.
The Lesser Moon had long since finished ‘making her exit’, but the Greater Moon at half moon was plenty bright enough as we flew through the night sky. It was probably well past midnight at this point, but it seemed I would have to stay up a while longer. Oberon insisted that I accompany him.
I was back aboard Manlon’s launch, and Durandal was back in my sheath where he belonged. We were using the boat to ferry Lâsin, who was currently tightly bound to a stretcher. Oberon and I were on board to insure he could be dealt with, if he woke up from my spell.
“I’m somewhat surprised he is still asleep,” Oberon mused. “Your [Sleep] casting must be unusually powerful.”
I ducked my head a bit in embarrassment. I probably should be proud of my magic, but the fact that I can only perform unskillful renditions of level one spells makes me feel like apologizing for my power output.
Keeping my voice low, I noted, in the Elder tongue, “I once put a celestial being to sleep.”
His eyebrows rose in surprise, then he nodded with a chuckle. “I see.”
“She was trying to analyze my magic, and it worked a little too well.”
Another chuckle. Then he grew serious.
“After you cast [Sleep], I saw you casting [Purification]. But I didn’t see any result.”
“I didn’t see anything in him, and nothing came out,” I nodded. “I assume he was never possessed.”
“Since we have yet to figure out how to detect the modified gidims, we really can’t prove that,” Oberon noted. “But I suspect that is true.”
“I had thought for sure, because of the way he was behaving…”
“I can attest, he’s been that obnoxiously belligerent for at least eight thousand years, ” Princess Tenre declared as she joined us. She had been up on the quarterdeck talking with Manlon up to this point.
“What was he like before that?” I wondered.
“Before what?” she said with a slight quirk of her lip. “He’s eight thousand years old.”
That was the first time I ever witnessed Tenre make anything resembling a joke. It surprised me for a moment.
Then her deadpan face lost the slight trace of levity as she noted, “Chatting in a foreign tongue nobody other than I knows can be a bit disturbing to those who overhear. You should speak Fairy or Dorian when others are around.”
I realized we had stayed in the Elder language. Tenre was speaking it as well, confirming my suspicion that she understood it.
“Mâanrazo, Dínnedo,” I relied with a bow. (I am shown unworthy, Esteemed Aunt.)
It’s a particularly polite way to apologize. She gave a barely conscious wave of acknowledgment, then stated, also in Fairy, “We are about to reach our destination, Father. Little Tiana and I should be sufficient to guard the man…”
He interrupted with a shake of the head. “Manlon and I will stay with him until he’s safely in the hands of my wife’s offspring. This idiot must be securely locked away before I can relax.”
“What will his clan do if you don’t release him?” I wondered.
He humphed. “What can they do, with him in my hands? That task force he brought here was more than half of his military strength, and those poor children should be getting hopelessly lost, around now. They lost the navigator that brought them here, after all.”
He hooked a thumb at the fairy lord chained to the stretcher, as clarification.
The boat landed gently, using its fish-like oars as kickstands to hold itself upright on its keel. We were in a small clearing within a very ancient forest. This was definitely a mana spring. Not only could I feel the overload of unbound mana, I could see much mana-loving plant life giving off gentle glows throughout the dense growth.
Warriors boarded to carry the stretcher down to the ground. Lady Serera and Princess Amana also landed, as we followed the procession. The two would-be proxies for Mother had been flying cover for us, on guard against returning raiders attempting to liberate their leader. That duty had rescued me from an extended lecture I had been receiving about guarding my life better.
They had a point; I had charged directly through a battlefield to reach the most dangerous location in it with minimal protection. It had not been a carefully reasoned plan. Really, I had simply been unable to stand by and watch any longer. I was the root cause of the entire fight, and a lot of warriors were getting injured. I hadn’t heard yet whether there were any fatalities, but there were certainly many wounded.
I had treated a number of those wounded myself, both defenders and prisoners, before I was called to help escort the star prisoner. Just in the small fraction of the battlefield I had seen, there had been dozens. More mortals, but also many lesser fairies and even some true fairies were also wounded.
Serera and Amana caught up as the stretcher bearers entered a path into the trees. I braced myself for a resumed lecture, but Tenre preempted that conversation with a new subject.
“Try not to let your guard down around the Queen, child.”
I raised eyebrows in surprise, but she didn’t look like she was kidding around.
“Is there anything in particular I should be aware of?”
“Nothing specific,” my aunt replied. “I’m just helping you with your obsession for preserving your virginity. The Queen has a taste for exotic women, and the only known fairy vampire certainly qualifies.”
I wasn’t sure how to respond. I had been surrounded by carnivorous women from the minute I entered Tëan Tír, so nothing new there, right?
We passed under a structure like a Chinese temple gate, and the feeling of the forest abruptly changed. I realized that we had entered a barrier that was holding in the majority of the mana from the spring. It was now intensely dense.
The Water mana and Light mana in the air were working together to create a slightly glowing fog, while the Darkness mana was working against visibility to keep that glow dim. It was warmer (Fire mana) and the Earth mana made the air feel heavier but the Wind mana kept breathing light and easy. The feeling like static electricity was of course the Aether in the air, a reminder that in the Dorian language, Aether mana is called Thunder and Lightning mana.
Tenre explained, “Stepmother has long made a study of mana and nature. She uses this place to harvest and concentrate it, and she cultivates within it as well. She is seeking the path to a higher existence for us.”
“Is it safe to bring that man into this place?” I asked. I was seriously alarmed. “What might a heavyweight like him do with all this mana?”
“Those chains binding him to the stretcher have enchantments similar to the ones in the cell you described the Ostish holding you in.”
I rolled my eyes. “Orestanian, Esteemed Aunt.”
“Same thing. Mortals rename things too often. It’s hard to keep track of their petty changes. First, this valley was in the land of Ama, then it was in Tringu, then Ptar, then Doria, and now Relador. The entire time, it has been Tëan Tír. The mortals should make up their minds.”
Kiki appeared at this time, flying over to inspect the unconscious man. I had been wondering where she’d been hiding. She’d been missing for a while, but Tenre told me she’d been playing around in this place, teasing the Queen’s underlings.
At the end of a path, a cave mouth loomed out of the darkness. As we approached, an elegant woman with silver hair down to her waist met us, her sapphire eyes looking down at the fairy lord with displeasure.
“Another prisoner for my daughters?” she wondered.
Oberon stepped up to her, took her hands, and put a very old-couple-like kiss on her forehead. “It is, Dear Wife, but tell them to be gentle with him. Just like his wife, he’s here to be held, not tortured. I want them in adjacent cells for now.”
The rest of us had halted when Oberon did, but Tenre gestured to the warriors to continue into the cave. The King glanced at us and stated, “There is no need for princesses to see the distasteful things within. I can handle it from here.”
“I should like to meet with the princesses,” the Queen stated. “We shall be in my apartments.”
“Your Majesty…” Lady Serera said.
To the royal knight, she said, “I should like you to remain apart. Please rest in my woods for now.”
Serera looked dissatisfied, but bowed and stayed behind.
In Owen’s palace, the term ‘apartments’ means something the next level up from ‘suite’. Only the King and Crown Prince have ‘apartments’, which have their own kitchens, libraries, offices and other additions to what the typical suite has. So I was a little perplexed when she led us through the woods to a grotto next to a pool, in a clearing ringed by hawthorn bushes.
She looked amused at my expression, and said, “Not all is as it appears, my lovely child. My home is quite comfortable and there is much more here than you see.”
As she stopped on the moonglow grass in front of the cave, which was in fact softly emitting light similar to the light coming down from the Blue Moon hiding behind the fog, she gestured to the pond.
“It’s more for the ornamental fish now, but I installed this bath for your mother’s visits. It should make an enjoyable place for us to chat.”
Amana grabbed my hand and pulled me in before I could object. After I fussed at her about getting my gown wet, she laughed and helped me remove it, and then dried it for me.
Once we were in, Kiki dove into the water and snuggled up to my chest like normal, and I wasn’t surprised when the Queen and Tenre dropped their raiments and joined us. After all, we were seated in a circular area clearly designed for a group to sit and chat. I was also a bit amazed when the Queen’s long hair suddenly rolled itself up into a bun, within which a hairpin materialized to hold it in place.
Mortal servants– dwarven and halfling girls this time– arrived immediately, bringing sake and snacks similar to the ones we had enjoyed earlier.
The Queen smiled at me as she settled in with her sake cup, taking a seat in the water next to mine.
“I would have liked to meet you at tonight’s soiree, but several of the concubines don’t get along with me. My husband makes us alternate our attendance.”
After a sip, she added, “I’ve been looking forward to seeing you in person. I’ve had that concubine’s boy sending me his observations of your body, but it’s good to observe the living example for reference.”
That statement was more than a little creepy, but this woman was of higher rank than me. I had to just smile and reply, “It is a great pleasure to meet you as well, Your Majesty.”
She shifted a bit closer. “I do hope you’re enjoying your visit here.”
“Yes, Your Majesty,” I answered, becoming a little worried about how closely she was sitting.
She put an exclamation point on that concern next, as she set her sake cup onto the little wooden tub that was floating near her, then rolled into me, her face near my cheek, and cupped one of my hills with her hand, gently stroking the tip with her thumb as she said, “My husband tells me that you are my mother-in-law, returned to us. Is it true?”
