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INTRODUCTION The following is a short story I wrote in the ELANTRIS world back in January of 2006 At that point, ELANTRIS had only been out in stores for about seven or eightnew on the story or world since 2000, when I'd finished the first draft of the original book This story was originally posted for sale on Amazoncom; once the contract with them ran out, I posted it here There were always a few holes in the manuscript where I decided not to include viewpoints or sections of explanation in the na, particularly at the end In the back of my mind, I knehat happened This story talks about one of those holes; it is meant to be read after you've finished the novel and takes place during the events of the climax At the bottom, I've written a further explanation of why I wrote this piece So to read this ahead of time; I put it at the bottom, however, as I know others would rather enjoy the story without bias before hand, then read hts afterward Either way, if you haven't read the novel ELANTRIS, this containsthe book first? This story won't work at all for you if you haven't As always, thanks for reading!

The Hope of Elantris

By Brandon Sanderson

"My lord," Ashe said, hovering in through the"Lady Sarene begs your forgiveness She's going to be a tad late for dinner"

"A tad?" Raoden asked, amused as he sat at the table "Dinner was supposed to start an hour ago"

Ashe pulsed slightly "I'm sorry, e if you conant and it's his fault, so that means he has to do what I want'"

Raoden laughed

Ashe pulsed again, looking as e he was siht

Raoden sighed, resting his arms on the table of his palace inside Elantris The walls around hiht, and no torches or lanterns were necessary He'd alondered about the lack of lantern brackets in Elantris Galladon had once explained that there were plates otten just how ht had come from the stones themselves

He looked down at his eled so hard for just a little bit of food, he thought Now it's so co before we eat

Yet, food was plentiful Raoden hie into fine corn Nobody in Arelon would ever go hungry again Still, thinking about such things took his ed inside the city

"Ashe," Raoden said, a thought suddenly occurring to hi"

"Of course, your majesty"

"Where were you during those last hours before Elantris was restored?" Raoden asked "I don't reht In fact, the only ti you is when you came to tell me that Sarene had been kidnapped and taken to Teod"

"That's true, your majesty," Ashe said

"So, where were you?"

"It is a long story, yourdown beside Raoden's chair "It began when Lady Sarene sent me ahead to New Elantris, to warn Galladon and Karata that she was sending them a shipment of weapons That was just before the monks attacked Kae, and I went to New Elantris, completely unaware of as about to occur"

Matisse took care of the children

That was her job, in New Elantris Everyone had to have a job; that was Spirit's rule She didn'tit for longer than Spirit had been around Ever since Dashe had found her and taken her back to Karata's palace, Matisse had been watching after the little ones Spirit's rules just made it official

Yes, she enjoyed the duty Most of the time

"Do we really have to go to bed, Matisse?" Teor asked, giving her his best wide-eyed look "Can't we stay up, just this once?"

Matisse folded her ar a hairless eyebrow at the little boy "You had to go to bed yesterday at this time," she noted "And the day before And, actually, the day before that I don't see why you think today should be any different"

"So up beside his friend "The adults are all drawing Aons"

Matisse glanced out theThe children-the fifty or so of the dubbed the "Roost" because of the intricate carvings of birds on most of its walls The Roost was located near the center of the city-within-a-city-close to Spirit's own home, the Korathi Chapel where he held s The adults wanted to keep a close watch on the children

Unfortunately, that meant that the children could also keep a close watch on the adults Outside the , flashes of light sparked fro Aons in the air It was late-far later than the children should have been up-but it had been particularly difficult to get theht

Tiil is right, she thought So on That, however, was no reason to let hier he stayed awake, the longer it would be before she'd be able to go out and investigate the commotion herself

"It's nothing," Matisse said, looking back at the children Though sohtly-colored sheets,Matisse deal with the two trouble-makers

"Doesn't look like 'nothing' to me," Teor said

"Well," Matisse said, sighing "They're writing Aons If you're that interested, I suppose that we couldyou want to practice writing Aons I'ht"

Teor and Tiil both paled Drawing Aons hat one did in school-soain Matisse smiled slyly to herself as the two boys backed away

"Oh, coet your quills and paper We could draw Aon Ashe a hundred or so times"

The boys got the hint and slipped back to their respective beds On the other side of the roo the children,Matisse did likewise

"Matisse," a voice said "I can't sleep"