"Ara?" A long unused voice echoed off the walls.
Fearfully, Ara searched the shadows. She heard someone stepping toward her. The pale light from the door caught the face of the man who'd taught her everything about her gift. "Jarrer?" Ara rushed forth and embraced him. She hit his body like a wave upon the shore.
He stumbled back. "Easy now. I am long unused to the touch of another being, the contact is overwhelming me." He reached up and stroked her hair fondly. "You shouldn't have come."
Ara eyes had adjusted somewhat, and she saw that Jarrer appeared well cared for. He was clean and healthy, if a bit pale. "I had to try."
Jarrer sighed. "I didn't see Catara's madness until too late."
"Her soul . . ." Ara faltered.
Jarrer looked away. "She's lost most of it. Including her will to fight . . . or judge her friends from her enemies."
"Even recognize her own granddaughter."
Jarrer's eyes widened in surprise. "You know."
Ara tried to keep the anger from her voice. "Why didn't you tell me?"
"Essenia told me not to."
Ara instantly forgave him. She'd learned to trust Essenia's word over her own judgment as well. "Why won't Catara help us?"
Jarrer seemed to look through the cell wall and out across the city. "It's gotten worse since I left." He made his way to a corner and sat down. "Did you notice any children in Lourel?"
"Yes." Ara remembered. "A girl."
Jarrer looked into her eyes. "The only child born in Lourel in over ten years."
Ara's eyes widened. "Only one child!"
Jarrer nodded. "Elven mother's no longer become with child. If she sends out our soldiers, there will be none born to replace those that perish. Our race is dying."
"Is that why she closed the borders?" Ara asked in disbelief.
"At your birth, you were the greatest gift our Kingdom had received in an age. Then you were killed—or so Catara thought. My guess is she overspent her soul searching for you. Desperation came after that."
Ara was quiet for a time as her mind tried to make sense of his words. The Elves were the most powerful race upon The Lands, how could they be dying? Coya had managed to have a child. Her. Ever since she'd learned who her parents were, she'd longed to ask Jarrer about them. "Jarrer" Ara began "tell me of Coya and Haunin."
"I grew up with Coya." Jarrer took a deep breath and let it out roughly. "She was to be my wife."
Ara's eyes widened in shock. "The woman Cohen told me about. The one that left you for another. It was Coya?"
Jarrer nodded. "We were betrothed from childhood. I was with her when she became a Nightstar and received her Unicorn cloak." He pointed to Ara's cloak. "The same one you're wearing now."
Ara sat back against the cell wall. "So, you knew from the beginning?"
"I had my suspicions, but remember, a dead baby was found next to Coya. That's why I asked Essenia. I wanted to know for sure."
"And why you were willing to break your vow to help me?" Ara concluded.
"I owed Coya at least that much. After all, I caused their deaths."
Ara's back went rigid. "What do you mean 'you caused their deaths'?"
Jarrer sighed as the guilt that had been his constant companion for over twenty years surfaced. "We were in the midst of a war then. So many had died." Jarrer's face held the distant pain. "I was with Coya when Haunin approached our borders with only two companions—his brother, Chamick, and his second in command, Yarsef. We nearly shot them, but Coya ordered us to hold.
