.
Oberon nodded, pondered something for a moment, then clapped his hands once.
“Today’s audience is adjourned. Everyone except for family is dismissed,” he declared. “Tetra, we’ll take refreshments.”
“Your Majesty…,” Serera said, kneeling while the others were bowing and leaving. She seemed to be expressing concern.
“She is safe with us, My Lady,” he stated firmly.
She looked reticent, but she nodded. “Yes, Your Majesty.”
“My Lady, could you assist my disciples and I?” Manlon asked. “We must bring Lady Mára back to my laboratory. I would appreciate your escort to insure she doesn’t try to escape in the process.”
He looked to Oberon. “With your leave, of course, Esteemed Father. My girls and Mára should not be present for private discussions.”
The King gestured and inclined his head in assent. “Return once My Lady is secured.”
Soon, only the King, the crown prince and five women remained. I was quickly introduced to the last two– Gelon’s daughter Princess Somire and the girl that looked almost like her twin, but was actually her granddaughter, Lady Dilorè– and then Oberon took Gelon and Tenre aside for a quick huddle. Apparently a [Realm of Silence] was involved, because even my acute hearing failed to penetrate it.
Amana took my attention from that discussion almost immediately, by grabbing my hand, pulling me to my feet and dragging me toward the pool.
“I’m getting parched! Let’s get in!”
She was also my mother’s daughter, and therefore also quarter-naiad, of course.
I panicked, “Wait a minute! I’m wearing a dress!”
I was, in point of fact, wearing a formal court gown, in the Orestanian fashion. Its only non-standard feature was the open back for my wings.
“What? Oh! That’s not a raiment, is it?” she noticed.
Behind me, I heard Somire make a ‘pu’ sound of exasperation. “Of course it isn’t! This child was born barely yesterday!”
“I forgot,” Amana told me apologetically. Then there were suddenly three sets of hands working to remove it from me!
“Wait!” I panicked again, “There’s men here!”
They only laughed and continued, ignoring my embarrassment. These three were awfully skilled at this, too. I wondered why, considering they all wore raiments themselves, but then realized they probably had practice from stripping mortal girls.
That thought added to my blush as they dropped their raiments and herded me into the pool.
While we were soaking, (with Kiki reclining in her favorite spot on my chest) Amana noticed me still concerned about Oberon and Gelon, who were indeed occasionally enjoying the view. She teased me a little, but added seriously, “Those old lechers will admire, but we’re safe. They won’t touch a girl so closely related.”
Somire warned her granddaughter, “You are a different story, young lady. Fairies only draw the line at granddaughters, and those two are both smooth talkers, so be careful of them.”
Instead of looking worried by that, Dilorè giggled, then blew her great-grandfather Gelon a flirty kiss.
The discussion resumed once Manlon returned. I had found a spot where I could mostly hide (by floating on my stomach in the water with my crossed arms on a rock on the bank. Yes, I realize my butt was still visible under the surface, but it was the best I could do.) Amana was sitting nearby in waist-deep water and the other two were lounging (still naked) on the grass as we shared the red bean pastries and tea that a lesser fairy maid served.
The maid then gathered my discarded clothing, which I panicked about, but I was assured she was only getting them out of the danger of being trod upon.
“I still want to know,” Amana told me, “about how you knew about the demon when nobody else could see it. Who is this ‘Boss’ that the bug mentioned and why does being ‘smart smart’ mean he can talk to you?”
I looked up to Oberon, since I honestly didn’t know how much to tell her. Not only that, I had no proof, if I told the truth.
He nodded, as if hearing my thoughts, and looked at the pixie in question, who was now sitting on his shoulder. “What Kiki meant was, both of them have special souls that can safely communicate with a First One, so Oranos told her.”
I wondered what he meant be ‘safely’ hear. Were the First Ones like Great Old Ones in Lovecraft? Would a mortal go mad, seeing them or receiving their words?
My other relatives were staring at me in shock, with the exception of the two princes.
Had I guessed correctly?
“Oranos spoke to you?” Somire finally asked.
“He’s only done it once…,” I answered hesitantly. “It was during the duel.”
“But that’s why oracles are always half-mad, isn’t it?” her granddaughter asked. “A sane person can’t hear their voices!”
I guess this was common knowledge among fairies. First I heard of it.
The King answered, “Little Tiana is a bit different. She’s a throwback to the Elder Race. Naturally, Kiki can see that, because, just like myself, she is old enough to remember when the Elders were alive.”
I noticed he was keeping the idea of me being his mother off the table. Which was fine.
“That bug is ten thousand years old?” Dilorè retorted.
The King laughed and poked at Kiki, who blocked his finger with both hands, then slapped at it with pursed lips. He continued fencing with her, finger versus palms, as he continued, “Probably much older. Auntie here started life as an Elder, so she would certainly recognize a fellow Elder.”
I boggled at that idea. That tiny, capricious insect used to be a Strega?
How did she become that?
“So you’re saying Little Tiana is an Elder?” Amana asked, sounding very incredulous.
He turned his eyes to me and pursed his lips again. He wasn’t about to call me his mother, was he?
I guess he realized it would be impossible for them to believe, just yet. It was too early. Instead, he answered, “She resembles my mother to an uncanny degree. I don’t just mean her physical appearance, although she does look like her. Her aura– her mana signature– is identical to my mother’s.”
Mother could tell I wasn’t her original Tiana. So was Oberon’s reaction to me also because of his fairy sight?
I wasn’t convinced of it myself, though. Now that I was back to being myself, I was unable to accept those other people I had experienced as me… even though when I first saw the Fairy King, I had felt Senhion’s pride in seeing her son now grown up.
With that thought, I realized that she hadn’t lived long enough to witness it. Never mind his twentieth birthday; she hadn’t lived to see his tenth.
Manlon nodded thoughtfully. “During the duel, she channeled mana far beyond anything a fifteen year old fairy could ever control. The readings my disciples recorded were astonishing. It isn’t unreasonable to believe she’s an atavism. It doesn’t matter that it’s ten thousand years. For Tiana, it’s only three generations.”
I was getting more curious about this fairling prince. He seemed to be acting as my grandfather’s scientific advisor.
After pausing to consider his words, he added, “Also, true fairies can only channel Healing mana after centuries of inner development. Despite that, this child performed both [Healing] and [Purification] with a strength I have never before witnessed. Perhaps only Tiana’s mother could match it, with all her training, but I’m not certain she could.”
I had all eyes on me, now. Palace training forced me to endure it, but I did start blushing a little from the attention.
Manlon then rubbed his chin and noticed, “But Tiana-innan is not the same as an Elder in every respect, Father. She is a vampire. A monster.”
Oberon answered simply, “Elders were vampires, Little Manlon.”
He might have as well declared night to be day. All except myself and Tenre stared at him in surprise.
Tenre grew annoyed at the rest. “Father always speaks the truth. Does anyone here claim otherwise?”
Oberon smiled mildly at his daughter, and nodded. “You are old enough to remember the last few Elders that held on against the Affliction.”
“I only remember Old Auntie Pelalel, Father. If there were any others, my memory of them has faded. But I still remember going to her cave to listen to her stories with the rest of the children.”
After pursing his lips and looking over at me, Manlon commanded, “Stand up.”
I paled. I was completely naked and he wanted me to do what?
“… do I have to?”
“Oh, don’t be silly!” Somire demanded and hopped into the water next to me, yanking me to my feet.
By the time she’d accomplished that, her granddaughter had appeared on the other side and the two of them clamped their arms around my back, trapping me into the central role of three naked girls standing calf-deep in water.
“Say ‘Hi, Granduncle!'” Dilorè said while waving lightly at Manlon.
“He’s just ‘Uncle’ for her,” Somire corrected.
“Oh, that’s right.”
I was blushing furiously, but Manlon ignored my discomfort, muttering a long incantation that created a film surface in the air between us. He then studied my chest through it without the narrowest hint of remorse. I could see lights forming magic circles and divinatory characters on the film, although it was all backwards from my perspective and I wasn’t close enough to read any of it.
“I’ve seen the mixture of magical and monstrous biologies only rarely,” he mused. “The results in this case truly are quite remarkable.”
Once he nodded and turned away, his face in a scowl of deep thought as he stored his readings in a crystal orb, they let go of me. I wrapped my arms around my bust and sat straight down, still bright red.
“What are you so shy for?” Dilorè demanded as she sat next to me. “You should be proud of your looks! You’re just like a succubus!”
I frowned at her and bitterly replied, “So I’ve heard.”
Her eyes bugged a little, then she tipped her head and made her perplexed reply. “That’s a compliment, you know? Most people consider succubi the most beautiful women alive.”
“Which is natural,” Oberon added. “Considering they are the very image of their Elder ancestors, except with added horns and tail. And she’s right. You should be proud of your beauty.”
My beauty isn’t the damned problem! I wanted to scream.
Somire wondered, “Succubi are descended from Elders? I thought fairies were their descendants?”
So that was common knowledge among fairies?
“We are,” he nodded. “That’s the very origin of fairy pride, after all. We think of ourselves as the ones who carry on their legacy. But, as Aunt Pelalel always reminded me, we aren’t the only ones.”
Tenre nodded. “I remember her getting angry at a fairy child who dared claim in front of her that the monster kids weren’t ‘real descendants’.”
“Monster kids?” Dilorè wondered.
“Vampires, Satori, Succubi… There are others as well. The Amazons in the Eastern continent, for example. The first few generations of us grew up together, back then.”
Manlon rubbed his chin again while looking at me, then said, “So, when one of the strongest fairies had a baby with one of the strongest vampires, the combination reproduced the Elder race?”
“It’s also a matter of purity. She has very little other ancestry. Deharè’s maternal grandparents are a goddess and a first generation fairy. And Tiana’s father was a first generation vampire, so her paternal grandmother was also an Elder. Tiana’s only second generation on her father’s side.”
Duke Pendor’s age had always been a mystery. People only knew he’d been around for as long as anyone could remember, the same as they said about the Fairy King.
The discussion went various other places after that, until the trio of fairy girls, led by my sister, pulled me away to have lunch. Tenre and the men had state matters to discuss that we juniors couldn’t hear.
I was mortified when the girls decided we would take our lunch on the surface, to enjoy the sun. Naked, of course. It was a cloistered area for women only, but I was imagining eyes everywhere as we ate.
That was followed with a nap while sunbathing. For the other three, I mean. The sun was getting too much for my poor vampire half, so I found a spot in the shade instead, where I finally could sort through the insanity of the last twenty-four hours.
My head was full of two very important questions that I couldn’t even begin to properly answer.
First, what exactly am I? Oberon’s first reaction to me was to see his own mother. And I had Senhion’s memory of being his mother. The feeling of holding that baby in my arms as he nursed at my breast was still haunting me.
I couldn’t accept it. My origin as Robert Stewart of Earth was a fundamental part of my self-definition. Even if Robert was merely the latest incarnation of a soul with many previous identities, of various species and of both genders, my sense of identity began with him.
The others may have shared my soul, but they weren’t me. Senhion wasn’t me. I just couldn’t see it any other way.
So how should I see those lives that I remembered, those people whose thoughts and memories still lingered inside me?
The second question was a more pressing matter.
When I left Copen, I had a very clear goal, that defined what I was to do next. That goal was now accomplished.
So, what do I do, now?
