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Kirrehan's portal is an awful experience, and leaves Aelys lying prone on the ground of the "workshop". She clutches the card with Maravix inside, holding her sister close. Waiting for the others to come through. Slowly, they begin to do so.
Aelys lifts herself off the floor, dusting off her admittedly raggedy outfit. There's not much she can do to make herself presentable in this form, but she doesn't want to risk offending the god who's apparently been keeping an eye on them since… before all of this started.
At this, Aelys's thoughts begin to race. Voltaire had gone through the copper legion trials at the same time as them. None of the Golden Sentinels had even had their sigils until after the first exam. What, precisely, was Kirrehan doing there? Did he know something was going to happen?
Finally, the portal overhead closes as the last of Aelys's friends and traveling companions enter the workshop. She does a quick scan of them all, before she realizes. Someone's missing.
Eralan is missing.
"Synnove," Aelys's voice cracks across the room. "Where is Sal?"
Xilyreon creeps closer to the front of their shared mind.
The Elgariis has abandoned us …
He would not have simply abandoned us. Something must have happened.
"Aelys," Synnove starts, and Aelys becomes afraid, because she can see that shadows of tears start to darken Synnove's face. Aelys whips around to face Kirrehan, an accusation resting behind her lips, when Synnove says, "Aelys, he went with Bathriel. He went back to Üthevhenan."
The Elgariis has abandoned us!
The wisps of Xilyreon's magic start to twist over Aelys's hands. She turns back to face Synnove, who's already crossing the room, Katari at her heels. "Aelys, it was his choice. He said - he said if things were getting as bad as rumored, he was worried about his dad."
Aelys drops the card holding Maravix.
Synnove stops right in front of Aelys, grabbing Aelys's hands with both Synnove's own. As she does so, Aelys's mouth begins to stretch.
"Why would he go without telling us?" The Herald of Endings asks, anger and sorrow intermingled.
Synnove, staring without fear as she always does, replies. "I think he could only go without telling you. If he had tried to tell you and you had asked him to stay, I think he would've. So he couldn't risk it. I'm sorry, Aelys, I really am. But I couldn't stop him. It wouldn't have been right."
This is why he refused the seat. He was already planning on leaving.
The Herald grips Synnove's hands with its claws, and knows it is drawing blood. It does not care.
Synnove lowers her voice to a whisper and leans in close. "He gave me a message for you, Aelys. He said to tell you that you'll always be his queen."
A low, mournful hum resonates in the Herald's chest, and in their mind:
He wouldn't say that unless he thought he wasn't coming back. He thinks they'll kill him. I won't let them, Xilyreon. I want him back.
The witchbreed can be redirected towards Üthevhenan.
Do it. I want him back. No matter the cost.
Interesting. You would sacrifice the people you have fought so hard to keep from me, for this one life?
Yes. He cannot earn his seat so far from us.
No, he cannot. He has much to answer for. It will be done.
And so the terrible decision is made. The Herald shrinks slightly, Xilyreon's magic receding. Synnove wraps Aelys in a hug. "He'll come back to us. I'm sure we haven't seen the last of him."
Sighing into the embrace, Aelys steels herself before stepping back. She bends down to retrieve her sister's prison. Worrying the card in her hands, Aelys looks up locking eyes with Katari, her Endbringer. She remembers Sal's answer, when she asked her question. About whether or not she could make her friends witchbreed as a last resort. He'd said yes, but she can't do that to him intentionally. It wouldn't be right.
Avoid his death, Xilyreon, at all costs. My parents as well, if you can.
As you wish.