"It was me."
İlyara stared at Elna blankly, trying to understand what she meant. Then the hairs on her arm stood on end as her heart began to pound wildly.
"H-How?" was all she managed to ask.
Without shifting in her seat, Elna let her gaze drift over the other women seated at the table.
"How?" she repeated, turning back to İlyara. "Would you like me to show you?"
Show her what?
İlyara's eyes widened in fear.
"Who are you?" she demanded, springing to her feet so abruptly that her chair crashed onto the floor.
"Don't interfere," Elna said, raising a hand to stop him. Only then did İlyara notice Kortegin standing behind her.
Was he going to kill her?
"İlyara."
At the sound of Elna's voice, she turned to face her.
"Come, sit," Elna said, gesturing toward the chair Kortegin had just set back upright.
Feeling the other women's eyes on her, İlyara looked back at them. They were all staring at her with empty eyes. She tried to reach one of their emotions, hoping to understand what they were feeling.
She chose the woman whose seat she had taken and looked into her dull blue eyes. But she couldn't sense a single emotion coming from her. She started toward her, intending to reach her memories.
"İlyara!"
Elna's sudden shout brought her to a halt. Then she slowly turned around.
Elna tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear.
"You can't enter the memories of the Council members," she said. Then she turned to the women at the table. "The meal is over."
At Elna's words, they all rose from their chairs at the same time. After giving a slight bow of their heads, they left through the door.
İlyara silently watched the women leave the room. Just as the door was about to close, she moved to follow them.
"İlyara," Elna called. "Didn't you miss me?"
İlyara took a deep breath and turned back to her.
"Come," Elna said, raising her silver-adorned goblet. "Let's have some wine together. Then you can tell me everything that's happened to you."
İlyara's shoulders slumped as she thought that, no matter what she did, she wouldn't be able to leave without Elna's permission.
Without saying a word, she returned to the table and sat back down in her old seat. Kortegin then filled the empty goblet in front of her.
What kind of guard poured wine?
She thought it would be foolish to try to escape. She had just told Arın that she had nothing left to lose. She couldn't act like a coward now. Besides, there were so many questions she wanted to ask. For now, she would humor her.
"They burned down your cabin," İlyara said.
"Oh, forget about it," Elna replied with a dismissive wave of her hand. "It was very old anyway."
"How did you know I was at the cabin?" İlyara asked.
Before answering, Elna took a sip of her wine.
"I came to the cabin last night."
Behind her, Kortegin's helmet turned slightly toward Elna.
She had come to the cabin?
"Why didn't you come inside?"
Elna shrugged and wrinkled her nose.
"You've been walking around with a corpse," she said. "It's a good thing the cabin burned down. That smell never would've come out."
İlyara straightened in her seat.
"I'm sorry for letting a stranger into your cabin without telling you."
Elna looked at İlyara in silence for a moment.
"Aren't you going to drink?" she asked, gesturing toward the goblet in front of İlyara.
İlyara hesitated at first. Then she picked up the goblet and smelled the wine before taking a sip.
"Don't worry," Elna said. "There's nothing in it. Besides, I'm not your enemy."
Then what was she?
İlyara took a sip of the wine.
"Well? Is it good?"
Smiling, Elna watched İlyara drink the wine.
İlyara slowly set the goblet back down on the table.
"It's good," she said. "It's been a long time since I last drank wine."
A brief silence settled over the hall. Elna calmly sipped her wine while Kortegin stood rigidly behind her, as if waiting for an order at any moment. Though his helmet concealed his eyes, İlyara could still feel his gaze lingering on her.
Before speaking, İlyara cleared her throat.
"What were you going to show me?"
Elna gave her a questioning look.
"So that old woman was you," İlyara said. "How?"
Elna smiled and set her goblet on the table. Then she leaned toward İlyara.
"Would you like to know how it was done?"
İlyara frowned.
"How what was done—"
"Entering people's minds and tampering with their memories," Elna interrupted. For the first time, her voice betrayed the excitement she had been holding back.
Tampering with memories?
"I don't understand."
"Oh, you do," Elna said, leaning back in her chair. "That old woman was me. You've been talking to me from the very beginning."
İlyara stared at her in silence for a moment.
"But how?"
How was that even possible? She could still remember that old woman.
Elna let out a deep breath, as if she were growing tired of explaining.
"I tampered with your mind."
What did that mean?
"While we were talking, I entered your mind and projected the image of an old woman I had met before," she said. "I kept it up for as long as we spoke. Otherwise, the image would have vanished instantly and exposed me."
İlyara lowered her gaze from Elna to the table.
Had she drunk too much?
How much of what she had experienced was real?
As her heartbeat quickened, she gripped the edges of her chair.
"I'd like you to meet someone."
At Elna's words, the door opened. A limping man in a burgundy cloak entered, leaning on a cane. Golden symbols were embroidered across his cloak.
"You sent for me, Madam President," the man said. His voice was hoarse.
"Yes," Elna replied. "Take a look and see who our guest is."
İlyara turned to Elna with a questioning look.
"Let me introduce you to the one who told me about you," she said, gesturing toward the man. "…The Oracle."
The Oracle?
"Ah, so you've finally come together," the man said.
"Yes," Elna replied. "You were right. She's just like me."
The Oracle lowered his hood and smiled. He had black hair and dark stubble. He looked to be in his fifties, with a solid build.
"My prophecies have never been wrong," he said, turning his gaze to İlyara.
İlyara tensed beneath the man's gaze. A wave of disgust suddenly washed over her. The feeling wasn't her own—it was coming from the Oracle. The moment he looked at her, his jaw had tightened.
İlyara was used to looks like that. She didn't care.
"What kind of prophecy?" she asked.
Elna reached over, gently prying İlyara's hand away from the edge of the chair and placing it on the table. She didn't let go.
"Go on, tell her," she said, giving İlyara's hand an excited squeeze.
The Oracle tapped his cane against the floor, rested both hands on top of it, and looked straight into İlyara's eyes.
"When the Child of the Earth is born, the Ancient's Shadow shall descend upon the world."
İlyara's gaze snapped to Elna.
"Are you saying I'm the Ancient's Shadow?" she asked, pulling her hand free from Elna's grasp.
Elna withdrew her hands from the table as well.
"Why did that upset you so much?"
Elna was just like the others.
Had she brought her here just to mock her? Or worse... Was she going to have her executed?
Fear gripped İlyara. She shifted uneasily in her chair.
I wish Arın were here, she thought. She felt safe whenever he was by her side.
"Ah, now you're afraid too," Elna said. "What am I doing wrong, Oracle?"
"My lady, I think you should tell her why you brought her here," the Oracle replied. "It might help her relax a little."
Why had she brought her here?
Elna took İlyara's hands again. İlyara tried to pull away, but Elna wouldn't let her. She cupped them between her own.
"I want you to stay with me," she said.
İlyara tilted her head slightly.
"I don't understand. Why?"
Elna drew a deep breath.
"You're the only one who understands me."
But she didn't. None of what Elna was saying made any sense to her.
"At first, I wanted to kill you," Elna said.
İlyara tried to pull her hands away again. She couldn't. Elna's fingers tightened around them, and it hurt.
"But the more I watched you in the village, the more I realized how much you resemble me."
No... She didn't.
She couldn't.
"My shadow," Elna said gently. "My own shadow."
"Who are you... really?"
İlyara couldn't hide the fear in her voice. Even so, she didn't look away from Elna's eyes.
Elna answered with a warm smile.
"I'm Elna," she said.
When she saw that İlyara was still frowning, she added,
"But people also call me the Ancient."