Ag knew why Teigh had asked Tia, Balfour, and her to return to the material plane. She didn’t like their separation, but she understood his reasoning. Teigh had explained that he needed them to ensure his plans in diverting the attention of the armies of man were still in motion.

That reason may have fooled the others, and it may have been part of the reason, but that wasn’t the entire logic for Teigh’s decision. It held enough of the truth to skirt around the Sidhe's limitations, where the truth was a curse that every Sidhe learned to embrace and work around.

But it wasn’t the whole truth.

Teigh was trying to distance himself from each of them. He knew that soon, the quest he had been tasked with fulfilling would be completed, the Tuatha de Danann would wake, and he would be a fully empowered God.

The companion bonds that Teigh, Tia, and Ag had formed would break once that happened, and Teigh would be left isolated. Alone for the first time because even Caraid would no longer be a part of him.

Ag knew Teigh was concerned about what would happen to them. He wasn’t entirely selfless; some of that concern was for himself and how he would be severing connections that had impacted his soul.

Ag wasn’t worried about herself. She had realized something Teigh hadn’t yet. The moment Teigh had tamed Draioct and made him the physical manifestation of [Glamour], Ag had felt a shift in who and what she was.

The companion bond between her and Teigh was morphing, aligning with the new role Ag would play in Teigh’s future. Ag’s abilities with shadow and illusion began expanding as she felt those changes and knew what her role had become. She would not be lost to Teigh and silently and quietly began to settle into her new role.

Just like Draioct was the avatar of [Glamour], she was becoming the physical manifestation of [Illusion].

Ag had worried that Teigh didn’t and hadn’t realized what was happening at first but kept her new understanding of what she was becoming to herself. Perhaps his ignorance was a blessing from the Alpha and Omega. Ignorance would allow him to reflect on the changes he was undergoing and the time to mourn the passing of his mortal existence.

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Ag had no regrets. Her tie with Teigh was more important than any earthly chains that might bind her. As her body began to resonate with divine energies, she began to embrace her role.

She was the concept of [Illusion], and it made sense that she would be able to hide and deceive who and what she was. Teigh could have pierced that illusion at any time if he had taken the time and made an effort. But he was so sure he would lose everyone that he didn’t.

His focus had turned inward. He was trying to build mental walls that would lessen the grief when the inevitable happened. That was why he had had Tia shuttle Ag and Balfour to Urt through [Cait Sith].

Ag had been asked to check in with Beowulf and the Beastkin. She wasn’t sure what to look for or talk to Beowulf about. So far, her time had been spent running in forests, following her nose as she scented new and enticing smells.

Beowulf had run with her a few days, yipping and growling about the success of Teigh’s plan, diverting the Mongols and manipulating a war between them, and the Norse had allowed the Beastkin to use hit-and-run tactics to decimate both armies.

Finding out the Beastkin were opportunistic hunters should have come as no surprise. Beastkin were predators for the most part, and predators knew how to hunt and take down prey when wounded or isolated.

Ag would have to report this development to Teigh as soon as possible. She wasn’t sure whether having the Beastkin enter this war was a good thing or not. If they began to kill the Mongols and Norse in enough numbers that both armies had no choice but to respond, that might be bad.

If the armies agreed to a truce long enough to fight the Beastkin, or worse, if they agreed to an alliance to defeat the Beastkin, then the Sidhe might need to come to the aid of the Beastkin.

Ag ignored that for now. This new smell she had been tracking had seemed familiar. She was certain she had encountered it before but wasn’t sure where. It smelled of the smoky nature of fire and crisp winter’s morning snowfall, of freshly plowed fields and metal newly forged.

Beowulf followed as she tracked the smells, pausing as Ag finally located what she was after before coming over to examine what she had found.

[Fire Tulips], [Ice Chrysanthemums], [Shadow Orchids], and [Lifelight Hydrangea] had grown. Flowers that Teigh had created as part of the [Fairy Ring] he established in the [Forest of Nightmare Plants].

That these plants had found their way to Urt seemed impossible. They hadn’t existed for long. That they had formed a [Fairy Ring] that mirrored precisely how they had been placed was interesting. That a bevy of Teigh-Fey was buzzing around each flower was the real problem.

Asgard had always held to the principle of ‘As Above, So Below,’ so it should have come as no surprise that the plants created on Asgard would find their way to Urt. But to see Fey frolicking in a Beastkin forest? Where else would these [Fairy Rings] sprout, and why weren’t they constrained to grow in lands claimed by Sidhe?