announced the gruff veteran, clasping Kith-Kanan"s hand before he embarked on the long march.
"You"ve earned it," said the elf sincerely. For a long time, he watched the receding column of stocky figures until it disappeared into the mists to the south.
Sithas journeyed to the plains once more, two months after the great storm. He came to get his son, to bring him home. Vanesti would live, though barring a miracle, he would never stand on his own legs.
The twins stood before the ruins of Sithelbec. The city was a blackened patch of earth, a chaotic jumble of charred timbers and broken, twisted stone.
The Speaker of the Stars met his brother"s eyes.
"Tamanier Ambrodel has gone to Daltigoth. He, together with an amba.s.sador from Thorbardina Hylar amba.s.sadorwill arrange a treaty. We will see the swords sheathed once and for all."
"Those swords that remain," said Kith quietly. He thought of Parnigar and Kencathedrusand Suzineand all the others who had perished in the course of this war.
"This war has changed many thingsperhaps everything," observed Sithas quietly.
Hermathya told me! his mind screamed silently. He wanted to accuse his brother, to set this discussion on the solid ground of truth, but he couldn"t.
Kith nodded, silent.
These lands, Sithas thought, with a look at the wreckage around him. Were they worth clinging to? They had been held at a cost in lives that was beyond measuring. Yet what had they won?
Humans would never be totally banished from the western lands, the Speaker knew.
Kith-Kanan would certainly allow those who had fought for his cause to remain. And the elves who had opposed themwhat would be their fate? Permanent banishment? Sithas didn"t want to think of further strife, further suffering inflicted upon his people. Yet at the same time, he was opposed to further changes.
There was only one way now to preserve the purity of Silvanesti. Just as the infected limb of a diseased person must be removed to save the whole, so must the infected society of his nation be cut away to preserve the sanct.i.ty of Silvanesti.
"I"m granting you the lands extending from here to the west," announced Sithas firmly. "They are no longer part of Silvanesti; You may do with them as you like."
"I have thought about this," replied Kith, his voice a match for his brother"s strength.
His words surprised Sithas, for he had thought his announcement would be unantic.i.p.ated.
Yet Kith-Kanan, too, seemed to sense that they were no longer part of the same world.
"I will build my new capital to the west, among the forested hills." Qualinesti, he thought, though he didn"t say the name aloud. To himself, he vowed that it would be a land of free elves, a place that would never go to war for the sake of some mistaken purity.
As the two brothers parted, the clouds remained leaden over the storm-lashed plains.
The elves, once one nation, henceforth became two.