#fd lore hints

Scamall: (voice thick) "—I would-wouldn't do anything to hurt them…"

Scamall: [hesitantly looks back up, pressing her back against the earthen wall behind her and anxiously scanning the broken Faewilde around them]

Scamall: (pleadingly) "not—not even take their essence, if that's what you think! I—I mean, I don't even think I even could, but—..."

[She didn't even have to finish. The pressure immediately, completely eased around her following the first statement. And, before she started to trail off, Talamhdé slowly floated back together]

[Now, Talamhdé formed a forest much more peaceful than the one that'd fallen apart on them. It was no longer full of unruly, tangled thickets forming literal barriers. Now, it seemed like one of Talamhdé's typical forests… with an endless array of wobbly trees, wild nature, and endless magical phenomena causing all kinds of chaos]

Earth: [and, finally, spits Nova out, leaving them splayed across the forest floor, unconscious]

Air: [shudders again with one final echo, though it's weaker and quieter than before) "pro…tec… t…"

Scamall:

Scamall:

Scamall:

Scamall: [slowly, hesitantly looks down at Nova]

Nova: [passed out in the dirt, shivering. Slowly twists in place to curl into a ball, forehead against their knees and arms wrapped around themself]

Scamall: [and looks down at Spéir, in her arms]

Spéir: [tense all over, the blood he'd coughed up staining his shirt and arm, but...]

Spéir: [only has his jaw clenched, eyes narrowed, and ears lowered thoughtfully as he stares at Nova himself]

Spéir: [seemingly completely unaware of Scamall watching him]

Scamall: (voice weak, barely manages to get out) "Spéir."

Spéir: [ears flick backwards, tense, as he quickly looks up at her]

Scamall: [flashes a weak—uncertain—grin]

Scamall: [her ears lowered and brow furrowed, weakly) "are you okay?"

Spéir:

Spéir: [coughs and clears his throat awkwardly, but quickly takes control of the air around him to float out of her arms. Once he’s straightened and regathered himself, places his feet solidly on the ground]

Spéir: [coughs even more as he flexes and stretches his arms and shoulders… all while his back is turned to Scamall. Although she can’t see his face, his eartips are angled diagonally backwards and he seems to be staring at Nova]

Spéir: [finally, slowly comes to a stop in his stretching and coughing]

Spéir: (words just as slow, speaks hesitantly, his voice thick) "… yeah. Just… tried to use too much magic. Ate some ambrosia. Feel much better now."

Spéir: [and hesitantly looks over his shoulder at her, forcing a smile… though his eyebrows are furrowed and concern is clear]

Spéir: (carefully, voice still thick) "are you okay…?"

Scamall:

Scamall: [face flickers—]

Scamall: [face and legs collapse. Falls to her knees, bringing her hands to her face as she breaks out crying]

Spéir: [sighs, an awkward, pained smile coming to his lips]

Spéir: [quickly—but clumsily, still uncoordinated from his overextension—stumbles forward to drop in front of Scamall and—]

Spéir: [wraps his arms around her shoulders, hugging her tight]

Scamall: [just cries against him, her cloudy afro condensing into a waterfall that drips down her head and pours into her dress. Finally processing the panic of everything that just happened—]

Scamall: (sobbing) "I'm sorry! I'm sorry, I—"

Spéir: [moves his hand to the back of her head, rubbing it comfortingly and pressing her face into his shoulder]

Spéir: (voice thick and strangled still) "no, it's fine, Scamall. You've always been the nicer one between us. You just wanted to protect someone who helped us. I get it."

Spéir: [hesitates—]

Scamall: [hair slows in its drizzle, but continues pouring down into her dress before its magic rejoins her form. All the while, just quietly cries into Spéir, relieved by his understanding—] :'D

Spéir: [—sighs heavily, squeezing her tighter]

Scamall: [metaphorically melts into him, hugging him tighter for a moment in return as she hiccups]

Spéir: (grudgingly) "… plus… it would probably be better to have someone else with us…"

Spéir: [shifts around Scamall as he turns to look over his shoulder, at Nova]

Spéir: [snarling slightly; bitterly) although… I don't think they are a good faerie to fill that spot…

Spéir: [tenses for a moment, but quickly eases up and sighs again]

Spéir: [turns to face her again, lowering his hand from the back of her head to rub her back comfortingly]

Spéir: (softly—though his voice is still rough from coughing—says) "… so don't beat yourself up, okay?"

Scamall: [feebly nods, sobbing and hiccuping as she clings to her brother]

Spéir:

Spéir: [gives her one more squeeze, then, awkwardly) "… we should probably set up camp, yeah?"

Scamall:

Scamall: [hiccups and sniffles again, but hesitantly pulls away from Spéir. Wipes her tears away with the backs of her hands]

Scamall: [finally, opens her eyes to meet Spéir's with hers full of tears, her eartips against her shoulders, and a weak smile on her lips]

Spéir: [watching her worriedly, but carefully. Clearly analyzing her as he most often did when struggling to come to decisions]

Scamall: (weakly) "yeah."

Spéir:

Spéir: [offers her a weak smile]

Spéir: [and, finally, taking a deep breath, glides to his feet with a gust of wind, then offers his hand to help her stand]

Spéir: (gently) "c'mon. I got you."

Scamall: [lets him help her to her feet, only using a bit of wind to aid her]

Siblings: [and, hand-in-hand, hesitantly step over to Nova]

Nova: [still curled in a ball in the same spot as before… naturally, considering they were passed out and Talamhdé had left them to the siblings]

[Or, well… any other kind of fae-creature could've tried going after them, but…]

[Despite Talamhdé's leaving Nova in their hands, Scamall had a feeling it was still watching them. And that, if they failed to protect Nova, it would step in itself]

Nova: [a small, surprisingly human-looking androgynous faerie… on a surface level. They had warm peach skin, an endless amount of plain brown freckles, and long, ridiculously curly vermilion hair that distorted into the surrounding environment as it got further from their scalp. More typical for a faerie—and suggesting they might be a nature faerie—they had long, pointed ears; fawn-like legs; wooden hands and forearms; two long antennae stretching from their forehead; and delicate snow-white, mothlike eyelashes]

Nova: [last but not least: although their eyes were closed, Scamall had gotten plenty of time earlier to be able to picture their vivid purple eyes, surrounded by a golden ring and lilac sclerae]

Nova: [… even for a faerie, they were far from normal]

[And so was the fact that their whole form was semi-translucent and flickering…]

Siblings: [sigh in near-unison as they look down at Nova]

Siblings: [then hesitate, turning to look at each other awkwardly]

Siblings: [and force awkward smiles, their eartips drooping]

Scamall: [awkwardly looks away from Spéir, raising her free hand to bury it in her hair]

Scamall: (voice soft, awkward, and apologetic) "sorry, I…"

Spéir: [at the same time, squeezed her hand in his, eyebrows furrowing in worry as he watches her]

Spéir: (gently) "Scamall…—"

Spéir: [but goes quiet as they accidentally interrupted each other]

Scamall: [hesitantly looks back to him, face pinched in unease]

Scamall: [gently pulling her hand from his, anxiously) "their form is weak… I'm going to give them some ambrosia."

Spéir: [face twisted in surprise for a moment as she pulled her hand from his, but just as quickly went empty again as he listened to her speak]

Spéir: [sighing heavily, looks away and runs a hand back through his hair]

Spéir: (with his sigh, defeatedly) "… alright."

Scamall: [offers a weak smile even though he's turned away from her—in case he looked back—but quickly drops it to kneel down beside Nova. Awkwardly fishes through the many pockets hidden under the ruffles of her dress in search for an ambrosia square, buried deep within the fabric]

Spéir: (at the same time, hesitantly looking back down at her, voice soft) "I'm going to set up camp by myself. Do whatever you need to for them, alright?"

Scamall: [hesitates, caught off-guard]

Scamall: [can't help a small smile, ears drooping and eyebrows furrowing slightly]

Scamall: (gently) "thank you, Spéir. I know this isn't easy for you."

Spéir: [face flickers, jumping from indignant, to embarrassed, and quickly settling on irritable as he purses his lips and turns his face away]

Spéir: [ears low and pointed back in irritation, grumbles) "I never said that."

Scamall: [giggles softly, raising a hand to cover the lower half of her face. At the same time, draws her other hand—and a square of ambrosia—from one of her pockets]

Scamall: [fae-tipped ears lowered back slyly, teases gently) "oh, you didn't have to say." ;)

Spéir: [scoffs—and, though Scamall can't see it, she knows he's rolling his eyes as he turns away]

Spéir: [stepping away, sulkingly) "whatever."

Scamall: [snorts, then gives a longer giggle]

Spéir: [gives a heavy sigh, his back still turned to her. And yet smiling softly]

Poor, sleepy Nova. 😌

What do you guys think of Spéir and Scamall's relationship? I swear, I didn't even mean to make them mirror each others' actions half the time, it just happened lmao

story intro table of contents chapter one < last part next part >

Scamall: [quickly pulls her hand from Spéir's after they travel a distance away from Nova, turning away from him and crossing her arms… but moreso doing the latter for comfort]

Spéir: [hesitantly looks back to her, fae-ears low and his face twisted in pain]

Spéir: (voice thick) "Scamall…"

Scamall: [sucks in a sharp, shaky breath as her hair storms and she struggles not to cry... or snap]

Spéir: [half-sighs, half-growls, putting his head in his hand]

Spéir: (grumbles) "this is your fault, for trusting—"

Scamall: [eye twitches—]

Scamall: [swiftly flips on her heel, turning to pierce Spéir with a glare]

Scamall: (snaps) "no, you know what this was!? YOUR fault, for being so AGGRESSIVE! They only reached for that ambrosia because you scared them!"

Spéir: [flexes his jaw, face twitching, as he stews on his own response—]

Essence: [flares behind them as Nova and Kilrey fight… and Nova is clearly on the losing side, her essence dying away quickly]

Scamall: [twists in place to violently jab a finger in their direction]

Scamall: (voice hard and raised) "they were brave enough to sacrifice thems—"

Spéir: [snarling, throws his hands up and interrupts) "they took responsibility for their own mistake!"

Scamall: (voice sharp and shrill) "what!?"

Scamall: [steps forward, snarling and with gales of wind speeding around them—]

Spéir: [funny! Does the exact same thing!]

Spéir: [crossing his arms, continues stubbornly) "Imagine what you'd ha—"

Both: [freeze]

Both: [shocked, look over their shoulders in Nova's direction again]

Both: [… can feel all too well that Nova shattered Kilrey's will.]

Both: [jaws drop almost in sync—]

Scamall: [turns to face the direction Nova's in again, mindlessly taking a few steps—]

Spéir: [grabs her hand, stopping her]

Spéir: (incredulously) "Scamall!?"

Scamall: [snarling again, flips on her heel to pierce him with a murderous glare]

Scamall: (harshly) "that fae not only tried to sacrifice themself for us, but they overpowered a Goddamned archfaerie WITH A FRACTION OF HIS ESSENCE!"

Scamall: [yanks her hand from his, snarling still, before finishing) "if you're REALLY so uptight that you don't want ANYTHING to do with them, then MAYBE I don't want anything to do with YOU!"

Spéir: [mouth falls open, eyes wide and turning shiny… but stunned silent]

Scamall: [huffs, brushing him off and flipping on her heel to hurry after Nova… who was probably giving Kilrey instructions, judging by how he was still there]

Scamall: [… though she had no idea what Nova could be ordering him to do.]

Scamall: [but pushes that thought from her mind, chewing her lip and scanning the woods around them]

Blizzard: [slowly dying out]

[“The Quaking” is what the residents of Talamhdé called the random bouts of frenzied electricity in the air, earthquakes, and sudden natural disasters that'd randomly strike the planes. Although few had reason to even suspect it, Scamall and Spéir were among the few to know it only happened when God was enraged]

[Thankfully, the Quaking was quickly dying down, leaving the ever-shifting Faewilde forest ominously silent and still.]

Scamall: (to herself, incredulously) … there's no way that's related to them, right…? The storm's just passed… and… the Quaking never really lasts that long…

Kilrey: [far in the distance, starts heading back off to his town]

Scamall: [distracted from her previous thought; can't help a weak smile or keep the proud tears from swelling in her eyes]

Scamall: fae, I may not know who you are… but I'm proud of you. And I'm going to help you.

Spéir: [finally chases after her, though he's dead silent as he trails behind her, shoulders slumped and his hands awkwardly in his pockets]

Scamall: [ignores him, reconsidering everything she knew about him… even though she'd known him for almost the entire time she'd been alive]

Scamall: (finishing her thought) … no matter what he thinks.

Nova: [collapses and passes out… but all the siblings can really tell is that he isn't moving]

Spéir: [silent for a while as they walk, but finally, awkwardly speaks up, his voice soft) "I just… want to make sure you're safe, Scamall…"

Scamall: [bites her tongue to keep from snapping at him, just continuing through the forest]

[The forest is made up of wobbly, ever-moving trees; hanging branches and swathes of moss; and an endless amount of gnarled roots that all shifted to try to get in their way and block their passage]

[As a land suffused with raw magic, Talamhdé was constantly shifting and changing. It almost seemed to be conscious, and purposely maneuvered itself to make travelling through it annoying… if not outright dangerous.]

Siblings: [had been travelling through various planes of Talamhdé for years, learning to navigate its ever-changing ways and live off of its power, but…]

[The forest is being especially difficult right now.]

Spéir: [uncharacteristically quiet and unhelpful behind Scamall as—]

[the trees creeeaaaaaaakkkkk noisily as they, their branches, and the roots all shift, blocking the siblings' passage toward Nova]

Scamall: [growls under her breath, face twisted into a snarl]

Spéir: [still just watching her silently from behind]

Scamall: [may not be looking with her eyes, but can see well enough with the air and her aura—]

Spéir: [frowning slightly. Has one arm crossed, its hand cupped under the other's elbow, and his other hand curled around his cheek as he watches her]

Scamall: [fae-ears low and hair storming in anger, bites her tongue to keep from snapping—]

Scamall: (wants to scream) YOU'RE BEING THIS STUBBORN ABOUT THEM!? YOU WON'T EVEN FREAKING HELP ME!?

Scamall: [—at the same time, dissolved into air to try to push herself through the gaps between the branches, but—]

Scamall: [slams into an invisible wall formed by the very same Faewilde magic that moved the trees to begin with]

Scamall: [gasps in pain and from surprise, reforming in the air as she flies back from the barrier—]

Spéir: [carefully catches her from behind, one hand around her shoulder and the other at the small of her back]

Scamall: [stunned from the impacts—]

Spéir: [peers down at her, his face unreadable, before quickly looking back up at the barrier and helping Scamall stand]

Scamall: [clenches her jaw, ears low and tears forming in her eyes from anger, but—]

Spéir: (voice light, impassive) "it stops at the treetops. We can fly above it."

Scamall:

Scamall: [hesitates, shocked. Hadn't actually thought he was paying enough attention to try to help… much less actually be willing to.]

Spéir: [as she takes too long to respond, looks at her over his shoulder with his fae-ears twitching up curiously. An eyebrow quirked, offers his hand and asks, deadpan) "ready?"

Scamall: [swallows, looking away as her ears droop in shame]

Scamall: [just lets out a slow, heavy sigh as she takes his hand]

Scamall: (tiredly) "yeah."

Spéir: [nods, looking toward the sky as he swells his essence around them—]

Scamall: [relaxes her magic around her body, lightening it and preparing—]

Siblings: [with a joint gust of wind, push themselves into the air, soaring above the treetops. Except… quickly slow down before they can hit the skybox, coming to a stop in midair]

Spéir: [not looking at Scamall, easily peers through the darkness and at the array of trees between them and Nova]

Spéir: [taking charge as always; evenly speaks above the wind) "we can probably fly past any barriers while we're up here. If anything comes after us, I'll take care of it, okay?"

Spéir: [with that, turns to meet her eyes, face focused]

Spéir: [always made the plans between them, working through the various puzzles laid out by the Faewildes… and archfaeries trying to block their paths.]

Scamall: [can't help the tears in her eyes or her small, weak smile]

Scamall: [cupping Spéir's hand in-between hers, gratefully) "thank you, Spéir."

Spéir:

Spéir: [face twists slightly—a flash of guilt showing—but quickly just nods curtly as he looks away]

Spéir: (voice subtly thick) "let's just go, yeah?"

Scamall: (softly, knowing he could hear her just fine through the wind) "yeah."

Hmmm... what's up with how Spéir's acting?

story intro table of contents chapter one < last part next part >

Spéir: [gives another slight, quick nod before releasing Scamall's hand and fluttering his hand forward, gesturing for her to move ahead of him… so he could watch her back]

Scamall: [takes a slow, deep breath, letting her own eyes scan the dark and unruly forest underneath them—though she's able to see much less than him]

[Even from above, the forest is clearly a tangled mess of branches and trees that do not want to let them through]

Scamall: [lips twitch, brow slowly furrowing]

Scamall: (to herself, uncertainly) ... this... is a lot of effort to eat a faerie with such little essence...

Scamall: [but, forcing a sigh and quickly shaking her head, dismisses the thought]

Scamall: [... though her ears still droop uncertainly as she decides) the forest is probably just really hungry... or it's something about their essence, specifically...

Scamall: [without any more hesitation, drifts forward and steadily gains speed, zooming through the air. Keeps an eye on her surroundings and the forest underneath, but heads toward Nova—]

[Mist quickly rises from the forest in a dense haze, obscuring the area beneath

[… and the mist thickens the air, making it difficult to fly through.]

Scamall: [huffs, snarling slightly, but just forces out a gust of wind to clear her path]

[The mist resists the movement, but it's hardly more than Talamhdé's obstacles usually did. It quickly parts, granting them passage… although it tries to slowly creep back into place.]

Scamall: [relieved, but stifles a smile. Instead, focuses on scanning the forest below as she slows her descent, hovering above a particularly-dense concentration of branches]

Essence: [weak, but very clearly Nova's unusual essence… it was hard to place—though Scamall had never been the greatest at distinguishing between essence—but seemed… vast]

Nova: [almost directly beneath her… and all-but-shielded by the thicket]

Scamall: [takes slow, deep breaths to focus as she slowly drops, still suspiciously scanning every inch she could see of the woods]

Spéir: [silent as he falls not far above her, keeping an eye out... as he always did]

Scamall: (to herself) Spéir would say something if he saw anything, but… this feels too easy? For all this trouble?

[The air was still thick—and grew thicker the closer she got to Nova—even without the mist Scamall continued struggling to clear from her sight]

Scamall: [despite being an air faerie who could see through the air itself… there were plenty of threats that could still manage to hide themselves, requiring vision to notice]

Scamall: [after another moment of hesitation, glances back in the direction they'd come from]

Scamall: [and, feeling a sense of dread settle over her, looks back down at Nova]

Nova's essence: [slowly growing weaker, disappearing beneath the overwhelming essence of Talamhdé Itself encasing them—]

Scamall: [heart pounding in her chest, to herself) … this feels like a trap. This feels like a trap! But I need to—

Spéir: [having lowered himself to her side, gently sets his hand on her shoulder]

Scamall: [flinches, quickly looking at him over her shoulder—]

Spéir: [face dead serious, but flashes her a forced-reassuring smile as he murmurs) "you okay? We can go back if you—"

Scamall: [snarling, snaps) "no! We're not leaving them behind!"

Spéir:

Spéir: [sighs heavily, fae-ears drooping as he looks away, but—]

Scamall: [at the same time, mostly releases her magic around her, all but completely dissolving into air. Only keeps a weak grasp around her body in preparation to stop at any moment, but lets herself drop near-completely uncontrolled—]

[The air is still thick, slowing her descent itself and resisting her every movement—both physical and magical. On top of that, the forest's canopy is woven into a dome-shaped cage, surrounding Nova]

Scamall: [fighting her dread again, takes a deep breath and rolls her eyes. Finally, carefully weaves herself between the branches, clambering through the canopy]

Cage: [except… growing denser—with progressively more and more thorns—the closer to Nova they got]

Spéir: [shortly behind her; a slight edge to his voice) "Scamall."

Scamall: [snarling, quickly turns a sharp glare onto him]

Spéir: [interwoven between branches himself, his half-formed hands and legs carefully wrapped around places with as little thorns as possible]

Spéir: [has an intense look on his face, but speaks carefully) "if you really want to do this, I can teleport us the rest of the way. But it's going to take a lot of what I have, and you're going to have to be prepared in case the forest attacks us."

Scamall:

Scamall: [swallows, hesitantly glancing at the thicket between her and Nova]

Voice: (subtly uneven, nervous) "is this seat taken?" Scamall: [tenses, her ears reflexively going back slightly, and quickly looks over her shoulder—] Faerie: [standing awkwardly behind her, subtly shrunken in on themself and fidgeting with an archfaerie's emblem. Has a shabby, clearly-worn dark green cloak on, its hood over their vermilion hair] Faerie: [flashes Scamall an anxious smile] Scamall: [except… after her years of learning how deceitful other fae could be, has learned how to read emotions well] Faerie: [and has subtle creases of fear and loneliness around their face and eyes] Scamall: Scamall: … :'D

Scamall: [takes a slow, deep breath]

Faerie: [uses a majority of their essence to warp the three of them far through Kilrey and the massive Faewilde storm] Faerie: [dragged them past the edge of Kilrey's dominion… and placed themself between the town and siblings, their arm held out as they shield the siblings with their own body] Faerie: (struggling to raise their voice and sound braver than they felt) "I'm going to take him on. Just run. Even if I can't stop him… you can get away. I'm sorry for getting you dragged into my problems."

Scamall: [slowly lets out her breath, then looks up at Spéir with a determined look]

Scamall: [… though it quickly gets replaced by a forced smile as she struggles to act braver than she feels]

Scamall: [holds out her hand for Spéir to take; voice uneven) "let's go."

What do you guys think of Scamall's motivation to "rescue" Nova? And how determined the forest seems to keep her from reaching them? Or even Spéir's constant attempts to dissuade her, then offering his assistance? 🤔

story intro table of contents chapter one < last part next part >

Spéir: [gives a quick, deep nod as he takes her hand in his]

Spéir: [visibly dissolves into a translucent blob of darkness. The change starts from his head before spreading down, through each of his limbs. And, when the transformation reaches where his and Scamall's hands met—]

Scamall: [her fingers—and, soon, the rest of her body—go cold and numb. All feeling drains away as the shadow-infection spreads through her]

Scamall: [would be panicked as she loses every sense and control of her body, but knew to expect this. They've done this before, in emergencies]

Scamall: [and, besides that, she trusts Spéir. She knows he'll return control to her as soon as he's carried out his word]

Scamall: [even without any true feeling of her body, 'feels' through her aura as—]

Spéir: [wraps his arm tight around her, hugging her protectively against his chest. And, once she's secure against him, shifts them through the shadows, phasing them through the thicket-barrier separating them from Nova]

Scamall: [can't see—can't feel anything—but watches through the movement of air around them]

Spéir: [moves their incorporeal forms through all of the many, many physical barriers around Nova]

Spéir: [and, finally, comes to a stop near a strange concentration of essence]

[Scamall’s senses hit her like a Faewilde storm. Her skin crawled, sending a prickling feeling down and out through her body. The silence turned into a roar—the distant, not-so-quiet chirps of fae-crickets overpowering after her complete lack of sensory input. And, last but not least, the otherwise-dim light managed to blind Scamall.]

Scamall: [naturally floats as she reforms, having always been far more comfortable in the air… though it cost much more essence to allow herself to do so]

Spéir: [at the same time, nearly collapses, his knees buckling under him—]

Scamall: [expecting it—since it'd happened just about every other time they'd done this—quickly gathers herself, gets a firm stance against the ground, and hefts his arm over her shoulders to help him stand]

Spéir: [simultaneously tense and slumped, leans into her with a furrowed brow and lowered ears as he quickly scans the area—]

Scamall: [feels the tips of her ears drop to her shoulders as a sudden wave of panic hits her]

Scamall: [breath catching in her throat, quickly looks up to survey her surroundings—]

[The siblings are trapped in an encasement of tree trunks, roots, branches, and dirt all domed tight around them. Even light is blocked from reaching inside]

[Several feet away from them, Nova was half-buried in the center of the dome. They were passed out, slumped against a massive root curled around their torso. A few more roots—smaller than the first—surrounded their limbs like shackles.]

[They were pulling Nova into the ground.]

Scamall: [heart skipping a beat, doesn't even think—]

Scamall: [with all her magical might, grips what little air was within the dome to lodge it between Nova and the root like a crowbar. Finally, forcibly expands it outward]

[The root noisily cracked, its wood splitting against the invisible wedge.]

Spéir: [tenses, clumsily wrapping his other arm around Scamall's waist as his essence flares around them—]

[The forest completely shattered around them. The ground and sky split at once, rumbling and roaring as they tore apart. Rifts formed in the sky—leaving large swaths of swirling spirals and sparkling energy of raw magic—as the ground ripped into shreds. Chunks of land drifted like crystalline shards suspended in a lake of madness. Animated trees, plants, and wildlife all alike sought shelter within the still-intact platforms or floated adrift.]

[What had once been an orderly forest had turned into a collection of earthen chunks, untethered trees, and loose flora. Everything drifted in all directions throughout the patchworked mosaic of false skies.]

[Although Spéir hated talking about anything even connected to it, the siblings had seen something like this once before...]

[Once.]

[Few had survived to tell the tale.]

[A sudden chill swept over Scamall, stealing away her senses—before fading just as quickly. Spéir slumped at her side as sight and feeling returned to her, and she was once again re-plunged into the world.]

[A jolt of panic struck. Immediately pulling Spéir close, Scamall hesitantly withdrew her essence from Nova to surround her brother in it. With her magic, she lightened his body, picked him up, and stumbled backwards.]

[A ravine grew between her and Nova's unconscious form. An empty non-sky—devoid of color or even air—stretched in that space. It was only stopped by a river of glowing, raging magic that licked at invisible walls of darkness. Beyond, the chunk of earth beneath Nova—tied together by the tangled roots woven throughout it—slowly drifted away.]

Spéir: [wakes up again with a jolt, but only turns in place to break out coughing violently into his arm]

Scamall: [glances at him for a moment to note) he’s shaking…

Scamall: [but only hugs him closer as she looks back up at the earthen chunk holding Nova]

[The once-cracked roots surrounding them glowed as they visibly re-sealed shut, then once again tightened around their captive. As the platform drifted away—and magic swelled behind her—the roots finally pulled Nova into the dirt itself, entombing them.]

[Still, Scamall had bigger concerns. All but paralyzed from fear, she slowly forced herself to look over her shoulder, turning to face the swell of magic that’d been steadily building behind her.]

[The wall of roots that’d previously formed part of the dome around Nova had grown. It no longer simply arched above their heads. Instead, it towered hundreds of feet above. Its walls—which had otherwise crumbled apart with the rest of the plane—rebuilt to wrap around the platform, preventing her escape.]

[Whatever had torn apart the plane seemed to be targeting them.]

Scamall: [sobs, slumping back against the root-wall as she desperately clings to her brother]

Spéir: [coughing weakly in her arms, but reaches for some of the ambrosia in Scamall's pockets. Fishes a square out to shove it in his mouth, struggling to choke it down]

[The entire plane swelled around them. Far in the distance—where the walls didn’t block her view and trees were still embedded in chunks of dirt—broken trunks stretched, engorged, and elongated into wormlike appendages. As they grew, they grew to resemble hands that extended toward the earthen platform the siblings were trapped upon.]

Scamall: [suddenly remembers—]

Scamall: [heart pounding in her chest, to herself) … this feels like a trap. This feels like a trap!

Scamall: [painfully swallows against the lump in her throat, weakly pulling Spéir closer]

Spéir: [trying to pull a Nova by forcing down a second piece of ambrosia, though it's much harder and working a lot less quickly for him—]

Scamall:

Spéir: [has an intense look on his face, but speaks carefully) "if you really want to do this, I can teleport us the rest of the way. But it's going to take a lot of what I have, and you're going to have to be prepared in case the forest attacks us."

Scamall: I was not ready… :'D

Scamall: [crying silently, can't help a broken smile as she takes in the broken, scattering plane around her]

Scamall: (still to herself, weakly) … though… it's not like I ever thought I'd somehow manage to get myself in this situation… so how could I have been ready? :'D

[The tree-hands slowly close around the walls of the platform beneath the siblings, tipping and wobbling it. At the same time, Talamhdé suddenly starts vibrating]

Voice: [echoes through the land itself, speaking in a warped voice and sounding strangled) "what… motive!?"

Scamall: [freezes, her breath catching in her throat as she hugs Spéir even closer]

Spéir: [hesitates, ears drooping and going back as he looks toward Nova again]

Scamall: (voice wavering, incredulously) "wh-what!?"

[Talamhdé grew tenser, hotter, and tighter, ramping up the pressure around the two… then once again reverberates to form words]

Voice: (in the same warped and strangled tone) "with the… faerie… motive!?"

Scamall: [breath catching again and ears going back uncertainly, hesitantly looks back toward Nova's approximate location… or, at the clump of dirt and roots she was pretty sure encased them]

Scamall: [hesitantly looks around again, uncertain where to focus her attention]

Scamall: (her own voice strangled) "I just… want to help them? I'm—"

Scamall: [weakly makes a sound somewhere between a laugh and a sob, using her magic to wipe her tears from her eyes]

Scamall: (brokenly) "I'm sorry?"

[The pressure eased on them. Then, the giant, wooden fingers finally separated from the earthen platform. It tipped and wobbled as it's released, but only slightly—the siblings were never put at risk of getting knocked into what laid beneath]

Voice: [once again reverberates, strangled) "not… hurt?"

Scamall:

Scamall: [stunned, stammers) "wh—hurt!? NO! I—"

Scamall: [eartips drag against her shoulders as she awkwardly looks away, turning to look despairingly at the ground beside her foot]

Scamall: (voice thick) "—I would-wouldn't do anything to hurt them…"

Scamall: [hesitantly looks back up, pressing her back against the earthen wall behind her. Takes a moment to anxiously the broken plane around them as she finds the words—]

Scamall: (pleadingly) "not—not even take their essence, if that's what you think! I—I mean, I don't even think I even could, but—..."

[She didn't even have to finish. The pressure immediately, completely eased around her following the first statement. And, before she started to trail off, Talamhdé slowly began floating back together]

[Now, Talamhdé formed a forest much more peaceful than the one that'd fallen apart on them. It was no longer full of unruly, tangled thickets forming literal barriers. Instead, it seemed like one of Talamhdé's typical forests… with an endless array of wobbly trees, wild nature, and endless magical phenomena causing all kinds of chaos]

[Finally, the earth spat Nova out, splaying them across the forest floor.]

[Unconscious.]

[The air shuddered once again with one final echo.]

Voice: weaker and quieter than before: "pro…tec… t…"

Scamall:

Scamall:

Scamall:

Scamall: [slowly, hesitantly looks down at Nova]

Nova: [passed out in the dirt, shivering. Slowly twists in place to curl into a ball, forehead against their knees and arms wrapped around themself]

Sooooo... what do you think of all of THAT!? 😉😘

Crazy how Talamhdé Itself came to Nova's defense like that, huh? Why do you think it did? And, oh BOY, how did you like the descriptions and imagery of the magic???

How did Talamhdé's movements come across? Like, both description-wise (did it sound cool/was it understandable?) and in general! Was it interesting? Did it seem dynamic/fluid/abstract/alien?

And what about that shadow magic stuff Spéir pulled off? 😉😄

Or the general panic between him and Scamall when Talamhdé turned against them...?

story intro table of contents chapter one < last part next part >

[The tavernkeep—whose name Nova overheard to be Byrne—was marching directly toward the group. His lip was curled into a snarl, earthy form was sloughing apart, and firey hair was blazing from rage.]

[And, worst of all, his eyes were focused squarely on Nova.]

[Spéir immediately stepped to the side, clearing the path between the two]

Nova: [eyes all but bulging out of their head and ears drooping onto their shoulders, stares in horror as Byrne approaches]

Nova: fuckfuckfuckfuckfuck—

Nova: he noticed me reaching for the ambrosia… I hadn't meant to, I just—

Byrne: (all the while, sharply) "who do you think you are, trying to take our rations without—"

Byrne: [stops in front of Nova, his eyes narrowed on them, and reaches forward to yank Nova by the wrist. Completes the motion, but—]

Nova: [at the same moment his hand closed around their wrist, warped their form to disappear from the seat and simultaneously reappear several feet away. Has a panicked grin on their face, their fae-ears lying flat back in panic, and their hands held up in surrender]

Nova: (interrupts sharply, panicked) "I didn't mean to! I'm sor—!"

Byrne: [eye twitching and ears pressing against his skull, moves to grab them again]

Byrne: "you little—"

Nova: [squeezing his eyes shut and turning his face away, quickly reaches into his cloak to pull out one of his Silina Emblems. Then, holds it out toward Byrne with both hands]

Nova: (desperately) "I'm from Silina! Please, have mercy! I come in peace, I didn't mean to do anything wrong! I'm just on my way up North!"

Nova:

Byrne: [silent]

Nova: …

Nova: [ears slowly perking up, hesitantly peeks an eye open and turns just enough to peer up at Byrne]

Byrne: [eyeing him critically. His blazing hair has died down to a steady flame, earthen skin has stabilized instead of sloughing off, and fae-ears are low as he eyes Nova suspiciously]

Nova: [heart skipping a beat and ears dropping again, to themself) … he's figured out What I Am, hasn't he?

Byrne: [plucks the emblem from Nova's hands, turning it around in his fingers as he eyes it skeptically]

Byrne: [after a moment, looks back up at Nova, eyes still narrowed and eartips lowered suspiciously]

Byrne: (sternly) "I think I need to take you to Archfae Kilrey."

Nova:

Nova: [eyes fly wide, heart skips a beat, and breath catches all at once as they stumble back in terror, ears drooping through their shoulders]

Byrne: [reaches forward to try to grab Nova by the arm again, but—]

Nova: [takes several stumbling steps backwards]

Scamall: [shoulders in-between Byrne and Nova, her ears quirked back and an arm held out to her side. Like she's... trying to shield them?]

Spéir: (hisses) "Scamall!?"

Scamall: [ignores him, still sparking up. Both her face and voice cold) "they're from Silina. If you doubt them, go on and bring the emblem to Archfae Kilrey. But leave them out of it."

Byrne:

Nova:

Both: [stunned silent, well aware Scamall was basically putting herself on the line for Nova]

Byrne: [snorts, but—with a wave of his hand and essence—jerks a wedge of dirt like a piston. The ambrosia beside it is flung from the counter, shooting at the side of Nova's head]

Nova: [flinching, quickly looks at the projectile over her shoulder. Simultaneously swept an invisible hand of essence over and around it, cupping the ambrosia in place to catch it a foot from her face]

Nova: [tense and frozen beneath her neck, breathlessly looks back to Byrne with wide eyes and drooping ears]

Byrne: [snorts angrily]

Scamall: [snarls and starts to step forward, her storm-hair popping and cracking—]

Byrne: [only flips on his heel, marching toward the door with his hair blazing and earthen skin sloughing again]

[He slammed the door behind him.]

[The tavern was dead silent.]

Nova: [swallows nervously, their ears slowly popping back up, as they hesitantly scan the room and clutch their ambrosia]

Faeries: [staring at her, but… soon look away, whispering amongst themselves]

[Out of everything that was whispered, there was one thing that stood out from the rest.]

[One that made Nova's breath catch and heart ache.]

["Dhia."]

[Not too many. Only a handful of them noticed, but that didn't matter.]

[Word was going to spread fast.]

Scamall: [stops in front of Nova, squatting just enough so she's at their eye level]

Scamall: [having returned to her earlier calm, pale blue form, offers Nova a sad smile... though there's a subtle tension in her shoulders]

Scamall: (voice gentle) "are you okay, little one?"

Nova:

Nova: [swallows, quickly looking away to hurry to sit down again. After he's seated, he immediately starts stuffing the ambrosia down his throat]

Scamall:

Wind: [stirs slightly behind him]

Nova: [focuses on eating and watching those behind him through his aura, praying they look away soon]

Spéir: [places a hand on his shoulder—]

Nova: [tensing and ears drooping again, turns their entire side intangible so Spéir's hand falls through it, releasing him. At the same time, quickly yanked away and turned to pierce him with a glare]

Spéir: [reflexively pulled his hand away as it fell through them, face twisted in disgust. But, all the while, ears lowered in anger, said harshly) "my sister asked you a question."

Nova: [seemingly ignoring him, forces themself to somewhat relax and continue eating]

Ambrosia: [the most delicious thing in the world, made of literal pure magic and honey… but Nova doesn't have the time or energy to appreciate it. She needs to hurry.]

Nova: [instead, satisfied that the other faeries had stopped watching her, reaches with her essence to pull more ambrosia rations from the counter, drop them out of view, and float them toward her]

Spéir: [snarling, sharply under his breath) "fae! Are you a thief!?"

Scamall: [at the same time, hesitantly moved to Spéir's side to gently place a hand on his shoulder]

Nova: [spares Scamall a glance, but quickly narrows her eyes—and a snarl—onto Spéir]

Spéir: [—at the same time, turned a sharp look onto Scamall]

Scamall: [meets Spéir's eyes with an uncertain look before quickly looking back to Nova]

Nova: [as they both look at her, pauses eating to retort sharply) "no, I'm a fucking 'saving our asses', if you'll let me eat!"

Scamall:

Spéir:

Nova: [turns slightly to reach over and behind the counter, where she grabs the ambrosia she'd dragged over]

Nova: [and back to stuffing her face!]

Air Siblings: [stunned silent and ears drooping, hesitantly meet each other's eyes, glance around the tavern, and then look back at Nova]

Spéir: (keeping his voice low, demands) "what do you mean, 'saving our asses'!?"

Nova: [half-groans, half-growls, rolling their eyes as they quickly erect a sound barrier directly around the three of them]

Nova: [once it's secure, narrows their eyes on Spéir again]

Nova: [pauses eating to practically spit out) "because Scamall came to my defense, they're going to hold you two accountable for me, too!"

Spéir: [though he's not sure exactly what the sound barrier is, noticed Nova build it and figures well enough what it's doing]

Spéir: [snarling, raises his voice to insist) "what do you MEAN!? What's wrong with that!?"

Nova: [freezes, their blood going cold, ears dropping, and eyes widening... but only lets themself falter for a moment]

Nova: [forcibly recollects themself with a sigh and an aggressive shake of their head before answering) "because I'm—I—"

Nova: [swallows against the lump in their throat as they instead look away and glare at a wall through tears]

Nova: (voice hard, but thick with pain) "—I'm not from Silina, I stole that! I'm wanted there! Now, with them taking that to the archfae, he's going to be able to reach out to her and find that out! And you two will get dragged in WITH me!"

Nova: [finished, quickly goes back to choking down as much ambrosia as she can]

Nova: … but what if they turn on me.

Nova: what if they decide the best way to survive this is to turn me in…?

Okay but ain't Nova just the sassiest child? lmao

Who's your guys' favorite character? 👀

story intro table of contents < last chapter next chapter >

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