Chapter Eighteen
Chosen
Paloda stood within the Meeting Glade of Melaquenya. Bilrugo clung to her hand with a chubby fist. This was her young son’s first visit to the Light Elves’ wood. She had been forced to leave him behind in Dwarvenhome in the past, when he had been too young to travel.
She looked down at him with a reassuring smile. He had been well behaved—so far. Some of the tension left his earnest blue eyes as he smiled back. She reached down to smooth his tousled dark hair.
Hilgur stood beside them without noticing the exchange. Paloda suspected he sensed the anxious atmosphere of the glade, which was packed to full capacity and filled with muttering Elvish voices. She was glad their status as emissaries gave them a position near the front. Otherwise, she would have never hav
