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Deprogramming the spirits would require a great deal of additional effort. For now, the Reladorian mages simply trapped them in magic stones. They would finish the job during a peaceful moment after they recovered.
“Kill bad demon now?” Butterfly Wings wondered.
“Bad spirit out now!” Dragonfly Wings declared.
“No problem! Easy!” Bee Wings assured us.
“We should wait for Melione,” Elhàn stated. “These guys are winded again.”
Referring to the mages, who looked like they were in the middle of a death march, just from exorcising one spirit and storing all four. Lady Dilorè was casting [Light Recovery] on the female member of the trio, who was in the worst shape.
Urrit, whom I now understood to be the senior-most of the trio, straightened his back and stated, with resolve, “With a potion…”
“Don’t waste a potion when a high-powered priestess should be only a few hundred paces away!” Elhàn scolded him. She sounded scornful, but I could see honest worry for the half-dead mage in her eyes.
I was worried for him too, and the others as well. They were clearly in bad shape.
<This one became curious about a tonic that the mortals have been taking, and performed a deduction,> Fan Li commented. <It’s a combination of anti-charm against the effect that fairies have on mortals, and antitoxin against the effect of dense free mana. It appears to be losing its effect.>
“How confident are we that they are on schedule though?” Dilorè frowned.
“I can go check,” I noted.
“Don’t be foolish! There are enemy fairies out there!” Elhàn snapped.
“All the more reason for me to be the scout,” I answered. “No fairy is going to see me if I don’t permit it.”
Elhàn’s eyebrows rose. “That’s quite a boast, but… somehow I can’t doubt you.”
She turned to the Nanas. “You guys can wait that long, right? In a short time, a priestess will arrive to exorcise these demons. Your Auntie is going to check on them now.”
“Who’s an auntie?” I retorted, but Elhàn just grinned at me.
“””Okay!””” the pixie trio chorused.
With a shake of my head, I took off for the woods, going [Vampire Stealth] as I reached the perimeter.
I don’t know why I bothered. The pixies more-or-less followed me, zipping this way and that but generally staying with me, giving away my position. But, by now, the opponents would hesitate to mess with them, so it was probably fine.
I stayed corporeal, using [Water Glide], although Fan Li reminded me, <This small one humbly wonders why you never use the First Stage of [Paper Effigy]? It would be far more efficient in this situation.>
<First Stage?> I asked, confused, but the answer came back to me through Fan Li’s thoughts. Sen had taught me to go from immaterial to the Second Stage of the technique directly, and so I had never even learned about a ‘First Stage’!
<It would be far more efficient than using Second Stage plus [Vampire Cloak],> the ancient scholar noted. <We simply need to pick an appropriate small animal form for you. We’ve been using birds, for the mobility.>
<Let’s not bother with that right now,> I said. <Teach me in the Spirit Core later.>
I was busy, for Heaven’s sake! I put my mind back on searching the woods for enemies and allies. Although now I had the distraction of wondering what sort of First Stage form I should choose.
Now that I was curious, I had to ask, <What’s the point, anyway?>
<The reproduction of your true original physique is far more intensive a technique than the creation of a simple shape. Frankly, the First Stage could be any form, even a human or fairy. The difference is that it’s only a shell. Its only capabilities are mobility and perception.>
<A human form?> I wondered as I watched Dragonfly Nana cut across my path. Butterfly Nana then zipped across in front of me going the opposite direction.
The scholar was amused. <Are you considering a pixie form? Tiana has done that in the past, although in different circumstances.>
Through her comment, I recalled our current incarnation pretending to be a pixie while she was with Ryuu Kowa. She had used a different technique, but it had the same result.
<Second Stage form requires your familiarity with the body in question in order to be fully effective. That’s why we use our own forms. The requisite motion skills are part of the First Stage form, in the same manner as with the pixie avatar that Lady Tiana used in the Training Hall system. You move instinctively.>
My curiosity got the best of me. <I guess I could try that.>
<Using Tiana’s Sea Pixie form?>
<No… how about just myself, pixie sized? With a decent raiment, please.>
<What you think of as ‘decent’ would look rather unnatural on a pixie. Would ‘opaque and minimally sufficient covering’ be acceptable? It would follow the pixie standard better.>
I considered it, then said, <Yes, please.>
A few heartbeats later, she had accomplished it and pushed me through the transformation to First Stage, teaching me how to do it as a result. Suddenly, I was a pixie, one span tall, with my appearance, Kiki’s dragonfly wings, and a simple outfit that… Well, Robert would call it ‘cave girl chic’.
This passing knowledge from one Incarnation to another so easily really is a cheat skill.
“””Auntie!”””” the three pixies chorused, and circled me at high speed, emitting copious giggles.
Each one zipped up for a moment of contact, with bright laughter echoing all around us. Bee Nana flew upside down from below me to give a half-second hug, Butterfly Nana flew up behind me to do the same, and Dragonfly Nana flew backwards to give me the lightest and briefest of kisses on the cheek. Then they resumed their winding ricochet around and through the forest undergrowth as we conducted our search for friend and foe.
I could tell that my own magic was unavailable in this form, but I possessed the basic four skills of an Elder that were built into the [Blood Effigy], the fairy and vampire versions of Sight and Sense, although as the weaker forms that I was already accustomed to.
It was easy to find a spot sufficiently far from an enemy, after spotting them in [Fairy Sense], to stop for a moment in one of the deeper shadows available thanks to the thick canopy and undergrowth to use [Vampire Sense] for better detail.
But the first time I did it, all three sisters came zipping up to me once I finished, peppering me with warnings.
“Be careful, Auntie!”
“Be careful, Auntie!”
“Be careful, Auntie!”
“Dwende grab!”
“Dwende play play!”
“Dwende make Auntie Dwende toy!”
“Auntie fun fun!”
“Auntie make baby!”
I heard a strangled snort in the back of my head. Who knew the esteemed scholar from Huajie could be caught off guard and bark laughter like that?
“What are you saying?” I demanded. “Do those things… I mean…”
So I didn’t actually want to ask if those creatures had a habit of raping pixies, which is what I felt pretty sure I was hearing. Should I teach these creatures the concept of enforcing consent?
But before I could express it, they sort of? cleared it up for me.
“If dwende want pixie toy, pixie fun fun!”
“If pixie want dwende toy, dwende fun fun!”
“That’s the rules!”
“That’s the rules!”
“That’s the rules!”
“Fun fun game!”
“Always play!”
I suddenly had a feeling I was learning far more about pixie social conventions than I actually wanted to know. If I was actually understanding what I was hearing, and I wasn’t sure about that.
Was it some sort of ‘assume permission, don’t say no’ policy? Sounded downright criminal in human terms, but they considered it a game? At least it sounded like it wasn’t unilateral. But it seemed to lack the principals of mutual attraction or body ownership, and as someone who once did not have the choice regarding her own body, I had big problems with that idea.
Yeah. Let’s just pretend we didn’t hear it. This is temporary anyway. I’m not planning to stay a pixie. We resumed our search without me making any response, since I was simply at a loss for words.
<It isn’t surprising they would have non-human conventions,> Fan Li judged. <These creatures did not evolve from humans or fairies. It seems they existed before the Elder race arrived, evolving from simpler magic creature forms through mimicry of the humans they saw. Their similarity to fairies is due to being one of the templates that the Immortals followed to mold Senhion’s descendants and the broken survivors of the race into the fairies. Perhaps we just caught a glimpse of why fairies are such libertines.>
I felt like she was justifying something she shouldn’t justify, but she felt my thought and sighed.
<After seeing those girls fight, can you honestly imagine one of them actually being forced against their will? The arrangement must be consensual, regardless of your interpretation. All creatures have their own mating policies, including humans and pixies. Objecting to their rules makes no more sense than holding a bull or a black widow spider to human standards.>
We weren’t going to agree on this, so I just said nothing and concentrated on my search.
Which soon turned up, barely more than a half-mile from our position, the main force.
Naturally, the sisters dove straight in, causing general consternation among the expedition.
The alarm was short lived, but I waited in the undergrowth while the troops went from high alert back to normal, having realized that they were simply being harassed by local pixies.
But then the sister began calling out “Auntie!” to summon me in. They then tired of waiting and came out to get me. I chose that moment to switch back to my Stage Two form. There was no sense in confusing people. There were fairies in the group who would recognize my aura.
Dragonfly Nana grabbed my hand and pulled, and I let myself be led through the bush into view of the main group.
Ryuu and Graham, backed up by the SAS troopers, were forging the group’s way through the forest. They were leading their beasts rather than riding them, and in this sort of territory that means hacking your way through undergrowth, hence their slow progress. Unlike fairies, pixies and pretend demi-halfling fairlings, mortals and horses can’t glide mysteriously through the dense brush. Well, Brigitte can, but she’s special.
Paths existed through these woods, but our ‘delousing station’ was nowhere near one, as a result of the battle. So now, thirty expedition members had to make their way through the thicket to reach us.
<It’s quite a quandary,> Fan Li mused. <A much smaller party would be much handier for navigating this terrain, yet such an expedition wouldn’t be able to stand up to the foe we are expecting.>
They had just reached a brand new clearing, created during one of the previous battles. Lots of fallen lumber to get around, some of it still smoldering. The forest was nice and damp, not conditions that favored a wildfire, but they stamped out the smoke spots as they passed, anyhow.
Naturally, their guard went up immediately upon my emergence at the far end of the clearing, but they quickly relaxed again upon recognizing me.
Serera used her wings to leapfrog the frontline and walked toward me with clear mixed feelings on her face. I’m sure she wanted to look like she was just welcoming me, but I’m sure she was getting close enough to detect whether I was me or an enemy fairy using an illusion. But she was clearly confident of her [Fairy Sight] assessment of me by the time she came into normal speaking range, since she simply smiled wryly and greeted me with a complaint.
“I left you with them to ensure their safety, Miss Hiléa. You’re easily the strongest among them.”
I pooched my lips and protested, “You’re underestimating your apprentice, My Lady. Dilorè is stronger than you realize.”
“Hm,” she replied, neither wanting to contradict me nor agree. Then, with a grimace, she stated, “Domerà’s fairies may be stronger than you realize. I suspect that you underestimate your own strength when facing them, which leads you to overestimating what Elhàn’s warriors are capable of against them. I would prefer you get back there as soon as possible. They may realize you aren’t there and attack.”
I sighed, then nodded. “Fine. We spotted three of them between you and our group, and I imagine they have seen you by now, so be alert.”
After I began to turn and leave, I had a thought and called, “Nanas!”
The three pixies came ricocheting and zigzagging back to me with responses of “Auntie!”
“Auntie?” Serera asked me.
“They seem to be Kiki’s descendants,” I told her, “And Kiki calls Tiana ‘Big Sis’.”
To the pixies, I asked, “Can you stay with these folks and make sure those other fairies don’t attack them?”
For some reason, my request puzzled them.
“Why?”
“Why?”
“Why?”
“White fairy lady strong strong!” Dragonfly Nana assured me. “Big men strong strong too!”
“I would like to think so,” Serera agreed with a smile, “Besides… somebody else is back. We’ve got ample strength now.”
Serera sent a glance upward to a male Elder in leather armor who was currently flying air cover.
I looked up at Diur and blinked.
I had thoroughly forgotten that he and Pasrue were even part of this group. Why?
Wait…
“What do you mean, ‘back’?”
“You didn’t notice them leave, right?” she smiled. “It seems like most of the expedition didn’t realize he and his girlfriend had gone off on some sort of side mission. They joined up with us just a little while ago. Hardly anyone noticed their absence or their return. One of those two knows some tricky Dark magic, I suspect. Made most of us not think about them while they were gone.”
The front line had just about finished crossing the clearing. Ryuu called out, “Are you ladies willing to move? We’re coming through soon.”
Serera chuckled. “Get going. Bring your little nieces with you.”
“You have our position?”
“You haven’t moved right?”
“We ended up about three hundred paces east of where you last saw us.”
“Close enough. Get going.”
I nodded, then used [Water Glide] to head back into the thicket. Once out of sight, I went back to the pixie form.
“Go play with bad fairies?” Dragonfly Nana asked.
“Make game?” Bee Nana wondered.
“Good play!” Butterfly Nana declared.
“Good toys!” Dragonfly Nana agreed.
I chuckled. “Sure. Let’s do that.”
