Grace for The Fallen

Call the Council

Daetheia Grace

Lefal was waiting for me in the same spot that I had left her in. It was so different, seeing her now. I could not only see her, but I could see her thoughts, her near-future, her past. I could hear her breathing and her heartbeat. And I could see all who were close to her and had died. As well as the number of people she had killed. I would have to learn to block my gifts. It felt like such an invasion of privacy.

She turned her head as I walked up behind her. Her eyes were wide, but she had a smile on her face.

"I see you made it out," she didn't sound like she was joking, "And I see you have received your gifts. One of them must have something to do with stealth. Nobody has ever gotten so close to me without me hearing them."

"Probably hunting," I murmured through clenched teeth. I was still trying to block out all the images, thoughts and noises coming from all around The Valley. I ground my teeth and closed my eyes, my hands covering my ears as if that would help. As if it would block out the pain of so many.

"Focus on my voice," Lefal's soft voice splashed over me like cool rain on a hot day, "Focus on one thing at a time. Try to block the noise out."

I gritted my teeth and tried to do as she said. I blocked out everything around me and focused on her, on her voice. I let out a breath. Then another. And finally, the voices in my head faded into silence. I breathed a shaky breath of relief, and slowly opened my eyes. I looked over a Lefal, who was looking at me with worry and something else that I couldn't quite identify in her gaze.

"What was that?" I croaked out. My tongue was dry.

"That," she responded, "Was what happens when you don't know how to control your gifts. Tell me, Daetheia, what gifts do you have? Telepathy? Future-telling? Emotion-reading?"

"Yes, yes and no," I responded, "My weaker gifts are cholokinesis, panmnesia, self-duplication, hunting, lycanthropy and advanced senses and my stronger gifts are telepathy, swordsmanship, photokinesis, future-telling as well as, well, Death. And the Skrul gave me another gift, but I'm not sure what that one is yet." I kept my gaze on the ground, not ready to face Lefal's reaction.

"Twelve?" She sounded like she was choking, and I looked up to see her face filled with disbelief and awe. "You have twelve gifts?" I simply nodded in confirmation. She covered her mouth with a hand. "Do you know what this means, Daetheia?" I nodded.

"It means that I'm the Elf of the prophecy," I replied, somewhat nervously. I had no idea how the Elves would react when a newcomer just waltzed in, claiming to be the Elf of the prophecy. It was an outrageous claim. But I shouldn't have been worried. Laughter brought my head up from where I had been staring at the floor, and I looked up to see Lefal smiling like the weight of the world had been removed from her shoulders.

"Daetheia, that's fantastic!" She exclaimed, her eyes shining, "You don't know how long we've been waiting for you to arrive. And now you're finally here! The Elf of the prophecy!" She grinned widely again, and I was slightly disconcerted to see the normally straight-faced Elf Leader so happy. This must be something very important to them to make her so happy. Her smile was so infectious that I began to smile as well.

"The Skrul told me that I must ask you for the real version of what happened between the humans and the Elves. He told me to pay special attention to the Verchon's leader's background." Ugh, humans. Wait, what? I was confused as to where I had gotten those thoughts from. I didn't hate humans. Right?

"The Skrul helped you?" Lefal asked, surprise evident in her tone.

"Yes," I replied, confused, "Is that not normal?"

"No, it's not. The Skrul isn't the most helpful being."

"Probably because no one helps him," I muttered.

"We stay away from him for a reason, Daetheia," Lefal cautioned, "There are things about the Skrul that you don't know. His past would give you nightmares. He is not a creature that you would want to spend your time with. He's a special type of monster." I turned my head back towards the cave. I thought I saw a flash of black eyes, but I could have been mistaken. I turned back to Lefal and shrugged.

"He was nice to me. I'll be nice to him. Maybe we'll start seeing a difference." I replied. Lefal eyed me disbelievingly but dropped it.

"Come on," she started walking back down the path, "I will call a meeting of the council. We can discuss everything there." I nodded and followed her.

I looked over the edge of the mountain and sighed. The walk down didn't look any easier than the walk up.

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"Call the council to the pavilion. Tell them it's urgent." The Elf that Lefal was talking to nodded quickly and ran off down the road. The constant buzzing of thoughts flying around Elf's heads didn't bother me anymore. It had been a very long walk down the mountain, and Lefal had taught me to control my abilities somewhat. We continued along another path and I took off my shoes, wanting to feel the cool grass under my feet. Lefal noticed and smiled.

"You are truly becoming an Elf. We always want to feel as close to nature as possible." I nodded, but something else was bugging me.

"And the hating humans thing?" I asked, "I never hated humans but now suddenly I do. Why?" Lefal nodded, like it was a question she got a lot.

"Humans hating Elves and Elves hating humans has become almost... inbred into generations, I guess you could say. Humans and Elves have hated each other so strongly and for so many years that it has become instinct. When a human first hears about an Elf, they hate them. Can they explain why? No. But they hate them anyway. The same is true for Elves, except for us it's when we receive our gifts. That's why you've suddenly started hating humans. But you can decide how much you hate humans. Some Elves have even managed to block it out so that they don't hate them at all. But others, like Theron, embrace it. Tell me," she looked at me, curious, "Do you still care for your human friend that came here with you?" The question caught me by surprise.

"Of course," I answered, "He is my best friend. He's like a part of me. I could never hate Ariston." Lefal nodded.

"I thought so," she murmured, "You two have a strong bond, especially for a human and an Elf. Even when you didn't know you were an Elf, normally you would have had trouble forming bonds with a human. But you and your friend... You're different."

"He's the only human I know that's never hated Elves. Ariston... he's the different one. He's special."

"Well, that's good. I may not have known you long, but I trust your instincts, Daetheia. And I have a special job for Ariston, if he accepts." Lefal nodded to someone in front of us, and I looked up to see that we had made it to the pavilion. It was truly beautiful. I noticed Tony standing in awkward silence with Theron and chuckled a bit. I saw Tony looking at me and waved. He smiled and waved back. Lefal led the council into the pavilion, and I took a deep breath before I followed.

Let's see what this is all about.

-Rebecca Underwood