Of Magic in Man

The Aeloria

Valemdar and Elowyn shared a private word. The king seemed to grow more distressed with each passing moment, but it was hard to tell with elves. Their expressions often remained stoic except in extreme circumstances. Ruddy wondered whether this was deemed an extreme circumstance.

Finarion arrived a little later and joined the discussion. Ruddy saw him shaking his head several times though he couldn't tell whether it was disbelief, dispassion, or disagreement. It was some kind of dis.

While they spoke Ruddy took some time to look about the room. He was back in the Celestial Observatory. The various instruments shown with even greater splendor than they had in the dying starlight of Ruddy's first early morning here. Valemdar seemed to spend most of his nights here, and Ruddy wondered if the king ever slept.

He shook himself when Valemdar turned away from Elowyn and addressed him.

"There are many kinds of magic, Ruddy and yes, some of them induce dream states. But this is not one of them. You were forcibly ripped from your plain and planted here on Eladar, physically, in the flesh. How you've managed to miss that, I don't know. Perhaps your mind hasn't caught up yet."

"Well it just seems a little to perfect your majesty," Ruddy spat out hastily.

"How do you mean?" Valemdar asked patiently.

Ruddy huffed, "I mean look at this place! It's like heaven. People living in perfect harmony with each other and nature, a woman who matches every physical and emotional desire I could possibly have, and a forest teeming with undisturbed life. It's everything I ever wanted. How can I possibly think it's something else?"

Valemdar smiled softly at this, "You find yourself in a perfect place."

"Uh huh."

"Filled with everything you could possibly desire."

"Yep."

"And decide that its a dream and therefore obviously can't be real?"

"That about sums it up," Ruddy shrugged.

"You might have self-esteem issues."

Ruddy was threw his hands up, "Exactly! That's exactly the sort of thing my subconscious would say to me. It's constantly giving me crap like that."

Valemdar flicked an eyebrow up and down and turned to Elowyn, "I see your dilemma now."

Elowyn said nothing, just dipped her head respectfully to the king.

Finarion spoke softly, urgently to the king. Ruddy only picked up bits of it, "He...lear...quickly...yet...gresses...slowly." 

Valemdar sighed, "Then it's time we showed him. I'll take care of the summoning bit, you..."

Finarion nodded, "I understand sire. You are the heart of the forest, you must remain here."

Valemdar waved for Ruddy to follow and strove toward the center of the room where the giant celestial orrery hovered in the center of the floor. It shone softly like a mirror, yet reflected nothing.

"Vylor'thar thil-hirilthar Eladar thil-velan Homodar," the king commanded the orrery.

Ruddy stood beside him and watched as the surface of the orrery shifted in three dimensions. It showed a planet, round like Earth. Three continents drifted slowly across the side Ruddy could see while countless smaller landmasses and islands dotted the worlds oceans and seas. It was green and blue with deep bands of gray and brown running down the planet's many fault lines.

"This is Eladar," Valemdar said softly, "my home. We orbit our sun, Avarsi, in the constellation Sagalithar, the one you've described in our occasional conversations as Sagittarius."