“Elyon is here in person!?” shouted Anne, bursting into the command tent.

Anne and Eva had already left the camp when Elyon arrived, and a soldier had to be sent to chase them down, which is why they were arriving slightly late to the meeting.

At Anne’s outburst, Corvina, Sebastian, Prince Elyon, Agis, and Ylyndar all stopped what they were doing to stare at Anne.

“Um… I mean…” said Anne, sheepishly rubbing the back of her head with embarrassment. “Welcome, Prince Elyon, it’s an honor to finally meet you in person.”

While Anne was babbling, Eva quietly slipped in behind her.

The command tent was a bit of a cluttered mess, which was part of why they hadn’t been using it for meetings very often. But it at least had a big conference table in the middle of the space, with an oversized map of the continent on it, so at least it seemed like a vaguely official enough location to host an important guest.

Almost everyone was seated around the conference table, except for Agis, who was instead sitting on a bed in the far corner, his knees pulled up to his chest. He was clearly brooding. Possibly sulking, even.

What’s that about? wondered Anne. Agis always acted kind of weird when talking about the other elf princes, but this was a new extreme.

Prince Elyon, who was sitting at the head of the conference table, stood up and gave a shallow bow. “Greetings, Saintess Anne Clearshot. I am the one who is honored by your presence, my sister.”

Elyon had said he hated schemers, but obviously he was no stranger to subtle social maneuvering. Anne Clearshot, he had said. Not Coris. It was a clear statement, claiming the Saintess as an elven royal.

“Please, sit with us,” said Elyon, gesturing to a chair next to him. Ylyndar actually stood up and moved over a seat in order to make room for her.

Another clear statement. This wasn’t his domain, but he was taking command of the situation anyway.

Anne glanced at Corvina, who demurely looked away. So she wasn’t going to challenge his assertion of authority.

Well… she must have a good reason. And the rebel army camp was at least partially supported by elven funds and soldiers. So in a way, Elyon did have as much claim to command as anyone else present. Except possibly Agis, who was the official commander of the rebel army. But he seemed to be busy sulking in a corner.

Was it because Elyon was older? But Agis didn’t seem like the type to care that much about seniority.

As Anne made her way over to the offered seat, she had to dodge various bits of debris on the ground—discarded clothes, pieces of a broken bow, random crates. Agis, as the head of the rebel army, generally used the tent as his own bedroom, which was the main reason why it was so messy.

Anne flashed everyone a wan smile before taking her seat. Elyon sat back down after she was seated. Eva stood behind her, and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder.

Anne wasn’t sure how reassuring she found it, but it was nice of Eva to try to be supportive.

Elyon turned to Corvina. “As I was saying before, I am sympathetic to Prince Sebastian’s plight, and I am not saying that I doubt my gifted sister’s oracular abilities. I simply do not see how this could be the most straightforward solution to the threat on his life.”

“It’s not just his life,” said Corvina. Her voice was calm and she was smiling, but Anne knew Corvina well enough by now to sense the slight edge of exasperation. “The lives of every elf in the Sacred Forest might hang in the balance. If the Emperor found a way to destroy the barrier—“

“Which, as I have already told you, is impossible,” said Elyon. “The barrier that protects the Sacred Forest is not physical in nature and cannot be destroyed by human weapons.”

“And, as I’ve already told you,” said Corvina. “The Emperor is searching for an alchemical means of destroying the barrier. I know because… well, I was originally in charge of the project. I’ve put a stop to it for now, but I can only stall things for so long. Eventually my father will go around me to solve the problem on his own and I may not be able to stop him.”

Elyon smiled slightly. “You openly admit to participating in a plot to destroy my home. And you wonder why I hesitate to trust you?”

It was an odd experience listening to Prince Elyon speak. Based solely on appearances—with his tidy hair, his large glasses, and his plain features—he wouldn’t have looked out of place as a middle-manager back in Anne’s world. And yet, he spoke with the self-confident authority of a CEO. And yet, he didn’t come across as arrogant, either, not the way, say, Duke Marshal did.

The overall effect was disarming. He was an impenetrable wall, but he was a nice, polite impenetrable wall. Anne really didn’t know what to make of it.

No wonder Corvina was starting to get worked up. “I’m not ashamed to admit who I have been in the past,” she said, her voice starting to show a slight tension. “But after meeting the Saintess, I have had a change of heart. If I had stayed as I was, I am confident in saying that I would have been your most powerful enemy. All I want now is the opportunity to be a powerful ally to you instead. If you could see it in your heart to—”

Elyon raised a hand to stop her.

“We are repeating ourselves,” said Elyon. “We have said as much and more in the letters we’ve exchanged. I came here today hoping you might have some new argument to persuade me or, barring that, that I might be able to persuade you once and for all to give up on this course of action.”

There was a long pause while everyone considered this. What could any of them say that they hadn’t said already?

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“Why do you hate schemers so much?” asked Anne.

Everyone turned to look at her with various expressions of surprise and dismay. Sebastian looked mortified. Corvina looked concerned. Elyon just raised an eyebrow.

Clearly it was impolite to bring it up so directly. But what else was Anne supposed to do?

Anne shrugged. “What? That’s the heart of this, isn’t it? It’s not that you don’t think the threat is real or that you don’t think the plan will work. You just don’t trust Corvina because she’s a schemer.”

Everyone turned to Elyon for his response.

Elyon tapped his fingers on the table as he considered. “There is some truth to what you say, Saintess. Although I wouldn’t say that it’s schemers that I have a problem with, precisely.” Elyon smiled again. His smile was almost imperceptible. Only the corners of his mouth turned up very slightly. “In truth, I have a deep and visceral dislike of liars. You could almost call it a disgust. It is difficult for me to look past.”

“Forgive my impertinence,” said Corvina. “But you operate clandestinely as well, do you not? From what I understand, the elven Royal Guard used to primarily be palace guards, the way the name implies. But under your command you’ve transformed them into an elite strike team, working in secret to damage the imperial army’s infrastructure and supply lines before disappearing back into the forest again.”

“There’s a difference between secrecy and lying,” countered Elyon. “What I employ are tactics, not schemes.”

Corvina stood her ground. “But it would be a disaster for you if your plans were discovered by your enemies ahead of time, wouldn’t it? When I lie it’s primarily for the sake of secrecy and misdirection. You could think of what I do as a form of social tactics.”

Elyon tapped his fingers on the table again. “Perhaps you are right. But it is not always so easy to overturn the prickings of your conscience deep in your soul.”

Another moment passed in which no one seemed to know what to day.

“Saintess… No, sister,” Elyon turned to Anne. “Could we perhaps speak for a moment alone?”

Anne looked around the table, but no one seemed to object.

Anne patted Eva’s hand, which was still on her shoulder, twice and then stood up. “You all wait for us here. We’ll just be a moment.”

Anne followed Elyon out of the tent. She had to blink a bit to readjust to the bright afternoon light. When she regained her vision, she noticed that Elyon was watching her intently.

“You are not quite what I expected,” said Elyon.

“Oh, well…” Anne shrugged.

A soldier rushed past them carrying a bunch of firewood in his arms, craning his neck to stare at them as he went by.

They were still in one of the main areas of the camp so it wasn’t exactly private, but it was as close as they were going to get to a one-on-one talk in a crowded army camp.

“First of all, I would like to apologize, sister,” said Elyon. “You carry the royal blood of the elves, and yet you grew up as an abandoned orphan, not knowing your family. By the time we learned of your existence, you had already established your own life and it seemed wrong to disrupt you further… Perhaps that was a mistake.”

Anne shrugged again. “That’s okay,” she said. “I’m not sure I really would have wanted to be elven royalty. And as for family, I had Agis… eventually.”

“Ah, yes, Agis,” said Elyon. Something about his tone was dismissive.

Seriously, what in the world is going on there? thought Anne.

Elyon turned to look back at the entrance of the tent. “Tell me, then. This Lady Corvina. You truly trust her?”

“With all my heart.” Anne smiled and placed her hands on her chest as she said this. “Also, honestly, I think you of all people should be sympathetic to her.”

Elyon raised an eyebrow again. “What do you mean?”

“I’ve asked Agis a lot of questions about you in the past week, trying to understand your motivations,” said Anne, although it had been hard to get many straight answers out of him. He was just so weird about anything to do with the other princes. Still, that mystery could wait for later.

“The real reason you chose to take over as the commander of the Royal Guard was to help our half-siblings, wasn’t it?” continued Anne. “King Theodas was exploiting them, using them as servants and canon fodder, treating them as lesser beings. You couldn’t stand to see that kind of injustice, so you took command and moved the Royal Guard out of the palace, employing all our half-siblings somewhere where they could be away from our father, right?”

Elyon smiled again. This smile reached a little closer to his eyes. “I’ll admit you show some insight into the workings of the heart,” said Elyon. “But what does this have to do with Lady Corvina?”

“Lady Corvina was in the exact same situation,” said Anne. “She’s the bastard child of the Emperor and for years he has exploited her and used her as his tool to further his own goals, but he doesn’t care about her. If you knew some of the things she’s been through… Anyway, she’s just trying to break away from her father’s control and do something good in the process. Does she not deserve the same freedom as our siblings do? If not, why not? Just because she’s not an elf?”

“Hmm…” said Elyon. He was staring back at the tent again. Anne couldn’t tell if he’d been persuaded or not.

“Also, also, did you see that bandage on her chest?” asked Anne.

“Of course, it’s rather hard to miss,” responded Elyon.

“She got that wound saving me from an assassin,” said Anne.

Elyon raised both of his eyebrows this time. “Is that right?” he asked.

“Yeah,” said Anne. “I was sort of… lightly kidnapped and Corvina tracked us down and fought off the assailant.”

“I see…” Elyon stood thinking silently a moment longer. Then suddenly he nodded his head. “Alright.”

“You’ll do it?” said Anne, excitedly, but Elyon was already striding purposefully back towards the tent and Anne had to scramble after him to keep up.

Once back in the tent, Elyon gracefully dodged the floor clutter and went right up to Prince Sebastian’s seat. With Prince Sebastian seated, Elyon really towered over him. Sebastian hadn’t seemed very happy the whole time this discussion was going on, but now he looked downright frightened.

“Prince Sebastian,” said Elyon. “You are in agreement with this plan?”

“Um… yeah,” said Sebastian, nodding frantically. “Yeah, yeah I am.”

Elyon cocked his head to one side. “Are you nervous?”

Sebastian didn’t speak for a moment. Elyon watched him patiently.

“A bit…” admitted Sebastian.

Elyon knelt on one knee in front of him, and took one of Sebastian’s hands in his own. “Prince Sebastian Wyernwolf of the Wyernwolf Empire,” said Elyon, his gaze lowered respectfully. “I swear by the ancient heart of the woods and by all my ancestors before me that as long as you remain in my custody, no harm shall come to you.”

“O-oh…” said Sebastian, blushing slightly. “Thank you…”

Corvina stood up quickly, her chair clattering away behind her. “Does this mean you agree to the plan?” asked Corvina.

Elyon stood up, carefully brushing off his trousers where they had touched the floor. “Yes,” he said. “I agree to the plan.”

After a moment of stunned silence in which everyone tried to reorient themselves, Corvina spoke again. “Will you take Sebastian with you into the forest right away, then?”

Elyon shook his head. “No,” he said. “You all must meet me in the forest, tomorrow afternoon. Just those of you in this room now. Do not bring anyone else. We will take him then.”

“Where in the forest?” asked Corvina, confused. “What of the barrier? How will we find you?”

“Don’t worry,” said Elyon. “The forest itself will guide you to us. Enter the forest from any location, and begin walking in a direction that you believe will take you towards the center. Walk in that same direction for half of an hour.”

“That’s it?” asked Corvina.

“That’s it,” said Elyon.

“How do we know that will work?” asked Corvina.

“It will work.” Agis chimed in from his spot in the corner.

Elyon nodded to Agis and Agis grumbled miserably, pulling his legs tighter to his chest.

Seriously, what the fuck, thought Anne.

“Alright, we will do that, then,” said Corvina, although she still seemed confused.

“Tomorrow, then,” said Elyon, nodding once to the rest of them before turning to leave.

Agis seemed to relax somewhat with Elyon out of the room. I am really going to have to have a serious talk with Agis about this, thought Anne.