Returning The Favor|Malagard, Khelek

[Kender Bard]

"Well, here we are," Thelon commented to his son, holding some of his luggage.

"Yep!" Libre agreed, looking all around. He'd been to Khelek before but it felt like the first time all over again, given his reason for being there.

~I want you to remember that this is a trip for study and not for pleasure~ Thelon told him firmly. ~I want you to enjoy yourself during your leisure time but do not go chasing after certain young ladies when you are supposed to be studying.~

~I won't~ Libre answered with a mildly irritated look. ~I know how to prioritize, dad.~

Thelon just smiled and pat him on the back. ~Sometimes better than me.~ Turning his mind towards the palace, he sought out the feel of Schuldig's mind as the most familiar one. Not feeling it in the immediate area, he blinked and reached out for Lucifer instead. ~Hello King Lucifer. I've arrived with my son for tutelage as I said I would.~

[Darastrix]

There was a faint, short-lived sense of surprise from Lucifer; he hadn't been expecting a telepathic contact at right that moment, but after years of being acquainted with Schuldig, he was used to mental comments out of the blue.

Welcome, Master Thelon, he thought. You and your son may teleport into my study. A fairly detailed mental image of the room followed the statement. Lucifer couldn't project it, of course, but it stood out in his surface thoughts. It would have made his taking on three Mind guards in Morilanta less efficient if he'd kept himself ignorant of how best to communicate information to them as well.

[Kender Bard]

~Thank you.~ Thelon teleported directly to the study and set the leather bag down at his feet. He bowed his head respectfully while Libre bowed from the waist. "Greetings and well met. Libre has been very excited about this opportunity."

"Uh huh!" Libre agreed with a bright smile. "It's going to be very fu-" he glanced quickly at his father "-informational!"

"If there's any trouble at all, don't hesitate to contact me, though I don't believe that there will be," Thelon said, deliberately not clarifying if he meant his son or in Khelek.

[Darastrix]

Lucifer inclined his head at Thelon. "I shall," he replied, "but be aware that Filly is likely the one who will have to reach you. Schuldig has not returned since Nagi brought him to help with the shapeshifter issue in Sensatia."

[Kender Bard]

"He hasn't?" Thelon asked, clearly surprised. "He left some time ago, I would have thought he'd have returned by now. Something about..." He blinked. "Faeries... I profess it didn't make any sense to me at the time. Oh dear, do you suppose something has befallen him?"

[Darastrix]

"I do not believe that he is safe," Lucifer replied, "but he is resourceful. His skill at getting out of trouble at times appears to be only slightly greater than his skill at getting into it in the first place, but it has served us all well through the years. And there is also the added motivation of his daughter being with him."

"She...bonded, I suppose one could say, with a fey sprite, and the pair of them have been wanting to go to the Beastlands for some time," he explained. "She left the day after Schuldig came to Sensatia and somehow was able to teleport beyond Filly's reach. When Crawford attempted to find her, the Lord of Madness himself intervened with a message that she was the least of our concerns. That and a subsequent vision have led us to believe that this related to a much larger event."

[Kender Bard]

"Harmony's in trouble then?" Libre asked, suddenly tense. Thelon lay a hand on his shoulder and squeezed gently.

"Is there anything I might be able to do to lend assistance to the matter, then?" Thelon asked Lucifer.

[Darastrix]

"If you could attempt to contact him, it would be appreciated," Lucifer said. "Silence on his part is expected; we don't know how he may be exerting himself and he should be in the Beastlands. I am certain he could communicate from that distance were he well-rested, but on Morilanta, he did at times forgo communication in favour of conserving his strength."

[Kender Bard]

"I will do so now, then," Thelon answered. He wasn't planning anything more strenuous than teleporting back to Sensatia anyway. Touching his signs, he murmured softly to himself and then focused. ~Schuldig? I'm in Khelek speaking with Lucifer. What is the situation with you in the Beastlands currently?~

[Darastrix]

Thelon's was one of the last voices Schuldig expected to hear in his mind. At the first word, he pulled his mind away from his current target and "pointed" it at Thelon like the arrow in a drawn bow. Recognition dawned then, and Schuldig relaxed his mind, though his nerves were still buzzing.

~Harmony's in the fey court,~ he told Thelon. ~I'm keeping an eye on her, but this is going to be spreading all over at some point. There's fey and probably more feylings--people that bonded with these little sprites--all over the place. The queen put out a summons to call them all down here. It's some sort of compulsion; I can't shield Harmony from it.~

[Kender Bard]

Thelon didn't like the sound of that. ~Do you have any idea what she's calling them for? ...Real faeries?~ He shook his head slightly. "Schuldig said that Harmony is in a faerie court and that their queen has put out some sort of summons for all faeries and all humans bonded to something called sprites. He called them feylings." Thelon's tone of voice suggested that although he didn't think Schuldig was lying or deluded, he was still having difficulty grasping the idea.

[Darastrix]

Lucifer nodded at Thelon. "Crawford's vision was of a large number of fey and bonded humans--feylings--on a sort of march with the feylings in front. If they have all been summoned, then it may be only a short while before what he Saw, is."

~Yes, Thelon,~ Schuldig said. ~Real fey, and I don't mean the type I'd take to my bed.~ He would have much preferred the latter.

~The queen's planning to use some of the feylings as liaisons between her people and the humans, since the feylings are kind of both and neither.~ He shifted position, and a twinge of pain bled through the connection; he wasn't wasting the energy to preserve his dubious "dignity." Need to walk around some after this.

~She wants to reclaim land. Harmony asked one of them why and got told she was "too human" to understand. I've got a guess, though. After we found out about the kid's sprite, Filly went to Mentis to find out what they had about the fey. There was one theory that some of them have a grudge against humanity because the Forces let us rule the world, and the fey came first.~

[Kender Bard]

~Then why would they even bother to send liasons?~ Thelon thought, perplexed, and shared that confusion with Schuldig. ~Unless it's merely a pretense or, perhaps, even a distraction. What do you think? Are they creatures we should deal with or should we prepare to push them back?~

"He says that that they're going to use the feylings as liasons," Thelon repeated. "And that they want more land. Supposedly for nefarious reasons, though that's unconfirmed."

[Darastrix]

~I thought you were the Thuothan,~ Schuldig commented. ~It's called a theory because nobody fucking knows. The one Harmony asked said it was a matter of pride--whether they have a grudge or not, their being passed over in favour of humans probably hit that pride pretty damn well. But all of the fey are coming to the court. The court is in the Beastlands and it's hidden. If they can all fit there and the place still be hidden, they might not have the numbers to claim land by force.~

~As to whether we should play nice?~ Schuldig gave a mental shrug. ~I don't fucking know. They're intelligent. They've got some pretty firm rules of etiquette. No sort of families like what humans have, but some of them that were created around the same time call themselves siblings. A lot of them look sort of human, but if you touch their minds, something feels...off. There's some sort of difference, but I haven't tried really digging to see what it is. I don't think I can say "good" or "bad" yet.~

~Some of the feylings are happy being with the fey, and those'll probably be the ones that get to go talk to people. Some aren't happy, but they're curious enough to stick around. Some want to leave, but nobody has yet. And after the queen made the announcement about using the feylings as liaisons, a couple faeries came dragging some kid in. They thought she might've been another feyling and came out too soon. Since there wasn't an sprite around that didn't already have a human, the queen had her tied up until she decides what to do about her. After Morilanta, that kind of shit leaves a bad taste in my mouth all over, but it's still not quite the same. More...practical? Matter of fact? A little like Lucifer, actually....~ Schuldig trailed off puzzling over that.



"I will hold off on considering it a nefarious plot until there is confirmation," Lucifer murmured. "Caution should be taken regardless, and suppositions only lead to more suppositions and oftentimes result in conclusions that are so far removed from the situation, one may as well have spun them from thin air."

[Kender Bard]

"I quite agree," Thelon remarked, though his tone was distracted as he listened to Schuldig go on and on. ~I'll keep in contact with you. I just dropped Libre off here, and I'll be returning to my own home soon. I'll be sure to keep Lucifer in the loop with any new information you want to share with him or me. And with anyone else you think I should or who needs to.~

"I've informed Schuldig that I will be keeping a mental ear out," Thelon announced. "And as soon as he has more to say on the matter, I will let you know post-haste. In the meanwhile, I leave my son in your care."

"Goodbye, father," Libre said and gave Thelon a quick hug.