As Malfoy leaves Elsbet's room the Silhouettes are departing, and he wishes them good fortune with a gentle mental touch.

"So," Therion says as Malfoy walks back into the living room, "Ellie truly is an Elf." Malfoy nods as he sits down, sighing deeply. Remus stretches and goes into the kitchen, and after a moment or two comes back with a glass of juice and munching a piece of bacon. Tonks sits down across from Malfoy and runs her hands through her bubble-gum pink hair. "What does that mean for us?" Layne looks at each of them and smiles softly. "I think...it means we're supposed to be together." He half shrugs and looks at Malfoy. "I said it earlier...two former Death Eaters, well, three really, counting Severus, two werewolves, and an Auror. Look at us. Who are we all connected by?" Therion gives him an odd look. "Well, Ellie, of course," he says, but Layne shakes his head. "No," he chuckles, "Sirius."

Remus sits down beside Tonks. "True, we all knew him," he says, "including Ellie. But...I think I'm missing something, Layne." Malfoy looks as though he's very weary, and sounds that way as well. "It means," he tells them, "that we are not who we have believed we are." Tonks' brows furrow and she glances at her husband, then back to Malfoy. "What does that mean? Who are we then?" Malfoy sighs again and rises slowly. "Something more," he tells them quietly. Layne nods. "Exactly. At breakfast, Therion said my comment sounded like something a man of Rohan would say," he remarks as Malfoy looks up at the books on the bookshelf. "What is the name of this city?" Layne asks them, as if that is the key to the mystery. "Well..." Remus starts, then pauses, thinking, "Sanctuary City."

Therion smirks. "The White City," he says, and Layne nods. "The White City, yes. But," he glances at Therion, "it has another name." Therion closes his eyes and smiles faintly. "There was another city that was known by that name," he says evenly, and after a brief silence, Malfoy says, "Gondor." He turns and looks at the people he has come to care so very much for. "But this city...there is a name that is on the perifery of my mind, like a phantom...I can almost grasp it. At night, right before I sleep, I feel something...almost...like the brush of feathers, and I can almost call the name to me. But I never quite get it." He frowns, but the frown does not linger on his softened features for long. "It's maddening."

Remus smiles and tells him he could be reaching too far. "Let it come to you, Lucius." Loki flits from his nook and lights on the couch beside Layne. My Da know name, he thinks to them, then laughs his silent little laugh. "How do you know that, little love?" Therion asks him and Snape's precious Familiar replies simply, I hear. Remus leans forward. "You've heard the name in Severus' mind?" The tiny raven blinks at the werewolf with eyes as black as Snape's. Yeah, I know dat way. Gently, Malfoy gathers Loki into his hands and lifts him up so that they can look at each other. "Loki, you and I have a special bond, yes?" The little ebon bird snuggles up comfortably in the warm hands and thinks, da Silwets. Malfoy smiles. "Yes, the Silhouettes. They have healed both of us, so we are a part of them. You and I are a part of each other, you see?"

Loki beams happily. Yeah! We same! The others seem to understand where Malfoy is going with his line of thought, and they hope he's right. "Loki, can you let me hear the name that Severus heard?" The shiney black eyes close and for a moment, the two minds are one, and then are separate again. Malfoy bows his head and gives a great sigh, then softly kisses the little bird. "Thank you," he whispers, then places him on the comfy pillow on the end of the couch. He straightens then and says, "Perethil. Now, I don't know what that means exactly, but I think you do, Therry." The copper-maned wizard takes a deep breath and sits on the arm of the couch closest to Layne. "I do, yes," he says, motioning for Malfoy to open the Encyclopedia of Arda laying on the coffee table, which he does carefully.

"Page 393, please," he says, then continues when the great book lay open, showing an extraordinary sketch that takes up two pages. It is an incredibly detailed depiction of Rivendell, but it could just as easily be of the oldest parts of the Silhouettes' District. "It means Half-Elven. It was a name given to Elrond and his twin brother Elros, although it was also sometimes applied to their father, Eärendil." No one speaks for some time, as though they must let it sink in. Suddenly Loki trills softly, thinking, Els say my Da is King...Malfoy and Therion look at each other for a very long, silent moment, but it's Remus who speaks first. "What, exactly, are we talking about here?" Layne looks at the book. "You saw the same images as we did when Severus told us Ellie's story, I'm sure." Remus nods and Layne continues before he can say anything, "you saw the house she lived in, and all of the horses. You saw how important they were. You saw the banner flying above their home for all to see..."

Remus wants to say, 'that could mean anything', but he holds his tongue, because he knows it can't. He knows it is significant, because he saw Sirius sketching a similar banner, and he knows the wizard had no special bond with horses. When he asked Sirius what is was, the reply was an evasive one. "Oh," Sirius had said dismissively, "just something I saw in a shop somewhere." Remus hadn't pressed him about it, but now he wishes he had. Was it in a shop, or in a dream? Layne reaches forward and smiles as his fingers brush the ancient pages of the book. "Page 254, if you want what I think you do," Therion says, and when he finds it, he turns the book carefully for Remus and Tonks to see.

"The Royal banner of Rohan," Tonks reads clearly, then turns to her husband. "It looked exactly like this," she says, her voice hushed. Therion tells them, "not just anyone, any horsekeeping family, could fly that particular design of banner. Only those of Royal descent." Remus nods, then whispers that he saw the exact same banner himself, not too long ago. When they ask him where he rises from the couch and steps up out of the sunken living room. "On a sheet of parchment Sirius sketched on. I didn't know what it was then," he says softly. "He told me he saw it in a shop, but I knew he wasn't being straightforward." Therion looks at Malfoy and notices the fair wizard watching Loki closely. The little raven has flit onto the coffee table and is carefully examining the picture.

I see dat, he thinks, then looks around at them. I see dat. Malfoy reaches down and scoops him up. "Where have you seen that banner, little one?" Silwets, dey has. Malfoy directs his gaze and thoughts at Therion privately and asks, Cambion is with Ellie, I know...could you ask him if he sees or has seen the banner? Is it flying now? Therion reaches out to his beloved Familiar and finds his mind without much effort. Their communication is so swift, it takes no more than a few seconds. He says, so that they all know, "Cambion says that this banner, this very banner, flies above the Shaded Court in the Garden of Dreams. It is--" he clears his throat and sniffles, "--where the Silhouettes go when their physical existance has ended. He says...he and Ellie are there now."