For some reason, Dee was not surprised to see Taeral Faeydark when Faylen brought in her future husband. The two had been friends for a long time. It seemed Taeral had carried a torch for Faylen for a while now but had not done anything about it as he had realized she wasn’t ready. He was also a bit older than her, though that was somewhat irrelevant due to the long lives of the High Elves. Even without becoming immortal, they could live for thousands of years. In this case it had been a bit more relevant because he’d had more life experience and knew Faylen would need some time to come to terms with her relationship with her family and especially her brother. Realistically he had also expected her family to arrange a political marriage for her but had hoped her independent spirit would put a stop to that. A hope that had come true, though with a little help from Dee.
Now that Faylen had let go of her goal of beating her brother, a goal that would realistically never come to pass, she was able to pursue other goals in life. One of those goals was starting a family. She had not gone to look for her old friend with that in mind, but that was how things had developed. It had not taken long for Taeral to notice the change in Faylen and he made his own feelings known. It had taken a bit longer for Faylen to respond and discover her own feelings. Taeral had been someone that stuck with her through everything, so it was not strange for her to develop warm feelings towards the ranger-general.
There was also something outside Dee’s expectations with the meeting. Clearly Taeral should be able to feel the power of the Tree of Life inside Dee, but he was showing no reaction. “You told him?” Dee asked, looking at Faylen. Her meaning was clear.
“In bits and pieces. He didn’t really believe it at first, but I encouraged him to do his own research into things. The powers that be didn’t really advertise the corruption of the Tree of Life, but they couldn’t keep it a complete secret either.” Faylen explained. She hadn’t been silly enough to blurt out that their old student was the one to destroy the sacred tree. Instead she had broached the subject slowly.
“It’s still a bit difficult to swallow, but it’s hard to argue with the facts.” Taeral stated with a determined look. “You look different by the way.”
“Well, they do say little girls really change when they grow up, don’t they. Hello again Taeral.” Dee countered with a small smile hanging on her face. She had been the weaker one the last time they met, but now the positions had reversed. “Follow me.” She said suddenly and started leading Taeral outside.
Faylen got up to follow as well, but Dee just pointed at her and told her to stay. At first Taeral followed calmly and quietly, but started to become a little worried as Dee led him outside the city. They were a fair distance from the city before he couldn’t stop himself from asking. “Where are we going exactly?”
“We’re actually here already.” Dee stated as they arrived close to an outcrop of trees. It was rather close to the place where Dee had been testing her new skills before, and there were still some scars on the ground. She pulled a shovel from Croestia’s storage space and tossed it to Taeral. “Dig.” She told him.
Taeral looked between the shovel and Dee for a short moment but did as he was told. “Any specific spot or instructions on the size of the hole?” He asked.
“I’ll give some directions, don’t worry about it.” Dee replied. And she did give instructions, rather specific ones in fact. As a powerful warrior, it was easy for Taeral to dig and it didn’t take all that much time either. It also didn’t take long for him to figure out he was digging a grave, and one sized for someone like him. That got him a bit rattled.
Once Dee decided the grave was good enough she spoke again. “You can come up now, that’s good enough for what I have in mind, as doesn’t need to be anything fancy. Speaking of which, I was thinking about putting up a headstone as well. Something simple but with a nice text. Something like ‘Here lies what is left of the man that broke the heart of Faylen.’ or maybe ‘Here lie the ashes of the dirtbag that cheated on Faylen.’ What do you think?”
Taeral coughed a bit, getting the message. “That seems rather appropriate. Though anyone who did something so stupid probably won’t have enough left of him to need a grave.”
“Well, it’s good that you understand. And believe me, I will hunt down and find the person this grave was dug for, no matter where they hide. You should know, I’m pretty good at such things, as you taught me the basics. I’ve learned a lot more since then. For the meantime, the grave shall stay here as a reminder. You should look after it and keep it in good condition. Just to keep the idea fresh in your mind. I will check up on it every once in a while.” Dee started walking away, before shouting over her shoulder. “You can keep the shovel!”
-----
“You had the talk?” Moirai asked with amusement as Dee came straight to her place after leaving Taeral back near the forest. Dee had used the shadows to quickly travel the short distance as practice, leaving the ranger-general to find his own way back. He’d need some time alone with Faylen anyway.
“The message has been given. I’m fairly confident it was also received in the spirit it was sent.” Dee replied with a tiny smile tugging at the side of her lips. “You could’ve told me it was Taeral. I might have gone a little easier if I had known. I didn’t want to change my plans in the middle.”
“I didn’t want you to go easier. Faylen is my friend as well. Taeral seems to be a good influence on her. But unlike you, I haven’t spent years training with him, so I don’t know him as well. He is from an empire hostile to you, so I wanted you to make the point properly, even if he is a friend of sorts. Especially because he is a friend of sorts. We tend to overlook the errors made by those we are close with.” Moirai explained her reasoning.
“Fair enough. Now tell me, when’s the party for your ascension to immortality?” Dee changed the subject, agreeing to Moirai’s reasoning.
“Party?” Moirai asked a little stupidly.
“Don’t even try to claim Nyx isn’t throwing you a party. She’ll take any excuse, so this is right up her alley.” Dee countered with a raised eyebrow.
“Ah, I think she did mention something about taking us on another girl’s night out after the wedding. It’s too close to the wedding and Faylen is too pregnant to do it before the wedding and take her along.” Moirai remembered some of the things her mother had muttered. Some of the other things had been too scary to remember, so she had suppressed most of it. Nyx’s plans often brought out dread in her much more serious daughter.
“That’s fine then. Now tell me, how did you do it? I seem to recall that you reached your natural power limit a long time ago, so the new power had to come from somewhere. Especially since you jumped up to become an immortal. So spill it. Where did you gain this sudden upgrade?” Dee suddenly got a conspiratorial look and started demanding information.
Moirai gave up with a small laugh. “Well, truth be told, I wasn’t so far from becoming an immortal originally. I had simply stagnated because I didn’t have the drive, but seeing my own student pass me by so quickly admittedly got me going. The fights against the Beholders certainly helped. I killed many of their servants and focused on draining their strength for my own use. Thanks to you and Smoky taking the largest burden, I managed to gather quite a bit of power for later absorption. That said, most of the new power came from the mines they were creating. There’s a reason why that strange ore was found at those specific places, as the mines were located over pockets of certain kind of power. The ore was good for affecting the minds of the slaves, and as it turns out that power that created the ore is pretty useful for a psion with skill in that area.”
“Huh.” Dee stated, having completely missed the possibility. “Now that you mentioned it, that does make sense. I’ve mostly ignored the power you can get from locations due to getting more power from dead enemies. That’s an oversight on my part.”
“Well, in fairness your situation is a bit unique.” Moirai waved the issue away. “Everyone can gain power from their enemies, but you’re better at that than others. Thanks to your blessing, I presume? You kind of neglected to mention that by the way.” She had a sneaky look on her face at this point.
Dee grimaced a bit. “It’s not exactly something you advertise. I was specifically told not to talk about it. People don’t look kindly on someone blessed by Death.”
“That’s fair, though I still think you could’ve told me.” Moirai considered for a moment. “Eventually. It might have been a good idea not to mention it the first time we met. The situation back then was already a bit iffy. Then again, I know what you’re like and I know you don’t like to share such things. Any other surprises?”
You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.
“Well…” Dee looked a little contrite.
“Oh, gods dammit Dee!” Moirai huffed with a combination of a sigh and a laugh. “Just let me see. No need to say it out loud.”
Dee allowed the symbol of Eternity to float out from her forehead. They both stared at it in silence for a moment before Moirai spoke. “I’m guessing these didn’t come without strings attached.”
“This one seems to have been given to me mostly without strings, but that might just be me not realizing the situation fully just yet. The others…” Dee didn’t speak further and just let the words hang in the air heavily.
“How bad?” Moirai finally asked.
“It’s pretty bad. I’m going to have to leave eventually, but you already guessed as much. I assume you will be hearing about it once I’m gone. I’m guessing the news won’t be all positive and singing my praises.” Dee stated simply.
The two went quiet for a while longer. Finally Moirai signaled for Dee to pull the symbol back. “Well, now’s not the time for such dark thoughts. Just know we will be there for you. What’s next?”
“Next? What’s next is that I’m off to do some wedding invitations and to make sure no one makes a scene at the wedding.” Dee said with a mean grin on her face.
“Do you need more shovels?” Moirai asked with a grin of her own.
-----------
Dee was looking over the city that combined the headquarters of the Radiant Sun and the other large organizations. The city still bore some marks from the internal fighting, though mostly in the sections controlled by the Radiant Sun and the freelancer’s guild. Still, the city had mostly recovered. Some of the buildings were clearly new, so there had been some reconstruction going on. It seemed the headquarters of the order had suffered the worst of it, but that made sense if Razark had gained his revenge.
Dee herself was hiding in the shadows outside the city, knowing her approach would most likely be noticed if she just marched in. She wasn’t planning on doing that anyway. If she had her way, only the grandmaster would know she had been here. She extended her sight through the shadows, reaching for the room where he conducted business. There was some resistance around the main keep, but not enough to even slow her down. The grandmaster’s office was isolated from the outside with heavy magic, and it took some effort for Dee to slip her sight inside, but those defenses had not really taken this type of power into consideration, so she could still slip through fairly easily.
There were quite a bit of shadows to look through inside the office, giving a good view, and the grandmaster seemed to be working. However, it seemed he sensed something, as the hand that had just been writing something stopped and he looked around. He didn’t look all that worried or alarmed, simply something bothering him. It was like he had sensed something, but he didn’t quite know what that something was. Someone in his position had learned to listen to such feelings, hence why he was taking the time to look around.
“Well, I might as well go pay him a visit now that I already interrupted him.” Dee said to herself, and the shadows seemed to swallow her.
The grandmaster was alarmed as he suddenly noticed a large round formation of shadows rising from the ground near a seat he used for reading books. The formation was over two mel tall; large enough to hide something very dangerous inside. He reacted immediately and pulled out his large sword that was lying against the table next to him. Power coursed through him as he leaped over the desk and slashed at the mass of darkness. As he did, the shadows started dispersing, revealing a female form inside, and his strike was caught in the air by a graceful hand surrounded by some kind of translucent armor made of light.
Dee looked at the large sword she was holding by the blade. The armor of light had done its job perfectly. She had barely even felt the impact as she also happened to be stronger physically than the grandmaster. She realized that if something much stronger had stuck at the armor, she would have been unhurt but might have been thrown back by the momentum of the blow. “Now is that supposed to be the appropriate way to greet someone coming to meet you with happy tidings?” She asked rather sarcastically.
The grandmaster’s eyes narrowed. Something about the angelic looking woman in front of him tickled his memory. He realized that the woman had four arms, which reminded him of a certain other person who reputedly also had an angel form of sorts. This form didn’t match the reports however. That didn't really matter though, as the ten white tails were kind of a strong hint as well. “Dee? What are you doing sneaking around here? You should know showing up like that could get you killed.”
Dee released his sword with a small harrumph. “I think we just saw that’s not all that likely. Anyway, I thought it might be better if I didn’t advertise my presence here. Truth be told, I didn’t think it would be so easy to enter your office. In any case, that’s not why I’m here.”
“Then why are you here? And how is Faylen? I haven’t heard much from my sister since you saved her.” He asked rather gruffly. He had done a lot of things to help his baby-sister, and while he didn’t really expect gratitude, he at least wanted to stay in touch. He knew his sister felt too competitive due to his strength, but there was little he could do about it.
“Well, that’s actually why I’m here. Faylen is getting married and you’re invited.” Dee thought it better not to mention the grandmaster becoming an uncle just yet. She’d happily leave that conversation to Faylen.
The grandmaster’s face darkened. “Who’s the dirtbag that dared to touch my sister? I will kill him. And weren’t you supposed to keep her safe? Things like this were included.”
“I think you might know the lucky fellow. Taeral Faeydark, the ranger-general of the Spring Court. Or at least he used to be, I’m not sure what his current position is.” Dee realized she had not asked. She had assumed the couple would stay with the Four Winds but realized that had not come up. That brought a small frown on her face. Interestingly she was still not entirely used to controlling her expressions with her current appearance so her emotions showed more clearly than she thought.
The grandmaster’s expression cleared quite a bit though. “Oh, Taeral finally managed to confess. That only took him forever. He has liked her for ages. Still, I’ll need to have a word with him. Wouldn’t do for him to think going behind my back was ok. Might make him think he could go behind her back as well.”
“We had that discussion already, but you’re welcome to have him dig another grave.” Dee revealed suddenly.
“Another? Ah, I think I know where this is going.” He grimaced. “Might as well bring father along so Taeral won’t have to dig a third one. Speaking of, is the rest of the family invited?”
“Well, according to Faylen that’s up to you. You know them better. They’re invited if they behave, and only then. Do consider that when the ceremony happens, the killer of the Tree of Life will be standing right there with their daughter.” Dee pointed out the obvious fact that the grandmaster might have ignored considering he was the one who assigned the task to her.
He waved that away though. “That doesn’t matter. They knew about the tree’s corruption. Now they know even more. They might make a scene when other elves are present, but secretly they don’t care. They will, however, care that their daughter is secretly getting married in the first place. You also made something of an impression the last time you visited, so they don’t exactly like you.”
“That can be fixed. Well not the fact that they don’t like me, or that they disapprove of her marriage. What can be fixed is their reaction to it. I think we should emphasize the fact that if they show anything but happy smiles and full approval, then they won’t be going home in one piece.” Dee said with a grim look.
“While I agree, it’s a little disconcerting to have you threaten my family, such as they are. Still, you have a point. I think we’ll have a little talk with them together. The fact that you’re a psion capable of messing with their minds should make an impact. Also, the fact that you’re apparently an immortal now should make a difference. Congratulations on that by the way. I knew you had it in you. I’ll go and fetch them to a place where you’re a slightly less hunted person and we can ‘gently’ convince them on how to act.” Despite his words, the way the grandmaster used air quotes with the word ‘gently’ made his attitude clear.
He continued. “Besides, father and I still need to have a talk with Taeral about appropriate behavior and asking for permission. And mother most likely wants to make sure Faylen is ok and take part in the arrangements. Despite everything, they do care. They might have married her off politically, but they would have made sure it was a grand wedding and a decent husband.”