The woman from the cove stood before me, dressed in the same dress that she’d worn when I’d seen her. I blinked, Delving to confirm her identity. … How? I thought, my mind still in shock from the revelation. How the hell does that work?! I thought, exasperated.
[Another form of magic?] Page replied, I could almost hear the gears whirring as it said that.
She spoke. “It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She said with a giggle and a grin. I arched an eyebrow. “I apologize, but it would not have been prudent to reveal myself earlier.” She curtsied. “You can call me Teal. It is a pleasure to be in your service Seraph.”
I balked at her reaction. Seraph?! I thought with confusion. What? “What do you mean Seraph?” I managed, the words bouncing off my tongue, jarring to the ear. I swallowed. “Where does the extra mass go?” I whispered under my breath, staring at the dragon woman.
The woman shrugged. “I would not know, though it may well be that your scholars could tell you more.” She stepped closer, crossing into normal conversation distance. She cocked her head. “You are a Seraph are you not? You wield Aether, a weapon no other being can wield, a mark of the Aerathi.”
“I’d only be a similar race if they don’t make their own weapons.” I said cautiously. No point trying to lie about it. I thought to myself. “I’m only able to use it, but I can’t make the runes I’d need to make this work.” I uncovered the Aen, waving it a little in front of Teal.
[Maybe she shunts her mass into the magical plane? Mass to energy conversion?] Page mused.
If she’d done that there’d have been one hell of an explosion in that plane, visible for kilometres. I thought back, shooting down that idea. Besides, changing back would induce an impressive void. My head hurt just thinking about it, this shouldn’t happen. One system of magic wasn’t enough for this world? I thought with an exasperated scowl.
I was about to begin pacing before I realized that Teal still stood there, watching me patiently as I thought to myself. I blinked, and shook my head. “Sorry, sorry. It’s… strange. But as I said, I’m no Seraph, I’m…” Just different… Sounds a little narcissistic don’t you think? I thought ruefully.
[Does it matter how it sounds?] Page asked. [The truth would regardless be the truth.]
Well there’s also credibility to think about. I replied. The dragon cocked her head. “Only the Aerathi can wield aether without injury. You clearly did.” She repeated, in a somewhat confused tone of voice. “Though I will not pry, you have always provided aid to our world at the darkest of times.”
I furrowed my brow, but let up with a sigh. I guess there are worse things to be confused for than the equivalent of an angel. She settled in besides me, walking at a somewhat brisk pace. She was roughly a head shorter than me. She would have passed for a noblewoman with her clothes and gait.
“I learned this from my parents.” She explained to me. “As children we would leave the roost, learning the forms of things we couldn’t learn from our home.” She smiled a little sadly. “Which was almost everything.” Her eyes sparkled as she spoke of the many animals, large and small, that she had taken the forms of. “I have a few humanoid forms. I just prefer this one.”
“Can you choose something less likely to stand out?” I asked, turning to look at her. “It would seem rather strange that there’s a noblewoman traipsing about without an entourage or guards, on foot.” I stared down at her shoes. Everything here was apparently still a part of her, which was weird.
She put her hand on her chin, thinking, before morphing into an elven man, clad in leather armour and wielding what looked like an heirloom sword. I cocked an eyebrow. “That’ll do.” I answered. “I’ll bet you’ve got plenty of stories to tell about the forms you’ve learned.”
“Oh yes indeed.” He said, grinning at me. “You wouldn’t believe the kinds of stories I could tell.” He coughed, becoming more subdued. “It probably feels weird to you, but when we take forms we’re encouraged to mimic their mannerisms too.” He smiled wanly. “Helps us blend in, though we never leave anyway…” He perked up. “But humanoid hands are really useful for scribing and all sorts of things. I don’t think you fully appreciate the sheer versatility they provide.” He held up the back of his hand, his fingers splayed out.
I shrugged, continuing on our journey. He stepped lightly after me, and we made our journey with light conversation. The dragons apparently had chosen against venturing into the world, some kind of restraint on their side. He seemed somewhat focused on me as he said that, perhaps their non-interference clause had something to do with the Aerathi.
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We arrived at Soren in the afternoon, but I didn’t approach the gates, instead heading straight towards where we’d first encountered the wisps. I slowly picked my way back through the forest, the… elf following behind me. Now that I knew what to expect I found the edge where we began to shift. Hopefully this doesn’t take up my whole day. I thought with a grimace.
Teal seemed to feel it too, eyes turning towards the centre of the boundary the moment she touched it. A lot keener than my senses for that at least. I began to Delve as we approached, and immediately I could see waves of magic washing over where we were.
Teal seemed to shudder a little, but then seemed to stabilize, the waves seeming to ease off just before they touched him, her… hmmmm. Either way, a few wisps revealed themselves, shedding light onto the torrent of magic that had been used. “We’re here to discuss an alliance.” I said simply. “The demons threaten all of us, and you’ll have to deal with them eventually if we fall.”
“Surely you remember the tales of the Edratchi?” Teal added. “We must be united again if we are to stand against them.” His eyes changed for a moment, reptilian eyes replacing his own for the briefest of moments. “Let your leaders at least consider our plea.”
The wisps tittered amongst themselves, their voices tinkling like crystal raindrops shattering against the ground. I watched them talk, recording the pulses of magic that they exuded. I still had barely an inkling of what they spoke to one another, all I knew was that the conversation seemed highly agitated, bouncing back and forth between several of the wisps until one of them finally quietened them with a single burst. It turned to us, and began to pulse again.
“Thank you.” Teal replied, and it bobbed before turning to leave. He moved to follow, and turned to me as I stood still there. “Come.” He said, grasping my wrist and pulling me to follow him.
As we closed the vegetation looked more and more deliberately grown, hollows where wisps seemed to make their homes, canopies that filtered the light of the sun to scatter against the ground. A few featureless orbs hung overhead from the trees like fruit. We ended at a grove, the grass undulating in a circle, forming a target pattern on the ground. We sat down on the grass just outside of the circle, and Teal watched me worriedly.
“If Baen had come, I would be asking him to translate for me.” I said quietly. “I don’t understand them.” I explained. “Barely learning the language they use.” I grimaced. “On the up side I’m immune to their emotional manipulation.”
“You do not know their language?” Teal asked hesitantly, staring at me with his brows furrowed. “They speak in meaning and emotion, it is hardly a language. Then… to be immune to the manipulation means that your sensitivity is suppressed?” His head bent down as he retreated into his thoughts. I turned back to the grove, and we sat in silence.
A few wisps began to trickle into the grove. Their leaders. I guessed. They gathered in the circle, and pulsed some magic towards us. We both stood, I didn’t need any knowledge to understand that it was a summons. I let Teal lead, no point in me leading when I couldn’t even understand them. I’d come because I could help snap people out if they were beguiled, but Teal had no such problems.
They pulsed, starting a conversation while I hung back. “We must stop them now, at the gates.” Teal said with a heavy snarl. “Hiding here will do you no good when they raze the forests to the ground.” They pulsed again. “We must stand united, the Aerathi will come in time, as they have before. One of their number stands before you, and the Aerathi themselves would tell you…” He switched to his original language, speaking a proverb of some kind.
This went on for a while, as Teal eloquently and succinctly explained the details of the options they had. The wisp’s voices grew more and more subdued as time went on, and when Teal finished they hovered in silence. A few tinkling notes were shared between the wisps, before finally, reluctantly, giving a single resonating chord to Teal. “Thank you.” He said simply.
Throughout this I had recorded everything, the general pattern was emerging, but meaning was still frustratingly vague. You’d think it’d be unambiguous, but the more you interpret the worse it gets… How many emotions are there? How do they intermingle? I rubbed at my temple lightly.
[I don’t think we’ll ever learn the language during our time in this world.] Page noted sadly.
Teal led me away from the group, and I looked up to see the orbs alight, lighting the ground in the place of the sun, which had hidden itself away while they had been talking. I sighed, wondering how long it would be until dawn came. Why did they stay in this place? Where time moved so slow.
“They’ve agreed to help, and not to manipulate people, but we have to tell the city that the wisps will be helping.” Teal said to me. “We can’t tell them about the manipulation.”
“Because that’ll cause paranoia and harm the alliance before it even begins. But we have their word that they won’t try?” I asked, turning to look him in the eye. “Because if they do, this alliance will shatter like so many glass shards.”
“I have their word.” Teal said. “There won’t be that many to police either.”
I nodded, and we made our way back to Soren. The innkeeper smiled at me, and provided a room at a modest price. I thanked him, and retired to bed. I crawled out of bed early the next morning, making my way to the administration. A bored looking man greeted me as I approached, but sat straighter as I told him about the wisps. He stood in a rush, hurrying off to talk to the administration.
Teal had remained at the inn, resting. I had chosen against waking them, slipping out while they slept. A few heated words erupted from within, and someone stumbled out into the reception. He looked at me, and his eyes widened. “You.” He breathed. He turned back to the door. “What are you waiting for? Write it up, this is news they’ll want to hear! Hop to it!”
He turned to me. “Ah, uh, you’re the irregular that used to help out around here right?” He said. “It’s great to meet you. How long will you be around?”
I raised a quizzical eyebrow, but answered. “I’ll be leaving soon, heading for Torven.” He nodded, shaking my hand and wishing me safe travels.
Teal awaited me outside the inn, waving at me. “I told them about the wisps." I said to her. "We can leave now, there's nothing left to do."