I walked into Morgan’s palace.
She watched me move with a raised brow, the only break in her smiling mask.
I smiled.
“Well, you seem a bit… well…”
“Well, having a free neck can do wonders for the complexion.”
My snark did not go unnoticed, she smiled.
“I assume you are here to accept Maven’s invitation to her realm?”
“Yes, because… I don’t know the password.”
“Well, she and, annoyingly, the other councilors have made you able to simply go to their realms, so go on, you don’t need the password.”
“Oh… thanks.”
I smiled and walked towards the tesseract.
I touched it and warped to the nexus. A faint scent of cinnamon invaded my nostrils.
“Wow, this place smells nice… I wonder…”
“What?”
“What does this place look like during the Sylvian Dream?”
Taury raised a brow.
“We’ve been here during it before.”
“We never looked up.”
She thought for a moment.
“Huh, we’ll have to do that.”
I sighed.
“Okay, so what do I think of?”
“Try Maven herself.”
“Okay.”
_
“Alright, I’m going to check if William has regenerated moaaaAHHH!”
I landed straight on the poor wolf; she had been reaching out for the tesseract when I suddenly appeared ten feet up and fell.
“Hello, ma’am, I’m doing a bit better.”
I got up with a light blush and Maven sat up. She looked me up, down, and walked around, sniffing the air.
“Definitely William.”
She looked at my leg and arm.
“How?”
“Earth and fire magic.”
She smiled.
“Incredible.”
I looked around and saw a wolf pack.
“Um.”
“Sister, is this the human you were going to check on?”
“He is.”
“Did the wolf just talk?”
Taury looked at me.
“The wolf didn’t talk, she growled and Maven responded…”
Then Maven was in my face.
“You can speak to bestials?! Incredible!”
“Um, I suppose? Never been able to before.”
“Wow, you are developing interesting magic, not only do you have enough fire and earth to make limbs, but you can also speak to bestials, maybe more after that.”
Her raw excitement was far different from the regal aura that she held herself in at the camp. It was almost overwhelming in cuteness. She was almost like a puppy.
Then she stepped back.
“Let’s go to my place to talk and prepare for the run.”
Then she bolted away.
“… She’s a lot more energetic here.”
One of the wolves laughed.
“It’s because you’re okay, besides she likes acting stoic near Morgan.”
“I see.”
“Well, are you going to follow her or not?”
“Oh, right.”
I rushed in her direction, I was expecting a castle, a palace…
It was a hobbit hole.
There was a door and windows, but it was a hobbit hole.
“Bet you never seen a house like this.”
Maven looked proud of her home.
“It’s a hobbit hole!”
Of course, the only thing Taury could remember of the series.
“Hobbit hole?”
I explained.
“Basically this, but short people live in it.”
“Cool, maybe whoever designed those places saw this realm.”
“Maybe…”
“Why would short people be in a different residence?”
“It was a movie.”
“Movie?”
She tilted her head, so Taury translated.
“It’s a moving picture that makes noise to tell a story.”
Maven looked impressed.
“I need to see one of those.”
I smiled.
“I can just imagine you watching Zootopia.”
“Zootopia?”
“Yeah, it’s basically a world where humans never appeared, so animals evolved into bipeds.”
The duo blinked.
“Walking on two legs.”
“Oh… all of them? Including the bestials?”
“It was all… bestials.”
“Woah…”
She seemed to wonder at the prospect.
“Next time I’m in that world, you are showing me this… movie, Zootopia.”
“Okay.”
“Well, come inside.”
We went in and saw that, it really did look like a hobbit hole, albeit a bit bigger.
“Alright, so, to prepare for a run, what do we need… hm… meat… crap, I’m out of meat.”
She was rustling around wagging her tail and then she bolted.
“Let’s see if I have anything in my room.”
Then I heard a crash and a yelp.
“Are you okay?”
“Yep… a bit stuck… Could you help?”
I walked in her room and froze. Taury sighed.
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
“You gotta be kidding me.”
Maven herself, had a pile of junk pinning her top half to the floor, but… every… single… wall…
It was covered in drawings of me…
I mean, she was a good artist… but… I don’t have that many muscles, nor did I crush a demon’s head with my bicep.
“Um, help?”
“Oh, right, sorry… um…”
There was nowhere to grab that wouldn’t be weird.
“Where do I…”
“Oh, don’t worry, you can just grab me anywhere. I don’t mind.”
Well… that was good… but… I kinda…
I grabbed her hips and pulled, bringing her out.
She looked at me and smiled.
“Thanks.”
Then she seemed to remember her… art.
“Ah… please forget you ever saw that.”
She had an intense blush.
She rushed us out and slammed the door.
“Give me a second!”
I was still kind of shaken.
Taury was pouting.
“Low-life mutt. Moving on William.”
I sighed, Taury could be very jealous.
Though, it was odd, this was the second powerful fey that had a crush on me… unless you counted Grace, but that wasn’t as much a crush as much as an occasional fluster.
“’Grab me anywhere, I don’t mind.’ Shameless. Utterly shameless.”
“Taury, could you not badmouth the wolf right across the door from us?”
She stopped for a second and then turned away.
“Hmph… pervert probably liked it.”
“Hey, don’t change it to me!”
Then Maven walked out, still blushing, and she spoke with a slight shake in her voice.
“W-well, since th-that’s done, I suppose we could go for the run now.”
Then she muttered silently.
“Yeah. Just a run nothing… else.”
Taury glared, making the wolf flinch.
I sighed.
“Do we have a destination?”
Maven nodded.
“A spring, good for drinking and swimming, the heat in the water purifies it all the time as well.”
“Alright.”
Then we began to run. Both me and Maven ran at similar speeds and we bounded through the forest like darts, dodging trees and loose branches.
“So, is this entire realm a forest?”
“Pretty much, it’s similar to the Sylvian woods, except that our forest isn’t bathed in magic, nor are the fey here intensely magic inclined.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, the only magic animal fey usually have is speaking to bestials.”
“Huh, is there much difference between the two?”
She smirked.
“Why do you wanna know~?”
“I’m curious, because you previously stated that you have the same biology, but you have an entirely different exterior, so, are the interiors the same?”
Maven thought for a moment.
“I mean the deer fey innards don’t look much different than the bestial deer innards, so I’d assume the wolves are the same.”
“Ah…”
It suddenly dawned on me that I wasn’t running alongside a fey that resembled a wolf, I was running alongside a literal wolf who simply had a more human appearance, of course she’d hunt fey deer.
Then she said something that caused me to stumble.
“But for reproduction, animal fey could likely procreate with humans.”
“*Plu*- what?!”
She smirked.
“I mean, if a spriggan, someone made of literal wood can, I see no reason why a flesh and blood wolf would be different.”
Then we kept running, Taury giving a deathglare that was causing Maven to sweat intensely, and I, trying to hide my blush from her statement, kept running in the direction of the spring.
When we finally reached it, we saw various fey animals relaxing.
I even saw a deer boy and what I assumed was a lion girl chatting.
“Woah.”
Maven smiled.
“This is the one area that no one fights or hunts. It’s universally agreed on by all tribes.”
I looked at her.
“Don’t you rule the realm? Why does it have to be agreed?”
She laughed.
“It technically doesn’t, wolves are the dominant tribe, but I made a council that we can discuss problems. Like the deers have safe days where hunting them is illegal, and numerous other prey species have different days. Another thing that we agreed on was that the spring was a no hunt or fight zone.”
“Wow.”
“Yeah, however much I disagree with a lot of Morgan’s methods and actions, a council is a very good idea.”
“Wow, what other rules are there?”
“You can’t hunt councilors, so the deer councilor is the main gatherer for his tribe.”
“Hey, it’s the wolf queen.”
“Hi, people, how’s the spring today?”
“Pretty good, woah, is that a human?”
“Yes, he is. He’s a cool one.”
“Is he edible?”
The lion spoke causing the deer to sigh.
“All you lions think about is eating whatever moves.”
“Oh please, not like you deer are better, abusing your free days by taunting us.”
An argument broke out between the deer and the lion.
Then Maven snapped.
“We are at the spring, and to answer your question, until the council has a vote on it, humans are off limits.”
The lion and deer sighed and bowed in apology.
I leaned over.
“Would that be a contested issue?”
Maven sighed.
“I’d say some of the prey would vote yes for laughs, but the predators could go either way, so yeah.”
“Oh…”
Yeah, this place was freaky.
“Welp, let’s enter the spring.”
“Um…”
She looked at me.
“Oh, the clothes are fine, almost everyone just enters in what they normally wear. But I’d suggest removing the shoes.”
“Alright.”
We entered the water and sure enough, it was warm.
I sighed and relaxed as Maven did the same.
Taury hopped down and floated in the water for a second.
“It’s warm…”
I nodded in agreement, I looked and saw the lion girl sniffing Taury.
“Um, Maven, is that normal?”
“Yeah, remember, we are still technically lions and wolves, and we are related to cats and dogs, though, I would not suggest calling us that, but we act quite similarly, like sniffing to identify things.”
“Calling them cat and dog… yeah that makes sense.”
Taury raised a brow.
“It does?”
Maven gave a light laugh.
“See it’s like if I kept calling you a fairy, you are related and similar in appearance and some behaviors, but you’d take total offense, correct?”
Taury thought.
“That does make sense, huh, never thought of it that way.”
“By the way… what’s your name?”
The lion girl looked at me.
“I’m Leona, and you?”
“William… I half expected a different name.”
“Really? My tribe says that name represents power.”
“It literally translates to female lion.”
She blinked. Maven blinked. Then the deer burst out laughing.
“You and your tribe are so prideful of that name, and it just means a lion girl. HAHAHA.”
“What’s your name?”
“Oh, that’s funny, the names Buck.”
“That’s a male deer.”
Then Leona and Maven burst out laughing as Buck flushed.
Maven looked at me.
“Does it actually mean that?”
“Yep, Leona is the Spanish word for lioness, and Buck is an English term for a male deer.”
“Hah, at least mines a foreign language.”
I thought for a moment.
“Why do most fey speak English?”
The animal fey were thrown for a loop, but Taury answered.
“When Arthur became relevant to both the fey and humans, numerous fey sought to learn his language, and it eventually became widespread throughout the realms.”
I looked at her.
“What language did you speak before?”
“Oh, it was a chatter similar to the fairies, except ours was more refined, similar to English we could point out specifics with just our words.”
“That one fairy pointed out where Mordred was.”
Maven nodded, confused by what Taury was saying.
Then Taury sighed.
“Yes, but an exact translation of what she said is, ‘big that way.’ It wasn’t a sophisticated thing, hence why we weren’t aware it was at the stream. If it was a pixie they would have said-“
She spoke a seemingly inane chatter.
“Which means, ‘big bad thing at the water that way.’ Which, yes, is a bit simpler than English, but it still gets more of a message across.”
I nodded, that made sense.
Us five chattered for another hour.
_
As me and Maven were walking back.
“I hope you didn’t get attached to Buck, there.”
“Why not?”
“Because he’ll likely be eaten by the end of the week with that nasty attitude of his.”
“Why?”
She looked at me somewhat amused.
“Did you look at Leona at all during the conversation? She was almost drooling over him. In fact, I think he’d be lucky if he made it back to his tribe today.”
“Oh…”
“And his liking to antagonize predators is stupid, because the moment he passes from the clearing, he’s food to a solid half the world.”
“So, if Leona were to follow him…”
“That’s what I’m assuming is going to happen.”
“Wow, predators are that vicious?”
“Many are, see it like this, if I wasn’t with you, at least one predator would’ve made a grab for either you or Wings.”
Taury winced.
“That wouldn’t end well for them.”
“Hence why I was with you.”
Then I realized something.
“If right outside the clearing is the deadzone, then wouldn’t people just wait outside for prey to leave?”
“Oh, trust me, we thought of that, there’s a ten second immunity, so while some do wait, they can’t begin chase for ten seconds.”
“Then how would Leona…”
“If Buck doesn’t realize he’s watched, then he won’t think to bolt.”
“This is a bit of a brutal system.”
“I suppose it would be to humans, but we’ve lived this way for thousands of years dating back to a pre-Morgan era. The only difference is that now we have rules and regulations to keep things in check.”
“So… it’s calmer than it used to be?”
“Yep, because now, predators can’t enter prey’s homes without permission, and a bond to prevent them from attacking. Homes and springs are the two safe spaces.”
“Really?”
“Yeah… I should specify, tribe towns are the safe spaces. If someone had something like my house which isn’t in the wolf tribal town, someone could still get in and eat the inhabitants.”
I thought for a moment.
“Are there any rules defending children?”
She rocked her head.
“Eh… not really a rule, but a common courtesy to not eat the children.”
“Oh…”
I thought a bit on what I knew about the animal kingdom.
“Do predators ever go after other predators?”
“Oh, very occasionally, and usually without realizing that it’s not a prey they’re hunting.”
“Hm… has anyone come after you?”
“Once, my house is bunny architecture, so a bear snuck in a window at night hoping to find a sleeping bunny. Instead, I had a big late-night snack.”
I had trouble imagining Maven covered in blood eating a bear person.
“Oh…”
“Yeah, this is a very survival of the fittest world, luckily, after that, people figured out that my house was the one close to the wolf tribe, and no one else really bothered me.”
I looked at her.
“One last question.”
“What is it?”
“How did you become a councilor?”
Maven snickered.
“The ruler of this world is chosen by might or trickery. The last one was a rabbit. I think you can figure out the rest.”
Taury sighed.
“So, that’s what happened to her. I was curious. Never really liked her, she was a jerk.”
“Indeed, though it still shocked people that a 100-year-old wolf could best a 700-year-old rabbit.”
I blinked.
“Oh, I should probably elaborate, most fey can live for thousands of years, some never die of age, but animal fey can live to about 1200.”
I thought for a moment.
“So, ten times the human lifespan?”
“I suppose, I’m currently 206.”
“I’m 22.”
Maven leaned in closely.
“Ooh, so we aren’t that far, bodily wise~”
“Uh…”
Taury glared, causing Maven to back up and once again sweat severely.
“Well, it’s getting late, knowing the lions, Leona probably won’t share that you’re off limits. Be careful heading back to the Tesseract.”
“Alright, have a good night.”
“You as well, do well at school.”
“I will.”
I walked towards the nexus smiling.
“She’s nice.”
“A little too nice.”
I smirked at the pouting pixie.
“Are you jealous?”
“What? No, don’t be-“
A tongue grabbed her and shot back.
Me and Taury instinctively launched our magic at the threat.
I heard a feminine yelp and a frog girl fell from a tree.
She leapt back, breathing on her singed tongue.
“New prey, fighting back? I don’t like it.”
“We’re not prey.”
The girl grimaced and hopped away, foot to foot.
“I’m guessing that the fey animals are more common here.”
“It seems like it.”
Taury was drenched.
“I could use a warm bath.”
“I’ll prepare a Tupperware when we return.”
“Or the tub?”
“And have you fall down the drain?”
“Rude, I can become bigger!”
“Yeah, I know.”
…
“Do you think Buck’s eaten?”
“By the sounds of it, most likely.”
“Wow, I mean, I know he had a rotten attitude, but…”
“William, most fey don’t abide by what humans see as moral, here, it’s no different than an ecosystem on earth. Remember, they may be fey, but they are still animalistic. It’d be no different from you eating venison.”
“Venison usually doesn’t have a conversation with me beforehand.”
“Fair enough, but it’s still the natural process here, you get cocky and harass people, you get eaten by a bigger fish.”
“Yeah, I suppose.”
We got to the tesseract without more incident.
I saw some of the wolves that we saw before and I touched the tesseract.
“Well, that was interesting.”
Taury smiled at me.
“Well, let’s go home.”
“Sure.”
“Would you say Maven is an ally?”
“Definitely.”
We appeared in Morgan’s palace and walked towards the gate, waving at Morgan on the way out.
She opened the gates and we left.