He disliked how things had changed, it made it a huge pain to get around and most of his military contacts had already been sniffed out.

He moved across the ground, having stolen the body of a snake, then into the tent of the soldier.

In the morning, the soldier put on his act when he felt a presence outside.

Nulson had been observing this group for a time, monitoring the camp they came from as a bird since he couldn’t actually enter the camps anymore.

He was weak to soul magic, not nearly as well seated in his forms as Harlan was, so even the arrays put up to detect abnormal souls made him feel unwell.

“You up?”

“Yeah. Just a minute.”

“What’s that?”

“Huh? Snake got in last night. Killed it.”

The other soldier just shrugged his shoulders.

Nulson picked the odd one out of the group, a newer member, one that was strange already, so if he did make a mistake, which he wouldn’t, it could be brushed off.

He dressed himself, had breakfast, and moved out.

His team were the first scouts going to look into a tip about an abandoned rebel base.

Nulson was the one who sent the tip to them in the first place, he just needed some help to get inside of the place since he couldn’t use magic on account of being a mind disconnected from a body.

He was soulless, and his ability to steal control over a body was one thing, but to cast spells he needed to have more control over both the mind and soul.

Dawn could only sometimes cast magic with Harlan’s body, requiring that he was either incapacitated or gave consent first.

For Nulson, this wouldn’t be possible, and his attempts at forcing his way into a soul never ended well.

Either the body fell apart when his mind tried to replace the mind inside of the body, or the soul was stronger than him and he had to flee back into the crossroads to avoid it overwriting him in a reverse of how the mind fed information into the soul.

It took some time for them to find the entrance to the base; Nulson had to lead them there subtly.

It wasn’t some giant stronghold, it was a hidden laboratory and monitoring station.

They breached the door with ease, Nulson acting as the rearguard.

After David and Parnell killed the mages studying the materials stolen from the academy the rest of the forces abandoned the base out of worry that the pair would reveal its location.

They took out all of the equipment, but left the bodies after draining them of blood for gems.

The stench was unbearable for reasonable people; Nulson had to pretend that he was nauseous as an excuse to go down the hall into Magruders room.

He saw the body, two slices, very good form on his killer.

Unluckily for the killer, it wasn’t enough, and Nulson grabbed the gem from his body.

“Cal, stop being a baby and get back with us. We need to call this in.”

“I never expected it to smell so bad.”

There was a mirror on the other end of the room through which the soldier could see Nulson’s hands.

“Did you grab something from the-”

Unfortunate, he would’ve rather that he got away needing to kill any of them

Nulson rushed at the man who tried to pull out his dagger, but Nulson had been one of the greatest mortal assassins that ever lived. Magic or not, Nulson knew how to fight up close without making a sound.

He grabbed the man’s throat to prevent him from making any loud noises, then kicked his knee so it folded the wrong way before disarming him and slicing his throat.

When the killing was done, he started carving runes into the walls.

He might not be able to use magic, but runes could be used by anyone with intent and a steady hand since the world provided the mana for it.

Nulson was very happy when he heard about Harlan’s large gravity rune out in the woods some years ago; a wonderful and resourceful way to kill a superior group of enemies.

This here wasn’t much different, he’d just carve the runes, then make traces that acted as release valves.

When it was time to actually collapse the base into the mountain, he only needed to make a few corrections and wait for the fun to start.

Such a shame that he wasn’t going to be around to see it.

----------------------------------------

A month ago, Darrath decided, with public approval, to crown himself king of the Pixies.

Two days in he decided that he needed help, but that wasn’t anything bad, papa had Mercedes and Dawn and Joan and D’if, all kings had people helping them.

A week into his rule he decided to form a council and disperse the power between them all, something that Dawn suggested strongly against.

Three and a half weeks in, he found that the council kept expanding beyond reason, and asked that some of the members be stripped of their positions.

It was only fair, these people weren’t even doing anything, they just happened to be friends with enough council members that they could be voted in.

Papa wanted a fair world, and Darrath tried to find the people who were good at things for his council, not taking into anything but their aptitude for the tasks at hand, and he made it clear that he didn’t dislike anyone who he was saying should leave the council.

It took an hour after this suggestion for the council to turn on him and vote him out.

Darrath now sits with his grandmother.

“And, and then, and then, then they told me I was stupid and I wasn’t making the right choices because everyone loved being on the council and it was mean to kick them out, and then-”

“Sweetie, breath. This is why I said you shouldn’t do that. You failed to keep the power you granted to others in check, a mistake that I hope your father isn’t making. Think, what would he do?”

Darrath looked horrified.

“BUT I DON’T WANT TO KILL THEM.”

“No, that’s not… well…. No no no, we aren’t hurting anyone. How about this, do you think that they are going to do the right things? Can they lead the city? If they can’t, then tell the people that you want to dissolve the council and reinstate yourself as a king. Weak willed people can’t make good rulers, because they let their feelings make fools of them. What you did was foolish, and I warned you about this, but you were playing as a ruler instead of being one. Which, honestly, I should’ve expected. You aren’t all children anymore, but you are still quite young, and that comes with some bad choices.”

“But what if they like the council more than me? What if I can’t-”

“Then you won’t be king. What would Harlan say? Would he want you to force yourself into a position that the people don’t want you in? That might need to happen anyway, but for now, why don’t we assume that the people have some idea about what they actually want, silly as that is. In a few weeks I’m sure that they are going to want you back.”

Six days, that is what it took.

The council, not wanting to do real work, started passing everything down a long line of other people and abusing their titles

The streets were dirty, nobody was properly caring for the bath, meaning it was both not as hot as it should be and not clean, and the builders were being used to expand their homes instead of adding to the defenses.

The soldiers quickly started to act cruelly towards their fellow Pixies because they weren’t going to be punished by anyone unless Darrath caught them.

When another hawk attacked the response was slow, and though nobody died, people were hurt badly.

The cause was simple, someone who shouldn’t have the job that they did was put in charge of the defenses and failed to spot the hawk before it arrived or deploy the spells to scare it away.

The revolution was swift and on the back of having driven the giant hawk away, it was easy to disband the council without violence.

Then came the most important lesson.

“You, you, and you, stay here, be my advisors.”

“Can I still make laws?”

Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.

“No. You may bring suggestions to me, and I’ll think about it. But no more silly stuff like telling people what colors they can paint their house with and then adding exceptions to council members.

In fact, I’m going to get rid of-”

“WHAT? NOOO, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE, I WANT-”

“THIS IS NOT ABOUT WHAT YOU WANT. Sit.”

“BUT-”

Darrath slammed his chitinous fist down and silenced the room.

“Your job as a member of this court is to support the people, not yourselves, not me, but the people.”

One of the others raised their hand.

“Um, who are the people?”

“Everyone.”

“But that means me too, so I can-”

“No no no. Look…”

It was very hard for Darrath to explain everything, but he had spent time with Mercedes and Dawn, so he at least had an idea about how things should work and about terms like that.

Thyst came to see him before bed.

“You are king again, that’s so cool.”

“No. It’s right. This isn’t a game, it’s-”

She gave him a quick peck on the cheek and both of them blushed.

“It’s cool, right? I like the Darrath that’s fun, but can still be serious, don’t be gloomy, because I don’t like that.”

“Alright.”

“Do you want to go on a walk before we go to bed?”

“Grandma doesn’t like it when I stay up too late… but alright.”

Not far from the town, though everyone called it a city because it sounded more important, there was a clearing that was maintained for picnics.

It had nice soft grass, or at least it did when it was warm out, but still, there was no better place to see the stars.

“We’re here.”

Other Pixies started coming from the woods.

“Thyst, what is this?”

“They said they wanted to apologize for doing a bad job with the council, so they asked me to bring you here.”

The clubs in their hands said that they were not here to apologize.

“Don’t do this, I want us to just be friends.”

“You took away our titles.”

“Yeah, we were just having some fun.”

“Things weren’t being done, people weren’t happy, that is no way to run a city.”

“So what? We got to take whatever we wanted and nobody could tell us no.”

Darrath reached into his pocket to grab his amulet, but since he had been getting ready for bed he left it in his room without thinking.

One of the Pixies stepped forward, Rald.

“We’re going to take back what’s ours, and I’m going to be the new king.”

“You don’t know anything-”

“GET HIM.”

Darrath tried to flee the fight, he didn’t want to hurt a Pixie, but they threw sap at his wings and he fell down.

“Guys, don’t do this. I can still forgive you.”

Thyst tried to get closer to Darrath, but one of them hit her.

Darrath started to run through the crowd of two dozen, but they hit him with their clubs.

They just kept hitting him, over and over. He tried to block as best he could, but it hurt, he wanted grandma to come get him, to realize that he wasn’t in his room.

She could scold him, he didn’t care, he just didn’t want to be here with these mean Pixies anymore.

The Pixies had always been physically mature, they had been born that way, but they hadn’t felt that certain drive until recently when they were in their adolescence mentally.

These Pixies knew nothing of patience, disciple, respect, they just saw that they wanted something and decided to take it.

One of them tore her clothes trying to make her stay down, and he could see the urge on their faces.

The Pixies were born physically mature, but their minds had only caught up to adolescence in the past month or so.

“GET AWAY FROM HER.”

Another blow landed on him from above.

“SHUT UP, YOU DON’T GET TO TELL US WHAT DO DO ANYMORE.”

He hated it, he hated all of it, he hated them.

Darrath thought of what his father would do.

It was hard to think though, it hurt, it hurt a lot, like when he fought against the hawk chicks.

But he couldn’t freeze up, he couldn’t panic.

As more and more strikes landed, he took a deep breath, these weren’t really dangerous, they were just mundane wood, father wouldn’t let himself be bothered by this, no, he’d do this.

Darrath rolled towards one of the Pixies and used his razor sharp needle-like teeth to bite into his leg.

Suddenly there was a panic, and Darrath was on his feet in moments.

He didn’t remember much, just the feeling of snapping in his hands, the taste of iron in his mouth.

But it was no dream or nightmare, he could feel the warmth on his hands, see the snow painted red.

He staggered himself over to Thysts.

Physically, she was fine other than the bruise and minor concussion.

“Just like papa…”

He suddenly wasn’t bothered at all about what had happened, papa hated men who couldn’t listen and did bad things, especially to women.

He smiled at her with many of his teeth missing, his body black and blue, then he passed out in the snow.

----------------------------------------

Ava went into Adina’s room after she dried her tears.

“Where is he?”

She kept her voice low since Viviane was there, but her fury was clear.

“Fomoria and Yara left, rather suddenly I’d say.”

“That bastard, he-”

“You can be very sanctimonious.”

“What did you just-”

“You heard me. Fomoria told me what happened, and he isn’t wrong.”

“That’s bullshit.”

“You don’t know how upset he was about what he said to you.”

“Yeah, I’m sure that matters compared to all the people he’s killed.”

“You aren’t just naive, you’re stupid. Have you ever thought about why those people died? About what Fomoria is fighting out there? Did you even ask? He’s made mistakes-”

“I’m not listening to anymore of this.”

“Of course not, coward.”

“If you weren’t holding a child I’d beat you.”

Adina walked over to the crib and set Viviane down.

“Alright then, let’s go.”

“You can’t be-”

“No, I’m entirely serious. Try to hit me.”

Ava threw a weak punch and suddenly she was on the floor.

“You didn’t even try. Again.”

Ava picked herself up, shocked by the shoulder toss Adina used against her, and tried again.

Adina swept her legs.

“You should’ve seen that coming from a mile away.”

“Fuck you.”

Instead of offering a hand, Adina broke Ava’s nose.

In response, Ava kicked at Adina, who grabbed her leg and tossed her through the window of the nursery.

The commotion brought her parents near.

“Adina, what are you-”

“I think that it is finally time for you to decide.”

“Decide what? And why is Ava bleeding? Why did you-”

“Harlan or her, who do you side with?”

“I don’t understand.”

Aida was terribly confused, and Harlow remained silent.

“Ava treats Harlan quite unfairly, and she deeply upset Fomoria when he was here to the point where he had to leave. I’m not asking that you disown her, but make it clear, between the two of them, who is right?”

“Who is right about what? I don’t-”

“Harlan is.”

Aida couldn’t feign ignorance when Harlow opened his mouth.

“HONEY!”

“He’s right. Killing happens, sometimes it’s bad, sometimes it’s good, but Ava refuses to see that.

Sweetie, I’m not mad at you, but you are too hard on your brother… brothers? They’ve never taken pleasure in their work, it’s something that they feel they have to do, and they’re right.

Would the world be better or worse if Harlan wasn’t here?”

“You can’t ask her to-”

“Aida, I love you, but be quiet. Ava, answer the question.”

“It would be-”

“And don’t lie.”

She answered so quietly that nobody could hear her despite all involved being enhanced.

“What was that?”

“You are being cruel, she is-”

“She is a grown woman, but she’s never gotten over how angry she is at herself for being part of why Harlan got taken away, and that’s why she can’t accept how he is now, because she blames herself for him being that way. Ava, he would’ve turned out this way no matter what, that is the way it is.”

Everyone was a little surprised by his words, and they peered at him oddly.

“What?”

“That sounded like Marigold, very well said.”

“You don’t need to be older than Ragne to see what has Ava so twisted up, but it took me a long time to see it.”

He knelt down and Helped Ava up.

“Harlan’s always been my son, your brother, but we can’t control him, and the gods are pulling his strings.

He would’ve always learned magic, he would’ve always been found out by somebody, and he would’ve always been taken away. Amber got over what happened, mostly, but it changed all of us one way or another. Perhaps without Harlan, Amber would’ve gone on to get married to one of our neighbors sons, perhaps you would’ve done the same, and Autumn too. Harlan told me once that the dream that made Autumn skip the maiden festival for the first time was because of The Darkness, she is really the one to blame if you wanted to get technical. Because without that event, she wouldn’t have ever met Jaramis, who is the one that actually recognized what Harlan was.”

“Better.”

“What?”

“The world is better with him here.”

“Now, why don’t we clean this up and talk more inside.”

Fomoria came back, just for a few moments, and only after he knew that Adina and Vivi were the only ones in the room.

“I’m sorry about how I left earlier.”

“It was no trouble, in fact, I think that is was for the best. We finally had a long conversation with Ava about how she treats you and Harlan. Now, did you really come here just for that?”

“Yara appealed to my gentle side, she says that she always loved that, especially how I would treat you.

And, she wanted me to say, in no uncertain terms, that we aren’t ever going to be what we were before.”

“Of course, I’m married, and I’m guessing you are going to marry her soon enough. Have you decided on a wedding date?”

“No, we haven’t gotten that far. You know, the more time I spend with her, the more I wish I gave her a chance those years back.”

To Fomoria, it wasn’t anything, just an offhand statement about how happy he was with Yara.