Page 127 of Keeper of the Word

My hand! It is sliced through. My fingers have come off.

Elanna studied their hands. ’Twas impossible to discern through their gloves, but Tara’s appeared no different from her own.

Do not let go, Tara. Do not let go.

Was this part of the effect of Gethwin holding on to Elanna? Did it make Tara suffer more?

Tara screamed again, tears leaking from the sides of her eyes.

Elanna longed to say words of comfort aloud to her sister, but instead, she repeated in StarSpeak,Do not let go.

A clap of thunder overhead nearly caused Elanna’s fingers to separate from the Edan Stone. The moonstone transformed black again. Then, in a flash, it burst hot white. Elanna flinched at the brightness before refixing her gaze on it.

Out of the smoke that surrounded it, the Edan Stone rose into the air. Elanna let her hand glide upward with it.

“Now,” the witch’s voice was still not her own, “repeat after me: Oh moon and stars and shadows, too.”

The StarSeers—Tara’s voice little more than a weak whisper—repeated her words.

“Combine your power of light and shades true.”

Elanna spoke clearly, hoping to offset Tara.

“We seek to hide the Heart of the realm, which Adrienne works to overwhelm.”

Tara sobbed at the word. Elanna recoiled. But they repeated the next line.

“Seal within the enchantedword, which, when uttered, will wield this magic blurred.”

Now, Elanna’s hand shred in pain; she comprehended what Tara had meant. She repeated the next line, each word fleeing her lips like a scream.

“And shroud Asalle from greed and hate until ’tis time for its restored fate.”

Sweat dripped off Elanna’s forehead, despite feeling frozen. Tara had quieted. Mayhap she was simply numb.

“Your turn,” Gethwin said. She whipped her hands out from under theirs and placed their gloved left hands directly on the orb before covering them with her own. Elanna’s shoulders sank.

’Twas tremendously heavy.

They knew what they had to do, but the exhaustion was beyond recognition. Elanna closed her eyes and tapped into her starlit core. She sensed that Tara did the same. With every ounce of her energy, she pinched a touch of stardust and drew it into her hand that still grazed the Edan Stone.

Elanna!

Her eyes flew open. The stars. The stars were straining to reach her. They had something important to tell her.

“Do not become fixed on nor speak to your stars while we perform this.”Gethwin’s words echoed in her mind.

Elanna!

Cease,Elanna dared return to the heavenly voices above.

Silence.

Elanna closed her eyes again and fed the seed of stardust into the Edan Stone.

A light to light the way. A fleck of hope for the future. A sliver of a chance for a destiny strewn with virtue returned.

’Twas a fledgling of a possibility. A mere potential to turn the fates. But with hope, the kernels of stardust would be enough to help the stars return to Asalle someday.