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sorry for. They will never see you as simply Eddas Ayar, a quiet and lonely
old man whom I call 'friend.'"
I smiled, rising and stepping over to Joy, and holding out my arms. Joy rose
from her chair, bent down to wrap her enormous arms around me, and we hugged
each other for many long moments in the pale moonlight.
Thirty-One.
"And as the Age of Chaos draws to a close and the dawn of the Golden Age
approaches, you will see three of my Ravens come among you, one at a time, to
defend you from mine enemies. The first shall arise from the grave, a horrid,
mad thing. The second shall stride out of the wastelands, a quiet, lonely
thing. The third shall appear at the death of a queen, a smiling, happy
thing."
- The Holy Tome of Yorindar, Chapter 42, Verses 64-67.
Spring eventually came, and with it, the Mountain Healers bid me a fond and
tearful farewell, and returned to their mountain to begin planting their herbs
and working their gardens in preparation for the following fall. They were,
slowly, building their library again, trading rare and expensive herbs to the
elves and dwarves. Their farewell was very emotional, and each of them wanted
to be hugged by me. Each of them had visited me during the winter months,
laying down quietly upon my bed (fully clothed) while I knelt beside them and
used their gift to me upon them, and tried to make it as pleasant as possible
for them - despite the fact that I felt nothing, and watching a young and
lovely woman writhe in ecstasy as I touched her only made my own concupiscence
nearly unbearable. Yet, they could feel my compassion for them, my respect for
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them, and how deeply I cared for them. They could feel that I was trying to
make it as pleasant as I could for them, as it was, to them, as though I was
making love to them with my heart, my soul. Many wept afterwards, the
experience was so powerful for them, and I hugged them in silence while they
recovered. Thus, by the time spring arrived and they were ready to leave,
Pelia assured me that nearly a quarter of them were pregnant - even herself.
They had quite a bit of preparations to make before winter set in again, as
twenty-odd newborns would need much, and they had little. I was certain Taliad
and Mungim would receive a long list of things that the Mountain Healers
wished to have by the fall, and both would be quite surprised by the contents
of that list.
I warned them, of course, that Cordo had somehow survived. They promised to be
very watchful of each other, and to stand regular guards. They would have to
get into the habit of doing so, anyway, as there were still goblins and other
dark creatures about in Hyperborea, and children would have to be watched. I
wasn't terribly concerned for them, however. Though individually none of them
were a match for Cordo and he could kill them as easily as swatting a fly, as
a group, they were more than a match for him. They had learned well the
lessons I taught them, and I knew their own goddess, Vyleah, was watching over
them. It occurred to me that eventually, when the children were old enough, I
would probably have to begin the process of instructing them to be
battle-mages in their own right. They were, in the end, the future of our
people, and each was of immeasurable value. I was certain Pelia and her Circle
would instruct them in the skills they knew. Combined with the training I
would give them, they would be safe from any possible threat.
And so it was that the third week of spring found me sitting in my chair upon
my parapet, gazing out over the flowering byallar trees of my plantation. Joy
sat beside me, and we shared a cup of byallar, reminiscing over times gone
by.
There was a brief shimmer in the air before us, and to my surprise, Arella
appeared. Swift-wing fluttered down from her shoulder to land on the parapet,
then regarded me with a beady black eye, flicking his tail-feathers in what
was, for a raven, a smile. Arella looked to Joy and I, and heaved a sigh.
"Good morning, Raven, Queen Joy. May I please sit with you?"
"Certainly, Arella," Joy replied smoothly, cutting off my sputtering words. I
glanced to her, but Joy only gave me a smile. Years of experience as a queen,
dealing with many people in many different situations and years of dealing
with Arella-tor had saved me the embarrassment of stammering through asking
Arella what the hell she was doing here after so long.
Arella dragged over a nearby chair, then plopped herself down into it,
smoothing her sky-blue dress. "I can't stay long, and I'm sorry for that.
There's an ambassador from Vilandia coming in an hour, and Noril wants me
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