what happened after unlocked

chapter sixty ~ aftermath

Aurora stepped forward, her ivory skin and amber hair catching the light like she'd been caught on fire. As if she'd cast a spell on the crowd, silence stood before her.

"Greetings, citizens," she said kindly. "For most of us, this has been a lovely day. Sunshine, no attacks, spending time with nice people."

Some elves whispered to each other, while other just nodded blankly.

"Well, you'll be glad to know of the feat Miss Sophie Foster has accomplished," she set her gaze down to Sophie with a charismatic beam. "Today, we celebrate the brave defeat of the organization which has continuously attempted to bring us to our knees."

The audience gave a quick round of applause. Sophie's friends turned around to look at her, smiling. Keefe slipped his hand into hers.

Aurora cleared her throat, and the noise died down. "However, this doesn't mean that all our problems are gone yet. There is still the matter of what the Neverseen wanted to do in the first place."

The crowd began to mumble quietly. Aurora clasped her hands together politely.

"They wanted the humans gone, and wanted to rule for themselves," she said plainly. "The one thing they did wrong on this mission was deciding that violence and cowardice was the answer. And the difference between the Black Swan's and their methods was that the Black Swan seeks peace, not power."

Several elves whispered to each other again.

Aurora looked slightly worried.

"So I thank them," Aurora acknowledged. "But before I continue, I want you to ask yourselves, what does a real Earth look like? Is it full of cities and people and language and technology? Is it small, isolated places where little harm is done to the land or its inhabitants? Or is it like the Lost Cities? Think about it for a second."

She put her head down, and Sophie saw the rets of the group comply. They seemed to be genuinely interested in what she had to say – just like what she'd told Sophie.

After a minute, Aurora lifted her head again, a thoughtful expression on her face. "Well, I don't know about you, but I saw a world where we live freely, and happily, without damage to our environment, like the elves do. We let the humans live. Only we show them our side of life, and slowly edge them into that, so that they don't have to rely on their bombs and wars and tech and crazy awful things that could do real harm. We must strengthen our relationship with them. And the other intelligent species too."

Oralie looked at Sophie in surprise. "She has a real point!"

"From here on out, all Emissaries will be dedicated to bringing unity to our planet. They will build ties with every intelligent species. They will teach the humans of this world what there is to know. And we should be bringing Talentless people into the nobility, too! It doesn't matter what your ability is, or if it's powerful, or if it will help us to build yet another city or blow up a tower or anything. All that matters is that you have good intentions, and you will go to great lengths to get there. I don't just want peace, I want acceptance. And I'm sure you do too."

She paused, making eye contact with every elf in the room.

"And thus concludes my speech," she said seriously. "Let's lift this world to its most beautiful potential!"

Sophie's lips melted into a smile, and she started a loud round of applause. Aurora grinned bashfully and her, looking adorably awkward.

The crowd only stopped clapping when Aurora left down the set of stairs that reached the lower level. She pushed through the back of the crowd over to her mother, Sophie, Keefe and her friends.