Private Tales A Fault Not In Our Stars

[Sedorohein]

Carnaduin struggled to not role his eyes. Fables were just made for insecure and shifty people who could not flat-out say things to people when they needed to. Why did he need to listen to a whole story about a lynx when a simple, 'Hey, beware of strangers' would have sufficed?

"Yes, but I'm not the lynx, or the wolf, or whatever other animals you want to attach to me in this story. I'm more like a hunter and I have found an injured dog in my bear trap and I feel sorry for it."

That was better right?

He had no idea what the old man was talking about anger for? Was he angry at him? What had he ever done to him? Well, he did call him a bear but that was just factually true. He shot a glance at Elinyra and just gave her a look that said everything was fine.

The man also spoke of power, but if he only knew just how little power Sedorohein had now compared to a few centuries ago. He once marched an entire island nation into the sea and they all walked willingly. Most of them died, but a few are now a seafaring race, so in the end it had all worked out well.

"But you are right, I do get something out of it, but it isn't so concrete as what you imagine. I get some excitement which is increasingly hard to come by the older you get. I want to watch the potential of your people go out and just...do."

Elinyra Derwinthir

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

"I've already seen some of the potential of this blight. I don't care to see more of it, especially not out in the wider world. We are mostly simple folk here, just living the lives we are given to the best of our ability. The last thing we need is pity."

As with their previous discussions, Elinyra found his viewpoint to be the very essence of human pigheadedness. She wasn't about to see all of their fates written in stone because of a stubborn fool.

"You still see us as nothing more than the blight? What of the afflicted children? Do they not deserve a future?" she replied acidly. Mannan gave her a sympathetic look that reminded her of someone who'd heard that an orphanage in some far-away country had just burned down.

"Do you truly believe this new friend of yours can offer them a better one, with the burden of the blight still affecting their bodies and minds? Even contained, it will make their lives harder than they should be.

"And I would remind you that many haven't been blessed with such -- some would say miraculous -- healing as you have." Mannan gestured vaguely at the silvan half of Elinyra's body.

"But that they could is precisely why I suggest this. Look, Mannan, the rate of decay has only increased in the past few months. It won't be long before more people start succumbing to it. We no longer have the time to find our own solution. This is the only option we have."

"And so very convenient, too," He grumbled. But he sighed heavily and took a moment to consider their words. Finally he nodded slowly, patting the table with his gnarled hands.

"I'll call a village meeting and we'll let everyone decide for themselves," he said at length.

"Then you'll support this agreement?"

"No. It is not my place -- nor is it yours -- to try to convince anyone one way or another. But they deserve to know of the potential dangers of said choice."

"It is a very simple choice: to live, or to die." She truly hated that it had come to that. But they had tried the methods available to them. They couldn't exactly leave Tir Na Nog to seek help from some of the more advanced civilizations on Arethil.

"Fine, a village meeting then." She turned to Carnaduin. "Is there anything you'd like to add before we speak with the rest of the village?"

Sedorohein

 

[Sedorohein]

"Do you truly believe this new friend of yours can offer them a better one, with the burden of the blight still affecting their bodies and minds? Even contained, it will make their lives harder than they should be.

Carnaduin's placating smile dropped from his face as his eyes hardened. He did not hear anything else that was said. The only thing ringing in his ear was the fact that this man not only doubted him, but he then talked down to him, like he was some common snake oil salesman.

Their former fae patron would lick the ground where he walked if given the chance, and here this buffoon of a human was insulting him.

Carnaduin stood up, already moving to the door, but paused when the final question was asked.

He looked back to Mannan with hardened eyes that once again showed the madness that Elinyra had already found in his eyes once before.

"Yes, let's hold a vote, but let me make one thing clear. No matter who asks for my help, I will grant it to them. I will make the blight nothing more than a fleeting memory of a nightmare that disappears as soon as they wake. But for you, I will never help you. After all the others go on to actually live their lives and make their bloodlines that will last generations, no matter how much you beg, you will never receive my assistance."

Elinyra Derwinthir

 

[Elinyra Derwinthir]

Mannan had nothing more to say as Elinyra and Carnaduin left his humble cottage. Elinyra was especially grateful for the conversation's end; she had expected Mannan to die on his lonely hill, but to see how strong his dedication was to that end even when help was offered -- or was it simply distrust?

Either way, he was getting exactly what he wished for. She wondered if he'd regret it in the end.

"I can say unironically that those sharing Mannan's sentiments have made themselves a dying breed."

The baby cooed. Elinyra lifted Fielynn up in her arms face her. Her serious demeanor slipped away as she added in perfect sing-song Motherese,

"Who's a big stinky? Mannan's a big stinky!" Fielynn giggled and kicked her feet in enjoyment of the attention. Elinyra bobbed her up and down a couple of times before hoisting the child into her arms and returning her attention to the matter at hand.

She gazed down the hill from Mannan's house to the other homes scattered among the trees. Some looked to have been grown from the trees, others more traditionally built. Several blightborn went about their business of tending gardens, gathering and woodworking.

"Most of the villagers are survivors from a blighted human village. They'll be much more willing to listen to reason. They have something worth living for."

Sedorohein

 

[Sedorohein]

"I'm counting on it."

Carnaduin had never planned on getting every last one of the blighted. In fact, if he had then he would have considered them soft and a little too impressionable. But he knew he could get the majority, he could get enough.

A small smile slipped onto his face at the noises of the child, but as he turned to look over the village it fell away. Now was the big moment, it should be now. It should have happened before Mannan had time to sway others.

He reached out into the air and plucked an invisible string and another, and another. The softest song filled the area, softly urging all that heard it to gather towards the sounds.

"They need to hear this, but it has to be from you. It needs to be from one of their own."

Even now, more of the blighted were stepping outside searching for the source of the beautiful song.

Elinyra Derwinthir