54.4 Well Balanced

General Summary

Dorimen tells us that whatever we can restore to Evismora before we leave this plane will make it easier for her to recover afterwards. I pull out magic item after magic item from my pouch and consult Sitka on what exactly was done to the injured Treeborn. She thinks that the severed pieces of Evismora’s body ought to reattach automatically but I am skeptical. I don’t want to try this unless I can purify them of the magical ooze impregnating them. I might not know exactly what it does but it is clearly preventing their reattachment. Fortunately, I have Heart Cleansing Spirit drops that purge the barrier ooze, and they rejoin with Evismora’s body smoothly. The panels of her wings were not coated in the same ooze, so I can reform them simply by injecting my own wood magic into her. I’m relieved that my little fae family won’t have to regrow yet another set of wings.   Finally, an emerald bead of rebirth begins the work of growing back her teeth and eyes, and some dewdrop mist heals over the scars. She remains asleep, but peacefully resting rather than in a stupor.   As we work, Sitka tells me that Evismora’s nature feeds off portions of another person’s. The other zephyr were using her to consume, purify, and harvest aspects of people they stole from. Isurus was the ringleader of this particular operation, and he was the first to harvest something from her: her eyes. With them, he stole the magical sight that was part of her nature, and he used it to give his spear uncanny accuracy. The myths I’d heard of the Fisherman’s spear having unnerring accuracy must have a seed of truth to them.   When we arrive at the door, I’m somehow unsurprised to find Nucifera waiting there. Or at least, a version of her? This one is younger, different, and entirely without the glow of fate that pervades the one I’ve met in the Dreaming.  

I thought you might have met the other part of me — the one that refuses to die.

  This realm, as we’ve pieced together, is a place of lost and discarded fragments. Whatever version of Nucifera continues to live in the Dreaming has sacrificed enough of herself to make up this whole, sentient person who speaks to me now. Not loose chunks of flesh, not the peaceful end that the Blaze ghosts gave up, not the sworn nature of elves of broke their oaths. The Nucifera here is an entire person, lacking only her magic and her mission.   She asks me to persuade the remaining piece of herself to put down the mission and move on. Even if they do not become whole, it is time for her to rest. I think I was not surprised to find here because she has been on my mind lately — an elf who worked so hard to bring the Empress to us, who is caught in a mission that no longer makes sense. If her life’s purpose was to bring us closer to the Osyr, she’s accomplished it. Anything more is a job for the living.   Thalien’s suggestion is that both Dorimen and Nucifera come to his Grove and anchor themselves as he had. They are cut off from Fate, and so they will be much more like the other Celestial fae than Thalien ever was. Before we slip out through the door, I take Nucifera’s hand and bring her wholly into the Empire. If any elf has earned the Imperial oaths, it is Nucifera.   When we step out into the Dreaming, Artemisia turns to dismiss the horrible, deathly door but it persists, menacing and dark against the lively green spirit grass. As we stare, concerned, Artemisia says she thinks the other five zephyr might be keeping it present…the realm itself is anchored here because of them.   Having waded through this awful realm of magic I don’t understand and threats that don’t make sense (I’m eager to write a report for Magdalena), I do what seems sensible and summon Cousin Soo using the illusion crystal. This is not my family’s department.   My senior cousin stares, amazed, at the menacing door behind me.  

Hm….twisty paths? Lost souls?

  He describes it as a ‘hazard plane’ that ought to have been disconnected from our world millennia ago. Sitka and I describe the plane and how the other human ‘gods’ have been involved with it. Having already spoken with Soo about their modifications to human magic, he is certainly ready to view this as a violation of whatever magical laws his own teacher has put in place.   According to Sitka, Isurus has always been the leader of their group of six. Even before they fled from the dragons, he was seeking power and ways to extend his own influence, with a particular interest in realms beyond this one. The way she speaks seems to imply that he lied, coerced, or tricked some of the others into helping…first Erak to guard him while he worked, then the others. This realm was one that he caught as he was dredging the Outside, and he quickly realized that he could graft other people’s power onto himself. At first, the grafted pieces were impure and came along with memories, voices.   Then he made a deal with Ailanthus that would give him Evismora, a piece of the machine that could purify the fragments. But even as the voices of his impure grafts drive him insane, he refuses to expel them.   In the moment, Soo decides we will cut this realm free and then decide what to do about Isurus and the other human gods. The ritual he gives me is in his own language, but not so difficult for someone who speaks the dragon language. As the door fades away, Evismora cries out in pain at being severed again from whatever pieces of her were left within — part of me hopes that Isurus was still in there with her eyes.   Later, Soo will report this all to his teacher and invite me and Ausha along with whatever hunting party is formed to track down Isurus. For now, I still have a group of tired dead friends to shepherd along to proper resting places. Nal is delighted to have new visitors in the Grove. And I get my first look at some of the humans who are transforming — many are adolescents or children, having regressed as they slept.  

Day 1100

And finally, we return to the gate in the Grotto. Artemisia goes first, and then Thalien and I go through with Sitka and Evismora. In the Waking world, Thalien dissipates into smoke and is drawn into the waiting body. His dark skin is ever-so-faintly mottled, whether with starry galaxy dust or the faint outline of my scales, I can’t tell. It doesn’t matter. He’s here, flesh and blood.   And then Magdalena catches sight of Evismora. Artemisia is babbling, trying to explain that Ailanthus forced her not to tell anyone and she only realized that she could say something at the last minute and only in dreams and and and -   But Magdalena just hugs her, and hugs Evismora, tiny and faded with sleep. As I release my dusk magic, her eyes open and she clings to Magdalena with her whole body.  

Big sister’s here…it’s okay.

  With my arm tightly affixed around Thalien, I set to the business of organizing the remaining pieces of our work for the day. Qing Chen falls to his knees at the sight of an ‘Exalted One’, and Sitka seems genuinely delighted to see a demon, much less a free demon king.  

I thought all of you had died! Oh this is wonderful…I’m so glad to meet you.

  She thought there were no more demons left. She thought the dragons were going to destroy everything along with the demons and leave nothing behind. I say that sounds like propaganda, and not particularly good propaganda after all. Perhaps later on, she will be able to tell me more about Starfury and whether she knows what has happened to him.  

Day 1100

With the fresh excitement fading, I can feel my connection to Wayin entwined with my spiritual bond to my dusk tree. I can see that the two of them will grow together, and perhaps one day they will become their own little mobile tree pair. While Thalien and I lounge in the grass, I tell both him and Wayin about all the new trees we can go visit together, and all the changes in the family that Thalien has to look forward to. Between Lyssa, Dal, Alder, and Liliales, no one in this family will ever be wanting for food or drink.   Now that she has rested a little, Magdalena introduces Evismora to us all. She describes me as one of her best students, like a daughter to her. Evismora looks up at me with large, incredibly insightful eyes.  

You’re very beautiful. You’re very complex, and you balance yourself well.

  She says other people probably see the power in me, but she sees the many different parts of me and how nicely they fit together.   She wants to speak to me, and flits from Magdalena’s arm to mine. She clings tightly as we drift away from the group, and I can tell that her nails would bite if it weren’t for my dragon-strengthened skin.  

Thank you isn’t enough. And I’m sorry. You healed me, and I still feel your magic in me.

  She can feel a piece of my growth magic in her, staying present and helping her. She says it feels like she’s in a special grove of many trees with soft shadows and songs. She says she doesn’t know how to give it back, and her expression shifts to an anguished guilt of having kept something she shouldn’t have.   But I don’t feel incomplete. I feel whole and strong and healthy — if anything is missing, it is so inconsequential that it doesn’t matter. I tell her to keep it; it’s good for her. It must have been meant for her.