"You seem to know each other," Sonder said, glancing between them. "There's clearly history here. But you haven't even spoken until now. Would you tell me how you know each other?"
The sea-folk delegate tilted their head, the veil catching the light like sun through water. "Long ago," they said. "In my father's time, Vellichor walked the ocean floor."
"You did?" Sonder turned to Vell.
Vell gave a sheepish nod, one corner of his mouth twitching. "I had reasons. Several, actually. One involved a collapsing archipelago, a kraken with a temper, and a diplomatic... situation that wasn't entirely my fault."
"I've heard that it was mostly your fault," the delegate murmured.
"That's one interpretation," Vell replied. "Anyway, that's how we met. The High Queen sent me down. Coastal ley lines were being siphoned by a northern mage conclave, drawing the sea-folk's ire. She asked me if I could lend a hand."
"You never told me about any of that," Sonder said.
"There's a lot I haven't told you," Vell said gently. "Not because I didn't want to. Just... didn't find the time, I guess."
"And the queen?" Sonder asked, looking back at the sea folk. "How did you know her?"
The delegate's expression softened behind the misted veil. "She was the first monarch to invite us inland after the Drought Accord. After one of our tyrant kings tried to drown half the continent, most wanted us gone. But she welcomed us. When her court objected, she poured her own wine and met us on her own terrace. She treated us not as threats, but as friends who had lost their way."
Another delegate, silent until now, gave a slow nod. "She gave us time to mend. And space to speak."
"She believed peace wasn't something you waited for," Vell added, "but something you chose to make."
The first delegate spoke again. "My kind will miss her. Deeply. By chance, do you know how she came to pass?"
Vell shook his head. "No. Wish I did."
"A strange thing," the delegate murmured. "The death of an elf is rare. But the death of a… kalandir," the delegate had to think of the word, "an eternal elf, that's unheard of. Some of us believed they simply couldn't die. That they were truly immortal."
The other delegate looked at Vell. "Is it true? That you are one of them? So long-lived and immortal?"
Well, no. I've lived long, yes, but I'm by no means an elf. And I wonder the same thing: what could've killed her? Supposedly, nothing could."
Then, a voice spoke from behind.
"I've heard," it said, "she died of a broken heart."