There was a long, awkward silence.
All eyes lay on the pendants, doubtful and deep in thought. If anyone had a good idea, they did not say it out loud. No one seemed eager to be the first to speak up.
At last Evariel rose, pushing himself out of his chair with an effort as if fighting against his nerves, his bright blue eyes staring into the round. "Why don't we keep them here?" he asked. "They're safe in this place. The Colorless will never find them." A few of the elves raised critical eyebrows, and he crossed his arms in defense. "And if they do, there's no better place to defend them."
Raimoriel gave a snort, motioning for him to sit down. "Silly," she said. "Are you saying we should keep these all-powerful artifacts that we could use to change the world and not do anything?"
A few of the other elves nodded in agreement, and Evariel flushed. "What would you do?" he shot back. "Aithal can manage, but would you send this half-grown sapling—" he gestured in Edmian's direction—"out into the wild when he's being hunted?"
"My son," Talirion piped in, "you forget there is no reason for the boy to keep the pendant."
Edmian tensed, his eyes flashing. His pendant disappeared back under his shirt. Jolette jumped up, raising an arm in front of him. "Don't you dare touch him."
"Think about it!" Raimoriel declared. "Have you not heard what Lady Elisya has said? If the wielder is strong enough, they can have absolute command over the Colorless! Would you truly leave Free Will in this weak boy's hands when we could use it to stop all the Colorless' crimes?"
Jolette slammed a hand on the table. "Don't ever call him weak again! You have no idea what Edmian's been through!"
"Silence, girl!"
Another elf had jumped up, a tall, striking figure with brown skin and dark hair, his gray eyes almost unsettlingly bright as they met with hers. "What do you know of the world?" he demanded. "You have lived for thirteen years, and the Lady Raimoriel has lived for four hundred. Do not be so insolent as to claim you know something she does not."
Jolette took a deep breath, ready to yell a retort when a hand on her arm stopped her. Spinning around, she found Edmian gazing up at her, the blue flash faded out of his face, his eyes gentle once more.
"It's all right, Elthomion," Raimoriel told the elf at the same time, her voice calm but her smile mocking. "She is at that awful point in adolescence when we all claim to know everything. We should be patient."
"Don't treat me like a kid," Jolette muttered, but she sat down. She wouldn't look any more mature by picking a fight with a bunch of elves when they had something more important to discuss.
"I'd listen to her if I were you people," Evariel said with flashing eyes. "You may have lived longer, but she's known him longer than both of you combined!"
"You calm down too, baby brother. This is about wisdom, something you clearly won't have for another hundred years."
"Will you be quiet, all of you!"
They all fell silent. Lisha was back on her feet, glaring at them all until they sat down one by one, lowering their heads in shame.
"Fools," she said. "This is no time for family disputes and personal quarrels. It is not too much to ask for your cooperation for one council!"
The elves did not dare look up. Raimoriel muttered an apology. Elthomion took a deep breath, as if to calm himself down. Evariel alone looked both embarrassed and furious, his face bright red up to the tips of his ears.
"Now," Lisha went on, "to answer your question. Yes, it is indeed possible to separate Edmian and the pendant. However, you must consider that the pendant is currently the only thing maintaining his freedom. Take it away, and he will revert to a Colorless puppet."
Edmian shrank back in fear. Jolette could read the thoughts on his face. Not that. Not that. Please, anything but that.
"I dare anybody to try," she growled, sending a challenging glare into the round. "Only a monster would do that!"
"And yet," Elthomion replied, "it seems like a small price to rescue the Elodian Queen and her family and free the people of Rivertown."
Jolette's breath hitched. The villagers...Liara...her parents. If someone other than Edmian used them, she could have them all back. Safe, sound, alive. All she needed to do, all anyone needed to do, was to take the pendant from Edmian and command the Colorless holding them captured.
An almost frighteningly small price, indeed.
Or it would be if it wasn't for the look of terror on Edmian's face, the way he shrank away from her as if guessing her thoughts. If she took the pendant, he would be gone. He would be Colorless and will-less once more.
But he was just one out of many friends she had had in the village. She had only known him for a few weeks. It was nothing compared to everyone else, the girls, Liara...her parents.
She clenched her fists. No way. No way. She couldn't do it. She wouldn't do it. She had not gone through all this fear and peril with Edmian, struggled so hard to break him out of his shell, to give up on all of that now. He was important to her too. As long as there was a way to save everyone without betraying him, she refused to touch the pendant.
"It seems like a small price," Saryana piped in, "until you think a little further. Edmian is our ally because he has free will. He has free will because of the pendant. So what happens if we take it?" She made a wide gesture. "He goes back to being our enemy. An enemy who knows all about our plans and hideout and will run straight back to the Colorless to tell them everything." Crossing her arms, she leant back in her chair. "We take it from him, we're selling ourselves out."
"We could hold him captive," Raimoriel suggested.
"That," Saryana replied, "is a war crime."
"It's also cruel!" Evariel burst out, voicing Jolette's thoughts. "How long do you want to imprison him for? All his life? He can't just develop a free will on his own!"
Elthomion clicked his tongue. "That is secondary!" he replied. "For now we must stop the captures and intrusions! Can you not see all the signs that the Colorless are preparing for war?"
"That makes it all the more shortsighted," said the elf next to him. "After we stop them, what do we do? The normal Colorless will listen to us as long as we have the pendants. But what of their leaders? They still have their free will, and they'll try everything to get them back!"
Elthomion's head lashed around to glare at him. "For once in your life, use that head on your shoulders," he scoffed. "What will the leaders alone do against us? What can they possibly do?"
"We don't know what they can do! Did we know that they could make these pendants? Who knows what they'll come up with!"
"So you would rather risk a war than use the pendants, is that what you are saying?"
"I'm saying I would rather think twice than incur the leaders' wrath and command an army of half-phantom soldiers! Soldiers who, by the way, have never done anything wrong aside from being cursed! They should be freed and not–"
"What is your problem with commanding that army? If this is for the greater good–"
"Wait."
Aithal's eyes had grown wide, bright with realization dawning on his face. "What if we undo the spell?" he asked. "If we undo the magic of the pendants, will their courage and free will not return to the Colorless People and make them stop obeying their leaders on their own?" He nodded towards Edmian. "Right here we have a good indication for that."
There was a baffled pause. The two quarreling elves let go of each other's collars. All eyes fell on Lisha.
The sorceress furrowed her brow, then she sighed. "I am sorry," she said. "One of the catches of this magic is that nothing can undo it. There is no counter-spell to the spell of the pendants."
Aithal leaned back and sighed. The elves looked equally frustrated. Edmian, who had momentarily relaxed in faint hope, looked tense and terrified again.
Jolette furrowed her brow. There had to be something, she thought, some kind of loophole. There was no way this spell could possibly be irreversible. Not something as scary as this. There had to be–
She paused. Of course. How had she forgotten that?
"What about dragons?"
All eyes landed on her. Some were questioning, others baffled, others half amused. She straightened her back and crossed her arms, almost defensively, but there was no hesitation in her voice as she spoke on.
"Dragonfire can undo any magic," she said. "It's got to work on these things too."
Talirion himself furrowed his brow at her, half puzzled, half skeptical. "Dragons are extinct."
"They're not extinct," Jolette shot back. "They're just missing. We can still find them if we try!"
"They will be hard to find."
Sighing, Lisha closed her eyes, a flicker of reminiscence crossing her face. "I remember the story," she said. "I was there one thousand years ago when the people of Elodia and Jadiria attacked the last nation that was still friends with the dragons. I was there when humanity's most ancient friendship was severed for ever."
Jolette held her breath.
"They were afraid of the threat the Firlandic dragon-riders could pose," Lisha went on. "The people of Firland were outnumbered. Even with dragons they stood no chance."
Aithal and Saryana looked sheepish. "It happened a lot back in the day," Saryana said. "They were scared of the dragons, so they tried to destroy them before they got destroyed."
Aithal nodded. "We have apologized since, but..."
"Many dragons were slaughtered in that war," Lisha said, her face still grave, though she gave the two a glance as if to signal that she did not blame them. "Snaggletooth, the king's dragon, fell fighting to defend his lord's family. But the survivors were banished from Firland and taken to a far place in the Snowy Mountains, forbidden from returning under pain of death."
Jolette clenched her fists in her lap. She could almost see it, the dragons and their riders, a bond nearly as old as time itself. The dragons' love for their humans, their fear, their desperation to defend those they loved, and the rejection and abandonment had been their reward. She had seen the pictures. She had heard the stories. Almost she could hear the cries of the dragons as they called in vain for their friends.
"That is where their traces fail," Lisha said at last, snapping her back to attention. "No one has ever seen a dragon since, not in the place where they were abandoned, not anywhere. They have vanished off the face of the earth, leaving neither scales nor bones."
Jolette swallowed. Hearing it like that, it did sound hopeless. Many people must have searched for the dragons since. And no one had found anything, not even a trace. What chance did she have? What chance did any of them have?
But something seemed off. And as she repeated Lisha's words in her head again, she understood what it was.
"But if they died out," she said, "there should be bones."
Lisha turned towards her, her expression unreadable. Some of the elves raised their eyebrows.
"If there's nothing, then they can't have died there," she went on, unfazed. "They went somewhere. And that means they could still be alive!"
Saryana smirked in understanding, a glint of pride flashing up in her eyes. "You're right."
"Maybe so," Talirion piped in, "but what does that help us? Countless expeditions have searched for the dragons since, and not a single one has found a trace. Many have dedicated their life's work to the search, to no avail." He sighed. "Our chance to find the dragons, let alone convince them to help us again, is close to none. But if we venture out to attempt it, our chance of being caught by the Colorless and losing the pendants is too high to risk it."
"Still, if we did," Saryana replied, "we'd be rid of the problem for good. The Colorless would be free. That's worth something."
"We can do that after we use the pendants," Raimoriel said. "Time is pressing."
"I can't support you turning Edmian back into a phantom and putting him in jail! He's a child!"
"He is one person! Many will die if we do not stop the Colorless at once!"
Saryana narrowed her eyes. "Some rules aren't made to be broken."
Raimoriel sighed. "Some emergencies are great enough to break the rules."
Jolette stared at them both. The discussion was beginning to annoy her. In fact, it was getting on every single one of her last nerves.
"Just shut up!" she burst out, startling everyone. "Rules this, emergencies that! Stop talking over Edmian's head like he's not even there!" She planted her hands on her hips. "Have you tried asking him what he wants?"
Elthomion clicked his tongue. "Why should we ask a child of thirteen summers, who can only be biased because he has the pendant–"
"No, she has a point," Lisha interrupted him. "Unwise as it may seem to you, at the moment the pendant is Edmian's. Unless someone takes it from him, it is his to decide over."
Turning, she smiled at him, warm and encouraging. "So, Edmian? What would you like to do?"
Edmian blinked at her, then his eyes automatically flitted over to Jolette, as if searching for instructions and approval. She resisted the urge to mouth an answer at him. Instead she only smiled and gave a thumbs-up.
"I won't give up the pendant," he said, his voice quiet and hesitant, unsure. "I'll look for the dragons."
Some of the elves sighed. Jolette's face lit up with pride and relief. Saryana, Aithal, Lisha and Evariel all smiled, some understanding, some relieved, some triumphant.
"There were others like me in that place," Edmian added, a little more confident. "If I hadn't found the pendant, it would've been one of them. If I deserve to be free, they do too."
"A selfless and dangerous decision," Lisha said as she rose, placing a hand on his shoulder. "And yet, in the long run, it may prove for the wisest to eliminate the danger of the pendants, once and for all." She bowed her head, suddenly looking like a kind grandmother speaking to her grandson. "I will aid you in your search, in whatever way I can."
"And I'm coming with you too," Jolette said at once. "We're talking about finding dragons! There's no way I'm staying here!"
Talirion furrowed his brow. "There is no need for you to go," he said. "The mission is dangerous, and you are but a child."
"And also his friend," Lisha replied, making her blink in surprise. "I have pushed back the effects of the fog-sickness on him for now, but do not think they won't return. If it wasn't for this girl and her friendship, he would have given up the fight long ago."
Jolette shuffled her feet, suddenly embarrassed. But Edmian gave a small nod. "I think that's true."
She went pink, to her own confusion. Usually she responded to praise by acting smug and bragging. But right now she was more flustered than anything else.
"I will come with you too," Aithal said before she could decide what was wrong with her. "I have turned aside from my quest to protect you and the pendant, and I won't stray from that now. We're allies in the same cause." He smiled and took a low bow. "Let us hit the road together once more."
Edmian gave a small nod, looking both relieved and overwhelmed. Jolette grinned at him. She, too, was glad to have Aithal with them again, now that she trusted him, all the more.
"And I'm joining," Saryana proclaimed. "In my country, if you can help and don't do it, you're responsible for everything that goes wrong. I'm not risking that." She smirked. "Besides, Jadiria has the biggest library in the world. If there's any place that has records about the dragons, it's that one. I can get you in there."
"So be it."
With a heavy sigh Talirion closed his eyes, as if resigning himself to the unavoidable. "If you deem that wise, I shall not stop you," he said. "I will not disagree with the Lady Elisya and her infinite knowledge." He threw a glance at her, momentarily looking frightened; she returned his gaze in amused silence. "We will do our part to ensure the success, if only to avoid the worst."
Aithal bowed to him. "Thank you, my lord. For anything you do, we'll be eternally grateful."
"Do not thank me; I am only doing the necessary to avoid all our doom." The elf-king raised an eyebrow. "Still, if you wish and one of them volunteers, you may take one of my household with you, for additional protection. I won't have future generations say the elves stood by and did nothing."
Immediately the elf who had argued with Elthomion rose up in his seat. "I'll do it," he said, "if no one else will."
Elthomion lashed around. "Don't be an idiot, Belestir!" he snapped. "Do you understand what this mission means? Not counting the impossibly low chance of success, anyone who goes on it will not come back alive!"
"I know that!" Belestir shot back, instantly flushing with anger; Jolette felt reminded of an older Evariel. "But someone has to, don't they? I'm an experienced fighter. I can make sure the others survive!"
"An experienced fighter, and foolish and blockheaded all the same!" Elthomion replied. "You will throw away your life and nothing else!"
"Then what would you have me do?"
"Stay here." Elthomion's eyes flashed with urgency. "Let me go in your stead, before you get yourself needlessly killed."
"And let you die in my stead?" Now it was Belestir's turn to be furious. "Don't you dare!"
"It's better than having you throwing your life away!"
"So you'd rather have me sit at home and do nothing and possibly never find out what happened to you? Knowing that you gave away your life to protect mine?"
The other elves were beginning to snicker and roll their eyes. Jolette leaned over to the elf-maiden sitting next to her. "Are they always like this?"
"Have been for the past thousand years," replied the elf. "One would think that's long enough for them to realize it."
"Gentlemen," Aithal said, lifting his hand, "not to interrupt your...your disagreement—" Saryana snorted at the word and faked a coughing fit—"but I think there's an alternative to either of you going."
They both paused their quarrel to blink at him. Aithal smiled.
"There's another volunteer."
All heads spun around to stare at Evariel, who looked like he wanted to leave the room and go on a journey this very instant.
"I know what you think, Father," he said to Talirion, who raised a skeptical eyebrow at him. "But I'm almost an adult. In only seven years I'll be coming of age. It won't be any different from sending any of the others, trust me."
Talirion's frown deepened, then he turned to Aithal. "Would you take my son at all?" he asked. "If I am to send one of my children, I'd rather have you go with someone more competent."
Evariel flushed angrily, and Aithal gave a soothing smile. "Evariel is my friend," he answered, "and we have trained and fought side by side. In a quest like this, where our hope for success lies in stealth, I'd rather have a loyal companion with me than any wise elf-lord who barely approves of the mission."
Talirion closed his eyes and sighed. For a moment his kingly gravity fell off him, and he only looked like a father afraid to let his child go into unknown peril.
The queen placed a hand on her arm, keeping her head low and avoiding all eyes. "He will sneak out if we don't let him," she said. "I doubt he can be restrained."
Talirion heaved another sigh. "Still..."
"Please, Father!" Evariel begged. "I promise I'll come back alive."
"And we promise to keep him safe," Aithal added, "if we may have him."
Saryana nodded. Lisha gave a small smile. "You may yet live to be glad of this decision," she said. "Sometimes the greatest potential lies in the ones you underestimate."
"Very well."
Talirion did not protest, though he sounded like he was pronouncing his own death sentence. "I will send Evariel with you, under the condition that you will bring him back alive, at all costs." He swallowed and straightened up to turn kingly once more. "Now let us discuss the journey."