Henry was very excited as the group made their way to the ancient ruins. He’d seemed to expect that he and Emily would be sent back to the inn to wait for Anna’s return. But Andrew decided they might as well tag along, he’d been ecstatic.

  “I’ve never seen any of the old ruins before!” the king said. “Mother wouldn’t even let us go to see the ones in the plateaus under Woadrok.”

  “I was never able to check on those ones myself,” Anna said. It occurred to her then that that may have been intentional. If there were ruins there, perhaps there was a fountain like at the Selasi border and by Frostlake. The Wisps could all gather down in the canyons as they made their way into the city. Or, perhaps it was like here, where there was no such structure.

  She’d only been to the ruins once during one of her father’s trading ventures. Most of the other ruins were part of what had been thought to be grand High Elf cities. Here in the mountains, there was a lot more to suggest mixed company. The ruins, being underground, were far better preserved. But unlike the grand structures of the city, these were more utilitarian.

  Collapsed mineshafts led deeper into the mountain along one side. Every so often, the dwarves would try looking for those old veins of ore, only to discover they were exhausted millennia before. At least nearby. The mountains were still rich when they dug elsewhere, or if they went quite a bit deeper than these ancient mines.

  According to the other experts, the rest of the ruins were a typical mining town. In fact, not only did the buildings appear to have been made to deal with weather, it looked as if they had dealt with wind and rain before falling into ruin. Anna thought that meant the first pillar and the cavern’s ceiling were relatively new. Yet, from the outside, it looked like a natural mountain top. Perhaps it was something that had been changed during one of the Catastrophes.

  It didn’t look any different than it had the first time she’d been here. Most of what had once been buildings were little more than shells of stone, their wooden support structures having rotted away in the distant past. Only those structures made all from stone were still standing, and even then, only a few.

  Anna approached one of these and whispered to the Wisps in her bracelet. “What do you think?” There was no response. So she moved on, walking amongst the piles of fallen stone and the dust. She wondered if these might not be High Elf ruins at all, but just the remains of a town abandoned when they disappeared. It’s not like these ruins had any of the other distinctive markers the High Elves did. If anything, this reminded her of the overground settlements the Dwarves had, like Lowkrag at the base of the mountain, or her home in the north.

  Still, as she walked through the ruins, she continued to ask the Wisps what they were thinking of or if they felt anything, hoping to get some response. Halcyon acknowledged her frustration with a wave of clam, but there was nothing else.

  She turned to the others. “I don’t think this is going to work,” Anna said. “This place doesn’t seem like it was all that important to any of them.”

  “It doesn’t seem like the others, does it,” Andrew said.

  “You don’t think the Wisps have any special connection to this place?” Tomlan asked.

  Anna shook her head. “I don’t think so. If they did, I doubt it was strong enough to make it through whatever changed them. And they aren’t really responding to me, either. Halcyon’s still trying to keep me calm, but nothing else.”

  “Trying to keep you calm?” her father asked.

  Anna sighed. “It’s… frustrating not knowing what to do. And after the last few days, everything just feels desperate. It doesn’t seem like there’s anything here. I’m… I’m just tired of all of this. Tired of not knowing how to help them, tired of all of these other things getting in the way.”

  “You don’t want to help them anymore?” her father asked.

  “I didn’t say that,” Anna said. “I promised I would. I just wish I was able to talk to them. But every time it feels like I get close to that they get excited for a bit, but then we’re not able to communicate like that again for ages.” Anna felt Halcyon working to keep her calm again, and she took a breath. “And I know it’s worse for them. They can’t do anything without us right now. At least not much.”

  “I see,” her father said. “That’s a tough one, Kiddo. I don’t know if I can help.”

  “Thanks, Papa,” Anna said. “Thanks for trying, anyway.”

  It occurred to her that her father was in a similar position, just with her. It wasn’t as severe, since the two of them could talk, but he wasn’t able to understand what she was trying to do right now either. Still, the mere fact that he was trying to help was a comfort.

  Anna sat down on against a segment of stone wall that was still standing and raised her hand to her lips. She focused on the gratitude she was just feeling, trying to hold on to it, along with a curiosity. “I’m trying,” she whispered to the Wisps. “I’m trying, but I don’t know what I can do. Am I helping at all?”

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  She focused on that for the better part of a minute. The others gave her space, Andrew supervising the twins as they went to explore the ruins a bit more, while her father stayed a bit closer. She was aware of them, but it all seemed to fade into the background as she focused on the beings taking refuge in her bracelet.

  She’d lost track of time, when suddenly she felt something like a well burst inside the gemstone. Suddenly the influence contained the same gratitude she’d been feeling herself, as if they’d adopted it and wanted to share it a hundred fold. Anna gasped, feeling it, and she was sure that this time, all of the Wisps with her were responding at once. She didn’t think that had happened before. She couldn’t remember it.

  As she thought, she could feel the Wisps gratitude hardening into resolve again. She could tell Halcyon was at the center, trying to push them forward. But to what?

  She tried to push as much of her curiosity and her desire to help into them as she could. Now that she had all of their attention, she did get something. It was a familiar feeling. The first feeling she’d gotten from Halcyon.

  “But how?” she groaned. “You want me to bring help, but I don’t know how! I don’t know what you need, or where you need to go.”

  For a moment, Halcyon seemed confused. Anna blinked, looking into the gemstone, and found that she was sure he was thinking about last time, when she’d just accepted his feeling. She still wanted to help, but now, with so much focus on her, she could make it clear she was frustrated because she wasn’t sure how.

  The feeling seemed to slide into place. She was sure the Wisps knew they had difficulty communicating. At least, once Halcyon had calmed them down, she was pretty sure they were self aware enough for that. But this was the first time she picked up through their influence that they understood her frustration about it. She felt it mirrored in them. But it wasn’t directed at her, but at themselves, as if they knew they should be able to make themselves clearer.

  It was very strong in Halcyon, but the others had picked it up as well. The frustration mingled with their resolve for a moment. Then it seemed to burn, like fuel. Anna held the bracelet away from her. She could feel their influence still, but she was aware the others had come back and were looking at her.

  “What’s going on?” Andrew asked.

  “I think they just decided they’re not going to stop working until we can understand each other.” Anna said. She winced, feeling a stab of influence in her mind. It was too fast for her to identify the feeling they’d tried. The Wisps immediately responded to her discomfort, pulling back and softening.

  “Is that okay?” Andrew asked. He looked around, as if expecting the ceiling to fall. “Because the air just got heavy. It feels like being under water.”

  Even as he said it, the influence softened again. It still felt like a wind was rushing around them, but not the sort that would blow them away. Anna thought of the ships at Prohr and how the wind carried them. The Wisps grew excited again, but they seemed to still control themselves.

  “And you’re sure you’re okay, Kiddo?” Tomlan asked.

  Anna nodded. She let the Wisp’s resolve fill her. “Yeah. I still want to help them. Maybe if we’re all just focusing like this, we can make some kind of break through.”

  A few of the Wisps started to share the feelings of the others with her. Her father was apprehensive, though excited. Andrew was also worried. She could feel the stress of the last few days as well. But she could tell he was letting the Wisps influence temper those feelings. Both twins were more confused than frightened. But they were excited, too.

  After a few minutes, the tempest seemed to calm. One Wisp who she didn’t recognize seemed to separate himself out of the rest. For a moment, she wasn’t sure what he was doing. Her own emotions were so tied up with the Wisps now that it was hard to separate her out from the group. Then things snapped into place. She could feel the Wisp looking out of her eyes, and a thought sprang unbidden to her mind.

  “Close…” It was still a feeling. Still inside her head. But she understood it. The Wisp remembered something. It was something close by. She looked around. The feeling urged her to find a particular spot. She didn’t know for sure which one. As she moved, the feeling grew weaker at first. Then she turned, and the feeling grew stronger again.

  “He wants me to find something,” Anna told the others as they followed behind.

  “Halcyon?” Andrew asked.

  Anna shook her head. “I don’t know him. I think he’s one of the one’s we picked up in Borac.”

  Again the feeling started to grow weaker, so she picked a third direction. It happened that way a few more times as she used the Wisp’s influence to guide her to the spot he wanted to go.

  She wasn’t sure what to expect when she found the thing the Wisp was after. But when she reached the point, the feeling transformed into an intense desire for just a moment. “Remember!” it seemed to cry.

  Anna experienced it with the Wisp. She saw something like a vision, not as all-consuming as the one they’d shown her in the Green Vale, but something like it. She saw from the perspective of someone much taller than herself. Taller probably than Andrew or Peter. The person was addressing a group of people. Of Dwarves! She was sure of it. And she was sure he was bringing them news. Some decision had been made, and he was informing them.

  She couldn’t make out the words. Those were lost to her. Even if she’d heard them properly, she was sure they would have been in some ancient language she wouldn’t be able to understand.

  But she didn’t think the decision itself was the important thing, now. As the vision faded, she looked to the others. Feeling the Wisps’ exuberance as the experiment worked.

  “What just happened,” Andrew asked.

  “Did you see it, too?” Anna asked.

  Andrew shook his head. “See what?”

  “I think… no I’m sure,” Anna began. “That one of the Wisps just showed me a memory from when he was a High Elf. He was here, talking to the Dwarves of the time.”

  “Really?” King Henry said. “What were they saying?”

  Anna shook her head. “I couldn’t understand the words,” she said. “But that wasn’t the point. There’s something about this place. That memory was linked to this place.”

  “But not the other High Elves,” Andrew said, crossing his arms. “What good does that do us?”

  Anna grinned up at him. “It’s a direction!” she said. “There must be other special places for the different Wisps. We just have to find them, and they should be able to show us their memories!”