"It is … or was, Mericlou," Aldrec said sadly.

"A common name, but beautiful nonetheless," the elf lord said, joining his wife with Aldrec following.

"But she's dead," Aldrec rebutted in misery. "She was injured with a weapon that destroys them from the inside out. Surely by now, she's-"

"Come, my son," the maiden said placidly, beckoning Aldrec to her side. "Look and know now."

"Feel," she commanded, guiding her son's hand above Mericlou's left breast. "Feel her heartbeat."

Aldrec's face lit in an inaudible gasp.

"Hear," the maiden commanded, moving Aldrec's hand from above Mericlou's breast to her lips. She leaned in close. "She draws breath."

"It's … impossible!" Aldrec said.

"She believed that you could do the impossible, did she not?" The maiden said with a musical giggle. "We have seen it. We have watched you together for quite some time now. You have been so happy."

"But her memories …" Aldrec began.

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" …are her memories, and hers alone," The elf maiden replied, tracing a sigil between Mericlou's collarbones. Mericlou, twitched, and the maiden took her by the hand.

"Awaken, daughter," she said, lifting Mericlou to her feet, now very much alive, and astonished that she herself was alive.

"I don't believe it!" Skori and Sedriil said in unison.

"I'll be!" Garen remarked.

"By the Divine!" Jenius and Tescadji exclaimed one atop the other.

"Meri!" Noroa and Alaema bellowed. She led the charge as the family pressed together, gathering Mericlou into a group embrace that was saturated with a thrill and joy unparalleled in all the years they had been together. Tescadji and Jenius watched on with mixed awe and satisfaction.

***

"Daughter-in-law?" Mericlou said disbelievingly to Aldrec's mother, once Aldrec had briefly explained recent events.

"Yes, dear one," the maiden said with a smile as gentle as a breeze. "You are his wife, aren't you?"

"Well, yes, but I mean …"

"Am I correct in assuming you do not wish to come with us?" The elf lord asked.

"But … I thought … the prophecy …" Mericlou began, but to this, the maiden laughed gaily.

"You thought that he would be the only one taken, my dear?" She said. "The Divine is neither callous nor cruel, as you'd so think. He knows that love is a bond that can never be broken, as does every race. And he knows that without you, our Aldrecliis would never leave this world a whole elf. His sorrow at leaving you would destroy the very foundation of magic in his soul, and cause him to age and die."




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