???
The following morning, Venick found Ellina in Evov’s market. “There’s been an incident,” he said. “With Raffan.”
Ellina set down the green glass knife she had been considering. “What incident?”
“Apparently, something was said—by a guard or Raffan, it’s not clear—but it turned into a fistfight. Raffan was subdued, and the guards have been reprimanded, but…”
“Raffan’s presence is causing trouble,” Ellina finished.
Venick sighed. “We can’t just leave him in Kenath’s prison forever. A decision must be made.”
“You wish me to order his death?”
“If you think that’s right.” When Ellina hesitated, Venick added, “There’s always the whitelands. He could be sent into exile.”
But Ellina thought that exile was like sweeping a problem under a rug, and that did not seem right, either.
“I think,” she said, “he should be given the chance to make a redemption sacrifice.”
Venick’s startlement was obvious. Redemption sacrifices were an old human custom, one which Venick himself had undergone to earn his place back among his people. “I am not sure an elf has ever performed a redemption sacrifice.”
Ellina returned her attention to the knife and gave a slight smile. “So let him be the first.”
???
That night, Dourin pulled Ellina into his study and explained in soft tones that she and Venick could have Traegar’s home for as long as they liked, because Dourin was leaving. To go west beyond the sea, he said. There were other continents out there, entire worlds uncharted, and while he might have stayed for Ellina’s sake, it was clear she would be just fine.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” Ellina asked. Her eyes swam.
“Oh, come now. None of that. I will send you gifts. You will not believe the things I find. You’ll be so buried in presents, you will forget I was ever gone.”
“I will miss you.”
“Liar.”
“It is the truth.”
“Shall I make you say it in elvish?”
“You can try.”
“Ah, Ellina.” His smile was touched with melancholy. “It is not forever. You know I will be back.”
“When?”
Yet they both knew the answer.When it does not hurt so much anymore.Dourin had not had a chance to mourn Traegar properly. “Everything reminds me of him.”
Ellina took Dourin’s hands. She remembered doing this with Miria, sending her away to never see her again. Ellina felt a stirring of fear, quickly banished. She had let Miria go because it was what her sister needed. If this was what Dourin needed, she would let him go, too.
Ellina spoke the same words Miria had spoken to her. “Be happy.”
“And you,” Dourin said. “Can you be happy?”
Ellina thought of how Lin Lill did not remember what her face had looked like before the scar. Maybe one day Ellina would forget her old self, too. Maybe, when she looked in the mirror, she would see only the parts she meant to keep.
Ellina pulled her friend into her arms. She told him she loved him, because she did. She warned that she would hold him to his promise to bury her in gifts, and would send Bournmay after him if he failed to see his promise through. She told him they would meet again soon, and hoped it was true.
THIRTY-SIX
