After a week, Fomoria was still in a rather foul mood, and Yara couldn’t get him to leave his lab, not until there was a guest.
“Dantevius, what do you want?”
“Sometimes, the power of a friendly face is worth more than a hundred fighting men.”
“I’m surrounded by friendly faces and none of them can help me right now, and you can’t even use magic. Go on another spiritual journey of self discovery or whatever the fuck you do.”
“You aren’t one to swear often, yet you say this so quickly to me. Please, have some tea with me.”
“I’m-”
Fomoria saw him move in a blur, blocking the door.
“A man who knows not how to relax cannot understand how to work.”
“Great. Do you have any more empty platitudes?”
“A single songbird will eat more than a hundred ants. Even the largest of mountains is small to a man of determination. Both dusk and dawn are a beginning and an end, yet no man can truly understand which is which before the sun has risen or set.
Are any of these helpful?”
“If I give you 30 minutes, then will you leave me alone?”
“So long as a thought remains, one is never really alone.”
“If I wanted to listen to someone who thinks that they know everything I’d… Dantevius, you can leave now.”
The Goliath was left alone once Fomoria stepped through a sudden void gate.
He knocked on the door and waited, anxious about the one who was coming to answer, and not just because they were either right there or a hundred feet away.
“Jane, it has been quite some time since we last met.”
“I’m afraid Sepul is away at the moment, he and Mistress Dawn are helping Northern cities reconnect with Ragne.”
“Could you call me when he returns? I really do need to speak with him.”
“He should be back within the hour. Perhaps you would like some tea? I have cookies in the oven right now as well.”
“I don’t think that now is the time to spend with a snack.”
“Your sister is here, and it has been some time since you last visited. Perhaps you would like to catch up?”
Fomoria sighed.
“Alright.”
The house was just the way it was before, but Fomoria’s senses were far far sharper than last he visited, and the spatial distortions put him on edge.
“Vanilla tea, that is your favorite, yes?”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Your sister will be in soon, she was in her lab.”
Fomoria hadn’t yet registered what was wrong.
The door to the tearoom opened, and both parties stared at one another.
“Elsa, right? Jane said my sister was here, and I’m waiting for her.”
“I heard that you and he split after Haldren, so I guess you don’t know.”
“Know what?”
“My name is Elise. I am your sister.”
“Hmm, is that so?”
“That’s… not what I expected.”
“I have many half-siblings.”
“Well, I’m Eliza- sorry, Dawn and Walter’s daughter.”
“And?”
“Well, I thought you would be happier.”
“Right now is not a happy time. Harlan hasn’t mentioned you, why not?”
“Well… when I revealed who I was, I did something unkind, and he and I clashed. I… I honestly don’t have the courage to face him.”
“You haven’t seen Viviane then, have you?”
“No. Grandfather said that I should come, but, it didn’t seem right.”
“Guilt must be hereditary.”
Fomoria grabbed her by the end and dragged her through a void gate.
Elise found herself in front of Harlan’s castle.
“Go, speak with him. I am going to wait for Sepul.”
And then he was gone.
Elise could’ve easily left, she was a spatial mage with talent rarely seen, and she knew the academy gate spell, but she stayed even though her guts filled with worry.
Fomoria returned to Sepul’s home and sipped tea.
“I’ve brought the cookies. Oh, has Lady Elise not come yet?”
“She had to step out for a moment.”
“Oh, very well. The cookies are oatmeal and raisins.”
Some time passed, well over the hour that Jane had first given him, but Sepul did return.
“Emperor Fomoria.”
“Grandpa.”
“We haven’t met before, but I’ve heard stories that you are a cruel man.”
“I have done nothing that you wouldn’t do.”
“Then the rumors are true.”
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The two of them smiled slyly and grabbed a cookie.
“What is it that you want? I can’t offer military power.”
“I am going to be blunt, since I know that is what’s best with you. I-”
“You want advice on what to do after you’ve killed a friend.”
Fomoria looked away.
“There is no shame in killing a friend. Sometimes that is all that can be done.”
Sepul took a bite of his cookie, then a sip of tea; he said no more.
“What do I do with this guilt? I know that I wasn't wrong, that I had to do it, but-”
“But nothing. Killing is killing, it should be done with a purpose, and that purpose is all that decides right from wrong. If I could’ve done so, I would’ve killed David.”
“Why couldn’t you? Why did it have to be me?”
“Don’t misunderstand. I couldn’t kill him because I couldn’t find him. David was dead the moment that he accepted Nemain’s ichor and became her pawn. It didn’t need to be you, but this was for the best.”
“How? How could it be for the best?”
“Did he hate you in the end? Did he curse your name, tell you that you betrayed him?”
“He… he accepted that we couldn’t exist together, that our ideals, even with the same base, meant only one of us could survive.”
“You understood the weight of your ideals before, but now it is clear which ones are strongest, that you will uphold a duty to right and wrong over ideas of friendship which could so easily be tainted.”
“I-”
“Let me finish. When I was 23, I had no friends, for I still did not understand the idea. But when I was 58, I had some friends. In the mind of one friend, my goal was to grant freedom to The North, and that by Ragne forcing it into being their kingdom, they were against my wishes. He killed many, setting off a revolution which has forever damaged the friendship between The North and Ragne, but when I heard of what happened, I tried to talk to him. He called me a betrayer, that I betrayed my ideals, that I betrayed him, that I betrayed my wife-”
“Wait, why?”
“He was her father.”
“How did she feel about you killing him?”
“She understood. My reason for killing the wyverns was not for freedom, it wasn’t for justice, it was simply revenge. His looking into my actions as something which they were not caused him to be inspired in ways which were better than my own reasons. Yet even if a man has just reasons, he is not just in his actions.
Ra’kar killed Ragnite citizens with little regard for who they were, and his crimes would’ve been punished with a long and terrible death. It was a mercy that I killed him quickly. Your severing of David’s soul from Nemain’s powers means you saved him from her influence in death, for she owned his very being.”
“Parnell, he is still alive, can I-”
“Xol has been studying him, but we presently believe that if Parnell is severed, he would die, for he is pactbound to both Nemain and Aine.”
“How has Xol been studying him? Is that why he hasn’t contacted me yet?”
“Xol asked, and Parnell went willingly, or so I’m told.”
Sepul finished his cookie and his cup of tea.
“Now, I must return to The North. Oh, and please don’t drag Elise through your portals anymore.”
“How did you know?”
“There is little which goes on beyond my sight in my home.”
Sepul was gone in the time it took Fomoria to blink.
When Fomoria returned, he didn’t quite know how to feel. All that Sepul had done was affirm that Fomoria was right in what he did, but he hadn’t exactly given a new perspective.
Yet regardless, his shoulders were lighter.
Fomoria sensed Yara’s mind, and he sensed that she was upset, so he went to her.
“What’s wrong?”
“Phoebe.”
“Is she-”
“I’ve been thinking about what you did to her.”
“I’m sorry, I-”
“No. That isn’t good enough.”
She took a deep breath to calm herself.
“You need to tell Colton and Anne what happened. And I want to ask that Phoebe live with us while we train her in magic. I like Phoebe, she is so nice, and curious, and she is still willing to help me with knitting sometimes.”
“Really? I didn’t think she cared for such activities.”
“You mean girly activities.”
“If it wasn’t manly for my sisters to do farm work, then it’s hardly girly for someone to knit.
I mean…”
Fomoria stilled.
“Honey, are you alright.”
“Redmond knew how to mend clothes, all rangers need to know things like that.”
“I’m sorry.”
“No, you did nothing wrong, my mind went to him out of nowhere. I’ll call Colton now, make sure that he isn’t busy, then I’ll head right over.”
Yara hugged him.
“You know you can talk to me, right? You and I haven’t talked much about what happened with David.”
“I went to speak with Sepul, and I think that I’ve come to terms with what had to happen.
This is my life, that much is true, but at the same time, I am making the choice of my own will to live it for other people, as a king, as a champion, and as a husband. I’m sorry that I’ve been ignoring you, and if this war can have a peaceful… relatively peaceful, ending, then I will have the time to really show you the world, and we can truly explore it together, learning more than I’m sure most ever would.”
“That sounds… I would love that. Just remember not to neglect the present for the future.”
He kissed her before he left the room; ideas swirled in his head.
His nerves were much calmer than he expected as he walked into Colton’s home in New Kingdom.
“Har- ahem, Fomoria, welcome.”
He shook Colton’s hand.
“I put Phoebe in danger, and I asked her to keep that from you. It wasn’t right, both the circumstances around her being in danger and around my asking her to lie.”
“What did you do?”
Colton stiffed, but tried to restrain himself.
“I brought her to the Spire of Other, and she jumped off. But I didn’t jump immediately to catch her, because I was trying to teach her a lesson.”
Fomoria could see the tension fade.
“You seem… fine with that.”
“Phoebe is Phoebe, and she’s like her mother. You didn’t put her in danger, and though I’m not happy that you tried to hide it, you are as young as I was when I first met Anne. Even after Mosley was born, I didn’t exactly tell my wife every mistake I made. I must’ve caught him falling from tables that I shouldn’t have let him lie on a dozen times. I think that he understood that I would always catch him, so he’d look into my eyes before he rolled off. That floating island was a big table.”
“That makes this next part much easier to ask. Yara wants Phoebe to move into our home.”
Colton poured two glasses of whiskey.
“This is about you not having kids, ain’t it? Isn’t it?”
“You know you don’t need to worry about how you speak.”
“Trying to be proper. And you’re trying to dodge the question.”
“We went to Tochter, but Yara didn’t want to have a child that way, she didn’t want to risk her life. Then we saw Darrath, and I think it just made her think about what we can’t have.”
“Are you alright with what she decided?”
“I don’t want her to risk her life for a child, I can’t lose her because of something we want but we really don’t need.”
“You think she’ll be happier with Phoebe there?”
“She loves her. But are you alright with Phoebe being away?”
“It’s not like we don’t see her. And maybe we can get used to her being away when she goes to that academy.”
“Did I mention sending her there?”
“Yara did. And you’re sending those other kids. If she’s half as bright, I just assumed that you would send her there.”
“I have some sway with the academy, but I need to test Phoebe. And I don’t know if… Phoebe is very…”
“She’s rough and tumble. You’re worried that she’ll make a fool of herself surrounded by those noble types.”
“No, I’m worried one of them is going to piss her off and she’ll break their nose.
Ironically, during my time at the academy I forced the issue of punishing students properly for their actions regardless of their status as nobles. If she did a tenth of what I did, they’d toss her out.”
“Well, you’ll have to teach her how to act during her stay then. I’ll talk with Anne and Yara, we’ll figure out the best times for her to come over so we don’t need to take the carriages.”
“Thank you. Yara is going to be excited.”
As Fomoria and Colton went out to shoot guns and blow off some steam, he received a call from one of the Others, there was a breakthrough in healing the minds of the Cast.
Yet it wasn’t discovered by the Others, but by Micheal.
----------------------------------------
Dawn sat with Darrath.
“You need to talk with Harlan. He has this stupid idea that you two can’t see each other because-”
“If we get together, we might think about abandoning our people for each other.”
“Oh, of course you’re both stupid. Do you really think that you have so little strength?
I know you can do it, that both of you are willing to give up your relationship for the sake of your people already shows what you are capable of.”
“The Pixies need me, I don’t think I can handle being away even for a few days.”
“You need to bring more people that you can trust. I know that what happened last time you tried hurt you, and you don’t trust people yet, but you and Harlan both know that you can’t do everything on your own.”
“I am not backing down on this, don’t speak to me about it again.”