"But we would then become lost to ourselves!" Palindor objected.
Anest gave him an odd look. "Are not the men of Astargoth so lost?" he replied. "And, by degrees, finding themselves once more?"
Palindor and Grol chewed this over in silence, as though the notion were both distasteful to them, and true.
"What did you find out there in the forest?" asked Palindor after a time, as though needing some diversion from his own thoughts.
"It is the Power that once entirely sustained your people, in their ancient faerie past," said Anest. "The very thing that you have become estranged from, as your people have become more alike to Man. And too, Grol, I have no doubt that something similar lies waiting to be found in the Red Hills.
"And while we ready ourselves to fight the east, and Morlock's hordes, the real battle will be silent and invisible, though no less costly to ourselves. The battle for our own hearts may yet prove to be the costliest battle of all."