"Prince Gareth... is that truly you?"
With his hand locked firmly around Melissa's wrist, Gareth leveled a hard, suspicious glare at the blonde elf. "Who are you and how do you know my name?"
"By the gods!" Finwe rasped, his voice trembling as he stared across the cell. "I never dared dream we would meet under such circumstances, dear brother."
The dark-haired prince narrowed his eyes, the hard lines of his face softening ever so slightly as he studied the younger man. Now that the word brother hung in the cold air, the uncanny symmetry of their features struck him with undeniable force.
"Mother has spent long years weeping for your return, brother," Finwe pressed on, his aristocratic composure cracking into raw, unbridled excitement, a stark contrast for a man who was tightly pinned to the stone by enchanted roots. "Every soul within Ervelon has prayed for this day. You are our rightful sovereign, our prophesied savior! You have come home at last!"
