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."Carver?" E'lira gasped, her voice soft and somewhat tinny over the small speakers in the device.Before he could answer, she burst into tears."E'lira please don't cry," Carver practically begged.He hated seeing his sister cry, especially when he wasn't there to take her hand or wrap an arm around her and tell her it was going to be okay."It's alright.""I've been so worried about you.You just disappeared! Your room was trashed, and no one knew where you were.Where are you?""I'm not sure you would believe me if I told you," he said, sighing."But it is very good to see you, and I promise I'm alright.""Well, Ithril's telling people that you fled in your grief, so I'm sure whatever you would say would be much more believable than that."Carver scowled.Leave it to Ithril to come up with something that would make him look bad and himself look good.The eldest son abandoning his post while the younger stayed and took on the burden of leading the clan.It was a clever idea, and Carver wanted to hit his brother in the face for daring to come up with it."I did not flee," he said, voice firm."I would never.Not while we're still reeling from Father's death and dealing with the Des'kos.I would not have left you."E'lira smiled at him, and he ached to see it.It was tinged with sadness, and he could only imagine how hard it was for her."I know that.I never believed Ithril.He's… Things are not going well here, Carver.Where are you?""I'm on Earth."She gasped again, one hand flying to her mouth."Earth? He sent you to Earth? Of course he did.He wanted you out of the way, clearly.""For what, though?" Carver asked."What is he doing?" Knowing Ithril it was something overly ambitious to do with the Des'kos.Something that Carver should have been there to put a stop to.It took E'lira a few seconds to regain her composure and she sighed, looking older and more worn than Carver had ever seen her look."He's trying to fight the Des'kos.""Fight them? But that's suicide." He knew it.He'd hoped that somehow his brother would have used his common sense and realized that was a terrible idea, but clearly sense was not with him at the moment."I know.Well, it's actually something more like homicide on Ithril's part.He's essentially sending our people to die over and over again.People have been pleading with him to stop, to think of what Father would do, but that just seems to make it worse."Carver felt sick.The thought of so many Sitheri wasting their lives trying to fight an enemy that was always poised to win made him want to hit something, and that was rare for him.But there was no way that this was going to work.The Sitheri weren't meant for fighting.They had weapons and guards and could defend themselves well enough, but they weren't meant for full scale attacks.It wasn't something they had ever trained for, and Ithril should have known that."We need you, Carver," his sister was saying.He knew that.Carver had always known that it was going to fall to him to be a leader.Even when Angen had announced that his sons would lead together, he had known.Ithril had the blood of a leader in his veins, but his heart and his head did not follow the right paths.He was too hot headed, too quick to anger and lash out and now people were dying for it.Carver looked up and saw Vivian watching him with wide eyes.He wondered if she had fully comprehended just how urgently he needed to get home and how big this all was."E'lira," he said."I am going to need your help.My transporter wasn't programmed correctly, and it crashed when I got here.It is also out of fuel.I've met someone who might be able to fix it, but there's no telling how long that will take.I need you to send another ship to me.With more fuel for the return journey."His sister worried her lip between her teeth for a moment."Ithril's got the ship bay on lockdown most of the time.He doesn't want anyone leaving.We're all in this together, he says.I don't know if I can…""E'lira.You have to.It's the only way.By the time we work something out here, who knows what he will have done? How many will have died.I need to get back there as soon as I can."She hesitated for a moment more and then nodded firmly."You're right.Of course you're right." Carver watched as she drew herself up and determination filled her eyes."I'm still Angen's daughter, and my word will carry some weight.I'll do it."He flashed her a smile."Thank you.There's one more thing, though.I'm going to need allies when I get back.I'm sure Ithril won't be happy to see me, so the more people you can gather to our cause, the better.""I don't think that will be hard to do.People have been whispering already about how they don't think he's right for this," E'lira said."Good.Hopefully we can resolve this without…"He didn't need to say it.From the look in his sister's eyes, she was thinking the same thing."Stars guide you, brother," she murmured."I'll let you know when a ship is on the way.""And you, E'lira." He tapped his hand over his heart and disconnected the call, leaning back in his chair and letting out a long breath.Vivian seemed ready to burst with her curiosity, but he wasn't ready to talk about it just yet.For years, their father had kept the numbers of Sitheri who died in against the Des'kos down to a minimum.He'd had to sacrifice some things, but there was nothing more important than the lives of their people.That was how he had seen things.Land, resources, they could find more of that, but the people were what kept the Sitheri alive and continuing on, and nothing had been worth giving them up
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