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Uncle Owen entertained a pair of beauties for lunch with his customary dignified-but-suave manner. He only switched from handsome host mode into parental mode as we finished our meal, when he shook his head while considering me thoughtfully.
“You’ve really grown, Tiana. You’ve matured so much that it’s hard to remember you’re my youngest child rather than my eldest.”
His words caught me off guard for a moment. To my knowledge, Mother had not told Uncle Owen about me, or about what happened to the old Tiana. I saw Serera’s brow rise just a trace at his words, and the corners of her mouth lifted slightly, probably reading my thoughts from my body language.
I just couldn’t say I’m still your little girl, or I’m still the same old Tiana, Uncle Owen, without feeling like I was lying, so I said something that didn’t involve any falsehood.
“I’ve been through quite a lot in the past couple months, Your Majesty.”
His brow darkened. “Yes. I’ve received a full accounting from Baroness Erna. If she wasn’t already retired, I might strip her of her title as punishment. Although she is repentant over it…”
He bit off whatever he was going to say next. It took me a moment to connect the name ‘Baroness Erna’ to Lady Niaela, the headmaster of the school in Copen. He had stopped himself because she was a greatly respected figure in the kingdom’s history.
He had associated my words with what happened at the Royal Academy, but I hadn’t really been referring to that. I lowered my head slightly.
“Your Majesty, please be lenient with her,” I told him. “A certain very arcane magic which she could not have anticipated or discovered was complicating the situation.”
His eyebrow raised. “Your mother said so as well, and also asked me not to punish her. I don’t entirely understand why, though.”
“You would probably need a senior sage like Matthias to explain it, Your Majesty,” Serera stated. “I don’t entirely understand either, but the Fairy Queen assured me that very real magic had been operating on everyone who met, observed or even heard about Tiana. According to her, it was of alien origin.”
“Alien…?” The King’s eyebrows rose further.
“It was the work of a reincarnated or summoned person from another world, Your Majesty,” she said gently. “Similar things have happened in the past. When an otherworldly person can perform magic forms unknown in our world, it can become quite disruptive. The magic form in this case was a type that has been absent from our world since the end of the Ancient Fairy Age.”
Uncle Owen looked concerned, and a bit perplexed. “A magic which causes a large number of people to act so irrationally is a serious matter, My Lady. If the enemy can do it once, they could do it again…”
“The Fairy Queen’s investigation both confirmed the existence of the magic and determined that it had been broken somewhere shortly after Her Highness’s return to Tëan Tír. She has set up a system to monitor for any recurrence.”
He pursed his lips, then asked, “The fairies are able to do something about this magic?”
“According to the Fairy Queen, we purged it from this world once,” she stated firmly. “We can do it again, if necessary.”
I recalled what Diurhimath had told me about it. “Your Majesty, a certain very ancient mage broke the spell in order to protect me. I believe he would come to my aid again, if necessary.”
The King’s frown did not lighten. “But if an attack were made elsewhere in the kingdom…”
“Such attacks have already been made,” Serera stated firmly. “The Fairy Queen believes that the magic attacking Her Highness was only one of multiple spells which were broken all at once. She is monitoring the region in general for a repeat, not just Tiana’s location.”
Uncle Owen’s eyes narrowed as he heard that news. “Does she know who was targeted?”
Serera shook her head. “She does not. She could only verify that all of the hexes had the same source.”
I added. “The mage I mentioned told me that he freed the spellcaster. She was the captive of a demonic spell. He said he ‘physically freed her’, so she may have been imprisoned.”
“Where is this person now?” he asked. “Is she secure?”
Serera answered, sending me a slightly troubled glance, “She seems to be the slave girl that your son Roderick took under his protection, Your Majesty. She should be with him in the Tabad now.”
The King’s brow wrinkled, and he also glanced toward me. “That one, huh?”
I twisted my mouth into a wry smile. “If there is something you two don’t want me to hear…”
Serera chuckled and patted my hand. “It’s just that it connects another woman to your fiancé, so it feels quite delicate.”
I sighed and shook my head. “If Rod has a girlfriend, it doesn’t bother me.”
Uncle Owen gave me an appraising look, then nodded and explained, “It seems that when the students were departing due to the school closing, a mysterious mage brought a slave girl to Roderick. He claimed that she was in danger and warned Rod to keep her away from her owner for both her sake and your sake. Naturally, my son protected her.”
“He just took the guy’s word for it?” I wondered, a little confused.
“It seems Rod already knew the girl. The Royal Army had sponsored her as a student. When he learned that she was actually a slave, he assumed ownership of her under Royal Prerogative to prevent her previous owner from taking her off to the rebel side.”
Slaves are not common in Orestania, due to all the laws protecting them that make them less attractive for labor, but they aren’t rare either. Although the part about a slave girl attending the Academy sounded strange, the rest seemed to match up with what Diurhimath had told me.
I nodded. “That should be the spellcaster that he told me about, then.”
So ‘physically freed’ had meant taking her from her slave owner?
“So you believe the mage that brought her to Rod is your acquaintance?”
“Everything you two say matches what he told me,” I explained. “He says that girl was something called a Holy Adept. They used demonic magic to summon her soul from another world. They then used it to insert her into a body whose soul they had driven out, and to control her. And just like the Fairy Queen said, they used her to attack several targets.”
Uncle Owen nodded. “It should be the same girl.”
Although Mother had already filled Uncle Owen in on several things concerning what I had done since Copen, and he had received quite a lot of information from Rod, in command of the forces in the Tabad, I still had things to report. Our lunch turned into a rather long briefing. Needless to say, the orderly had long since fetched a royal scribe to take down notes and cleared away our dishes before I even broached the subject of Aenëe.
The King nodded as soon as her name came up.
“Sasara informed me that she sent you to deal with the situation in Cara Ita,” he noted. “But I am concerned about her motive.”
That statement surprised me. It was my belief that Uncle Owen felt pretty secure in Mother’s loyalty to him. She had supported him ever since he rose to the throne. Was he having doubts about her?
He must have read my reaction on my face, because he shook his head. “Don’t worry. I’m not suggesting your mother has any underhanded intentions. I simply fear that she is distracted by the feud in Faerie.”
My forehead bunched up a bit. There were people listening who didn’t know that Mother and Deharè were the same person. But Owen followed with an explanation.
“Many believe that your foster mother is the daughter of your birth mother, Deharè,” he told me. “Sasara will not answer questions on the subject, but the fact that she could easily be mistaken for a woman in her twenties when she was my wife’s close friend during her early teenage years seems like good evidence that she is fairborn. And the fact that she treasures you like her own daughter strongly suggests that you are blood relatives. After all, if she is indeed also Deharè’s daughter, then by blood you are her younger sister.”
His words were for the ears of the others in the room, of course. Uncle Owen and Serera both know darn well that Mother is both Sasara and Deharè.
He continued, “If you weren’t her true relative, then you would only be a burden, as the daughter of the previous duke. Her tender attitude toward you would make little sense.”
Lady Serera asked, “So when you say she could be distracted by Faerie, what did you mean, Your Majesty?”
“If she is indeed Deharè’s daughter, then she may become involved.”
“It’s the Field and Forest clans against the Wind and Water clans, Your Majesty. Deharè is neutral, as part of the royal clan.”
“It’s no secret that the Wind and Water support the Fairy King, My Lady. Even here in the Mortal World we know that much.”
“Is it really rising to the level of a feud?” I wondered, worried about what that would mean. Whether it’s Hatfields and McCoys or the conflicts between provincial lords in Orestania, the term ‘feud’ generally means violence.
“You were present when the valley was attacked, Your Highness,” Serera pointed out. “And even though a civil war in a kingdom of this scale ought to attract several dozen fairy knights, so far only those of us already contracted before it began are participating. Both sides would like to hire more, but the other fairies are all busy confronting each other right now instead.”
Uncle Owen scratched the back of his head and admitted, “Being unable to hire any more fairy knights has been quite a problem, actually. And it’s probably the reason Sasara wants you to go to Thuriben, so we have no fairy knight up there now that Serera is down here protecting my leadership corps. The fairy knight that showed up there is from one of the Field and Forest clans, is she not?”
I nodded. “Well, that’s true, but… she’s more-or-less an outcast. And she’s one of the Fairy King’s favored women. He has a promise from her to bear him a child. Your Majesty, are you worried that I’m heading up there to do battle with her?”
Serera looked amused. “Her Highness has already beaten the girl once, Your Majesty.”
He frowned. “I just don’t think we should provoke her. Right now, she’s a neutral factor.”
I nodded. “What you say makes good sense, Your Majesty, but I am actually on my way to help her.”
Both Serera and Uncle Owen looked at me with their eyebrows rising. It was so perfectly coordinated, I almost giggled.
“We parted peacefully, Your Majesty,” I told Uncle Owen. “And I left her in control of the city on the assumption that her clan elders would send help. She had to flee with the baron’s child because they did not do so. I feel some responsibility for her plight.”
He twisted his mouth, then noted, “At the moment, Cara Ita remains in Hamagaaran hands. And they have suspiciously powerful magic defenses. That girl claimed that an asura showed up with several demon underlings and took over. It would explain how a barony keeps holding out against us.”
I nodded. “She’s the same asura that attacked me in Atianus, Your Majesty. As I reported, I ran into her again in Carael. It’s very important that we root her out of there and take over the mines. They are an entrance to the same underground world that Rod is dealing with in the Tabad. That’s sure to be why the demons want to keep the city out of our hands.”
Uncle Owen frowned. “I heard about this underground world, but it is difficult to believe. A thousand miles separate the two places. Are they truly connected?”
“Your Majesty, the sooner you believe it, the better,” I told him. “If the demons really have found a way to access Ilim Below from the other side of the Great Wall, it is a profound danger to Orestania.”
“Your Majesty,” Lady Serera added gently, “The Fairy King has confirmed that Ilim Below is exactly as Her Highness describes. He told us that he spent his childhood there.”
“How could such a place even exist though?” he muttered.
“Gaia built it,” I told him. “In a time so long ago that mortal historians don’t even know it. It was at the beginning of the age that ended when the Ancient Fairy Age began.”
He looked like he wanted to ask me how I could be so certain. But I was already planning to tell him, so that was fine.
I glanced at the royal scribe and the orderly and others in the room, then said, “Your Majesty, I have some things to tell you that are quite private. Lady Serera is aware of much of it, and I would like her to stay and cast [Realm of Silence] for me, but beyond that, I do not wish any mortals to be present. Can you send everyone else out?”
