Fable - Ask The Futures of Fae - Ragash

[Adra Eden]

Much to his luck and, perhaps, relief - the dark elf was not there.

A moment of silence from his companion before it replied. I do not believe my prosperity will offend anyone.

As much as she could wager, anyway. The dark elf had gone to extreme lengths to keep her from failing - even so far as to offer her own blood as nutrients to sustain her hibernation during the long trek across the sea of fire. If what plans they had for her were to follow through, she would need as much recovery as she could manage.

Expedition?

 

[Erland Karr]

"A journey to the scar," he repeated from his conversation with the dark elf.

"Apparently some huge crack where some ancient dragon crawled out from the ground. Don't know what business the empire has there. Given the type of people being gathered I think they're expecting it to be dangerous."

Brynneld sighed. Saying that out loud drew a comparison with his previous life.

"I don't get told these things any more. I just need to make sure guards turn up on time and people stand in line went told so. Used to be charged with protecting the Eastern roads of Alliria with my rangers however I saw fit."

 

[Adra Eden]

So he was to traverse the scar as well. Vashe knew very little about it - perhaps just as little as he. This served as a painful reminder of her failure to See this future for herself and she wondered, just briefly, what fate had wrought upon her Warlock, Detlan. The desire to pluck on her connection to the man was strong, but her power to do so simply wasn't there.

That she hadn't felt him test the string since she'd been taken from him was worrying.

Oh but she wasn't listening, a sign that perhaps she was more weary of the evening's interaction than she presently felt.

Would you speak more about your travels?

 

[Erland Karr]

Brynneld frowned. That she asked about her travels made him realise he'd been complaining about his life as a town guard.

He couldn't imagine that mundane changes in fortune for mortal men could hold the interest of an in-a-way tree spirit. He was talking to himself, for his own benefit.

She did ask about his travels, which had him reaching into memories of the past again. He had thought he had known a great expanse of the world, but it had been much smaller than the lands the empire claimed to own. And that was small compared to the distance from alliria to Ragash.

"I used to range up the coast of the Allir strait," he explained. "Even in summer it was always cool there when the wind came in over the water."

"I'd head east from there across open ground until it became forests. There were two smaller elven towns hidden in those forests. We knew where they were and had to go out of our way north. They were supposed to be allirian lands, but was never worth pissing them off. Used to take a path that followed a stream up past three different waterfalls. Was always a nice walk. Bet there isn't a waterfall on this damned continent."

 

[Adra Eden]

Land disputes were a common mortal issue. It was part of the reason why fae hid themselves away with glamours - to protect that which had been theirs for countless generations. Mirlorne had suffered previously at the hands of mortals and nearly been burnt to the ground when she was but a young sapling. Had it not been for her sister, Eske's, great sense of vengeance they might not have lived to become what they were.

Mirlorne forest had stood free of mortal corruption or interference for millennia because of Eske. Those who paid tribute and lived peacefully within its realm were protected and welcomed. She could not fathom what her sister would do if man and elf were to quarrel over who could claim ownership of her once home lands.

Why not live in peace with the elven settlements? Would it not be beneficial to you both?

 

[Erland Karr]

Just when he had thought to finish talking of his downfall, a single question had him back to it.

"Not even the human settlements within the reach live in peace with one another," he said, with an exasperated sigh.

"We got by with them alright," he said, "My rangers I mean. Some of them are very old and hold grudges though."

He turned his head to look at the faint outline of the spirit. Trees could live for a very long time. Those saplings he had seen take root along his patrols had barely reached head height in a decade.

"Is it rude to ask how old you are?"

 

[Adra Eden]

Hmm... an amused sort of sound rang in the atrium, reminiscent of a breeze through windchimes. The tree spirit was smiling to itself.

I have lived upon this world for over nine millennia.

The illuminated spirit tilted in mild curiosity at him, disembarking from where it had sat upon the fountain wall to drift over the pool of water. Does that mean something to you?

 

[Erland Karr]

"Mean anything? That's nine thousand years right?" Bryn replied. He assumed her question was pointed at whether he understood the term millennia.

That was fair, he supposed. It wasn't as if he had been taught much as a child.

"Fuck, that's a lot of years," he said. He immediately looked slightly shocked at himself as he watched the spirit gliding across the pool.

 

[Adra Eden]

Another trilling chime of giggles.

To some, I am still considered young... to others I am ancient. Time has different meaning to different cultures and peoples.

I have visited many lands and places. Bore witness to war, strife, and loss. Created countless children over the ages. Yet my life cannot compare to your own. I have never waged war or partaken in battle. Nor have I killed another. I know not of the many emotions you no doubt have encountered over your years. In some ways, you are far more worldly than I.

Her kind did not feel things the way that humans did. Not truly. Love was an abstract, expressed and experienced as a range of duty and care but rarely ever as a specific connection to one being or another. Attachment was strange concept, for to be a creature of life was to also be a creature of death. Balance. Reincarnation. Those she had lost would return to her some day in another form, of this she knew. Anger, fear, grief ... she felt these things, too, but not in the way that he did. Not in the way that humans did.

Their lives were so short in comparison. Their emotions far stronger - a flash in the pan to her slow simmer. How the length of a lifetime could make such a difference in one's view of life. Only the aged elves that had visited her grove had come close to understanding the nuance. Her thoughts drifted to a one Draedamyr and she wondered, briefly, what had become of him.

What is ... old, to a human?

 

[Erland Karr]

"You don't know many emotions, but you do laugh," Brynneld observed quietly.

For a man who had - for the most part - given up on life he was distinctly curious about the spirit.

"Old? Normally anyone over forty is getting old," he said. "I heard of one person made it to seventy years."

He was still working through her reply. Brynneld had crossed paths with more strange and wonderful creatures than most humans did. Not many took the time to explain their differing perspectives.

"How have you travelled and explored so much?" he asked, trying not to sound as if he was levelling an accusation at the tree spirit for lying.

 

[Adra Eden]

I much prefer laughter to my sadness, the spirit replied gently and without any further explanation. She was far more curious and interested in his answers. Though not the first human she had ever interacted with, his disposition was far more amiable than the other. Detlan was a Scholar and very serious in nature. Such whimsical discussions did not interest him and he found to be, curiously, a waste of time.

Something that had not changed when she'd gifted him life everlasting.

Only one? Truly?

Just one that had made it to seventy? Vashe could hardly comprehend! So young, but a babe within life. The glowing figure moved across the water like a cloud over a pond and moved to settle against the base of its tree, seeming to fix the man with a knowing gaze despite the lack of any visible expression within the glow.

Well I made it from my home in the Allir Reach to here, did I not?

 

[Erland Karr]

"Well, I never knew that many people," Brynneld admitted. It wasn't said with any regret. He had been quite happy knowing a handful of rangers. They had explored the Reach and kept the roads safe for travel. They hadn't spent much time in Alliria itself.

He found himself levelling his gaze back at the figure, even though there was little to focus upon. It dropped to the roots of the tree and then back to the spirit.

"You made it, but I am guessing you did not walk here?" he asked, grinning.

 

[Adra Eden]

Wouldn't that be a sight to see... she returned, a wry and teasing tone. A tree with legs, can you imagine?

As the evening grew old the tree spirit grew tired and though she quite enjoyed the conversation, did eventually fade. For several days the heat of the lands became unbearable and despite an evening visit, the spirit did not re-emerge. As promised, Brynneld and his men provided soil for the tree, bringing up woven sacks full from the local trader. Despite the reticence, the tree's leaves did begin to recover and gain life again.

 

[Fieravene]

"I thought I might find you here," the voice of murder-eyes echoed in behind Brynneld several nights later, and she dark elf stepped in from the evening's fresh and cool breeze. The heat wave had broken...as much as any heat could break in the desert city, and the citizens of the Empire enjoyed their respite.

She strolled forward on quiet steps, arms lightly folded at her back and gaze moving from the man to the tree with a growing smile, "You and our lovely tree have become quite friendly as of late. The Palace Guards tell me you visit every evening."

 

[Erland Karr]

Brynneld didn't hold the dark elf in quite the same regard as the lovely tree. Something about her put him on edge every time she was near.

She played the game in the halls of power within the empire. He was a shell of a man. A man who hadn't held any power is his former life. A modicum of respect was the most that he could have claimed.

He should have been below her notice, but he had managed to keep her attention by continuing these meetings.

"If you met the rest of my men and tried to hold a conversation with them you would understand why."

 

[Fieravene]

"Indeed?" the elf's red eyes narrowed over a small smirk, "Perhaps one day I shall, since you so insist."

Her tone was not exactly the warm and friendly sort one would invite into their trusted companions company. But whether or not Brynneld was right to be wary or suspicious of her remained to be seen. Fiera approached with pointed steps, her air as casual as a viper circling a potential meal, and came to a stop near the tree with a look of intrigue.

"Our departure for the Scar has been delayed due to the Emperor's appearance in Ragash. However, if extra coin would make you and your mens stay in the city more comfortable while we wait, I have a job that needs doing."

 

[Erland Karr]

Brynneld nodded slowly. He decided not to waste any words commenting on the return of the Emperor. There had been great consternation among the troops, but none of the tension had spilled over into conflict. That had surprised him.

"They are all quick to jump at the chance for coin," Bryn replied. "Quick to find ways to spend it too."

At times he thought the foreign legion must have been close to zero cost for the city. Any pay they were given was back in the city within a week. They were well equipped, but as long as that status was maintained everything else went to whore houses and wine merchants.

"What is the job?" he asked plainly. He wished that he had his sword. When he held the enchanted blade he was afforded a vague sense of danger ahead. It almost felt necessary around Fiera.

 

[Fieravene]

The elf patiently listened as the man confirmed her suspicions of his group's lust for coin. The predictability of humans had yet to surprise her. If anything took her unaware, it was creativity and ingenuity - never greed or hubris.

"We received complaint about unwelcome vermin of the magical variety at the Sand Temple. I have reason to believe the pestilence is fae in origin, but of lesser stock. Shouldn't be difficult to handle rounding them up and the compensation is more than generous."

 

[Erland Karr]

"What the fuck are fae doing out here?" he asked, frowning. "Don't they just live in woods?"

His knowledge on the nature of fae was paper thin. There were many stories about creatures drawing humans to their demise through tricks and temptation.

Brynneld's trip to the western edges of the continent had not made him more worldly. He had been looking for the furthest coast from home, not trying to soak up foreign culture. His experience was very much rooted in the expanse of Reach Woodlands he had patrolled for most of his life.

Brynneld sighed and shrugged at the same time.

"We can probably deal with it."

If enough coin was dangled in front of the foreign legion, the drunks and wasters would try and wrestle mountain giants for the Empire.

 

[Fieravene]

Knowing the nature of fae as well as she did, Fieravene might have remarked that mountain giants would have been a better bet for their effort. Alas, it was not her skill to read minds nor her desire to tell people what to do. She was merely a messenger. A carrier of opportunity or misfortune - it just depended on how fortunes favored the target.

"Marvelous. Bring the vermin back with you as evidence of your success. Alive or dead makes no difference, the reward is the same."

The dark elf did not linger, but did give the tree once last sweeping glance with a dark smugness in her gaze. She strolled off, whistling a weird tune that echoed through the open halls of the temple and soon died off into the night.

 

[Erland Karr]

"Fuck that is a disconcerting person," Brynneld exclaimed.

There was something in the way she had cast her eyes across the tree spirit that made him think. Had Fiera really had to come and make this request here?

Most knew where they holed up the foreign legion, right up against the outer walls. They kept the outsiders as close to 'outside' as was possible.

Brynneld turned towards the tree spirit. He didn't know if she had the strength to talk now. Brynneld was never sure. He'd made some of his people wheel in soil from outside the city walls. Sometimes he would still sit here and speak a few words to himself with no reply.

"Faeries causing trouble in a Ragash temple. Seems odd," he muttered.

 

[Adra Eden]

Her silence in the presence of the elf was by design and not due to fatigue. It could not be helped, given the overwhelming sense of wariness the woman engendered in the tree spirit. Waiting patiently until Fiera was well out of sight and senses, the gentle breeze through the atrium billowed the green of her weeping vines.

Somewhere within the tangle of leaves, a click-chitter echoed. Movement of a soft brown.

The tree lifted a tangle of vines toward Brynneld and from within a small creature emerged. Insect-like in appearance, it looked to be a curiously oversized cross between a dragonfly and mantis of sorts with a long body, delicate legs, iridescent wings, and a set of curved limbs at the front.

Fae are not to be trifled with lightly, she warned and the creature flickered its glimmering wings at him, take this with you. It will help.

 

[Erland Karr]

"Take this with me?"

Brynneld went quite still after speaking, looking down at the creature that had somehow emerged from the tree.

It made him feel uncomfortable, but he was beyond caring. His survival instinct was still there, but his conscious work to safeguard his own health had been eroded over the last few years.

He reached out and opened his palm towards the creature.

"How...will it help?" he asked.

 

[Adra Eden]

Yes, the tree spirit gently insisted, pressing the vines closer to his outstretched hand until the creature clinging to them slowly stepped its way across and onto his palm. There it sat, watching him patiently, just as big as his hand was long. It certainly looked threatening, even for its small size, but seemed peaceful. After a moment it continued to climb his arm.

Keep it safe, she said again, and it will help.

 

[Erland Karr]

Once the creature was off his hand, Brynneld closed his hand into a fist. He tensed as it continued on its journey up his arm.

Keeping it safe meant controlling the urge to splat the thing against his shoulder.

Brynneld grimaced. He took a deep breath.

"Thank you," he said. She hadn't answered his question and he wasn't going to press on the matter.

"Be seeing you. If we come back from this."

---

The problem was apparently urgent and yet his company were forced to arrive in twos and threes. Apparently seeing a pack of brutal, foreign mercenaries all arriving at once could offend someone's delicate sensibilities.

Brynneld was already pissed off by the time he joined the group assembled just inside the entrance to the Sand Temple. He frequently wore leather armour, but today he had brought a mail vest.

They didn't need to travel far in the heat and he would take some immutable steel when dealing with dangerous magical creatures.