Using a hidden staircase which directly led to her bedroom, the former Queen of Eldinor made her way over to the manor from the catacombs after making sure that the three individuals had left using exits that were located at discrete locations.
What many didn't know was that this manor had been the property of her family before they had sold it to move to a bigger place.
As she walked along the empty passageways, she was reminded of her childhood which had been spent growing up inside these very walls.
On reaching her room, a single servant greeted her before serving her a simple dinner and leaving after clearing out everything.
Lying on the bed alone, Eldara couldn't help but think back to her own mother whom she had run away from.
In particular, she was reminded of the specific point where she had looked back on her life to find that her entire existence had been spent under the shadow of the woman who had given birth to her.
She had been raised to be the next clan head in the family, with exposure to power and authority from a young age which had enticed her to no end. Yet, the desire to get away from her mother had overcome these feelings and had led her to run away with the Elf who had said he loved her.
After a few happy years together in which she had managed to distract herself from everything by engaging wholeheartedly in building her family, Eldara realized that this wasn't what she wanted.
Her desire for power which had been stepped upon, bottled up and hidden away had resurfaced when the news came that her entire family had been murdered under mysterious circumstances, leaving her as the sole heir.
Coupling this along with the fact that things hadn't been going so well in the Dartingnon family, Eldara had made the decision to pursue her desire: power.
The more she obtained it, the more she wanted it to stay with her forever.
She did not care or bother about anything else; all she wanted was to die knowing that she had lived her life her own way.
Yet, ultimately, at the moment she got the news about her daughter's nomination, she had realized that she had mirrored her mother without even realizing it over all these years.
Looking back, she had wondered if she regretted anything.
All of her decisions had been taken because she wanted to make a strong woman out of her daughter so that she wouldn't have to suffer and waste years of her life before being able to pursue her true purpose like she had done.
Still, she felt that they weren't a complete waste because they had allowed her to become someone autonomous instead of being under the iron-clad control of her powerful family. In fact, she even had to thank the man because it was possible that she would also have been murdered if she stayed with them.
Thus, she had made the decision to keep the name of her husband, "Dartingnon", in memory of him.
As for his fate, she did not wish to dwell on that topic and shifted her thoughts to the fear she had seen in her daughter's eyes when she had raised her hand to see the locket for one last time.
Indeed, she had raised her daughter like her mother, and her daughter had acted in the same way she had.
Still, she had no intention of giving anything up easily. In the end, it was still her desire which won over everything, and she was quite clear on the topic that she was willing to do anything to fulfill it.
Thus, smiling to herself in anticipation of sweeping through the elections again, Eldara fell asleep.
….
In the outskirts of the Elfaven Kingdom near the border of the cliff, an aerial view would allow one to see the multiple gigantic godowns that were situated there which stored the reserves of the Kingdom.
From food to essential resources like energy materials, these godowns were the backup which would allow Eldinor to survive if they were blockaded from all sides on the cliff where their capital was located.
Indeed, the construction of these godowns had been undertaken after one such situation where an enemy nation had managed to invade and surround the cliff.
After cutting off the flow of resources, they had managed to make the entire capital starve until they had no choice but to retreat due to the intervention of Eldinor calling in favors using oaths which had been exchanged because it had helped a certain nation with something before.
From then on, not wanting this to repeat, the government had taken care to maintain this backup stock.
Soldiers patrolled the area 24/7, and special surveillance trinkets made sure that each and every area was always under the scrutiny of someone.
Not all the godowns in this location belonged to the army; there were a few at the end which were owned privately by rich merchants who had bought them for exorbitant prices.
"This is the one we have for hire. If you make the payment, we can shift your goods over right away."
An aging elf with drooping shoulders and a hunched back led a group of three towards the army checkpoint which all visitors had to go through if they wanted to enter the area.
After arriving at the small building, the man said, "Bernard here, with my three scheduled guests who wish to hire a godown."
Hearing this, the Elf soldier on duty first checked a trinket before using a rod-shaped object to scan all four individuals.
After ensuring that they weren't carrying any trinkets, he let them in after getting approval from the commander on duty.
With a soldier following them, the 4 individuals made their way inside a godown which wasn't under guard. Sharing the same wall as the one which held the reserves, it was in eyeshot of all the soldiers who were patrolling the area, yet it had no particularly assigned security as it was privately owned.
Of course, being in this area was security enough. Using his blood to draw a symbol, the aging elf led the group inside.
Absolute darkness greeted them, which was chased away after a few moments due to the elf lighting a torch which had been on the wall.
Yet, if he had managed to light it just a few seconds earlier, he would have managed to see a figure magically appear beside one of the individuals before quickly taking a small bag from its identical twin.
After doing so, it ran off into the darkness unseen, as the torch only illuminated a small part of the godown.
After this occurrence, the actions of one of the individuals became robotic and stiff, but this luckily didn't bring too much attention because the individual had been acting so ever since he had come to the location, which made others think that it was probably some kind of injury.
Thus, while the aging elf talked to Olfax who was in his identity of the rich investor who had invested in the Voice of Eldinor, Daneel's clone slinked away to one corner of the wall as per Eldra's instructions.
Along with the fact that the amount of food and resources had to be kept a secret, confidential files were also stored in the godowns. Thus, no trinkets were allowed inside; all the surveillance was only on the outside.
This had apparently been implemented after an incident where a government trinket had been simply replaced by an enemy nation to obtain crucial information. Since then, the insides of the godowns had been encompassed by a formation which did not allow any trinket to be activated inside.
Although this was very costly, it allowed the Elves to have an iron grip over the area.
After reaching a wall, Daneel inserted a key into a groove which was imperceptible to the naked eye.
As a door silently opened, he carefully stepped inside to lay his eyes on the sight of over a hundred small bodies, huddled together in fear while squinting in the darkness to see just who had entered.