The confusion held.

The man in black armor, the Holy Son, waited for it. The birds on his pauldrons shuffled once and stilled. On a second-tier overlook two branches above Aewyn, a shrine maiden had pressed both hands to her mouth and was whispering rapidly into them.

Then he spoke again.

"I’ve never been to my Mother’s homelands, not once in my life. I was really curious, though."

A thousand gasps rushed through the crowd.

"Hearing the tensions going on, I decided it was time I did what felt right. Wanting to help my Mother’s people, I sought out her descendants and made a deal with the Alliance of Elvardia."

A soft inhale went through the tiers. Aewyn heard it as much as felt it.

"He came for us..."

The whisper had left the overlook above hers. It traveled down the bridges faster than sound had a right to. Three tiers away, a shrine maiden was silently praying.

"I was to aid your war against the Vraven Kingdom. Queen Myrasyn and King Ragnar both welcomed me and my family to your side. After spending so much time in the corrupt human lands for various reasons, I was really happy to fight alongside my Mother’s daughters. We won battles together, pushing deep into Ravenshade lands."

He let the memory linger.

Aewyn had read the dispatches. Every report of the Primordial Villain’s advance into Ravenshade had crossed her desk.

What she, and anybody else, had not known was that the figure in those reports was the only living child of the First Elf.

Tears were running down the shrine maiden’s face on the overlook above her.

Across the way, Saelrin Ther’vaen’s gloved hand had come up to cover her mouth. Aewyn had never seen that motion from her.

"I’d have called us great allies, working together efficiently."

Aewyn’s chest had gone tight. Her city had fought at the First Elf’s son’s side without knowing.

"Allies..."

The word drifted up from the lower tiers. A second voice picked it up. A third.

"We fought with him..."

A beat.

"Then your Council voted your Queen a traitor."

Numerous voices broke at once. Aewyn’s hand went white on the railing before she knew she’d gripped it.

"Your Queen was stabbed in the back by her own Council and her own blood-sister and they snapped a dwarven slave collar around her throat. She is captive at this moment, or she is dead."

On a third-tier overlook across the way, Saelrin stepped forward to her balustrade.

"She is a traitor, Holy Son. The decree reached our city today." Saelrin’s knuckles had paled against the wood. "The Queen was declared corrupt, acting for her own gain. The proclamation bore all four seals of the Council."

The attention of the tiers swung from Saelrin to the figure in the skies.

He tilted his helm.

"Did they tell you what she actually did?"

Saelrin’s mouth moved. "...The specifics were not provided. The decree was broad."

The silence held for a few seconds before the Holy Son decreed,

"Queen Myrasyn’s crime was friendliness."

"What?" Gasps of confusion rolled through the crowd.

"The Council wanted to treat me as a hired sword. Your Queen felt that was beneath the circumstances, so she made efforts to elevate the relationship. She spoke to me warmly, she cracked jokes with me like proper allies should. She even fought at my side and saved my life in the final confrontation."

"If not for her, King Alexios Valorian would’ve killed me."

Silence.

Then a collective breath went through the tiers.

Overwhelming pride for her people filled Aewyn’s chest for the first time in six centuries. Her Queen had done the most honorable thing an elf could do: protect the only living child of the First Elf.

On a second-tier overlook, a shrine elder had both palms together, offering her fervent gratitude to the queen. Beside her, a warrior-captain had dropped to one knee with her fist against her heart, reciting her vow to the Queen.

"But that’s exactly what your Council wanted: my death."

’No way!’ Aewyn shouted inwardly. There had to be a mistake...

"Over the brief time of the invasion, I grew stronger. Your Council, who treated me as a temporary ally but a future problem to deal with, reviewed her behavior and decreed it a threat to Elvardian sovereignty."

"Befriending and protecting me was the only crime Queen Myrasyn has to her name."

Saelrin’s color drained.

Somewhere in the lower tiers, a matron shrieked.

The sound was torn and raw. It cracked Sylvaenor’s silence like a dropped vessel, and another voice joined before the first had finished, and then a dozen.

"She saved his life and they DARE call her traitor?!"

"The First Elf’s only living child!"

"To stand beside him is treason now?!"

"Says who?!"

Aewyn watched the eastern tier come apart. A weaver-matriarch ripped her balustrade apart. Two shrine maidens on the tier above had begun screaming profanities that didn’t quite match the serene image people had of these devout women. A young warrior had drawn her blade and was looking for anything to point it at.

Above, he waited.

Then his gauntlet rose.

The shouting thinned in layers as the women of Sylvaenor realized he meant to continue. When there was enough quiet, he took it.

"Your Council did not simply call her a traitor for befriending and protecting me. They voted that Elvardia’s best interest required my imminent elimination. King Ragnar attacked me from behind, hitting me in the back of the head with his warhammer. At the same time, Guard Captain Aelindra stabbed Queen Myrasyn in the back with a dagger and the Undead Lords, your allies, attacked a woman I cherish deeply. She is either dead or captured, too."

The plaza broke.

Elven women who had spent centuries perfecting Sylvaenor’s serene bearing were howling. Women who never held a bow were sending their children to grab their ancestral weapons that grandma used and bring them.

"Execute them!"

"Strip their names!"

"Deny them the Eternal Forest!"

"Cast them to the soil!"

"To Luminara’s own judgment!"

When the cries began to lose their rhythm, he spoke again.

"Now then, the collar. Why would they snap it around your Queen’s neck after she was incapacitated and bleeding profusely? Killing her would’ve been simple for a strong warrior like Aelindra."

The officials instantly knew the answer, and mouthed it together.

"The succession."

Aewyn’s heart was pounding in her throat as the man in the skies nodded.

"That was my thought as well. Elvardian law requires the sitting Queen to name her successor. Without that naming, the small council cannot seat Aelindra Ael’vyrn in her sister’s place. They know perfectly well that if the throne opens to public contest, a champion of your people will rise and tear their plans down."

"So they keep your Queen in the collar. They try to force the words out of her. But the naming has not happened, which either means your Queen is dead already, and they are preparing the announcement. Or she is still in that collar, and she is refusing to break."

...

By now, Sylvaenor was weeping and screaming in outrage at once. The emotions these people felt were stronger than anything they’d ever experienced.

A betrayal so vile, a heresy so filthy, all in the name of personal gains...

They were disgusted. And not just with the Council members.