Clearly not enjoying my response, Stella narrowed her eyes at me dangerously. There was no genuine malice, or at least I assumed there wasn’t. Seeing nothing forthcoming from her unspoken demand, she turned to glare at Tallos, who wore a bemused smile. He radiated contentment and was equally unbothered. He caught her look and was unperturbed.
“A noble elf never tells,” he chuckled, closing his eyes once more. “All I will say is I met up with a few good friends from my past. Some were more friendly than others, but that’s the most you’ll hear from me regarding this particular topic.”
“I’m happy for you,” I remarked, genuinely pleased. Tallos looked happier than I had seen him in quite a long while. Seeing contentment flow throughout his relaxed posture, a sad part of me once again considered whether he would remain behind when the rest of us eventually decided to move on from Quarris.
Not receiving the reaction she had hoped for, Stella let go of her bluster, conceding whatever secret Tallos and I were holding onto. With a slow blink, she released a long sigh before offering, “I’m happy for you too, Tallos. Care to share anything else about your day?”
“Of course,” Tallos replied easily, picking his feet off the table and sitting upright. “I’ll have you know, you both have quite a few friends in the city, the same as me. I met with a tight squad from the Moon Siren. You wouldn’t know them since they left the ship several years before you met Captain Larsa, but just as I knew it would be, any friend of the captain is a friend to every member and former member of his crew. They would like to meet you before the burial if you still plan on attending, as well as after for some fine wine and company afterward.”
Stella and I looked at one another. She replied for us, as we had already confirmed our desire earlier that afternoon, “We still want to, yeah. Enjoying some friendly company afterward sounds pleasant, too. You can count us both in.”
“I'm glad to hear it, but more about the ceremony later,” Tallos said, moving the conversation to less somber topics. “How was your day? You look like you’ve seen some wondrous things as you explored Quarris. Oh, and remind me to tell you later about Jakob. I need to warn you about his… eccentricities. The crazy bastard had me cast my bramble spell on his, for whatever reason. I can only imagine him demanding you do the same, even though the majority of your spells are far more powerful.”
“Will do,” I chuckled, more than a little curious about eccentric elf. Moving to sit across from Tallos, I glanced at Stella, who moved to hover in the middle of our home’s glorious redwood dining table. “We had an absolutely fantastic day. Didn’t we, Stell?”
“We sure did,” Stella preened. “We got a nice gift for Ripley, Lowki… and you too!”
“I hope not more spells,” he snickered, clearly only half serious. “Besides the eccentric Jakob, my Moon Siren compatriots were astounded and thrilled for me when I shared about the spells we’ve managed to pick up for me, but, I’ll be honest, learning them is quite the ordeal. Hah!”
Stella and I both inhaled audibly, holding our breaths at his words. Looking at one another, I bit my lower lip, “Yeah… about that.”
Tallos leaned forward, still uncomprehending before it dawned on him. A mix of enthusiastic eagerness and dreadful worry stretched across his keen features. His lips opened as if he was about to speak, but no sound came forth.
“Sorry…” I uttered, stretching the word out as I reached for my bag of holding. One by one, I placed three tomes on the table. One was the size of a thick magazine, while the other two were thick beasts compared to the first one. Tallos had practically spent every waking moment across to learn what few spells he had in the days leading up to reaching the High Thicket.
“You’re kidding me,” Tallos articulated very slowly.
Stella saddled closer to her worrying friend, knowing the significant time investment we just placed before him. “You did say you loved having spells, right? So Xaz was like,” Stella remarked before lowering her voice far deeper in imitation of mine. "'He’s really going to love these then.’”
Tallos put his elbows on the table before covering his face with both hands. After a long sigh, muffled words echoed between his fingers when he finally replied, “Thanks…”
Stella’s demeanor changed suddenly, and she looked like she had become a dotting grandmother. “You’re welcome!” She was obviously hoping to splash joy through Tallos’ tearless lament.
He tilted his face up a little, his hands still covering the majority of his face. “I don’t know whether to hug you or strangle you,” he said, though I couldn’t place in his tone if he was serious or not.
He was making fun. Yeah, I was sure of it. Of course, he was.
Stella came to the same conclusion, beaming a brilliant smile at her friend. “So, which one are you going to learn first?” she asked as her tail started wagging of its own accord. She must not have noticed it, so tuned into the exasperated elf, as she often tamped down on her tail wags. It was a rare sight. Determined to cheer up her obviously flustered friend, she focused more on Tallos than anything else.
With some coaxing, Stella eventually got our ranger friend to loosen up. His demeanor shifted from a cursing student blighted by the absurd length of a class’s syllabus and the mountain of work it entailed to more of a willing participant. Tallos and our resident expert, Stella, discussed the benefits of the three spells: minor barkskin, camouflage, and stalker’s mark at great length. Tallos had more than a few questions and Stella guided him to the best of her ability. She only had her intuition, the short System description offered by the spell tomes, but it was enough for Tallos to come to appreciate what the tomes represented. As well as what they offered.
While the two worked, I pulled out several steaming dishes from my bag of holding so we could enjoy a meal together. In the end, Tallos shared he would endeavor to learn Stalker’s Mark first due to the noticeable increase in damage the spell offered, followed by the camouflage tome, with Barkskin pulling up the rear. I was surprised Tallos hadn’t decided to learn barkskin first since the book was tiny compared to the other two tomes. It made sense, though, because, as a ranged combatant, barkskin offered the least benefit, to begin with. Unless he was often engaged by enemies in melee range, a rare feat though it could sometimes happen, increasing his damage and ability to hide was more useful for now.
Our conversation about spell tomes shifted from Tallos’ new spells to the unique experiences I had learning lightning bolt and piercing swarm. Tallos stated more than once how envious he was of my Hunter's ability to learn from any spell tome nearly instantaneously. Eventually, our topic of discussion moved to the approaching elven burial.
From what Tallos explained, nearly every elf in the city would be in attendance, and it was apparently quite the experience. When I asked him what we could expect, he was pretty mum in his reply, saying only that he remembered one from when he was a young elf and had been entranced by the event for several days afterward. He wouldn’t share more, saying he didn’t want to spoil anything for us. Caught up on everyone’s day, we agreed to prepare to head out soon. Tallos confirmed the trek to the ceremony was not far away, only a few platforms over.
Even Lowki decided to join us. Earlier, when I was pulling out dinner plates, the giant cat sprinted down the lone stairway using the wall as a launching pad to get to his meal that much faster. As always, when food was involved, he was not far behind. As the great cat approached, Stella practically vibrated with anticipation.
“We have something for you, Lowki,” she proclaimed when her feline friend neared. Lowki took note of her words, altering his course to bring him close to the side of the table where she hovered. Though Stella was surrounded by delicious and aromatic food, which Lowki would normally have already greedily pulled from the table, he instead looked up at his excited friend with sincere curiosity.
Pulling a thin bracelet from the air, she moved closer to Lowki, toward one of his four hind legs. “We bought you something special,” she added as she clasped the enchanted chain closed. The narrow bangle adjusted its fit, sinching tighter on its own, and was soon lost below Lowki’s dark fur.
What followed was an exciting interplay between Lowki and Stella as the cat explored the possibilities opened up to him by its magical properties. Having learned what the bracelet could do with his displacer image, Lowki soon had two mirror duplicates of himself dancing around the living room. His feline eyes were wide, much like a child opening birthday gifts, as he studied the two identical displacer beasts studying him right back.
Though anything would pass right through either illusion, nothing gave away, which was the real Lowki. When I turned my attention to Tallos, who watched the exchange, I lost the true displacer beast as the three panthers began bounding all over the small room. What transpired next was a friendly game between Stella and Lowki, in which the cat would move himself and his twin illusions around the room before all three held still. It was then Stella’s job to pick out the ‘real cat.’
Lowki, never willing to play fair, subtly used the ability afforded by the bracelet to swap places with one of his illusionary doubles. Thus, ensuring Stella never found the right one whenever she moved to where the real Lowki was standing. While the illusions were perfect copies, each able to move independently, very few clues could be identified to spot the real cat. The best hint, we soon learned, was when the three cats flew across the room and bounced off of walls or the few sofas around the room. The true cat, even with his extremely high agility, still imparted some force into anything he touched, shifting it slightly as the three cats stilled. Stella picked up on this and was finally sure she found the real Lowki, who, of course, had already swapped places with a nearby illusion.
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“Yeah, you’re cheating,” she vainly attempted to scold the unbothered panther. “No teleporting!”
Lowki quickly learned how to move around best, eliminating even those few subtle indications of where he really was. Soon, none of us could identify which two were the illusion and which was the true one. Lowki, when the need arose for him to teleport to avoid Stella’s outstretched paw, didn’t so much as a flicker or indicate in any way the swapping feature had been used. It was a good sign.
From what I could gather, Lowki had a sense when his teleports cool down was reset. He rapidly worked out how to best use his new and fascinating bracelet. Thinking upon the gift further, I slapped myself on the forehead. We had forgotten about Tallos’ other gift!
The elf had long since ignored the game of tag between Stella and Lowki, investing all his attention into his newly favorite novel. When I gently rested an exquisite leather quiver in front of him, it was the elf’s turn for his eyes to go wide.
“Is this what I think it is?” he whispered as he reverently picked up the enchanted quiver. He fingered through the multitude of arrows, inspecting each shaft keenly. The fletching easily identified which element was bound within each. Flame arrows were, expectantly, red-tinted feathers. Water arrows were a bright blue; wind arrows had white fletching and earth arrows were dyed green.
“If you suspect it’s a magical quiver that allows you to summon not only regular arrows but four elemental versions? Then, yeah, it’s what you think,” I teased as Stella joined me at the table beside the excited ranger. Lowki, for his part, continued hopping around the room while directing his illusions with mental commands. The cat was took caught up with his own gift to notice anything else. His antics only served to stretch the smile across my face further.
“Thank you, both of you,” Tallos said with genuine appreciation.
While he undoubtedly was thrilled at our earlier gifts, even though each required a huge investment of both time and energy, his newest gift could be put to use immediately. He swapped out one of his belted quivers with the elemental variant. As we watched, it was apparent he did this because he would need to glance down at the quiver whenever he wanted to pull a specific arrow out.
Stella saw him practice pulling out specific arrows when she offered a suggestion. “If you want, you can just think of the arrow you want to retrieve as you reach, and the magic of the quiver will do the rest.”
Sure enough, Tallos didn’t need to visually verify beforehand which type of arrow he wanted to pull free. With Stella’s guidance, he quickly learned to pull out whatever version he wanted. As a result, Tallos replaced the quiver on his back with the enchanted version since it allowed for one fluid motion to pull, nock, and fire an arrow. For the time being, he decided to keep his other two quivers on his hips but stated he might forgo one or both in the future, depending on how well his new quiver worked out.
With sundown eminent on the horizon, we tucked our weaponry away into my bag of holding and headed outside. Closing our door behind us, a large crowd of elves walked in the same direction. Tallos mentioned they were heading to the nearest elevator and the ceremony site. Swiftly joining the throng of people, we moved along silently as the somber mood of the city settled over us.
Nearing our destination, an elevator capable of holding upwards of a hundred people, Tallos veered us off to the side, where a small group of elves stood chatting among themselves. Tallos hailed a greeting which was swiftly returned. A few handshakes and introductions later, our slightly larger group rejoined the queue descending to the forest floor. Tallos promised a more formal introduction later, but it was clear everyone was keen to join the outgoing procession.
As we descended, the elevator didn’t make even the slightest bit of sound even though a hundred elves were packed closely together. As the platform lowered, the glow lights all around the city dimmed slightly. Combined with the near-total silence, the once optimistic ambiance of the city shifted to match the mood of its citizens. It became a time of mourning.
When our lift touched down with a soft thud, the hundred or so elves around us moved wordlessly into a nearby crowd numbering in the thousands. Our small entourage followed along, more than happy to bring up the rear. We couldn’t see anything beyond the packed throng of mourners, but having spotted a wide-open area from above as we descended, we had a general sense of where the burial site was. Seen from above, a square prairie about twenty yards across was reserved for the fallen, devoid of all elves. From what I saw, not a single headstone was within the grass field. Instead, as we would soon learn, elves laid their loved ones to rest with magically blossoming flowers.
Being among the last group to arrive at the ceremony, I settled in to remain at the back. We wouldn’t have a clear view, but it didn’t bother me. It was the city, and its many residents, who needed this time to mourn and honor the lives of those lost in the struggle to protect Quarris. We were here to support our new friends through this difficult time. Over the course of the day, I had come to greatly respect the elves of both Quarris and the High Thicket. They were an intensely moral society that lived in complete balance with the forest and all life and called the High Thicket home.
The mood of everyone around held a deep melancholy, from the youngest elf to even the oldest elders. The city was harmonized into a singular entity in a way I had never known was possible, let alone experienced. If one individual shed a tear, the gathered felt her sorrow. When a bright memory of a loved one kindled in the mind of an onlooker, the emotion swept across the field like a tidal wave. Their reverence for life was remarkable, and I, too, felt a tear roll down my face. When I felt a teardrop strike my shoulder, I reached a comforting hand to my dearest friend.
A slight commotion ahead pulled me from my reverie. Elves were parting in front of us. With gently stretched hands, it looked like we were being invited to step forward. I looked to Tallos, who nodded to my unspoken question, “Should we?”
Yes, he replied wordlessly, we were. A small part of me wanted to refuse. This ceremony was for the city and its people, not us. What little we did was what any other person would have done, though perhaps not in the face of the terror that was Duke.
Nevertheless, my feet followed Tallos as he walked forward.
Tears flowed freely from every person we passed. Every elf, as we passed, either offered a soft smile or a slight bow of their head. I realized, in their eyes, that we were not mere visitors to their beloved city. We were trusted friends who answered the call when the city needed it the most.
As we continued, the elves stepping aside wrapped behind us as we passed. An open field opened in front of us. Row after row, beds of vibrant flowers bloomed. Roses, tulips, and others I had no name for sprouted at a speed only accomplished through the work of magic. Around us, hands held tightly to loved ones, sorrowful heads rested on shoulders, and friends shared tears. We reached the edge and paused, the way behind us closing around us like the slow crashing of waves.
No one stood within the extended grass field. Instead, it was surrounded by more than a thousand elves. Panning my gaze, dozens upon dozens of individual flower beds marked the final resting place of a citizen of the High Thicket. For long minutes, no one spoke. Then, movement from the corner of my eye caught my attention as a robed figure strode forward into the field alone.
With their hood raised, I couldn’t identify if it was a man or a woman. When the individual reached the first bed, red roses, they turned around before lowering their hood. It was a woman, an elderly woman with gleaming white hair and timeworn skin awash in wrinkles. Her robes were a muted blue, perhaps. I didn’t recognize her, though she was unmistakably a city elder.
With a bowed head at first, she raised her gaze to stare into the eyes of everyone in front of her, ours included. When she spoke, her voice was a sweet sorrowful melody that swiftly touched the hearts and minds of everyone gathered.
“Tonight, we say goodbye to our treasured friends and loved ones. Each was a cherished soul who brought profound joy to us all. This evening, we mark their passing into the great forest beyond. As they walk beside the blissful cherrywood and under the lush emerald canopy of the endless unknown, we witness the approaching future because of their sacrifices. Their touch will linger in our hearts, in our minds, and upon each tree within our noble thicket. Death, as we know, is an essential part of life. With their passing, we feel ache and sorrow deep within our beating chests. The loss of those we love never truly fades, yet life, such as the seedlings planted in their honor, moves us forward and brings new joy into our lives. The forest shelters us all, as does the eternal beyond for those free of their mortal coil. We set our roots with their memories in our hearts, rising ever upwards into the light. May we always remember those we have loved and lost.”
With the final words of the elder’s eulogy, the hands of every gathered elves reached up toward the forest's crown. Simultaneously, the shining lights from the city dimmed to a barely perceptible level. The beacons of flame no longer appeared in the darkness as miniature blazing suns sent a shower of golden light upon everything beneath. Now, reduced to a mere pinprick of light, it was as if each had become a distant star among thousands in the night’s sky.
Darkness didn’t linger long. A lone brilliant petal of the purest light, followed by another, then coming by the hundreds, lifted from elven hands. One by one, each petal shifted from a dazzling white to the full spectrum and color of a rainbow. The gathered crowd was soon bathed in glittering colors as the petals drifted higher as if pulled by a gentle updraft. Soon, the entire forest and idyllic city above was a kaleidoscope of vibrant colors, appearing to me like an ever-expanding firework reaching outward into the sky above.
Beside me, Tallos, too, reached his hands above his head. Soon, he had tiny petals of magnificent light rising into the air. Curious if I could add my own mana petals to the memorial, I glanced at Stella. She was staring in awe at the curtain of shifting rainbow light. She saw my questioning look and smiled softly before raising a paw imitating those around us. She nodded once, her eyes filled with happiness.
Soon, my hands, too, were stretching toward the sky. Unsure of how to call forth the marvelous petals of light, the twinge of embarrassment starting to form swiftly evaporated as it was replaced by wellspring of energy building within my chest. A tingling sensation unhurriedly traveled from my chest, up my arms, and into my palms. A second later, petals created from my mana climbed high into the sparkling sky.
My core resonated and responded to my desire, sending forth an even greater stream of mana as I called upon even more. The next ivory petals created shone even brighter, an augmented brilliance before they, too, morphed into captivating hues of every color imaginable. Each petal became as vivid as a miniature supernova, throwing multicolored light to the far reaches of the seemingly star-filled night. Even though my mana pool dropped at a prodigious rate, I felt no fear nor the slightest apprehension.
Standing together, as one, the city's tears flowing freely and we bid the fallen a final farewell.