When the Ellcrys begins to speak to the elvin princess, she quickly realises it is not for a good reason. It tells her of the arrival of a man named Allanon and that she should help him at all costs. But with the end of the world on the horizon will...
Athena sat on her bed, doing nothing but stare at the wall. It was the day of the celebration and the Ellcrys had called her again last night. That name again. Allanon. It stuck in her mind, like a fly in amber, and no matter how hard she tried she could not shift her thoughts off this one name. She felt different, ever since Amberle had touched the Ellcrys, it felt like something had changed. Like something, or someone had woken after a very long and deep sleep. Something bad was coming and she could feel it. But at the current moment, that was not her most pressing concern. Lorin was sitting opposite her, begging the princess for entry to Amberle's room.
"Please I just need to see if she's okay." He begged and Athena raised an eyebrow at him. He opened his mouth to speak again but shut it at her glare.
"I'm tired of your pleas, boy." She said. "Catania, take him to see Amberle he has no more than ten minutes, and you, get my niece off her ass and to the ball tonight or there will be hell to pay, you here?' she threatened and the young elf gulped loudly before scuttling after Catania to Amberle's chambers. Ander chuckled and stepped into his sister's room.
"Damn." He whistled appreciatively. "bring boys double your height to their knees."
"It's not all about height, brother." Athena said turning away from her twin. Ander furrowed his brows at Athena and walked around the bed to sit in front of her.
"What's wrong with you?" he accused, "Ever since the race you have been avoiding me, what happened?" Athena looked up at him out of the corner of her eye.
"I'm scared." She admitted. "And no I can't tell you why, but all you need to know is I'm scared and I'm never scared. There are dark days ahead Ander, I can feel it." she muttered quietly and her brother slid over and put his arm around her.
"Well then tell me so we can be scared together." He said. She laughed and shook her head.
"Not this time Ander." She whispered. "I need you to be my rock, I need you to hold my hand, I need you not to be afraid of the monsters under the bed and I need you to be ready for
the dark days ahead and that means holding onto happiness and light for as long as possible. Can you do that for me?" she asked quietly. Ander started ar her for a few minutes, wanting to protest.
"Anything for you, Athena." He whispered and walked to the door. Athena nodded and looked around her now empty room, suddenly feeling a lot smaller and confined than she had before.
Athena knocked on her niece's door as she waited to go down to the party. She smoothed sown the creases in her dress and looked around the deserted hallway, before turning again to the door and knocking once more, harder this time. The door swung open and Athena's jaw dropped at the sight before her.
"You look hot." She stated gazing at her niece. Amberle smiled slightly and looked at the ground bashfully.
"I could say the same about you, Auntie Athena." Amberle chuckled winking at her aunt.
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