"I'm sorry about Arling," he said suddenly, looking down at his feet.

Aphenglow glanced down at the note and slipped it into her pocket. "Thank you for saying so." Then she stepped forward and hugged him. "You've been very brave, Railing. You and Redden both. What Allanon's shade said to Khyber Elessedil proved to be true. We couldn't have succeeded without your help."

She said that even though she wasn't much older than he was, and her involvement hadn't been any less crucial. He shook his head. "It doesn't feel that way."

She smiled. "Give it time."

Aphenglow sat with Seersha in her bedroom in the healing center-something she had been doing every day since her return to Arborlon. The Dwarf had drifted in and out of consciousness for the better part of a week, and there were times when it appeared she might not recover. But Seersha was strong of heart and body, and even the grievous wounds that Edinja Orle's creature had inflicted on her were not enough to end her life.

By now, a week had passed since the Ohmsford twins and Mirai had departed for home. Ellich Elessedil had been crowned King, and a much-needed stability had been restored to the Elven people. Phaedon was under care in a healing center, and it had become increasingly clear he might remain there for the rest of his days. His breakdown during the struggle between Seersha and the changeling seemed to have permanently unhinged him. Nothing the Elven Healers had done had helped him improve. The High Council had not needed to debate the question of succession once it was determined that Phaedon was not capable of ruling. Ellich, now absolved of any guilt concerning his brother's death, was named King by rule of law and right of succession.

"I've made a decision," Aphen declared. "I'm not coming back to Paranor. I'm staying here."

"So you can be close to Arling," Seersha said.

Aphen nodded. "She gave up everything for me-for all of us. Now I have to give something back."

"In spite of what you know the Chosen will do for her?"

"They can't talk with her the way I can. Besides, I have to find a way to reconcile with Mother."

"Have you spoken with her since Arling's transformation?"

Aphen nodded. "Several times."

"Does she respond to you?"

"Not yet. But she will, eventually. It will help if I stay close."

"Because that is what she has always wanted you to do. I see."

Aphen nodded. "I'm sorry."

Seersha studied her friend out of her one good eye. Her face was crisscrossed with slash wounds and bandages, but her gaze was steady. "I will miss you. It will be lonely being the only Druid left in the order."

"Oriantha will come, if you will have her. She's already asked if we would take her. Her mother intended that for her, and if she wants it, why not? She would be a good companion for you, and a good addition to the order. Besides, others will come to join, as well. It won't always be you."

Seersha pursed her lips. "I think you are making a mistake. You don't belong here. You belong in Paranor. Can I tell you why?"

"You can tell me anything."

"You are the best of us, Aphen. You were always meant to be the Ard Rhys after Khyber. She wanted it that way. I know. I'm not the right choice. I lack the necessary balance. I don't have the necessary skills. Mostly, I'm a fighter, a weapons master. I'm not a diplomat. I don't have the patience. I would match my use of magic against anyone or anything in combat, but it takes more than that to be the Ard Rhys."

She paused. "If you stay here, good intentions notwithstanding, you will be wasting your life. You will try to find a way to make your mother love you again, but that's a small victory even if it happens. And while talking with Arling will make you feel better about yourself, it isn't what she wanted for you. If she were still your sister and not the Ellcrys, you wouldn't think twice about coming back to Paranor. And you would bring her with you the moment she finished her term as a Chosen. You've already told me this is what she wanted. It was what you wanted, too. It can't happen for her, but that doesn't mean you should abandon your place in the order. It doesn't excuse you from carrying out your obligation to see it continue. Arling would want that, and you know it. She would tell you to go back. Come to Arborlon to see her when you can, but don't make that your legacy."

The words were blunt and hurtful, though Aphen couldn't say exactly why. But she was used to Seersha speaking her mind, and she knew that what her friend was saying wasn't meant as a reprimand.

"I've thought about all that," she replied, though in fact she hadn't thought about it in those exact terms. "I just think staying here is the best choice."

Seersha gave a small smile. "Will you think about it some more?" she asked. "Can we talk about it another time?"

Aphenglow smiled back. "I don't see why not."

They visited for a while longer, and then Seersha grew tired and fell asleep. Aphen watched over her for several long minutes, thinking of what she had said. Sound advice from a good friend, but not the advice she wanted. She rose and left the room, closing the door quietly behind her.

Outside the healing center she stood blinking in the bright afternoon sunlight, deciding what to do next. She chose to go to Ellich, hoping he might find time to speak with her. She was troubled by what Seersha had said, suddenly uncertain about her decision to stay in Arborlon. She thought she knew what her uncle would tell her, but she wanted to hear him say it. If he reaffirmed what he had been telling her for months about coming home, she might find it easier to dismiss Seersha's arguments.

She found Ellich ready and willing to speak with her, which was something of a relief. Although he was elbows-deep in his newly minted role as King-a role she still believed should have gone to him in the first place-he put everything aside immediately and walked out into the palace gardens to speak privately with her.

"I'm still coming to terms with things," he told her. "Very much the same as I suspect you are. Discovering the truth about Jera was heartbreaking. I won't ever know for certain how long that creature was playing at being my wife. I won't ever know how long she had been dead. It's very difficul t to believe, any of it."

"We were all deceived, Ellich. It was cruel and evil; it took someone like Edinja to conceive of such a plan."

"It cost us both people we loved. It cost me the ability to trust my own senses."

She looked at him carefully, noting how worn and haggard he looked and the haunted glint in his eyes. He would never be the same, she knew. He would rule the Elves wisely, but he would not again be as strong a man in himself.

She pushed back against her sadness. "I need to ask you something about my own life, if you will consider listening. I have a difficult choice to make."

What he advised was pretty much what she had expected. She belonged in Arborlon with the Elves. She needed to be close to her mother and to her people. Her time with the Druids was over. The order was decimated in any case, all of its members dead save for Seersha and herself, and there was no firm guarantee that Seersha would recover. It was a grim thing to say, but he believed Aphenglow should be realistic about how matters stood.

When he had finished, he told her again how sorry he was about both Arling and Cymrian. She knew what he was feeling. With Jera and his brother gone, he was left with Aphen and her mother as his only family, and quite naturally he wanted to keep both with him. He was uncertain, at this point, how he would do as King, and it would help to have Aphen, in particular, there to advise him.

In fact, he confided, he had been thinking of asking her to consider becoming a member of the High Council.

She left him more convinced than ever that staying in Arborlon was the right thing to do. But when she returned to her cottage-the one that once had seemed so welcoming and safe, filled with Arling's presence and the warmth and closeness the sisters had shared during the year she had been researching the Elven histories-she encountered an oppressive emptiness and silence, and wondered how she would ever manage to fill it again.

She was just about to fix herself something to eat when there was a knock on the door. When she opened it, Woostra was standing there.

"Seersha told me you don't intend to come back to Paranor," the scribe announced without preamble. He was nervous and fidgety, and his white hair was a wild tangle. "I wanted to hear it from you."

"Come in," she said, stepping back. "We can discuss it."

They sat at the little table where she and Arling had discussed things so often in the past. It was the first time she had spoken to Woostra alone since her return, and it felt immediately uncomfortable.

Perhaps he sensed it, too. "I want you to know I am sorry about Arling. Even if it had to happen, even if there was no choice, it is still a terrible tragedy. I wish it hadn't happened."

"Thank you for saying that."

He nodded curtly. "That said, if you are thinking of leaving Paranor and the Druid order, you are making a terrible mistake." His face was stern. "Have you thought this through?"

"I think so."

"Then you must realize you are betraying every vow and breaking every promise you made when you joined the order. You were never meant to take those promises and vows lightly, and I don't think you did when you took them. Now you seem to have decided otherwise, in spite of the fact that your sister did for your people exactly the same as she would expect you to do. She sacrificed herself for the greater good. Is it possible you don't understand that this is what's being asked of you?"

"I don't know that anything is being asked of me. I'm doing what I believe to be the right thing."