Shades of Starlight (Hiatus)

Book Two: Chapter Twenty-Two

It seemed as though the entire elvin population had shoved themselves into Wanderling Woods, though we'd come early. But even with the enormous sea of green-clothed spectators, the strange silence the Wanderlings induced went unbroken. More than several heads turned to us as we made our way down the hill we'd appeared on. Most of their eyes landed on me.

I took a deep breath and raised my chin, smoothing back a stray hair. Keefe placed a hand on my shoulder, grounding me. According to elvin law, significant others of immediate family members of the deceased were considered close family and required to be with the rest of the family at plantings. So, even if I didn't already feel a need to be with Biana right now, technically I didn't have a choice in the matter.

Gently pushing Keefe's hand off of my shoulder, I waded through the crowd to the front, where I knew the Vackers would be, waiting to bury the last memories of Alden. I felt choked by the collective grief of the elves surrounding me. So many had known and loved Alden as I had, he had had such an impact on all he knew.

As I neared the place where a new Wanderling would soon be planted, I caught sight of the Vackers. Alvar looked just as perfectly styled as always, but his eyes were bloodshot and his face pale. He held Della's hand, whose jade gown hung off of her suddenly bony frame, though her face was as lovely as always. Fitz looked slightly haggard, as white as his brother and thin as his mother. And Biana...

Even though she was as stunning as ever, her dress was as loose as her mother's. I wanted to clutch her pale, hollow face in my hands and warm her cold hands with my own. As though she could hear my thoughts, Biana looked up at that moment and caught my glance. Her eyes widened as I drew closer, the rest of the family still staring at the ground.

"I'm here, Bia," I whispered, putting an arm around her. She leaned into me, closing her eyes.

"You look beautiful," Della murmured. Alvar nodded. Fitz said nothing, boring a hole in the ground beneath him with his eyes. We stood in silence for what felt like hours, until the Councillors finally arrived, without fanfare, on one of the taller hills. I wasn't surprised to see that they'd brought their goblin bodyguards, even though Wanderling Woods was only supposed to be for elves.

Surprisingly, I didn't hear any grumbles about breaking traditions. All I saw were stunned stares, and nobody broke the eerie silence until Councillor Emery called for Della to step forward. She was the person closest to Alden, so it was her responsibility to plant his Wanderling. Before stepping up to bury the seed, and the hair belonging to her husband, I watched as she took a deep, shuddering breath.

Biana, Fitz, and Alvar stared, strangely transfixed, as their mother placed the Wanderling seed in the earth gently and blanketed it in the dirt with shaking fingertips. A chime sounded when she straightened up and stepped back down to her family, rejoining hands with her sons.

That was when the sniffling started. Biana sobbed with no abandon, collapsing against me, tears streaking down her face without any sign of stopping. My eyes burned and a scream died in my throat. I had to hold together. For Biana. For Fitz. For Della. For Alvar. For everyone.

Soon, the line started. The line to offer meaningless condolences to the family. Hundreds, thousands of blank, gray faces-I recognized none of them. Until... I saw a blonde head rushing towards the beginning of the line, where she joined another blonde head, this one styled spikily. Sophie had found Keefe, my parents, and Grady and Edaline, who were nearing their turn at seeing the Vackers.

Thankfully, Fitz and Biana didn't notice her. They went on thanking everyone for coming dully, voices devoid of emotion. Several of the elves gave me strange looks, glancing at the crush cuffs that neither my cloak nor Biana's concealed. I just smiled at them fakely and thanked them for attending the planting.