Time for Change

The king places Shelby on his bed. He looks at the female before him and is worried by how white she appears. He closes his eyes, bringing a human to Elvenhome perhaps wasn't the wisest decision he's ever made, but he has no choice. His councilor's are going to kill him on this one, they might even decide to marry him to the bitch his mother has chosen and groomed for him. He's going to have to work fast to make sure that doesn't happen.

"Lord Treren, I have need of your services. Please come to my rooms." He calls for his most trusted councilor and friend. If there is anyone that can help him figure out this mess it'll be Treren.

Treren comes in after knocking politely. The guards at the door had been told to expect his coming and to allow him in and direct him to the bedroom. When Treren enters the bedroom he finds the king pacing back and forth on the far side of the bed. That holds his attention until the king demands to know, "How am I to help her?" When the king gestures to the figure on the bed Treren almost jumps back in shock, he hadn't seen the girl lying there.

"You've tried healing her?" Treren only asks to confirm, Tyler wouldn't have called him else.

"She had a headache earlier, that I healed. Then later a pain brought her to her knees and she passed out. She woke from that, but my healing hadn't helped, she had still passed out. Then she passed out a second time and still hasn't wakened." Tyler explains before starting to pace once more.

"Only truly serious illness are beyond you. Have you delved or -"

"I read her file, she has an incurable disease." The king states, beyond agitated.

"Okay, so we hold a funeral for the girl. I'm sorry Sire but I don't see the need for such agitation on your part. You hate humans more than any of us."

The king sets up the illusion of the augury stones, the first one. "The girl found them next to her in her family's yard." Treren turns white as he reads what they say.

"She took them to the contact point in her area, but by the time I got there the writing had changed." Tyler changes it to show what he saw. Treren reads and closes his eyes. He finds himself sitting on the King's bed to keep from falling.

"How can a dying human save us from dying?" Treren demands and Tyler shrugs putting his hands up to show he has no idea.

"The councilors aren't going to like this," Treren says softly, but Tyler hears it all the same.

Tyler gives a bark of laughter, "I don't like this. I'm supposed to take care of my people and yet it all comes down to the help of a dying human. I need help finding a way to heal her or we are all dead."

"There is only one way, Sire, and you know it. It will be the only way to make her healthy once more, but then you must convince the council of her necessity in our lives. Then you are going to have to convince them to listen to her," Treren says softly.

Tyler shakes his head, "You are forgetting something, Treren, I have to convince the human to help us. I think even above and beyond saving the girl, convincing her to help us will be the hardest part."

Treren looks at the king questioningly, Tyler sighs as he says, "Her family has been hurt by elves financially. The girl herself has been abused badly. Her file is extensive on this and I don't think it contains everything done to her. She was more than a little hostile towards me, even slapped me a couple of times.

"The only way the council will follow her, indeed the only way any of us will follow her lead is if she is my wife. The slaps make for a lot of doubt as to her willingness to accommodate me in this. Then there is the problem of her children."

"You underestimate the problems you face then, Sire. Humans aren't allowed in Elvenhome, you know that law well, since you wrote it upon your coronation. Now you are proposing that not only marrying one, but bringing her children here?" Treren is incredulous.

Tyler sighs, "I will have no choice. If I don't revoke that law and marry her, then the elves are doomed and there will be no more Elvenhome."

"I've read what the stones said Sire, you don't have to convince me. You will have to convince the remaining council members though," Treren cautions.

Tyler nods absently and waves that away as if it was of no moment. Treren thinks about it for a minute and realizes that that was actually true. That would be the easiest of the things that have to be accomplished.

Hesitantly he speaks, "Tyler, do you know of a way to heal her?"

"Only the one that you alluded to earlier. There are no citings of how it will work with a human though. It will heal her, but there is no knowing just how long it will work for. But then humans have incredibly short lives anyway. But I have to have her willingness to try or this won't work at all. And so far she hasn't shown any sign of waking up."

"That I can help you with." Treren gets up and goes to leave.

"Call the council together, if she is willing then I will need to tell them what I plan and if she isn't then they need to know to prepare for what's coming," Tyler's voice is dead. He really doesn't think the human will help them. The contempt she showed him, and the fear, what her family suffered, he really doesn't think she will be willing to endure everything that living with them would entail.

Tyler turns to the female sleeping on his bed. This human he's known for less than an hour and already she's turned his world upside down. She is the key to their survival, but the question is will she help them survive? She has had little enough reason to help them. He has even made things worse with his actions towards her earlier. After reading her file he knows he's made a mistake. Now he just has to figure out if he can redeem that mistake.