“Anything A'chrya, you know that. You have only to ask,” she said, fear beginning to creep in around the edges of her consciousness. “Why do I think…this sounds like a goodbye…?”
“It may be, dark flower, it may be,” Taeben said. “Something I have been working on for a very long time is about to come to a most unpleasant end, and I would not be who I am if I didn’t try to fix that situation.” He ran a hand through his white hair and pulled it up into his usual ponytail just at the nape of his neck and then rubbed his chin absently. “I have to go away again, and I cannot guarantee that I will return to you this time.” Ellie stared at him in disbelief. “I need you to collect my journals from my home in Alynatalos, and then burn them, forgetting all about me. Will you do that for me?”
“NO!” she shouted, not caring that his face hardened into an angry mask. “No, A'chrya, I will not do that. You are without question the most brilliant wizard of any age, and I will not destroy all that you have committed to paper. It is sacrilege! It is the destruction of priceless work!” She took a step back from him, her eyes blazing with anger. “I will do anything else for you, A'chrya, but I cannot do that.”
“Elspethe.” Taeben’s face darkened as he spoke. “You will do this for me. I cannot risk my work falling into the hands of those simpering idiots in the Wizard’s Guild in Alynatalos, nor can I risk my enemies undoing my life’s work!” His voice was still only a whisper, but the intensity of his gaze set a wildfire alight behind his words. “When I took you on, did you not take a blood oath to serve me in exchange for my teaching?”
“Yes, A'chrya, but…”
“And throughout the time we have spent together, did I ever do anything untoward that was not a direct requirement of your training?”
“No, A'chrya, of course not…”
“Then why, when I am at the eleventh hour of my time on this world, would you think it appropriate to deny me a request?” Taeben stared at her, his eyes demanding an answer. Ellie swallowed the lump forming in her throat and met his gaze. “I could have had you as little more than a servant, Elspethe Turlach, but I treated you as an equal. I never entered your mind, though you knew I could, didn’t you?” She nodded, biting her lip to hold back a sob. It would not do for her to break down like a querulous child in front of him now. It was not in her as a dark elf female to appear weak before any male, and she certainly wasn’t going to start now.
“Of course not, A'chrya,” she said. “I would not have allowed it.”
Taeben roared in frustration. “You would not have had a choice!” he bellowed before turning his back to her to regain his composure.
“Of course I would not, A'chrya, but please, try to see this from my perspective. Can you not understand my agony at the thought of a world without you in it? Can you not see how I am loathed to rid the world of your brilliance?” She sniffled a bit, and Taeben turned around at the sound, his expression one of surprise. She took a deep breath before she continued speaking. “Can you not, for a moment, remember that you have been teacher, mentor, master, and father to me and that the thought of not having your guidance in my life leaves me a bit undone, to say the least?” It was Ellie who turned away this time to maintain her self-control.
Taeben sighed loudly, his previous rage now all but deflated. He placed a hand on the top of Ellie’s head and ran it down through her white hair. “We are the same, in many ways, my dark flower,” he murmured. “What a triumph you might have been. What an amazing sorceress and…more.” Ellie resisted the urge to throw her arms around him and beg him to take her with him, wherever it was that he was going. “In another life, perhaps. But for now, I concede your point is valid. I have learned much in this world, and it would be a waste to lose my knowledge to the Void when I am gone.”
“A'chrya, please, if you will not let me help you, let me continue your work?” Ellie asked, her eyes shining with tears. Taeben smiled down at her. “I am not the wizard you are, not by any means, but I swear to you that I will study your journals and do my best to continue what you have started. If you should…disappear from our world, your brilliance will live on. I swear it.”
“You…swear it?” Taeben said, raising an eyebrow as something clearly dark and malicious entered his mind. Ellie looked up at him quizzically. “You would swear an oath to me, without limitations?” She nodded though she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand on end. Taeben took her hands in his. “Elspethe Turlach, you must swear an oath on your blood that you will carry out my wishes and see that my research does not fade away upon my death. Will you do that for me?”
Ellie nodded enthusiastically. “Of course I will, A'chrya! You have but to give me the words to say, and I will so swear.” Taeben smiled down at her again and then reached into one of the small packs he had concealed within his robes and removed a knife.
