Free The Darksteel Eye by Jess Lebow

in alignment. It was time for the rebuking ceremony, time for all elves to give up their memories. It had been this ceremony that had caused her the most trouble while she had been in the Tangle. Giving up on all the things she’d experienced in this lifetime seemed like such a waste. It had been her decision to forego the Rebuking that had touched off the strange series of events that led her to her present situation.
    This darkness was deeper than others she’d seen. This was no simple Convergence. Numerous Rebuking ceremonies had come and gone since she was a child. This time, however,
all
themoons were lining up—something that had never happened in her lifetime. If the runes on the Tree of Tales could be trusted, it was something that had only happened four times in the history of the world.
    That was why she’d come to see Bruenna.
    Glissa knocked on the door of the wizard’s tin home, but there was no answer. Pushing aside the chromelike curtain, the elf slipped inside the square building. The entryway was dark, but she could see a faint blue glow coming from a room deeper in the house. Following the light, she made her way to the place where she had first seen Bruenna looking over a series of maps spread out over a large table.
    The room was still quite dark, lit by a magically glowing stone that hovered in the air. It cast a perfect circle of light on the floor, throwing the rest of the room into long, deep shadows. Below the glowing stone, Bruenna sat cross-legged, her hands pressed together as if in prayer, and her eyes closed.
    Glissa stepped quietly inside the room.
    “Hello, Glissa,” said Bruenna, not opening her eyes. “Please, come join me.”
    Glissa crossed to the female wizard, circling around the long table still covered in rolled maps. She sat down facing Bruenna.
    “I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
    Bruenna smiled but still didn’t open her eyes. “You’re not disturbing me. I’m doing a meditative exercise my people call
mulla bunda
. It’s a practice to still the mind and heal the body.”
    Glissa was a little uncomfortable. She’d never seen anybody sit that still. It seemed like a luxury—and boring.
    “I’ll try to be quiet,” she said.
    Bruenna’s smile widened. “There is no need. Part of the exercise is to focus while confronted with distraction. Please, talk to me. Tell me what you need.”
    Glissa shrugged. “Okay.” She paused. “Bruenna, the moons are aligning.”
    “Yes, I noticed. It’s very dark, darker than I’ve seen in my lifetime. This Convergence is different.”
    “In the Tangle, when the moons align, it marks the coming of a new phase, a time of cleansing and renewal.”
    “I’ve heard of the elf rituals.”
    “Well, I’ve never been much of a believer in these things,” admitted the elf, “but until I’d seen it with my own eyes, I didn’t believe that Mirrodin was hollow.”
    “And now you’re beginning to question yourself.”
    Glissa took a deep breath. “Well, wouldn’t you?”
    “Yes, I would,” Bruenna opened her eyes, her smile gone. “I am.”
    Glissa felt a sudden rush of relief. “I’m frightened, Bruenna.”
    “As am I.” Bruenna lowered her hands to her lap and nodded. “But that fear is comforting.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “I would be more concerned—about myself as a human—if I felt nothing during a troubling time. It is natural for elves as well to fear things they don’t understand. The question we must ask ourselves is not whether or not that fear is something we should be feeling but how are we going to react to it?”
    “You mean, we should be trying to figure out how to stop the moons from aligning?”
    Bruenna smiled. “No. There is nothing we can do about the forces of nature.”
    Glissa wrinkled her brow. “I don’t understand.”
    “We have surprisingly little control over our destinies, yet we still manage to accomplish many things in a lifetime. Changing the course of the moons isn’t