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It was my good fortune that Orestanian engineers prefer brass for handles, fittings and controls on machinery. If, for some reason, I wasn’t wearing my fairy mail gauntlets when an emergency came up, I could still grab the controls.
This was a passing thought I had as I coaxed Reia into the air above the great paved combat ground where I had landed her the other day, or three months ago in my subjective time. As it happened, I was wearing my gauntlets, and the rest of my armor. My travel pack was stowed nearby, but otherwise, I was able to leave the craft to fight or travel away from it as a fairy knight at any moment.
By my estimate, I had experienced a bit more than ninety four and a half days inside the mountain. But in Sky Ocean’s time frame, it was merely the morning of the second day, about forty two hours after I came back from the Fairy King’s Castle.
I called out to Little Jia as I spiraled upward into the sky over South Island.
As I exit, please return the time scale to equal time with Huade.
The time scale in Sky Ocean does not normally run at a seventy-to-one time compression. If she didn’t set it back to one-to-one, they would experience more than two months here for every day I was gone. And much more, if they used the training hall.
As you wish, Commander! Jia responded.
How goes the fight outside?
They have finally tired of taking casualties. They have retreated a distance and appear to be discussing their options.
I nodded at the expected outcome.
I trust that nobody has died yet? I queried.
Fortunately, we have not yet escalated the fight to that level, she answered.
Good. Carry on as you have been doing. If all goes well, I should be back in a few days.
Safe travels, Commander!
I drew in a deep breath, preparing myself for the transfer. Even though I had all that extra spiritual energy now, so that I would be better off than before I arrived, I still wasn’t looking forward to going back into Huade’s conditions. Once prepared, I called to the portal system.
Please transfer my aircraft and me to approximately the same point as my entry location, headed in the opposite direction.
Yes, Commander. Have a safe trip, came the portal system’s halfling-like voice.
Thank you, I responded, just before the scenery changed.
Immediately, I was dealing with the same decrease in mental and spiritual strength as when I was in Huadean simulations. Fortunately, my ‘flying lesson’ time had been spent in such a simulation, and I was used to flying with this level of energy.
Also fortunately, I was a bit stronger now, after spending much time in the dense energy of the Garden Pavilion and the Lotus Pavilion strengthening my vessel. I began Daq R’mion’s and Kwelabi’s techniques for keeping my thoughts as clear as possible, which, between the two, were quite effective for working complex problems like flying an aircraft. It wasn’t the sort of thing I could do 24/7, but it was very useful right at the moment.
My fairy sense of time and location quickly adjusted to the world outside as the weather turned stormy and the light decreased. It might have been the morning of the second day inside Sky Ocean, but out here, it was thirty six minutes after I had disappeared into the mountain, so long ago. It was roughly Mid-Morning on Restday, the twenty-first day of the Month of Gentle Rains.
An artificial thunder cloud still hung like a massive umbrella over Mount Ciddan. The black Elder-shaped mystery beings defending my turf still cross-crossed the sky above my flight heading, paying me no attention. And in the distance, I could see the hapless fairy warrior patrol flying a holding pattern.
I paid them no mind and set my heading for the first gate on my path through the Great Labyrinth spell back to the Entry Portal for Tëan Tír.
Naturally, they spotted me and immediately headed in my direction. I had hoped they would simply follow me back, but Tamerà, the leader, dashed my hopes immediately by flying up as close as she dared, mindful of the giant windmill fans propelling the ship, and yelled, “Halt your vessel!”
It would be troublesome going out the hatch to discuss it in person, so I simply sent in spiritual voice, Ëi onar lâ, Rehëu Tamerà.
Her eyes grew large, and her jaw set. “Why aren’t you halting?”
I sighed. Actually, I had already reversed the pitch of the rotor blades, to slow the craft down. She just didn’t understand the physics of the situation.
Now that I was using spiritual voice, I could pick up her words in my thoughts without a problem. Her mind was far too open for me to miss them. So I sighed as I answered, There’s no need to yell, Rehëu. I can hear you just fine.
“Then why aren’t you halting!?”
Meanwhile, just in case this was going to escalate into a fight, I began summoning Wind spirits from the distance to come and assist me. Then I tried reasoning with her.
I have the thrust in reverse right now, and the craft is slowing down. This is as good as it gets with this type of vessel. It can’t halt on the spot. I have to turn into the wind now, so please be mindful while my bow swings. Also, for control purposes, I won’t be able to stop entirely in these wind conditions. The best I can do is slow down.
Simply hovering in the current wind conditions was out of the question. I had to face the oncoming wind and power into it slowly to maintain control. Although I couldn’t switch bodies in real life, I could still switch minds, and I considered calling on Sirth to handle the boat in the tricky conditions. But she hated the idea of being dressed in my armor, so I had to stick to being Tiana.
“Whatever! Come out and parley!” was my response from Lady Tamerà.
I gave another sigh, and let it transmit to her, this time.
In order to do that, I need to clear the mountain and find a safe spot to land, Rehëu. I am alone on board, so there is nobody to stay behind and mind the controls. Please just state your business.
She scowled, then barked, “This craft vanished from the air and then reappeared an hour later! You are to explain what you have been doing while in stealth!”
Would you mind explaining your legal justification to demand such a thing from a royal knight, Rehëu? I don’t believe I am obligated to answer such a question without the King’s order. I would consider the request if it came from a royal minister, of course. Are you one of those?
Her eyes grew again, but she seemed to be stuck for a response.
I would appreciate an escort back to the Fairy King’s Castle, though. If you do so, you can petition the King to order me to answer your question after we arrive.
She spluttered for a bit, then demanded, “You’re going to fly this vessel to the Castle?”
It’s a royal knight’s vessel, carrying her on business for the King. Can you explain to me what problem exists with flying it to the Castle?
I was totally leaving out the part about how, in my mind, the ‘King’ I was on business for was Uncle Owen. She had shown previously that she knew about my accolade from Oberon, when she addressed me as Enora, Royal Knight, so I let her misunderstand me.
Again, I had her lost for words, so I added, I really would appreciate that escort. It would make it quicker to get through the portal, after all.
I turned the craft back on its heading and raised the speed once again. Lacking a response, she ended up signalling her squad, which was now missing a few injured, to follow me.
I frowned when I realized how much the numbers had decreased. She only had four warriors following her. She started with eight.
Change of plans, Lady Tamerà. Show me a spot to land. Any decent meadow will do.
“Why?” she demanded.
Your numbers have decreased. Where are the wounded?
She scowled, then admitted, “They’re in a clearing to the north. Why do you want to know?”
I am a skilled healing mage. If it was my mountain spirit who wounded your people, I feel obligated to treat them. Guide me to that clearing. I’ll see if I can put it down there.
Fifteen minutes later, I landed Reia in a meadow a bit north of the clearing, which had been a little too small for comfort. After a short hop of a flight, I began treating Jia’s hapless victims. It presented an opportunity for Tamerà to grill me further, of course.
“Where did that shrine come from?” she demanded. “Nobody has ever observed such a thing on the mountain before!”
The ‘shrine’ to which she referred was the new entry into the mountain that Jia had created to replace the one that had vanished in an earthquake in the distant past. It was modeled after a Dorian shrine, with temple guardian statues on either side of the tunnel entrance.
“The mountain spirit built it to make entering and exiting more convenient for me. I take it all this happened when you tried to follow me in?”
By ‘All this’, I meant the five wounded fairies surrounding me. Four had been lying here when I first overflew this clearing, and the fifth was a girl who had been flying wounded. Having more than fifty percent casualties, Tamerà had continued the attempt to follow me into the mountain for far too long.
Her scowl deepened. “What were those beings? They seemed terribly strong for spirits.”
“Either direct proxies of the mountain spirit, or proxies of spirit beasts working for her. I’m not certain which,” I answered as I began treatment of the first patient, a half-fairy with rib fractures and a shattered humerus. None of the girls had immediately life-threatening injuries that I could tell, just a lot of broken bones, so I was just treating them as I came to them.
“Proxies? Spirit beasts?” Tamerà asked, puzzled.
I winced slightly. After spending three subjective months inside the mountain, some terms had crept into my speech that weren’t widely known on Huade.
“Extremely powerful beings from the higher world, that don’t normally get involved in ours,” I explained. “Non-biological creatures distantly related to the spirits of our world.”
Her eyes widened slightly.
‘The higher world’ was a very generic term, but most fairies generally use that term for the vague awareness they have of the Immortal Realms and the Spirit Realm. That knowledge had also evolved into the spirit religion of Doria, just as distant memories of the Tutelary Council had evolved into the various religions to the north. Arelia and the Tabad, the Northeastern Maritime Provinces where Bray is located, the northern countries like Hamalgaar and Thuriben, and the Ostish country surrounding Atianus all remember a mangled version of the truth.
“And why did they let you pass?”
“It’s my mountain, My Lady,” I stated as I continued with the girl. I had become far more dextrous with [Healing]. Although the girl visibly shrank under the heat, my treatment didn’t appear to be torture anymore.
Her injuries were turning out to be serious, though, with injuries to the liver and spleen, so I couldn’t lighten it up as much as I would like.
“Your mountain,” she repeated, with a tone that said she still didn’t accept it.
“The King will confirm it if you ask,” I stated. “I inherited Mount Ciddan from my great-grandmother.”
“How could some foreign monster inherit our most sacred mountain?” she demanded.
Somehow, I kept myself from rolling my eyes. I told her, “The mountain spirit also recognizes me as her master. If you object, return to the mountain and argue with her.”
