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  After breakfast the next morning I was summoned to Myra's office. She indicated the chair in front of her for me to take a seat.

  “Hi Wendy, I am very happy to report that Lagbit was willing to talk to us and I have some answers to the questions you posed. The mystery of the afterlife is still a mystery, but Lagbit did say that reincarnation was possible and could be on either world. There is even a spell so that The Broken have a greater chance to find love again.”

  “Is it a spell that I can teach Mia on Earth?”

  “The spell was placed on a ruby that will glow when the wearer touches her bonded. The spell was performed by Lagbit through a high-level priestess, so I am unsure if it is repeatable.”

  She lifted a red stone that was hanging as a pendant from a necklace around her neck. “I invited you here to tell you and also to thank you.” She stood up and came around the desk. I stood up as well. We hugged while she murmured 'thank you' in my ear. I have heard the expression of melting in someone's arms. Now I knew what that felt like. Her strong arms were the only thing holding me up and I didn't want her to let me go. When she finally started releasing me and I tried to put some strength back into my legs, I could see the ruby on her necklace glowing brightly.

  Chapter 5

  Tia's POV

  I was enjoying my stay in Lagbit's World like usual except I wasn't seeing much of mum. That first evening she came in distracted and then after that she wasn't at our usual Taigoa practice or any lunch or dinners. Finally, she reappeared for our fourth-day evening meal, but she came in flustered. Mrya is the most solid person I have ever had the pleasure of knowing. She was always calm, cool and collected, until now.

  “Are you alright mum?” I asked her.

  “Hmm?” She turned to me with a confused look on her face.

  “I said, are you alright?”

  “Yes,” she said, but without any sense of conviction.

  “What is the matter, dear?” Mary asked.

  Mum's gaze flickered over each of us. She was clearly highly stressed and I had never seen her like this. “I sent her away,” she whispered. If it wasn't for our great hearing, I don't think any of us would have heard her.

  Vee and I gathered around her trying to offer her comfort, Mary and Kayla were already seated at the table. I think we were all confused.

  “Sent who away?” Mary asked.

  “Wendy.”

  “Who is Wendy?” Kayla asked.

  “I think she was one of the druids trying for a familiar. I think she summoned a fire familiar,” I said. “Is that who we are talking about?”

  “Yes,” she mumbled.

  “Daughter, what is going on? What did Wendy do? Do we need to arrest her?”

  “NO!”

  “Maya, I think we may have to delay dinner. Can you inform the staff, please. Come on Myra, let's go sit down.” Mary said and led us all to a private lounge. We all surrounded mum and tried to give her support. “Tell us all about it, from the beginning,” Mary said firmly.

  Mum sighed heavily. “Wendy came to me and asked me some questions that were important, but I didn't know the answers.”

  There was quite a pause while we waited for her to continue, so Kayla tried prompting her. “What questions?”

  Mum started again after another heavy sigh. “Apparently Mia told her that if you lost your bonded, you would never love again. It turns out that Wendy felt a strong attraction to Mia and didn't want to believe her, so she came up with questions about the afterlife and whether you could be born again. On Earth, there is some evidence that this has happened. She also wondered if Elf souls could be sent to Earth. She used the bonding between Ash and Katie as an example. Were there Elf souls on Earth, destined to be bonded with elves here in Lagbit's World? The other question that was in my mind was about the Elves we copied. Does Mia have the same soul as me? Without thinking about it, we presumed they did, so that a copy of Ash and Katie would still be bond mates with the originals.”

  Mary was the head priestess, so if anyone was going to know the answers to these questions it would be her. I turned to her to see her reaction.

  “These are good questions, even if they are motivated by an infatuation,” Mary answered my questioning look.

  “She is not infatuated!” Mum said quite hotly.

  We all looked at her a bit puzzled. Mary hadn't said anything nasty and what else were we supposed to think.

  “There is more, isn't there?” Vee asked quietly.

  “I thought these questions were important enough for a ceremony of light.”

  “You performed the ceremony of light without asking me?” Mary asked a bit angrily.

  “You have not lost your bonded. These questions, whether they came from Wendy or were inspired by Lagbit, they were directed at me. I felt I needed the answers and since Lagbit responded, I think I was right. I probably should have told you though.”

  “Excuse me, sorry to interrupt, but what is the ceremony of light?” I asked.

  “The ceremony of light is a direct request for Lagbit to enlighten us or give guidance. It can only be performed by the queen or her heirs. It is usually only the queen who performs it. Occasionally in our history there have been incidents where Lagbit has spoken directly through us. It has only been through one of us with Royal eyes and it has always been important information. If we think a question is important enough we can go through a purification ritual and politely request Lagbit to speak through us.” Mary responded. She turned to mum. “What were the answers?”

  “It is possible for souls to be born again with no knowledge of their previous life and it could be on Earth, here or even on another world. Mia has the same soul as me but it is not split. I didn't really understand, but it was about energy being in two places at the same time. I was told very clearly that two is the maximum allowed. There can be two on this world, two on Earth or one on each, but no more than two in total.”

  “I don't understand. Surely you should be overjoyed. The Broken can be healed,” Kayla said.

  “I was. Lagbit cast a spell through me that transformed one of the rainbow crystals into a ruby that would glow when we touched our bonded.”

  “What happened?” Kayla asked.

  “I thought Wendy should be the first to know since she was asking the questions. I invited her to my office, told her the answers and thanked her.” Then mum started crying.

  I was still confused and my face was mirrored by everyone except Vee.

  “Wendy is your bonded isn't she?” Vee stated more than questioned. Mum just carried on crying.

  “And you sent her away?” Mary whispered. “MAYA!” She then shouted. Mary's maid rushed out to us.

  “Yes, my Queen.”

  “Find Wendy the new Fire druid and bring her here. Set an extra seat at our table for her.”

  “Yes, my Queen,” Maya said and hurried away.

  “What were you thinking?” Mary said gently, stroking mum's head. Mum just continued to cry. She was surrounded by our love, but still seemed so consumed with her anguish that we just couldn't settle her.

  Wendy was brought in and I could see that she wasn't in much better shape. Her eyes were red and her face pale. As soon as she realised who was crying, her face changed to one of determination. She quickly forced her way to get to mum and held her tightly. She ignored the fact that she had, albeit gently, shoved the queen and consort out of the way, as she was solely concentrating on mum. Then she whispered gently 'I'm here' and 'everything's going to be alright'.

  Mum settled a bit then realised who was comforting her and she tried to push Wendy away, but this time Wendy was not having it. She stayed strong and refused to budge, whispering 'No, I'm not leaving'. Finally, mum seemed to give up and just settled in Wendy's arms.

  “So, what is this all about?” Mary asked. “You have found your bonded again, why are you trying to push her away?”

  “I have to go back to Earth in a few days,” Wendy explained.

/>   “So? We find a condemned man and copy you so that your copy can stay here. You have Mia on Earth,” I put in.

  “She doesn't think Mia will accept me. If it wasn't for Lagbit's intervention with the ceremony of light and the ruby, Myra wouldn't have accepted me. She felt the same draw that I did, but didn't admit it since she had the firm conviction that it was not possible,” Wendy said sadly.

  “Well, no one is going to know Mia better than mum. I will just have to bring her here. If you can be convinced with the ruby then so can Mia. In the meantime, we should organise mum's happiness. Can you imagine how much hope you could give the rest of The Broken? I think we should do a massive bonding ceremony. Let every elf know, losing your bonded does not have to mean being forever lonely,” I said.

  Chapter 6

  I woke up lying on a beach. It took a few seconds for my brain to kick into gear and remember that I was back on Earth on some deserted beach south of Barcelona. The last few days in Lagbit's World had been a bit emotional. Myra and Wendy were inseparable, but I don't think they did more than cuddling. Myra refused to copy Wendy onto a condemned man until Mia had been brought to meet her and accepted Wendy on Earth. Myra also didn't want a proper bonding celebration until then either.

  Myra had tried to make another ruby necklace, but the first one had been done by Lagbit without any instructions, so all she could do was have another rainbow crystal ready and ask Lagbit to intervene. That didn't work, so we were left with only the one. Mary and Kayla decided to institute a new tradition. Any transformed elf would wear the necklace and travel a particular route around town. They would shake hands with anyone who wished to and see if the necklace reacted. So far we had managed to get all four of the unbonded previously human elves to touch most of those who wished to. No luck, but it had created a lot of hope.

  Right now, I needed a meeting with my security. Our attempts to find more druids was partially successful. Wendy had summoned a fire familiar and Vienne a wind familiar. The other candidates were unsuccessful. I was hoping for a druid with an Earth familiar. Leaf and Berry both had Earth familiars but were required for my honour guard. I had discussed what they could do and really wanted them to help with our construction projects in Fiji, but I was overruled. My Plan A hadn't worked out yet, although there was still hope since we had some success and Plan B was still a possibility. Andi could easily find me some men who deserved to die and we could even use a truth spell to confirm their guilt. We could take them to Lagbit's World and convince some druids with Earth familiars to replace them. A thought for later.

  Ideally, I wanted both Wendy and Vienne to stay with me and travel to Lagbits World when I did so that they could train with their familiars as quickly as possible. In addition, I wanted to keep Wendy away from Mia until after I was able to take her to Lagbit's World to talk to Myra.

  Eventually, Vienne would be able to power her own hang glider, but she would need to be better trained with her familiar first. Until then I needed to speak to Leaf, Branch and Berry and see if any of them were up to carrying a third person. Inda had already told me that she was more than capable. It was going to be a bit of a squeeze, but we would manage. Wendy had been joining us for our lunches and dinners and soon she would be my, sort of, mother-in-law, so I would take her and see who was willing to take Vienne.

  I unstrapped my headset and looked around. I was still pretty damn dark, but I was getting much better at sensing the spaces around me, so I could feel the presence of my security around me. I stretched my senses further and could find no one within a few hundred metres.

  “Thanks, everyone for being here. I know some of you are a bit disappointed that you didn't manage to summon a familiar and truthfully, we have no idea why some are able and some are not. I do really appreciate all the effort that you have been putting in, both in training and in travelling to see me here, in the middle of nowhere. Rest assured there will be other things you can do to help the Elven Nation.

  “Wendy, Vienne, if you could come with me, I need to discuss travelling arrangements with my honour guard.” I walked away and we separated into two groups, my honour guard of six, myself and Vee, making eight with Wendy and Vienne it would be ten. The unsuccessful candidates were with their security detachment who herded them towards the parked cars.

  “Alright, a few things happened during my visit to Lagbit's World that I thought you should all be aware of,” I said, addressing them all. “To start with, Vienne now has a wind familiar and Wendy has a fire familiar. I would like to keep them both with us and take them to Lagbit's World with me when I go. This raises a couple of issues. In order to still get through twelve transformations a night, I will have to have three sessions. I think two days, twice and one three day session should do it. That should allow four strangers in each period to total our usual twelve.

  “Hopefully we can get them trained up quickly then they can provide their own transport, until that time we will need to increase our load. Inda has informed me that she feels comfortable carrying Wendy, are any of you able to add Vienne to your load?”

  Leaf stepped forwards. “I can manage another.” She looked at Branch and Berry, both of whom gave a little head nod. “We all can. I think Wendy should travel with Branch. You should be the least encumbered, in case you need to get away.”

  I sighed. Sometimes I loved being treated like a princess and sometimes I just didn't. Still, I had made a promise to cooperate with my security. “Fine. If any of you struggle, Inda is happy to help. On more important and happy news, it appears The Broken are fixable. Lost bondmates can be reborn, on either world. Like all elves, when you meet your bonded will be up to Lagbit, but at least now all elves have a chance for love.”

  I explained about Andi to Vienne and Wendy, along with an order to protect Andi's existence. Harriet was in charge of supplies and liaising with our ground security forces. Wendy and Vienne would have to wait until she could arrange for more of our in-ear communication devises that allowed us all to talk whilst in the air and also with supplying another hang glider when Vienne was ready. I updated Vienne and Wendy on the latest news, which was that the talks regarding the Isle of Wight were proceeding nicely, so, as a gesture of good faith, we had removed our exclusion policy and were now heading towards England for a meeting scheduled in about two weeks time.

  We then slipped into our hang gliding gear. Branch was now carrying both Harriet and Vienne and Berry was carrying both Lacy, our other guard and Wendy. Leaf wanted herself and Killash to be unencumbered in case of trouble. Theoretically, Lacy was actually in charge as she had the most experience with modern warfare and strategy, but she considered the Leaf/Killash combination to be her strongest team and often listened to their advice.

  We only had a short flight tonight to an already arranged campsite. Vienne and Wendy did not really have a role yet and Lacy didn't want them to have a proper watch until they had more control of their powers. None of us were ready for bed yet, we had got used to sleeping during daylight, so we gathered around to chat. We all wanted to know more about our two new members but I didn't want it to be an interrogation, so I suggested we ask them a question then they can ask us a question. I already knew a fair bit about Wendy's life from talking on Lagbit's World and so did Vee. Mostly I stayed in the background as we learned about life before elfhood. One question did come up that I thought I was the best person to answer.

  “Why did we not bring any male elves across when we had the chance? I have been studying Elf history on Lagbit's World and in combination with what I know of our history, I might be the best one to explain.” I looked at the elves we had brought here. “Please correct me if I say anything wrong.

  “When we brought a team across it was when I had been captured. I believed that I had a good chance of escaping on my own, but we wanted to have a team that would be capable of helping me as much as possible. We didn't know if magic would work on Earth, so we wanted a healer and a mage, but mainly warriors and druids.
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  “You are probably aware that male elves are infertile and their main function in society was as protectors. You pretty much won't see any male elves in any other role. Part of that is cultural and it goes back to before the last Goblin war. They have tasked themselves with preventing another war by keeping the numbers of Orcs and Goblins low. You are unlikely to see any male elves around the city for that reason. The reason is that they blame themselves for the possible end of the Elven race.

  “The elves have always been a matriarchal society. The men were never considered less and their defence of the Elven Nation, especially in war has always been valued, but the rulers have always been female and the majority of leading roles tended to automatically go to female elves. Before the last war, there was a movement started by Hoth, Queen Mary's brother. He pointed out the inequalities. If men were mentally equal and physically even stronger why should they be treated as anything other than equals? No one really disagreed with him. In that time many male elves tried to be something other than warriors if only to prove that they could. So we had male craftsmen. As fewer men went to become warriors, more women had to take that role. That seemed fair to all concerned, but there were consequences.

  “As there were less warriors overall, the numbers of the Orcs and Goblins increased and encounters became more and more dangerous. Then, as happens occasionally, one Goblin rose to unite the Goblin tribes and the Goblin war started. To some extent, this war was no different from the previous ones, except the elves had fewer warriors than usual and a much higher percentage of female fighters. By the end of the war, when the Goblin King was killed, a slightly higher number of elves had been killed than usual. The big difference was the number of female elves killed. Then you factor in the number of female elven couples that had lost a partner and the elven population began its slow decline that we see today.