32.3 Tethered to Trees

General Summary

Day 489

The waking day ends with a Frontier-style family dinner on Whistle's porch. There are so many people here with no family and Whistle has clearly made it his responsibility to host them all. Him, Ilia, the siblings, two dwarves, four humans, and my small family hardly fit on the porch but the atmosphere is lax and languid over plates of widely varied food. Fae are unusual this far from the Northern Grove and the humans are very curious about cycles and the possibility of waking as a different gender. Given the strict gendered rules of both dwarves and humans I can understand their alarm and confusion where elves seem to have taken this possibility in stride.   The dwarves are more interested in hearing about the Collective and how such a force could exist that makes even powerful elvish warriors like Traelin and Maesha flee. I'm thankful for the friendly atmosphere, otherwise I might have been tempted to speak from my decades of military leadership and defend the choices that have led to my Empire's survival against an enemy who has no honour. Instead, Whistle and Ilia explain that while our warriors are powerful not everyone can fight, and it is the elvish way to do what must be done to save as many as possible. Where dwarves would stand and fight to the last man, woman, or child against a foe elves would divide into those who will remain and those who will evacuate.  

No one who has survived the Collective is unchanged. villages can be rebuilt; lost lives can't be reclaimed.

  It is a kind answer and my biting defence of my military strategy dies on my tongue. These people are so young; they have no way of truly knowing what it has been like to see villages slaughtered and then have to command the next one to choose who will stay and who will run to safety.   Jaeril lifts the mood with her flute and I join her with my own instrument. We play in the sunset and all around us elves and even humans gather in the places where darkness pools fastest.   That night I slip into the Dreaming with a single-minded focus to find Thalien. fortunately he is not far away, standing on Kadia's island and taking in the beauty of the Sea. He tells me he had always known it would be special someday but wasn't quite sure how. I am so anxious to begin construction on a school even though I know it will take centuries to complete; something about the fae blood in my veins wants projects started now and hopes against reality that we will have a place for all our short-lived humans to enrich themselves with the time they have. Thalien reassures me that with the infrastructure of the Outlands many human lives will be extended beyond what they currently enjoy simply because their lives will be easier. Still, a century is not very long.   With respect to Ilia he tells me a little more of her history and how I can help. I had thought her borrowed shadow was his but he tells me it belongs to her late husband who died and left behind a remnant to watch over her. I'm surprised to hear the name of her husband's lord - Ankhatla, a Dread Lord in service to Lord Ikshafael himself in the Shadow of the Empress. Her husband was a very accomplished wizard but even his wife wouldn't have known this; his death drew Thalien to her and my brother has guided her ever since. The decision to reveal someone from the Shadow even after their death is serious enough that i will not tell her yet but I must do my best to retain the remnant of his shade even if I can restore hers. And when we are able, to reconnect her with her husband's house.   But there is more than Thalien's guidance that I have come for her. After months of waiting I can finally take his hands and ask if he would like to meet someone in the Dreaming. He is startled (a wonderful and rare thing for me to see on his face) and increasingly wary as I lead him towards the Celestial Grove, reminding me that the dreamers in the North are hostile to him. But he follows me trustingly as I assure him that these trees are different.   When Nal steps out of the Grove to see us she flies immediately to him and examines him, remarking on the strength of his will that has let him remain here all alone and untethered. A third of his strength has been devoted simply to staying present in the Dreaming, something I hadn't known about. He tries to bow but she waves it off and embraces him as family. I love her.   Deeper in the Grove she shows him the trees and invites him to stay as long as he would like, but particularly for a few weeks to give him time to regain his strength. An amulet from a Grove leaf will serve as tether for him so that he can release his concentration on simply remaining alive, and perhaps eventually we'll relearn the art of making those fae sing cloaks so that he can better traverse the trees here. He is overwhelmed, of course. I might as well be a a daylight fae for how radiant I am at the thought of him resting easy here with friends around him.   But it will take some time, so I leave them to their new friendship and begin my journey back towards Frozen Shade, though I am immediately distracted by the Sea in the Dreaming. The cold is less biting here but still dangerous as I fly overhead. There is a particular point in the air where the magic changes and I feel the same unexpected Osyr magic as the Crystal Spire. It is so hard to make out the geography of the area but...it's possible I am above that deep pool with Osyr markings around it. In the waking world I wish I had asked K'savi to investigate this, but that is something that can wait.   For now I call out Kaide into the Dreaming and get to enjoy her surprise at emerging above the water. Together we probe at the freezing magic and manage to bring me a few metres beneath the surface of the water using a maelstrom of wind and motion that lowers the water beneath me as I descend. But it is enormous and hungry for magic - unsustainable at the scale we need to go deeper an move around. Hovering above the surface we hatch plans for a gem circle net cast to the seabed that will allow a more precise and targeted whirlpool, perhaps an aura or charms that would make it easier to move and breathe.  

It's not unbeatable; just hard.

  It will be a nice project for us to work on outside of our homework. And tomorrow we will set up some weather magic to protect the village from storms that might otherwise raze it to the ground when the Sea becomes worked up. I am hopeful that I might connect more to elemental magic using these gem circles - the method for inscribing them is more orderly than the style of elementalism I have previously attempted.