For a long moment there was complete silence, the scene a seemingly frozen tableau with scarcely a breath drawn. Elana'a thoughts were on the move once more, indeed racing with the flood of information seemingly focused on her. What in nature were these two powerful figures talking about? She held no special powers, no skills to aid the magical world! Four hells, she could barely get herself through her schooling! And yet her father seemed to agree with this stranger? Her eyes flickered to her feet. And he knew! But he had allowed her excursions? She could help but take a gasping breath as the implications sank into her numbed mind, and that breath seemed to breathe life back into the room.<br/><br/>Her father seemed to come from deep contemplation to gaze first as his daughter and then to mysterious mage. To her dismay (but with a secret thrill deep inside) he began to nod slowly. "It is true. Your words are tempered with half truths and shadows, but I cannot deny that the magic is going out of the world". Even this simple admission and the consequences it brought to the world turned Eli pale. "And I sense that you are correct in that my daughter may be of aid in this... reconstitution of power. And yet... I will not abandon my blood, so naive in the ways of the world, to a stranger without thought or consultation. Wait here wizard."<br/><br/>The elder elf gazed at Eli and beckoned to her, moving swiftly through the large doors and out into the courtyard. Elana rose with a somewhat dazed apologetic smile in the human's direction and moved as swiftly as courtesy allowed out after her father. She caught up with him at the bench on the far side of the heartree. The trunk was easily six feet across and shielded the elves from the reception room completely. She stumbled to a stop a pace from where Dathis was leaning against the tree, his eyes closed as a sunbeam lit his face and torso. Eli licked her lips and was about to speak... to question... perhaps to say sorry? Her father beat her to it. "Elana, I fear I must apologise." For the second time that morning she felt like fainting, and this time there was no chair beneath her. She dropped to the earth beneath her in an untidy crosslegged heap. Her father had never ever said those words to her in her life! Eyes still closed, he went on. "I should have had this discussion with you before now, but here we are. What I said earlier was true, I have consulted the council on this matter and you. And we are in agreement on this." The eyes finally opened and looked into her soul. "The decision is yours Elana. Whatever you decide to do will be the council's official choice. You may take the decision to go with this man with my blessing. And with luck you will learn much. About magic especially, and about the world. But most of all about yourself. You may uncover your destiny and the path of your future. But I sense that path winds into darkness and confusion, at least for a time. You should know that while this human is powerful and learned, he is also not to be trusted. There is a shadow over his heart, and I suspect that shadow is part of what lingers across your path. But while he thinks to shade you, there is always the possibility for your inner light to burn all of those shadows away from you both." He leaned forward, placing a warm and not unaffectionate hand on her forearm. "There is much light in you my daughter, more than you know. And yet within all beings there is balance. And so I offer you a choice. Stay within elven society, learn more of our ways, try to find yourself or at least a way to live with yourself here in safety. Or risk all, and venture beyond our world, and perhaps someday return to us a whole being." He completed his cryptic words and simply waited her decision.<br/><br/>In that moment Eli's head stopped spinning. She didn't understand all that she had been told, but she felt the right choice welling from her heart. In that moment it seemed all dropped into place somewhere in the back of her head. Like a decision was made within her without conscious thought, and conveyed to her mouth without her ever needing to think about it. "I will go with him father. It is my destiny". The suddenly older looking elf nodded, a briefly curious twinkling which might have been a welling of tears was lost to her as he turned away. "So be it". They returned inside.