200 Prepare Your Heart

ELIA

The crowd was silent. For a moment she feared she had asked something that was in violation of some tradition, or some new strange rule she didn't know. But a moment later, a strange song rose—beginning with the deep, resonant grunts she'd heard Reth make when he approved of something, soon followed by the calls, then the barks, the howls, the cries…

Within seconds, a chorus, in harmony, echoed over the amphitheater as the Anima cried out their approval of her request.

"You… you won them," Gahrye said next to them, shaking his head in awe. "I don't know how, but you did it."

"Enough to get out of this ridiculous fight?"

But he just looked at her sadly. "No," he said, putting a hand to her arm. He swallowed hard. "They are accepting your terms. They are accepting you. It is… I don't understand… they see you as Queen, but they want the challenge. I don't get it, Elia—"