Last Light #2
He remembered Minuvae very well. She had been devoted to their mother. Serving her for literally an age. But that hadn’t spared her when their mother discovered her singing. Even though that singing was to their mother’s benefit.
“But why?” Finley’s eyes widened.
“The singing… I think it upset her,” Haera said with another helpless gesture. “Our parents–no one actually–speaks of the before times. We left our old culture behind. All that weakness. All that corruption. But maybe… maybe some good things, too.”
Finley’s eyes went unfocused as he gazed blindly towards the stage.
“And now he is playing music again. Odd.” There was a long pause and Rhalyf could almost see Finley’s clever brain working on the problem.
Finally, he refocused on them and asked, “Obviously, if he had done so before in your knowledge, you would have said–”
“Oh, yes, and I can assure you that no one–and I mean no one–has ever seen Uncle like this,” Haera assured him with a sharp laugh.
“Everyone has so many beliefs about Vex.” Finley shook his head. “But the more I learn, the more I’m convinced that no one knows him at all.”
“He likes it that way, I’m sure.” Haera shrugged. “The Kindreth have a saying: May your shadow precede you. And his most certainly does.”
“I just can’t believe the two of you never spoke to him…” Finley then bit his lower lip. “But I’m sure you had your reasons.”
Rhalyf expected his sister to eviscerate Finley and he stiffened, ready to come to Finley’s defense. But he was wrong. Again. Instead, she smiled broadly at the young man and ruffled Finley’s hair this time.
“Maybe we aren’t as brave as you are, Finley,” his sister chuckled. “Or maybe Vex simply doesn’t like us as much as he likes you.”
“I wouldn’t presume to say that he likes me.” Finley pursed his lips. “We have some of the same interests, I suppose. One of them being him.”
Rhalyf glared at his sister when she shot him a devilish grin. He knew she thought he was jealous about Finley’s interest in Vex. He wasn’t. Not exactly anyways. Vex was not like other people. It would be like being jealous of Finley’s interest in magic.
Movement at the other end of the table caught his attention.
“It looks like Aquilan could not keep himself from the dance floor,” Rhalyf said with a genuine smile as the Sun King escorted a giggling human woman out into the throng.
“The Sun King… dances?” Haera laughed again, but this time more of a startled chuckle.
“Oh, yes, he loves to dance, to sing, and play instruments. Anything musical is his passion,” Rhalyf said with a fond smile. Then, more grimly, he added, “He is the exact opposite of everything Kindreth I have ever met.”
“Well, perhaps not,” Finley said, squeezing his arm and tilting his head towards Vex.
Rhalyf sighed.
“You know, if the Kindreth nobility saw this, everyone would be taking up musical instruments,” Haera pointed out.
“Yet he has never chosen to play for us,” Rhalyf pointed out.
“He hasn’t, which likely means that this is one of those situations where we’re risking death hearing Uncle play music. If he sings I am making a quick getaway,” she said with a mock shiver.
“It is too late for that,” Rhalyf responded dryly.
After all, he had fled all the way to the Aravae Empire and Vex had found him here. Had, in fact, always known he had been here. And then Vex had come here. Now, he might be here for Declan or Aquilan or simply a vacation, but Rhalyf was certain his own presence here had influenced Vex.
“Oh, my God!” Finley gasped and half rose from his chair. “That’s–that’s–”
“Declan’s on the dance floor!” Gemma pumped a hand in the air.
As Rhalyf watched, Declan claimed the Sun King in front of everyone, including a gaping Rohannan. Elasha had her hands clasped together in front of her and looked to be… crying? But happy tears. Darcassan stared hard as the two beautiful men moved with unparalleled grace over the dance floor.
And then…
“Oh, oh, oh, and they’re kissing!” Gemma fake swooned. “Mom! Dad! We’ve got to go dance too!”
“You just want a closer look at those two,” Michael chuckled.
“Maybe. A little. Okay, a lot! But still, Cynda just said that they’re going to play our friend’s special song!
” Rhalyf was incredibly pleased she didn’t shout Vex’s name.
But what she said next had him blinking.
“We’ve got to support him! I’m sure he’s so nervous!
” She then looked over her shoulder at them.
“C’mon! He needs to see friendly faces on the dance floor! ”
Haera slowly rose from her crouch. “She thinks our uncle is nervous?”
“I wouldn’t say nervous, but… he’s not looking at the crowd or his groupies. I think this song may mean something to him,” Finley pointed out. “C’mon, let’s get nearer anyways.”
Rhalyf found himself following Finley with Haera at his side.
They reached the dance floor directly after the Bastons.
The kiss between Declan and Aquilan had ceased with the song and Gemma had barreled into them, grabbing both of their hands and began chattering eagerly while her parents shook their heads in amusement.
Aquilan pinked as Gemma said something to him.
Declan pursed his lips, but he was smiling. No flushes on his creamy pale skin.
“How soon is news of that kiss going to get to Vesslan?” Finley asked him.
“Oh, he probably already knows about it,” Rhalyf sighed.
“That’s going to cause trouble,” Finley stated and didn’t ask.
It would, but, truthfully, Vesslan’s meltdown at Aquilan kissing a “human” in Hope would be nothing compared if Vesslan knew the truth, which was that Aquilan was kissing the Night Prince while the Night King serenaded them.
At that moment, Vex strummed the first chord of the song on his guitar. A tremor went through Rhalyf. He put a hand against the center of his chest. He saw that his sister had done the same. The chatter in the room completely died down to absolute silence as Vex began to play.
Magic! Rhalyf realized. But what kind? I don’t recognize this. Could it be the musical magic that Minuvae used?
His gaze shot towards Haera. She gave him a brief nod.
It was the same. But likely far more powerful.
Minuvae’s magic made their gardens more prolific.
What would Vex’s magic do? What did he intend to happen to this audience?
Humanity with their puny mortal lives should have been beneath his notice.
But the closest he’d ever seen his uncle to anyone was to a human, to Finley.
Maybe it will be something good. Some kind of protection spell for these people brave–or stupid–enough to live outside of the dome.
But he shook his head. That was so unlikely as to be fantastical. Yet all his thoughts as to what and why Vex was doing this were blown away as the song took hold. Because he started to see images in his head.
A girl creeping from a hovel in the Under Dark. A Kindreth girl, but dressed in rags and the town she lived in appeared ill-fortified against the dangers of the Under Dark. She carried a single wisp to light her way. There was a sound. Rushing feet. Soft, but there. She turned her head and saw…
Intruders!
The music swelled. The guitar whined. Cynda’s voice rose into a near scream as the Kindreth girl had screamed when she’d seen the monsters racing towards her.
That scream alerted the rest of the town.
Those ragged Kindreth who looked terrified, beaten down, and exhausted.
Cynda’s voice cut off as the girl was cut down.
That scream had been the very last thing she’d done in her very short life.
Finley’s gaze met his. The young man mouthed, “Are you seeing this?”
He was. He was seeing this. Whatever this was.
“Last light! Do you see it? Do you feel it? Last light!” Cynda sang.
And then he saw two very familiar figures: his and Haera’s mother and father!
Only they were young. Very young. And his father’s eyes were not dulled by drugs, but were filled with horror.
His mother wrenched out a blade from its scabbard at her waist. His father attempted to pull her back as she sought to race towards the monsters, to fight them.
“Too many, too many! Not enough strength! It will only lead to agony!” Cynda crooned.
His mother attempted to tear her arm away from his father’s grasp, but he pulled her behind him. His free hand flickered through the air like a blur as he wove a shield that surrounded the both of them and turned them invisible. The horde of monsters rolled forward as they hid.
“And then he was there! Last light in the darkness. Last light in our House. Last light in our eyes!” Cynda called.
Rhalyf expected to see his uncle emerge triumphant in the vision that this song was unspooling in his mind’s eye. But while he was right that a heroic figure suddenly emerged from a slightly larger hovel, it wasn’t Vex. Or it wasn’t Xelroth Vex.
This Kindreth had the Vex ethereal beauty, but there was something in his eyes that Rhalyf had never seen in any of his kin: goodness.
He recognized it, because he had seen it in Aquilan’s eyes the first time that they had met and many times since then.
This silver haired, red-eyed elf reminded him so strongly of Aquilan that he gasped.
His best friend turned and in those blue eyes, Rhalyf knew that the Sun King was seeing this same vision too.
Was everyone?
The humans were staring up at the stage with wide unblinking eyes.
They were swaying with the music’s wild, incessant beat.
Transfixed. Only the elves and Finley seemed aware of the vision, but not overcome by it.
Of course, that must be Vex’s design, but what battle was this?
Why was Vex not singing of one of his many victories?
The Kindreth seemed so pathetic here. On the verge of ruin…
Last Light… oh, this is… oh no…