As the sun rose over the lake, the interior of Lord Valerius's mansion was a chaotic scene of silk and sandalwood perfume.
"Adara, stay still!" exclaimed Lyra, the eldest sister, as she tried to adjust a silver headpiece in the young woman's hair. "If you keep leaping around like a deer, you'll look like a wild beast of the forest instead of a lady of the court."
"I just don't understand why all this weight," protested Adara, glancing sideways at her other sister, Elowen, who already looked perfect in her green chiffon gown. "It's just a ceremony. I've lived a hundred years. I'm still me."
Their mother, Lady Elara, entered the room. Her face, though beautiful, reflected a shadow of weariness that Adara did not miss. She approached her younger daughter and took her hands with an almost desperate tenderness.
"It's not just a ceremony, my child," her mother whispered. Today the world will look at you differently. Promise me that, no matter what happens, you'll remember who you are beneath all this silk.
From the doorway, her younger brother, Kael, barely forty years old, stared at her, wide-eyed.
"Adara, is it true that the humans on the council can move mountains with their minds?" he asked innocently.
"That's what they say, Kael. But today we'll see if they're as impressive as the books describe," Adara replied with a mischievous smile, trying to ease the tension she felt emanating from her mother.
In the Crystal Palace: Shadows of Prophecy
Meanwhile, atop the castle's tallest tower, the atmosphere was radically different. King Theron paced back and forth before an obsidian table. Lord Valerius, Adara's father, stood as rigid as a pillar.
"The omens don't lie, Valerius," the King said gravely. The power Adara holds is not merely elven magic. It is something... abysmal. Something we haven't seen since the First Era. If that power awakens today, during the talent test, the balance of the six kingdoms will shatter.
"She is only a child, Your Majesty," Valerius replied, though his voice faltered. "We can seal her essence a little longer."
"You can't hide the sun with your hand," the King declared. "If a high-born human chooses her in a political marriage, we will be handing the key to our destruction or our salvation to a foreign race. The prophecy says she will bring a 'sea of red tears.' We must decide whether we will protect her... or whether we must contain her before it's too late." But Your Majesty is my daughter, my child.
King Valerius: I'm not telling you this as your King, but as your best friend. You must make a decision. I will keep my promise and respect your decision. After five minutes, which seemed like hours, Valerius made his decision.
Valerius: Well then, let fate take its course. I am incapable of harming an innocent person, and even worse, my own daughter.