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.“Mother? Em? Do you mind coming?”“Not at all,” answered Kate.“I’d like to see an elf, too.” Emily nodded her agreement.As they walked through the forest, the goblin King had Seylin explain to the small group about the proposed treaty and the offer of a bride.Kate was staggered and upset at the thought of what this would mean to Miranda and even more distressed at the thought of bringing home some poor elf girl.It would be worse than when Sable and Irina had come, even worse than her own awful wedding.But there was no sense worrying about what hadn’t happened yet.She couldn’t help feeling that what was about to happen was going to be thrilling.When they came through the double ring of oaks, Kate saw that the elves were already there.The elf lord had brought his entire band with him, even the children.Perhaps, she considered, it was something of an education for them: their first chance to see a real goblin.The elf lord wore a green tunic and cross-gartered breeches.He lacked any sort of emblem that might symbolize his status, and all the other elf men, were dressed as simply as their chief.The elf women wore plain, sleeveless dresses that fitted them closely to the waist and then flared into a full skirt that ended a little below the knee.Their soft hide shoes looked like slippers, and they had no stockings.The women wore their hair long, some with it pulled back and partly braided, but there was not so much as a hairpin among them.They wore no jewelry, no ribbons, and no lace.But they were all so lovely.Why should they care about fashion? They looked even more beautiful because of the simplicity of their clothing.Marak Catspaw and the elf lord met at the center of the circle to read the treaty that Seylin had prepared.Then they walked back toward the small group from the goblin kingdom.Catspaw wore the black shirt and breeches that belonged to the King’s Wife Ceremony, and over it the short black cape painted with golden letters that stood for his kingship.No matter how this meeting ended, he clearly planned to marry tonight.Richard had assembled the elves and elf crosses in a short line for inspection.Seylin carried the book in which elf brides were registered and introduced them one by one.“This is Em, my wife of thirty-one years, a weak elf-human cross from one of the high elvish families,” Seylin said.“She volunteered to come to the goblin kingdom in order to accompany her sister.”“That was brave,” commented the lord quietly.Emily stepped forward, smiling at the tall elf.“Oh, not really,” she assured him cheerfully.“I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.Well, most of them, anyway.And I’m not really elf at all.Marak — the old Marak,” she added, glancing at Marak Catspaw, “always used to say that I was a model human.”“But the registry indicates that she is part elf,” corrected Seylin.“When the test was done, it showed up.”Nir listened courteously but didn’t look at the book.“I have my own test,” he said.“May I?” And he placed his hand on her hair.After a few seconds, the right side of Emily’s face began to shine with a very faint glimmer, but the left side remained unaffected.Seylin watched, fascinated.The elf lord dropped his hand.“Barely elf,” he told Emily, “but no goblin blood.” This last had the sound of a mild compliment, like a consolation prize.“Really?” asked Emily.“Mightn’t there be a little goblin in me? How can you be so sure?”Nir paused and then turned to Seylin.“May I test you just to show her?” he asked politely, and he put his hand on Seylin’s head.Instantly the right half of Seylin’s body glowed brightly, but the left half turned as black as ink.Seylin looked down at his arms with a sigh.The elf lord turned back to the surprised Emily.“You see,” he said, “your husband is a goblin.Powerfully elvish, but goblin nonetheless.He looks like an elf, and some of my people didn’t recognize him, but he knows what he is.”“Yes, I do now,” admitted Seylin, “but when I went out to find your people, I honestly thought I was an elf.”“Your King knew what you were,” remarked the elf lord.“He must have known.” And he glanced at Marak Catspaw with a troubled frown.When he turned back, he was facing Kate, and the frown vanished.“Here’s an elf,” he said, smiling, and Kate felt rather overwhelmed.Although she had long ago gotten used to being called an elf, the term had never had a real meaning for her.It was just an attribute, like being slender or being blond.Now she finally understood.It wasn’t that she was an elf, it was that she was one of the elves, a whole separate people with their own blood and ways.She was just a part of it, a part that had never known before that it was part of anything.“This is Kate,” announced Seylin, “the old King’s Wife and the mother of the new goblin King.”Kate saw the elf wince at these words, and he reached out and took one of her hands in his.He turned it over to reveal the scar from the King’s Wife Ceremony, the long, straight slash glimmering across her small palm.He didn’t study it as a goblin would, he just stood looking down at it, an expression of pained aversion on his face.Kate saw it as he did: a cruel deformity of a beautiful thing, a barbaric savagery.It was the emblem of a slavery to an evil cause.A wasted life, his face said, and another goblin at the end of it.He laid his hand on her head to test her, looking into her eyes.As he did Kate saw a vision.She was in another world, a forest more beautiful than she had ever seen.The sky glowed with a deep blue twilight, and stars hung overhead, as brilliant as colorful jewels.Sweet, haunting music floated on the air.But even as she saw this world, she knew that it was beyond her reach.It was a place that she could never find again.When he removed his hand, the vision faded, and she was in the truce circle once more.Everything that Kate had ever lost burst like a bubble in her mind: Til, her mother, her father, her great aunts, Hallow Hill, Charm, her dog.And then there was Marak, eyes closed, face stern, lying in the goblin Kings’ crypt.Maybe he still walked in some world beyond hers, but she didn’t know how to reach him.Lost.Hopelessly lost.He was gone from her, too.She could see his dead face before her eyes as the lovely melody drifted away.The elf lord turned to Seylin.“An elf cross, but more powerful than most of the members of my camp,” he commented, and then stopped short as she burst into tears.“Kate!” cried Emily, coming to hug her, and she put her head on Emily’s shoulder and wailed with grief.Seylin stared at her, astonished, and the goblin King looked stunned.“What did you do?” demanded Catspaw angrily.“What kind of magic was that?”“I don’t know,” said the elf, at a loss.“I tested her.I don’t know why it would make her cry.”“A test!” exclaimed the goblin in a fury.“Do you expect me to believe that? I’d like to see what you would do if I did that to one of your people!”“I’m sure you’ll have your chance,” murmured Nir bitterly.“It may be an aspect of elf healing,” suggested Seylin, “something only an elf could do for her
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