Chapter Eight - Fae
Easily excited by the project, Eamonn replied, “Ah, that’s right, you haven’t seen it! However, you’re only partially correct. Only about half the Earth Guard went to Mianach. Abala retains no less than that at all times.” Jade cast a glance at Camille, who nodded in confirmation. He continued, “They’ve still been on rotation working to finish the enclosures, so while none of them are done, quite a few are close.”
She took a moment to absorb that information. Despite everything going on, they’d…just kept working on it? Not that she wasn’t grateful, but she kinda thought reshaping the city was more important? Noticing her confusion, Camille interjected in an undertone, “Not all of the Earth Guard is equally talented in combat.”
Oh. Well that made sense. Everyone’s talents in magic were different, so while some people might have scraped by on their combat abilities and barely gotten in, they were more useful in construction projects. They wouldn’t have been sent to their death in an active war zone. She could also see how they might be antsy and want to do something, so they got to work where they could. Maybe she was reading into it too much, but that’s something she’d do.
Aside from that, the portal was only reopened this morning, so if they weren’t in the first wave that was dealing with monsters, they would’ve been stuck here. Shaking her head as if to clear her thoughts, she asked, “You said a bunch are close. What hasn’t been done?” It might’ve been easier to just go see for herself.
“They’ve completed the enclosure and enchantments on the first few, but they’re still missing the plants you wanted.” Eamonn explained further, “There are only a few people who can make the enchantments properly, so they started at the front and have been working their way one by one.”
Well. That made sense. She glanced at the cages around the room, realizing for the first time that she didn’t actually know how they were containing the animals. Simple metal wouldn’t hold an earth-shaper back, and what was stopping her fellacai flock from just sending out a wave of pollen to kill everyone?
Activating her mana sense, she paid attention to the trappings for the first time. The glow of magic was far more subtle on the cages, and she’d always been focused on the living beings when she was in here. Perhaps she should have expected the colors, though. There was a mild pink haze of contractual working in conjunction with the deep purple hue of compulsion. There was even a bit of life magic in there that, according to how the magic felt, was soothing their willpower and resistance so that they would be calmer and more malleable. The last color was the light blue of wind, which gave off the impression that it was keeping smells and sounds in.
All in all, it was a fancy bit of enchanting, but it also probably explained why there were so few cages; it wasn’t exactly something you could just toss together with a bit of metal. Rerouting her brain back to the task at hand, she asked, “So if I go grow some plants, we should be good to relocate the fellacai, beann, and a few others, right?” She’d put them near the front for slightly selfish reasons, but that was in her favor now.
Blinking owlishly, Eamonn nodded. “That’s correct.” His attention drawn to the beann once more, he walked over to study them before glancing at the ones on Camille’s shoulders and the raphna in the prince’s arms. He seemed unperturbed that she’d taken one of his new captives for Hunter, more interested in seeing how they were getting on. She supposed he was the contractual magic teacher, and not the beastkeeper. Funny that she’d just lumped that together.
That made her realize that Eamonn was basically the equivalent of Hagrid mixed with a lawyer with the flair of a mad scientist. Then again, he did seem to enjoy encouraging others to do dangerous things, so… it fit. After all, he’d been entirely unperturbed when one of his students got mauled the first day of class, or when she stuck her hand into cages randomly. It spoke volumes to either trusting that she knew what she was doing or being willing to let her mess around and find out.
Curiously, she asked, “What happens if people try to catch beasts but aren’t prepared? I highly doubt they just carry around these cages all the time.” She could, with her ring, but other people? Not so much. It made her look at her beann again. Had she just gotten incredibly lucky with the luck birds that they didn’t have offensive magic?
Pausing to think, he shrugged. “Without the proper effort required for success, it would have a high probability of merely proving futile and unpleasant.” He pointed at the raphna. “They, for instance, would simply tunnel out of the cage without enchantments.”
Nodding, she muttered, “Like licking a tree and hoping for maple syrup.” They looked confused, but she’d already moved on. “So, exactly how sturdy are these cages?” The classroom only held animals that were the size of a large dog at best. “And how do people bond with larger creatures?”
Chortling softly, he replied, “As you can see, the animals we keep here are some of the more docile ones. We couldn’t exactly keep a tialon in the classroom. This is, after all, for learning. Most of the significantly magically dangerous beasts are hard to keep caged. Getting one of them as a companion usually involves hunting them down in their natural habitat during mating season, as the bond takes better when you raise babies.” She hadn’t even considered that when she bonded Hunter, she’d just seen that he was drawn to the little one. Plus, who could resist the tiny cuteness?
Still, that raised the question, “So if I wanted to keep a highly dangerous, skilled, intelligent humanoid in a cage, that would…”
“Not work.” He interrupted, shaking his head. “The more humanoid the creatures are, the less likely they are to be contained.” He paused, then asked, “Are you thinking of the doppelgangers? From what I hear, you have a knack for finding them.”
She paused. “Uh. Not exactly.” She thought about bringing one out, then decided if it woke up when she wasn’t ready for it, it would be a bad thing. So instead she projected images of the sylfae and fyrfae in front of her as she explained, “The guards once told me about fairies who could take the form of humans.” Pointing at the sylfae, she continued, “I think they might’ve been talking about these. They’re highly skilled in illusion magic, and the first ones I met were projecting the image of three human women.”
Camille and Hunter stopped playing with their new bonded for a moment, stepping closer to look at her magic. She realized the only people she’d actually told she was keeping fae in her ring…were Ashanna and Derrick. “These were some of the monsters you ran into in Mianach?” Hunter asked curiously. “They’re that small?”
“Fascinating! There are only rumors about these fairies. Not many people see them and live to tell the tale.” Eamonn was grinning happily, totally uncaring that he’d just uttered something so fatalistic. His fingers were twitching, as if he wanted to go grab some paper and write down everything he could.
“That…makes sense. I didn’t even see through their illusion until they dropped it when I attacked because I could tell something was wrong with them, but not what.” Eamonn was practically clapping like a child, and she raised the illusion a bit so they wouldn’t have to bend over to see it, given that she’d originally projected it at waist height above her hand. She went on, “These blue and green ones are called sylfae. Not only are they great illusionists, they have advanced water magic and…” She hesitated for a moment, then went on, “They have a skill called devour. I think they absorb magic from what they eat.”
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Pointing to the red and black ones, she said, “These are fyrfae. I actually don’t know anything about them other than that their fire magic is probably more advanced than my own.”
Wide eyed, Camille asked, “They had elemental dominance over you?”
Shrugging a bit, she replied, “Maybe?”
“What do you mean maybe? Either it was or it wasn’t.” The princess demanded, and she was reminded that her first real lesson on the subject was when she’d been sparring with Cami in water class.
Shaking her head, she explained, “I only dealt with them in a large group, so I don’t know if they are individually stronger than me or if several of them were working together to wrest control of my flames.”
“Oh. Fine.” The girl seemed reluctant to admit that was an acceptable answer.
Rolling her eyes, Jade added, “If you’re really that curious, I’ll try and figure it out when I do more research.”
“More research? How?” Eamonn instantly asked, and she could practically feel the crazy scientist coming out.
Hunter looked alarmed as he asked, “You’re not trying to go find them, are you?” The baby raphna started trying to burrow into his elbow, picking up on his panic.
She immediately strengthened the soothing life aura she had going, pumping up the effects as she responded, “No, I have no plans to go track them down.” He looked relieved, and she forced herself to add softly, “I just have a few of them still alive in one of my rings.” The panic started coming back so she quickly went on, “Don’t worry! It’s perfectly safe. They were all injured and they’re all in some kind of sleeping stasis right now.” Gesturing to the cages, she added, “That’s why I was asking about the cages. They’re harmless in there, but if I want answers I have to bring them out, so I was wondering if there were options that could increase how much we got out of them.” Pausing, she added, “After all, humanoids tend to be resistant to my compulsion after a few questions, so I didn’t want to only get a few answers before I have to kill them.”
Silence abounded. Even Eamonn didn’t appear to have expected her to be carting around the tiny demons nonchalantly.
“You’re sure it’s safe?” Camille finally squeaked softly.
She nodded, then shook her head. “Probably? They’ve been in there for a few days without stirring, so I think the biggest risk is actually them dying of starvation or from their injuries than anything else. I haven’t exactly been treating them. Oh!” She paused, then added in excitement, “Something interesting about them! I think they naturally purify the environment just by breathing. I’ve cycled in fresh air a few times to make sure they don’t suffocate and it comes out…cleaner? Here, I’ll show you.”
She waved her fingers, sending in a fresh wave of wind once more, and releasing the fresh scent into the room. She hadn’t even realized that the faint eau de animal had perfumed the workshop until it was replaced with a cleaner, greener breeze. She supposed that even suppressed by wind magic, the stink was pervasive.
“Oh. That does smell nice.” Camille sniffed appreciatively, and her birds flapped their wings a few times, spreading the scent further. Even the baby raphna stuck her nose into the air, a slightly intoxicated look on its face.
Eyes practically glowing in excitement, Eamonn looked manic with plans. “Yes, we should get as much knowledge as we can! Specimens no one has ever seen before! Yes, yes. We can build a better cage. Stronger!” The words gushed from his mouth as he cast his gaze at the metal around them, and she could practically see the wheels spinning in his brain. He focus zeroed back in on her as he reached out to hold onto her arm, and she’d turned slightly in defense so it was her good one, but he was too agitated to notice, “I must be there when you interrogate them!”
Letting out a small exasperated huff, she nodded. “Okay. Okay. That’s fine, you can help me once we’ve got everything ready.”
“Yes…yes! I’ll get them to make a better cage now.” He was practically chomping at the bit, wanting to go and take care of things immediately.
Satisfied that she would get more help with less effort, she nodded. “Sure. You talk to whoever that is, and in the meantime, we’re gonna head over to the zoo so I can finish up the fellacai and beann enclosures. I want to get them in there today.” Glancing at the cage floating behind her and the swarm on his desk, she really wanted them to have more room sooner than later.
“Sure, sure. You do that. I’ll come find you later!” He waved them off, and she sent Camille and Hunter a look that said they needed to get out of there as she whisked the swarm cage up and out the door with a flex of wind. His passionate gaze was unnerving her, so she gently broke free of his grasp and nodded before booking it.
The siblings quietly followed her out, and Jade glanced at the door to her workshop. Was there anything she needed to grab from there? She didn’t think so, so she sent a mental recall to her littles to gather them as she headed towards the stairs.
Cami grabbed onto her good hand, stopping her before she went down as she asked, “You’re sure it’s safe to be carrying the fae around with you?”
Letting out another small sigh, she assured her, “I’m sure that I’ll have ample notice and be able to kill them before they cause any problems.” Just to be safe, she mentally checked on her ring again since she’d just aerated them again. Nodding, she added, “They’re still in stasis. They haven’t moved in days.” Pointing at the cage of beann, she finished, “Besides, they went in and came out just fine earlier. It’s fine.”
Her fellacai chose that moment to fly over, landing on the floating cage of their swarm as they inspected their subjects. “Let them out?” Willow asked plaintively.
“When we get to the zoo.” Jade answered aloud, cutting off any further protests from the princess. Looking back at the two of them, she gestured to the stairs. “Come on, let’s get going. Don’t worry so much. Everything will work out. Trust me.” It was more confidence than she maybe should have had, but they needed reassurance. At least she had a plan for dealing with the fae now.
“I thought you were going to hold back on the experiments today…” Camille muttered somewhat darkly, but followed her as she trekked down to the first floor.
“Everything is relative. Most of my accidents happen when I’m playing with light magic and crystals, so it’s all good. I’ll leave those alone.”
“And monsters. You have a lot of monster encounters.” Hunter added in mild petulance. He’d been quiet, but she could tell he still wasn’t happy that she kidnapped the enemies and kept them close.
He wasn’t wrong. So as they made their way outside, she told him, “Isn’t that why you guys are following me around today? To keep me safe?” She booped the nose of the curious little Raphna, causing her to recoil into Hunter’s arms once more.
He quickly shifted, admonishing her gently, “Hey, be careful. Your claws are sharp!” He shot Jade a look that said really? You had to do that? She laughed softly as he gave in. “Fine. Not like we could stop you anyway.”
“Right. You’ve already boarded my pirate ship, so you might as well enjoy the ride.” Sticking her tongue out as they reached the sunshine, she considered walking, but then decided taking half an hour to reach the far end of campus was a waste of time. “All aboard!” She muttered under her breath, lightening their gravity as she sent them on the wind bullet train that was her magic.
Sticking a hand out to absorb the light, she sent them rocketing through the air towards their final destination. At least, for the morning. Thankfully, there were no log trucks to block her way. That was one generational trauma she’d never have to deal with.
She had other fun things to get nightmares about, like pixies that were tiny eldritch horrors. Yay fae!