In the darkest depths of the night forest, where no warm blooded animal dared to tread, where terror lizards and other such creatures, extinguished in the more civilized parts of Feisle, the northernmost of the nine Islands, hunted. There was a small clearing surrounded by the tallest trees, so concealed that daylight only reached the dark green grassen floor when the sun was above it.

Nothing entered the glade without the permission of the greenseer, neither flora nor fauna, for it was protected by one of the last rune henges.

Fenner sat in the middle of the clearing and in the center of the rune the old one had drawn to help awaken his connection.

He was of average height for them, around a head taller than an average human, but also of a more filigree stature. Fenners face was hard and angular but still elegant, his eyes green as the grass he sat on, the antlers adorning his head were small and stunted, it was of great shame to Fenner, but now it was the reason the greenseer spent his fleeting lifeforce on him.

He sat there, cut off from the world around him, his only focus on the glade, a small ray of hope in a world of darkness. It was similar to him, as the clearing was to the forest he should be to the fate of his people. The world would awake anew and with her, her more mystical children.

He saw a large settlement of his people living in harmony with nature, there were even a few humans of the first. He could sense the joy of life everyone had, living their simple life, he could see the people whispering in hushed tones huddled together in groups when the news of the Iron devils spread, he saw the decay of the peaceful society once the war turned in the invaders favor, how more and more desperate measures were used, from occult gathering praying to the forgotten, to blood sacrifices of the enemies mages.

Fenners wept throughout the vision. Finally it ended when the invaders in their iron suits defeated the last defenders of humans covered in beautiful bronze and his people in their leafen cloaks. The last image he saw was the settlement set ablaze, an image which burned itself into his mind's eye

He could not feel what happened outside his field of vision but he still knew that once he would emerge to the corporeal world, his resemblance to his family would be cut away. A tear managed to form a roll down his face. It had to be done for his purpose.

Eathel tried to force the door open, he kicked, and pushed, he even rammed the door, his efforts were all in vain the only consequence his actions had was a bruise on his shoulder. Maybe his teacher was not in there, a scenario nearly as bad as him having missed the start of his lecture. He bent down to look through the keyhole of the gray shining door handle, he took shallow breaths, to not come into contact with the shocking handle.

He could see inside the room it was unchanged with all the clutter and abandoned experiments he remembered.

Eathel made his way to the gate, if the old man had left, he would get his answers there.

A servant, not much older than himself came towards Eathel, he raised an eyebrow, he expected to get a respectful but quick bow. The man bowed and said ”My lord” and then he held his lowered form until the boy had passed.

He must be new.

Eathel did not waste much thought on the incident until it repeated this time with maid Mathilde who did the same only that she curtsied. Eathel was thoroughly confused because he knew her, Ed had pointed her out often enough while talking about gossip, she appeared often enough in his tales that Eathel remembered her face.

Still his potential free time was still more important than the strange behavior of his lowers, he would investigate once he had secured his freedom. The fastest way was through the feast hall where most of the preparations were made. It did only take a few moments until his presence was noticed, he stood out with his fine clothes.

All the servants and maids bowed to him, only greeting him when he was passing them. He looked back and saw that behind him, they still had not risen to go back to work.

Most of the outside helpers who were let into the castle to assist with the preparation had raised eyebrows, some clutched their tools harder but after a while they followed the servants' example to not get noticed by the young lord.

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Eathel made his slow way through, sweat started to form on his back and wetten his shirt, his eyes darted from side to side as if he was expecting a sudden explosion of movement, most of his willpower was used to not let his arms tremble. His father had instilled in him that he should never show unknowns a sign of weakness. At the moment he viewed the man and women who he had grown up around as such.

Never were a bunch of commoners a source of concern for him much less his fathers trusted subservients. He crept forward step for step trying to seem as dignified as possible. Finally he reached the exit and moved on his way.

Eathel ignored all, and their strange behavior, he stumbled upon.

He finally reached the gate. He locked eyes with the soldiers guarding it, they took a few moments to recognize him but when they did they also greeted him the same way as all the others.

“Has the Medicus left the castle?” Said Eathel “and it is proper to greet me with a respectful nod in unceremonious circumstances.”

The two guards raised their heads again. The more senior one said his face neutral only the eyes were slightly widened.“Apologies my Lord, we were told that you wished to be greeted this way and no Medicus Asser had not left the last.” Terror was written in the face of the younger guard, he had heard the tales of what arrogant nobles do with servants who slight them.

“Thank you, and tell the others to not act so ridiculous” said Eathel “and find out who started this rumor” He saw the two nod before he turned around and left.

Why is someone always trying to make my life uncomfortable.

He went back to the library not knowing what to do with his time. Now that he knew why, he told everyone he met to behave normal, but still no one knew where Asser was.

He wanted nothing more than to read the stories of old, of knights who would sacrifice themself for their ideals, or of fallen nobles who tried to regain their dignity and honor.

He was distracted by the stories swirling in his head that he did not notice the servant clearly waiting next to the shelf, with all the books on science like the book for astrology or the tome in which anything you could want to know about dowsing rods was written.

Eathel turned away from that section and now faced the history books about the heroes of their Island. Behind him the standing man fastly pulled out something. The servant crept towards Eathels back, he put his arm up with an practiced ease he tapped on the young lord's shoulder respectfully.

The boy's body jumped, involuntarily. He turned around as fast as he could, while unsheathing his sword.

The servant just held the piece of paper in front of him, and waited for him to take it.

“You have not read it?” asked Eathel

The servant just opened his mouth to show that he had lost his tongue, and could not speak. Then after the young lord dismissed him he left.

The boy was in the library alone again, surrounded only by old books and their smell. He let himself down onto a cushioned chair, he straightened the given paper, he was shocked how bad his friend's handwriting was, it looked as if it was written with a shaking hand. Reading it was another beast altogether.

Eathel had to strain his eyes, even with his improved vision it was a challenge to decipher what the few lines of text ment, it was worse than normal since Edmure was clearly in a hurry when writing it.

After a good while he finally decoded the message:

“Asser is leaving the tower. I follow. He seems to go to the guard barrack. He is going further. He is going down. Slow faster than expected. Long corridor, I can follow. Just get you this message before. I can catch up to him after. He is slow”

Eathel read book after book, more skimming than actually putting effort into them. He already knew their contents and he used them more as a way of passing time. Ed you idiot. He really did not like the going down part. Sure he trusted his friend, but not when he had already lost control once.

He could not sit still for ever, he had to do something, ignoring the problems would neither make them go away nor would he come unscathed out of them, doing nothing. Since he knew where Asser and Ed were, he decided to find out why his servants were so erratic.

He did not have to look for a long way to find one. Expectantly the man bowed deep.

“Rise, and tell me who had told you to greet me this way” said Eathel.

“My lord, if I tell you the truth you will not harm me or mine?” said the servant.

The boys eyes scrounged together and he just simply nodded.

“The news of your harsh punishment had spread like a wildfire, I myself was one of the first who had heard about the punishment you decreed on your personal servant, I had heard it directly from the Medicus mouth.”

“Asser, the Medicus Asser”

Now it was the servants time to look confused ”Yes my lord, the Medicus Asser”