Seeing the King open his eyes, Kellor hurried over and helped him up from the bed he was laying on. Due to being in the same position for a long period of time, he had already lost sensation in most parts of his body. Yet, even though the pain of having the blood rush back into his legs and arms was excruciating, the smile on Daneel's face did not leave. To Olfax, it looked like the expression of someone who had accomplished something. This confused him, as if everything had gone well the King would not have opened his eyes so soon.
Knowing this, Kellor shook his head and said,"We can definitely find somebody else who would be a better candidate, My King. It is not required that we choose this arrogant elf who might not have been a great fit anyway".
Chuckling, Daneel looked at Kellor who was trying to console him and said, "The meeting was a success. What are you talking about?"
"But didn't you have to come back as soon as you went? Apologies, My King, but I do not understand how you could have communicated everything in such a short period of time."
"Oh, the Queen knew of the meeting. She sent an exalted mage to capture me and I escaped by dissolving my clone".
Puzzled, Kellor could only look on hoping that the King would give him an explanation. The Queen knew of the meeting? Then Eldra hadn't chosen to hide the information and come by herself? If so, how was this a successful meeting?
Yet the king did not seem like he was going to continue. Turning to Olfax, he said, "Can you use the trinket you stored in the sewers to communicate with Eldra?"
Hearing the King's request, Olfax was initially startled. After a few moments of thought, he said, "Yes , My King. I will be able to send it to her room, but if we do so she will clearly know of the origin. If that happens, we risk losing the only source of information we have inside the palace of the Elves."
The response made Daneel crinkle his eyebrows as he thought back to what he had seen inside the Elvish Carnival.
Yes, the meeting was compromised, and initially even he had thought that this whole plan was a failure.
Yet, at the last moment when Eldra ran into his booth, he saw in her expression such intense regret that it still amazed him as to how someone could live with so much emotion weighing down on them.
This was the reason behind his smile. He knew that she probably did not intend for the meeting to go the way it did. Yet, it seemed that she had no choice. Could it be that the information had leaked somehow to the Queen and Eldra had had no choice but to oblige?
If this was the case, then Daneel just needed to find a different way to approach her. Clearly, the entire information had been leaked due to the Elf's statement where he had been accused of conspiring against the foundation of the kingdom.
Although Daneel trusted his instincts which blared at him that he was right, this was a very big gamble to take. If they lost their only source inside the kingdom of the Elves, it was possible that they might miss critical information which might end up disastrous in the long run.
Of course, other avenues could be investigated. Yet, in the scenario where he was wrong and Eldra did not want to rebel like he thought, then it would mean that security would be tightened up even more which would decrease the chances of ever finding another source of information as good as this one.
The decision was his to make. While Kellor and Olfax watched on, the King sat on his chair and looked into the air remembering that expression of regret which had branded itself into his memory.
After a few moments his eyes became clear as if he had made his decision. Looking towards Olfax, he said, "Do it. Send another message about a meeting at a different location."
Only with risks could truly valuable rewards be obtained.
....
After getting back to her room, Eldra collapsed onto the bed holding her face in her hands. Try as she may, she couldn't stop the tears from flowing from her eyes.
Regret consumed her and she wished she had the power to change her fate. Right now, she really wished she could go back in time and not open that parchment in the corridor where there was 24 x 7 surveillance. In fact, her pause had been whether to take the risk and directly leave the palace right at that moment knowing that she wouldn't be able to hide this information from her mother.
Yet, at that moment she was reminded of the reason she was staying in the first place. She knew that she was the only one who could at least try to help the little ones who were sold as slaves each year. Through the information she had and the secret efforts she managed to undertake, she had already managed to save a couple of Elves using various means such as hiring mercenaries to attack the cargos or even reporting to the government in a way that couldn't be traced back to her.
Often, she asked herself why she couldn't do more. Although she told herself that it was because other methods would not be as reliable as the ones she was using right now, she knew that there was a fear of her mother inside her which stopped her from taking truly life-changing decisions.
From childhood, she had already gotten used to having everything in her life controlled by her mother. Of course, the love that she had had been dying day by day, month by month and year by year seeing all the horrendous acts that her mother had been prepared to do to retain the throne.
As it often did when her thoughts turned in this direction, she was reminded of an image where crowds of people were watching on while her blood was extracted from her and a man whose face she couldn't see who was kneeling on the stage.
And as she often did, she shelved the image due to the memories it brought.
Thus, realising that she was the only one those little ones had, she had chosen to go to the Queen and report about the meeting.
Of course, the Queen had been immediately notified when Eldra had opened the parchment. Thus, she was already waiting in the throne room to see what her daughter would decide.
As someone who had been in power for so long, she knew clearly that her greatest enemies were inside her home. Yet, she had full confidence in her ability to subdue and take control of whoever she wanted.
Even at the moment when she had handed the parchment over, Eldra had seen that look of confidence in her mother's eyes which signified that her every movement was under her control.
Hence, as she lay on her bed and thought about everything that had happened, she couldn't help but curse again at those rebels who had been so foolish as to contact her in this way. Even though she knew that they couldn't be blamed because the information about the surveillance was top secret, she still cursed anyway as it helped to lessen her frustration by the tiniest bit.
TING TING TING.
Hearing a strange sound echoing from her bathroom, Eldra cautiously walked over to see that a coin of some sort had fallen onto the wash basin. Picking it up, the first thing she smelled was a rancid stench which made her drop it immediately.
Yet, when the coin fell through the air, she had seen something which made her eyes widen with shock.
It was actually a trinket which was flashing!
Picking it up again and ignoring the stench, Eldra closed her eyes and listened to the message while the tears stopped. After the message was done, she crushed the coin in her hands and made green fire appear which completely devoured it, leaving no trace behind.
Smiling to herself after what felt like ages, she walked out of her room with a slight spring in her step.