The light outside was fading when Anna finally conceded that they wouldn’t be able to find any more pieces of the stone any time soon. They’d only found a few more chunks, and only one more of those fit neatly with the peace they already had. Almost none of the new one’s fit with one another. They did find another piece, a little smaller than the first, that had both kinds of letters on it. Then she started placing the artifacts in her bag wrapped up in her blankets.

  “What are you doing?” Andrew asked.

  “We should take these with us to send to Vulcuo,” Anna said.

  “Won’t your notes be enough for that?”

  Anna shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe not. They should have as much of the original as possible.”

  “Don’t you think we should ask the queen before taking something out of Selasem?” Andrew pointed out.

  Anna paused. Her eyes flicked to the guards for a moment. Then she sighed, nodding. “I’ll be sure to ask her before we leave.”

  Andrew nodded. “Right. Well, I assume her interrogation of Sheil is over. And it’s getting late. We’ll probably want to get permission to stay the night as well before heading back in the morning.”

  “We could come back tomorrow to try and restore this object more,” Anna said. “I think it was an obelisk of some sort. See how the—”

  “I don’t think Jarnvaror can fly back with us and an entire stone obelisk,” Andrew interrupted.

  “Depends on the size,” Peter said.

  “Either way, that’s a conversation to have after talking to the queen,” Andrew said.

  The guards escorted them back out of the cave. Most of the queen’s retinue was still gathered on the fountain plaza, though Lady Sheil was no where to be seen. Queen Talitha sat at the edge of the fountain, under the leaves of the tree. Without any Wisps nearby, the leaves looked dull and gray. The Selasi queen seemed to be lost in thought until she noticed them coming. She smiled and beaconed them over. “Perfect timing,” she said.

  “Where’s the mage?” Andrew asked.

  “Under guard down there,” the queen replied, pointing down the cliff. “I was just about to send for you three.”

  Andrew glanced around at the disgruntled looks of most of her advisors. He wondered if they were upset by what Sheil had told them or if they didn’t approve of their queen’s decision. “We are at your service,” he managed.

  “Thank you,” Queen Talitha said. “Because I have a favor to ask of you all.”

  “What kind of favor?” Peter asked before Andrew could respond.

  The queen leaned forward and folded her hands. She closed her eyes for a moment before answering. “This situation is getting very complicated. The only parts of your story and hers that lined up was that you encountered her once before in the crimson wood, and that you work for the Grealish King and Queen.”

  “I see,” Andrew said. “And what are your thoughts?”

  “I think you three are very honest,” Talitha said, leaning back. “I don’t get the impression of dishonesty from any of you. Our elvish friend included.”

  Andrew managed to hold his tongue, but both Anna and Peter burst out. “What?”

  The queen raised her hands for silence. “As my advisors insist on reminding me, Grealand has never been good about controlling the bandits and highway men along the border. It’s an incompetence that borders on malice. Perhaps they have other issues stealing their focus, like the Mottled in the north, but my people cannot ignore it outright. And with the Wisps seeming to come from over the border so exclusively… well, it’s hard to trust any official of Grealand.”

  Andrew kept his face as stony as he could. He didn’t turn to face either of his companions, though he was sure their frustration would show through. “You mentioned a favor?” he recalled.

  Talitha nodded. “You three seem very honest, and I’m convinced you really believe in your mission. Maybe you’re a bit na?ve. Or maybe you understand things better than the Elf. I can’t say from here. But I believe you three say what you really believe. And that is vital for beginning negotiations.”

  “So you are interested in sending a diplomate to work on this problem with the Wisps?” Andrew asked.

  “No,” Talitha said. “I’d rather go myself.” Andrew felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders, but the queen went on. “I would like to meet the king and queen you serve personally. I know they’re young, even younger than me. It takes a strong will to avoid manipulation in the role of leadership.” Her eyes flickered for a moment to her advisors. “I want to know if my counterparts really have that.”

  “I’m sure they would be happy to meet you,” Andrew said.

  Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

  “Excellent,” Talitha said. “Because there’s more. You mentioned talking to a soldier of Ryukyuu who originally proposed the alliance for solving our mutual Wisp problems. It would be unfair if we excluded the Ryukyuujin all together. If possible, I would like their king to come as well, and that soldier if possible. I’d like to meet him.”

  Andrew nodded. “You would like us to carry this message?” Andrew said.

  The queen nodded. “I think you’re correct that our nations will need to work together to solve this problem. Especially if you’re also correct that the Wisps need help and are not monsters.”

  Andrew bowed his head. “We are grateful for your trust in us. What is it exactly you’d like to tell the king and queen?”

  Talitha thought for a moment. “Just what we’ve said so far, I think. Oh, and if they haven’t already decided on a meeting time with the Ryukyuujin, we could convene during the tournament at Bora. That’s only a month or so away, right?” she asked Ashon. The old mage nodded, and Talitha turned back to Andrew. “Warriors from all three nations attend it regularly. It may be good for the people’s moral.”

  “I’ve been hoping we could go to that,” Peter said.

  “Well, that makes it a good time for you as well. Hopefully the Grealish royalty agrees.” The queen rose from her position sitting at the edge of the fountain. “I’ll get all of this in writing for you as well. Make everything official. I assume you would prefer to stay the night here, rather than flying?”

  “Yes, we’d appreciate that.” Andrew said, bowing his head again.

  “Excuse me,” Anna said. “We were also wondering about some of what we found in the ruins. We discovered something that could… well I think it will be important in learning more about the Wisps.”

  “Oh?” Queen Talitha said. “What’s that?”

  “Shards of stone that have writing using our alphabet, but not our language,” Anna said, carefully removing a medium sized stone from her bag. “It may be the key to learning High Elvish.”

  Talitha’s eyebrows shot up and she walked over to the trio. “Fascinating,” she said, examining the stone.

  “I have more in the bag,” Anna said. “Not nearly the whole thing, of course, but the pieces we were able to find.”

  Queen Talitha handed the stone back to Anna. “I’m assuming you would like to take them with you for further study.”

  Anna nodded. “It may be useful to have the genuine artefact over just my notes.”

  “Of course it would,” the queen replied, nodding her head in agreement as well. “I should have some workers excavate this cavern looking for the rest of the… obelisk, you said it was?”

  “Your excellency, such ruins should be considered property of Selasem,” one of her advisors said. “We shouldn’t just hand them out to any interested party.”

  The queen looked back at the advisor. “Well, this can be a sign of good faith for future negotiations about the Wisp issue.”

  The advisor backed down, but Ashon stepped forward with another concern. “It will be difficult to reconstruct the artifact if pieces have been taken away,” he said.

  “Good point,” the queen said, looking more thoughtful. “In that case,” she turned to Anna. “This may work best. Ashon, you examine one of the pieces tonight to make a duplicate. You take the original of that piece, and we’ll use the rest to reconstruct the obelisk as best we can before the tournament, or whenever the final date of the meeting is. When next we meet, we’ll bring you all the information we’ve found. Sound fair?”

  Anna nodded. Queen Talitha grinned, then turned to her court and ordered them to begin setting up camp among the trees at the base of the cliff.

  “I suppose we should set up our camp along with them,” Andrew said to his companions.

  “Before you do,” the queen said, her tone lower and expression more serious. “There is something else. It won’t be in the letter to your king and queen.”

  “What about your advisors?” Andrew asked.

  “I’ll inform the ones I trust most, but for now, this is for your ears only, to take directly to the Grealish king and queen. Not the chancellor, not the archmage, and not even their mother, just to be safe. Neither to anyone else. I need your word on that.”

  Andrew resisted the urge to look to his companions for confirmation. He took in a breath, then nodded. “You have mine, at least,” Andrew said. “We’ll make sure to give it directly to them.”

  The queen seemed to relax a little bit, then turned to the other two. They agreed as well, and she let out a sigh. “Okay,” she said. “This is a hunch of mine after talking with the Elf Sheil and you… you mentioned a spy somewhere in your capital, yes?”

  “Yeah,” Andrew said, suddenly alert. “Did she say who it is?”

  “Not quite,” Talitha replied. “She mentioned a ‘him’ and it wasn’t this Zech fellow you mentioned. She did confirm that much at least.”

  “Well, yeah, Zech’s not in Woadrok,” Peter said.

  The queen shook her head. “It’s not just that. Mentioning Zech made her uncomfortable. But this other character, this ‘him’ of hers… She spoke about him with a sort of reverence. I don’t know for sure if he’s the one in the capitol. But…”

  “Your hunch is that ‘he’ is,” Andrew finished.

  Talitha nodded. “Yes. I don’t think you have a spy in your court. I think their organization is just tied up with it.”

  “What does that mean for us though?” Peter asked.

  “That we have to be a lot more careful,” Andrew said. “The Wisp Stealers are more powerful than we’ve been thinking. At least, they could be.”

  “You didn’t want us telling Chancelor Daniel or Sol… you think it’s one of them?” Anna gasped.

  The queen shrugged. “I don’t know them. I couldn’t say. If not, it’s someone who’s been their long enough to avoid their suspicion or otherwise have their trust, though. And what it means for me is that I think your Grealish court is divided between people like you, who may be honest and trying your best, and others who are… well exactly what my court believes.”

  “We should take Sheil back with us,” Andrew said, thinking aloud. “We may be able to tell who it is by her reactions.”

  “Smart, but I doubt that will work,” the queen said. “Even if you could handle keeping a prisoner throughout the flight there, which I doubt with such a young dragon and inexperienced mage. The most likely way for her to give her partner away is by him freeing her.”

  “So what do we do with her, then?” Andrew asked.

  “We’ll keep her until our meeting with the other countries,” Talitha said. “If you are able to keep the fact that you encountered her at all a secret from all but the king and queen, that would be best.”

  “They can communicate over vast distances,” Anna said. “If she doesn’t check in, they’ll probably know she was captured.”

  The queen nodded. “Then that specific part is out of the question. I’ll mention to the king and queen we’re keeping her in my letter. We’ll interrogate her more, try and discover the identity of her compatriots. If we do, I want your king and queen ready to act.”

  Andrew nodded. “We’ll tell them.”

  “Good. Don’t let me down.” With that, the queen started away. Andrew watched her go, wondering how they’d be able to tell their monarchs about this, and if the young rulers would be able to keep quiet themselves.