The last part of the Arquenia Saga.  I hope to have the pdfs of Book III and Book IV up on Saturday as well as my final concluding remarks on the series.  If I don't have enough time to do that on Saturday, expect it by next Wednesday.

Anyways, for those wondering about the calendar, this is set roughly three months after the last part.  Chime in via the comments on who ended up being your favorite character in the Arquenia Saga.  And if you want to hear more about what happens to any of the characters with the close of the Arquenia Saga, I'll answer any of those questions as well.

And so, without any further ado...

Part CXXXVI: The Elven King

Date: Gahan 17th, 115 A.U.

Sereth slowly walked down the still-in-progress courts of the new king of the elves.  She, Hazael, and Cortna had finally left the rebel base two months ago, upon the final settling of the elven kingdom.  Upon Hazael’s near-immediate appointment to the official bodyguard of the king, Sereth had found herself sucked into the court, using her knowledge as an archaeologist to help the newly appointed king find and rebuild the ancient elven cities.  Unofficially, she acted as the head of staff, which, as one of the only staff, meant it was up to her to do nearly all the staff work.

She looked down in her hand at the transcriptions of the latest emails sent to the elven king, that she was now delivering.  A letter from Lord Freglak detailing the state of the rebuilding of the Great Forest.  A letter from Reynyagn, discussing his final reunion with his wife and plans to consolidate all of the wandering Sla’ad tribes back into one republic.  A letter from Governor Astrid, stating the election of a new governor to take her place and her plans to come to visit him as soon as possible, since she had finally permanently retired from her seat of power.  Last of all, and possibly, most important was the letter from Quelia.

Letting the curiosity get the best of her, Sereth shifted the papers to look at the transcript.  It was dictated by Astrid the Healer, now the official spokesperson and ambassador of Flek, the Eighth Watcher.  Astrid was detailing her successful move with Monty to her permanent home in Quelia.  Attached was also a note from the augger of the Xavier Team.  The augger of the Xavier Team, soon after the end of the First Arquenian Council, had decided to name himself Jacob, in honor of his fallen comrade who had died at the hands of Jaigran.  Sereth was still getting used to Augger’s new name.

Putting the transcript back with the other transcripts of emails, Sereth walked out of the un-finished hallway to the almost-finished courtroom of the elven king.  She gave a nod toward Number 994.  Although he was technically the sixth most powerful orc among the Imperial Orcs, Number 994 had decided to forsake the Imperial system, leaving it to act as a counselor for the orcs as a whole as he tried to slowly work to reform the system away from its impersonal nature that solely built them up to be a fighting force, to work to give them back their personal identities.  Although he technically didn’t have a name, merely known among the orcs as “the orc,” he was still known as Number 994 to his friends.

Raising her head, Sereth walked up toward the table where King Zarien now sat, trying to consolidate the provinces under his kingdom.  They exchanged glances as she gave him the transcripts, explaining whom each of them were from.  Flek the Watcher had helped them to finally begin to reconcile their differences concerning Cortna, who was slowly healing, but who was doubted to ever fully recover from Jaigran’s brainwashing.

Zarien nodded to her explanation, smiling, before beckoning her to sit down beside him to help him with his task.  Slowly nodding, Sereth agreed, smiling, as she sat down as they began to work out both his responses to their emails, and his plans for his kingdom.  She bent over his drawings, etching out some ideas of her own, as the night began to wax long, while they still talked, the conversation slowly drifting away from imperial matters to more personal matters.

It was late that night when Sereth finally began to retire to her quarters.  Somewhere within her, an inkling of an idea began to sprung up, a question of whether or not new feelings may or may not have begun to arisen within her.  A glimmer of what might be.  Of whether or not her feelings were as mutual as she thought they were beginning to become.

Maybe she was just mistaken.



But from where he watched, up far above, beyond, and within Arquenia, the Watcher knew that she was not mistaken.  He smiled, as he began to see the beginning of something new, of something the two parties were only beginning to become aware of.  And he sat back within his chambers as he watched with anticipation for it to continue into the blossoming of something greater.

Finis.

Bessie Lark
6/6/2013 11:59:53 pm

Congratulations on completing such a large work! That took a lot of determination, perseverance, and labor. Thank you for posting it so that we could read it, both on the TPS Forums and this blog. I've really enjoyed the Arquenia Saga, and I'll look forward to seeing it on bookshelves someday! :)

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Warbaron
6/8/2013 06:02:16 am

Well done, chap. Good luck with what ever you want to do with it in the future!

Random question: why did you name Astrid the Medic and Astrid the Gov the same name?

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Josiah
6/8/2013 01:38:55 pm

Thanks all!

I honestly forget why I made that decision. In hindsight, it probably just made it more confusing to the reader. :P I think I was brainstorming different ways to make each member of the Xavier Team have a unique prophesy tidbit, but I'm not sure.

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