Aperio and her companions appeared in the room that, at this point, they were all but renting from the small inn. The Fae immediately tried to leave, of course, but a touch of her magic held it firmly in place. "You still need to tell me why you were on a world so far away from Earth and its reflections." She held out her hand and the small being landed on it. "I would rather not have to go to your realm and ask everyone present."

The Fae pouted and crossed its arms. "Danger."

"Yes, I am," Aperio replied, giving an enthusiastic nod. "I would not recommend testing my patience too much."

"That is generally a bad idea, yes," Ferio agreed. "I don't think she'll turn your little realm into an eternal torture engine anymore, but she might still drop by and break some things."

"Dangerous for you," it elaborated.

The words earned the Fae a raised eyebrow and tilted head from All-Mother. "I am quite certain your kind have nothing that could injure me. I do not even think you could muster an attack big enough to disturb my hair, or dress.

"But as you seem disinclined to help me, it looks like I will have to go to the realm of your people after all," Aperio continued. "Which is probably why you did not answer my questions to begin with. Fae are supposed to be little tricksters, after all."

Though the small being's response was to somehow manage to pout even more, it did not refute her words. Aperio let out a sigh and disappeared, together with the Fae in her hand. A thought informed Caethya and Ferio where she went, and another made sure that the Fae she assumed to be the leader was present upon her arrival.

As soon as she arrived in the realm of the Fae, multiple spells flew in her direction. Despite doing nothing to alter their trajectory, most shots didn't even hit her. And those that did manage to be on target did no damage whatsoever. To further make that point, the All-Mother made sure her hair and dress were kept in perfect condition.

A sweep of her wings caused a gust of wind to knock all the Fae floating around her to the ground. An unneeded wave of her hand brought forth a dim silver light that settled over the clearing they were in. It would probably be easier for them to figure out why they couldn't leave if they saw something in their surroundings.

"Now," Aperio began, her eyes landing on the Fae she identified as Oberon. "Would you care to explain what is all of this about? I would assume you have records of me, as the device you used to create your subpar realities was powered by an artefact I created. You should know who I am."

The small form of Oberon struggled to to stand up, eyes glaring at the All-Mother. "I know what you are. And I know that you are not the one that has gifted us the Relic."

Aperio tilted her head at the words. "People change, and so do I. Besides, nothing has truly changed for you. The worlds you tried to make are more stable now as I have made them quite real. You are still free to visit them as you have done before, so I am a little confused as to why you would try to lure me here and attack me. Especially when you know who I am."

Oberon finally managed to stand up, as seemingly the small gust Aperio had created had been a bit stronger for the Fae than she had wished. The small being fumbled with a bag that had appeared in its hands for a moment before it pulled out a scroll. It unfurled it, seemingly wanting to make sure it was the right one, and then offered it to the All-Mother. "We have followed the provisions set forth by ancient decree."

A thought brought the small piece of parchment into Aperio's own hand. She squinted at the scroll, not because the letters were hard to read but because the script it was written was her own. The overly cursive text was something she had adopted after her return to power because she had liked the way it looked, not because she had remembered it as her own. Of course, she considered that the Fae had simply figured out a way to mimic the way she wrote, but her own mana was woven into the parchment in a way no-one but herself could accomplish. They probably do not even notice it…

And according to this very text she apparently wrote, the Fae were beholden to challenge her when she came. A display of magic was to be executed when they knew she would appear. There was no reason given, but Aperio was quite aware of the part of her that liked showing that she was stronger — better — than those around her. It would seem that that aspect of her was much more pronounced in the past.

"It would appear that you did," Aperio set, the silver light and the magic that kept the Fae suppressed both vanishing. "That does not explain why you sent one of your own to lure me here."

Instead of answering her with words, more Fae appearing bearing what looked like plates of food and drink. Others carried glimmering crystals, or fabric laced with more mana than a reasonable mortal could muster. But they all seemed rather joyous, an observation that was proven correct when a number of the small beings began to play music on instruments the likes of which Aperio had not seen before… but somehow still knew.

She pinched the bridge of her nose, her ears twitching slightly at the steadily increasing noises of Fae indulging in food, drink, dance, and some displays of magic. "You are celebrating my return?" she asked. "It certainly did not feel like I was welcome here the first time I came."

"We did not expect you and did not believe your words," Oberon replied, its deep voice still not befitting its tiny stature. "But now our efforts are no longer required, and we can play in all the reflections to our hearts content. A celebration is required!"

"As mandated by ancient decree?" Aperio asked, holding up the small scroll with two fingers. Why did I write something like that into an official document?

Her question had been purely rhetorical, as the scroll quite clearly stated that her arrival was to be celebrated. But then, she had given the Fae the empty husk of her previous creation solely because it was there that she had first created their species. Probably. At the time she had even appeared as one of them — something she would most definitely not do now — and mayhaps had even ruled over them as some sort of Faen-Queen-Goddess thing.

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"Yes," Oberon confirmed. They looked at the All-Mother for a moment, likely debating if they should ask her to change her form, before they shook their head and began floating towards one of the many tables that had appeared. "We shall celebrate that the fabric has been weaved anew and our travels are no longer constrained to a single world and its brief reflections."

Aperio could not help but tilt her head at the words. No matter how she turned what the Fae had said around in her head, she could not really make sense of what was happening. Her first encounter with the Fae had, by all accounts, been a disaster. But now, they seemed to not even remember that that had even happened. Maybe that's just how they are?

A thought was all she needed to find Teg and teleport them into the palm of her hand. The Fae was currently stuffing what appeared to be a cookie into its face; ignoring the fact that they did not actually have a mouth. As soon as they realised what had happened, Teg's two free arms crossed in front of its chest and their six eyes glared at Aperio.

"What?" the being asked, the annoyance quite clear even through the telepathic words. "Teg did nothing wrong."

"No, you did not, but I had hoped you could tell me why seemingly nobody here even remembers the last time I came here."

Teg simply shrugged with their free arms. "Fae live mostly in now, no point in being grumpy about last visit."

"Oberon seemed more than a little grumpy."

"Oberon is bad Fae."

"Oh?" Aperio cocked her head to the side, her eyes flickering over to the rather regal-looking form of Oberon. "How so?"

"Doesn't leave, does no tricks," the small being replied. "Only concerned about making rules. Not what Fae do."

"And what is the nature of Fae?" Aperio asked.

"Chaos! Fun!" Teg replied, lifting all its arms up and doing a little loop. "Mess with mortals; take names."

"But would that not mean that Oberon is behaving like a Fae? The only difference is that they are creating 'chaos' for you, and not mortals."

The fact that she was decently certain that she herself had also led the Fae at one point in the distant past, Aperio kept to herself. If she actually had, it was ages ago and she was not inclined to dig through her rather expansive mind to find the associated memories.

Teg once again pouted at the words — Aperio by now quite sure that it was the Fae's favourite way to show displeasure for the Fae — but did not offer any words in rebuke and simply resumed stuffing yet another cookie into its face.

The All-Mother looked around the clearing she had appeared in, where every Fae she could see — whether it be with her eyes or her aura — was in one way or another taking part in the apparent celebrations. Aperio only shook her head and began to tug at the strings of reality again in order to return to Earth.

As soon as she had begun to call on her magic, Teg looked at her. The Fae immediately flew towards her shoulder, hovering over it until Aperio let out a sigh and allowed them to take a seat on it. Then they both disappeared from the realm of the Fae, manifesting back in the hotel room.

"They are holding a welcome back party for me," Aperio said before another thought placed her face down on the bed next to Caethya. She extended one wing, draping it over her love. "I do not understand Fae," she continued, her voice not muffled by the pillow as it should have been. "Nor do I understand why I made their realm in the first place."

"Fae want fun," Teg said, the words directed at everyone in the room. Somehow, they were also in the middle of eating yet another cookie. "Nothing more, nothing less."

"And you don't care what happens to the people you use for your fun?" Caethya asked, moving Aperio's wing a little to more fully cover her. "Seems kind of evil."

Teg offered a four-armed shrug, its cookie simply stuck in its face. "Why care for mortal plight? They fleeting and forgetful." The cookie vanished and the Fae let itself fall backwards until it floated upside down. "When mortal dies, mortal lives again. We also not kill mortals, just poke for fun."

"That overgrown lizard you woke up would have killed quite a few people," Aperio said, a thought reaching out to her daughter who had moved herself downstairs. "The only reason it did not was because I was there, something you did not count on."

"But you woke Dweller," Teg replied, the whisper of its telepathy the pinnacle of innocence. "Teg only told Dweller what happened while it slept."

"Meaning you made something up, as you did not know what happened."

"Knew that city was built on old home," Teg replied, nodding. "Dweller did not like."

"Both of you are not that great about protecting mortals from death," Caethya said. "But both of you are also right that death isn't really the end. Still, I think senseless murder — or getting a monster to murder people — is something to be avoided."

"I agree. Mostly." Aperio turned around and sat up, switching the wing draped over Caethya for the one on her other side, which wrapped her love in a feathered hug. "But for mortals to grow stronger at a reasonable speed, which is still the goal, they do generally require the threat of death in order to fight with all they have."

“You could change that, though,” her love pointed out. “Technically, at least.”

“Yes, I could, but there is little point to simply giving every mortal more power. They would not truly know how to use it. Nor would they know how to use it.” Aperio hesitated for a moment, her free wing twitching slightly. “If they do not earn their power through fighting something, they would not respect how much they can truly do.”

"A topic for another time, perhaps," Caethya said with a small smile. Her love then glanced over at Teg, who was still hanging upside-down. The Fae had produced yet another cookie from seemingly nowhere, holding it with two hands while waving the other two around and somehow doing a very good impression of sticking their tongue out despite not even having a mouth. "I can see why you made the Fae, as they are quite in line with what your old self desired from the beings living in her creation."

"They are," Aperio agreed. "Now I find them… irritating."

Teg practically beamed at the words,bas though managing to annoy the Creator of all things was the pinnacle of Fae achievement. Of course it makes them happy.

"In any case," Aperio said with a shake of her head, "Earth has the System now and its variants are stable. I think it is time to add a few dungeons for the mortals to explore."

"More islands?" Caethya asked, looking at her love.

"No," the All-Mother replied. "I had planned for something more local. A bit more personal, if you will."