The elf flinched as if someone had hit him. “Died! She is dead? When? What happened?”

“Last spring,” Kieri said. “Not long after our wedding.” He told it as concisely as he could, ending with “several elves, including Arian’s father, were killed defending the Lady.” He paused, startled by the elf’s shift of expression. Was that grief? Tears in those strange eyes? The elf said nothing; Kieri went on. When he finished, he said, “I thought all elves would have known.”

“So … that was why I could not reach the elfane taig…”

“That was gnomes,” Arian said. “The Lady gave up the elfane taig; the gnomes will have destroyed the pattern there, I’m sure.”

“She—I never thought she would do that!” The elf looked more closely at Arian.

“You spoke of a reason why you came,” Kieri said. “Would it be related to your visit to Fin Panir?”

“You have heard about that?”

“Yes, but no details other than you wanted the Marshal-General to waken the sleeping magelords.”

“It is necessary. We must close the rock, and we cannot while they are there. The magery that holds them prevents it.”

“And you think someone here can do it?” Kieri asked. “Why?”

“Not you alone, perhaps. As I sense the spells, they were woven of multiple mageries: elven and human, and of the human, both mageborn and something … other. As you are half-elven, you must have at least two of these mageries. And I was told you know a mageborn in Tsaia—”

“Yes,” Kieri said. “But she owes allegiance to Tsaia’s king, not to me. I cannot command her. And without knowing how a spell was contrived—”

“It must be done!” the elf said, his voice rising. “The Eldest has told us it is the only way to keep iynisin from more destruction.”

“Eldest?” Arian asked. “An Elder other than Sinyi or rockfolk?”

The elf stared at her. “I cannot say,” he said after a moment.

“An Elder with whom one might touch tongues?” she said. “An Elder who values wisdom?”

“You know…” The elf looked at Kieri, then back to Arian. “You both know. Have you—?”

“Yes,” Kieri said.

“Then you must—at once—you must try—”

“No,” Kieri said sharply enough that the elf stepped back a pace. “No, not at once. What you tell me suggests great risk. A trifold magery, or even more, to be unwoven at a distance—”

“You must come; I will take you through the pattern, both of you—”