55.5 Returned

General Summary

Day 1109

We spend the afternoon having tea with Zadiyah and Blackflame until Cousin Soo comes by to start up our next expedition into the Barrier. Starfield, Andstella, Moonflower, and I decide to leave Elnora behind this time. It is really not apprentice-level work anymore, and she is still shaken up from the encounter with her gods.   Once night falls, we glide back to the ruins and immerse ourselves in the work of adjusting the Barrier according to Cousin Son’s designs. Since adopting No Moon’s legacy, my magical reserves have been so vast that I have nearly forgotten what it is like to tire myself out with a magical working. Andstella and Moonflower grow weary shortly into the process, but Starfield and I hold steady for much longer. I’m the last to fade and we wind up holding the working in stasis while Cousin Soo establishes a fountain of magical energy to revive us all. The geyser of magic shoots straight into the sky and bursts into a soothing mist that floods us all with renewed vigour. I can’t imagine existing around such magical riches for my entire life — it’s no wonder that the people of the Northern continent haven’t had to learn magical efficiency the way the Southerners have.   We resume, and our visual attention shifts into double focus, giving us perspective on our magical working at the same time as being able to observe the entirety of the Barrier range. Both Moonflower and Andstella remain at the site of the initial working but Starfield and I split our focus across the entire mountain range as only dragons could.   We follow Cousin Soo’s directions, clawing passageways through the mist to let magic and people pass through. I can feel the stone beneath my claws as well as the rivulets of magic as I seemingly stand in three places at once. In one spot, I see a group of elves attempting the crossing — not ragged or separate like refugees, but organized and coordinated. Instantly, I focus all my attention onto this group and manifest myself there without a second thought, greeting their fresh-faced leader. He seems like a recent graduate from war college — I recognize most of his badges except for a shiny new emblem of a crossed sword and staff atop a cresting wave. It’s an emblem that Hella has used in the past.   In hindsight, I had forgotten that I am the largest dragon anyone has seen in millennia and these elves probably haven’t even seen a small dragon before. In the moment, I crane my nose up to this recent graduate and immediately ask if he knows Hella, if he works with her. An older officer behind him immediately kneels and pulls the startled leader down with her, evidently recognizing me.   The young man tells me that they are scouting for demon forces and had become lost in the last four days — they are part of Kadia’s strike team, not Hella’s. From here, it is an equal journey to return or to press onwards to Dreamfall and I can send word to Kadia either way. I sit back on my haunches to give him some space to think…I may be friendly but I imagine he is somewhat overwhelmed both by my appearance and the presence of the Imperator.   The poor young officer thinks hard for moment and tells me that their mission is to track demons, so that must take priority. I report to him, in earnest military terms, that all demons I’ve observed within the Barrier are making a clear military retreat South to their kingdom. So with that resolved, he concludes that the next military goal should be to reach the Outlands and then report back about progress through the passageway.   The way will be clear in a few hours, so I create a small oasis to protect them from the waning magic so they can rest safely. Recalling how Ausha and I taught the humans from Solace, I build it properly, to last. Waystations on this journey will make all the difference to early travellers.   As the small patrol gratefully settles down to rest for the first time in four days, I let my focus split again for a while before I notice something interesting far to the North. There is a small pocket of modified Grove trees even further North than the Northernmost passageway we intend to create. The trees are larger than any I have seen before — at least twice the size of a normal Grove tree. They tangle and weave together in almost engineered ways…and they are not alone. The people who walk amongst them are the size of Kindred and they feel draconic but not elvish. Instead, they feel…fae?   As I focus again, I see thousands of people living amongst the trees and a cheer goes up at the sight of my approaching silhouette. When I land, a matronly woman is waiting for me — dragon-shaped wings with fae-like membranes. She has a dragon’s tail, claws, and talons.  

It’s been ages since we were visited by any full dragons.

  The woman, Persia, tells me that they call themselves the Returned, and that this place is Avan’Nel - Song Tree, as opposed to Avan’Nal — Song Stone. The people here are descended from Kindred who descended from elves who descended from fae…and they have returned to the trees.   I give a terribly haphazard explanation of myself, where I am from, who I am. I tell her that the Empress, Kaide, is my sister.  

Without trees, elves became weak, thin. As we understand it, the Empress acts as a tree for the elves. That makes us of the same sort of tree, just a different branch.

  Deeper within the settlement, she shows me to a small village of honest-to-goodness elves. They are people who swore oaths and thus cannot easily pass through the Barrier. There are children, families. I can feel the presence of the Empress trapped in the bubble of safety here — they are connected to her via each other, not via oaths alone.   A young man steps forward, maybe 250 - 300 years old and introduces himself as Cormoran. He wears a junior officer’s uniform with a makeshift watchkeeper’s badge pinned on. As I explain who I am, he sets about calling the entire village together to hear the news: The Empire has found them, finally.   Nisti, a young woman who was separated from her family 40 years ago, asks if this means they can finally go home. She’s searching for her mother, specifically. It has been a long time since I was actively seeking, but I do find her name in my enormous book — her mother is in the Keep.   This begins the process of checking for names for everyone trapped here, and the news is a mixed bag of good, bad, unknown. But for several dozen, I can help them get back to their families.   With the festivities beginning for the evening, I send word to Starfield to bring the others up North to join us.