Fleeing Faerie|Malagard, Khelek

[Kender Bard]

Filly woke in the mid-morning, drowsy and missing Schuldig's presence. But she set that feeling aside, thinking of what she needed to do in the day. Breakfast first, she thought drowsily once she'd taken care of the morning ritual. She headed towards the dining table and noticed Harmony's absence. With a little frown, she headed back towards the bedrooms and knocked on Harmony's door. When she received no answer, she reached out her mind to speak with her, rouse her or at least see if she was still sleeping.

Her mind groped about, unable to feel the answering touch of her daughter's. Panic clutched at her heart painfully. "Harmony!" She opened the door and found it unlocked and looked in. Harmony was not there. Panicking more, Filly touched her signs and began the task of trying to feel out Harmony within the range of her powers. She cut herself off before she grew too drained, wanting to conserve her energy for what she feared she may have to do.

Oh Harmony, Filly thought in anguish. Why did you have to go? How could you? She turned from the empty bedroom and hurried towards Crawford's room. ~Brad? I need your help. Harmony's gone.~

[Darastrix]

Crawford, startled out of meditation, shook his head to get his bearings and frowned. ~Gone?~ he repeated. ~Has she told you where, or is she not answering again?~

He couldn't imagine that Harmony had gotten far enough for a grown Mind not to be able to contact.

[Kender Bard]

~No, she hasn't. I reached out for her and I couldn't feel her mind. I even searched for it--nothing. She's not in my range.~ And that puzzled the hell out of Filly. Assuming Harmony had slipped off once everyone was in bed, and teleported as far as she could--even surging to add a little more distance--she shouldn't have been so far as to be out of Filly's reach.

~I have no idea where she is or if she's okay~ Filly added, even her mental voice sharp with anxiety.

[Darastrix]

Crawford slipped his glasses on and rose from his seat in front of the fire. That was puzzling. And troubling; Harmony didn't have a wide range, and if she was within Filly's and Filly still couldn't feel her....

Well. No need to get ahead of himself. He wondered if being bonded to that sprite may have had an effect on her range. Wait. Affecting teleport range. ~I'll try a divination for her,~ he said, keeping his tone soothing and calm. ~While I do that, you may want to ask Nagi if his ring is missing.~

[Kender Bard]

Crawford's tone did help Filly keep her fear in check. ~Thank you~ she told him. ~Nagi? Do you have your ring? It's important. Harmony's missing. I can't find or feel her.~

The divination began as though it would be a successful indicator of where Harmony was--he saw her, wandering in what seemed like a wooded area, but there was the sense that it wasn't a Khelekian woods. She stumbled a bit, and looked clearly tired. Hovering close to her cheek was her faerie. He said something to her and she nodded, looking around and heading towards where the trees where thinnest.

But abruptly the vision froze, not showing anything more except for a dead leaf, still clinging to the branches against all odds, breaking off and drifting down. The symbol of Soahc was clear on it as it passed into sight.

Taffy is going to be so very angry with me for interrupting this little peep show of yours, especially since you're one of her precious worshipping seers, but I'm willing to risk it. Feel free to go running after the little one, but I suggest you let her get to her destination. She has a meeting with a faerie king in the far south.

One little girl running off is the least of your troubles, seer. Things are about to get very interesting.

Don't worry.

I'll watch over her.

The Force's voice faded away with laughter that edged maniacal. The vision ended.

[Darastrix]

Nagi's voice was concerned. ~I'm wearing it. Do you think she and her pixie decided to go ahead to the Beastlands?~


Crawford pressed a hand to his forehead. Soahc. Harmony was technically his niece, and with Schuldig still a recent convert-- No. There was no sense in trying to think logically where His Madness was concerned. But what had he meant about things getting "interesting?" He knew what Filly and Schuldig's priority would be, but he wasn't just their friend; he was Khelek's regent and he had to take potential warnings seriously. Even if they did come from unexpected Forces.

He took a deep breath and touched his signs together again, trying to focus on what Soahc had meant when he said that things would be getting interesting and got...nothing. Nothing aside from what was threatening to become a painfully severe headache if he didn't stop and rest.

He had a worried mother, a close friend who would lose his temper in the most explosive possible way when he found out about his daughter, and a ward-turned-prince who would soon be straining his telekinesis to help fight a monstrous frost wyrm. He was going to have a migraine before lunch regardless. Might as well get it doing something useful, he decided, and tried again, pushing through the budding pain as he had been taught years before.

[Kender Bard]

~Yes I think so~ Filly agreed. ~But she shouldn't have been able to get so far so fast! Oh, stars, I hope she's not hurt...!~ That was a possibility. Death and a severe injury could make it hard to find a mind, even if you were familiar with it. Filly stopped and took several deep breaths before she began to fly into a true panic. Oh stars, oh Harmony, how could you do this to us?

This time Crawford did receive an answer. This one was brief--perhaps there was still too much uncertain or perhaps Etaf did not want to overly strain him. It did not need long to get the point across.

A beautiful woman but clearly not human led a vast amount of others who looked liked her and marching in front were humans of all ages and Elements, all feylings bonded to their sprites. It seemed almost a militaristic march. Many of the faeries sang as they walked.

We are the fey
The firstborn of the Forces.
Long have we hidden
But no more shall we stay
Lost to time and forgotten.

[Darastrix]

Nagi grimaced with equal parts irritation and worry. Harmony was Schuldig's daughter all right, running off to do what she wanted, hang the consequences. Unlike her father, though, she couldn't fight her way out of danger.

~Have you asked Crawford to try to find her?~ Nagi asked.



Crawford groaned and buried his face in his hands. Perfect. A marching army of faeries, and Harmony was going to be in it. Judging by the song, the fey were wanting to stand and be recognised, but how would the people meeting them react? Harmony had been fighting to be allowed to visit the Beastlands...maybe he should contact Thavan to encourage his Beasts to hear them out first.

But that would mean contacting Schuldig, and Crawford knew that even if he succeeded on divining that reaction, it wold be just one of many equally likely possibilities. This was rapidly shaping up to be one of those days.

[Kender Bard]

~Yes, he's divining now~ Filly told him. ~As soon as I have an idea of where to go, I'm going to go after her.~ She wondered if he was still doing so or if he had completed that. She finished walking to his room and knocked very softly, not wanting to jarr him out of a vision.

[Darastrix]

Crawford sighed heavily at the knock and closed his eyes for a moment. In some ways, even Morilantan life hadn't been so problematic. "Enter," he stated, and straightened in his chair in case it was one of the servants and not Filly.

[Kender Bard]

Filly stepped inside and closed the door softly behind herself, going to stand near him. "Did you find out anything?" she asked him hopefully. "Anywhere I might catch her? I fear she's headed for the Beastlands but if I can intercept her..."

[Darastrix]

"I Saw her," Crawford began, leaning against the back of his chair again. "She must have managed to push herself far; she looked tired, but otherwise unharmed. She and the sprite are--as suspected--not in Khelek. They were in a wooded area, but I couldn't tell where."

"Before I could learn more, Soahc interrupted. Directly." The set of Crawford's jaw suggested what he thought of that interference. "He suggested letting her go on, saying she has a meeting with a faerie king to the south and that he would watch over her. He also said that this is the least of our troubles and that things are going to get 'very interesting.'"

[Kender Bard]

"Soahc?" Filly gasped, then grew tense. "I don't trust him with my child! Is he going to give her somewhere warm and safe to sleep? Food? Guidance? She could get lost and wind up halfway to Naurorod, starved and frostburned! But so long as she's alive, that might be good enough for him. No, I'm going to go after her. Even if I have to go to the Beastlands and work my way up."

But she didn't think it'd come to that. 'A wooded area' was little help but she had to trust that Harmony at least had the sense to not go into Morilanta. Which mean there were only a number of routes she could have taken. And there were no woods in Ronduin. Mentis and Talen'sul were still within Filly's range of reaching as was most of Sensatia.

"She's somewhere near Ilyamen or very far south in Sensatia," Filly concluded. "Unless Soahc himself picked her up and put her the stars only know where, and I have no idea how she would have gotten that far overnight as it is, that's the only place I can think of that she'd have gone and I couldn't sense her anymore."

At least she was alive. And well. Just tired--for now.

Crawford's other comment finally sunk in and her frown deepened. "What do you think he meant, very interesting? Those are dangerous words in his mouth."

[Darastrix]

"I am well aware," Crawford replied. "I tried to divine that as well. I saw a woman who I assume to be one of the fey, leading a huge number of her kind with humans of all elements who--like Harmony--were bonded to sprites. Many of the fey were singing, 'We are the fey
The firstborn of the Forces.
Long have we hidden
But no more shall we stay
Lost to time and forgotten.'"

"I don't know their purpose," he went on, "but from the song, it seems that they wish to live in the open, perhaps. Or be acknowledged. With all of the other growth that took place early this year, the fey may have experienced something similar and are too pressed for space to remain hidden, even if they wish it."

[Kender Bard]

Are they going to use my baby? Filly thought worriedly. She HAD to get to Harmony before she reached the Beastlands, Soahc's advice be damned. "Thank you for looking for her for me," Filly told him. "I'm going to contact Schuldig--he needs to know too and his telepathy range is better than mine. From Sensatia, he should be able to better pinpoint her." She turned to leave but paused at the door. "And if I find out more about this... faerie revolution, I'll let you know."

Touching her sign, she reached out for Schuldig. ~Schu, I need your help. Harmony's gone. She's not in Khelek anymore.~ Quickly, she told him everything that Crawford had just told her.