“Grandfather?” said Rose.
“Yes?”
“Do you and King Neron think war is unavoidable?”
Razzmorten sighed and looked at her with a grave face. “Without a miracle, yes indeed,” he answered.
“Thank you for being straight with me, Grandfather,” she said as she cast a worried look at Fuzz. “We’d feared it would be so, but we were hoping that, you know, with the Elves being Elves…”
“Sure. You’d hoped they’d have some magical and quick solution.”
“Yes.”
“Rose, I’m afraid that even though the solution will indeed be magical, it will not be at all quick.”
“Grandfather! It sounds as if you know how to stop this war.”
“Yes I do, Rose, but it is neither in my power nor that of the Elves.”
“Then, who can possibly do it?” she said, as Mystique traded places walking in the path with Abracadabra.
“Oh, Daniel or possibly Ariel, or perhaps both of them together…”
“But they’re babies!” she said with a gasp. “It’ll be years before they’re old enough to do such a thing. What’ll be left of the world?”
“Not much as we now know it, I fear,” he said, bearing the most haunted look she had ever seen come from his kindly and steadfastly optimistic old eyes, “not much at all.”
Ch 31, Stone Heart
Carol Marrs Phipps and Tom Phipps
