In answer to Lathlin’s question, she nodded once. Lathlin looked at her more intently, then said, “May I approach, Your Emptiness? I need to observe more closely the energies swirling around you. You may have your Harvesters search me for weapons, but I assure you, I am completely unarmed,” he added.

“But he isn’t defenceless,” Belac silently thought to himself.

Again, the Queen merely gave a slight nod upon which Lathlin stepped closer to her. Everyone in the Throne Room tensely watched the strange scene unfold. The blind Elf tilted his head left, then right, then up and down before tilting it left again. He also moved his hands slowly around the Queen, as if he were physically manipulating something. Gradually, a remarkable change in the Queen’s appearance became manifest to everyone present: she looked less aged and more like her true self.

Her cheek bones were suddenly less prominent; there was more colour in her face; her lips had grown fuller. Her hair, which had been hanging limply to her shoulders, suddenly took on a shine and bounce. To put it simply, the Queen had regained her regal appearance.

“What … what did you do?” she asked in obvious disbelief. She touched her face and hair, but before she could ask for a hand mirror, she was given one to view the change herself. When she saw the transformation Lathlin had wrought, she became even more animated and elated.

“I have realigned your energies to their natural state, Your Emptiness, but this is only temporary. I need to identify the source of the infection of your energies, and then see how I can heal you permanently,” Lathlin explained, stepping back to stand next to Belac.

Image: Zach Angelo (www.unsplash.com)