eramire herself had been among them a few months ago. The mallospen was so powerful it allowed them to transport images of other members for a short amount of time so that all twelve Sanarian Council members could attend. But magic was draining, and it was only done in cases of great need and emergency. She had better make her case well, or they would be very angry.

Kallah had left her standing in awe and taken her place at the round table.

"Please join us, Eramire," came a gentle request.

The young elf queen smiled as her eyes fell upon Luric, head of the high council. The fact that he had referred to her by name only, without her title, did not escape her. Down here she was considered young and inexperienced. Many of these people had been a part of the council for over a hundred years. She had only been asked to join twenty years ago.

With all the regality she could muster, she crossed the room and sat next to Rava, the oldest in the council. The old elf woman smiled and nodded at the young queen, holding a seashell in her weathered, blue-veined hands. She would hold the large cone-like shell to her ear when the talking began, though Eramire still wondered how much she actually heard. On Eramire's other side was Helera one of her ladies in waiting and closest friends. Her form shimmered and sparkled, and her brown hair was held back with sand-dollar pins.

"How is your sister, Your Majesty?" the elf woman whispered out of the corner of her mouth.

Eramire's lips curved, and she leaned toward Helera. "She's fine. Drinks everything in as if it were the most exciting thing that's ever happened to her."

Helera chuckled. "Sounds like Earwen. What about Thorindir? Was he happy to see you both?"

Queen Kallah cleared her throat from across the table, giving Helera a withering gaze. Eramire furrowed her brow. She could not understand the queen of Celeblas's hostility.

"Well, my friends, shall we begin?" Luric said. The soft muttering died. "We have waited many moons for Eramire to arrive in Celeblas, and now, considering the circumstances, we have no time to waste."

"What exactly are the circumstances?" asked Belrek, another elder. He was known for being grouchy and hated these meetings, but he was one of the most talented potion masters in all of Rhovamben and had been instrumental in curing the Duvain.

"Yes," chimed in Tariah. "Why have you asked us to use precious magic to summon the others here? It is not easy for the mallospen to hold five beings, even if they are using their own magic as well. I thought the whole point of Lady Eramire's arrival was so we would not need to call these meetings."

She pushed her older brother Talen, who was absentmindedly using a knife to reflect the light of the flowers. They were both older than Eramire, but their constant bickering with each other made them seem younger.

Luric gave a disapproving glare at their antics. "I am coming to that, Tariah," he replied. "We have all received the same troubling dream and discussed it at length. But as Eramire journeyed here to Celeblas, some of the dream's predictions have seemed to already be unfolding. Therefore, all the members must attend this meeting."

"Yes, the strange young woman from Calathil," Talen said, spinning his dagger on the table and sending spots of multicolored light flickering everywhere. He looked positively bored as he reclined in his chair, staring at the ceiling. "I can't understand what she has to do with the dream," he continued. "Though I have nearly forgotten it. I only had it once."

"Well, I had the dream four times," Helera said, frowning at the disrupting siblings. "And Eladra had it six."

Everyone turned their heads to look at the distinguished elf woman at the other end of the table. Her form shimmered and sparkled. Her hair was graying blond, her eyes ocean blue. Seashells were woven in long braids down her back, giving her the appearance of an ancient sea nymph. The only things that ruined the angelic effect were the jagged scars, much like Thorindir's, that ran across her face and arms.

Eramire felt her heart flutter nervously. Eladra had taught her everything she knew about herbs, potions, and magic. She was one of the oldest living elves in Calapheran and second in command of the high council.

She was also her mother.

As the elf woman stood, her form flickered. Her magic was dwindling, but even thousands of miles away, over the sea, she was formidable.

"It is true; I have had the dream many times. But none of us save one has seen the dream in its entirety." The older woman's voice was steady and authoritative, and she turned to Eramire. "Eramire, we defer to you to help us understand its meaning."

Eramire stood to speak as prompted.

"Your confidence in your daughter despite her youth always astounds," Queen Kallah said dryly. "She is the acting queen of Calapheran, I suppose. Although honestly, I'll never understand your choice to step down and give over the kingdom, Lady Eladra. You had many years left to rule."

Eramire tensed for her mother's answer. It was true her succession had not been traditional, and some had even called it a sign of weakness on her mother's part to relinquish her throne so soon after her husband's death. But the former queen's tone was as steady as ever when she answered. "All too often thrones are passed down prematurely due to death. And then the new ruler is left without a mentor who has walked the path their feet have just been set on."

Kallah snorted. "She could have learned at your side, watching, not sitting the throne herself. She has already developed an overinflated ego about her abilities in the arts of magic and healing."

Eramire could feel heat burning her face and her hands clenched into fists at her sides. "I have led my people as best I can and successfully settled us in a new land."

Kallah looked bored with her. "Yes, yes, we are all very impressed with your accomplishments. But they are no more impressive than what others have done for centuries before you were even born."

Eramire felt the barb and watched her mother's eyes narrow as the others murmured in soft agreement with Kallah's words.

Luric wrapped his knuckles on the stone table. "We are not here to debate Eramire's status as ruling monarch over Calapheran. Now, Eramire, please tell the council what you saw in your version of the dream."

Eramire felt flustered, but she pushed down the feeling. She had earned her place in the council, just like the rest, no matter what Kallah said. Holding her head high, she cleared her throat. "I...had the dream same as all of you, but it differed in one way. I saw the one who sent the vision. He spoke directly to me. Called me by name from over the sea."

Muttering broke out.

"Who was the man?" Kallah asked. "We only saw the vision of the destruction of Rhovamben. I had the dream twice, but even now the scenes refuse to come back clearly. Perhaps you could recite it for us."

Eramire blinked, bringing the dream to the forefront of her mind. "I can tell you of the man and the words he said to me." As Eramire spoke, she stood. "But I think...it would be better for you to experience it the way it was shown to me." She looked around at the puzzled faces.

"And how do you propose to do that?" Kallah said, her expression smug.

Eramire looked at Luric and Eladra in turn. The old elders' eyes bored into hers. They knew what she was about to do, and she wanted to give them the opportunity to stop her. It would be a great work of magic and could possibly go awry.

Luric nodded his assent. Eramire raised her hands up toward the mallospen suspended above the table. She closed her eyes and felt the magic in her own veins flowing in tandem with that which flowed in the roots at her feet. She reached out with her mind to the people around her.

The flowers began to glow, and she could feel the searing white heat of its power on her outstretched palms and could see it through her closed eyelids. She had to keep complete control of the energy she was wielding to share memories with eleven beings. If it got out of control, she would be vaporized by the pure power that was rushing through her. She felt the connection solidify and harden like mortar in a wall. Then she brought the dream forward, presenting it from the beginning. And then, darkness.

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